Benjamin Sobieck's Blog, page 35
July 14, 2012
Coming July 17: A Crime E-Book Bundle Unlike Anything Else
Remember that thing I was saying would be "unlike anything you've seen before?" That wasn't just me unleashing my inner carnival barker. I meant it. And it's coming July 17-31 here.
Here's what's up.
A site called Groupees.com is taking e-books from myself, Vincent Zandri, Fiona Johnson, Dana King, Laura Roberts and Black Heart Magazine and putting them into one bundle. You can get all of them for $2 or more. You pick the price.
Why would you pay more than $2? For starters, 20% of all sales will be donated to the National Kidney Foundation (you can read why this cause is important to me here).
Also, we'll add more e-books to the bundle the more people buy it. There are four (possibly five) bonus e-books that will be added if the bundle brings in certain amounts.
Here's where it gets even cooler. The top five buyers (meaning they gave the most for the bundle) will win autographed copies of print books. Spots two through five get a personalized copy of Cleansing Eden: The Celebrity Murders. The top spot gets a handmade print edition of Dana King's Wild Bill novel.
On top of all this, it's the first time Groupees has offered an e-book bundle. So I wasn't just pulling your leg with "you've never seen anything like it before." (But I still am, at heart, a carnie.)
Click here to see a preview page of the bundle on Groupees. I'll put the word out here and on social media when it goes live July 17. Can't wait!
July 10, 2012
Review: Let's Take the Bus to a Strip Club
Actually, let's not take the bus to a strip club. Instead, let's click here to check out a nice review of Maynard Soloman Takes the Bus to a Strip Club over at Detectives Beyond Borders. I especially enjoyed the discussion in the comments area.
This respected crime fiction review blog won a Spinetingler Magazine award for its work. If you're an indie crime writer, it's a big deal to get reviewed here.
And if you're not an indie crime writer, suggest an e-book to your favorite stripper.
July 8, 2012
July 6, 2012
Best Spam Subject Line
It came in my e-mail this morning. "Spam - Please Endeavour to Use it for God."
Bizarre.
As if the good Lord needs more junk mail. Imagine all the spam that hits that inbox.
July 1, 2012
Summer E-Book Sale at Smashwords
If you were thinking yourself, "Self, I'd like to buy a pile of indie e-books and read them the rest of the summer," then you're in luck. Smashwords is running its annual summer sale all this month.
You'll find e-books with discounts up to 100% off. Which isn't even a discount any more. It's just free.
Click here to head over to Smashwords now. You'll be supporting independent authors and publishers when you do.
P.S. To get you started, get Pick Your Poison (a collection of nearly everything I've published so far) for 50% off when you use offer code SSW50 at checkout.
June 30, 2012
How I Sold 12,000 Crime Fiction E-Books
Here's how I sold 12,000 crime fiction e-books: I didn't.
At least, not in the way you think of a transaction. I "sold" them, not sold them, through Amazon's KDP Select program.
Readers of e-books will feel their eyes glaze over after that last sentence. But know this. The piles upon bloated piles of free e-books you've stuffed into your Kindle's digital gizzard are offered gratis only because of the KDP Select program from Amazon.
Here's how the program works. First, an author signs a 90-day exclusivity agreement with Amazon on a per-title basis. That means e-books in the program can only be sold through Amazon.
In return for jumping into the turrets of this market-grabbing blitzkreig, the author is given five days for giving away the e-book on Amazon. Authors can spread them out through the 90-day period, in chunks or all at once.
Getting the e-book out there for free increases the chance readers will buy it once the gratis days end. Amazon is happy, readers are happy and the author is happy.
Now back to that 12,000 number. Since February, that's how many free copies I've "sold" of Cleansing Eden: The Celebrity Murders in the US, UK and elsewhere. The novel even got to #43 in all of Amazon for free titles.
I say they were sold even though money didn't change hands. Every "sale" (when someone got a free e-book) was like a tiny ad in a larger campaign. An ad campaign that put 12,000 e-books in front of readers' eyeballs would've cost me a good amount of scratch. It's opportunity cost. Profit has as much to do with expenses as income.
That's not to say exposure pays the bills. There are plenty of rants about this, such as the Harlen Ellison video below. Try explaining to your landlord or mortgage company that you'll get a payment in as soon as the exposure comes through for you.
Here's the but.
BUT exposure from KDP Select does seem to pay off. I'm not going to throw out any numbers, but I can safely say hitting big freebie numbers does translate into at least one traditionally defined sale.
That's the dream right there. There's no greater compliment an author can receive than having a reader pay for a work. It doesn't matter if it's a lot or a little. Authors need to be read. Readers need authors to write. The KDP Select program is making that happen.
June 27, 2012
Cleansing Eden Hits Top 100 in All of Amazon
More or less making this post and screen grab so I can refer to this later. This is the stuff that lands you agents and publishers. And I don't want to promo it too much, because I don't want to dilute the tactic I used to get it there.
Seem counterintuitive? Welcome to the crazy world of e-publishing.
And it's alllllllmost there in the UK.
June 26, 2012
French Reader Reviews Cleansing Eden: Oui, I Say!
Disclaimer: OK, it's not actually Cleansing Eden: The Celebrity Murders, my crime thriller novel. The review is of Pick Your Poison, an anthology of my work that includes Cleansing Eden.
Technicalities aside, reviews like this one from Montpellier, France, make me extra daisy-sniffin', kitty-pettin', brownie-bakin' happy. Gal-damn rosy, son. Because the reader "got it."
No, not in the douche-tastic way some snob premiering a painting might want people to "get it." I mean the reader took time to understand some of the literary devices I used to tell the story.
Such as, well...I'll just let her do the 'splainin'.
'Cleansing Eden' is a story about the evils of drugs and celebrity worship fed by the media. There are two main characters - the 'older man' and the 'younger man'. They remain anonymous for most of the story, identity being a connection to self-awareness and consequences.
The younger man is anonymous because he is a drug addict, and his identity has been lost in the subjugating influences of drug abuse. The older man is anonymous because he is a criminal - he makes and distributes recreational drugs. For him though, the worst evil in modern society is celebrity, and because he believes that celebrities steal the identities (metaphorically) of a worshipping youthful public, they should be eliminated.
Interestingly, as he becomes increasingly insane, the younger man does the opposite. He starts to wake up and work out what he wants, a thought process long since dormant from drug abuse. The denouement of the story is based around the challenge of his new awakening and desire for life.
There is much social comment in the story. The older man goes on at length but the message is clear. It manages not to turn into a preaching novel of moralising boredom thanks to the skill of the writer.
An entertaining, thought-provoking read, added to which are a number of short stories not linked to the original novel.
And if you think I'm shittin' ya, here's the link to the review on Amazon UK.
Now to celebrate with some Freedom toast.
June 25, 2012
Short Crime Film: It Got a Little Complicated
Kidnapping isn't as easy as throwing someone into a pedo-van and driving off. What if they have to use the bathroom? Will it cramp your style as you and your kidnapping brethren try to enjoy a road trip?
These questions and more are answered in the short crime film, It Got a Little Complicated. The guy in the red is Tyler Bancroft, a high school buddy from back in the day.
June 24, 2012
It's Here! The Cleansing Eden Print Book
I've waited years to type these words: Cleansing Eden: The Celebrity Murders is now available at Amazon as a print book.
In addition to a great crime thriller story, this print edition comes with some bonus features:
* You'll get the e-book version for FREE. Use the link located on the title page of the book.
* Look for a short story after the end of the novel, Maynard Soloman Solves the War on Drugs. It's nice, light dessert after that thick meal of drugs, death and demagoguery.
* Various Easter eggs hidden cryptically throughout the story and formatting.
Click here to get the print edition of Cleansing Eden: The Celebrity Murders from Amazon.
