Mark Henrikson's Blog, page 6
December 4, 2012
Amazon Free Book Promotion
Anyone interested in trying the first book in my Origins series for free, December 5th and 6th is your chance. It will be available for free download on Amazon those two days.
I offered a free download back in October (about 2,200 downloaded it). Afterwards the sales jumped from 4 or 5 a month to 4 or 5 a day. They have tapered back a bit to around 2 a day now. I am hoping the promotion will accomplish two things for me:
1) Raise the sales rankings for book 1 and 2 high enough to get into the top 100 lists on Amazon in time for the after Christmas season (got to be visible for all those gift cards getting spent)
2) Gain some free readers who will seek out and buy book 2 and future novels in the series.
I’ll let you know how it goes. It should be fun watching book 1 spike into the top 10 free book list for a couple days at least.
I offered a free download back in October (about 2,200 downloaded it). Afterwards the sales jumped from 4 or 5 a month to 4 or 5 a day. They have tapered back a bit to around 2 a day now. I am hoping the promotion will accomplish two things for me:
1) Raise the sales rankings for book 1 and 2 high enough to get into the top 100 lists on Amazon in time for the after Christmas season (got to be visible for all those gift cards getting spent)
2) Gain some free readers who will seek out and buy book 2 and future novels in the series.
I’ll let you know how it goes. It should be fun watching book 1 spike into the top 10 free book list for a couple days at least.
November 30, 2012
Author fair was fun but a sales dud
I attended a local authors fair at a nearby public library branch. It was fun to see 50 plus local authors there, who knew there were so many in St. Louis?
I sure got tired of giving the same 30 second pitch on the Origins series to everyone who came by the table. After a while I was tempted to just stand up on that table and shout my pitch to everyone in the place at once, but I think the librarians would have shushed me half way through :).
In the end I guess it was a good problem to have at one of those events. Talking with some of the other authors afterword they made it sound like the five books I sold was some sort of windfall; most sold nothing at all. This just reaffirmed my belief that author signings are a thing of the past. Online promotions are the wave of the future and infinitely more effective at reaching a wider audience.
I sure got tired of giving the same 30 second pitch on the Origins series to everyone who came by the table. After a while I was tempted to just stand up on that table and shout my pitch to everyone in the place at once, but I think the librarians would have shushed me half way through :).
In the end I guess it was a good problem to have at one of those events. Talking with some of the other authors afterword they made it sound like the five books I sold was some sort of windfall; most sold nothing at all. This just reaffirmed my belief that author signings are a thing of the past. Online promotions are the wave of the future and infinitely more effective at reaching a wider audience.
November 26, 2012
The Writing Process
I read a quote from Stephen King the other day that said only amateurs use outlines when writing fiction. If that is true, then I am going to be stuck in the Grapefruit League for a while.
I just can’t construct a multi-layered story with logical plot twists, adequate foreshadowing, and character development on the fly. I need a sentence or two per chapter detailing the situation, setting, who is involved and what I need to have happen to mesh in with the rest of the story. It’s not like I am married to the outline, in fact I probably only stay 75% true to it, but I need those signposts along the way. Otherwise it just comes out as a sequence of random events with cardboard characters rather than an orchestrated story with some depth.
Anyone else have a different method that works for you?
I just can’t construct a multi-layered story with logical plot twists, adequate foreshadowing, and character development on the fly. I need a sentence or two per chapter detailing the situation, setting, who is involved and what I need to have happen to mesh in with the rest of the story. It’s not like I am married to the outline, in fact I probably only stay 75% true to it, but I need those signposts along the way. Otherwise it just comes out as a sequence of random events with cardboard characters rather than an orchestrated story with some depth.
Anyone else have a different method that works for you?
November 19, 2012
Book signing went well yesterday
So I had my first book signing yesterday. Sold about 30 books over 2 hours, and never felt like that weird lonely guy sitting in the corner with a stack of books around him and a pen in his hand that no one wants to approach so I’d call it a success.
I am starting to think book signings to promote sales are a thing of the past in this digital age, unless you are an A-list author where fans will flock to see you. All the effort to set it up, front the money to buy the books to sell, 3-4 hours of my time and most of the sales go to friends (thanks gang for all the support!!!) rather than reaching any kind of expanded target audience. I have a few more signings lined up to sell the rest of my inventory (otherwise my Christmas shopping is pretty much done for everyone :O), but I think I accomplished WAY more by offering book 1 as a free download for a couple days, and that took all of 2 seconds to set up.
Meh, we will see how the author fair goes on the 29th before I pass final judgement.
I am starting to think book signings to promote sales are a thing of the past in this digital age, unless you are an A-list author where fans will flock to see you. All the effort to set it up, front the money to buy the books to sell, 3-4 hours of my time and most of the sales go to friends (thanks gang for all the support!!!) rather than reaching any kind of expanded target audience. I have a few more signings lined up to sell the rest of my inventory (otherwise my Christmas shopping is pretty much done for everyone :O), but I think I accomplished WAY more by offering book 1 as a free download for a couple days, and that took all of 2 seconds to set up.
Meh, we will see how the author fair goes on the 29th before I pass final judgement.
November 15, 2012
Started working on book 3
Alright, took off my editing cap for book 2 and have firmly reattached my creativity hat.
I’ve started the detailed outlining for book 3 in the Origins series. The working title is “Reformation” and the setting for the flashbacks will be the Medieval era.
Staring at that blank page is both exciting and intimidating at the same time. Here we go!
I’ve started the detailed outlining for book 3 in the Origins series. The working title is “Reformation” and the setting for the flashbacks will be the Medieval era.
Staring at that blank page is both exciting and intimidating at the same time. Here we go!
