UK Amazon Kindle Forum discussion

D.M. Andrews, author

Readership: I write for confident readers of any age, be they nine or ninety-nine! My work is suitable for all the family.

Genres: Although I like fantasy, I enjoy most genres. The only genres I do not write (or read) are: very young children's books, erotica, or anything with zombies!

About me: I'm from Hertfordshire, England. I enjoy reading, writing (of course!), genealogy, political philosophy, history and mythology. I also run Kindle Family Fiction facebook group at
http://www.facebook.com/groups/Kindle... and the British Indie Fiction site at http://britishindiefiction.blogspot.c...

My author facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/AuthorDMAndrews

My Books



I have a short story on Amazon about suicide:
A Smile in the Rain
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smile-Rain-Lo...

And a children's print book (hardcover, paperback and digital) on Lulu:
The Little Violin Girl
http://thelittleviolingirl.weebly.com/

And this!
My Random Acts of Kindness Journal
https://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Random-Ac...

I'm also a contributing author to the following anthology:



Find out more about me and my books on my blog at http://www.writers-and-publishers.com

Thanks for being had!

No. Seriously.

Welcome to our zany and rather bonkers group. I'm really pleased you've found us. Do have a look around, join in with the bonkerishness. (yes, it's a word! Because I say it is!)

The more time you spend with us, the more you'll like us.

Oh. And have a lucky link as well.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Serpent-Glass...

Thanks! OP updated ;)

I've just posted to my Facebook author page (see link in OP) a couple of free chapters of the novel I'm currently working on...

:)

Feedback welcome.

Kindle has become very slow of late - lots of things not updating, etc. Not very motivational :(

Still, sales are coming in slowly. I've doubled my sales over the last few weeks from 1 a day to 2 a day! Interestingly, that happened even after a price increase....


At the moment I am flitting between a few ideas for books. Without feedback from Amazon support (which is extremely poor in their response times) it is had to know how to act.

Does anyone know if you're allowed to sell your book on kindle in different forms even though it's the same story? I want to create 3 options for customers: 1. buy the full-version novel ($3.49), 2. buy the first part of the novel ($0.99), 3. buy the second part of the novel ($2.99). All 3 options need to be available.

That's a great question for an agony aunt thread, DM.

Which ones? ;)

Early on there were a few experiments on amazon in selling parts of books in the way you describe and they were very badly received.

I wouldn't buy half a book to be honest.

Edit: soul identity : the book I remember trying this. No doubt a search on amazon forum would bring back the history.

Thanks, Simon. However, it seems authors may not have much choice. Readers are waiting until books go "free" and so the only way around that is to put either a book part or - at least - the first in a series, on free promotion whilst keeping the rest out of such promotions.

Book samples on Amazon are free. These would merely be bigger samples (also free), although you could opt to buy it for a cheap price and then buy the second part (or just buy the whole thing for a slightly lower price). Everyone wins.

The author loses however when he has a novel. Short stories sell for 0.99 cents to $2.99. They are 10,000 words or perhaps on a couple of thousand words... This would net you (at the cheapest price) $9.99 for a full novel - but the novelist cannot sell it for that price, so he must break down the novel or turn it into a novella series at least (which is really like having a Part I and Part II)...

Thoughts?

For me, once I have started reading a book it is unusual for me to not finish it. The idea of part payment might work for me on a try basis if I was buying something for £100 but for £5 I see no point.

However you are highlighting a huge problem concerning the amazon select programme where so many free books are available with no quality control.

What would you expect for 77p /$0.99? I've been reading some reviews of short stories and I hear a lot of things like "It ended very suddenly", "seemed more like an excerpt from a book", "I wanted it to continue", etc.

I've seen kindle books with as few as about 2000 words. I think I might feel cheated if I paid that for so few words. Some suggest a minimum of 7000 words for such a price. If that was the case then a novel of say 100,000 words would be about £11.

My own view is that a paperback would be about £8, and so a digital version should be no more than about £3, but it means the writer of longer works is seriously disadvantaged compared with the short story writer (or even the write of novellas and novelettes).

I'm not sure the price of books is measured in words really. Apart from in the broadest way.....

An interview at IndieBookSpot... :)

http://indiebookspot.com/2012/02/11/i...

Blog updated & am now looking for some books to review...(note: very selective!)

http://www.writers-and-publishers.com...

Thanks to those who've joined Kindle Family Fiction on facebook. We have over 30 members now, and I've found out today that facebook now allows you to add a header banner to groups.. so check mine out at:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/Kindle...

Book wordcloud graphics. What are they? Here's mine:



Find out more on my blog at www.writers-and-publishers.com

I'm looking for indie fantasy authors...

Find out more on my blog at www.writers-and-publishers.com

The Serpent in the Glass is FREE today and tomorrow (7th and 8th March) on Kindle.

A fantasy for all ages...



On his eleventh birthday Thomas Farrell is informed that the deceased father he never knew has provided for his education at Darkledun Manor, a school for gifted children. Thomas, however, feels he's just an ordinary boy, but Darkledun Manor proves to be anything but an ordinary school…

In this work of fiction the reader is transported into a world of myth as the young protagonist, Thomas Farrell, seeks to understand who his mysterious father was, and why he left him a strange glass orb containing a serpent. As the story progresses, Thomas and his friends become increasing caught up in a world they never knew existed – a world beyond the standing stones.

"Spellbinding: An excellent and well written book. I was captivated from start to finish." (Steven Ray Montgomery, 5 stars)

US: http://www.amazon.com/Serpent-Glass-T...
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Serpent-Glass...

Grabbed it! Thanks DM!

Good News! The Serpent in the Glass has, for the first time since its release almost 5 months ago, hit the UK top 100 Amazon charts, going in at #28 in Contemporary Fantasy! I know it changes often, but this is a landmark for my book. Thanks for all those on GoodReads who've supported me! :)

(and thanks, Patti!)

Glad to report that my novel is now at #1 on Amazon.com in the Kindle children's ebook category (and in 2 fantasy subcategories)!

The Serpent in the Glass hits #11 in Kindle Contemporary Fantasy and #3 in Hot New Releases for that category! What a nice surprise before going to bed! :)

I'm sorry I missed your event! I had to look after my grandma and didn't have time to use the computer! Glad to hear it went well (:

Sorry to hear that. It is likely that the Kindle novel will not be given away for free again. However, I am setting up at least one free paperback giveaway for World Book Night (April 23rd). More about that in a couple of weeks!

The free signed paperback giveaway offer is now live!

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

My next book, a parody of Pride and Prejudice, is currently with my beta readers...

Hoping to get it published in April!

I wonder how my thread can have 27 posts but only 26 views...hmmm...

Views are discrete individuals that looked at it. Each could have posted several times or some, not at all.

Ah, so everyone should be less discrete? ;)

Just finished reading a great all-ages fantasy book yesterday. Highly recommend G.L. Breedon's The Wizard of Time 5 stars!

Oh do please start a thread in recommended books for it please! Here's the bit to start the thread...

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...

Just click new topic on the upper right to start the thread.

Oh thanks, I'll get used to how GR works at some point! :)

We are all always happy to help! :)

I really must spend more time on this thread -

I'll try to post every day!

Here's the first post. Just in case any British indie fiction author missed it, you can get listed (and one book carried) on my British Indie Fiction site at: http://britishindiefiction.blogspot.c...

This should be going public as soon as I find something to put in the News & Reviews ;) I've not had time to do a review, but if anyone has an major news about a British indie fiction author, then let me know!

I'd reply but it looks like you're busy....

:p

It's cunning reverse psychology.

Never works every time! (that was reverse psychology, too) ;)

I'm glad I didn't fall for it!

I need someone to check if my formatting is OK on the draft of my Pride and Prejudice parody. Kindle required. Will PM link to first who is interested...

Oh go on then.

Update. Here are my current and future projects:

OUT IN 2012
- a parody of Pride and Prejudice (being proofed)
- a humorous retelling of selected fairy tales (20% written)
- a YA contemporary fantasy novella about the realm of faerie (20% done)

HOPEFULLY OUT IN 2012
- a YA contemporary fantasy about dreams (35% done)

FUTURE PROJECTS TO START IN 2012
- sequel to The Serpent in the Glass (0% done)
- thinking about a thriller or suspense...

It was sooooo nice to get a good review on Amazon today. It's funny how the number of mediocre (and even unfair) reviews increase when you get more sales. My sales have died down recently - perhaps that's why I got a good review! ;)

Or perhaps it's because you wrote a good book and someone enjoyed it so much they decided to tell the world?

That too! ;)

I've just published an interview with G.L. Breedon, indie author of The Wizard of Time.

Read it at http://www.writers-and-publishers.com

BLURB for Pied and Prodigious

'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a man in possession of a wife, must be in want of a good fortune.'

There is much excitement in Longlawn when two men with tall hats enter the district. Mothers buy new dresses for their daughters, fathers polish up on their fencing skills, and Mr Bayonet tackles the perilous journey through the stinging
nettles to call upon the new occupants of Nettlefield Park.

The ditsy Jane Bayonet soon falls for Mr Blingley with all his gold jewellery, but her sister, the ever-prodigious Lizzy, very much dislikes Mr Blingley's friend, Mr Dicey, whose pied coat and tall hat strike fear into the local populace.

This is a story of excessive fashion, high heels, large wardrobes, tall hats - oh, and love...

D.M. Andrews (GoodReads author) wrote: "BLURB for Pied and Prodigious

'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a man in possession of a wife, must be in want of a good fortune.'

Haha! Very good!

I've just caught up with the discussion re pricing of books. I have a collection of short stories that I've been considering publishing, but I'd like to do that as a taster of my style ie as a low price tempter. KDP says my novel price options are $2.99 to $9.99. Is that because of its length (113,000 words)? Would I be able to price a short story book, 10-20,000 words say, at 99c?

Incidentally, having just published the 2nd edition of Never Too Late I've got it on a 2 day free promo, today and tomorrow:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0061QWPU0
After several weeks of being unpublished while I worked on it I thought it would be a good way to get it back up the rankings and noticed by people prepared to pay for it. It's certainly helped in the past.

You can't have a price below $2.99 on the 70% royalty option.

Personally I'd not charge $2.99 for anything under about 40k (though I know many do), so the options below that would be good for your teasers. Some have found it useful to have a very low price for a novel, such as 99 cents, but then have the rest of the series at a price of at least $2.99

My novel is 92,000 words and I saw no decrease in sales as I took it from 99c to $2.99 to $3.89

I've grabbed your book!

I've started Sperpent. I'm only at 9% but I'm enjoying it. I love that you don't write down to a young audience but there are things in there that the older reader will enjoy - I loved the village name, for instance!
Off to read more!

Thanks, Ignite. I hope everything I write is accessible to all confident readers, regardless of age. Dislike books that are "written down". I'd only do that if they were really young, and I don't intend writing books for children under 7-8.

Yes, excuse my subtle humour with the names ;)

The Serpent in the Glass is quite an introductory book, and does take some time to reveal the world and pick up the action. I'm working on others that move straight into the action, but I think all paces have their place.

Glad you are enjoying it!

For anyone who has read The Serpent in the Glass, I'd be interested in knowing about any popular books that you feel are similar. Thanks!