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

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

Episode 11 of The Belt is now available. It's titled "Some Manner of Freedom." While Dr. Miguel Hernandez seeks escape from Nessa O'Clery's band of outlaws, his scattered students find escape from the after-effects of torture. Twins Petrina and Martin Olinga plan an excursion into the Martian wilderness to find Miguel. Ricard Fulbert and Quan Linh endure enslavement in a mining operation.

And if you don't know how all this came to be, start with Episode 1, "Real Fire," and ready your way through. It's free to get started!

https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/s...

I just joined the Alliance of Independent Authors this week (https://www.allianceindependentauthor...). They had an interesting article about a data breach that exposed massive pay-for-reviews schemes involving products on Amazon. Amazon itself wasn't implicated, but their algorithms (it's suspected) may be giving a boost to products that have scam reviews. (This isn't just books. It's across all product lines sold on Amazon.)

I can't find the article now, but the way it works is, a seller contacts potential reviewers and offers them free products in exchange for a 5-star review. The reviewer buys the product on Amazon and posts the review, then the seller gives them a refund through channels outside of Amazon, so Amazon doesn't know the refund has been issued. Apparently, there is a huge volume of business done this way.

Here's a story with a tie-in to my Kindle Vella series, The Belt: "Homecoming" (https://scifishorts.pub/homecoming-54...). The main characters here are secondary characters that appear in "The Belt." I'm hoping that if people like the story, they'll follow the link at the bottom to the series. (Hint, hint.)

Barbara wrote: "Thanks for sharing this. I welcome anything that keeps me from going any more nuts than indie writing has already made me."

Sure thing. The writing isn't what makes us nuts so much as the marketing. ;-)

Yeah, I ran some Amazon ads for Weasel Words over the past month. I did sell a few books, but nowhere near enough to make back the investment. I'm on a mailing list from a guy who does ads for others. I haven't bought any of his courses, just tried to glean what I could from his newsletters. He does an intensive course with a week of hand-holding. He says you'll need to have something like $800 to invest that you won't get back. I suppose that's the "tuition" so to speak, because it does take time to learn the ins and outs of making the ads work.

One bit of advice I saw from another person was that ads are usually only effective if you have either a fiction series or a sufficiently high-priced nonfiction book. I don't know if that's true, but it seems to make sense on the surface. I might try it again, with my Howard County Mystery series, closer to the release of the next installment. For now, I've stopped my ads.

On Sunday, 10/8/2021, I'll be in London . . . well, virtually . . . reading my short story "Falling Star" from my collection The Realm of Tiny Giants as part of a program called "Fiction Fix Online." This program started pre-pandemic in a London pub as "Fiction Fix" and presented in-person authors reading from their works. The pandemic pushed it online, which is great because that means I can make my first international appearance without going anywhere. (Heh.)

It will be held on Zoom at 4:00 PM London time, which is 11:30 AM U.S. Eastern Time. If anyone would like to attend, send me a private message and I'll share the Zoom info with you. They've asked we not post the info publicly to avoid being mobbed by . . . I dunno, hecklers or something, I guess.

Thanks!

Riddle me this . . .

I wanted to get some ideas for tweaking my Amazon keywords for Space Operatic. Because it's humorous science fiction, I thought I'd see what categories The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy shows in its ratings. So....

Best Sellers Rank: #15,280 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#24 in Science Fiction Graphic Novels (Books)
#49 in Classic Action & Adventure (Books)
#54 in Humorous American Literature

This is for the paperback edition. No graphic novel edition is showing in the list of formats.

I guess it could be considered action/adventure, but that's certainly not how I think of it.

It's humor, yes, but since Douglas Adams was a British author, it's hardly an American novel.

HUH???

Anna wrote: "Thanks for the info, Dale!"

You're quite welcome!

Alex wrote: "Great stuff, Dale. I've retweeted it, I hope it brings you some attention."

Thank you!

One more in The Writing Cooperative: "Titlecraft" (https://writingcooperative.com/titlec...), which is about crafting titles. I hope you find it helpful.

Alex wrote: "Do you have a tweet I can share to promote this for you, Dale?"

Here you go, Alex (and anyone else who wants to share the Tweet): https://twitter.com/lehket/status/144...

Anna wrote: "I loved the Fibonacci Murders - 5 stars for sure."

Thank you! Have you had a chance to read the others yet? (I know, money is tight and I don't give away much right now, but the coupon going out today gets a good discount on print books, and all my ebooks are $2.99 for now.)

Alex wrote: "Do you have a tweet I can share to promote this for you, Dale?

Congrats on getting ready for the release of your fourth Howard County Mysteries, you're doing well."

Hmm . . . no, but I'll create one and let you know. ;-) Thank you!

I finally have a new one in The Writing Cooperative: "How Space Shapes Your Story" (https://writingcooperative.com/how-sp...)

The fourth novel in my Howard County Mysteries, A Day for Bones, is coming in 2022. While you're waiting, you can catch up on the first three: The Fibonacci Murders, True Death, and Ice on the Bay.

Best of all, you can get The Fibonacci Murders free!

Visit my website at https://www.DaleELehman.com and tap the big red (well, hot pink) button that says "TAP AND RECEIVE!" to get your free welcome pack. It includes not only The Fibonacci Murders (ebook) but also my Howard County Mysteries short story "Seven Apples" and my Story Corner newsletter.

Even better, the October 1, 2021 edition of Story Corner will contain a coupon for 40% off on all my print books, so you can pick up the whole series (or any of my books) for an unusually low price. But you'll need to sign up before 9:00 AM US Eastern Daylight Time, because that's when the issue will be delivered. (Although, I'll be generous and send you the coupon if you sign up too late. You can request it using the contact form on my site.)

By the way, if you're a writer as well as a reader, you can also sign up for my Writing Corner newsletter at the same time. Just check the box on the form to request it.

Thank you!

[A Day for Bones, coming 2022]

On Saturday, 9/25/2021, I'll be sending the inaugural issue of my new newsletter, Writing Corner. A spin-off from my newsletter for readers, Story Corner, Writing Corner will feature advice and tips for writers. You can subscribe to either or both newsletters from the sign-up page on my website: https://www.daleelehman.com/free-eboo...

I plan to develop some courses for writers, too. My first course is, in fact, already done, but it's not available for download yet. I have to upgrade my MailChimp account before I can deliver it, and that probably won't happen until next year. The first course, Start Writing, Keep Writing, features advice on establishing or rekindling a writing habit and dealing with the dreaded writer's block. It will be offered for free as an incentive to subscribe. Existing subscribers will receive it free as well, if they wish. Subsequent courses will be for a fee. (And hey, if you have any ideas on what a good price would be, let me know. At least at first, courses will be structured as seven emails, delivered daily.)

Again, if you're interested in either Writing Corner or Story Corner, visit https://www.daleelehman.com/free-eboo... to sign up. For now, you get my Story Corner freebies when you sign up, regardless of which newsletter you choose. Thanks!

Episode 8 of The Belt (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09D6FWHLC/) is now available. If you haven't given it a try, please do. The first 3 episodes are free, and Amazon will give you 200 free tokens if you're new to Vella. After that, it's just $1.99 for 200 additional tokens. Thanks!

My wife and I figure we have one brain between our two bodies. Does that count?

Carolyn wrote: "Hi, I'm new here and hoping to connect with other indie authors. Released my debut novel in the summer and started the follow up. Finding getting the right balance between promoting the book alread..."

Welcome! I'm not sure I can help with balance. I'm struggling to get a handle on the marketing side of things while keeping up a reasonable stream of writing and working a full time job.

Valerie wrote: "Glad to hear you've been getting on well with your writing, Dale. I'll admit to having slacked off a bit in the last couple of weeks, but I am now trying to get back to my poor abandoned draft and ..."

Ah, the muddle in the middle. A classic writer's dilemma. Good luck with it!