Alexis’s Comments (group member since Jan 04, 2017)

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

Anna Faversham wrote: "Haven't time to read all of your link R.L. at the mo, but crikey! I'd never have thought to do such stuff in a million years and why would I want to? Tainted forever! Yuk! Sorry if that sounds a bi..."

God no, you cannot trust a monopoly like Amazon. I doubt that they are helping the scammer in RL's article but they have some TRICKY SNEAKY tactics.

I remember a while back, I think 2014, they had a dispute with a publisher and they basically refused to put that publisher's book for pre order AND slowed delivery of their books on purpose. I think it was Hachette..

No, Amazon has one of the worst corporate behaviors I've ever seen and I did a lot of case studies for tons of businesses for my classes at uni. And don't even get me started on their corporate tax behavior, lol.

I pray that others bookstores take some of their marketshare away from them.

Alex wrote: "Umm, I'd like to add here that Amazon sales do not count towards NYTimes or USA Today bestseller lists according to an article I read a while ago, I really wish I could find it again.
The NYTimes l..."

No, that's not true. Amazon counts for both
USA TODAY looks at sales from these stores
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/b...

And NYTIMES doesn't exclude any websites.
https://www.nytimes.com/content/help/...

Since Amazon owns 70% of the market, it would be weird if they didn't include them.

Amy wrote: "I have been swayed by authors who have been "best selling" and in the paper best sellers list. Then I've read their work and wondered how they managed it. It was ok but nothing special. Now I know...."

Not everyone does it of course, but if you have the money and manage to get on BookBub, you can probably manage to land on the USA Today List with a box set. NyTIMES is much harder to crack with a box set.

This author pretty much did it by using BookBub
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2016/0...

If that's true, then the organizer is scamming people and I very much doubt she has anyone over at Amazon telling her it's okay.

Getting on the Bestsellers list via a box has been a thing for a while though. I remember in 2013 when this box charted on the USA Today list for one week, and at 74 at that but still most of the authors started referring to themselves as USA Today Bestselling Authors https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/b...

It's not illegal of course, but personally I find it a bit like cheating. A lot of indie authors claiming to be USA Today Bestselling Authors never managed that feat with their own individual books. So it's a bit misleading to label yourself as such. In my opinion.

Thanks for the well wishes everyone!
I am feeling better.

We have a bit of bad news though. We only received two submissions for the Spring anthology and well, two books don't make an anthology. After thinking it through we've decided to postpone the release of the free anthology until summer. It's important that whatever we release reflects positively on NavIndie and we felt that releasing just two stories wouldn't make us look too great.

Please everyone, if you commit to a story let us know next time that you won't be able to submit it anymore.

Anyways, we've learned from this and will be much more nitpicky and strict next time (read: annoying).

To all those who were awaiting the anthology, all we can do is apologize. We're happy for your interest and hopefully this won't happen again.

To Amy and Angel, thank you for your submissions, please PM me and let me know if you want us to save your story for the next round.

Postings on navigatingindieworld.com will resume as normal starting this week. We have some interesting articles coming your way, including a continuance of my Wordpress series. And remember that we're always interested in new articles!

Erin wrote: "I feel your pain.
Once I realized that I was missing the writers' 70/30 mark (70% writing and 30% marketing etc) I decided to make some changes. I had an honest talk with myself, looked at my sales..."

You should totally convert this into an article for www.navigatingindieworld.com

*praying hands emoji*
Greetings, your fangirl, Alexis. :p

I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon changed the 70% provision to state that it will only apple for books priced higher than 4.99. I think publishers are making less sales and that they will negotiate something like this with Amazon.

There are tons of great Wordpress themes for authors, Erica. If you PM me your budget, I can recommend some.

There are tons of great Wordpress themes for authors, Erica. If you PM me your budget, I can recommend some.

Killing it, Erica.

I went on Amazon today to get some new books now that I finally have some time to read and I was kinda shocked at the prices. .

Now, I'm used to paying around $7.99 at the most for a Kindle book by a Bestselling author but I was surprised to see Julie James new book selling for $ 10.92. I was even more surprised that Kresley Cole's new book, Wicked Abyss, is listed at $ 14.15! (Both prices include EU VAT so they might be a bit lower for US customers)

Seems to me like Publishers aren't messing around with the $ 3.99 price tag anymore.
I'm curious to see if independent (bestelling) authors will follow their lead.

Hi everyone! I've been sick for a while now and it kind of got worse lately. Nothing too too serious though so please no worries, but because I'm in recovery mode and I haven't had chance yet to groom others to do the posting on NavIndie, things have slowed down a bit and we're running late with the newsletter and the free book. I hope to be back at it soon.

I think you're one of the most talented writers I know. I couldn't even type to you at first, I was like no, this girl is too good let me not even disturb her precious time lol. Seriously, I think you write some of the best opening chapters I've ever read and all your books contain engaging, fun, original plots. So, in my opinion it's definitely not you. Have you tried offering ARC's on Goodreads?

I looked at the reviews under a book that I think is similar to mine and wrote a couple of the reviewers (all who have lots of friends lol) a short message asking the, if they wanted an ARC of VENI. 5 out of 5 said yes. So yeah, if you haven't tried that yet, that's a tactic that I'd recommend.

Aislinn wrote: "Thanks so much, Sue!"

I've enjoyed all your books but I must say the two contemporaries have been my favorites so far, five star reads even though they wete short. You just hit all the right notes with them. ANYWAYS THIS is not the thread for unsolicited advice so let me just end with: I'm looking forward to this new one! Lol

Mary Ellen wrote: "Ok, I guess I'm wrong. I thought we got paid for pages read with the lending. Guess I misunderstood. But I still will loan. I'm on KDP."

Amazon really should make their policies more clear.

Nicole wrote: "The difference between borrowing through Prime Lending/Kindle Unlimited and the "Lending" option you can select when setting up your book with KDP...

Prime/KU: Borrows are possible through opting ..."

Thank you Nicole. This cleared it all up tremendously.

Marie Silk wrote: "Wow I have loved reading this thread. Such amazing authors we have here! :)"

I agree! Keep them coming everyone.

Angel wrote: "Alexis, I went through the same thing with my first book and much worse with my second I had to change the deadline for publication, well..... I lost count after forty times plus other things put a..."

Oh, Angel.


Thank you <3

Groovy wrote: "How are you doing, Alexis? Are you beginning to straighten it all out? I'm sorry you have to go through such a hard time. I'm sending you support the best way I can. Hang in there:)"



I'm a mess. But I'm starting to see th light at the end of the tunnel. :)

I had about $100 in promotions and giveaway planned. I just cancelled it all. I'm going to hire a great editor instead and then use the rest of my promotional budget for one big investment: bargain booksy.