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Random stuff - the something good happened thread
On checking my book sales this morning, I'm surprised to see that 50% of orders are for paperbacks. I don't sell a lot (average one per day) but it's uplifting to see that physical books are still going strong.
So happy I didn't listen to the 'expert' that told me not to waste my time creating the paperback ;)
I've been pleasantly surprised with the sales of paperbacks too. I imagined selling one a month...
Anna Faversham wrote: "I've been pleasantly surprised with the sales of paperbacks too. I imagined selling one a month..."That's very cool, Anna. I think my sales are almost half ebook and half paperback, so I know paperback is not dead! Good for you for not listening!
And I meant that for Alycia....the original poster, but congrats to Anna as well!
Alicya wrote: "On checking my book sales this morning, I'm surprised to see that 50% of orders are for paperbacks. I don't sell a lot (average one per day) but it's uplifting to see that physical books are still..."
Glad to hear paperbacks are going strong for you, Alycia. Making paperbacks does take extra time, but I don't see that as a waste.
Just think where we'd all be if we always listened to the experts...
The Indies Unlimited Editor's Choice winners for February 2018 (!) have finally been announced. Congratulations to Alyssa Devine (Ted's "writing partner") for her first win!
Thanks, gang...it's been a slog. Ted and I have been posting stories since March 3, 2017.Persistence!!!!! (;>)
Alyssa wrote: "Thanks, gang...it's been a slog. Ted and I have been posting stories since March 3, 2017.Persistence!!!!! (;>)"
I can see why they picked that one. It was very nicely done.
I only entered one story in February 2018. I understand why they picked that week's winner over mine, but I'm rather surprised mine didn't at least get an honorable mention. I thought it was pretty clever putting an orca in a mobster's swimming pool as a warning. ;-)
I have had two work in progress; both over 50.000 for years now!Today I finally got to write THE END on one of them.
Now I am going to buy cake and cry.
Dale wrote: "Alyssa wrote: "Thanks, gang...it's been a slog. Ted and I have been posting stories since March 3, 2017.Persistence!!!!! (;>)"
I can see why they picked that one. It was very nicely done.
I on..."
Thanks, Dale. I have no idea what goes through the editors' heads, sometimes.
Alex wrote: "Alexis wrote: "I have had two work in progress; both over 50.000 for years now!Today I finally got to write THE END on one of them.
Now I am going to buy cake and cry."
That is fantabulous, Ale..."
Thanks Alex!!!
Congratulations! Writing is not known for encouraging/rewarding most people very well... so well done.
Alexis wrote: "I have had two work in progress; both over 50.000 for years now!Today I finally got to write THE END on one of them.
Now I am going to buy cake and cry."
How fabulous. Hope you enjoyed your cake (and your cry)
Alexis wrote: "I have had two work in progress; both over 50.000 for years now!Today I finally got to write THE END on one of them.
Now I am going to buy cake and cry."
Congrats.
Alex wrote: "I've just had a wonderful surprise in my emails, free promotion, woohoo. Hello Alex,
Thank you for being a past customer of Written Word Media! We wanted to let you know that we will be featurin..."
Wow, that's great! :)
Alex wrote: "I've just had a wonderful surprise in my emails, free promotion, woohoo."Great news! How often have you advertised through them?
I laughed until my cheeks hurt thanks to Carole. She is an amazing, kind, generous, bad ass, Viking-blooded, Vegas-slaying. Ballet-loving, cool as hell human being.
Mod
Alex wrote: "Alexis wrote: "I laughed until my cheeks hurt thanks to Carole. She is an amazing, kind, generous, bad ass, Viking-blooded, Vegas-slaying. Ballet-loving, cool as hell human being."What a great de..."
Fits her to a T. Thanks Alex!
Mod
Hello all! Boy, I miss the positivity of this group! I've just caught up on a couple pages of everyone's news. Kudos to you all.I've been hibernating this winter and going through the motions as I typically do, but I also have found time to write, submit my first ever short story to a literary publication for a contest and FINALLY, my 4th book is coming out. April will make one year since I lost my mom, and I'm proud to say this book will be on the shelves before that. I know she'd be proud.
Just thought I'd share that bit of news! All the best to everyone.
Alex wrote: "I run an ad with them every month, Dale, a different book each month."Interesting. I'll bet that's making you one of their better customers and thus the offer.
M.J. wrote: "...FINALLY, my 4th book is coming out. April will make one year since I lost my mom, and I'm proud to say this book will be on the shelves before that. I know she'd be proud."Congratulations!
M.J. wrote: "Hello all! Boy, I miss the positivity of this group! I've just caught up on a couple pages of everyone's news. Kudos to you all.I've been hibernating this winter and going through the motions as I..."
Congrats, M.J.
Alex wrote: "I've just had a wonderful surprise in my emails, free promotion, woohoo. Hello Alex,
Thank you for being a past customer of Written Word Media! We wanted to let you know that we will be featurin..."
Congrats, Alex.
Mod
Congrats, Alex!
Alex wrote: "You're probably right, Dale, I've spent over $1k with them in the past 2 years. Fortunately, I'm running at a modest profit over my costs during that period."
I need to list with them more often, too. I did one for each of my 3 books last year. One of those turned a profit, and the other 2 lost money. Since then I've been focused on other things, but now that I have all 3 books reissued, I should start promoting them again.
Good news! I do not know how or when it happened but I have discovered one of my books on Walmart's website. I have four books and they are carrying my 2nd book Soul Mates: Poems of Eternal Love. I accidentally came across it.
Alex wrote: "I try not to look at profit/loss on the day, Dale. I keep track of what I spend (I've been a bit slack recently with one thing and another, need to catch up) over the course of each month/year and …I have 4 books out and not doing well with sales. I am hoping that will change. Most people I personally know often do not want to purchase online but then only a few people will purchase a book if I physically have a copy. It cost me too much to buy a lot of books to try to sell to people who sometimes will change their minds once I have a physical copy. I have books on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and just recently learned one is on Walmart.My books are selling some but not to really make a huge income. Haven't made any sales these last few months.
Would love to know your secret. Working on my 5th book now. Was told the more books you have the better chances you have in getting more sales. But so far I haven't seen that happening.
Well done Alexis, Alex, MJ and Kimberley. Did I miss anyone?Today I bought ISBNs. Now I feel like a big girl!! I also registered on IngramSpark. I only remembered today that I was going to put Missing Remnants on there before the end of the month so I don't have to pay to list it.
Alex wrote: "I've just had a wonderful surprise in my emails, free promotion, woohoo. Hello Alex,
Thank you for being a past customer of Written Word Media! We wanted to let you know that we will be featurin..."
great news, Alex
Alex wrote: "Go you, that's a big step in my book, I haven't found the courage to do it."I'm still worried that I've done something wrong with it all. We'll see. I'm looking at IngramSpark to set up Missing Remnants. And what's the bit I'm stuck on? The description of the book FFS. They want two. I hate this stuff.
I've had enough for tonight. It's just timed out on me and I've only got the long description saved. I hope I can remember the other one tomorrow.That and three versions of the anthology short story that I've been working on today, my head is going to explode!
Not really, it'd mean more cleaning and I don't do cleaning.I have uploaded yet more versions of my bit of the anthology and ordered another proof copy of the paperback.
Alex wrote: "I try not to look at profit/loss on the day, Dale. I keep track of what I spend (I've been a bit slack recently with one thing and another, need to catch up) over the course of each month/year and ..."Thanks again! You're right about not looking at it on a per-promo basis. It's the longer term that counts. I just don't have a longer term yet. :-P
D.J. wrote: "Alex wrote: "Go you, that's a big step in my book, I haven't found the courage to do it."I'm still worried that I've done something wrong with it all. We'll see. I'm looking at IngramSpark to set..."
Write the full description first, then pare it down for the short version. That's how I approached it.
That’ll teach you! You have to go into sloth-mode while you recover. I have submitted two books to Readers Favorite for free reviews. That’s a big step for me because I usually talk myself out of it.
Thanks Dale. I’ll do that. I must be able to cobble something together.
Dale wrote: "Write the full description first, then pare it down for the short version. That's how I approached it. reply | flag *
"
Dale when you did IngramSpark recently, did you put in a table of contents?
D.J. wrote: "Dale when you did IngramSpark recently, did you put in a table fo contents?"No, I normally wouldn't do that for a work of fiction. I don't even have tables of contents in the books themselves. I would for a nonfiction work, however.
Alex wrote: "The longer term will come, Dale"By the by, have you ever popped for the "deal of the day" (twice the cost but much bigger reach)? If so, did you notice much difference in the results?
Alex wrote: "No, I haven't done 'deal of the day', but I have done the series offer on Freebooksy which was about $150 where the focus is on book 1 in the series but they also list other titles in the series."Okay, thanks. I'm going to set up normal promos for Fibonacci and True Death, then I might try the deal of the day for Ice on the Bay. I'll let you know how it works.
Alex wrote: "That would be great, it'd be nice to know how it goes.I have a regular promo for one of my 99c books today, and I even have Google Play set up, which I didn't have before, so fingers crossed it w..."
Yeah, I noticed that. And thank you.
Dale wrote: "D.J. wrote: "Dale when you did IngramSpark recently, did you put in a table fo contents?"No, I normally wouldn't do that for a work of fiction. I don't even have tables of contents in the books t..."
I wouldn't do a TOC for fiction either. You get the bookmarked one for ebooks, obviously, so people can jump. The whole IS process is too long-winded for the time I have available to me at the moment. I need quick things. There are 7 stages and I'm apparently still on 2 or 3. I just don't have the hours to spend on that. Maybe the next time they do a free code...
D.J. wrote: "Dale wrote: "D.J. wrote: "Dale when you did IngramSpark recently, did you put in a table fo contents?"No, I normally wouldn't do that for a work of fiction. I don't even have tables of contents i..."
I didn't find it that much different from KDP. It's just broken up differently. The one major difference, which is a bit of a pain, is KDP calculates an enters prices in different currencies for you, whereas you have to manually enter them on IS (although they do have a link to a currency converter).
No way? Really? I wouldn't have expected that. I'll stick with KDP for now. I didn't get past the third part of Ingram and I'm juggling too many things this month. By the time I'm ready to attack it, they'll have another free code out, I'm sure.
Awesome. Well done. I don't think I've ever sold 68 of anything!!
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Hope it's something that can be treated easily. The..."
Thanks Anna and everyone. I told him straight away what I thought of his idea. It's not Alzheimer's. I think he was being serious.
According to a couple of people who have it, I have the signs of MS, but you can have all the symptoms of MS and not have MS. You only know for sure if you have the tests done. So we'll see. I haven't changed much in ten years. So whatever it is should be looked into.
Yes Angel, charge for your work.