Jason Matthews's Blog, page 9

Amazon Australia Added to Kindle Direct Publishing

Indie authors, check your KDP unit sales report on the dashboard today and see a fresh addition to the list of nations; Amazon Australia is now on the list of countries selling your Kindle ebooks (bottom blue line in photo). To think the Kindle was just introduced 6 years, November 2007, and now self publishers can sell via the retailer at so many countries with 12 nations reporting sales.

The list now includes: USA, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, India, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Australia. Soon to be added are many more including China.

Remember that English is the most common 2nd language in the world, so even if most of these countries are not native English speakers and readers, their numbers are growing and will soon be larger than those in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and others. Imagine your book taking off with readers in India.

Some people complain about Amazon becoming a publishing monolith taking over the world, but frankly this excites me. Amazon has done as much or more than any organization (like Smashwords has) for indie authors to succeed with dreams of sharing their writing with readers all over the world. The trend continues, which is great for people wanting to read the Aussie version of How to Make, Market and Sell Ebooks, for example. (Mental note, next book update to include Au–what an industry!)

This list should contain many additional nations in just a few more years. Exciting times for publishing.

Notice they haven’t added an Australian Author Central yet, but let’s keep an eye out for that coming soon.

Thoughts, comments, concerns? Please share.

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Carla King Self Publishing Boot Camp

Motorcycle adventure travel writer and self-publishing expert, Carla King, talks shop. Valuable info for writers–must see.

Amazon author pages:

http://www.amazon.com/Carla-King/e/B004FWBLQ6/

http://www.amazon.com/Jason-Matthews/e/B004A8W4BG/

http://www.amazon.com/Marla-Miller/e/B000APJYSE/

Websites:

http://www.carlaking.com/

http://www.thelittleuniverse.com

http://marlamiller.com/

G+ Pages:

Carla King – https://plus.google.com/114558707289062730402/posts

Jason Matthews — https://plus.google.com/+JasonMatthews/posts

Marla Miller — https://plus.google.com/104880672110890238358/posts

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Facebook Tip of the Day Your “Other” Folder

How often do you check messages in your Other folder on Facebook? What’s the other folder? you may ask, which was my response too. It’s next to your normal Inbox messages in the menu bar icon that looks like two quotes. Click on the icon, as for normal messages, and see how in a sneaky way it says “Other” in grey letters that are nearly invisible. Embarrassing but true, I just learned of this and feel like an idiot. 73 important messages were sitting there unbeknownst for over 3 years–your situation may be similar.

The “other” folder is a message bin (like a trash receptacle) for people who are not already your friend. You do not get a notification. Messages may be anything from spam to dear old friends trying to reconnect. For females, many messages will be clear come-ons. If you teach e-publishing, like me, most of these messages will be sincere questions from readers who bought your books, have a question and deserve a reply.

For many Facebook users, the “other” folder is where years of unseen emails exist. Being ignorant of this file is extremely common even with people who consider themselves somewhat “tech savvy.”

Duh, why don’t you just turn on the Settings to get Notified when someone who isn’t already a friend contacts you? Great question. It doesn’t appear possible as I’ve been pulling hair out on FB trying to do just that. There exists Basic and Strict filtering but no user-friendly control to get notified when non-friends leave a message. From FB help center: Typically, messages from other people will go to your Other folder, and you won’t receive a notification about them. (haha, and there’s nothing you can do about it either!)

At least there’s nothing that I know of. Perhaps some tech savvy responses will show a solution in the comments.

Long story short–check your “other” folder once a week until Facebook writes a few lines of programming code to fix this current and perplexing situation.

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August McLaughlin Sexuality-Body Image-Psych Thriller

Sexuality writer/activist August McLaughlin discusses sex, body image, eating disorders and more within her psych thriller, In Her Shadow. Join us live or watch later on YouTube via Indie Authors #66. Hosted by Jason Matthews and Marla Miller.

Amazon author pages:

http://www.amazon.com/August-McLaughlin/e/B00AQ2BWVI/

http://www.amazon.com/Jason-Matthews/e/B004A8W4BG/

http://www.amazon.com/Marla-Miller/e/B000APJYSE/

Websites:

http://augustmclaughlin.com/

http://www.thelittleuniverse.com

http://marlamiller.com/

G+ Pages:

August McLaughlin – https://plus.google.com/104563058840239983668/posts

Jason Matthews — https://plus.google.com/+JasonMatthews/posts

Marla Miller — https://plus.google.com/104880672110890238358/posts

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Amazon India and Readers Huge Impact?

Amazon India and the country’s ebook readers should be on your radar. Why? Sheer numbers and more. India has about 1.3 billion people, adding nearly one birth each second. Over 2/3rds of the population is under 35. It is also a nation embracing technology as you may know if you’ve ever had a technical support call for a computer problem.

“Yeah, but they mostly speak Hindi,” you might say. True, but English is the official 2nd language and dominates in higher education, national media, the judicial system and high-end business. English is extremely common in India with approximately 125 million speakers. The number of English readers is likely to be 2nd only to the United States and may become the #1 English reading nation in about a decade.

Retailers there are popping up quickly. Amazon.in has just joined the ranks with established companies like Flipkart and Snapdeal.

What’s a good way to network with India’s ebook readers? Get to know some book bloggers. I recently had the pleasure of asking questions to two bloggers from India: Dhivya Balaji and Shree Janani Sundararajan (pictured respectively below) of http://readmuse.blogspot.in/ and http://thepensivephoenix.blogspot.in/.

Dhivya and Janani are engineers by profession and book lovers by passion! Working as a software engineer and automation engineer respectively, we decided to do something we feel passionate about! Our idea started as a blog and blossomed into a complete review portal and it grew wings in various pages across various social networks. We are also freelance editors. Our blog features book reviews, author interviews, guest posts, blog tours and personal blog posts related to books.

How do you choose which books to review?

Dhivya: We review all books that have been requested. But personal reads are usually reviewed if only we have something to say about it. Or if the authors send us their ARCs (Advanced Reader Copy) and ask us to review, we do it. But mostly our preferences are based upon our favourite genres and popular books. Occasionally people ask us to review books and we oblige.

Janani: The plot, the writing and the popularity of the book are the main criteria. Otherwise I choose reviews based on request.

What goes into the decision?

Dhivya: First thing to look for is the summary of the book in its back cover. If the author can impress us in less than hundred words, most of the time the book could be interesting. But real sure fire ways are recommendations from friends and requests for reviews by blog readers, or authors.

Janani: I read the book back summary and decide if I should read the book. I then read the book and decide if it’s worth to be reviewed. If it is, I do it. My books are usually recommended by friends or are popular in the book lists or are ones that catch my eye. I vary my reading base and experiment various genres and review them if I like them.

(We initially started this blog by reviewing our favourite books. As a platform for expressing our views about books that we have read. But as time wore on, we started reviewing books based on author requests and reader requests. This is how our dynamic has changed).

Do you have a Kindle or e-reading device? What do you read mostly, print books or ebooks?

Janani: I prefer print books and never let a print book pass by without reading. But due to convenience issues, I do read e-books. They have slowly started gaining my respect and though I miss the feel of turning the pages, it is equally good to tap to turn pages! And the weight is less, too!

Dhivya: I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7”) that I use to read books. I have the Adobe Reader app and Aldiko e-Reader app to read PDF or ePub books respectively. I also use Kindle app for android.

What percentage of the books you read are in English? What percentage of those come from authors in the US or UK?

Dhivya: Almost ninety eight percent of books I read are in English. But sometimes I read books in my vernacular language. (On rare occasions, I read printed books in Tamil.) My favourite authors are from both US and UK. (Jeffrey Archer features in my shelf side by side with Jeffery Deaver and James Patterson.) But I started my reading habit with UK authors, and am a bit partial to them. But all these books are from authors of the old like Agatha Christie and Enid Blyton. My current favourites are US authors in terms of latest books.

Janani: I read only English books. I don’t differentiate between UK and US writers. I have never bothered to note that.

Which genres are most popular in India? Your personal favorite genres?

Janani: Romance seems to sell well apart from thrillers. My personal favourite is mystery, crime and thrillers.

Dhivya: Romantic comedies, thrillers and practical day to day sort of books seem to be popular in India. Books written by young authors and about casual stories are also hot cakes. See Chetan Bhagat and his writing style for further elaboration. My personal favourites could not be more different than the norm! I prefer thrillers, historical mystery books, medical thrillers and self narrated stories.

Where do you post reviews?

Dhivya: I post in our blog, in Amazon and my Goodreads page and any other forum if the author wishes so. (Only for the ARCs)

Janani: I post in our blog, my Goodreads page and Amazon.

(We also have a Facebook page and Twitter handle where we accept review requests and post reviews.)

Where do you get most of your books?

Janani: I usually get my books from my local library, as loan from friends, ARCs from writers and the local book shops.

Dhivya: I mostly buy my paperbacks second hand from a local bookshop (I have even penned down my experiences about this in the blog). If not, my second best source of books is loan from friends (my friend and co author of the blog is one main source!). The third source is Advanced Review Copies from authors, and finally, I try to acquire popular books online too.

How much is the Indian market embracing eBooks? Is Amazon the most popular source for online books in India? If not, tell us a bit about the others.

Dhivya: The Indian market has started gravitating towards eBooks. It has become fairly easier to read and more convenient to store many books in digital memory than carry paperbacks of the same titles! Also, the integration of reading apps in mobile devices means that you do not have to remember to carry the books with you! (How many times have I been frustrated after leaving a book back home, paused just in the most important point of the story? Nowadays that doesn’t happen!) Regarding retailers, Flipkart and Amazon seem to be doing well nowadays. (Amazon India, its advent was a real boon to Indians… They no longer have to worry about inflating dollar exchange rates!)

Janani: eBooks are catching up fast. Flipkart seems to be a major choice. After Amazon introduced Amazon India, people have started using it! The main reason being increasing dollar exchange rates. (Our answers are similar here because this is one thing we feel strongly about. And we are giving a fair market analysis based upon many experiences from our friends!)

What social media sites are most important to you?

Dhivya: Facebook, as it helps us promote our blog and spend our time with fellow readers of the world. Twitter (@ReadersMuse) because it gives us an opportunity to tweet our updates. Goodreads, since it helps us learn about new books and helps us connect with authors, and also keep track of the books we have read and are worth reading. Finally Google+ as it helps us connect with people in similar circles.

Janani: Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads. These are platforms that give us a chance to be heard and for others a medium to contact us!

Is the “Indie author” revolution affecting India like it is in the US?

Janani: Indie authors aren’t exactly the most popular folks in India. The reason being really simple. Various writers prefer to be publish their books for a publishing house which means better marketing and sales of their books. The promotions are more professional and the reach of the book is better. To quote a personal experience, I reviewed about 8 books of Indian writers in last 6 months. 7 books were published by some publishing house. 1 was self-published. The writer of that  book personally contacted me to review her book. That review got the maximum hits in our blog. Reason: She used to heavily for promos. But we found that the book could have been better packaged and publicized well if she had published it via a publishing house.

Dhivya: Indie authors are not quite popular with real book connoisseurs. And people who take books seriously. In our self experience, such books were not up to the standards. But the authors indulge in heavy promotions and though initial sales will be good, the book will not receive many recommendations. Therefore these are flares which burn bright but short.

What is the best way to request a review from you?

Dhivya: We give first preference to authors who send us paperbacks for review! It shows the dedication and the involvement of the author. We are also open to eBooks if this option is not possible. But the initial contact may be either via a personal message in Goodreads, or in our personal mail IDs or common ID. A comment/message in a Facebook page is also considered! But it must be noted that not all requests are turned to reviews (except for sent books. That time we make it a point to review it as soon as possible). And not all reviews are honey coated.

Janani: A PM in goodreads or a mail will do. Though I can’t assure I would give ‘good’ reviews or ratings! We would like to be point blank honest though we both have our own ways of putting things in perspective!  We have a time constraint and try our best to review all books possible. But it is a tough task managing popular books, user requests, and author requests and juggling our freelance editing work in addition to our day time jobs. So we have a pipeline schedule for posting reviews and interviews. We are also open to participating in blog tours and that consumes time too!

What should US authors know about India that they might not know?

Dhivya: Authors from the US make some clearly unintentional mistakes. No one holds these against them unless they are downright offensive or way off the facts. But what they must understand is, India is a vast country and is the most culturally diverse country. What is common practice in the northern part of the country will be a rare chance in the southern parts and vice versa. We also have many languages and many dialects coexisting in the single geographical area. Hearing about the country from a third person or even seeing one part of the country will not reflect on the rest of the nation or its people! Much like how an Indian will not be able to understand the nuances of US or the difference between California and New York, US authors must accept that Chennai is different from Delhi. (Plus there are the linguistic differences).

Finally, credit must be given to the technical advancement of the country. With the advent of computers and smart phones, and jobs across borders, Indians have started understanding and appreciating other cultures and are pruning their age old practices. This is, sadly, not noted by authors based in US. Regarding the market in India for their books, long drawn action books, or books with all blood and gore and very less story will never work well. What work best are books with more story and facts placed in the right order!

Janani: Showing India in a bad light or putting down things without verifying them will not help. Too much of boring action sequences or sci-fi stuff doesn’t see that well.

Thank you, Dhivya and Janani. I learned a lot from your responses and hope to hear from more India bloggers and readers. Please leave comments below.

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Indie Authors #65 Lynne Spreen Amazon Bestseller Dakota Blues

Coming of age for Mid-Lifers? Award winning author, Lynne Spreen of Dakota Blues, discusses her bestselling novel. Hosted by Jason Matthews and Marla Miller. Join us live or watch later on YouTube: Indie Authors #65 Lynne Spreen. Please share with writers, coming of agers and Mid-Lifers.

Amazon author pages:

http://www.amazon.com/Lynne-Spreen/e/B008MYC9Z0/

http://www.amazon.com/Jason-Matthews/e/B004A8W4BG/

http://www.amazon.com/Marla-Miller/e/B000APJYSE/

Websites:

http://anyshinything.com/

http://www.thelittleuniverse.com

http://marlamiller.com/

G+ Pages:

Lynne Spreen – https://plus.google.com/108093093727152582406/posts

Jason Matthews — http://gplus.to/JasonMatthews

Marla Miller — https://plus.google.com/104880672110890238358/posts

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7 Tips for Amazon Keywords and Best Selling Books

Best selling books are more likely to happen when authors use smart Amazon keywords. Are you using yours wisely to help strangers from all over the world find your books? Most authors are not because the whole metadata thing can be confusing. Think of it like this:

At bookstores, readers browse in sections where covers, titles and blurbs help them decide to inspect further.
Online, readers type phrases into the search bar where the most relevant books show up in the results (or the books Amazon thinks are most relevant).

Hence the need for great keywords. Obvious question: how to choose the best ones so the Search Engine at Amazon leads Browsers to Your Book? Here are 7 tips to help you select the best words and phrases plus a tutorial video at YouTube and the bottom of this post to follow along if you want.

1. Make a list of words customers might use in the search bar to find what they want to read that is also what your book is about. This is called relevance. You don’t have to worry about a search for your name or book title. Those results will do fine on their own. You want to focus on subjects in your book like “travel writing” or “young adult romance” or “dating for women” as examples. From Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP): Along with factors like sales history and Amazon Best Sellers Rank, relevant keywords can boost your placement in search results on Amazon.com.

2. Test these words at Amazon. How? Type them into the search bar slowly, one letter at a time and watch as prompts appear with words Amazon thinks you might be looking for in the search field. Example: if you type in R-E-I, the word “reincarnation” comes up immediately in the drop-down menu but it takes R-E-I-N-C before “reincarnation books” appears. This indicates to me that reincarnation is probably a better choice than reincarnation books if that is a major subject in your story.

3. Cross-test the words at Google Keyword Planner. Since Amazon’s search bar gives no data on how often a term is searched, it’s wise to check terms and similar ones with Google and see if one word or phrase is much more popular than the other. Back to our example–let’s say you wanted to add a term like “reincarnation books” along with “reincarnation” to your list of 7 keywords (or phrases) at Amazon. By testing similar terms at Google, wouldn’t it be nice to know the term “reincarnation stories” gets searched 40 times more often than “reincarnation books” does? Thus, you’d be wise to use reincarnation stories rather than reincarnation books.

Remember to try multiple ways of writing the same thing with slight variations like “psychic” vs “psychics.” The tutorial video below demonstrates this is great detail or watch it on YouTube.

4. If possible, adding keywords to your book’s title or subtitle will do more good than at any other location since the title is most influential on search results. For non-fiction especially, your title must be related to search terms. For fiction, this can be hard if you already have a title and are set on keeping it. Perhaps the title is Dawn’s Quest. A brief subtitle will help bunches with keywords that actually get searched like Dawn’s Quest: A Caribbean Mystery. Don’t feel like doing that? I understand–most of my fiction titles don’t have keywords either, but it makes the battle that much harder to reach the top.

5. Some Categories are linked with Keyword Requirements

The genres below are designed to be linked with keyword suggestions that help rank books in certain categories. Click on the genre to see some of the recommended keywords to rank your book in the top #100 of a specific category. (Notice the yellow highlight example for “new adult” as a keyword requirement for the broader category of Romance–New Age & College–New Adult.)

Romance
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Children’s
Teen & Young Adult
Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense
Comics & Graphic Novels

6. Implement these tips with examples from Amazon:

Useful keyword types

● Setting (Colonial America)

● Character types (single dad, veteran)

● Character roles (strong female lead)

● Plot themes (coming of age, forgiveness)

● Story tone (dystopian, feel-good)

7. Input your keywords with KDP Publishing.

KDP gives you 7 choices (see the highlighted area in the photo on left). It’s recommended to use short phrases, 2-3 words long but I also have good success with 1-word examples like “publishing,” “dogs” and “skiing.” Combine those with phrases like “sell ebooks online,” “children’s bedtime stories” and “extreme sports” respectively as examples to cover the bases. Think like readers who are searching by subjects they enjoy.

Finally, do not include these things:

● Information covered elsewhere in your book’s metadata—title, contributor(s),  category, etc.

● Subjective claims about quality (e.g. “best”)

● Statements that are only temporarily true (“new,” “on sale,” “available now”)

● Information common to most  items in the category (“book”)

● Common misspellings

● Variants of spacing, punctuation, capitalization, and pluralization (both “80GB” and “80 GB”, “computer” and “computers”, etc.). The only exception is for words translated in more than one way, like “Mao Zedong” and “Mao Tse-tung,” or “Hanukkah” and “Chanukah.”

● Anything misrepresentative, such as the name of an author that is not associated with your book. This type of information can create a confusing customer experience and Kindle Direct Publishing has a zero tolerance policy for metadata that is meant to advertise, promote, or mislead.

Don’t use quotation marks in search terms: Single words work better than phrases—and specific words work better than general words. If you enter “complex suspenseful whodunit,” only people who type all of those words will find your book. You’ll get better results if you enter this: complex suspenseful whodunit. Customers can search on any of those words and find your book.

Other no-no’s that might land you in trouble:

• Reference to other authors

• Reference to books by other authors

• Reference to sales rank (i.e. ‘best-selling’)

• Reference to advertisements or promotions (i.e. ‘free’)

• Reference to anything that is unrelated to your book’s content

Other tips:

● Customers are more likely to skim past long titles (over 60 characters).

● Focus your book’s description on the book’s content

● Your keywords can capture useful, relevant information that won’t fit in your title and description (setting, character, plot, theme, etc.)

● You can change keywords and descriptions as often as you like

● If your book is available in different formats (physical, audio) keep your keywords and description consistent across formats

● Make sure your book’s metadata adheres to KDP’s Metadata Guidelines.

This video tutorial goes through this in a step by step fashion.

If you have questions or comments, leave them in the comments section.

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Host Author Events like an Expert

Sonia Marsh does it all from Book Launches to Costco Signings to Movie Theater Premiers for her releases. Discover what Sonia Marsh  knows for making these things happen. Hosted by Jason Matthews and Marla Miller.

Amazon author pages:

http://www.amazon.com/Sonia-Marsh/e/B008T7TXOA/

http://www.amazon.com/Jason-Matthews/e/B004A8W4BG/

http://www.amazon.com/Marla-Miller/e/B000APJYSE/

Websites:

http://soniamarsh.com/

http://www.thelittleuniverse.com

http://marlamiller.com/

G+ Pages:

Sonia Marsh — https://plus.google.com/107973564503269399817/posts

Jason Matthews — http://gplus.to/JasonMatthews

Marla Miller — https://plus.google.com/104880672110890238358/posts

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12 Gift Ideas for Indie Author Merchandise Marketing

Just 98 days until Christmas. Time to think about gifts for cousin Sam even though you’d rather focus on marketing your books. Hey, why not do both? Indie author merchandise is a chance to demonstrate the same amazing creativity you put into characters, scenes, plot twists and narrative. Two birds, one stone, right? You wrote a great book–you can come up with great gift ideas.

Face it, as an indie you might benefit more by giving stuff away than trying to sell everything. Marketing is always wise and a tax deduction, so why not make gifts that advertise (in a cool way) or get yourself some items that display your message in front of a lot of people. Just beware of gifts that won’t be appreciated or used. Think fun.

12 gift ideas for merchandizing your books:

Book marks — yep, done a million times but still a good one and you might be able to pawn off a bunch at local bookstores or libraries.
Coffee mugs — again, pretty common but should get used. Might try taking a few to a local coffee shop and letting them sell mugs to customers.
Coasters — still with the drinks theme, and a chance to target the happy-hour crowd and pub owners.
Hats — bald guys like me absolutely must wear hats on sunny days and prefer a bunch to choose from. Target those on your list with less hair.
T-shirts — I’ve done this and the shirts made great gifts and actually got worn by friends and family for years. Make sure the shirts come out looking sharp and use quality products that will last and be comfy. Long sleeve or short is fine, but don’t skimp on low-grade cotton.
Car magnets or License Plate covers — (see above photo) pretty smart since this will get seen by thousands of people in time. Better for drivers in busy areas of course.
Stickers — another one I’ve done but can get surprisingly expensive. At least you can enjoy the thrill of sticking them in public places and running.
Greeting cards — on your ‘must buy list’ anyway. Merry Christmas and Happy Little Universe!
Coupons — gift free books to fans on your blog. Easy at Smashwords with Coupon Codes plus a great way to enlist readers and hopefully get some reviews.
Fridge magnets — most people could always use another way to hold up photos of kids and pets.
Playing cards — who wouldn’t like an extra set of playing cards? Erotica authors, think Strip Poker!
Calendars — great for those with multiple books or artwork from scenes within.

This list could go on and on. The idea is to think of anything fun, useful, worthwhile and hopefully cost-effective. Here are a couple of places to get almost anything on this list:

Zazzle – http://www.zazzle.com/

Vista Print – http://www.vistaprint.com/

Have another suggestion? Share it in the comments section.

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Amazon Kindle MatchBook Ebook-Paperback Package Deal

flickr.com/photos/kevharb/5180189333/

Buy the print-digital bundle and save, save, save!

Amazon Kindle MatchBook is for authors with both ebooks and paper books. The concept is smart, allowing buyers of the print versions to get a dramatically reduced rate on the ebook sale to go with their purchase. Reader gets paperback and ebook. Author sells paperback and reduced ebook together. Amazon sells both print and digital copies of the same book. Cha-ching! Sounds like a free bag of chips with a sandwich order.

The idea offers price incentive to purchase a new paperback or hardcover, which typically cost quite a bit more than their ebook counterparts. The idea also encourages digital reading to people who are used to buying print. Could it be aimed at converting traditionalists?

From the official announcement:

We are excited to introduce Kindle MatchBook, an innovative new program which enables you to offer your Kindle book at a discount when readers purchase your print book, so you can sell more books. It’s easy to enroll.

Here’s how it works:

Select your Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) title on your KDP Bookshelf and check the Enroll box for Kindle MatchBook on the “Rights & Pricing” page.
Set the discount for your book by choosing a promotional list price of $2.99 or less.
Save your Kindle MatchBook preferences.

By enrolling your book, you will be among the first to be able to take advantage of this new program. The Kindle MatchBook discount you select will not appear on Amazon.com until the program is fully launched in the coming weeks. We will notify you by e-mail as soon as your Kindle MatchBook discount is live. Your readers will soon have an easy and affordable way to read your book in both print and digital formats.

Bundling sales, a good idea to sell more books? What do you think?

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