The GRRRR!!!!!! thread Showing 901-950 of 1,404

[Sam (Rescue Dog Mom, Writer, Hugger)]

I'm drooling, Amy!! Hugs

[R.L.]

Just got the same email Alex. I’m super bummed. This whole year is just bumming me out

[Carole]

Maybe someone will buy them.

[Carole]

I did Bookbaby for hard covers- they were fine.

[R.L.]

I’m gonna head to Draft2Digital and pray it goes well. I imagine Beezos sitting in a dark room with a spotlight on him giving an evil laugh. Amazon wins again lol fml

[Carole]

I don't remember- but I'm sure there was a charge. I think I had to buy a certain amount of copies- I want to say it was over five hundred dollars- but that was hard covers.

[Amy]

Smashwords does Amazon ebooks.

What a bugger, I was hoping to look into Pronoun for some reason.

Which one distributes paperbacks to places that aren't called Amazon?

[Amy]

I haven't used Smashwords for Amazon, I opted out. I was on Amazon before I wanted ibooks, kobo, nook etc.

So at the moment, where are your paperbacks sold Alex?

[Anita]

Alex wrote: "R.L. wrote: "Just got the same email Alex. I’m super bummed. This whole year is just bumming me out"

I'm right there with you. I'm looking at Bookbaby as an alternative because Ingramspark doesn't..."

Yes, IngramSpark will distribute to Amazon. But here is the problem. *"If you have provided any e-books to Amazon for the Kindle in the past 12 months we will not be able to provide service to Kindle through the IngramSpark program."

I am going to call tomorrow and find out if this is permanent or only until the 12 months has elapsed.

I just asked this on another thread where you had posted, why can't you publish on Kindle?

[Amy]

It will work out again Alex. But it’s total crap that you’re having to go through it again. The one thing I don’t like about Amazon is how difficult it is to talk to a human.

[Amy]

I need to master he art of having my future paperbacks available at places other than Amazon. Apart from that I don’t sell books. I pay for promotion, I get no sales. I’ll get these two books finished and have a think. At the moment I’m just managing to fit in writing along with everything else.

I’m sure you’ll be ok. Will your reviews carry over when you switch to Lulu?

[Carole]

It will all work out. I feel everything happens for a reason- It really does.

[Amy]

Alex wrote: "Are your paperbacks through Createspace? The extended distribution with them isn't great but it will get your books places like B&N. ."

Nah, I used the paperback beta service that Amazon offered for the first two novels. They are therefore restricted to Amazon alone. Frankly, to me having a paperback made no difference, the only people who bought one is me and one friend.

I wish you could have a real conversation with Amazon and sort out a KDP account, it would make life a lot easier.

[Amy]

Amazon is really bad with communications with hoomans. Sure, they're quick to send millions of automated emails to my inbox, that I still haven't got around to unsubscribing from, but try to talk to a person for anything and it's a nightmare.

Do they have an online chat service?

[Amy]

I can't remember the sign up procedure-such is my atrocious memory-could you sign up for KDP using a new gmail email account then go through the contact us thing? Having done all that whether you'd get through to someone with a modicum of common sense or drone no-one knows.

[Amy]

Oh now that sounds positive and a step in the right direction. I wouldn't expect them to bend the rules for someone like me, other than that Instafreebie giveaway of 700 copies, I've probably only sold 40 copies of two books. You've sold hundreds.

[Amy]

Or is it thousands by now?

[Anita]

Alex wrote: "I saw that Anita, here's my answer from that thread

I can put my book on Kindle, I just can't use the KDP platform to get it there; I had a dispute with someone I worked on a project with about 4 ..."

Alex, I am going to PM you. Have an idea. Don't want to tie up the thread.

[Amy]

Do they charge a fortune?

[Anita]

I talked to IngramSpark (IS) this morning. According to the IS representative, the 12 month restriction is coming from Amazon.

If IS distributes a book to Kindle that has been sold in their system in the last 12 months, Kindle rejects it. Once the 12 months has expired, the book can be published.

[Anita]

Alex wrote: "Amy wrote: "Or is it thousands by now?"

*blushes* do you really want me to type the number?

On a positive note connected to this, though still slightly annoying, Draft2Digital emailed me while I ..."

Hopefully, this will solve your problem.

[Amy]

Well you’re worth more than 99p anyway. If you can put in a price that’ll mean you’ll still get something per book-it’s not the end of the world and it gets you over a hurdle.

[Amy]

I’m being truthful. £2.99 is a good price. £2.49 was what KDP select wanted for Modified when I released it. And that was them suggesting a price for erotic weirdness. No reason why you can’t get £2.99.

[Judy]

Carole wrote: "I did Bookbaby for hard covers- they were fine."

I use bookbaby for print. Carole, are their hard covers expensive?

[Carole]

I had to buy 20 of them - they never explained why- I've gotten about 100 in royalties from them- but I did hard covers with Ingram. Book Baby had better quality- Ingram will get your book into the hands of mass distribution. I have sold a decent number of hard covers with them. Book Baby does nothing to get your book distributed. Libraries need to see you have hardcover- they are more apt to buy them.

I think since late March when I moved over- I sold over 700 books- mixed hard and paperbacks.

[Anita]

Carole wrote: "I had to buy 20 of them - they never explained why- I've gotten about 100 in royalties from them- but I did hard covers with Ingram. Book Baby had better quality- Ingram will get your book into the..."

700, wow, that's great. I can't get any movement on paperback or hardback. So, far it is all ebook.

[Amy]

I sold an ebook to a fellow author this month :-)

700 is the number of free books I gave away this year. I now have a review, thanks to Sam.

My gravestone that I'm not planning to have will say Amy J Hamilton/DJ Cooper she didn't sell books.

(I keep saying I don't sell books because firstly it's true, secondly usually when I keep typing things like that I'm proved wrong. It's not bloody working!)

[Carole]

Fiction is like that- I sell more paperbacks ( kids books) than my son- He sells more e books. When we started 6 years ago- we used to sell more paperbacks in all genres. We also sold thousands of kindles. It has really tapered off. One of his book was number one in Kindle for almost a year. We sold thousands of them- then something happened- I think the big publishers started pushing back- they were losing authors. They get better real estate on Amazon- Even with a small publisher for my son- I feel a difference. I can only guess what he's selling, though- we don't get royalty reports for a while.

If you put your books in Ingram- with your own ISBN you can pay 89 dollars and do an advertisement in their sales book. I believe as I advertise my sales are improving there.

[Anita]

I used their advertising service for my ebooks but haven't for the paperback or hardback. I will give it a try.

For me, the best so far has been ENT. The results for the promo on Saturday were amazing. It pushed my book up to #1,979 in sales rankings.

[Carole]

Nice!!

[Anita]

I am really impressed with ENT. I've requested two more promotions with them. Hope they get approved.

[Ben]

Anita wrote: "I am really impressed with ENT. I've requested two more promotions with them. Hope they get approved."

Can you post a link Anita?

[Anita]

Ben wrote: "Anita wrote: "I am really impressed with ENT. I've requested two more promotions with them. Hope they get approved."

Can you post a link Anita?"

http://ereadernewstoday.com/bargain-a...

[Erica]

Need to vent...I was working on finishing touches for my next book. I had the images and text combined into my final PDF. Computer glitched, shut itself off, and now the file is corrupt. I lost 7 hours worth of processing/editing/formating and have to start over. Luckily I still have my text and original scanned pictures. So done with technology......

[Sam (Rescue Dog Mom, Writer, Hugger)]

So sorry, Erica. That stinks! Consoling Hugs

[Amy]

Erica, that's plain nasty. I hope it doesn't take as long to get back to where you were. Which reminds me, I'm usually very good at keeping backups as I go and just recently haven't been sending files to my memory stick as often as I should.

Again ENT is for discounted books. Why should Indie Authors devalue their work all the time to be seen?

[Amy]

I just think its stupid. If an author is prepared to pay for promotion (and I don't know if all these sites charge or not, I've seen some that do) then what does it matter what price the book is? The sites are getting money given to them. The author loses twice, they lose royalties on the price drop of the book and they lose because they have to pay for promotion.

Is there another industry where people are expected to pay for the privilege of working for free? Never mind the negative equity that we're expected to shoulder anyway for professional services, editing, formatting and covers. We're then supposed to pay someone to promote our books knowing we'll never make any money back.

In all my 30 year working life, I have never worked so much for free as I have being an author.

I would like to be able to pay someone to promote my books whilst having the ebook sit there at £1.99 or £2.99. I know damn well I'm worth it.

If anyone knows of any sites that don't charge hundreds for promotion, but will allow you to promote a book that isn't 99p let me know, I'm going to need some in the next few months.

[Amy]

Brilliant thanks. I emailed one and asked if they’d consider me as I was, at the time, permanently 99p. Never got a reply. I think I’ve given up promoting the erotica. I’ll hit the next two space opera mystery and space opera paranormal hard when I’ve finished them.

[Carole]

That's what my son keeps doing- changing genre until one will bring in the moolah!

[Judy]

Erica wrote: "Need to vent...I was working on finishing touches for my next book. I had the images and text combined into my final PDF. Computer glitched, shut itself off, and now the file is corrupt. I lost 7 h..."

Sorry to hear that, Erica. The second time around will go faster.

[Erica]

I stayed up late last night re-doing my work. It went faster since I kept notes along the way and most of the word placement and other aspects were still fairly fresh in my head. I am normally very good at backing things up along the way. Never fails that the one time you don't you wish you had. Lol

[Judy]

Erica wrote: "I stayed up late last night re-doing my work. It went faster since I kept notes along the way and most of the word placement and other aspects were still fairly fresh in my head. I am normally very..."

That's what I thought. Erica, what program do you use, Indesign?

[Erica]

I have used InDesign, but I was doing a trial with Adobe Acrobat DC this time. I think it was my computer. It has been shutting itself off randomly and I think my file may have been pulled up the last time it shut down.

[Anita]

I just finished researching the top indie authors for kindle, nook and ibooks. I've decided that I'm definitely in the wrong genre. LOL

And, I can't disagree with Amy's comments. It's the pits not to be able to recoup your investment. I know I won't. I feel like the only people making money are the one's I'm paying, the editing, the promotions, the contests, the blog tours. OMG--the list seems endless.

Unfortunately, that's the nature of the beast and the buying market. My goal right now is to get my books noticed, otherwise they are going to sit in the bowels of the millions of books on Amazon. No one will buy my book because they won't even know it's there. I would rather sell ten books at 99 cents than one at $9.99 in the hopes that I can build that recognition, and that it will pay off on future books and maybe, just maybe, I won't have to sell at bargain prices. Whether it works, time will only tell.

But, I would add one more comment. I wouldn't take another step if I weren't enjoying the process despite the negatives, the frustration, and setbacks. This is an exciting time for authors, with opportunities that didn't even exist a few years ago.

[Amy]

Well, something has to give. If I was rubbish, it'd be a different matter. I'm not and I have plenty of books in me, one of them should sell.

[Anita]

Alex, in my opinion, you have made amazing progress and it's only a matter of time before you get going on this side of the pond.

[Anita]

Hey, that dream is what keeps all of us going.

[Carole]

Anita wrote: "I just finished researching the top indie authors for kindle, nook and ibooks. I've decided that I'm definitely in the wrong genre. LOL

And, I can't disagree with Amy's comments. It's the pits no..."

I can't agree with you more. Both my son and I decided to set a goal and our goal was for one of us to get picked up by a studio, or television show. It was never just about the books- and while that's fun, I think we both realized early on- that if we wanted to get into the telephone numbers of publishing- it had to be as a brand. We both wanted to catch lightning in a bottle and that's what we set out to do. However, I think an author can make a living by getting enough books and print, find a following and market to them. Julie was telling me of one of her authors, sold his house- downsized and with five books is living off the proceeds. He's not living high, but he is living on it. He's a fantasy writer.

[Amy]

OMG living off the proceeds. I’m sorry I must have fallen into different dimension lol

I agree with Anita if I didn’t enjoy it I wouldn’t do it. I would like to do it for money. Writing, I would like to do writing for money. I don’t know what you were thinking!

[Anita]

I talk to writing groups about publishing, and stress two points. One--know your options, and two-set your goals. The diversity of responses that I have received in response to the second has been enlightening.

I started out as a author with a single goal, publish a book. It didn't take long, through, before I was seduced to the dark side--publishing--and that changed what and where I wanted to go. My first client had been working on a book for ten years. She never believed she would see it in print. The day she came to my house, and the look on her face when I handed her the proof book is a memory I will carry for the rest of my life. That was all it took, and like my 500 words, I was hooked. So, I can understand the lightening in a bottle.