Indie Authors discussion
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Read en ebook week March 4-10
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It depends, of course. I've given books away and gotten reviews in exchange. About one in ten review the book. If your book is selling like hotcakes don't do it. But if you need a boost it might help. Look at it this way-What can it hurt? At least more people will know you exist. Good luck.
Depending on the price, you can also simply discount it. I'm probably putting all last year's titles at 50% off - except the 99cents stories, that can only become free. But I noticed whoever downloads freebies isn't a returning customer. So discounts yes, freebies... not so sure!
Never done this before, but have only had books up since december of last year. I set my first book as free, my second book is just a preview for the third and was already free anyway, and the third I dropped down to .99 for the week. Im hopin it does something. It seems like a good promo to me. I just gotta get the badge/banners up on my blog and facebook pages.
I'm going 75% off. At this point I figure it would be worth it for the word-of-mouth marketing it could generate.
I jumped in and am going free. But I only pubbed in January and my need right now, I think, is to be noticed, and as above, hope to kickstart word-of-mouth. Downloads? Great. I've heard it works.
I Jumped and now I will probably get a migraine, I have always had a problem with the word free. LOL but I like the idea so I will just get some nurofen and chew my nails for a bit ;-) This is what I posted on Indiewritenet and goodreads, I think it sounds enthusiastic.Hi Folks,
FREE!
My first book the Navigator will be available free at smashwords.com for one week, between 4-03-2012-10-03-2012. Thats Sunday to saturday this week, since its available on most e formats you shouldn't have any problems getting a copy for your reader/computer/mobile phone/ cybernetic bedtime story telling droid toy piglet! LOL You will get that joke when you read it.
The Navigator is available at the link below.
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...
I will also repost it in the comments box, a review is on the indie write science fiction page and goodreads courtesy of Sams reviews.
Hope you enjoy it ;-)
Steve
Steve wrote: "I Jumped and now I will probably get a migraine, I have always had a problem with the word free. LOL but I like the idea so I will just get some nurofen and chew my nails for a bit ;-) This is what..."I went to SW and it wasn't free. Thanks.
This is insane. I set mine to free and I've had almost 100 sales since Free Week started. I'm hoping it will be worth it for the publicity.
Joseph wrote: "Steve wrote: "I Jumped and now I will probably get a migraine, I have always had a problem with the word free. LOL but I like the idea so I will just get some nurofen and chew my nails for a bit ;-..."hey the code is on the main page and its RE100, thats free, sorry you had trouble but feel free to try again. ;-)
Steve wrote: "Joseph wrote: "Steve wrote: "I Jumped and now I will probably get a migraine, I have always had a problem with the word free. LOL but I like the idea so I will just get some nurofen and chew my nai..."Got it this time. Thanks. Mine are also(gulp)free this week.
Elizabeth wrote: "This is insane. I set mine to free and I've had almost 100 sales since Free Week started. I'm hoping it will be worth it for the publicity."That's great Elizabeth! Joseph & Steve, keep us posted, and maybe you should both switch to decaf for the duration of this week. LOL!
I just switched my book to free - since I hadn't gotten any interest at 75% off.
Josh wrote: "I just switched my book to free - since I hadn't gotten any interest at 75% off."Readers who download freebies are usually NOT returning customers... I already tried this last year - none of those who got the freebies during the week came back for more... just sayin...
I've set my book REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST to 50% off during this week sale.I've had a few sales so far. Staying positive.
Kevin wrote: "I've set my book REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST to 50% off during this week sale.I've had a few sales so far. Staying positive."
that's the spirit! :-)
For me, I've been seeing most of my books go for free but not in large quantities - though I've noticed a lot of the interest seems to be on one particular book.Here is the deal I chose to do: any 99 cent book for FREE with coupon RE100 and any 2.99 book at 50% off with coupon REW50. A few people have bought my newest 2.99 title at half off (obviously I can't share exact figures) but the majority of the pickups have been the 99 cent book and mainly my 99 cent novel (which is series introductory priced, the follow up book will be higher). The large amount of interest is making me consider working on and releasing the Book 2 for that earlier instead of late in the year as originally planned. Even if they don't come back for more, there's definitely an interest in that subject matter over the two anthologies that are free, and that info is valuable.
Joseph wrote: "It depends, of course. I've given books away and gotten reviews in exchange. About one in ten review the book. If your book is selling like hotcakes don't do it. But if you need a boost it might he..."Very good point there! It's only one week a year and what damage can it do...... :-)
Steve wrote: "Joseph wrote: "It depends, of course. I've given books away and gotten reviews in exchange. About one in ten review the book. If your book is selling like hotcakes don't do it. But if you need a bo..."Just Downloaded a few of yours, I work as a photo journalist so like the looks of the light book. ;-)
Hi Again Folks, I forgot that my free compilation the Magic Laptop Ride is in the Promo too, LOL, It's always free though, ;-) Heres the link, PS Adults only!
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
Steve wrote: "Very good point there! It's only one week a year and what damage can it do...... :-) "It's actually two weeks, there will be another in the fall...
I did both last year (except for the first one I had only one book out), that's why I know the outcome! ;-)
And I still love Smashwords! :-D
For myself I put Shadow Boxer up for free with little success, and Allesandra's Bequest at 1/2 off (from 1.99), which has seen some sales. So far it hasn't had the impact I hoped it would have, but it is better than just sittin there any other week :) If any of you are interested here are the linksAllesandra's Bequest
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...
Shadow Boxer
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...
I'm on my way to check out what you all have posted/mentioned up here.
Barbara wrote: "Steve wrote: "Very good point there! It's only one week a year and what damage can it do...... :-) "It's actually two weeks, there will be another in the fall...
I did both last year (except for ..."
LOL ;-)
I have put my novel, After All Is Said and Done for 50% off. Coupon code is REW50It is good thru Saturday.
Thank you,
Belinda
I added mine to the promotion. This will be my first time.lol So far pretty good.
So, how was your week (apparently Smashwords crashed and all our books are now "pending" for premium distribution, let's hope they recover quickly!)?I sold 2 books at 50% off and one full price (99cent short)... Better than last year (although I had more downloads of free titles, but, like I said, those freebie grabbers aren't returning customers)! :-)
Actually it was a bit disappointing Barbara, I put mine out for free and only about thirty copies went out? Great sometimes you can't give it away, and I put a lot of effort into promoting it a bit more than usual. I learned a lot doing this one and did enjoy doing it though, so I guess all's well that ends well. ;-) Steve
Back to three and sometimes five sales a week?!
I didn't do great, but it was still fun until the system crashed. Not only the "pending" problem through the day, but it all went down late into the evening.
Today's Sunday and all my books are still 'Pending Approval' - even the ones that weren't in the promotion. Anyone know if this is going to change on its own or if we have to re-submit all of our books to the Premium Catalog?
Hey E,Check out your dashboard on the top of your page then there are a number of links that will tell you if it has passed or not, it took me a few tries but once sorted it was very quick. otherwise it will just say passed or the equivalent word on the dashboard but in answer to your question its automatic.
;-)
Steve
Also I didn't know the system crashed at smashwords LOL Must have been our over popularity ;-)
Not many But, at least 3 reviewers gave me 3 five stars from their review sites.lol
And I noticed I'm pending too.
Actually I am pending as well which is confusing as I wasn't on Friday?
Thanks Steve and Shani. It must have been the crash - I'll wait and see what happens for a day or two. Like both of you I was approved(for months) but as of today the 'pending' popped up.
On the smashwords facebook page they are asking folks to post on their thread if they are pending. There's a heck of a glitch in the system.
Barbara wrote: "So, how was your week (apparently Smashwords crashed and all our books are now "pending" for premium distribution, let's hope they recover quickly!)?I sold 2 books at 50% off and one full price (9..."
I had 6 free downloads, and a few samples. Now I'm just hoping that (good) reviews will follow.
today's update on the Smashwords home page:March 12, 2012 - Many authors (including myself!) were surprised to look at their Dashboards this weekend and see that previously approved titles were suddenly listed as "Pending Approval." If you click through on the link, however, you'll see the true status of the book. Rather than patch the bug with bubblegum, the tech team is rewriting the underlying code. There are also cases where books appear as if they've been rejected from the Premium Catalog, but the notes field is blank. In both cases, this is simply an error of labeling. The actual status of the book hasn't changed, and this will not impact your distribution. Sorry for the confusion!
Barbara wrote: "today's update on the Smashwords home page:March 12, 2012 - Many authors (including myself!) were surprised to look at their Dashboards this weekend and see that previously approved titles were su..."
Thanks Barbara! I think we all feel a little better now.
Barbara wrote: "today's update on the Smashwords home page:March 12, 2012 - Many authors (including myself!) were surprised to look at their Dashboards this weekend and see that previously approved titles were su..."
PHEW! That was a close one I was about to re-issue the two books LOL! Cheers for that Barbara! :-)
Back to normal with shiny new Dashboard! :-) (But I discovered I needed to resubmit one title because they couldn't see the copyright/Smashwords license at the back of the short book, grrr. I preferred when it was 3 people running it instead of 12...)
I'm considering it, but have never allowed my book to be downloaded for free in such large quantities.
Have any of you done this before, and if so was the outcome worth it?