Michael Selden's Blog, page 6

New Giveaway Rules Coming

It seems as though GoodReads has decided to cash in on authors giving away books. Starting in January, and in addition to the cost of buying and shipping the books offered, authors will have to pay GoodReads about as much as the cost of the giveaway (for the standard "package") and almost 3-times the cost of a giveaway for a "premium" package.

Needless to say, I expect fewer giveaways through GoodReads, and I do not plan on participating.

What do the authors gain?

Apparently, the ability give away Kindle editions (something I already do through other mechanisms) and some of the GoodReads advertising features, which I tried in the past and yet resulted in zero—yes, zero—actual sales. So we will no longer have the option to purchase these separately. I have advertised GoodReads at my own cost when running giveaways in the past at places like Google.

Now maybe the new GoodRead ads are more effective these days—I don't know. I've tried all sorts of advertising schemes from different providers, like Facebook, Twitter, and a number of bloggers and on-line journals. To date, I have yet to see a single sale from these. Only Google Ads generate sales in a reliable and trackable way, and in that case the ads cost from 2 to 10-times the profit from the book sale, on average and at times much more.

I hope I have not inadvertently overstated the impact. If I have then I apologize and will correct this posting.

I always thought that giveaways should include ebooks—they're much easier to send and the direct cost to the author is zero. I run giveaways that usually have recipients in the UK, Canada, and sometimes Australia, and I've done separate giveaways to places like India. The postage cost for each book is—at times—2 to 3 times the cost of the book. These giveaways are not cheap, so adding (doubling or quadrupling) the cost with no added benefit will probably have a deleterious effect, starting Jan 9.

Pre-Christmas Kindle Edition Discounts Nov 26 to Dec 3

I’m running Amazon Kindle Countdown Specials on the following books, from Nov 26 to Dec 3——

United States, Amazon.com:

The Balance, Kindle Edition, is discounted from 2.99 to 99 cents

I AM Kindle Edition is discounted from 2.99 to 99 cents

United Kingdom, Amazon.co.UK:

The Balance Kindle Edition is discounted to 0.99 pounds

Bosworth Kindle Edition is discounted to 0.99 pounds

The Boy Who Ran Kindle Edition is discounted to 0.99 pounds

In the past, I experimented with a giveaway, but found that many, many copies were downloaded but never read. For me, this isn’t a money-making effort as much as an effort to get more people to read at least one of my books, as a sample. Keeping a minimum price (this is the least non-zero price I can charge at Amazon) at least ensures that those downloading the book may actually be interested in reading it.

All discounts Begin Nov 26 (Sunday) and end Dec 3 .

My author page at amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Selden... Kindle Edition Discount—Nov 26 to

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Growing Up Unafraid

These days, I’ve seen stories where parents are arrested (or ticketed) for allowing their children to play out of their sight, even 6 year olds.

 

In Panama City FL, I remember roaming the neighborhood and by the lake when I was probably still in diapers, and later—from age 3 (in 1961)—roaming the streets of post war (and the newly-divided) Berlin, with its bombed-out buildings. The kids there all spoke only German, but we still managed to play together, as we tried to learn each other’s language. “Wie heißt du?” were the first German words I learned. I remember seeing a young German man with long hair and asking him “Bist du ein Beatle?” Since I thought that any guy with long hair MUST have been one of the fab four. 

 

I think exposure to the constantly set of constantly-changing set of diverse worlds—cities, countries, states—and being thrown into new cultures as an only child helped me develop I also think it sharpened my memory. When you’re in a group of people and you’re 4 or 5 and translating for a gathering of adults, it forces you to concentrate, especially when your German isn’t all that good to begin with. I think I was blessed to be an Air Force brat, and an only child. Otherwise I would have had something comfortable and familiar on which to lean, and that might have made me complacent. In ever-changing circumstances you’re always either doing your best to swim in unfamiliar waters, or you’re left alone . . . . waiting . . .  This later gives rise to spurring imagination. Imagine, as a fairly young kid, sitting on an airplane for 18 hours—quietly. It makes you have to create adventures and stories in your head. It’s both good and bad being an “only”. You’re alone and yet you’re not, because as an only child your parents take you everywhere and your experience everything.

 

Naturally, I used to envy those kids who somehow—miraculously—managed to stay in the same house for years, or even more than just one year, or who attended the same school—with the same friends—for years. By the time I graduated High School, I’d attended 14 different schools, some good, some not so good, some tranquil, and some pretty violent. But it’s all a part of growing up, and growing.




 


I know that there are dangers out there for children in the world, and I knew about the dangers, even as a child. Personally, I think we hear more about the dangers today, not that they’ve grown so much in number. We hear everything today—again and again and again, since the so-called “News” only seems to be able to focus on one story at a time—endlessly. But my mom armed me—prepared me with warnings, and I was a fighter (or so I thought), ready to do battle. My parents would probably get the death penalty these days

Bosworth Kindle Edition Sale

September 29 - October 2 2017

Bosworth, a Coming of Age Paranormal Drama. The Kindle Edition is marked down to 99 cents over the 4 days around the weekend.

Bosworth is my 4th novel. This book contains middle grade themes but it suitable from age 13 on up to 100

Bosworth

I AM Epilog is being updated to help readers understand the ending

In the book I AM, I was deliberately vague about details at the end of the story—much more so than normal. I wanted to challenge readers to think through what had happened and to apply their own interpretation of events in the story, but I’ve seen that my intent wasn’t well communicated. I wanted to correct this a bit, and so updated the epilog of the book to help readers understand what happened.

In a few days (or hours), the updated epilog will automatically appear in your copy the next time your kindle library is synchronized. Unfortunately, paperbacks are not updated this way, but with I AM, most copies in circulation are Kindle editions—about 12 thousand copies. For me, this is one of the great things about ebooks—correcting errors and updating books in circulation is easy to do.

 

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THE PURGE— A short tale from The Balance

As I write the second volume of The Balance, I though I might offer a gift to those who’ve supported me and have read The Balance

 

The Purge is a short story set 18 years, or so, before the story of The Balance picks up. It is best read by those who have read The Balance, since having an understanding of the characters and of the Land help you to to make sense of the story and you’ll enjoy it much more

 

I am posting the entire story as a pdf file on my web site:

 

Click here to open story of The Purge 

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Amazon and the Ever Changing, Disappearing Reviews

Dear Beloved Readers (although you may be few, you are certainly valued)

 

I’m not sure exactly what’s happening on Amazon with respect to reviews. I used to get more reviews after releasing a book, but I’ve only seen one pop up for Bosworth, which was released in mid March.  In the meantime, GoodReads has seen 4 ratings and 3 reviews over that same period. It used to be that Amazon reviews outnumbered the GoodReads reviews.

I did get an email from a reader who was trying to post a review. She said that the process changed and that she needed to answer questions first. Unfortunately, I think this put her off adding a review.

In the meantime, I’ve seen the review count for I AM change. First it was 38 then it was 37 then it was 38 again and now it’s 37. Not sure why, not sure what’s happening. There is a review for I AM that was a 1-star because the software handshake between Amazon and that person’s device had an issue and the book didn’t download properly (It downloaded fine for the other 12 thousand free copies, I suppose). THAT review stays in place, even though it has nothing to do with the actual book.

I read that some authors are finding ways to “game” the reviews—not me, I don’t see it as being a worthy and honest undertaking.  I guess I’ll wait for the dust to settle.  In the meantime, I hope people who review on GoodReads are not put off by the updated Amazon process—funny, Amazon owns GoodReads, yet they don’t bother combining the reviews.

Update on current projects:

I’ve been slow to start the second volume of The Balance, although I still expect it to come out next year—I’ve been doing this for 4 years now and have published 4 books. I am writing a short story, a kind of prequel for The Balance, set 18 years before the story that takes place in Volume 1. The short story is called The Purge, and it recounts some of the experiences that Rebecca and Daniel had just before Phoebe’s birth. Chip Cheek has agreed to read through the short story, to provide editing and feedback, and I anticipate sending him the draft by July 10 of this year. The whole short story will be posted online, on my web site and on Wattpad for free. I’ll see if I can post it on GoodReads, too.

Well, today, I’m supposed to take my G 650 GS motorcycle down to Colorado Springs to get a new chain and sprockets and I’ll be getting back to the rebuild of my lower front deck for the rest of this week, but it won’t interfere with the writing, since I do that late at night—sitting in front of my Dell 30 inch monitor, hooked to my Mac Air notebook computer, with music playing in the background.

 

Have a great week and weekend!

Michael

 

#fiction #reviews #TheBalance #ThePurge #IAM

 

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Just 4 More Days Before Amazon Sweepstakes in Done

The Amazon Sweepstakes for a chance to win one of 50 copies of the Bosworth Kindle Edition ends May 22

https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/9896b2fb9eae43ca

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BOSWORTH AMAZON Sweepstakes

AMAZON is running a giveaway sweepstakes for a chance to win one of 50 copies of the kindle edition I am making available.

 

For details, click on this link:

https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/9896b2fb9eae43ca

Bosworth is a Coming of Age Paranormal Drama written for a young adult and older audience. The story is set in the fictional town of Bosworth in Orange County NY.

Jim and his imaginary friend, Bo the dog, have recently moved to Bosworth after his father was killed in an automobile accident. He’s still recovering from his own injuries and dealing with the psychological issues that plagued him as a young child. He soon learns that the town has a history of having children disappear, usually in the fall, and he has to struggle with a sense of isolation in the town while he deals with the loss of his father, and the town’s terror of the “Bosworth Monster”.

 

The contest will run from May 5 to May 22 and AMAZON will choose the winners from among the entrants when the sweepstakes is over.

 

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Sample Text

I post up to 10% of each nook I write on my web site:
michaelselden.com I do this because I want people to be able to read at least a portion of each book before deciding whether to commit to reading the whole thing.

Not every book matches everyone's taste, and although I've written 4 books now, each one is unique, often each has a different voice and definitely a different purpose.

Some of my books have a meaning aside from the story, in some cases this is hidden and in some cases, like The Boy Who Ran, it's mostly apparent, although even in that one I included light allegorical content.

But in the end a book should be judged on the story, how it's told and the characters and worlds created.

So, if you find you have some extra time, visit my web site and read the sample chapters.