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

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

Thank you, Angel!

Angel wrote: "I think you were successful. Who knows you may have gain the attention of more than you know. And I believe the lucrative part will be close by. Possibly closer than you realize. I wish you all the best. I have enjoyed your flash fiction stories. You truly are a talent. "

Thank you! I posted another one today. Kat posted a funny picture of a couple of baboons for the prompt, and I dashed off a piece that I hoped would be the first entry. Turned out to be the second, but that's okay. See here. I hope you enjoy it!

D.J. wrote: "It reminds me of a scout fair I did. I was selling hand-made candles. They stationed me next to the make-your-own-candle table. I made so many to sell. I've probably still got them and this was yea..."

I've done several signings at an independent bookstore and one at a local B&N. I've always sold in the 3 - 5 copies range at those events. I've sold more to people at the workshop I run, even though I don't do that specifically to sell books, than I have through any other venue. I was told that even relatively well-known authors don't often sell much at bookstore signings.

D.J. wrote: "That’s a shame but my worry would always be that no-one turned up. At least you had more than that."

Yeah, can't complain too much so long as there is some kind of audience.

The Writing Cooperative just published my new article, Story Structure.

Today's effort: Tell Me Why, about book reviews.

Angel wrote: "Congrats, on your sales and I wish you well on your author night, Dale. "

The weather conspired against us. It's been raining all week. (Baltimore rescheduled it's annual "Bike to Work Day," which was supposed to be tomorrow. I think they should have just changed it to a "swim to work" day.)

We had 4 authors speaking, and 10 participants, all but one of whom came to support a particular author. We each talked for 10 minutes, then had some chat time with the guests. I think only 2 books were actually sold, one of which was mine bought, paradoxically enough, but a woman who is also part of my writing workshop. She already had copies of all my books but was buying this one for a friend. The one guest who didn't know any of the authors signed up to get my emails and wants to attend my workshop.

It was a nice event, just not very well attended and not lucrative.

Musings on courtesy and respect.

Voting is open at https://www.indiesunlimited.com/2018/.... Thanks!

Carmel wrote: "I think it said that the five dollars is proportionally shared to those you clap for, so the claps you give determine how much of your five dollars goes to any particular individual. Is that right?

And second, I'm deducing that if you clap for a person's article who is not in the paid program, none of your five dollars is spent, because they aren't getting paid. Is that correct?"

The exact payment formula for a given article (based on Medium's own statements) appears to be some secret sauce made up of page views, time spent reading, and claps received. Claps are probably a big part of it, but not the only part.

A member's monthly fee is divided up among the Partner Program-enrolled articles they view, read, and clap for, based on this formula. Any Partner Program-enrolled article you view, read, or clap for will (probably) get a slice of your pie. I imagine Medium itself gets a slice of your pie, too.

Articles not in the Partner Program don't earn anything from you, even if you do view, read, or clap for them. It's okay to support those articles, however. Doing so at least makes the author feel good. ;-) Some articles are not eligible for the Partner Program (for example, articles about Medium itself, as I recall), but their authors would still like to have them read and applauded.

Carole wrote: "My brother has joined the family business!! Please follow and clap- https://medium.com/@unclekhornik/8-da..."

Followed and clapped.

D.J. wrote: "Six books is brilliant, well done. I haven't sold that many at full price in a month let alone one night. Good luck with the authors night."

Yeah, that's better than what I've sold at bookstore signings. I discount them a little when I'm selling them myself ($10) to make it easy on myself and on customers.

Sold 6 books at my writing workshop last night. On Wednesday, I'll be participating in a "local authors night" at our library, where four of us will be talking, answering questions, and selling/signing books. I'll let you know how that goes.

Thanks DJ & Angel!

I've posted a new IU flash fiction contest entry here, a deadly little tale inspired by a scene of great beauty. (Scroll down to read the stories. Mine is currently at the end. There might be a few more entries posted later.)

As usual, voting will be open Wednesday and Thursday. I'll post a link to the voting page then.

Thanks!

My next flash fiction piece, about the dangerous of crime in the high-tech era. ;-) Getaway.

I didn't see any sales from it, but I gave away my series to several people, so maybe I'll get some reviews from it. And it was a fun event, regardless.

Got it, thanks. Sounds like you've added a substantial amount of material, then. Just curious, because I'm thinking of assembling a collection at some point, but I don't want it to be too "thin." I may mix in some of my other longer short stories.

So I guess that's about 2 to 3 pages per story with the photo?

I have no idea. I haven't paid much attention to my Amazon rankings, because it seems no matter what I do, nothing much changes. Depending on the category, they stay somewhere in the 15,000 to 90,000 range. (Although I will admit I just don't have a lot of time for messing around with it.)

I also can't get into my KDP sales dashboard this morning, because it insists it has to send me a confirmation email to let me log on from this computer, and my email address is accessible from my laptop but not here. *grumble* Oh, well.