KDP Select - What do you think? Showing 201-250 of 1,056

[Shaun]

I have refunds show up now and again, even when books were free! Sometimes someone might click to buy accidentally (I know, I've done it myself) and then you have the option to ask for a refund if you paid for it. But it doesn't make much sense when the book's free as you can just delete it. Also, when books revert back to paid, someone might still think it's free and click to buy. Then when they realise they've paid for it, they want a refund.

[Stuart]

I've been looking around and it seems it's not too unusual to get two or three out of the blue in quick succession. It seems it could be the way they are processed by Amazon. Apparently people ask for refunds for any number of reasons and some even ask for refunds on free books in order to try and get refunded the full price! I've had another sale since which hasn't been followed by a swift refund so I feel a little better now! Can't wait for my 5pm drinking curfew to arrive! Thank you so much for checking it out for me, Nell!

[Kath]

We had one for the group book - I assume someone downloaded it by accident - but then I always look on the bright side!

[Stuart]

I thought maybe couldn't believe there could be a book with absolutely no spelling or grammatical errors! ; )

[Nell]

I didn't really check it out - it just came up, funnily enough on a discussion about errors in self-published books.

I'm sure yours is beautifully written though - I don't think Ignite would have loved it otherwise.

[Rachel]

I'm glad you've all raised this. It hasn't happened to me yet, but no doubt it will - and I would have been devastated if I hadn't read all this first. Makes perfect sense that somebody could click it by accident. And also (unfortunately) it makes perfect sense that somebody would download it for free, and then try to claim their money back.They must think that Amazon are very stupid to try that one!

[Stuart]

It's not bad, Nell - it's not bad! ; )

[Nell]

I'm definitely going to try it Stuart, but I daren't even read the preview until I've made some headway with editing :)

[Stuart]

There is all the time in the world, Nell!

[Kath]

Stuart wrote: "I thought maybe couldn't believe there could be a book with absolutely no spelling or grammatical errors! ; )"

Watch it mate!

[Stuart]

: )

[Rosen]

I really wouldn't worry about refunds. I once clicked "buy" and then instead of "confirm" I clicked "cancel" and I got two emails, one telling me I'd been charged and one telling me I'd been refunded.

Thus, I'm pretty sure that refunds can happen without the buyer even thinking the words "Give me my money back!"

(At least, I hope so, because "Lipstick and Knickers" has loads of refunds! Eek.)

[Elle]

I am horrible with refunds so if you want to know why someone might ask for a refund:

I always one click to quick and then go to my email and be like 'OMG WASN'T FREE REFUND REFUND REFUND'

If your book was once free, sometimes it stays up on sites for too long and people make a mistake~

Also at first I always made a mistake with buying a book instead of sending a sample. On the Kindle itself you can undo it but on a computer you have to email Amazon who are very lovely about my stupidity.

Also, I've asked for a refund for books I no longer need for a course I dropped out off. Again, Amazon where very understanding about it.


Edit for confession: I also asked for a refund once for 99p because the book was so. damn. bad.

[Nell]

Louise, it sounds from what you're saying that there's no monitoring by Amazon of refunds. I hadn't considered before that someone might click 'Buy' by mistake though - sounds reasonable.

[Rosen]

I always one click to quick and then go to my email and be like 'OMG WASN'T FREE REFUND REFUND REFUND'"

In truth, most of my refunds were immediately after the price increase and they've dropped off now that the price has been stable for a few days.

[Elle]

It seems Amazon are quite relaxed with their refunding for ebooks. I suppose they have to be as it's just the same as returning a normal book. I am sure some people abuse the system but I generally request it minutes after I buy it, so they are quite nice, and always have a laugh in the email about me begging them to forgive me xD

[M.T.]

Hello everyone

Sorry I know this is a bit of a non sequitur but, if anyone opted in, how are you doing with KDP Select?

I am not particularly pro the idea of exclusivity and world domination for Amazon. However, since my book has been out for a year and I haven't actually sold enough copies to hit the $10 pay out floor for Smashwords the exclusivity clause is hardly going to alter much (I'm in the UK so a lot of sites you guys can use are not open to me, in fact about the only sites I can use without getting into the whole Withholding tax thing are Smashwords or Lulu).

I therefore opted in a short - the prequel to my novel - to see how it goes. So what I can tell you is this.

1. Nobody's going to borrow a short. They have a limited number of borrows so they're going to save them for a full length book.

2. A lot of people have found that after their free days they are in the top 300 or whatever and their novels stay there, garnering a lot of paid for downloads afterwards. This doesn't work for a short.

3. What HAS worked is the conversion rate, which seems to be that if you give out a freebie teaser you get about 2 or 3 sales for every 100 downloads. This is exactly what has happened with my short.

4. It is becoming blindingly apparent that for all the downloads and even buys of my stuff that hardly anyone is reading it. The last person to review the novel posted 6 months ago and the last review of the short was from September 11.

I have had the odd e-mail since then signing up for my mailing list and have replied saying thanks and that if they like my stuff they could really help me sell more of it by writing a quick review on Amazon but I'm not really sure how else I can go about it without being pushy. I review stuff, myself, but only occasionally, it's enough looking after McMini and writing the next book.

How do you folks persuade people to review your books? I ask and occasionally I review other people's although as I said, time is a problem, I have about 10 spare hours a week to do everything.

5. As to whether I'll sign up to the next round of KDP Select, the answer is no, not with the short. I might try it with the first novel in the trilogy and see if that peps sales of the second one when it comes out in April.

So um... there you go, there's me rambling thoughts anyway.

Cheers

MTM

[Stuart]

Interesting stuff MTM - always good to hear someone else's experiences. I guess I've been really lucky. My book came out on 4th January and people are both buying it and reviewing it - 13 reviews in 16 days. I don't know any of the people personally who have put on reviews although I have come into contact with them on various forums like this since the book came out. It's a strange old business that I don't fully understand. All I can say is keep in touch with these type of forums, keep writing and don't give up!

Stu

[M.T.]

Good job Stuart. Nice going.

I think that one of the difficulties with my stuff is that it's humorous fantasy, even Darren Humphries, who is doing rather well with his, agrees that it's tricky. Personally, I think that people don't tend to read my book until they're fresh out of ideas and there's absolutely nothing else left on their e-reader!

Mwah ha ha hargh. Things may pick up when I get book 2 out in April. I have about, I dunno, 30 hours or so to do on it, if that... but I also have a 3 year old so it'll take a couple of months to get those hours in.

Cheers

MTM
Few Are Chosen
Warning: contains car chases, futuristic technology and sarcasm
Unlucky Dip Prequel to Few Are Chosen
sometimes free on Amazon.co.uk.

[Rosen]

I'm afraid I have to disagree with MTM.

Lipstick and Knickers is a short, but it gets borrowed and its held its place in the top 300 after the free days finished.

I don't think that the percentage of readers who write reviews is that high, so I wouldn't see review count as an accurate measure of how many readers you have.

[Stuart]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I have read so much that says once you have more than one book out things seem to take off more - I don't know whether it's because maybe it enhances an author's credibility a little more having more than 'the one book everyone has in them' out there or not. Possibly! We could all drive ourselves mad trying to work out what to do - the main thing mate is to do what you think is right with all the honesty and passion you have.

[Kath]

Good advice here from a man of honesty and passion, I'd venture to suggest.

Don't ask me though, I'm only a reader, but I'm a reader that reviews! So many books, though, and so little time.

[M.T.]

Rosen, good going. Your short looks great, I've just been reading the sample. I think I may finally have worked out why mine isn't doing so well. People have told me it's not a short but I haven't quite managed to pin down why. I think I have now. Length.

So, a while back, before e-books the only short stories that got published were those which won competitions or appeared in magazines.

The ceiling for nearly every single one of those was 2,000 words and I guess I'm stuck there. So here I am thinking my 4,000 word offering is quite long for a short and there are all the readers expecting... well... a novella.

I know it sounds really thick of me but, like I said, I'd realised there was an issue but never got to the bottom of it. I've read collections of short stories which are all quite short and so I thought maybe the problem was the idea that a short has a plot that goes a certain way. This is beginning to make sense...

Thank you, thank you!

Stuart, I agree with Ignite, there, I think you're spot on. You just do what you can, right? What else is there?

Cheers

MTM

[Stuart]

Absolutely right MTM. Every sale is worth a quick dance and every decent review a pint - it's the only way to see it without driving yourself mad!!

[Rosen]

MTM - have you tried putting up a collection of shorts?

Thanks for the lovely comment about Lips and Knicks.

[Stuart]

I'm planning a collection of four short stories for the 12-15 year old market (if there is such a thing!) Started writing the first when I got back from the pub last night - it's called Tremble, Peanut and The Boy. Short stories are a very new thing for me so who knows how it will work out?!

[Karina]

I went through a phase of writing flash and short fiction for publication, so I'd have a few titles under my belt. Once that worn off, I put the collection together. It's called Heads & Tales and has 28 flash and short fiction of all genres. Horror to romance, comedy to sci-fi. 13 of the pieces were previously published and the collection also includes my award winning short horror story Crossed. The stories are dark, twisted and thought provoking.

I only started writing flash fiction again a couple of months ago. I really have to be in the right frame of mind for it.

I wish you all the best with your collection Stuart. They are certainly getting more popular now since the e-book took over.


Heads & Tales

[Stuart]

Thank you Karina! If I can achieve what you have I will, in the words of the great Mississippi John Hurt, I'd be more than satisfied!

[Karina]

That's a very nice thing to say, thank you Stuart.

[M.T.]

Stuart, thanks and once again, true.
Rosen, I do have some on the boil. I was going to publish them in pairs - a pair of shorts but they're not qutie right and I'm trying to finish book 2 of the K'Barthan trilogy before I do anything else.
I've always loved shorts. I can see why not many are published outside indie these days (except by monumentally famous authors) but they are good to dip into.
Cheers

MTM
Few Are Chosen
Warning: contains car chases, futuristic technology and sarcasm
Unlucky Dip Prequel to Few Are Chosen
Free from time to time.

[Rosen]

"A pair of shorts" - nice!

[M.T.]

Thanks.

[Shaun]

I don't think it matters how much work you have out there. Some people only have one novel and they're selling very well. Others have lots of novels and they sell hardly anything. Even if the writing is good, it doesn't necessarily sell. I have five novels out, one collection and one novella, and my sales are quite low compared to other peoples. One of the novels has been filmed (awaiting release details) and reviews for most of my stuff have been very good, but sales remain slow. Lots of it comes down to luck. Some people have it in spades. There is no magic bullet though other than perseverance. And as I've been regularly published in one form or another since 1992, I should know! If I didn't enjoy the writing, I'd have probably given up a long time ago. But then I don't write for the money. I write because I enjoy it. That's the main thing for me. Anything else is icing on the cake.

[David]

Shaun - a sincere thank you for your words. I've been worrying a little too much about sales figures and marketing and promotional schemes, and you've reminded me why I'm here. I LOVE writing, and I'm lucky to be able to find any kind of audience at all. Thanks for providing some perspective!

[Rosen]

I agree entirely. Luck plays a huge part. We just have to keep throwing the dice.

In the past I've written things I'm really proud of, and they've got nowhere, whilst other things that have seemed quite trivial to me have taken off.

Case in point: my personal blog has hundreds of posts, but one about pin numbers gets more hits that all of the others put together.

P.S. Shaun, I read The Kult recently, after it did so well in the InBoBo poll. I loved it - terrific writing. Killers is on my "to-read" list.

[M.T.]

Shaun, David got there first but those are very wise words. You're right!

Cheers

MTM

[Shaun]

No problem, David. It can get to the point of obsessiveness looking at sales and rankings. I hardly even read my reviews any more. Not because I'm not interested, but because a bad review can distract me. So sometimes it's better not to know. Lol.

Rosen, really pleased you enjoyed The Kult, and that Killers is on your TBR list :)

[Rosen]

Shaun - what are you talking about? Your reviews are outstanding (at least they are on Amazon UK.)

[D.M. Andrews (author)]

I agree about the reviews. JA Konrath's philosophy seems to be just to write more books rather than worry about all those things. I think he even said he doesn't really do much promotion either.

After running my first campaign on KDP Select, I've been focused for a week on promotion, sales ranks, reviews, etc., but now I just need to get back writing.

[Shaun]

Rosen wrote: "Shaun - what are you talking about? Your reviews are outstanding (at least they are on Amazon UK.)"

There are good reviews and bad reviews, depending where you look ;)

[Will]

I just signed up today. I'm open to trying anything new that Amazon offers to help increase sales.

[Karina]

Well, I just sit at my desk promoting all day, in the hope of getting a sale. lol

Seriously though, my new novel Road Rage is making it's way through the literary agents world. I can't go any further without an agent. So I'm just hoping that the MS lands on the right desk. Someone who can see the marketing potential for this unknown genre.

No matter what, I won't stop. As long as I have readers, I'll keep writing. It's my passion. It's what I live for.

And Shaun, your work is awesome. xxxx

[D.M. Andrews (author)]

Hang on. I've been writing, getting covers designed, working out how to self-publish and format for kindle, etc., and now you're telling me I need readers too? No one said anything about readers...

[Harry]

My travel guides sold from the offset without hardly any promotion. I think it depends on what you've written.

A genre that is crowded will need a lot more time, effort and patience to get noticed in. Whereas if you find a niche market that has a potential great number of readers then you'll strike it lucky.

As for traditional publishing, I strongly recommend going through agents. My good friend has worked in publishing for years and she says the slush pile largely goes straight in the bin. Approach agents with a brilliant query letter, filled with passion yet with a professional touch.

As far as selling lots of work. You need to remember the golden rule.

"Write what people want to read"

This is like selling out, but many people do it. You can sense a dwindling of passion in some people's work, such as Stephen King, or Dan Brown... even JK Rowling. But they have struck upon stories that sell themselves so they keep churning them out.

Good luck to all budding writers.

[Stuart]

I guess my advice would be to write something that will make the world a better place for at least one reader. Fill it with every ounce of your soul and keep your dignity.

[Kath]

Stuart wrote: "I guess my advice would be to write something that will make the world a better place for at least one reader. Fill it with every ounce of your soul and keep your dignity."

amen to that

[Kath]

Stuart wrote: "I guess my advice would be to write something that will make the world a better place for at least one reader. Fill it with every ounce of your soul and keep your dignity."

I think we can safely say you've done that!

[Stuart]

and that's what I can't get over!!

[David]

D.M. wrote: "Hang on. I've been writing, getting covers designed, working out how to self-publish and format for kindle, etc., and now you're telling me I need readers too? No one said anything about readers..."

Yes, you're right D.M., the whole process would be so much easier without trying to get readers! That's much harder work than writing - I'm exhausted already! :-)

[willie]

Yep, from the heart makes it priceless...
And if others enjoy it its a bonus.

:o)