Anna’s Comments (group member since Mar 21, 2017)

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

I think $100 is a lot of money (especially at our current exchange rates) but I can't find good places to advertise in the UK. BookHippo and Kuforum are two and there are one or two others but they have very few subscribers.

I have an ad running with BookBub but only in the UK (where Amazon doesn't allow Indies to do sponsored ads). I haven't noticed any sales that are directly attributable to the ads. It could be my ad - I'm only using their template and it isn't very attractive, or maybe I just haven't tracked my sales very well. You have to be prepared to pay $100 but this can be spread over a very long period. I'm not sure if they'd refund your money if you decide to terminate the ad. Probably.

One thing I've had to bear in mind is that all the featured books are priced at 0.99 or free and my book is £1.99 most of the time.

Done!

Interesting, very interesting...

It's late now, but I am marking this with * and will read and put into practice what I feel I can.

Thank you.

As always, Ted, you're very helpful. I hesitated to comment on Alex's bio as they are definitely not my strong point. It never occurred to me that working in Psychiatry/Psychology might be useful to establish my credibility. I always just sat back and hoped it showed through. Doh.

Angel - you have the right name!

Well said, Dale. Now what's that quotation about 'gaining the whole world and losing your own soul'? Then there's another about it being 'lonely at the top'. So, Alexis, I think you're right to hesitate and to point this out. Success at any price is not for me.

I could market someone else's books better than I could market mine. As Alex points out, it's hard to find the confidence to market your own.

Yet the world owes a lot to those who have pursued success with persistence, say in medical developments. I'm not sure I'd like to meet an aggressive author though. Oh you've got me thinking and meandering around all over the place now.

I used to run my own company and the advice the bank gave me on a regular basis was not to undervalue my product/service.

Yet I am still in the process of proving that what I write is worth more than the usual Indie price of $2.99. I'm also in competition with prolific Indie authors selling all their books for less than this and they are topping the charts.

I have a reviewer to thank for pointing out to me that it was a good line. It does describe dear Karl to a T. He comes bouncing into Lucy's life regularly and brings with him a trail of battles to be fought.

In Book Three of the series (to be published early this year) I've had to tie him down a bit with a feisty American lady!

Hi Adrian - good to see you! I'm glad someone remembers it. Over Christmas it sold a lot of copies without any advertising whatsoever on my part. Now that's a really good Christmas present for a writer.

Margaret and Judy - thank you very much!

I'm following this with great interest! Every Indie should be imho.

No, Alex, no! The stock market has tentacles running into pretty well everything we use. I have a lot to thank Jeff Bezos for and I don't envy him his money. It can be a rock round your neck.

He went through lean times when he was building up his business. It's a terrific business model that few could/would follow. I hope he doesn't let himself down by pursuing profit for the sake of it.

So Alex, please change your hope to something that we Indies can cheer for. Ta muchly.

I opened my emails to find an email saying I am on Writers' Boon best opening lines:

https://writersboon.com/ords/f?p=WB:P...

I vaguely remember this site being recommended (somewhere on here?) and I submitted an opening line.

Now I'm not so vain as to think this is anything but a very good ruse to increase membership of this site - good for them - however, it gave me a little lift to sit amongst others for the best opening line.

It is from 'Under a Dark Star' and is

"Karl Thorsen arrived, as usual, like a drum roll prior to battle."

Alexis wrote: "This is the book
https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Fury-Bla...

The readers don’t seem to be particularly happy..."

Thanks Alexis. I see the publisher of this book, Piatkus, is part of a major group. The author will have little or no say in the pricing.

I'm trying to tell myself that I need to accept that Amazon, like any big corporation, needs me only if I make sufficient money for them to cover their costs and keep owners/employees/shareholders in the manner to which they are becoming accustomed.

Indies have very little hope. Carole and her crew are helping us with alternative outlets and that should give us a bit more of a chance.

I was going to say that big corporations are held responsible by their shareholders to make them good dividends etc., but I see Theodore has beaten me to it. It's something we should not ignore. We are all likely to be shareholders in one form or another. At least by being an Indie (with thanks to Amazon) I retain some measure of autonomy.

Price fixing Hmm... "a practice whereby rival companies come to an illicit agreement not to sell goods or services below a certain price."

Notice the word 'illicit'. I hope justice will prevail.

This is useful info. Thanks to Alexis and other contributors.

Anita, perhaps I ought to add that in the last couple of weeks, I have seen my 'to read' statistics go down, probably because someone had read the book and changed it from 'to read' to 'read'. And then it goes up again and down again - so it looks like there's action. Sometimes our books get to the top of the heap!

No one really, though I do have a very good writing friend who I could bounce things off. I did once and it was invaluable. Mostly I view a new book as an unborn child and the rest of the world will have to wait to see whether it's got all its fingers and toes.

I rely on my few and far between (boy do they live a long way from each other) beta readers to give it to me straight once I've written 'The End'.

Thank you, Dennis, this looks useful.

Ah... I could have put my Book Blurb plea for help here. Sorry, I missed it. If a mod wants to move me, that's fine. I'm under Help.

I guess, if I think about it, my goals are always to complete everything that is written in my diary to do for that day. I've still got something left to do from Monday 8th January. On the other hand, I have done one of Friday 12th's goals.