Category: Writing

This category contains all of my writing

I have been away from my website for a few days recovering from an eventful week-end.  Saturday and Sunday I ran a promotion for my new book, “Conduit: The Beginning”, by offering it on Amazon for FREE!  I believe it to have been a very successful campaign, though I believe there was a glitch with Amazon which may have robbed me of some potential readers.  Several people have told me that my book was not being displayed as “free” when they went to grab a copy.  From what I have read on the support forums, others have had similar issues in the past.

Ignoring the glitch that occurred, “Conduit” managed to hold a spot within in the top 10 free list under Science Fiction/Adventure by Saturday evening with its subcategory, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, it had landed in the top 30.  I was elated when I went to bed that night.  Being a new author with little knowledge of self-publishing, I was overjoyed that my book was moving so quickly.  Then came Sunday.

Obviously, checking to see how “Conduit” was doing was the first thing I did Sunday morning.  I had successfully maintained my hold on #10 and #30.  My overall rank on all of Amazon had moved up from a dismal 200,000 all the way up to 530!  All day long I was on the phone,  watching my book climb the ranks – I think my wife was about to throw my phone away on me.  By midday, I had overtaken several spots under Sci-Fi/Adventure to land at #6 and #21 for Thriller/Suspense.  I can’t explain how exciting it is to see the book that you have worked on for so long land in the hands of so many readers.  Yes, I know, it’s free.  But I really don’t care.  I hope that people enjoy my story as much as I did writing it.

In the end, I had climbed all the way to #4 in Sci-Fi/Adventure, landing right next to H. G. Wells’ Time Machine in #3.  In Thriller/Suspense, I managed to land in #12.

Not bad for a new guy on the block!  “Conduit” fared well, landing in two top 100 lists.  If you missed the chance to grab a free copy, I am running a discount through the week-end, selling my story for .99.  Not free, but close!

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, I hoped to help those thinking about publishing their books online themselves, by sharing some of the pitfalls and troubles I have experienced with the process of publishing my novel with Amazon.  My first post related to forgetting to enter the author name.  I’m still amazed at how I managed to fall for that one but from what I’ve read online in the Kindle support forum, it’s a fairly common mistake.  At least that is what I keep telling myself.

Today’s post is not about forgetting names, but is about Amazon’s option to publish through their program, KDP Select.

What is KDP Select?

It took me some time to understand, but in summary, KDP Select is a large fund for authors who enroll their books in the program.  I believe that this month’s fund is $600,000.00.  The amount is adjusted every month based on how many participants have signed into the program.  What the fund covers are the books that are “borrowed”.  The books that are eligible to be borrowed are those where the author has chosen to participate in KDP Select.  Every time a book is borrowed, it is assigned a portion of the fund.  It is a very small percentage so to make any decent amount of money; a book would have to be borrowed a lot.

It took me some time to decide if I wanted to enroll in the program.  Not because I thought the earnings would be minimal on borrowed books – I believe that by participating in the Kindle library it in increases a book’s reach, but because Amazon requires that an author make the book exclusive to Amazon for ninety days.  This means that the author’s work cannot be posted anywhere else electronically for that period of time.

To help sway people to still participate after the exclusivity contract, Amazon adds in a five day promotional period that can be used at any time during the ninety days.  I read that section and thought, “Great! I’ll do it!”  That was until I read the next statement that any books bought during a promotional period are free.

A lot of people swear by the program and an equal number of people hate it.  So why do it?  I’ll save that for another post.

Shortly after posting “Conduit: The Beginning” to Amazon and blasting out the news that my novel was available for purchase, I received numerous comments that people would like to buy the book but do not own a Kindle.

Due to restrictions on publishing work to Amazon, I am unable to open my novel up to other platforms such as the Nook, iPad, or Sony Reader for ninety days.  After the ninety days is over, I will be pushing it out to the other readers in addition to the Kindle.  Unfortunately, for those that do not own a Kindle, they will have to either download a free application that allows the purchase of ebooks from Amazon or will have to wait until the exclusivity period is over and “The Conduit” is available for purchase on other readers.

Amazon offers free Kindle applications for many different platforms including:

  • iPhone
  • Windows
  • Mac
  • Blackberry
  • iPad
  • Android
  • Windows 7 Phone

Simply click on the link that applies to you and follow the instructions on the page.  Once installed, enter the user information to access the Kindle store.

I hope this helps so that more people may enjoy my story.  It’s a good one!