Eldon’s Comments (group member since May 30, 2016)

Eldon’s comments from the Support for Indie Authors group.

James wrote: "It's why I love writing for kids :) Much fewer of them actually dislike a book for that reason than adults...."

Yes, we could all stand to be more childlike :)

James wrote: "I put in a *pause* page near the end of the book warning the reader the book ends on a cliffhanger but they can get the Prologue and Chapter 1 for Book #2 by signing up on my website. ..."

An interesting idea James. Just be forewarned, there are readers who detest the cliffhanger ending and can have quite strong reactions to it.

Best of luck with it all :)

James wrote: "Total cost: $835
Goal: 20,875 downloads (average cost per reader of .04)..."

Hello James. I'm curious to know the strategy you're using here? What's the plan for recouping the large spend on a free book?

Laura wrote: "I have a question about KENP reads. Are we meant to take the page number literally? Because, if so, then some readers are not finishing the book."

KENP is not a one to one calculation for page numbers. It's just what Amazon uses to determine ebook length. And yes, some readers don't finish the book.

Nathan wrote: "In other words, what does Goodreads actually offer the writer to support creative collaboration?..."

I'm going to be honest Nathan, I don't think you're going to find what you're looking for in GR. This site is set up to cater to readers more than writers. I wouldn't recommend trying to use it to set up a beta team as you could easily run afoul on here. As mentioned previously, your best bet is to use your newsletter for this type of recruitment.

Robin wrote: "The follow button looks like the way to go but I agree it looks like they are missing a trick doesn't it?"

It sure does!!

B.A. wrote: "I agree. The author, if you are following them will trigger updates, but if you just want to read the book, probably not going to happen which is the reason they encourage you to use the follow but..."

I suppose. Follow may work but when they allow you to specifically create a list of items you're obviously interested in, it seems like a no-brainer to inform you when the price changes. Oh well :)

B.A. wrote: "I've only gotten notices on Goodreads. Amazon for kindle doesn't do that as far as I know."

Which is kind of weird, don't you think? Amazon is all about the customer experience and this seems like such low hanging fruit.

Not sure if anyone on here has an answer to this but I thought I'd try anyway. Here's the thing, Amazon lets customers create wishlists for things they'd like to buy. I created one for books I want to read. But for some unknown reason when a book on that list goes on sale Amazon doesn't notify me.

Does anyone know if there is a way to have them notify of a price change? To me this seems like a simple thing I'd expect Amazon would be doing.

L.K. wrote: "Happy new year everyone!
I have come out of the other side of a really horrible patch in my writing and publishing career where I thought I might never write again. Now I am feeling inspired, prod..."

Glad to hear you've come out the other side of your horrible patch. Best of luck to you as well!

Phillip wrote: "Happy New Year. I'll finish the rough draft of my western WIP tomorrow."

Congrats!

I hope everyone here has a healthy and successful new year :)

William wrote: "In a print book, I don't think Amazon cares about the font, but in e-books there have to be restrictions because not all ebook-reading devices will support all fonts. A recent fantasy book I format..."

Hi William. With ebooks it's the device that decides on which font is displayed. In order to have specific fonts used you need to embed them in the ebook file. Even then, the reader can choose to change the font if they like.

Jay wrote: "KDP doesn't care what font you use. They're a print-house, not a publisher. You send the manuscript, and they feed it into the machine. And after having had dealings with their helpdesk (offshore, ..."

Very well said, Jay.

I will add there are some fonts Amazon won't allow you to use. I own an extensive collection of fonts and have run across the situation before. With Nocturne Serif, if memory serves. It created an error message with the process, so do be careful with exotic font selections.

B.A. wrote: "Let me add my 2 cents on the fast release."

Thanks for your 2 cents B.A.

As a rebuttal, it's been my experience that far too many authors say things can't be done when what they really mean is they can't do it. I don't know if you can write and release a book every 90 days. I know I can't. But I also know other authors can. Links aren't allowed here, but for anyone who's interested look up Craig Martelle on Amazon. His book total is enormous. Recently he released 4 thrillers within a year in addition to his science fiction works. He's just an example. And no, the quality of his work doesn't suffer for the speed.

I'd like to see us all stop running indies into the ground with remarks like "doctored first drafts--and that is the biggest share of those fast release books". Just because you can't do something doesn't mean it can't be done. Let's lift each other up rather than tear each other down.

Peace :)

Christine wrote: "Then I see those Children's books that brand... They got big sales in one title and they keep writing same kinds of stories with the same kinds of titles, that's interesting but again to me it's marketing not writing. What say you?"

I agree that properly categorizing your book and maximizing the Look Inside feature along with nice A+ Content all helps to make a book more attractive. I'm not seeing the connection between that and rapid releases though?

Congratulations on the success of your new release!!

What do you mean by "EBOOKS help on KDP"? If you're asking whether or not you should offer ebook as an option, then I'd say yes, for sure. The more options we can provide prospective readers the better for us.

I would have to respectfully disagree with your final statement as well. Knowing what readers like and giving it to them consistently is not separate from writing - it's the whole point of it. Kudos to those who have figured out what their audience loves and deliver it on a consistent basis.

Gail wrote: "Have you ever heard of the 90 day cliff?...

I understand what you're saying, Eldon, and in Christine's case perhaps that may be true since her books are finished. But in general, is it feasible to..."

I hear you - it seems impossible. Lord knows I can't do it. But, there are a lot of authors out there who can. And many of them are killing it. So it's possible :)

Christine wrote: "I've heard that Amazon loves new book releases often but do you have documentation or something that shows what they do and why this is true? Thanks!"

As with everything Amazon, documentation can be hard to come by. The inner workings of their algorithm is a closely guarded secret that no one outside of the company knows. However, many successful authors preach the need for frequent releases and with good reason.

Have you ever heard of the 90 day cliff? This is a proven fact on Amazon that new books get a preferential boost that disappears after 90 days. So the thinking goes if you keep releasing you'll always have one book getting this boost. And logically, it makes sense. Amazon knows readers are more inclined to buy new over old and so they give the customer what they want.

Megan wrote: "I've done three children's books that I've been working on for quite a while now. They are soon ready to be released. Should I publish them all at once or one at a time? If so, how far between each..."

Hi Megan! If you have three books to release you should stagger their releases so that you drop a new book each month for three months, or every other month for six months. The reason for this is Amazon loves new books and this type of release schedule will curry favor with their algorithm :)

Phillip wrote: "I always use the free templates KDP offers and Kindle Create for Amazon. I've never had a problem using this method."

Maybe Amazon has issued an update?