I'm finally joining the crowd!

[britnidanielle]

ALSO....finally got approved for Smashwords premium. So when I drop book 2 in the 'Bad Dates' series, I will push book 1 (only 30 pages) to permafree.

 

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[britnidanielle]

So I may have f*cked up. We'll see. My goal was to drop the second book in my 'Bad Dates & Other Disasters' series today, Black Friday. But after sending it to betas, tweaking all week, and Thanksgiving, I didn't upload it until about 1am. It's still "being published" and considering it's a big shopping day for Amazon, who knows how long it'll take.

The good news? My beta readers all LOVED it, which I was really worried about because I didn't like it as much as my first novella. Goes to show me. lol.

I guess we'll see how this goes.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

Keep us posted. I'm very interested in hearing anything you can share about the permafree process and any results. I'll be following this path in a couple more weeks when my book falls out of KDP Select.

 

[britnidanielle]

Keep us posted. I'm very interested in hearing anything you can share about the permafree process and any results. I'll be following this path in a couple more weeks when my book falls out of KDP Select.

I haven't made the first one permafree yet. I wanted to get this one published first, then try to price match the hell out of the first one to get it down to zero. I uploaded it via smashwords & got into the premium catalog, so we'll see if I can get it to permafree soon. I also need to upload the new version of book 1 with the book 2 link inside once it goes live.

I'll share as much info as possible! I don't mind at all

 

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[britnidanielle]

Quick update. The book is live. It took the same 12 hours as usual, no delays (but no quicker either).

 

[COSenior]

I hope you have better luck on Smashwords, and with price-matching, than I did. I finally gave up on everything but Amazon. But, different genres, maybe different experiences. I hope so.

I also hope your beta readers haven't grown overly fond of you so that they love whatever you write. I don't mean that the way it sounds, but they become less useful if they can't read with a critical eye. I've fallen in love with my best beta, and unfortunately the feeling is mutual. Not sure how useful her feedback will be in future. I have a new friend, though. Isn't technology fabulous? I'm getting recipes and encouragement from a friend in Romania who loves my writing, and a paycheck and encouragement from a friend in Australia, who also loves my writing. Now if I could just make 20 or 30 thousand friends who buy books and love my writing...

 

[britnidanielle]

So...looks like the keywords are working for me. But now I'll see how sales go.

 

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[ChickenHawk]

So...looks like the keywords are working for me. But now I'll see how sales go.

WOW, that is seriously impressive. FIVE Kindle Categories. Awesome! My record is three. This gives me something to aspire to.

 

[britnidanielle]

WOW, that is seriously impressive. FIVE Kindle Categories. Awesome! My record is three. This gives me something to aspire to.

My guess is romance has a lot more keywords lol. I just used all 7 and this is what happened.

 

[COSenior]

So...looks like the keywords are working for me.

Wow, that's quite an array of categories! Congrats.

 

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[britnidanielle]

Thanks!

Sales are...slow. But whatever, this is a marathon, right?

Anyway, I created this little graphic to see if I can encourage people to buy books (uh, my book) this weekend. lol

Feel free to borrow & post it if you like.

 

[britnidanielle]

Mini-update:

After reading a post on Kboards about Google Play, I decided to upload my Bad Dates series to Google Play (peep it here). They're both live now & I've had 5 DLs of the first book--which I made free. I'm going to try to use Google Play to Price Match for Amazon to get Vol. 1 on permafree status. Let's hope it works!

I also hired a designer to redo my Bad Dates covers to make them look better. Will share when he returns them to me.

 

[britnidanielle]

Uber random update:

My book got mentioned on a list of 10 books by Black Women in 2013 You Should Read by a digital pub, and it (or me sharing the link on FB) bumped up sales of 'Turn It Loose' bit. I'd been somewhere near the 200k in the Kindle store, now I'm back in at 28k in the Kindle Store. Not bad & a nice surprise!

OH! And more people have DL'ed my book on Google Play! I just need them to buy book 2, instead of just get the freebie (which I'm trying to get price matched on Amazon).

 

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[Rawr]

FWIF I heard if you put up something on apple amazon price matches quickly.

you can do that through draft2digital

 

[Hicks]

Hi,
took a look at your books and they look interesting. I liked your book descriptions; catchy. I noticed that 2 of them are around 120 pages...is that around 60000 words? I've started researching fiction genres and have noticed that some genres 120 pages is the minimum book length...is that what you found?

 

[COSenior]

I just need them to buy book 2, instead of just get the freebie (which I'm trying to get price matched on Amazon).

Very nice, and congratulations on the bump in sales and rank. Don't worry, they will buy it if they like your free one and it compels them to read book 2. What I've found, I think, is that people don't read as fast as I used to, three or four books a week. I say used to because now much of my reading time is spent writing instead.

I noticed that 2 of them are around 120 pages...is that around 60000 words?

I've seen elsewhere that Amazon uses an algorithm to determine approximate page length, and that it depends a lot on how much dialog is present in the book. Mine average about 315 words per page the way Amazon calculates them, so 60k would be closer to 190 pages. I'd love it if all of us would check that out and post the numbers, so we could figure out a range of averages. In fact, I think I'll start a thread for that purpose.

 

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[britnidanielle]

Thanks guy!

Rawr, I'll try that.

Hi,
took a look at your books and they look interesting. I liked your book descriptions; catchy. I noticed that 2 of them are around 120 pages...is that around 60000 words? I've started researching fiction genres and have noticed that some genres 120 pages is the minimum book length...is that what you found?

Thanks, Hicks.

As far as pages...
'Turn It Loose' is about 30k words & 130 pages.
Bad Dates Vol. 2 is 32k words & Amazon lists it as 111 pages.

The difference is that Turn It Loose has a print version that lands it at 130 actual pages & Bad Dates doesn't.

 

[britnidanielle]

Another mini-update:

The new covers on my Bad Dates series are up on Amazon, BN, and Google Play! I'm happy with how they came out.

 

[joanna]

Just a few tweaks and looks so much better Good luck with the sales with the new covers!

 

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[britnidanielle]

Sorta update

Not much has been going on around these parts. I told myself I was just taking a short break around the holiday, but I could have totally been writing, but didn't. Oh well. I'm not beating myself up about it. I got a really big (and AWESOME) freelance assignment in mid-December, due Jan. 3rd , and had another medium-sized one sprinkled in, so I've been focusing on getting that done + the general holiday stuff.

I DID start receiving my royalty checks from Amazon this weekend. AWESOME! I sold 5 books on Nook this month (lol), and I've had 330 Downloads of my book Bad Dates & Other Disasters Vol. 1 on Google Play--but no sales (*sad face*).

All in all, I'm happy. I'm working on the follow-up to my first book & hope to drop it by Feb. As I mentioned before, my goal is to write 6 novels in 2014 dropping tentatively in Feb, April, June, August, Oct, and Dec. Let's hope I can stick to it!

 

[britnidanielle]

Still in it to win it guys. Not sure why, but sales of my first book, Turn It Loose, have been pretty brisk this last week or so. The series is still slow...very, very slow to pick up, but I'm going to finish writing it.

Hoping to finish the follow-up to Turn It Loose by February and release it, then work on the 3rd book in my Bad Dates series. Either way, I'm still in it to win it!

 

[ChickenHawk]

I remember reading somewhere (not here, but on another forum) that it takes seven books before the first one (under the same pen name) reaches its full potential. It will be interesting to see what kind of results come with having more books available for sale. You're definitely on the right track, that's for sure!

I noticed an interesting thing about the book that I just published under my new pen name. On Goodreads, a few people indicated that it was on their "to be read" list, but that they were waiting until the series was completed. I wonder if that might also be impacting your "bad date" series, as people say, "Wow, I'd really love to read that, but I'll wait until the series is done, so I can find out how the saga ends..."

 

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[Held for Ransom]

... editing issue ... see below.

 

[Held for Ransom]

I remember reading somewhere (not here, but on another forum) that it takes seven books before the first one (under the same pen name) reaches its full potential.

Good point but as you recently discovered, writing in a hungry market makes a big difference. So, lots of buyers + lots of books = profit, or at least a shot at it.

I noticed an interesting thing about the book that I just published under my new pen name.

WHY are you on Goodreads? Hmm? For shame! Get to work!

 

[ChickenHawk]

WHY are you on Goodreads? Hmm? For shame! Get to work!

You know what? As usual, this is MOST excellent advice. Seriously. Reviews, ratings, all that stuff, it really is a huge distraction, even if you don't spend a lot of time there.

 

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[webcomber]

I've seen elsewhere that Amazon uses an algorithm to determine approximate page length, and that it depends a lot on how much dialog is present in the book. Mine average about 315 words per page the way Amazon calculates them, so 60k would be closer to 190 pages. I'd love it if all of us would check that out and post the numbers, so we could figure out a range of averages. In fact, I think I'll start a thread for that purpose.

I saw two book on Kindle (not print) with no illustrations, same genre, and same approx. word count.
But one says over 240 pages "based on real page numbers." When I clicked the bubble next to pages it states "based on the print edition."

The other book shows 79 pages "estimated." So it is the same word count and one Kindle book is presented with three times as many pages! I am sure this is a marketing boost, and they may be required to say word count as they do in the description, but those page number differences are amazing and likely affecting a buyer's decision.

 

[COSenior]

I saw two book on Kindle (not print) with no illustrations, same genre, and same approx. word count.
But one says over 240 pages "based on real page numbers." When I clicked the bubble next to pages it states "based on the print edition."

The other book shows 79 pages "estimated." So it is the same word count and one Kindle book is presented with three times as many pages! I am sure this is a marketing boost, and they may be required to say word count as they do in the description, but those page number differences are amazing and likely affecting a buyer's decision.

They may affect the decision, I agree. But the 'real page numbers' come from having the book published also on CreateSpace, and it seems to me that they do more closely follow the standard 250 words per page. Moral of the story: publish on CreateSpace.

 

[COSenior]

Britnidanielle, I'm finally reading your first Bad Dates book, and I have to say, you're very funny! Just got to the Everyone Else part of the 'types' not to date...the one before that had me howling with laughter. Count on one more good review when I'm done.

 

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[britnidanielle]

Britnidanielle, I'm finally reading your first Bad Dates book, and I have to say, you're very funny! Just got to the Everyone Else part of the 'types' not to date...the one before that had me howling with laughter. Count on one more good review when I'm done.

Oh wow. Thank you! I had a lot of fun with that series. The people who have read it (which are very few lol) seem to really like it.

I'm running a 99-cent sale on all ebooks this weekend. We'll see how it goes.

 

[britnidanielle]

I remember reading somewhere (not here, but on another forum) that it takes seven books before the first one (under the same pen name) reaches its full potential. It will be interesting to see what kind of results come with having more books available for sale. You're definitely on the right track, that's for sure!

Good to know. I'm going to keep writing the series (one book left, I think) because I think it's fun. But I hope you're right about this lol