Russell Atkinson's Blog, page 87
September 30, 2016
Anagrams on the news – Swing States edition
Savvy? No
Ohio
Ha ha, I win
Florida
Hi, Israeli clan
North Carolina
Loo law
Iowa
Corn-vocation
Nevada
In cardroom
Colorado
Dope Inn
Virginia
SOG II
Wisconsin
Arian
Michigan
Fading
I probably don’t have to say this, but for those unclear on the concept, no, the individual lines don’t anagram, but if you take all the letters in Column A (States) and rearrange (anagram) them, they make Column B
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September 29, 2016
Marketing a self-published book
I get quite a few questions from friends and acquaintances about how I sell my books, often in an ill-disguised form of the real question: if they were to write one, how could they get it sold or at least read? It’s a legitimate question and I’ve learned a lot about marketing my books, but I certainly have no magic bullet.
For starters, I’m a big fan of Amazon and its marketing tools. I wrote my first book, Held for Ransom, in 2001 and was lucky enough to get an agent to take it. It got read by 14 different publishers over the next 18 months. I got all sorts of feedback, both positive and negative, but much of it contradictory. In the end no one wanted it. Fast forward to 2011. I’d written about half of my second novel but given up on it largely due to my bad experience with the first one. Then my wife mentioned self-publishing to me. I did some research online and saw how easy and cheap creating and uploading a digital book was to both CreateSpace and Amazon. I cleaned up my first book, created a cover using CreateSpace’s online tool, and uploaded it to both places. I was hooked. It sold pretty well at first, but mainly to friends, former co-workers, and so forth. I was hooked.
I’ve now written a total of six novels and I’m working on my seventh. Marketing them hasn’t been easy. I’ve tried using Smashwords. It’s tricky getting your book in the premium catalog and when I have succeeded, I’ve found that it doesn’t really sell well in any other market besides Amazon. If you make your book available there, you can still sell on Amazon, but you cannot join KDP, which requires exclusivity. Amazon’s Kindle Direct Marketing (KDP) is where the marketing tools are. KDP grants you 5 days every six months to make your Kindle book free. You won’t make royalties during that time, but your book will get exposure from Amazon and may receive hundreds or even thousands of downloads, especially if you list it with various marketing websites as a free or bargain book. I’ve found that only the first two days are worthwhile. You get onto various lists then and downloads max out by the end of the first day, although they usually continue well into the second. I’ve always seen my sales go up when I use this tool, especially among the other books in the series, but even right after the free promo with the free book. Listing it with those marketing websites can be done cheaply or for free if you shop carefully, but most have very little effect on sales or downloads. You can also waste a lot of money with them. Readers who want freebies know how to go Amazon’s own free books site. BookBub is probably the only really effective one and it’s both expensive and very hard to get on unless your book is already a big success.
Amazon gives you a great deal of control over the product page, too. You can add reviews, create a detailed Author page with a photo and link to your blog. Amazon also has paid advertising options through Amazon Marketing Services. I’ve used AMS, Facebook, and Google AdWords. The only one that ever produced increased sales was AMS. The other two are subject to abuse, overcharging you and placing your ads on unsuitable pages. The reality is that people don’t search Google or Facebook for a good book to read. They search Amazon. It’s the 800-lb. gorilla in this space. Its tool is much easier to use than the other two sites, too. You have to be careful not to bid too high, though, or you will not recoup in sales what you spend. The main advantage is that your book will get exposure in places you don’t normally get any and with readers (i.e. book buyers!) who like your genre. A similar promotion at 99 cents is also available. Yet another great Amazon tool is the Kindle Online Lending Library (KOLL). More about that in a future post.
You can’t rely on Amazon alone. You have to use social media, especially free media. It may be distasteful to hype yourself, but someone has to do it if you want anyone to buy, or even hear about, your book. Join Facebook and Google+ groups, real groups of actual people who discuss something, not just book marketing groups, and post enough there to have credibility on the subject matter. Then when your book comes out, find a way to mention it without sounding too much like an advertisement. For me, that has meant geocaching and law enforcement groups. On occasion someone objects to commercializing the group, but if you are a regular contributor and don’t overdo it, you can get by with it. If you’ve written a cooking/recipe book, join a recipe-sharing or foodie group – preferably lots of them. You get the idea. I have a Twitter name but I doubt I’ve ever sold a book through Twitter. I do get lots of marketing spam from book promotion sites, proofreaders/editors, audiobook voice actors, and so on from Twitter, but from time to time some of it is useful in identifying another free and easy promotion route.
Ultimately, what you need to get people to buy your books is good content, a good cover (more important for fiction than non-fiction), and lots of good reviews, especially on Amazon. Once your book’s review total creeps near triple digits and maintains a 4-star plus rating, the other tools, like the free and 99 cent promotions, work much better. How do you get lots of reviews, you may ask? That’s a subject for another post. It’s a topic that is very hot among self-published authors.
Lastly, develop a mailing list. I now have over 200 fans on mine. That is the cheapest and easiest way to get sales on a new book and can be used for other promotions. It’s slow going at first, but you can get email addresses several ways. First make your email address available in your book (e.g. about the author page), through social media, etc. Collect the email address of every fan who contacts you. If you have a blog, but a contact form or email address on it. If you sell through your own website, as I do for my paperbacks, accept PayPal because you’ll get the buyer’s email address. Hold a contest with a book giveaway, preferably several copies, and spread the word through social media and require them to fill in a form. People are much more willing to give up their email address if they can get something they like free.
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September 28, 2016
Slow Burn by Ace Atkins
Robert B. Parker’s Slow Burn by Ace Atkins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
If you’re a long-time Spenser fan, ignore this review; you know what you’re getting and no doubt that’s what you want. I’d never read a Spenser mystery nor seen the TV show based on the books, so this was new to me. But not very new, since it followed a familiar formula. Spenser is a tough guy Boston P.I. with a rockin’ bod, hot girlfriend (Susan), a loyal dog (Pearl), and two tough guy sidekicks (Hawk and Z) with equally hard bodies and the skill sets to match. Together they take on a trio of wannabe firefighters who resort to arson to get their flame fix. Spenser and gang win every fight with ease, fearlessly rip off the local Mafioso and his entire gang, and donate his drug money to an orphanage. Unsurprisingly, he identifies the arsonists when the entire Boston Arson Squad and Police Homicide Unit can’t.
Ace Atkins, the author, was chosen by the Parker family to continue the long-running Spenser series originated by the late Robert B. Parker. I have no quibble with the formula. It obviously works for many, but I can’t say it made me want to read more. Spenser has a certain style, with plenty of wisecracks and constant restaurant hopping. He must be made of money since no one ever pays him and he lives a luxurious lifestyle. Ah the glorious life of a P.I.! Right – I was one briefly after I retired from the FBI.
One tidbit I found interesting: the plot mentions real-life reporter and author Hank Philippi Ryan. I read and reviewed her book The Wrong Girl (2 stars) a couple of years ago. Atkins and Ryan share one rather obnoxious stylistic trait: they constantly describe every character’s attire, with special emphasis on designer names. Now I’ve seen that in several chick lit mysteries written by women, but this is the first time I’ve seen it from a male writer. Yet here it is not only from a male author but with a testosterone-laden male protagonist. It wouldn’t have surprised me if it had come from a gay author with a gay leading man, but what the hey, I think the Spenser series is intended to appeal to women, not men. Baryshnikov had a rockin’ bod, too, and women loved him. If only he could have reciprocated.
The book had enough style to keep me reading to the end, but no suspense and nothing to make me pick up another Spenser. By the way, the full title is Robert B. Parker’s Slow Burn, a Spenser Novel in case you have any trouble finding it under the name Slow Burn. My library had it alphabetized under Atkins, not Parker.
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September 27, 2016
Meet the Author
Meet the author
How I feel about meet the author events …
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September 26, 2016
Where Cliff Knowles fans are located
Click on map to see full screen version. Colored countries show sales of Cliff Knowles mysteries.
This map shows all the countries where I can verify that Cliff Knowles Mysteries have been sold or downloaded. There are probably several others, but I do not get country-specific reports from Amazon for most countries. This chart was constructed partly from Amazon sales reports but also from personal emails, Facebook or other forum comments from readers, and so on. I have not been tracking this over the years, so I may have missed some. I’m pretty sure I heard from someone in Mexico who bought it, but I couldn’t find that email if there was one.
The individual colors have no particular significance other than to distinguish a country from its neighbors. If your country is not on the map and you want to get it there, you can fill in the comment form below, or (faster) use the contact form on the About the Author/Contact page (see top menu) and be sure to tell me what country you’re in. Of course, you can also buy the book. In general Amazon only reports book sales by country where they have established a specific domain for sales there. Many countries buy from Amazon.com (i.e. the U.S. domain) or the domain of a neighboring country. Sweden and Norway, for example do not show up in my sales reports, but I know several readers there downloaded some of my books from the UK or US sites based on email contacts. It’s gratifying to see that every continent except Antarctica is represented.
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The Flight of the Phoenix by Elleston Trevor
The Flight of the Phoenix by Elleston Trevor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A storm … a bleak, dry landscape inhospitable to human life … the only things between life and certain death: engineering knowledge and teamwork. Sound like The Martian? The similarities are remarkable, but Elleston Trevor’s masterpiece of 1964 recounts the tale of an airplane crash in the Libyan desert, not a spacecraft on Mars. I’ve given several five star reviews lately, but this one tops them all without question.
The personnel aboard the plane must coalesce into a team if they are to escape. The pilot Towns has a crisis of confidence, knowing that his bad judgment in flying into the sandstorm instead of turning is cause of several deaths already and could doom the rest of them. Harris and Watson, a captain and sergeant in the British army, contrast starkly, one haughty and condescending, the other full of simmering resentment of the upper classes. Stringer, an arrogant young aircraft designer, is determined to fashion a working craft out of the remaining parts of the wrecked plane so they can fly out, but his petty superiority enrages Towns who is used to being in charge. Moran, the navigator, has the people skills to serve as moderator, counselor, therapist, and negotiator. The rest of the survivors have their own issues and personalities which are so believable as to resonate with the reader. We all know someone like each one of them.
This is a book about the human condition, the difference between survivors and defeatists, between technical brilliance and wisdom. The author is clearly very knowledgeable about aircraft and their design. Engineers and vintage aircraft buffs alike will appreciate the detail with which the author relates the technical and scientific challenges that are dealt with.
The survivors encounter thirst, starvation, hostile Bedouins, sandstorms, and their own human frailties. The plot is expertly filled in equal measure with riveting suspense and keen observations about what makes humans both wonderful and horrible creatures.
I listened to the audiobook. The reader is outstanding. Each character comes alive as a unique individual. I highly recommend this book.
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September 21, 2016
Guilty Pleasures – snack food survey
I like to run a survey now and then just for fun. Try this one. I’ll analyze the responses eventually.
To leave a comment or get on my Cliff Knowles Mysteries mailing list fill in the form below
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September 19, 2016
September 18, 2016
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
The term purple prose is usually reserved for works of fiction but I find it apropos here. This disjointed work is more a collection of anecdotes gussied up by hyperbole than an actual story. Here is how the author describes the Barrancas (Copper Canyons) of Mexico:
“The deeper you penetrate into the Barrancas the more it feels like a crypt closing around you.”
“…it looked like a world-ending explosion frozen in stone.”
And he described a runner known as the White Horse this way:
“a dusty cadaver”
“his legs shifted and reformed like molten metal”
“he’s so long-limbed and lean-muscled he looks like an endoskeleton of a bulkier beast”
Leadville, Colorado is “the wildest city in the Wild West,” “an absolute death trap.”
I realize ultrarunning, running distances of 50 miles or more, is a sport of excesses and extremes, but I got sick of finding the absolute ultimate this and that on every page. I made it about halfway through before giving up. If you’re obsessed with running you might make it through happily enough, but I guess I’m more of a half-marathon kind of reader.
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September 14, 2016
Savage Run by C.J. Box
Savage Run by C.J. Box
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
In this second book by Box in the Joe Pickett series, he continues the theme of environmentalists vs. ranchers and loggers. Box appears to be trying to stay the middle course since he portrays both sides as extremists, willing to kill or maim the others. Joe is the same straight arrow game warden just trying to due his duty while finding a way to support his family on his meager salary. Joe has been called a “flawed character” by reviewers but that term is not applied in the normal way. He’s not a rule-breaker, an alcoholic, a cocaine addict, or a rogue cop. His flaws are of a milder, more benign sort. He lacks self-confidence. He’s not a good shot, at least not with a pistol. He fails to grasp evidence in plain sight when he should and thus makes it impossible to prosecute a trophy-hunting poacher. He’s almost wimpy for an action hero.
The best part of this book, like the first one, is its eloquent description of the gorgeous setting of the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. The author’s personal knowledge makes the telling credible and authentic while his skill as a writer makes the prose almost lyrical when describing the land. The plot is less believable than his first book and the gore is both more plentiful and more unnecessary. An exploding cow? Really? Huge trees flying through the air? I have a whole list of improbabilities, but they would be spoilers, so I’ll skip them. I liked the book, but I thought Box was trying too hard to be edgy and action-oriented, which are just euphemisms for violent and gory (probably at his publisher’s urging). His protagonist’s appeal is his sweet, semi-naive honesty and peaceable nature. He should have stuck with that strength. I have to drop the rating on this book from my first one on Open Season. 
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