K.B. Jensen's Blog
August 9, 2017
Painting With Fire is out on Audio!
Hey dear readers and listeners, Painting With Fire is out on audiobook on iTunes, Audible and Amazon! To read a Q&A with the pro narrator and see the book trailer visit:
http://www.paintingwithfirenovel.com/...
Thanks!
K.B.
http://www.paintingwithfirenovel.com/...
Thanks!
K.B.
March 22, 2016
Stage Fright, Hope and Excitement: Publication Day for “A Storm of Stories”
The. Book. Is. Out. I have released “A Storm of Stories” into the wild. You can get your hands on the book right now. I am giddy, excited and terrified.
You can find the print version of the book online at www.amazon.com/Storm-Stories-K-B-Jens...
The ebook is at www.amazon.com/Storm-Stories-K-B-Jens...
What will people think about the book? I know it’s a bad habit, but I read every single review for my first book, “Painting With Fire.” There are people who tell you that you are brilliant. And then there’s that one person out of a hundred positive ones who tells you that you should give up writing all together, that your characters swear too much and you suck. I’m not sure which is worse for a writer when you sit down at the keyboard. But what I do like is honest, heartfelt reviews and to feel like people connect with my writing and stories on a human level. I love it when people “get” my stories. I don't write to be alone.
I am hopeful. I am hopeful that people will understand that I know I’m bending grammar rules to make a more conversational tone in some of the stories shared. I am hopeful that people will buy my book and not steal it. (Long story, sigh.) It would be great if “A Storm of Stories” hits the bestseller list like “Painting With Fire” did in its category.
But most of all, I am hopeful that “A Storm of Stories” will mean something to the people who read it, that it will get them to think or see the world just a little differently.
If the book means something to you, do let me know, and please take a moment to write a review online at Amazon, Goodreads or elsewhere. I'll do my best not to read them... Thanks!
You can find the print version of the book online at www.amazon.com/Storm-Stories-K-B-Jens...
The ebook is at www.amazon.com/Storm-Stories-K-B-Jens...
What will people think about the book? I know it’s a bad habit, but I read every single review for my first book, “Painting With Fire.” There are people who tell you that you are brilliant. And then there’s that one person out of a hundred positive ones who tells you that you should give up writing all together, that your characters swear too much and you suck. I’m not sure which is worse for a writer when you sit down at the keyboard. But what I do like is honest, heartfelt reviews and to feel like people connect with my writing and stories on a human level. I love it when people “get” my stories. I don't write to be alone.
I am hopeful. I am hopeful that people will understand that I know I’m bending grammar rules to make a more conversational tone in some of the stories shared. I am hopeful that people will buy my book and not steal it. (Long story, sigh.) It would be great if “A Storm of Stories” hits the bestseller list like “Painting With Fire” did in its category.
But most of all, I am hopeful that “A Storm of Stories” will mean something to the people who read it, that it will get them to think or see the world just a little differently.
If the book means something to you, do let me know, and please take a moment to write a review online at Amazon, Goodreads or elsewhere. I'll do my best not to read them... Thanks!
February 4, 2016
New Book on Kindle Scout!
My new book, "A Storm of Stories" is coming soon. You have a chance to win a free copy, if you vote for it on Kindle Scout at
tinyurl.com/Vote4AStormofStories before 12 a.m. Eastern Feb. 5.
Kindle Scout is kind of like the “American Idol” for books. You vote on your favorites and they are considered for a publishing contract with Kindle Press. If the book is selected, you get a free copy. If it isn't selected, "A Storm of Stories" will be published by Crimson Cloud Media LLC in early 2016.
"A Storm of Stories" is a tale of love, craziness and impossibility. Barreling down a deserted rural Wisconsin county road in the middle of a whiteout, the last thing Julie expects is to hit a hitchhiker wandering around in the storm. With the car wedged in a snow bank and the inches piling higher on the dark, unlit road, Julie can’t escape a man who makes little sense. Stranded together in the freezing cold, the two tell stories to pass the time. From the Midwest, India and Denmark to Canada, they offer visions of lives and loves from young to old, far and wide. But as the hours blur together, and the snow and ice seal them in, it becomes less and less clear how their own story will end.
So far, hundreds and hundreds of folks have cast their votes. I appreciate your support. If you have a chance, visit www.kbjensenauthor.com to sign up for my newsletter. It's the best way to find out about my upcoming readings and events. Thank you!
tinyurl.com/Vote4AStormofStories before 12 a.m. Eastern Feb. 5.
Kindle Scout is kind of like the “American Idol” for books. You vote on your favorites and they are considered for a publishing contract with Kindle Press. If the book is selected, you get a free copy. If it isn't selected, "A Storm of Stories" will be published by Crimson Cloud Media LLC in early 2016.
"A Storm of Stories" is a tale of love, craziness and impossibility. Barreling down a deserted rural Wisconsin county road in the middle of a whiteout, the last thing Julie expects is to hit a hitchhiker wandering around in the storm. With the car wedged in a snow bank and the inches piling higher on the dark, unlit road, Julie can’t escape a man who makes little sense. Stranded together in the freezing cold, the two tell stories to pass the time. From the Midwest, India and Denmark to Canada, they offer visions of lives and loves from young to old, far and wide. But as the hours blur together, and the snow and ice seal them in, it becomes less and less clear how their own story will end.
So far, hundreds and hundreds of folks have cast their votes. I appreciate your support. If you have a chance, visit www.kbjensenauthor.com to sign up for my newsletter. It's the best way to find out about my upcoming readings and events. Thank you!
January 9, 2015
Betting on Book Bub
“Painting With Fire” is free again on Kindle from Jan. 9 to Jan. 11. This time, I'm advertising on Book Bub to 2,140,000 mystery subscribers. Yes, more than 2 million people will know about my book tomorrow… if they check their email.
If you love to read, www.bookbub.com is the cat’s meow. What is Book Bub you may ask, and why is it so cool? It is hands down one of the most awesome book discovery sites out there. If you haven’t subscribed to it, you are missing out. It lists deals of some of the best indie and traditionally published ebooks, as well as bestsellers. You choose which categories you like and get free and discounted books delivered to your email daily. I love good books so I love this concept. I’ve been a subscriber for a long time.
One of the neat things about it is it’s highly selective, so the books are worth reading. Getting featured on Book Bub is no easy feat considering they reject about 80 percent of the book titles that are submitted to them. I appreciate all the readers who have given my book such nice reviews and all the media outlets that have written about “Painting With Fire.” Thanks.
As for the results, time will tell. I haven’t had much time to promote my free days otherwise. I’ve got a good excuse. I’ve been gallivanting across southern India and I’m still jetlagged after an unexpected stop in China on the way back. More on that later… I’m going back to sleep.
To download the book, visit www.amazon.com/Painting-With-Fire-Art...
For more, visit www.paintingwithfirenovel.com.
If you love to read, www.bookbub.com is the cat’s meow. What is Book Bub you may ask, and why is it so cool? It is hands down one of the most awesome book discovery sites out there. If you haven’t subscribed to it, you are missing out. It lists deals of some of the best indie and traditionally published ebooks, as well as bestsellers. You choose which categories you like and get free and discounted books delivered to your email daily. I love good books so I love this concept. I’ve been a subscriber for a long time.
One of the neat things about it is it’s highly selective, so the books are worth reading. Getting featured on Book Bub is no easy feat considering they reject about 80 percent of the book titles that are submitted to them. I appreciate all the readers who have given my book such nice reviews and all the media outlets that have written about “Painting With Fire.” Thanks.
As for the results, time will tell. I haven’t had much time to promote my free days otherwise. I’ve got a good excuse. I’ve been gallivanting across southern India and I’m still jetlagged after an unexpected stop in China on the way back. More on that later… I’m going back to sleep.
To download the book, visit www.amazon.com/Painting-With-Fire-Art...
For more, visit www.paintingwithfirenovel.com.
November 19, 2014
My Story A Day Challenge
If I have been missing in action it is because I have been writing a lot lately. I have not updated my blog in several millennia. I keep telling myself I’ll Tweet tomorrow. Every day I’m writing for hours and I’m happy about it. I’m leaving the refrigerator empty, the dishes unwashed and the laundry in a huge, heaping pile.
As part of a workshop at the University of Chicago Graham School, I am taking a “Story a Day” challenge. You guessed it. I write a complete story a day, complete with beginning, middle and end. It’s really jumpstarting my short story collection, I must say. I’m making good headway. I have a feeling I’ll be at the 50,000-word mark on that book soon.
The challenge has been interesting to say the least. Some highlights so far.
Crying in a coffee shop. One of the things that I’ve found is that when you are writing this much you can’t avoid writing about certain things that bother you. The other day I was writing a story about my grandparents. I miss them. I started crying in the coffee shop and you know the funny thing? I didn’t care and nobody else did either. It was kind of liberating.
Writer’s block, what writer’s block? I always say that writer’s block doesn’t really exist, that it’s more like lazy writer syndrome. But the challenge has certainly helped with that as well. Gone are the excuses. Deadlines are a writer’s best friend. Writing has gone from the bottom of my to do list back to the top where it belongs.
The prompts have been a lot of fun. What the heck is a prompt, you may ask? It’s kind of like an assignment, or a little piece of inspiration. You get told to write about something and then you go from there. Pick a poem and write about it, pick an image of someone who inspires or repulses you, pick a smell and write about it, etc. In fact, the prompts have been so fun, that many of my writer buddies have asked me to forward them to them. I’m happy to oblige.
But the best part has been writing with my five-year-old daughter, hands down. The more I write the more she writes. In fact, I have to wrestle the computer away from her little hands. Her most recently project? An ABC book. I’m proud and a little frightened. What if she grows up to be like me?
For more, visit www.paintingwithfirenovel.com
As part of a workshop at the University of Chicago Graham School, I am taking a “Story a Day” challenge. You guessed it. I write a complete story a day, complete with beginning, middle and end. It’s really jumpstarting my short story collection, I must say. I’m making good headway. I have a feeling I’ll be at the 50,000-word mark on that book soon.
The challenge has been interesting to say the least. Some highlights so far.
Crying in a coffee shop. One of the things that I’ve found is that when you are writing this much you can’t avoid writing about certain things that bother you. The other day I was writing a story about my grandparents. I miss them. I started crying in the coffee shop and you know the funny thing? I didn’t care and nobody else did either. It was kind of liberating.
Writer’s block, what writer’s block? I always say that writer’s block doesn’t really exist, that it’s more like lazy writer syndrome. But the challenge has certainly helped with that as well. Gone are the excuses. Deadlines are a writer’s best friend. Writing has gone from the bottom of my to do list back to the top where it belongs.
The prompts have been a lot of fun. What the heck is a prompt, you may ask? It’s kind of like an assignment, or a little piece of inspiration. You get told to write about something and then you go from there. Pick a poem and write about it, pick an image of someone who inspires or repulses you, pick a smell and write about it, etc. In fact, the prompts have been so fun, that many of my writer buddies have asked me to forward them to them. I’m happy to oblige.
But the best part has been writing with my five-year-old daughter, hands down. The more I write the more she writes. In fact, I have to wrestle the computer away from her little hands. Her most recently project? An ABC book. I’m proud and a little frightened. What if she grows up to be like me?
For more, visit www.paintingwithfirenovel.com
August 26, 2014
How to Kill a Fictional Character
Killing a fictional character sounds easy, but it’s not. You develop this cast of characters in your head, spend hours, days, months, years daydreaming about them and then you decide one day, this person has to die.
How do you do it? Well, the ideas on how are pretty easy. Is it a gunshot? A stabbing? A terrible accident? A drowning. A poisoning? Cancer? A jump off a bridge? There are so many ways. It’s easy to figure that out. And every story needs an ending, but the writing about it, that’s the hard thing.
You sit down and force yourself to write it, even though it hurts. You try not to cry. I know, that’s silly, right, but the emotions have to be there for you to write about them. You feel that terrible feeling in the pit of your stomach, the fear the character feels is right there with you. You feel sad afterward, drained. You wonder if you’ve done the right thing. But strangely enough, even if you did, even if you know they had to die for the sake of the story, because that was their reality, you still feel like a murderer. You feel guilty.
So how do you live with that? Knowing that you’ve killed off an imaginary person you created? Well, you remind yourself that it’s just make believe. But the fact is all your characters are little pieces of you. In some ways it’s like sculpting a beautiful piece of art and then smashing it to bits. You do what you have to do even if it’s painful. You feel the fear, the anger, the grief, the pain and you write about them. You have to. Because if you can’t do that, if you feel nothing, it will ring hollow.
For more on "Painting With Fire" and my writing process, please visit www.paintingwithfirenovel.com.
How do you do it? Well, the ideas on how are pretty easy. Is it a gunshot? A stabbing? A terrible accident? A drowning. A poisoning? Cancer? A jump off a bridge? There are so many ways. It’s easy to figure that out. And every story needs an ending, but the writing about it, that’s the hard thing.
You sit down and force yourself to write it, even though it hurts. You try not to cry. I know, that’s silly, right, but the emotions have to be there for you to write about them. You feel that terrible feeling in the pit of your stomach, the fear the character feels is right there with you. You feel sad afterward, drained. You wonder if you’ve done the right thing. But strangely enough, even if you did, even if you know they had to die for the sake of the story, because that was their reality, you still feel like a murderer. You feel guilty.
So how do you live with that? Knowing that you’ve killed off an imaginary person you created? Well, you remind yourself that it’s just make believe. But the fact is all your characters are little pieces of you. In some ways it’s like sculpting a beautiful piece of art and then smashing it to bits. You do what you have to do even if it’s painful. You feel the fear, the anger, the grief, the pain and you write about them. You have to. Because if you can’t do that, if you feel nothing, it will ring hollow.
For more on "Painting With Fire" and my writing process, please visit www.paintingwithfirenovel.com.
May 27, 2014
Getting Ready to Celebrate
It’s time to party like it’s 1999, well kind of. My book launch party is this Sunday, June 1 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the IPaintMyMind art gallery in Logan Square in Chicago. If you are going, please RSVP at www.facebook.com/events/696914420347057/.
I’m jazzed to say the least. I can’t wait to see Alvin Black’s work, which will be on display. I love art and it’s the perfect setting to celebrate an artistic murder mystery like “Painting With Fire.” Tom, one of my main characters in the book, is an artist.
I’ve always loved art. I credit my Danish grandparents for dragging me to countless art museums and castles. Every inch of their apartment was covered in paintings and I used to spend hours staring at them, visiting them like old friends.
In the book, Tom is horrified to find Claudia living in an apartment with no art whatsoever when he moves in. “Nothing at all on your walls? How can you live like this?” he asks.
“What you’ve got on your walls is important,” he says. “Well, to me, at least, nothing’s more important than the art that speaks to your soul. It’s who you are.”
Maybe Tom’s a bit melodramatic, but what he says is true. The art you love is a reflection of who you are, and there’s something revealing about the art that speaks to you.
Speaking of speaking, I will be reading a passage or two from my novel, as well. I’ve gotten a bit shy in my old age so I’m not much of a public speaker. Everyone keeps telling me to picture everyone naked. At least I’ve got one thing going for me in that arena – I’ve got an imagination.
I’m jazzed to say the least. I can’t wait to see Alvin Black’s work, which will be on display. I love art and it’s the perfect setting to celebrate an artistic murder mystery like “Painting With Fire.” Tom, one of my main characters in the book, is an artist.
I’ve always loved art. I credit my Danish grandparents for dragging me to countless art museums and castles. Every inch of their apartment was covered in paintings and I used to spend hours staring at them, visiting them like old friends.
In the book, Tom is horrified to find Claudia living in an apartment with no art whatsoever when he moves in. “Nothing at all on your walls? How can you live like this?” he asks.
“What you’ve got on your walls is important,” he says. “Well, to me, at least, nothing’s more important than the art that speaks to your soul. It’s who you are.”
Maybe Tom’s a bit melodramatic, but what he says is true. The art you love is a reflection of who you are, and there’s something revealing about the art that speaks to you.
Speaking of speaking, I will be reading a passage or two from my novel, as well. I’ve gotten a bit shy in my old age so I’m not much of a public speaker. Everyone keeps telling me to picture everyone naked. At least I’ve got one thing going for me in that arena – I’ve got an imagination.
May 5, 2014
Is My iPhone Killing My Creativity?
Smart phones have snaked their ways into bathrooms, into bedrooms and in the middle of dinner conversations. “Psychology Today” even reports that some people text while having sex. But what do smart phones do to writers? What will smart phones do to a generation of daydreamers? Sometimes I feel like we are all part of a great, big social experiment.
A lot of the experts have raised flags about phones and creativity, but no one seems to have any hard numbers yet in terms of research. After all, how do you attach a number to creativity? How do you quantify great, big ideas that are never thought of?
What I can tell you is my smart phone has had a negative effect on my writing personally. I remember what it was like when I first moved to Chicago and I didn’t have one. I’d take the EL, snake through the North side with one arm wrapped around a pole, my other arm scribbling away on a notebook. Sometimes I was lucky enough to have a seat. I must’ve looked crazy but I wrote most of a science fiction novella that way. The city and its tall buildings were a backdrop to an imaginary world of decaying skyscrapers built of unbreakable glass. I don’t take the El anymore. I miss the sound and vibration as it rumbled down the tracks. I miss the writing and the daydreaming as I stared out the windows.
These days I take the bus or the Metra when I go downtown, but I almost never write on public transit anymore, even as the lakefront flashes before me, the tops of waves shimmering like diamonds. Why? Because I’ve got my head bent down reading my phone. I’m checking email, Facebook and the news.
But I have to wonder, has my phone stolen part of my ability to daydream? My patience? My imagination? If every moment is filled with a newsfeed, how do we ever have time to come up with original thoughts and dreams? Boredom is kindling. Without it, the sparks of imagination flicker out and die.
I realize I sound like an old lady wondering these things. “Back in my day,” I say in a shaky voice raising a crooked finger, “things were different, things were better.” Were they? I could sing the praises of my phone all day long. But the fact of the matter is it has stolen part of my ability to think casually.
Maybe I’m being melodramatic or a bit silly. After all, this is such a first world problem. But moving forward, I’m going to try to be more mindful of how I use my phone, rather than being so mindless.
And unlike some people, at least I don’t check my phone naked in the shower. I can still have my classic Eureka moments in the bathtub.
To check out the “Psychology Today” article, visit http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/r....
A lot of the experts have raised flags about phones and creativity, but no one seems to have any hard numbers yet in terms of research. After all, how do you attach a number to creativity? How do you quantify great, big ideas that are never thought of?
What I can tell you is my smart phone has had a negative effect on my writing personally. I remember what it was like when I first moved to Chicago and I didn’t have one. I’d take the EL, snake through the North side with one arm wrapped around a pole, my other arm scribbling away on a notebook. Sometimes I was lucky enough to have a seat. I must’ve looked crazy but I wrote most of a science fiction novella that way. The city and its tall buildings were a backdrop to an imaginary world of decaying skyscrapers built of unbreakable glass. I don’t take the El anymore. I miss the sound and vibration as it rumbled down the tracks. I miss the writing and the daydreaming as I stared out the windows.
These days I take the bus or the Metra when I go downtown, but I almost never write on public transit anymore, even as the lakefront flashes before me, the tops of waves shimmering like diamonds. Why? Because I’ve got my head bent down reading my phone. I’m checking email, Facebook and the news.
But I have to wonder, has my phone stolen part of my ability to daydream? My patience? My imagination? If every moment is filled with a newsfeed, how do we ever have time to come up with original thoughts and dreams? Boredom is kindling. Without it, the sparks of imagination flicker out and die.
I realize I sound like an old lady wondering these things. “Back in my day,” I say in a shaky voice raising a crooked finger, “things were different, things were better.” Were they? I could sing the praises of my phone all day long. But the fact of the matter is it has stolen part of my ability to think casually.
Maybe I’m being melodramatic or a bit silly. After all, this is such a first world problem. But moving forward, I’m going to try to be more mindful of how I use my phone, rather than being so mindless.
And unlike some people, at least I don’t check my phone naked in the shower. I can still have my classic Eureka moments in the bathtub.
To check out the “Psychology Today” article, visit http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/r....
April 25, 2014
An Ode to Hyde Park? Not Quite.
I keep getting asked if "Painting With Fire" takes place in Hyde Park, Chicago. The answer? It’s complicated. You see, in many ways, my novel is inspired by my neighborhood, its architecture, especially. You have to find inspiration somewhere. But in other ways, I have to say no, because I love my neighborhood and Hyde Park doesn’t have the body count or the problems that the fictional neighborhood in my murder mystery does. Overall, it’s a safe and wonderful place.
I admit, there is an old, abandoned church on Blackstone Avenue that definitely set fire to my imagination. Hyde Parkers may even recognize it in the book. I kept wandering by and wondering, what is going on inside that building? What does it look like inside? There is beauty in the ruins. I describe it in my book. I take a lot of liberties though and transform it into something completely different. So is it really about that church or that place? It’s only the beginning. It’s hard to describe the creative process. It’s a type of synthesis. You borrow a trait here or there and build something new. So is it really Hyde Park?
I do love this place. I love the fireflies at Promontory Point in summer dancing at dusk, the falcons and the green parrots sightings. I love long walks along the lake, how people nod or say hello on the lakefront path like they’ve forgotten they live in a big city. I love the mix of people, the way we all come together, the old hippies and the young ones, the University of Chicago intellectuals, young science museum buffs and the artists. I love the grand architecture and even the occasional street musician. How could I ever cast such a great place in a negative light?
The setting of any murder mystery novel is a dangerous place. And so I guess I have to trust my dear readers not to confuse fiction for reality and answer the question like I always do. Yes, it takes place in Hyde Park and no, it doesn’t.
I admit, there is an old, abandoned church on Blackstone Avenue that definitely set fire to my imagination. Hyde Parkers may even recognize it in the book. I kept wandering by and wondering, what is going on inside that building? What does it look like inside? There is beauty in the ruins. I describe it in my book. I take a lot of liberties though and transform it into something completely different. So is it really about that church or that place? It’s only the beginning. It’s hard to describe the creative process. It’s a type of synthesis. You borrow a trait here or there and build something new. So is it really Hyde Park?
I do love this place. I love the fireflies at Promontory Point in summer dancing at dusk, the falcons and the green parrots sightings. I love long walks along the lake, how people nod or say hello on the lakefront path like they’ve forgotten they live in a big city. I love the mix of people, the way we all come together, the old hippies and the young ones, the University of Chicago intellectuals, young science museum buffs and the artists. I love the grand architecture and even the occasional street musician. How could I ever cast such a great place in a negative light?
The setting of any murder mystery novel is a dangerous place. And so I guess I have to trust my dear readers not to confuse fiction for reality and answer the question like I always do. Yes, it takes place in Hyde Park and no, it doesn’t.
April 17, 2014
Giving It Away Free 4-17 to 4-18-14
Here I go again, with two more free days as part of the Kindle Direct Publishing Select program. My book, “Painting With Fire” will be free today, April 17, 2014 to tomorrow, April 18, 2014. Will “Painting With Fire” climb the charts and become a free bestseller once again? It made it to #27 on the top 100 free list last time. Is the promotion worth it? Only time will tell.
I must say I enjoyed my first free day. It was fun to watch the numbers climb. Writing is a lonely endeavor, so it feels good to share it with others. I had 6,000 downloads my first free day. I’m curious if I’ll get anywhere near that with round two.
In case you aren’t familiar with KDP Select, you basically sell your soul to Amazon for three months by agreeing to be exclusive in exchange for a handful of promotional free days. So you may ask me, what are the benefits of free days?
1. Exposure. Free days increase the number of people who’ve heard of your book.
2. The paid sales the next day. I don’t know how Amazon’s algorithms work but maybe it’s the “customers who bought this also bought” feature at work? Does anyone know? “Painting With Fire” was in the top 100 paid list for crime beating out books by Agatha Christie and Jo Nesbø last time the day after the free day.
3. More ratings and reviews. Not as many as I’d like, but still a nice little bump on Amazon and GoodReads. If you read my book for free or otherwise, please give it an honest review. Reviews help sell books.
What are the negatives of KDP Select?
1. You can’t sell the ebook on any other platform but the Kindle. That means no Apple, no Nook, no nothing while you are in the program. This hurts competition and is an annoyance to readers who don’t have the Kindle. Sorry.
2. You can’t send out free ebook review copies unless they are to professional reviewers. This means you can’t host an ebook giveaway on LibraryThing for example or send out a free ebook to amateur bloggers. You have to send out paperback copies. This is a handicap and I’m not sure what the benefit is to Amazon. I guess they make money off the paperback copies, but it doesn’t help me or them sell books if we can’t get the word out.
3. So many free books out there, you run the risk of getting lost in a sea of free books without some serious promotion. You have to wonder if people see the value in free books or just download them for the heck of it.
Overall, I obviously believe in the program or I wouldn’t be taking part. I don’t want to jinx my book, but I’ve got my fingers crossed. Here’s hoping that “Painting With Fire” gets some serious downloads today and tomorrow.
I must say I enjoyed my first free day. It was fun to watch the numbers climb. Writing is a lonely endeavor, so it feels good to share it with others. I had 6,000 downloads my first free day. I’m curious if I’ll get anywhere near that with round two.
In case you aren’t familiar with KDP Select, you basically sell your soul to Amazon for three months by agreeing to be exclusive in exchange for a handful of promotional free days. So you may ask me, what are the benefits of free days?
1. Exposure. Free days increase the number of people who’ve heard of your book.
2. The paid sales the next day. I don’t know how Amazon’s algorithms work but maybe it’s the “customers who bought this also bought” feature at work? Does anyone know? “Painting With Fire” was in the top 100 paid list for crime beating out books by Agatha Christie and Jo Nesbø last time the day after the free day.
3. More ratings and reviews. Not as many as I’d like, but still a nice little bump on Amazon and GoodReads. If you read my book for free or otherwise, please give it an honest review. Reviews help sell books.
What are the negatives of KDP Select?
1. You can’t sell the ebook on any other platform but the Kindle. That means no Apple, no Nook, no nothing while you are in the program. This hurts competition and is an annoyance to readers who don’t have the Kindle. Sorry.
2. You can’t send out free ebook review copies unless they are to professional reviewers. This means you can’t host an ebook giveaway on LibraryThing for example or send out a free ebook to amateur bloggers. You have to send out paperback copies. This is a handicap and I’m not sure what the benefit is to Amazon. I guess they make money off the paperback copies, but it doesn’t help me or them sell books if we can’t get the word out.
3. So many free books out there, you run the risk of getting lost in a sea of free books without some serious promotion. You have to wonder if people see the value in free books or just download them for the heck of it.
Overall, I obviously believe in the program or I wouldn’t be taking part. I don’t want to jinx my book, but I’ve got my fingers crossed. Here’s hoping that “Painting With Fire” gets some serious downloads today and tomorrow.
