Diem Burden's Blog, page 5

Book downloads update (January and February)

January was the first full month of giving my book away. Here is a breakdown of what happened.

January downloads Amazon.com = 90Amazon.uk    = 60Smashwords  = 5Total giveaways = 155Downloads in January averaged 5 per day.

I thought that might be it; surely there can't be more people interested in my little memoir..?

February downloads Amazon.com = 71Amazon.uk    = 140Amazon.es     = 2 Smashwords  =8Total giveaways =221Downloads in January a veraged 7.9 per day.

GraphsI'm a visual chap, so I've broken those figures down into a graph, which I'll be posting here each month. As can be seen in the 1st graph, there is a considerable increase from January to February, particularly in the UK (see 2nd graph). I have no idea why.

[image error]













To give an idea of where those downloads occurred, I've created this pie-chart. Amazon.co.uk is responsible for over 53% of downloads.

[image error]
 

When Amazon picks your book up for promotion.

I received a routine email from Amazon.com today, promoting five books I might be interested in for some reason or other. Nothing unusual in that, except of the five books displayed, MY OWN book was sitting at the top of the pile, winking back at me.

IronyInitially I laughed. The irony of Amazon promoting my own book to me! I took a screen shot and punted it out on Twitter, Ha-ha, look at this! Then I started to think about the reasons for it. Why had Amazon picked up my book to promote? And why did it get put at the top of the email? Later, a friend over in the UK replied that she had also received the same email.

Copy of the email, with my book at topQuestionsSo I asked myself how many emails had gone out? There is no way of knowing, of course, but mine came from the US and I am presuming my friend's came from the UK (I'm waiting for confirmation). If these emails went out from both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, then presumably they have gone out to a fair amount of people, especially considering I know somebody else who received one. What will this do to my figures? Will my sales increase as a result of this?

MonitoringLike most ebook authors, I monitor my book sales almost hourly. I have been paying close attention to my sales since January 1, since the day my book went gratis. I know exactly how many books have been downloaded each day for the last two months. I am due to post an update regarding the end of month figures for February this weekend.

Meanwhile, I will monitor any increase in sales which might be down to the Amazon promo.

Fingers crossed!

A Very British Blog Tour (#VBBT2013)

I'm British, definitely. Very British? Probably, despite having lived abroad for the last 10 years. And I'm a writer, one who has just started out on the road to fame and fortune and everything that goes with it, I thank you all. Sorry, his lyrics were so good that they have a way of intruding on my thoughts.

A firstBack to this Very British Blog Tour. It's my first blog tour and probably the first of many many more to come. I don't really have the time for it (I should be writing my 15 books!) and I'm not really at the stage of my new career to really need it (I have but one humble offering out there). However, I've joined it because I need the experience of blog tours and I really like the sound of the Britishness of it.

OriginIt was all started by Paul Anthony. The idea was that a British author has to answer six specific questions which are then posted on his/her blog, although the amount seems to have double since then! This author then invites other British authors to do the same, and as they answer the same questions their responses are linked to at the bottom of the original post. Thanks to Rosie Amber for her invite which is the reason for this post. Got it all? Good, neither do I, but keep reading and it'll all fall into place.

The questions1. Where were you born and where do you live at the moment?
I was born in the city of Derby, England and bought up in the small market town of Uttoxeter. I now live in Spain.

2.  Have you always lived and worked in Britain or are you based elsewhere at the moment?
I left Uttoxeter when I was eighteen, suffering from claustrophobia. I joined the military and spent the next six years based in Tidworth, a military garrison in Hampshire. From there I was sent to Belize, Mexico, Germany, the Falkland Islands and Cyprus. My posting there achieved its goal - for me to see a bit of the world.

Shakespeare's school, StratfordAfter the army I moved to Cambridge, a beautiful university town in the East of England. I spent the next twelve years there as a police officer, before walking away to become an English teacher in Spain. (I also happened to buy a house in Brazil).

3. Which is your favourite part of Britain?
Ooh, that is such a difficult question. Despite being such a small island, the UK has so many places of outstanding natural beauty along with towns and cities steeped in history. I particularly love Cornwall, with its tiny fishing villages beautifully preserved (not to mention their delicious Cornish Pasties and Creamed Teas!).

London is a place I can never tire of. Now that I live abroad I really miss my weekends in London - there is always something new to discover or stumble upon. It has to be one of the greatest cities in the world.

But quite possibly - if pushed - I'd have to say the Lake District, a national park in the north west of England (just above Liverpool). It's where I spent my second honeymoon and is one of the most beautiful places in the UK. Not only is it likely that any visitor will be blown away by its beauty, but one can always visit the Poet Laureate William Wordsworth's house, along with Hill Top Farm, the home of Beatrix Potter (who loved the place so much that she bought up most of the land to protect it from development, bequeathing it to the nation in her will).

"... and then my heart with pleasure fills,
and dances with the daffodils."

William Wordsworth


4. Have you highlighted or showcased any particular part of Britain in your books? For example, a town or city; a county, a monument or some well-known place or event?
My series The Rozzers is a true-life memoir of my time in the police based in Cambridge (although in the books the town is called Oxbridge). I don't really identify the city to help protect myself from possible libel!

London City, where tiredness takes a backseatAnother series I have started to write (working title Dover Lord) is based on Dover Castle (the key to England), as a group of survivors meet there following the demise of civilisation as we know it. Interestingly, I have yet to visit the castle!

The Humptybackcrocodillopig lives in East Anglia, and can be found at the bottom of my old home just outside of Cambridge (childrens' series), along with the Owlbatross and other strange animals.

My magnus opus, The Dream Makers (a six-book serious of high fantasy) sees the protagonist make his way to a stone circle in Wiltshire - not the current Stonehenge. He sees what was constructed there 25,000 years earlier, and why it was constructed.

5. There is an illusion - or myth if you wish - about British people that I'd like you to discuss. Many see the Brits as 'stiff-upper lipped'. Do you think that is correct?
View from London Eye;
I didn't see the 'people' at the time of photoOne of the greatest things about leaving Britain is that you get a greater perspective on the country and its people, as well as learning what other nationalities have to say about us.

For some reason, the British carry a lot of stereotypes and garner a lot of opinions from other cultures, most of which is utter twaddle. Unfortunately, we are responsible for much of it. No, British food is not terrible: it was - 40 years ago - but life moves on. (Trust me, the British food revolution is coming to a town near you.)

I think the Brits vary just as much as any country of 90 million people do, and generalising does not work. What I mean is: whilst the older generation are generally 'keep-your-distance-or-I-might-catch-something', the youngsters are very continental kissy-cheeky. Brits apparently don't learn other languages, yet most of my work colleagues speak two or three other languages (I can get by in Spanish and understand Portuguese fairly well). The list goes on.
Windsor Castle, along the avenue
What the Brits do have in common is: a love of alcohol (we can't have fun without it); a love of varied food; a love of pets over their own children and an incredible ability to produce great music (do you know that in 2012, British artists accounted for 12.5% of ALL world music sales?).

Stiff-upper-lip? I think we are tough, having lived through the depravity of the 2nd world war when we stood alone against Hitler, and we don't like whingers or weaklings. It's tough, but I'd rather you didn't make a fuss, there's a good chap.

6. Do any of your characters carry the 'stiff-upper-lip', or are they all 'British Bulldog' and unique in their own way?
Absolutely not! My characters are based on real people I have had the good fortune to meet in my life - real people with real feelings and issues, both British and foreign. James Bond has moved on from that, so must we!

Changing of the Guard, Windsor Castle7. Tell us about one of your recent books.
I am writing (somewhere in the region of) fifteen books in total, but have only epublished one so far. End of the Road is a short story (15,000 words) and part one of The Rozzers, a five-part series based on my life as a UK cop. I have been amazed with the success of my humble offering so far; it spent 18 days at #1 on Amazon.com (Law Enforcement) and hit #8 in the UK for memoirs. It is currently free but you'll be expected to pay out for the next book (Cops Don't Run) which will be released in the next few months!

8. What are you currently working on?
Cops Don't Run is my focus at the moment. After the success of part one, I really want to get this one out there and earning some pennies! It's on its 2nd draft and will shortly be sent out to beta-readers for their opinions. Then I must turn my attentions to book 3 in the series as well as my first stand-alone novel, Filthy.  
Filthy tells the story of an English teacher out here in Spain who gets a job listening into phone-tappings of British gangsters on the Costa del Sol on behalf of the Spanish police. It all goes wrong when he heads down to the coast to where the operation's targets live.


9. How do you spend your leisure time?
That's an easy one to answer - I don't have any! My wife and I have been running our own business out here in Spain for the last year and a half. It is growing and we are very pleased with it but it takes up all of our spare time! For example, in the next few months we are moving into newer, bigger premises. It's great to see it doing so well but spare time? If I do get any, I write and try to stay off the Twitter and everything else that indie-authors need to progress, which is difficult.

The Lake District10. Do you write for a local audience or a global audience?
I write for anybody who can read English! We're living in exciting times, there has never been a better time than now to be an author. My books will appeal to any British person, no matter where they might live. Filthy will appeal to English teachers around the globe, as much of it will hold true to the experience of those intrepid ex-pats in various, far-flung places as they try and teach students our much loved English language.

The Dream Makers will appeal to fantasy fans everywhere, or anybody who has a passing interest in our dreams and why we have them.

My audience is global, you can be sure of that.

11. Can you provide links to your work?
I wouldn't be much of an author if I couldn't! Here goes (deep breath) ...
Amazon.com (#1 Law Enforcement)Amazon.co.uk (#8 Memoirs)SmashwordsApple ItunesSony Kobo (#1 Law Enforcement)NookShriven Books (my publishing company - under construction)Follow my Facebook Author's pageor my Twitter accountFinally, why not join my Newsletter? Be the first to know. Now, from what I understand I need to invite other British authors to do the same as me (I've invited three so far - as soon as they respond, I'll link to them below). If you are a Britauth and would like an invite, please leave your details and request in the comments section below.

First to respond is Deborah C Foulkes, a Yorkshire-based writer (click name to see her answers).

Thank you for reading this far!

Diem. 

(not yet proof-read)

Progress update - when giving away is fun!

Since I epublished my first book last May (2012) it sold about 10 copies per month. It wasn't making me any real money and watching the stats was getting a tad tedious. So I came up with a great idea: Why not just give it away and get more readers? So I did, and this is what happened.

Zero-ing it   I popped over to Smashwords and reduced the price to zero. I watched it carefully to see what would happen. First, Smashwords pumped the price change out to Sony etc over a week or so, but nothing really happened. The book was hardly moving, just as before. I kept checking to see if Amazon had price-matched but my book always seemed to be at the original price. Sales remained unchanged.


ResultsThen, early January, things began to happen. I accidentally discovered that my book had been downloaded about 25 times on Amazon US. I had been missing these figures because they are difficult to see when checking my account, as they are off the screen over to the right. I hadn't been scrolling the list sideways. In the UK just a handful of downloads were recorded.

And so began my addiction of checking the downloads every time I passed the computer. Watching those numbers grow and grow was too exciting to be ignored. And they did grow. I was soon in the top twenty and even top ten list in various categories, but then it began dropping down a bit before hovering around the #30 mark.

Author's page updateI quickly updated the book info on Amazon's book description, quoting various reviews and making the book more buy-able to viewers (to see what I mean, have a quick look at my Book Description and Editorial Reviews over at Amazon.com).

This worked, as the book began climbing again. By then end of January my book had been downloaded 155 times. That's 155 people walking around with my book on their device. The downloads were as follows.

Amazon.comx90Amazon.ukx60Smashwordsx5
That is an average of 5 books per day, which is continuing into February. I watched with glee as Amazon's automation began promoting the book as 'authors who viewed this book also viewed...' etc. The book also began climbing the categories I had put it in. #1 in Law Enforcement, Amazon.comThe top spotThis morning, as I checked my book's progress, I yelled out and scared the wife. It was listed as #1 in Law Enforcement on Amazon.com. Let me say that gain, NUMBER ONE! Her only reply was, 'Yes dear, but that's because you are giving them away...' I had to explain to her that the other people who were competing against me were also giving them away, and that I was obviously doing a better job of giving them away than they were!
I have other things planned to improve this book's sales, and the follow-up books, which I will tell you about in due course.
So the groundwork has been set, and all I need to do now is get book two in the series out there, and hope that some of those readers of book one get around to leaving reviews, signing up for my newsletter and BUYING book two.

Fingers crossed.

What motivates you?

Top-ten!As a writer trying to hold down a demanding day job and wife (!!), I often find it hard to find the time and/or energy to sit down and plod away at my fifteen books.

Published authorPublishing my first short story, End of the Road, was highly motivating. I could shout from the rooftops: I'm a published author! Watching it hover around the 800,000 mark on Amazon was less so.

Book 2 in the series is almost ready, and hopefully will be published in the next few months. My plan had always been to reduce the price of book 1 to zero once the second was out there, whilst charging for parts 2 - 5. However, I decided to drop the price to zero last month - just to see what happened.

RankingsIn January the book shot to #24 in category and 4000-ish overall on Amazon.com. A few weeks later the same happened on Amazon.co.uk, with the book hitting #10 in category! (you can just see it in pic on right) Despite the fact that I was not getting any money from these downloads, I was elated!

My book is now averaging 5 downloads per day, has activated the Amazon algorithms so that it appears in the 'people who viewed/bought this book also viewed/bought these...'  Five people a day are downloading a book with my name on it! That, after all, is where every author wants their books to be, isn't it? Out there! If I can collect a few reviews, a few email sign-ups or some new followers of my on-line presence, even better.

MotivationThis sudden shifting of my first, humble offering has motivated me to get part two out there, as well as my first full-length novel. Having learned as much as I could about epublishing over the last few years, I am fairy confident that I can repeat this 'success' with my other books.

The groundwork has been done, the concrete has set better than I had ever expected and the walls desperately need to go up.

That's truly motivational. Now if I could just gag the wife...

Why you should be building your on-line presence, even before publishing your books.

To date I have but one, short story published. There are others coming, but it is a slow process. There are many days when I don't have time, or when I feel too tired to write (like today). It is at moments like these that I turn my attention to other matters.

On-line presence.What's that all about then? Is it just having 8,000+ followers on Twitter and an author's page on Facebook? Well, yes and no. There is no point in having 8,000 followers if you don't do anything with them. I need to interact with them and sell them me - the writer.

Screen shot of discussion thread mentioning Diem BurdenPen nameHaving a unique pen-name helps me enormously. I have set up a weekly, automated Google search. Each week,  a search is carried out on the www for any new mentions of 'Diem Burden.' I then receive an email with details. In one such email I was happy to discover that Diem Burden had been mentioned on a Publishing Discussion Thread as a useful source of 'great publishing tips of self publishing or getting published.' (see picture, above).


No, it hasn't helped sell my book. No, I didn't do it myself! What this person did was to provide my name to other people in a positive, glowing light! My name, my unique name. That's what it is all about, building your name, building your brand.

Brand Diem: helpful, knowledgeable, a person to follow and listen to. A publisher and writer worth mentioning.

What greater reason is there for an author to be building his on-line presence?

(Oh, and thanks, Veritas.)

Adapt or flounder?

Adapt or flounder. As a writer we have a choice: to keep going on with our plan no matter how unlikely it is that it will come to fruition, or to take a step back, accept where we are going wrong and adapt our ways.

MoneyThis week I have adapted my plan, as it was just not going to work. Briefly, my long-term plan is to make money from my books, and as the money increases I'll work less at the day job, hopefully increasing my writing output and thereby getting to a day when I might finally be able to call myself a full-time writer. And why not? After all, I have about 15 more books to write, which should take me - roughly - a life-time!

Doverlord? One word or two?PlanI had been planning to write and publish 5 short stories based on my police experiences under the title The Rozzers. The first is out there (see here), the second is close to publication and the other 3 are planned out. The idea being that this would teach me all I needed to know about epublishing, marketing etc, leading me on to my first full-length stand-alone novel Filthy. Then, and only then, onto my baby - my big series The Dream Makers.

CoverHowever, I was holding back from the finishing touches to my second short story. Why, when it is so close to being published? The truth is, I couldn't face having to go to the trouble of creating yet another ebook cover. I was also concerned that there would be no continuity with the second book cover as the original program I used for book one was bought up by Google and changed slightly. I realised that I needed a book designer.

AdaptI have had my eye on a book designer for a while, since I like her work and she is UK based. But then I couldn't really justify the cost of an ebook cover for a .99c short story which is not main-stream and is unlikely to sell much. And the amount of investment needed (5 professional covers) was not a financial gamble I was willing to take for such a series. And it was then that I realised my plan needed adapting.

I need to be selling books - at least enough to cover the cost of the covers, or to seriously reduce the impact of such a financial commitment. Sure, the new covers might help me to sell more copies but that is unlikely, as the book is all but invisible. Obviously I can't quit on this series now either; it needs to be published sooner or later. Also, the follow-up stand-alone novel is unlikely to be a big game changer.

New coverSo what I have decided to do is upgrade my first book with the new cover, have book 2 ready for publication and to publish it when its cover is ready, then put The Rozzers series on hold for a while. The third professional cover won't go to Filthy, but instead will be used for book one of a new series that's burning in my head. I have to write it out or I might go insane, and it has the potential to be a decent series. This is Doverlord.

As soon as I thought about it I knew it was my way forward.  Let's get Doverlord 1 and 2 out there, then go back to book 3 of The Rozzers, then another Doverlord. Then add a bit of Filthy, and then reassess...

Doverlord, you came along at just the right time for me.

How about you? Happy with your long-term plan, or do you need to adapt it slightly?

Why I'm giving all that hard work away - for free!

End of the Road took me several months of hard work to complete. It was also my first ever self-published book, so the learning curve was sharp. That was six months ago and that milestone was trumpeted across my on-line platforms loud and clear. I was dead chuffed. Cops Don't Run, part two of The Rozzers series, is begging to get the same treatment, and I hope to publish that soon.

Free? Yeah, like that is gonna change anything...Dismal salesLooking back at the dismal performance of my first ever book worries me not. End of the Road has been on sale for 0.99c and in that time it has been downloaded just 22 times. You see, it was never in my plan - nor did I expect - to sell this short story just yet. I'm laying the foundations for future sales.

PublishingI plan on publishing 15 more books outside of The Rozzers series - from adventure and high fantasy, to children's books among others. I'm sure that that number will increase over time. Part of my planning has always been to give this first book away. Why? So that it reaches a wider audience, increases reviews of it and leads to sales of the follow up book, Cops Don't Run.

Tonight, I changed the sale price to zero on Smashwords, which will filter through to Amazon shortly.

Big jump in page views!Nothing to loseWhat do I have to lose, after all? Over the last six months my book was 'viewed' on Smashwords, on average, once every two days. Just viewed, not bought, although it made a hand-full of sales on Amazon. Within hours of giving it away, those viewing figures jumped to 35 views. Effectively, two months worth of views in a few hours.

I look forward to monitoring this humble experiment and reporting back with details. If you'd like to get the ebook for free, then click on the relevant link below to take you directly to the book. If you're just interested in the experiment, check back in a few weeks time.

 Smashwords    Amazon.co.uk   Amazon.com

Organising the disorderly: free writers' programs

Seen my laptop anywhere..?I've epubbed one; have five in progress with nine others to write. Organised? No, far from it. But tonight I've got that irritating, self-assured smirk on my face that so annoys the wife. Why? Well, several reasons really. Despite not being able to write much of late, I have been planning for the day I become a full-time writer by organising myself!

ScrivenerFirst of all, a while ago I bought Scrivener*, the writers' program. I'm still not 100% comfortable with it, but each time I use it I learn a little more, and I'm sure it'll all make more sense to me if I go through the tutorial oagain, after having used it sufficiently to be familiar with the basics.

What I've done with Scrivener is create a project for each of my #wips, which means I no longer need to open word and figure out where I am before writing. Scrivener organises all of that for me, which means I can usually just read the notes and get on with writing. If you haven't tried Scrivener, I suggest setting aside some time to download it, running through the comprehensive tutorial and getting on with it. You won't be disappointed!

DropboxSecondly, I downloaded and installed Dropbox**. What a programme! Dropbox is a cloud storage programme with bells and whistles. The first 2GBs are free, with options of increasing the capacity simply by linking it to your Twitter account, Facebook account, viewing the tutorial etc. In fact, I'm only using 18.3% of my massive 4.4GBs, all of which I gained for free simply by doing the things they suggested I do to get the extra storage! If I want an additional 100GBs, it'll cost me just $9.99 US per month, but to securely back up my #wips and research, I have more than enough for free.

But what about the bells and whistles I mentioned above? Well, I do all of my writing on my creaky old laptop (with a missing 'L'). It'll give out on me one day, guaranteed. If it does, it's not a problem. Why?Because Dropbox has installed a folder on my computer, which is where I store all of my Scrivener files mentioned above. I simply open the Dropbox folder (just like any other folder), locate the Scrivener project I need to work on and open it. After I have finished for the night, I simply close the file - no back up, nothing.

SecurityThe reason I get to sleep so soundly, knowing by babies are well-looked after, is because the file is automatically backed up to the Dropbox on-line storage server. If my laptop goes bang in the night, I can log into my Dropbox account from any computer and access my #wips. What's more - and this is the really amazing thing with Dropbox - I have downloaded it to my office desktop computer and my Smartphone. After the Dropbox folders synchronise, I can access my #wips fully; from the office via my desktop, or from my Smartphone anywhere in the world. Whatever I add, delete or amend automatically synchronises across all of the devices I have added Dropbox too.

AnywhereImagine sitting on the train staring out of the window, running through your protagonist's latest scene when an idea hits you. You no longer have to make notes! Just open the Dropbox file on your phone and enter the notes as you think of them, directly into the Scrivener wip file you are working on back home! The file in the office at work and on your creaky old laptop auto-updates too! Dropbox means that you can basically work on your #wips 24hrs a day and never lose track of your latest updates, whilst the whole book remains securely stored for you!

NewsletterFinally, I also managed to set myself up with a sign-up newsletter, again for free! Despite only releasing one short story as an ebook, I have a lot of books in the pipeline. I know I need to gather the email addresses of people who might well wish to buy my next release. I have over 7000 Twitter followers, but they aren't going to buy my next book once I release it - I need a list of people who will, and a simple means of sending them a newsletter to prompt them to do so.

MailchimpI've signed up to MailChimp***, permanently free if you have less than 2000 subscribers. If you get more than 2000, well you can jolly well start paying your own way. MailChimp suits me perfectly - I have added it to my blog (see above right), to my Facebook page and tweeted it. I can use this program for free until I have over 2000 subscribers! Then it'll cost you depending on the quantity of subscribers and quantity of monthly emails you wish to send them.



* Scrivener is one of those programs that writers toy with getting once they've heard of it, then swear by it once they've used it. It currently costs $40 US and is well worth the investment. Available for Mac and Windows, with a free trial! Just visit Literature and Latte for details.

** Dropbox will blow you away with its ease of use, functionality for writers and back-up security. Get yours here.

***MailChimp is free to use and a must have for any forward-thinking writer. Start collecting those emails now!

I hope my advice is food for thought for you? Is there anything else I should be using, or anything you need to know more about? Just leave me a comment below, thanks.