Dale’s Comments (group member since Sep 15, 2017)

Dale’s comments from the Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie group.

To start off the new year, I've reduced the price on all my ebooks to $0.99. That's all 8 books (6 novels and 2 short story collections), each only $0.99. You can get my whole library for less than $8.

I'll also be running some promos in the coming months, so everything will remain at this price for a few months. My goal this year (2023) is to reach more readers, not so much to make money.

You can find out about my books on my website (https://www.daleelehman.com) or on my Amazon author page (https://www.amazon.com/stores/Dale-E....). Or you can just ask. I'll be happy to help you pick something.

Thanks!

P.S. Book prices are in effect now on Amazon. They'll be in effect on other platforms on January 6th or shortly thereafter.

Great, thanks!

Will it be available in ebook formats or only paperback?

Okay thanks, I'll check it again.

My pleasure!

I'm releasing a new short story collection, Found by the Road on 12/19/2022. The Kindle edition is now available for pre-order, but it hasn't made it over to Goodreads yet. Epub and print editions are being processed and should be generally available by the end of next week, I hope. The cover is awesome. Hop over to https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BPMWYBM8 to see it.

Yeah, my first ad seems to have generated only one sale, although I did serve 9900 impressions and got 58 clicks. For a first go, that's probably not too bad. I want to try some A/B type tests, although I'm not very skilled at this stuff right now. The experts all seem to agree that you can't expect much from your first few ads. It takes time to learn how to make them work, and worse, BB ads don't work quite the same way as Amazon ads, so if you're doing both, you have a learning curve for both.

I need to hire a marketing genius. But I can't afford one of those. ;-)

Congratulations! I still haven't read the Harry Potter series, but if I get to that, I'll follow it up with yours. ;-)

Congratulations! I have a mountain of books waiting to be read, but I've added this to my list. It looks like it can't actually be pre-ordered yet on Amazon (not sure why), but it does display on the site and can be added to lists . . . so I did that.

Love the cover, by the way!

In general I like what you have, but it's a bit on the long side (at least I think it is). So let me suggest the following edit. One note: I took a small liberty here, not knowing the story line but making a guess at it. You may have to change it a bit if I got it wrong.

-----
A seaside kingdom. A long-kep secret. A shocking revelation.

No stranger to tragedy, Amira seeks joy in everyday things—nature, friends, memories of her late mother. When she's given the opportunity to leave her sleepy village for the kingdom’s capital of Kalopsia, her excitement knows no bounds. But even her vivid imagination couldn't anticipate Amira gaining a crown…or a father!

In the years since his queen left with his infant daughter, King Thorndale has blamed himself. Now, the combined weight of guilt and responsibility to his realm prevent him from wholeheartedly welcoming Amira back. True, her unbeatable cheer sheds light on his darkness, but he knows all too well the danger that stalks her and how little even a king can do to stop it. When a precious item goes missing, Amira awakens to that threat. She must discover who is behind it, not only to save herself but to keep her tentative relationship with her father from falling into ruin.

Book two in the “Fallen Stars” series, [TITLE] walks the line between historical fiction and fantasy, carrying you into a realm devoid of magic and dragons but overflowing with ballgowns, secret rooms, ocean breezes, and touches of mystery perfect for readers young and old seeking a clean, wholesome story.

About a year ago, I started ramping up my promos. I wanted to have something running every month. Unfortunately, my wife's illness and passing derailed those plans. I'm finally getting back to it now, starting with something new for me: a BookBub ad for A Day for Bones.

I'll be running the ad starting this Saturday, after Thanksgiving so people will (with any luck) be less distracted. It will run for one week, with the price reduced to $2.99 (normally $4.99). I'll see how that goes, then probably run another variation of it later in December.

I've heard mixed things about BB ads, but I figure it can't hurt to give it a shot. I also would like to submit the book for a BB deal. I think it's good enough to get their attention, but I have almost nothing in terms of reviews yet, which might be a negative. (If you want to take advantage of the sale price to read and review it, I won't complain!)

I previously submitted Space Operatic for a BB deal, but it wasn't picked up. I could possibly try it with The Fibonacci Murders, since I have a fairly good crop of reviews for that one. But that will be a decision for next year.

Thank you!

I'm a bit late in mentioning, A Day for Bones made it into the quarterfinals. It wasn't picked as a semifinalist, but I can't complain!

I've only ever made one mistake. That happened one day when I thought I'd made a mistake, but it turned out I was wrong...

(That's a very old joke I picked up in junior high, like in 1972 or thereabouts...)

Anyway, I always enjoy your blog posts!

Gina wrote: "Hugs to you, Dale!"

Thank you.

Great idea indeed!

Theodore wrote: If you aren't writing for the love of it, you're tilting at windmills."

Sad but true. Still...

We all do love writing and probably would whether we got paid or not. (I've been doing it all my life and haven't broken even yet.) But that's not exclusive of expecting to get paid when we do a good job. I love writing software, too, but I'd be out the door if ever my company said, "Dale, you love this so much, from now on you can do it for us for free!"

I like to think there are people out there who value good writing that they're willing to pay for some every now and again, and that there are enough of them to enable at least some of us to make at least some money now and again.

Now this is an interesting article: https://writingcooperative.com/mri-sc...

Thank you!

There's some good news on Amazon ebook returns. Currently, ebook purchases can be "returned" for a full refund within 14 days, even if the customer has read the entire book. The new policy, which will go into effect for 2023, will only allow returns in that timeframe if the customer has read less than 10% of the book. See https://selfpublishingadvice.org/self... for more.

I don't see too many returns, but I do get one every now and again. I've never been sure if that meant the customer didn't like the book, didn't read the book, or was a fast reader in search of freebies. I expect this will be a good change that will help ensure authors are fairly compensated for their work while still giving customers a reasonable chance to change their minds about a purchase.