Scott Nicholson's Blog, page 11
July 6, 2012
Summer Sizzler Sale: 99 cent ebooks
The Konrath Crouch Nicholson $ummer $izzler $ale
Most major ebook titles are on sale for 99 cents though Monday, July 9, for Kindle and Nook:
J.A. KonrathAmazon: http://www.amazon.com/J.-A.-Konrath/e/B000BCH4EM/BN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/J.A.+Konrath
Blake CrouchAmazon: http://www.amazon.com/Blake-Crouch/e/B001H6U8X0BN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/Blake+Crouch
Scott NicholsonAmazon: http://www.amazon.com/Scott-Nicholson/e/B001HCX30OBN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/Scott+Nicholson
Please tell your friends! Thanks.###
June 29, 2012
The Red Church - Ten Years After
Ten years after.
This month marks the tenth anniversary of the release of THE RED CHURCH, my first novel. And although I had some short story sales before then, I generally consider THE RED CHURCH the start of my professional writing career as well. Ten years. A lot of books. I'm torn between feeling like a worn-out geezer and a guy finally figuring out what he wants to do with his life, but the reality is I am probably in the "middle age" of my writing career.
Today, with the whirlwind of digital books, foreign translations, eBookSwag.com, and basically running a tiny enterprise as a mad-emperor/demi-god, I have a hard time remembering the freshness of that feeling of accomplishment. I can still remember receiving the phone call from the year before, when the editor told me he wanted to publish the book, and the subsequent search for an agent. I remember the careful planning I put into preparing for the book's release (which I outlined in a monthly series leading up to the book's publication--boy, how times have changed!) I can't remember much about my life at the time, although it was fraught with self-inflected personal troubles.
But the thing that stands out clearly is that feeling of writing the book, the way I entered that fantasy land and followed the story from beginning to end, walked in Ronnie Day's shoes (and ran, in some cases), meeting the peculiar folk of Whispering Pines. The book felt fresh when I typed it, felt fresh when it was published, and still feels fresh today. Perhaps that is why it is still my bestselling and most popular book, even after 10 years.
I'm not even sure how many copies have sold, but it's probably around 80,000 now--not a knockout bestseller but the Little Engine That Could (well, it was out of print and not on sale for half of its life...but that's another blog post for another day). It was a Stoker Award finalist (lost out to The Lovely Bones!), and an alternate selection of the Mystery Guild and in the Doubleday Book Clubs back when mail-order was a force more powerful than Amazon. It's been translated into Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Polish, and soon Portuguese and German. It's been around the block. It's been equally slammed for being a Christian novel disguised as a horror novel and a horror novel disguised as a Christian novel. It's inspired theological essays and critical analysis and a Bentley Little blurb, and the heady but rather commonplace Stephen King comparisons. Perhaps its greatest feat was impressing my daughter when she saw THE RED CHURCH on the Kindle charts ahead of Stephen King and C.S. Lewis...
THE RED CHURCH. Ten years, and I can still smell the dusty hay when I open that creaking church door...
I still feel the chill of the river fog laying low over the Appalalachian valley...
I still hear the rustle and slither of that shadow in the belfry...
Ten years after, I still live in THE RED CHURCH, and I always will.
###
DIALOGUE Blogtalk interview: Audio Archive, June 28
Free Scott Nicholson books on Kindle:June 28-30: Creative Spirit (UK edition only)June 29-30: Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 5 (Amazon UK only)June 29-30, July 1: Mad Stacks (Amazon US Amazon UK)
This month marks the tenth anniversary of the release of THE RED CHURCH, my first novel. And although I had some short story sales before then, I generally consider THE RED CHURCH the start of my professional writing career as well. Ten years. A lot of books. I'm torn between feeling like a worn-out geezer and a guy finally figuring out what he wants to do with his life, but the reality is I am probably in the "middle age" of my writing career.Today, with the whirlwind of digital books, foreign translations, eBookSwag.com, and basically running a tiny enterprise as a mad-emperor/demi-god, I have a hard time remembering the freshness of that feeling of accomplishment. I can still remember receiving the phone call from the year before, when the editor told me he wanted to publish the book, and the subsequent search for an agent. I remember the careful planning I put into preparing for the book's release (which I outlined in a monthly series leading up to the book's publication--boy, how times have changed!) I can't remember much about my life at the time, although it was fraught with self-inflected personal troubles.
But the thing that stands out clearly is that feeling of writing the book, the way I entered that fantasy land and followed the story from beginning to end, walked in Ronnie Day's shoes (and ran, in some cases), meeting the peculiar folk of Whispering Pines. The book felt fresh when I typed it, felt fresh when it was published, and still feels fresh today. Perhaps that is why it is still my bestselling and most popular book, even after 10 years.
I'm not even sure how many copies have sold, but it's probably around 80,000 now--not a knockout bestseller but the Little Engine That Could (well, it was out of print and not on sale for half of its life...but that's another blog post for another day). It was a Stoker Award finalist (lost out to The Lovely Bones!), and an alternate selection of the Mystery Guild and in the Doubleday Book Clubs back when mail-order was a force more powerful than Amazon. It's been translated into Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Polish, and soon Portuguese and German. It's been around the block. It's been equally slammed for being a Christian novel disguised as a horror novel and a horror novel disguised as a Christian novel. It's inspired theological essays and critical analysis and a Bentley Little blurb, and the heady but rather commonplace Stephen King comparisons. Perhaps its greatest feat was impressing my daughter when she saw THE RED CHURCH on the Kindle charts ahead of Stephen King and C.S. Lewis...
THE RED CHURCH. Ten years, and I can still smell the dusty hay when I open that creaking church door...I still feel the chill of the river fog laying low over the Appalalachian valley...
I still hear the rustle and slither of that shadow in the belfry...
Ten years after, I still live in THE RED CHURCH, and I always will.
###
DIALOGUE Blogtalk interview: Audio Archive, June 28
Free Scott Nicholson books on Kindle:June 28-30: Creative Spirit (UK edition only)June 29-30: Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 5 (Amazon UK only)June 29-30, July 1: Mad Stacks (Amazon US Amazon UK)
June 10, 2012
Free Kindle Books& Free Kindle UK books by Scott Nicholson
Here's my next round of free Kindle books and free Kindle UK books. Some of this will be free for the last time, so please tell a friend! (Kindle UK readers, just put "co.uk" in place of "com" to get the Amazon UK link).
June 11-12Cursed (Scott Nicholson, J.R. Rain)http://www.amazon.com/Cursed-ebook/dp/B004CYEV1O
Kiss Me or Die (formerly called As I Die Lying)http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041D88TW/
June 13-15Ghost Fire (Eve Paludan, Scott Nicholson, J.R. Rain)http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Fire-The-Files-ebook/dp/B0083CMIUC
The Skull Ringhttp://www.amazon.com/Skull-Ring-Julia-Stone-ebook/dp/B003980ELA
June 16-17The Harvesthttp://www.amazon.com/The-Harvest-ebook/dp/B0041G6LRK
June 18-20Ghost College (Scott Nicholson, J.R. Rain)http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-College-The-Files-ebook/dp/B004PLNQ92
Disintegrationhttp://www.amazon.com/Disintegration-A-Mystery-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0048EL5M6###
June 11-12Cursed (Scott Nicholson, J.R. Rain)http://www.amazon.com/Cursed-ebook/dp/B004CYEV1O
Kiss Me or Die (formerly called As I Die Lying)http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041D88TW/
June 13-15Ghost Fire (Eve Paludan, Scott Nicholson, J.R. Rain)http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Fire-The-Files-ebook/dp/B0083CMIUC
The Skull Ringhttp://www.amazon.com/Skull-Ring-Julia-Stone-ebook/dp/B003980ELA
June 16-17The Harvesthttp://www.amazon.com/The-Harvest-ebook/dp/B0041G6LRK
June 18-20Ghost College (Scott Nicholson, J.R. Rain)http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-College-The-Files-ebook/dp/B004PLNQ92
Disintegrationhttp://www.amazon.com/Disintegration-A-Mystery-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0048EL5M6###
Free Kindle Books by Scott Nicholson
Here's my next round of free Kindle books. Some of this will be free for the last time, so please tell a friend! (UK readers, just put "co.uk" in place of "com" to get the Amazon UK link).
June 11-12Cursed (Scott Nicholson, J.R. Rain)http://www.amazon.com/Cursed-ebook/dp/B004CYEV1O
Kiss Me or Die (formerly called As I Die Lying)http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041D88TW/
June 13-15Ghost Fire (Eve Paludan, Scott Nicholson, J.R. Rain)http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Fire-The-Files-ebook/dp/B0083CMIUC
The Skull Ringhttp://www.amazon.com/Skull-Ring-Julia-Stone-ebook/dp/B003980ELA
June 16-17The Harvesthttp://www.amazon.com/The-Harvest-ebook/dp/B0041G6LRK
June 18-20Ghost College (Scott Nicholson, J.R. Rain)http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-College-The-Files-ebook/dp/B004PLNQ92
Disintegrationhttp://www.amazon.com/Disintegration-A-Mystery-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0048EL5M6###
June 11-12Cursed (Scott Nicholson, J.R. Rain)http://www.amazon.com/Cursed-ebook/dp/B004CYEV1O
Kiss Me or Die (formerly called As I Die Lying)http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041D88TW/
June 13-15Ghost Fire (Eve Paludan, Scott Nicholson, J.R. Rain)http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Fire-The-Files-ebook/dp/B0083CMIUC
The Skull Ringhttp://www.amazon.com/Skull-Ring-Julia-Stone-ebook/dp/B003980ELA
June 16-17The Harvesthttp://www.amazon.com/The-Harvest-ebook/dp/B0041G6LRK
June 18-20Ghost College (Scott Nicholson, J.R. Rain)http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-College-The-Files-ebook/dp/B004PLNQ92
Disintegrationhttp://www.amazon.com/Disintegration-A-Mystery-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0048EL5M6###
June 9, 2012
Kiss Me or Die: Reconstructing a failed ebook
The digital age is one of great experimentation. And I've experimented wildly. I've re-edited texts, added alternate endings, changed cover art multiple times, and even changed titles,
all while the book remains on sale!
My rule of thumb is, if something isn't working for readers, it's either because (a) the work sucks, which is probably the right answer but not the one I can do much about, or (b) the presentation is off. And I can do something about (b).
Sometimes the changes work, such as with
The Harvest
, originally published in paperback and given its title by the publisher in 2003. I never cared much for the title, which I thought was generic, so when I re-released it as an ebook, I called it Forever Never Ends, one of my original working titles for the manuscript, which was based on a song I'd written in a previous life. But the title and cover art veered from the book's real personality--which is a sci-fi/horror B-movie in text. When I finally went back to the publisher's title and gave it B-movie art, it found its audience (hit #1 in horror in the UK) and has gone on to fairly steady sales.
I changed covers for
Disintegration
, even though it was a Top 30 Kindle bestseller, and I even added a new ending (leaving the original as an alternate ending if people wanted to read it.) The new ending isn't a betrayal of the narrative, but rather a slightly less cynical view which better allows the readers to get what they want out of it. The book saved my sanity while I wrote it and was the bestseller that allowed me to make the move to full-time writing, so I am grateful. But I still changed the cover!
My latest re-imagining of failure is Kiss Me or Die. That is the original title of the first novel I ever wrote (not counting a Vonnegut knockoff in high school). But when I published it, I tried to get clever and call it
As I Die Lying,
punning on the Faulkner title. But people confused my book with the Faulkner book (I've never written anything remotely close to a Faulkner sentence--the only thing we have in common as writers is English, and that only barely), and I was too clever by half. Even my cheesy cover with the scantily clad woman (a sad ploy to cash in on the John Locke era) didn't work, nor the previous freaky cover that employed fractals and eyeballs. I was overreaching. What I was probably trying to do was scare readers away--"This book is too tricky for you."
But a book without readers is no book at all. It was so much my first love that I couldn't admit to the ugly. So I gave it a more conventional thriller cover, retitled it, and banged it back out there. As of this writing, it is still grinding through the Amazon KDP platform, so everything isn't matched up--but since the file is overwriting the existing one, no buyers or readers will be able to get it under the new title if they already own it--so I won't be inadvertently tricking anyone (the product description also notes the original title).
Changing titles is a last resort, something I only do if a project is headed for oblivion before its natural time. I don't know if Kiss Me or Die works (I used the art for a German short story, too), but with nothing to lose, I am spinning the roulette wheel. The digital age is ever moving, and ebooks are living things. And to those who liked an earlier cover better, all I can say is, "You had your chance to tell 10,000 friends to buy it!"
Of course, if this incarnation fails, this conversation never happened. If you don't love me, you die. Not much gray area there.
###
Are you an author? EbokSwag is offering two days of displaying your book if you run the eBookSwag badge for a month. Details at http://ebookswag.com/monthly-promotion/. Readers, eBookSwag holds ongoing giveaways of Kindle Fires, signed books, Kindle covers, gift cards, and more, and you can enter daily!
My rule of thumb is, if something isn't working for readers, it's either because (a) the work sucks, which is probably the right answer but not the one I can do much about, or (b) the presentation is off. And I can do something about (b).
Sometimes the changes work, such as with
The Harvest
, originally published in paperback and given its title by the publisher in 2003. I never cared much for the title, which I thought was generic, so when I re-released it as an ebook, I called it Forever Never Ends, one of my original working titles for the manuscript, which was based on a song I'd written in a previous life. But the title and cover art veered from the book's real personality--which is a sci-fi/horror B-movie in text. When I finally went back to the publisher's title and gave it B-movie art, it found its audience (hit #1 in horror in the UK) and has gone on to fairly steady sales.
I changed covers for
Disintegration
, even though it was a Top 30 Kindle bestseller, and I even added a new ending (leaving the original as an alternate ending if people wanted to read it.) The new ending isn't a betrayal of the narrative, but rather a slightly less cynical view which better allows the readers to get what they want out of it. The book saved my sanity while I wrote it and was the bestseller that allowed me to make the move to full-time writing, so I am grateful. But I still changed the cover!
My latest re-imagining of failure is Kiss Me or Die. That is the original title of the first novel I ever wrote (not counting a Vonnegut knockoff in high school). But when I published it, I tried to get clever and call it
As I Die Lying,
punning on the Faulkner title. But people confused my book with the Faulkner book (I've never written anything remotely close to a Faulkner sentence--the only thing we have in common as writers is English, and that only barely), and I was too clever by half. Even my cheesy cover with the scantily clad woman (a sad ploy to cash in on the John Locke era) didn't work, nor the previous freaky cover that employed fractals and eyeballs. I was overreaching. What I was probably trying to do was scare readers away--"This book is too tricky for you." 
But a book without readers is no book at all. It was so much my first love that I couldn't admit to the ugly. So I gave it a more conventional thriller cover, retitled it, and banged it back out there. As of this writing, it is still grinding through the Amazon KDP platform, so everything isn't matched up--but since the file is overwriting the existing one, no buyers or readers will be able to get it under the new title if they already own it--so I won't be inadvertently tricking anyone (the product description also notes the original title).Changing titles is a last resort, something I only do if a project is headed for oblivion before its natural time. I don't know if Kiss Me or Die works (I used the art for a German short story, too), but with nothing to lose, I am spinning the roulette wheel. The digital age is ever moving, and ebooks are living things. And to those who liked an earlier cover better, all I can say is, "You had your chance to tell 10,000 friends to buy it!"
Of course, if this incarnation fails, this conversation never happened. If you don't love me, you die. Not much gray area there.
###
Are you an author? EbokSwag is offering two days of displaying your book if you run the eBookSwag badge for a month. Details at http://ebookswag.com/monthly-promotion/. Readers, eBookSwag holds ongoing giveaways of Kindle Fires, signed books, Kindle covers, gift cards, and more, and you can enter daily!
June 7, 2012
Thank you, Ray Bradbury
Today Ray Bradbury is a trending topic on the social media and news sites, which may be the greatest testament to the man's status as an enduring, timeless legend. Others can speak more eloquently about Bradbury's place in making pulp fiction respectable, in combining imagination with the highest literary values, and inspiring thousands and thousands of other writers. All I have is my personal experience.
It was in grade school, one of those English classes that are usually torture because you have to read dull stuff by people several centuries dead whose lives have nothing in common with yours. And somehow the reading text delivered this magical little story called "All Summer in a Day." It was one of the very first stories that touched me with the poignancy of existence. The other stories were vaguely affirming and comforting, or simply not real stories at all, leaving you in the same place you where when you started.
I didn't understand the story's mood at the time. I wasn't emotionally sophisticated nor creatively mature enough to catch even a glimmer of the truth and genius behind it. All I knew was it affected me and I thought about it a lot. What a revelation--every story didn't have to have a happy ending tied up in a neat bow! Because, even at that tender age, I understood that life didn't have a whole lot of happy endings.
And I suspect it must have had a great influence on the other kinds of stories I would soon seek out. Poignancy is a rare mood among the arts, especially modern arts. It is often replaced with by-the-numbers tugs of the heartstrings, explosive special effects and gimmicks, or senseless violence. Stories with quiet power are as rare as Margot's summer day in the story.
Best of all, the story is pretty much the same today as then, as it will be two hundred years from now. I don't know its copyright status, and now is not the time to scowl over digital distribution of someone's work, so here is a link if you want to read it. A story is ultimately made to be shared.
Ray Bradbury is really the only writer I ever wanted to meet. That never happened, but I met him just the same, in his words and ideas. Now I'm off to dig up some of my tattered Bradbury paperbacks and get lost in forever.
--------
Are you an author? EbokSwag is offering two days of displaying your book if you run the eBookSwag badge for a month. Details at http://ebookswag.com/monthly-promotion/. Readers, eBookSwag holds ongoing giveaways of Kindle Fires, signed books, Kindle covers, gift cards, and more, and you can enter daily!
It was in grade school, one of those English classes that are usually torture because you have to read dull stuff by people several centuries dead whose lives have nothing in common with yours. And somehow the reading text delivered this magical little story called "All Summer in a Day." It was one of the very first stories that touched me with the poignancy of existence. The other stories were vaguely affirming and comforting, or simply not real stories at all, leaving you in the same place you where when you started.I didn't understand the story's mood at the time. I wasn't emotionally sophisticated nor creatively mature enough to catch even a glimmer of the truth and genius behind it. All I knew was it affected me and I thought about it a lot. What a revelation--every story didn't have to have a happy ending tied up in a neat bow! Because, even at that tender age, I understood that life didn't have a whole lot of happy endings.
And I suspect it must have had a great influence on the other kinds of stories I would soon seek out. Poignancy is a rare mood among the arts, especially modern arts. It is often replaced with by-the-numbers tugs of the heartstrings, explosive special effects and gimmicks, or senseless violence. Stories with quiet power are as rare as Margot's summer day in the story.
Best of all, the story is pretty much the same today as then, as it will be two hundred years from now. I don't know its copyright status, and now is not the time to scowl over digital distribution of someone's work, so here is a link if you want to read it. A story is ultimately made to be shared.
Ray Bradbury is really the only writer I ever wanted to meet. That never happened, but I met him just the same, in his words and ideas. Now I'm off to dig up some of my tattered Bradbury paperbacks and get lost in forever.
--------
Are you an author? EbokSwag is offering two days of displaying your book if you run the eBookSwag badge for a month. Details at http://ebookswag.com/monthly-promotion/. Readers, eBookSwag holds ongoing giveaways of Kindle Fires, signed books, Kindle covers, gift cards, and more, and you can enter daily!
May 29, 2012
Where are my Kindle millions?
Well, my goal to give away a million Kindle books may be running on fumes, as two not-unexpected developments have me bogged down past the three-quarters-million mark. (There was an old running joke spawned by Lee Goldberg riffing J.A. Konrath about "Kindle millions" until people actually started becoming Kindle millionaires...)
First, the KDP Select program of Amazon has gone through its natural cycle--early pioneers get great results, word gets back to the others, the Gold Rush turns into a stampede, and the hills are prospected into tiny mounds of pebbles Part of it is Amazon's ever-changing algorithms that no longer give a huge rankings bounce to indies, and part is the sheer glut of free books that results when authors are repeatedly making 130,000 books free. This has all been written about far more ably and in depth by others (Kindleboards is a great resource if you're interested), but I figured the jig would be up by summer one way or another.
The second challenge is also fairly obvious: most of the people interested in my free books got them the first second, and sometimes third times I made them temporarily free for Kindle. So I will be leaving a lot of free days unused , and some books will no longer be free even if they still have some promo days left. I already have all my short story collections and some other properties out of Select and back in Nook, iTunes, Kobo, etc.
BUT....
I still want to reach the million-copy goal, so feel free to share my current roster of upcoming freebies! And if you read any of my free books and liked them, please leave a review to help both me and future readers. And if you hated them, why are you reading my blog? Heh.
Also drop in on eBookSwag.com, where we're giving away five $25 gift cards and an Oberon Kindle cover this week!
Scott Nicholson free books
May 29-May 30The Dead Love LongerParanormal mysteryhttp://www.amazon.com/The-Dead-Love-Longer-ebook/dp/B004LROVS0(UK:) http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Dead-Love-Longer-ebook/dp/B004LROVS0
May 30-June 1October Girls(YA paranormal)http://www.amazon.com/October-fantasy-paranormal-romance-ebook/dp/B00433TD0Ihttp://www.amazon.co.uk/October-fantasy-paranormal-romance-ebook/dp/B00433TD0I
May 31-June 2:Speed Dating with the Deadhttp://www.amazon.com/Speed-Dating-Dead-ebook/dp/B003TZLWTG(UK:) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Speed-Dating-Dead-ebook/dp/B003TZLWTG
June 2-June 4Burial to Follow(supernatural horror)http://www.amazon.com/Burial-To-Follow-ebook/dp/B0031RHNZYUK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Burial-To-Follow-ebook/dp/B0031RHNZY
June 2-June 4Creative Spirit(supernatural thriller)http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Spirit-ebook/dp/B006HKLNAI(UK:) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Spirit-ebook/dp/B006HKLNAI
June 8-10Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 4Thriller/horror box sethttp://www.amazon.com/Scott-Nicholson-Library-Boxed-ebook/dp/B006AF8UWE(UK:) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scott-Nicholson-Library-Boxed-ebook/dp/B006AF8UWE
###
First, the KDP Select program of Amazon has gone through its natural cycle--early pioneers get great results, word gets back to the others, the Gold Rush turns into a stampede, and the hills are prospected into tiny mounds of pebbles Part of it is Amazon's ever-changing algorithms that no longer give a huge rankings bounce to indies, and part is the sheer glut of free books that results when authors are repeatedly making 130,000 books free. This has all been written about far more ably and in depth by others (Kindleboards is a great resource if you're interested), but I figured the jig would be up by summer one way or another.The second challenge is also fairly obvious: most of the people interested in my free books got them the first second, and sometimes third times I made them temporarily free for Kindle. So I will be leaving a lot of free days unused , and some books will no longer be free even if they still have some promo days left. I already have all my short story collections and some other properties out of Select and back in Nook, iTunes, Kobo, etc.
BUT....
I still want to reach the million-copy goal, so feel free to share my current roster of upcoming freebies! And if you read any of my free books and liked them, please leave a review to help both me and future readers. And if you hated them, why are you reading my blog? Heh.
Also drop in on eBookSwag.com, where we're giving away five $25 gift cards and an Oberon Kindle cover this week!
Scott Nicholson free books
May 29-May 30The Dead Love LongerParanormal mysteryhttp://www.amazon.com/The-Dead-Love-Longer-ebook/dp/B004LROVS0(UK:) http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Dead-Love-Longer-ebook/dp/B004LROVS0
May 30-June 1October Girls(YA paranormal)http://www.amazon.com/October-fantasy-paranormal-romance-ebook/dp/B00433TD0Ihttp://www.amazon.co.uk/October-fantasy-paranormal-romance-ebook/dp/B00433TD0I
May 31-June 2:Speed Dating with the Deadhttp://www.amazon.com/Speed-Dating-Dead-ebook/dp/B003TZLWTG(UK:) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Speed-Dating-Dead-ebook/dp/B003TZLWTG
June 2-June 4Burial to Follow(supernatural horror)http://www.amazon.com/Burial-To-Follow-ebook/dp/B0031RHNZYUK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Burial-To-Follow-ebook/dp/B0031RHNZY
June 2-June 4Creative Spirit(supernatural thriller)http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Spirit-ebook/dp/B006HKLNAI(UK:) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Spirit-ebook/dp/B006HKLNAI
June 8-10Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 4Thriller/horror box sethttp://www.amazon.com/Scott-Nicholson-Library-Boxed-ebook/dp/B006AF8UWE(UK:) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scott-Nicholson-Library-Boxed-ebook/dp/B006AF8UWE
###
May 16, 2012
Ads in eBooks
Ads in EbooksBy Scott Nicholson(Originally posted at Murderati)
I’ve gotten out of the “writer babble” business for two reasons: (1) I don’t know as much as I thought I did, and (2) it’s all changing so fast that even the boldest predictions of digital evolution quickly become laughable.
I don’t even use traditional publishing as a reference point anymore, because that is so far removed from most writers’ realities that it may as well be Shangri-la or Hollywood. The indie vs. trad debate is now only meaningful for a small group of people, and they are all making way more money than you or me.
So you are in it, and if you are lucky, you made a nice little nest egg back when everyone was standing on the sidelines deciding whether indie was the way to go. Hopefully, you shook off the intellectual shackles that chained us to the agent speed-dating sessions at writing conferences and were hammered and locked into place by “publishing experts” with 20-year writing careers in the old system. You know the mantras: “Get an agent,” “Only hacks self-publish,” and “You can’t produce and distribute a book without the advice of publishing experts.” Basically, ego affirmation. Of course the experts didn’t want to lose their position of authority (and in the agents’ case, the intermediary status of being the first in line to get checks.)
But the gate was left open and the horses all got out of the barn, or something like that (come up with your own gatekeeper metaphor; I am writing this for free!) So now we have a market where the 99-cent ebook had a year’s run, and the pool was finally beginning to find stratification (crappy books sinking, good books nailing stable plateaus) when Amazon unleashed the latest version of indie roulette—the free ebook.
I'm on record as predicting the flat-text e-book era has an outside range of five years, at least for fiction—specialized non-fiction and manuals will continue to be valuable for their content alone. I believe e-book sales will continue, but certainly not with expanding profits for all involved. Now that there are thousands of free Kindle books available every single day, how long before readers come to expect and even demand free books exclusively?
Freebie roulette. Great for readers. Good for Amazon (maybe in the short term, but it is hard to figure the long term). Terrible for authors.
The market is diverse enough to support many different price tiers, but writers who want to survive in 2015 will need to make money off of free books, or they will soon quit writing.
I only see one outcome: ad-supported or sponsored books. At first blush, you'd think N.Y. has an advantage, since Madison Avenue is right there. But can corporations, with their large structures, be able to compete when indie or smaller entities can react more quickly to present conditions instead of protecting some imagined status quo?
J.K. Rowling can inspire a Pottermore built around her brand, and James Patterson, Tom Clancy, and Clive Cussler have already built factories around their names (and, yes, V.C. Andrews, you can roll over in your grave two or three more times for all I care, because this is all your fault). But most of us are not factories or we wouldn’t have to indie publish.
This points out the new era of the branded writer. And not just "writer," but "content creator" and even mere "idea marketer." A personality is more suited to building brand identification and audience than a publisher is. I say "James Patterson" and you get an image. I say "Random House" and what do you get? Randomness. We've seen it here locally: "Ray's Weather" is where you check the weather and "Todd's Calendar" is where you click to find what's happening in the region—and both are ad supported. You can get the free content elsewhere but you don't get the human personality attached.
I'm already experimenting with the ad model because I believe it is viable. I am counting on Idea Marketing being one of my foundational pillars. I am not quite sure what it all looks like right now, but I look at it this way—you don't need NY in order to give away tons of free e-books or to spread an idea or to build a social platform. You are the idea you want to spread.
Other authors will say “I’ll never sell out.” (Ironically, those are usually the authors who have given most of their incomes to agents and publishers…) I don't blame people for sticking with what worked in the past. It all goes to how invested you are in a certain system and how the alternative looks, and, of course, the turf where you’ve staked out your ego. Publishing-industry talk on e-books uses phrases like "managing risk" and "cautious adaptation." That is why those of us in the trenches knew Barnes & Noble was in serious trouble when most in the “publishing industry” only realized it recently when BN’s horrifyingly bad third-quarter reports came in. They are working off of old data while I work off the data I got an hour ago.
And my data says this may be the very peak of the Golden Age of digital publishing. The $9.99 novel may be dead this year, since three-quarters of the current bestsellers are low-priced indie books. As fast as major publishers yank their name-brand authors out of digital libraries, 10 new indies cram into that virtual shelf space. Maybe forever. James Patterson’s factory can’t run on $2.99 ebooks, but mine can.
But what happens when the $2.99 and 99 cents drop to permanently free? Where’s your sponsor? Are you willing to go there? It's not going to be as clumsy as an image of a refreshing Bud Lite popping up when the main character enters a bar (though it's not unthinkable at some point.) Can you see Jack Reacher with a favorite brand of soft drink, or Bella Swan wearing only Calvin Klein? At what point is your willing suspension of disbelief shattered? At what point do you realize the ad is the only reason the book can exist at all?
My informal polling on ad-supported ebooks yields statements like: "I'll quit reading before I put up with that." I also remember saying I'd never carry a cell phone, or be on Facebook, or give up my vinyl albums, or start thinking that maybe nuclear energy is the best short-range answer to our energy addiction. Or that I’d ever read an entire book on a screen.
I don’t know the answer, but I am deeply invested in the question. So, ads in ebooks. As readers and writers, what is your opinion?---------(Check out our new site http://eBookSwag.com, which will eventually be a destination for ad-supported books. Author sponsorships, fun contests, featured books, and giveaways.
May 7, 2012
Two Kindle Fire Giveaways!
Bring a friend and sign up for the eBookSwag newsletter and you are both entered for a bonus Kindle Fire giveaway this week! http://ebookswag.com/swagger-roundup. You can also win a $20 gift card by bringing the most friends.
You can also sign up for the daily digest to find out about our featured books and get an extra entry. Lasso a pardner and get over there now! Low-cost author sponsorships and audience-building add-ons available.
You can also sign up for the daily digest to find out about our featured books and get an extra entry. Lasso a pardner and get over there now! Low-cost author sponsorships and audience-building add-ons available.
May 3, 2012
Book marketing 101 at eBookSwag
Many blogs do a bait-and-switch where they sucker you in with content and then deliver the sales pitch right at the end. But I am doing my pitch first, and then telling you why eBookSwag can help your book meet new readers.
If you've followed me over my career, you have probably seen book marketing that ranges from cold cash purchases to downright gimmicks. I've had a lot of fun, given away a ton of free books, more than 30 Kindles and Kindle Fires, thousands of dollars in gift cards, and sold a lot of books and met tens of thousands of readers. Some of my stunts include a giveaway of three of my permanent teeth to promote They Hunger, chances to be drawn as a character in my comic books, paying book bloggers 15 percent of my income to promote my books, casting actors for the parts in the fantasy movie versions of my books, and hosting a paranormal conference for the primary purpose of inspiring my novel.
Just this year, I've helped give away several million ebooks (including about three-quarters of a million of my own) and created viral marketing campaigns where people voluntarily promote books and contests in exchange for the chance to win prizes. I've held a 90-day blog tour among several others of shorter duration, I've put book bloggers in my ebooks, I hung out on Amazon forums back before it was poison, I've helped writers in manners both overt and subtle. I am not bragging, because it has all been fun, and the best of it has been value added and inspired and taught me. I don't like to do things unless everyone wins.
And the secret to book marketing is that there is no secret, or at least not a secret you can count on repeating time after time. Even New York publishers with all their millions and industry contacts strike out about 80 percent of the time. There's no silver bullet, only a loaded gun. I've bought ads and book sponsorships and placements at nearly every ebook site in town. Some work better than others, and some work but not consistently. I am now applying my experience to eBookSwag with my partner Michelle and our staff. It's a mixture of lessons I have learned: giveaways, audience building, good books, fun, a community, everyone wins.
If you are an author, check out our low-cost sponsorships. Because I am an author myself, I understand your needs. While no one can guarantee success from any marketing effort, and the best of such efforts are multiple "efforts" and not just an ad, I invite you to look at what we offer and see how it compares to everything else out there. We don't want your money just to dump it into another black hole. We only want you to join in if you think we add value to the reading community. There's plenty of noise in the world, but there's only one eBookSwag.
***
If you've followed me over my career, you have probably seen book marketing that ranges from cold cash purchases to downright gimmicks. I've had a lot of fun, given away a ton of free books, more than 30 Kindles and Kindle Fires, thousands of dollars in gift cards, and sold a lot of books and met tens of thousands of readers. Some of my stunts include a giveaway of three of my permanent teeth to promote They Hunger, chances to be drawn as a character in my comic books, paying book bloggers 15 percent of my income to promote my books, casting actors for the parts in the fantasy movie versions of my books, and hosting a paranormal conference for the primary purpose of inspiring my novel.
Just this year, I've helped give away several million ebooks (including about three-quarters of a million of my own) and created viral marketing campaigns where people voluntarily promote books and contests in exchange for the chance to win prizes. I've held a 90-day blog tour among several others of shorter duration, I've put book bloggers in my ebooks, I hung out on Amazon forums back before it was poison, I've helped writers in manners both overt and subtle. I am not bragging, because it has all been fun, and the best of it has been value added and inspired and taught me. I don't like to do things unless everyone wins.And the secret to book marketing is that there is no secret, or at least not a secret you can count on repeating time after time. Even New York publishers with all their millions and industry contacts strike out about 80 percent of the time. There's no silver bullet, only a loaded gun. I've bought ads and book sponsorships and placements at nearly every ebook site in town. Some work better than others, and some work but not consistently. I am now applying my experience to eBookSwag with my partner Michelle and our staff. It's a mixture of lessons I have learned: giveaways, audience building, good books, fun, a community, everyone wins.
If you are an author, check out our low-cost sponsorships. Because I am an author myself, I understand your needs. While no one can guarantee success from any marketing effort, and the best of such efforts are multiple "efforts" and not just an ad, I invite you to look at what we offer and see how it compares to everything else out there. We don't want your money just to dump it into another black hole. We only want you to join in if you think we add value to the reading community. There's plenty of noise in the world, but there's only one eBookSwag.
***
