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Amazon Select book lending program
Dear Old Nick,Sorry, you won't be seeing me. I stood up on a hill today, looking over the beautiful place where I live and thirty miles beyond, and I thought, "S***f Amazon, I'm happy where I am. I have a great family, a good job and food on the table. I'll just keep writing." See, your opposition is far too clever, creating these inspirational places that put things in perspective for people like me.
May I just have a *little* peek at the rippling muscles, though, without selling my soul?
Mod
But I wasn't taking a view. I was just putting up someone else's post for discussion. On hand of the ensuing discussion, I've decided that that Keryl and Sierra right: we should use the Zon system to our advantage. You won't be surprised to hear that I have a plan.
In the kerfuffle of installing a new computer, I lost your address, so drop me email to andrejute at coolmainpress with the commercial extension so I can send you a note about this, -- and a heavily photoshopped piccie of the rippling muscles.
Mod
Patricia, your numbers are impressive. Especially considering that members can only download one a month or twelve a year, so free notwithstanding, they probably aren't going to just pick a book willy-nilly...
John, there's also a different setup for traditionally published authors involved in the same lending scheme. Amazon pays some publishers a flat fee to include specific titles in the Prime lending library. But Amazon has gone a step farther and included some books that were put out by publishers who balked at taking part in the library. Amazon pays those publishers the wholesale price of these books each time they're loaned to someone.The $500,000 Amazon has set aside to be shared by participating KDP authors whose books are borrowed this month will be increased to $6,000,000 for 2012. Amazon says those dollar amounts will be reviewed and added to if necessary to make the program worthwhile for authors who participate. Of course, what Amazon considers worthwhile and what some authors consider worthwhile may vary greatly. When the first round of payments is announced, there'll probably be a flood of posts across the net saying how great the payout is, and how awful it is.
One other thing, John: Amazon customers won't be signing up for Prime just to borrow books. Prime membership entitles subscribers to get free two-day delivery on many items purchased from Amazon, or one-day delivery for $3.99 extra. To make Prime more enticing (because once people pay their $79 annual fee they're likely to buy a ton of stuff from Amazon), Amazon has added some perks. One is free streaming of certain movies and TV shows. Another is the Prime lending library. Books can be borrowed only by Prime members, and the borrower must obtain the borrowed book via a link on their Kindle's menu. That means Kindle apps won't work; the books must go to an actual device. They can be kept as long as the borrower wants them, with one catch: If the borrower wants to borrow another book the next month or any month thereafter, any borrowed book on their Kindle must first be deleted.
Okay, boys and girls, my freebie promotion that was supposed to run through the 13th just upped and died. Don't know why, but Amazon slapped a price on all my books again. When I look at the "manage promotions" section in KDP, I see that my free offers are still in effect according to the very folks who took them away. I don't know if the days can be regained if the software thinks I'm still using them.
Hehe. I don't suppose you can get any meaningful feedback from Amazon about this?
I sent KDP an email. Don't know if it's just a coincidence but all the books are at $0.00 again. The downloads are restarted.
Was just talking to Greg Mitchell and he says he has 4 books for free on Amazon.
Amos wrote: "Was just talking to Greg Mitchell and he says he has 4 books for free on Amazon."Did he tell you why? I'm the evil wench who talked him into it.
Amos wrote: "He didn't mention it, no :)"I'm serious. I really did. He doesn't see how it can help him to loan his books or give them away. He hasn't swallowed the same Kool-Aid I have, but he's willing to give it a try.
I want him to get Truth and Consequences into the Kindle Store. That's my favorite of all his books that I've read, and I've read a lot of them.
Mod
Patricia - what's your download count? Still going strong?I signed up 'Turned Out' as it has had a sale since summer.
K.A., I just posted this in the thread about Author Central pages in foreign parts:Now it's up to 3298, but remember that's spread across six titles. Two titles are getting the bulk of the downloads, though: The God Wars and Sheet Music.
Trouble is, when all this flurry of downloading ends (which it will tomorrow at midnight Pacific time), the ranking on all my titles will go back where they were in the paid store (which is to say, in the basement).
Tonight I got put in my place, lest these downloads go to my head. Someone returned a free copy of The God Wars for a refund. Really.
Where are you seeing the numbers, in the regular sales report?I've signed 'Let's Do Lunch' and 'Turned Out' up for it - just to see if this would help. So far nothing.
Patricia, those are still some impressive numbers! Who knows how it will all wash? Kat, are you planning to use your 5 free days right away?
K.A., if you go to your KDP bookshelf then click on reports, it shows you how many books are being "sold" (sold is an odd term for freebies, but on the report they don't separate paid from free; you have to wait for royalty reports to see which they are). There's a drop-down window that lets you switch the view to different countries.Remember: When you sign up, you can't have the digital version anywhere but on Amazon. I had to pull Sheet Music off a site where it had landed when I got into the Smashwords premium catalog. I left Smashwords quite a while ago, but I guess that info doesn't automatically reach the retailers. It was a Google search that led me to the site. I emailed them and they took it down right away.
Sharon wrote: "Patricia, those are still some impressive numbers! Who knows how it will all wash?"My two most-downloaded titles account for more than 1600 of those downloads, almost evenly split.
K.A., I just checked your titles on Amazon. You're in Amazon's lending library, but not in the free book group. It'll probably be hard to get noticed in the library because I think they now have something like 50,000 titles, thanks to all the indies who signed up. I'll be interested to see how well the library.
I've got my fingers crossed.The book hasn't made any sales, so the Amazon bots appear to overlook 'dead' books. It's off B&N so I'll check KDP for any movement.
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Holy Sh!t!
Let's Do Lunch = 250 in US, 52 in UK
Turned Out = 13 US, 8 in UK
I'm STUNNED!
Its number #28 in US Romantic Suspense!and #13 in the UK!
I need a drink - of coffee.
I can't wait to tell my husband!
That is awesome, Kat!!What did you name your promotion?
Did you make it free for all five days now?
I called it "Let's Do Lunch" Launch. Since the book was dead I made it free for 5 days, starting Monday - which had 0 hits. So I could say I wasted an entire free day.It's over 350 copies now in the US.
Thanks for the info, Kat. I've got mine scheduled for Thurs-Friday, then plan to put it on right after Christmas for three days. Urggh on the Monday, anyone have stats on best-selling 'free' days?
Patricia, what did you name your promotion?
You should pop over to KB and listen to the screaming.I'm in no position to gloat - but it feels really good to be on the upswing.
Of course, it won't last and it doesn't translate into money - unless I can pull some paperback sales out of this.
It will be interesting to see if this does anything for 'Swallow the Moon' - likely not - I'm afraid.
This is only until March.
Yeah, I've been over there. So much fun...
Got a link to where they're screaming?So you ARE in the free promotion, Kat -- not just the lending? When I looked late last night, you were not listed as free except in the lending deal. I haven't looked today but will.
Are those numbers you gave for "borrowing"?
I like your author page on Amazon. I've done nothing with either of mine. Wish Amazon would let me combine the pages for my titles and the ones under the Sierra Philpin pen name.
I noticed that Amazon is giving the indies a good chance in the lending library. They aren't putting books in alphabetical order when the list is presented, and big name authors are mixed in with the rest of us. I guess their software shows titles somewhat randomly.
My downloads are now at 3708. The free status ends at 12:01am Pacific time tomorrow, so just a few hours to go.
Oh, there's this: I had a second book returned (same title as the first one)!
Some screaming ~ and a whole bunch of whining ~ along with a few thoughtful posts here: http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php...Lots of other threads on the subject too...
Patricia said: ...I noticed that Amazon is giving the indies a good chance in the lending library. They aren't putting books in alphabetical order when the list is presented, and big name authors are mixed in with the rest of us. I guess their software shows titles somewhat randomly...Nice to hear...
I just checked out that link. I wonder if the premise David used to create his chart is wrong, as in apples and oranges. If he used the free promo option (can't tell from what I read if he did), his improved ranking while in the program was his ranking in the FREE category, not in the overall Amazon PAID Kindle rankings. As soon as he dropped out, he would have gone back into the overall rankings for paid books. Maybe he said later on in the thread which group he was in, but I quit reading at the end of the first page of posts. When my books leave the free promo at midnight, they'll go from being in the 500s in some cases, to 5 or 6 digits.I think it's only right for Amazon to include the borrowed books as sales because the authors are going to get paid, even if it's just a fraction of a cent -- and loans indicate the popularity of a title (which is what the rankings are all about anyway).
I don't care - I've got movement on the rankings that is UP instead of down for the first time in months.LDL - is #12 on the US romantic suspense chart and #6 in the UK under free titles.
659 copies out in 1 day in the US and 189 in the UK.
Compared to 3 months at $.99 only selling 12 copies this is heavenly. At last - the book is getting some recognition.
No money, but what the hell...'Swallow the Moon' isn't in that system. Lunch has been dead since the July give away which was 150 copies in a month.
If you can get some more reviews out of it, that would be helpful at least.
If I can get word-of-mouth going, just 1 in 10, it would be an improvement.I'm not greedy, if I can just get 1 (paid) sale per day instead of 1 per month out of this, it will be enough.
I've pulled 'Swallow the Moon' from the Smashwords distribution. If there aren't any sales by 10-21 it's going in too
K.A., if you were replying to me up thread, what did "I don't care" mean? Or were you replying to Sharon and saying you don't care about the screaming?Also, what do you mean by 10-21?
And I'm still confused about whether you're in or out of the free promos. When you say where you are in the free ranking in the UK, are you really meaning free -- or do you mean loans? I ask, because your books don't show up on my computer as being in the free promo. If you intend them to be there, there may be a glitch. I, and one other person I know, were temporarily put out of the free program (free to own, not free to borrow) even though KDP reports showed us as still being in it. I've written to KDP about this glitch. Their reply didn't address it, so I wrote to them again.
Be sure to notify those within the Smashwords distribution chain to pull your book, not just Smashwords itself.
I've had yet another return, this time a different title. That makes three returns of free books. Weird. Number of downloads at this point: 3,949 with about four more hours to go in the promo. If the current rate keeps up, I'll be over 4,000 by the time my promo ends.
Sharon, I forgot to respond to your question about the names of my promos. For each title, I used a name related to the promo. No one but me will see that name; I did it just so I can keep track of the numbers per book.
Sorry Patricia - I don't care if I get paid or how much the others scream. I show that "Let's Do Lunch" is free. And I'm showing it's on this chart:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/...
That chart makes me feel so happy!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003Y8XPR0
Yessss! Looks great! #177 in the free Kindle Store right now!It does show up as free on my computer now; didn't when I searched for it before.
I know, Amazon has more glitches than Carter has peanuts.
Thanks, Patricia, I wondered (because I'm not a Prime Select member) if what one named the promotion had anything to do with the promotion itself, so thought I should come up with something catchy. Guess not, so sorry, I didn't mean to pry or anything.It seemed there was a lot of conjecture and conspiracy-theory stuff about Amazon over at KB, and so many seemed to be almost looking for something negative, that I really wasn't getting much real anecdotal or empirical evidence to make a rational decision, so I went with my gut, which I've always trusted. My first thought was, What have I got to lose? and after reading the posts here and at Amazon and KB that was my last thought too, so I bit the bullet. No loans yet I don't think, but I go free on Thurs-Friday so we will see if I'm in time to catch the first wave. Again, hadn't pubbed anywhere but Kindle and wasn't planning to in the immediate future so what did/do I have to lose.
Your numbers seem staggering to me. Hope they keep up!
Kat! WTG too!! Love the success stories. And I agree, your 'sales' are a success!!
Patricia, hadn't heard that homily in ages. Made me smile. In a good way...
Kat, hope you took some screen shots of those charts!! Post them and use them for all they are worth!!
Sharon, my memory is terrible. What homily?I didn't think you were prying. The only reason I figured the name of the promo was for an author's own use is because I ran an ad on HuffPost a while back and they had me name the promotion so I could compare it with other promotions I would supposedly run (but the first ad was such a huge failure, I never bought space there again, or anywhere else for that matter).
If you think my numbers are staggering, Kat's are even better. She's in her first day with those numbers she posted. My total for six titles as of 11pm was 4084, and I'm just a few hours from the end point (I said earlier I had four hours to go, but I forgot I was looking at a clock set for Eastern time and the promos are on Pacific time, so I really had seven more hours to go at that point).
Okay, with that total in mind, consider this: my title with the most downloads is Sheet Music, which is somewhere in the area of 1500. That title wasn't anywhere near Kat's total at the one-day mark. She has what -- around 700-ish for Lunch at last count? I think at the one-day mark, I had around 300 for Sheet, or maybe fewer. I saw lots of growth as the days passed, so if her title does likewise (and why wouldn't it?), she's going to leave me in her dust. I'm wowed by how well she's doing.
I've been charting my downloads, but I did it for all six, not by individual titles (which I now wish I'd done). I wanted to see if downloads would rise or dip when one goes with a five-day run of free books. Next time I'm able to do a free promo, I'm going to stagger the days to see how the number of downloads changes using that approach, and I'm going to compare sales in both sets of 90-day periods using the two methods.
Something that surprises me is that my downloads continued after the first day the free deals were announced. I thought people might check that first day's deals, then move on to the next batch that went free the next day, and so on through the whole five days -- but that isn't what happened. More big batches were released, hundreds at a time, and still people found my now-stale list of books. I'm wondering how they did so, considering how many hundreds of other titles have gone free since this whole thing started. Do people really plow through the masses of titles listed on free book websites, or are they finding them some other way? Could it be that because the titles are also in the lending library even during these free days, people are finding them there?
I expect Christmas Day to be when free titles will have the worst chance of being seen because I've read many posts by authors who say they're saving their free days till then. It might be just too overwhelming when that list hits the Kindle Store. But what I expect is often the opposite of what happens, so put no stock in what I say.
My final total for the five days: 4,175
What are the chances Amazon are faking the numbers to get people on board?
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But I've an editorial habit: I dip into even books I don't intend reading in full, like a sort of mini-busman's holiday, if they're by people I know or who for some reason attract my interest. I might read a few pars or a few pages, just long enough to form an opinion of a writer's style. (That's how editors in trad houses used to work in the days before literary agents became their filter. They'd read a few pages to decide whether the MS was thrown back with a bland card or whether the house should spend a few bucks to get a reader's report before a salaried editor read the whole thing.)
So I don't download stuff just because it is free or cheap; I couldn't care less that it's free or cheap if there isn't some prior reason for me wanting to glance at it or read it.