KDP Select - What do you think? Showing 451-500 of 1,056

[Stuart]

There is that!!

[Rachel]

Karl wrote: "Thanks Rachel, I'd rather have the sales than popularity though.
I've been told Feb is a tough month for sales all round though and I've done some tweaking of things recently so just have to wait f..."

Thanks Karl. My numbers have been great. If you're having some difficulty gaining traction I would be happy to share what I did with you. I have a real problem with Internet access at the moment because we are snowed in and have been for days. If you can send me a private message or email me via my website or my profile I will drop you a line as soon as I am back online rather than on phone. It might just help? Worth a try?

[Stuart]

Was that today, Karl? I had two sales early on but dropped from 14,500 to 6,100 at about 3pm when the sales were at about 11am. No recorded sales in USA but ranking dropped from 158,000 to 51,000. Can't help thinking this system is a blessing and a curse! If we didn't have access to our sales figures we wouldn't be vexing about all this!!

[Rosen]

This is why I'm having second thoughts about Print on Demand. Feed a Read only shows sales figures once every six months, and we indies can't really cope with being without sales figures for a day.

[Karina]

lol and mine says I had sales today, so I better not start celebrating just yet.

[David]

How annoying are these glitches! However, according to this recent blog by Lexi, Amazon's sales and reporting systems are two very distint things, so I don't think any of us should worry too much... the important thing is the sales are continuing to be recorded.

http://lexirevellian.blogspot.com/201...

[Stuart]

Hmmm - being an old sceptic, would it be possible that our reported sales are reduced in order to entice us to use the free promotion days???

[Rosen]

I don't think there's enough rhythm to the glitches for them to be anything intentional.

[Stuart]

I guess not! So being new to all this (January this year) do these glitches occur often and how do you know when they have been corrected?

[Rosen]

Don't get too complacent. I was blissfully happy in the knowledge that my book was getting ignored, then suddenly people started reading it - utterly terrifying!

[David]

Rosen, I know precisely what you mean. I still haven't fully accepted the fact that over 10,000 people have one of my books sitting on their Kindles (for free). It feels like I've planted hand grenades on 10,000 random strangers!

So far, though, reporting glitches aside, the Select programme is the best thing to ever happen to my writing career. But I remain cautious - these things can change in a heartbeat.

[Rosen]

David wrote: "It feels like I've planted hand grenades on 10,000 random strangers!."

Great way of putting it.

I feel exactly the same about the Select programme. It's done great things for me but it's so volatile.
What can we do to bottle these short term successes?

[Katie]

Rosen wrote: "David wrote: "It feels like I've planted hand grenades on 10,000 random strangers!."

Great way of putting it.

I feel exactly the same about the Select programme. It's done great things for me but..."

I felt like that yesterday when my one book that isn't enrolled in KDP suddenly started selling. I spent the whole day googling to see if I could find out where it had been featured or at least mentioned, but couldn't find it. At least if I had that I would know what had worked, but I still don't know. So it might keep selling or it might not sell any more for a month. I love selling, but I hate not knowing why.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Katie - maybe people have enjoyed a book you have made free and it has encouraged people to want to buy your other books - surely that is the ultimate goal of the program?

[Gingerlily - The Full Wild]

Katie, which book was it? becuase one of yours was the Monday quiz question...

[Rachel]

This is all very interesting. I have found that everything has been completely consistent in terms of my book. I can guestimate to within about 5 sales how many I will have sold each day based on my chart position and the day of the week (sadly, we have bets every morning on the number!). But I am not in Select. I wonder if that's got something to do with it?
I presume that popularity is based on the number of downloads including free and library (US), but chart position (paid) is based on actual number of sales. So quite how you leap around if you don't sell anything is a bit of a mystery.
And Katie - there could be loads of reasons for an increase in sales. One of those is often the books that you are "associated" with - people who bought your book also bought ... If one of the ones you are associated with increases in popularity, it has a knock on effect in that you become more visible.

It's exciting though!

[Katie]

Gingerlily (aka The Typo Queeen) wrote: "Katie, which book was it? becuase one of yours was the Monday quiz question..."

I saw that. I'm still trying to work out the answer! ;)

The book was Treespeaker. You could be right, Desley, but it seems a coincidence to sell so many all at once and it stopped just as quickly as it started, I'm sad to say. You're right though, that is the idea of the program and it's definitely working to a certain extent for me. Despite the glitches I'm still seeing it as a 'good thing'.

[Patti (baconater)]

I know if I mention a book that I've particularly enjoyed at a dinner or whatever here, it can (and has) lead to several sales. Word of mouth n all.
Perhaps that's what happened with your's, Katie.

[David]

Either I've just had the most successful night of sales ever... or the reporting problem has been fixed, and all the downloads I lost last Wednesday have just appeared on my totals. They've all suddenly jumped!

Good news in a way, but it's now tricky to work out how many actual sales I've had since the promo ended...

Is this the same for everyone?

[Katie]

Yes, I had a huge influx of 'sales' overnight, too. It is a little annoying losing track of real sales, but I guess we'll know in a couple of days when the 6 week report comes out. Hopefully that will make more sense than the last one.

[Nell]

Mine seemed to catch up the night before last. The figures seem very erratic - I'm never sure what I'll see when I go to check.

[Stuart]

Yes! Same for me! Very pleasing but also confusing!!

[Stuart]

I also seem to have lost a review though!

[Rachel]

Oh oh - now I'm worried. My sales were excellent last night - but I hadn't noticed any previous glitches. Sales had been really good all month, and rising quickly. My chart position increased too - so I presumed that the increase overnight was just a result of a better chart position. Maybe I'd better reduce my forecast for tomorrow!
I only check my sales once a day - we sit down after breakfast with a cup of coffee, having made bets. I have to say, this morning's bets were high - but the numbers were better. I'm just hoping it's real and not a glitch!

[P.A.]

I just check the sales numbers every now and then ... It would help if you were able to see a daily breakdown of units sold, so I'd know which days to obsess most heavily about. The nearest I've found is the ranking trend on Author Central, but it's annoying that there are different Author Central sites for the different sales regions, and you can't see/control it all in one place.

I'd much rather see a reading/read report. Wouldn't it be great if the Kindles were able to send reading data back to the mothership, then we could all see how many copies have been read, or were in progress? Those kind of stats, if they came in real-time, would keep me up at night.

[Rachel]

Erm - now I'm really confused. There is a report that you can access on the KDP site. At least, that's what I've been basing my sales figures one. I hope I'm right! You just go to the KDP site, sign in, and then select Reports from the top of the page.
Down the left hand side you can see Month to Date figures, and you can select that. It defaults to the US figures, but you can then choose any other region to check your numbers. It's a running total for the month, or you can get your weekly figures for the last 6 weeks.
If this doesn't make sense, give me a shout. Or if I have been living under some misapprehension about these numbers - shout even louder!

[Stuart]

I do exactly the same, Rachel! I guess though you lose the benefit of 'real time' if you're only checking every now and then. A daily breakdown in a report would be handy - would definitely save me from having all these scraps of paper laying around. But then this system is still very much in its infancy so things could definitely evolve to all our benefit!

[Katie]

I think what Paul is saying is that the reports aren't easy to follow. Now that I've got my free books added in, I have NO idea how many I've sold this month or on which days. Even on the six week report, some sales seem to have been added into Freebies, as I have strange maths like 78 @70% x $2.99 = $12.80. I know I haven't sold 78 copies of that book, but I have no idea what the real figure is.

[P.A.]

Yeah, I still look at the KDP sales reports ... the reports on Author Central just give a different view, charting the movement of ranking. For me it shows, very clearly, the point at which I enrolled Cellar Door in Select. It went from zigging up and down like the pattern on Charlie Brown's t-shirt (i.e. sales in the ones and twos) to a big jump followed by a nice, steady trend.

[Rachel]

Well I didn't know that you could check anything on Author Central - so perhaps it's best that I forget that I know that. I just look at the Month to Date figure each morning, and keep a note of the total, so that I can work out how many I've sold day by day.

Then - sadly - and yes, I know, this is very very sad - I put it into an Excel Spreadsheet. But nothing so simple as daily numbers. Oh no. I chart everything too. Weekly sales, Average sales by day, by week - I'm a seriously sad and slightly geeky person I'm afraid.

But I think I'll steer clear of Author Central if that's the case. I'll stick to my numbers and fiddle around with every permutation!

[P.A.]

Never apologise for using Excel, Rachel. (I often use it to track writing progress against targets ... and I apply conditional formatting ... and yes, I chart it too.)

[Rachel]

What !!! That makes me look like a novice! You have targets? Now I'm even MORE impressed! My target today was to do some planning without distraction - so I had to switch off Outlook and TweetDeck so that I couldn't be dragged away. But as I've had no signal for days, I was probably suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

I didn't shut down Amazon though - so I WAS able to keep going back to check my chart position. I don't check sales - but I am a bit compulsive with the old chart position (although strangely, I don't put that into my spreadsheet!).

Must think again about better use of Excel!

[Stuart]

I have no idea how to use excel which is probably just as well!!

[P.A.]

I've recently started using Scrivener, which is excellent. A simple feature it has is the option to have a visible session target. It's a small thing, but it keeps the fingers moving when you've got limited time.

[M.T.]

Oh yes reading stats... eyes glaze over ecstatically... and I have an excel spreadsheet. I books sold, income made, paper or e-book format, format of e-book... yeh... I used to be a brand manager so by definiton, I'm anal.

Cheers

MTM

[Morgan]

Has anyone removed samples of their books posted on Goodreads in order to comply with KDP Select rules?

http://www.morgan-nyberg.ca

[Katie]

I don't think I have any samples on Goodreads, but I did remove one from another site.

[Stuart]

I just deleted any stuff I had elsewhere just in case!!

[Rachel]

Paul (not that Paul, the other one ... yes, him) wrote: "I've recently started using Scrivener, which is excellent. A simple feature it has is the option to have a visible session target. It's a small thing, but it keeps the fingers moving when you've ..."

That sounds interesting? Is it expensive?

[Rosen]

Surely Amazon don't expect us to remove samples? They encourage people to buy the book!

[P.A.]

Rachel wrote: "Paul (not that Paul, the other one ... yes, him) wrote: "I've recently started using Scrivener, which is excellent. A simple feature it has is the option to have a visible session target. It's a ..."

I think it's about £30 for a license, but you can download it with a 30 day trial (and it only counts the days you use it), so worth a try if you want to see what it's like.

http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scr...

[Rachel]

Thanks Paul - I'll have a look!

[Rachel]

Ah ha! I've just glanced at it, and it looks as if it's very like Storylines from the Writers' Cafe (Anthemion Press, I think). I have been using that for a few years. It doesn't give a session target (I don't think) but it allows the planning.

However, I have to say that this looks like a much more advanced version. I may just have to try, because if there's one thing I love, it's new software!

[John]

I write stuff out and stick the bits of paper on different parts of my bookshelf (each column represents a Part, each shelf a Chapter). Now, tell me there's an application that can do THAT!?!

[D.M. Andrews (author)]

The problem with organizational software is that it's all limited to the screen. I saw Terry Pratchet's set up on the news once - three huge flat-screen monitors. Not sure what he had on each, but that suit me fine: one for the word processor, one for research/Internet, another for notes etc..

[Kath]

I think Sir Terry has 9 screens - I can't think that fast!

[Rachel]

Yes John - there certainly is! In the Storylines software you do just that. It's very similar to Scrivener, and has some pluses and some minuses - but basically I set up story threads for each character (or couple, depending on the book) and they run horizontally. They I create vertical columns for chapters and scenes. I use the cork board to organise the scenes then - by character and by scene. It works really well (and although I am an obsessionally organised writer, I am an extremely messy person by nature - so real paper would be a nightmare!!.

[Rachel]

9 Screens? I would love 3, I think - because pulling up my character profiles, timeline and writing on one page is a bit of a nightmare. But like you, Ignite, I couldn't cope with NINE!!

[John]

Rachel. that's amazing! It had never occurred to me that I culd escape the drudgery (mainly because I'm always too busy drudging...). Any preference for Scrivener or Storylines if it's just basic organising you want?

BTW congrats on your rise up the rankings. You want a side bet on where you'll peak? :)

[M.T.]

Blimey! Sir Terry must have a brain the size of a planet. I have one screen and a note book, a paper note book, I mean not a computer.

Some things are stuck on the cupboard door, everything else is in my head. That's why it gets hard combining parenting with writing.

Where I could use the screens is when I'm moving information from one application to another, it'd be nice to have them all open at once.

Cheers

MTM