[PROGRESS THREAD] ChickenHawk's Self-Published Fiction EBooks

[Magik]

Personally, I'm not a fan of free.

Yeah, I think those days are over. I prefer to not ever list a book as free and instead just spread my books to every outlet I can find. However, I'm contemplating the idea of giving people who sign up to my mailing list a free short story. I'll put a few different formats in a zip folder. Thus when a novel drops, I have a nice list. I have no idea if anyone has tried that, or if it's even a good idea, but I may test it out.

 

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[ChickenHawk]

However, I'm contemplating the idea of giving people who sign up to my mailing list a free short story...I have no idea if anyone has tried that, or if it's even a good idea, but I may test it out.

The authors who do the "Self-Publishing Podcast" do this. They seem to think it's worth it, but admit that it's difficult to handle the logistics sometimes. They recently changed their system so it's more automated, but I'm fuzzy on the details.

Yeah, I think those (free promo) days are over.

Now, for a Sad & Funny Free Promo Story...
I do too. Here's a funny example. I still have four kids' books available on Amazon. A couple months ago, purely to be nice, I did a free giveaway on one of my books. I didn't view it as a promo activity. I viewed it as a karmic "thank you" for the success of my adult books. I don't even know how many free books I "sold" because I didn't even check. But I'm guessing it was a few hundred. Aaaaaaand, want to know what I received in return?

This TWO-STAR review. "This book was ok but I am a little bit sad that the bookies not make sense but this book is still ok."

LOL!

So to sum it up, I received a crappy review and saw no sales bump afterwards. If this were a sincere promotional activity, I'd be crushed. I'm running a free promo on another kids' book now, but once again, only as a karmic "thank you." I'm sure it will do me more harm than good, but hey, if a few kids enjoy it, it's a small price to pay...but only because I no longer care how these books do.

 

[RHL]

This thread is absolutely outside my fastlane interests, but I still drop in every few days for the warm fuzzies.

 

[LisaK]

I needed to share a little win with you all since you are the ones who will understand...I made it into the top 100 of my genre today. Not sure if it will last until tomorrow but I thought it was very exciting and thought I'd share! Clearly my genre is a niche when you get into the top 100 at #50,941...none the less, it feels good!

Product Details

• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,941 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #83 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Metaphysical & Visionary

 

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[RHL]

So far this month, I've sold about 3,000 books.

FLF: Where disappointment is only making a year's salary each month. Keep killin' it.

 

[ChickenHawk]

.I made it into the top 100 of my genre today.

Oh wow, congrats!!! You're off to a terrific start, and this seems to bode really well. Yay!!!

 

[GiroudJD]

The authors who do the "Self-Publishing Podcast" do this. They seem to think it's worth it, but admit that it's difficult to handle the logistics sometimes. They recently changed their system so it's more automated, but I'm fuzzy on the details.


Now, for a Sad & Funny Free Promo Story...
I do too. Here's a funny example. I still have four kids' books available on Amazon. A couple months ago, purely to be nice, I did a free giveaway on one of my books. I didn't view it as a promo activity. I viewed it as a karmic "thank you" for the success of my adult books. I don't even know how many free books I "sold" because I didn't even check. But I'm guessing it was a few hundred. Aaaaaaand, want to know what I received in return?

This TWO-STAR review. "This book was ok but I am a little bit sad that the bookies not make sense but this book is still ok."

LOL!

So to sum it up, I received a crappy review and saw no sales bump afterwards. If this were a sincere promotional activity, I'd be crushed. I'm running a free promo on another kids' book now, but once again, only as a karmic "thank you." I'm sure it will do me more harm than good, but hey, if a few kids enjoy it, it's a small price to pay...but only because I no longer care how these books do.

Just to offer the flip side of the coin/devil's advocate argument:

I released a book last week and did 3 days of free on Select. I had commissioned the book for $200. So I needed to sell about 100 copies in order to break even. Over the 3 free days, I gave away over 5,000 copies, was almost in the top 100 of the entire Kindle store (103 - so close!), got 5 reviews (4 good, 1 average) and the first day after the free day I made enough sales to break even and then some. Since then, the book has continued selling and it's been all profit.

So, at least for me, Select free days still work. With certain genres. And certain titles. And you still have to have a good cover, blurb, and content. And market the free days. BUT...well worth it, in the end.

 

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[Rawr]

Just to offer the flip side of the coin/devil's advocate argument:

I released a book last week and did 3 days of free on Select. I had commissioned the book for $200. So I needed to sell about 100 copies in order to break even. Over the 3 free days, I gave away over 5,000 copies, was almost in the top 100 of the entire Kindle store (103 - so close!), got 5 reviews (4 good, 1 average) and the first day after the free day I made enough sales to break even and then some. Since then, the book has continued selling and it's been all profit.

So, at least for me, Select free days still work. With certain genres. And certain titles. And you still have to have a good cover, blurb, and content. And market the free days. BUT...well worth it, in the end.

Romance/Romantic Suspense one of those genres? I'm considering throwing my series into select or at least the first book..however I heard reviews trend to a worse average for free books..that's the biggest fear for me.

 

[Syc]

I only do select if it is combined with either:

a) being on the new release list
b) other books being available in the series

I have also found a 3 day span to be more effective than 5 in terms of sales after select. If you do 5 days you'll go higher in the free charts, but you won't get the same amount of kickback sales after.

 

[GiroudJD]

Romance/Romantic Suspense one of those genres? I'm considering throwing my series into select or at least the first book..however I heard reviews trend to a worse average for free books..that's the biggest fear for me.

This particular one was a non-fiction book actually. But I've had good success using the free days for romance in all forms (contemporary, suspense, erotica, etc).

 

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[LeftBench]

How's the writing for the new book coming along CH? How are sales going on the old ones? Keep it up!

 

[ChickenHawk]

How's the writing for the new book coming along CH? How are sales going on the old ones? Keep it up!

Thanks so much for the encouragement!

About the new book, it's been a slog, but happily, I'm only 2,800 words from writing "the end." This book is huuuuuge, over 120,000 words. I expect to hit publish within the next ten days. Whew!

About the first two books, sales are still pretty decent. As expected, they're dropping each month, but I'm definitely not complaining. Here's a quick summary of my approximate Amazon sales:

• May = 20,000 books
• June = 6,500 books
• July = 1,600 books so far at mid-month.

It will be interesting to see how book #3 does, and how it impacts sales of the first two books. Crossing my fingers!

 

[Vigilante]

I'd give you a bid on the film rights today, but you'd be a fool to take my offer.

 

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[ChickenHawk]

I'd give you a bid on the film rights today, but you'd be a fool to take my offer.

Hah! Oh to dream...
Funny, just listening to the audiobooks was a HUGE thrill. The voice-actress was amazing, and it was so cool to hear the stories read out loud by a professional. I almost felt like a "real" author!

 

[Vigilante]

Hate to break it to you, but you're an author.

 

[Cyberseraph]

@ChickenHawk - Do you have beta readers to get feedback, before upload it on Amazon?
If yes, I was wondering how do you find beta readers?
I can imagine that it might be tricky, when writing erotic romance.

 

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[ChickenHawk]

Do you have beta readers to get feedback, before upload it on Amazon?

Nope. My husband and best friend read it, and that's about it. I do know that beta readers are beneficial. I just haven't made getting them a priority. Similar to giving out advance-reading copies for reviews -- those are also beneficial, but I'm always so tight to my deadlines that I haven't done that either.

I recall though, that someone mentioned Goodreads as a source for such things, so that might be worth looking into. If you pursue this, it would be interesting to learn more about it!

 

[Cyberseraph]

Nope. My husband and best friend read it, and that's about it. I do know that beta readers are beneficial. I just haven't made getting them a priority. Similar to giving out advance-reading copies for reviews -- those are also beneficial, but I'm always so tight to my deadlines that I haven't done that either.
I recall though, that someone mentioned Goodreads as a source for such things, so that might be worth looking into. If you pursue this, it would be interesting to learn more about it!

Thanks for your reply! Same goes for me, I have very tight deadlines and I haven't been looking for beta readers so far.
It was a PITA to find a good proofreader. But now I have a really good one and I stick with her. Nothing gets published before giving it to her

Anyway, instead of beta readers I could hire an editor. But it would be very expensive at the beginning, therefore I will wait, untill I make enough profit to be able to afford an editor.

 

[Rawr]

beta readers tell you what they thought of the story and characters decisions.. such as "i cant believe this guy changed this quickly..its not believable'

I had a copy editor I've had gave very little input on the story...like two sentences of opinion.

I didn't get proofreaders for the last book because its in the series and I kind of know where I'm going at this point, but for a standalone I'd get one.

CH.. good luck with the new release!

edit- beta readers are not proofreaders..doh

 

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[COSenior]

Hmmm, I thought it's a developmental editor who gives opinion on the story line, a copy editor who makes suggestions about writing style, (syntax, etc.) and a proofreader who makes sure there are no typos, the punctuation is correct, etc. Now I'm confused again.

Beta readers are definitely not any of the above. They're more like regular readers who MAY point out errors they see, but mostly say whether they liked it or not and whether it seems to fit the genre, etc.

 

[Rawr]

edited my post..doh.

proof - spelling, grammar.

copy editor - phrasing.

beta readers - storyline, chars.

in my experience.

curious as to what having an editor would be like.. and if they're even necessary for plot dev given the trifecta above.

 

[Cyberseraph]

@ ChickenHawk: How is everything going? Hope you will post updates again soon.

I also have a question. Since you are publishing so many books, how do you handle planning new plots? Are you working with templates and predefined outlines?

 

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[ChickenHawk]

ChickenHawk: How is everything going? Hope you will post updates again soon.
I also have a question. Since you are publishing so many books, how do you handle planning new plots? Are you working with templates and predefined outlines?

In happy news, I just pushed out my latest book. Yay! I'll definitely be posting an update within the next couple of days with more specifics. But suffice it to say I'm really glad to get another title out there. Crossing my fingers!

For planning plots, I usually start by basic brainstorming, and then bounce ideas off my husband or best friend. Once I have a plot in mind, I do an outline in Excel. Of course, the outline changes constantly as I add, delete, and change things. I think half the battle, really, is just to start writing, because often the characters will get their own ideas and take you along for the ride.

 

[Syc]

In happy news, I just pushed out my latest book. Yay! I'll definitely be posting an update within the next couple of days with more specifics. But suffice it to say I'm really glad to get another title out there. Crossing my fingers!

Did you put your new book in select or not?

 

[ChickenHawk]

Did you put your new book in select or not?

Nope. I'm trying not to put all my eggs in the Amazon basket. Of course, Amazon still represents most of my sales, but still, I like the idea of diversifying. Besides, I'm not a fan of free, so there's not much that Select could do for me at the moment, promotion-wise.

 

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[Selfy]

Another giganormous income spike for chickenhawk is coming.

 

[COSenior]

Besides, I'm not a fan of free, so there's not much that Select could do for me at the moment, promotion-wise.

Mossie pushed our second thriller to [HASHTAG]#382[/HASHTAG] or so with a Countdown deal that wasn't free. Far be it from me to advise @ChickenHawk, who is doing just fine without my advice, lol. But others of us who haven't had breakout success and don't have a big list yet might find Select well worth at least a 90-day trial. My new one is on Select, which also puts it in the Kindle Unlimited bucket, and I've seen several borrows already since it went live yesterday. That's another advantage. I don't even care if these borrows don't get the expected compensation that they have enjoyed before KU. Eyeballs...I need eyeballs! lol.

Congrats, CH, btw on a new title. May it soar!

 

[Rawr]

Once I have a plot in mind, I do an outline in Excel. Of course, the outline changes constantly as I add, delete, and change things. I think half the battle, really, is just to start writing, because often the characters will get their own ideas and take you along for the ride.

Amen x 1000. Guess what lame excuse this guy been coming up with for 2 months now? "But I don't know what happens in the middle of the book!" - guess what.. I didn't know with the other 5 books either until I was writing the thing! Don't make my mistake anyone reading this, butt in the chair, fingers on the keys, and let it flooooow!

 

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[ChickenHawk]

Another giganormous income spike for chickenhawk is coming.

This will be interesting to see. I do think my income will spike, but I don't anticipate it spiking nearly as much as it did in April. With the April thing, I was pushing out the conclusion to a two-book series. When Book#2 launched high out of the gate (thanks to my mailing list), Book#2 pulled up Book#1 in the rankings, so I had a major spike in two books. Since I've already sold a lot of those first two books, I'm guessing that this month's spike will be about half of what I experienced in April. Still, even if it were "only" half, I'd be beyond thrilled.

So far, without any mailings to my list, I've sold about 50 copies (Amazon U.S. only) in my first 24 hours. This is just under double what I sold for Book#1 out of the gate. Mostly, I believe it's because some readers were watching for it. Later today, I hope to send out an email to my list...but I can't until some files are updated. Crossing my fingers that it's soon!

 

[LisaK]

Mossie pushed our second thriller to [HASHTAG]#382[/HASHTAG] or so with a Countdown deal that wasn't free. Far be it from me to advise @ChickenHawk, who is doing just fine without my advice, lol. But others of us who haven't had breakout success and don't have a big list yet might find Select well worth at least a 90-day trial. My new one is on Select, which also puts it in the Kindle Unlimited bucket, and I've seen several borrows already since it went live yesterday. That's another advantage. I don't even care if these borrows don't get the expected compensation that they have enjoyed before KU. Eyeballs...I need eyeballs! lol.

Congrats, CH, btw on a new title. May it soar!

What is Kindle Unlimited? Do you get paid if someone borrows?