To Select - Second Free Run Results

A few weeks ago, I decided that, given the success of my first free run with Amazon's Select program, I'd give it another shot. Being a bit of a pessimist, I was more than a little apprehensive about doing it again. I'd had pretty good success on my first run, but would lightning strike twice for the same book? I learned a lot from my own experience and those of my fellow authors who keep a running thread of stats over on the Kindleboards. There's enough statistics on going free over there to drive you up a wall and back down. My first run had been a single day and was on a Saturday. This meant that the magical 2-3 day post-free sales bump occurred between Monday and Tuesday. My theory was that a free run that occurred on a mid-week day would then land the bump on the weekend, closer to the time when I figured more people would be buying.

I scheduled my second free day on February 22nd. I notified a slew of websites over a week in advance. There are really only two that matter; pixelofink.com (POI) and ereadernewstoday.com (ENT). POI and ENT are bastions of freebie-loving readers. Each site has 200,000+ loyal followers on Facebook and their legend among indie authors grows. They post free books throughout the day on their blogs and Facebook. To be included in these posts can mean the difference between giving away 1,000 and 10,000 copies. And, that can mean the difference between selling 2 dozen copies post-free and selling 200. In my first run, which was only a day, I only managed to have one site mention me, but it was still all I needed for a great 1-day total. I thought, this time, I'm much more prepared. But, there was still the unknown element of going free with the same book for a second time. I'd not heard any results and had no evidence that it would be as successful as the first time.

When I woke up on Wednesday morning, I was a bit dismayed. At 7 AM I had apparently only given away 5 copies. It was more of a slow start than I'd expected. Of course, being home sick from work that day (really!) was of no help...as I was able to watch the numbers on an almost constant basis. By 3 PM, the numbers were respectable and actually better than my first run at the same time: 1181 "freeloads" in the US. My UK and DE numbers were much weaker this go round. I have no explanation for that, except that maybe the Brits and Germans keep their book buying for the weekends. I got picked up by ENT that evening, but by 8:30 PM, I knew my day was not going to be as successful as my first run: 2722. At that point, I had yet to break into the Top 100 Free books on Amazon, something I had determined to be an important milestone. I made an executive decision that night. I was going to add another day and remain free through Thursday. By Friday morning at 3 AM ET, when the switch back to paid should have occurred, I'd given away 6970 copies and stood at #90 in the Top 100 Free. I'd actually been as high as #57 earlier in the day, but the onslaught of new freebies had pushed me down. I was satisfied, but not really thrilled that it had essentially taken two days to do what one had done last time. The best moment had been the realization that someone in France decided to download my book for free; a first for me to have anything from that store.

Now, the last time I'd gone back to paid status, the sales came in fairly quickly. There was no lag. I didn't see a flood of sales, but it had moved along nicely that first day (a Sunday) before really picking up between Monday and Tuesday that week. I made it as high as #742 on the Top Paid list at one point and finished consecutive days in the 800s. Well, I watched my sales number throughout the day and got scared. It barely moved. One sale...maybe two. I thought, the magic is gone. I had been a one and done. The Amazon algorithms had changed and I'd just given away 7000 books for nothing. Then, I took a deep breath and reminded myself that patience was a virtue when it came to this game. Saturday came and all was right with the world. By 7 PM Saturday evening, I'd sold 60 copies and had 5 borrows. On Sunday, I climbed to my highest rank of #1,831 overall paid. Not as high as last time, but not too shabby. It stinks being in a category like Suspense. Lots of competition...lots of good competition (on any given day, the worst book in the Top 100 in Suspense is #1400 overall in the entire store; other categories, some of the more obscure ones mind you, can have folks who are ranked as high as #20,000).

Not sure if this is legible as is, but it's supposed to show my last month of sales activity. Click to enlarge.

It's now Tuesday night and I've been back to paid for 5 days. I've sold a total of 169 copies and had 13 borrows in the US. I've had no paid sales in the UK this time round and saw very little action at all in the German store. Nowhere near as successful as my first attempt, but I still consider it a success. Still sold more books in five days than all of last year, so there must be something to this. I've now sold 377 copies of my book in the month of February and have 73 borrows. That follows up 201 and 12, respectively, in January. 578 and 85...not too shabby. Sure, I had to give away 14,000 copies, but c'mon!

Things I've learned:

1. A POI or ENT mention is critical to success. It's as simple as that. Yes, you might reach a few thousand "freeloads" without them, but to really get the big push, you need their quick access to heavy firepower. Hundreds of thousands of readers all itching to pick up free books...even if they never intend to read them. I think POI needs upwards of 3 weeks' advance notice now...and even that may not guarantee you a spot. I've given them 4 weeks for my next free day.

2. Reaching the Top 100 Free is a necessity. If you're close and you were only going free for a day, book a second day so you get there. If you're already there on your first day, keep going! The higher you climb free, the more you'll get into the Amazon algorithms and, subsequently, the more you'll be seen afterward.

3. There is little you can do to control what happens on your free day. Just roll with it. What happens happens. It's not a personal affront to you or your book...really. Deep breaths. Remember, you have 5 free days and after 90 days, you can get out of Select if you're really not that happy with it.

4. There is nothing more addicting than having the ability to see your sales updated in real time. It's an awful, wonderful, horribly fascinating and terrifying thing, but you already knew that.

5. Everyone has a different experience. Some folks have gone free and struggled to give away 500 books one time, then turned around and gave away 5000 their next. It's a process. Give it a chance. Be patient with it if you can. It can and has worked for many.

So far, I'm happy with the Select system. It's worked for me. I think it's the ideal mechanism for promoting a first-in-series book. But, at the same time, I don't think I'll be enrolling books 2 and 3 in the trilogy. We'll see though. Now that I have two runs under my belt, I'm trying to apply everything I know for the last free run of my first Select 90 days. I'll keep you posted. ;)

To Select or To Not Select, That's the Question - Revisited...Again

BEWARE! LARGE AMOUNTS OF STATS AHEAD! Ok, so you might have perused my previous post on the subject of Amazon's new KDP Select program. Well, I folded and joined the club. Here's my experience...

I decided to use a single day to test the waters. You might remember that being part of Select gives you 5 every 90 days of exclusivity. My intention was to pad my readership with a freebie day prior to releasing the sequel. Then, once the sequel is ready, I would have free days with the first book 4 more times to help move the second book. After reviewing many results on one of my favorite online haunts (kindleboards.com), I was a little wary about going free for only one day. The results seemed to be a bit of a mixed bag. But, I figured, if things weren't going as planned, I could always jump in and add an extra day.

So, let's lay some pre-free groundwork. On the evening of January the 27th, my book was approaching a ranking of #300,000 in the Amazon store and had sold a whopping 5 copies for the entire month of January. What's worse is that those 5 copies were sold in the first week. Oh, and no Select members had borrowed my book. Yeah, not so hot.

The book went free at ~3 AM EST on the 28th.

I woke up late and checked my numbers:

10 AM EST
Amazon US
Best Sellers Rank: #1,861 Free in Kindle Store
#57 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Suspense
274 "sales"

Amazon UK
Best Sellers Rank: #351 Free in Kindle Store
#25 in Kindle Store > Books > Fiction > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Thrillers > Suspense
75 "sales"

Amazon DE (Germany)
Bestseller-Rang: #395 Kostenfrei in Kindle-Shop (Siehe Top 100 - Kostenfrei in Kindle-Shop)
Nr. 5 in Kindle-Shop > eBooks > Fremdsprachige eBooks > Englisch > Krimis & Thriller > Thriller > Spannung
14 "sales"

I was pretty geeked to see that some German customers had picked up the book. Though I've had a couple sales in the UK in the past, I'd never touched the German market. I was also kinda surprised to see that almost 300 people had picked up the book. Not that I was being a pessimist, but I had tried desperately to keep my expectations in check. There were stories about people giving away +10k in a day, that were only slightly tempered by the stories of folks who'd only managed to give away 500. I think that was the goal in my head. 500 additional readers is nothing to sneeze at. It was hard to not check throughout the day, but I won't bore you with too much minutiae (postscript edit: I lie...minutiae to follow). My numbers climbed steadily throughout the day at about 100 copies per hour. By 5 PM, this is what it looked like:

Amazon US
Best Sellers Rank: #298 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#18 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Suspense
918 "sales"

Amazon UK
Bestsellers Rank: #182 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#13 in Kindle Store > Books > Fiction > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Thrillers > Suspense
188 "sales"

Amazon DE
Bestseller-Rang: #384 Kostenfrei in Kindle-Shop (Siehe Top 100 - Kostenfrei in Kindle-Shop)
Nr. 3 in Kindle-Shop > eBooks > Fremdsprachige eBooks > Englisch > Krimis & Thriller > Thriller > Spannung
23 "sales"

Not too shabby. As you can tell, it doesn't take as much to climb the UK and DE ranks, as there aren't as many transactions happening in those stores. So, at this point, I was pretty darned happy. I'd given away almost one thousand copies of my book. I hadn't seen nothing...anything...erm...you know what I mean. Lightning struck. One of the more popular websites that lists free books sent out a Facebook post with my book as their "cover" image. They have over 170,000 followers on Facebook just waiting for freebies. I suddenly went from 100 copies an hour to ~26/minute.

• 6:00     2498 copies
• 7:00     3186
• 8:00     3919
• 9:00     4466
• 11:30   5788

This was the last time point for which I recorded the ranking:
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#6 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Suspense

It might have gone higher, but I wasn't that desperate to stay up to record the data. Which is why, at this point, the data gets a bit fuzzy. According to Amazon, the final number for the 28th was 6681 freebies given away. However, the free promotion doesn't necessarily turn off at 12 AM on the dot. So, the numbers to start on Sunday are a bit fuzzy.

When I first woke up (time unknown), I picked up my phone and checked my ranking (not my sales). Just as I had expected; I had returned to my previous ranking before going free...plus some. Yep, I was at 340,000. YIKES! Quite a let down from the excitement of the day before. I rolled over and went back to bed. By the time I motivated myself to check my numbers, I was pleasantly surprised. The total number for the month of January at 9:30 AM on Sunday morning was 6733, which meant there were some phantom numbers in there that may or may not have been sales. At least a couple were paid sales because my ranking climbed to #40,000 overall in the hour or so since I'd checked. I'd also received my first returns! I assume that these were people who had clicked a link to my book, figured it to still be free and only found out afterward that it wasn't. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I then waited for the slow dropoff. The agonizing slide back to where my book "belonged"; wallowing in obscurity in the 100,000 to 200,000 ranking range. It was not to be. Sales came in steadily throughout the day on Sunday; 33 to be precise. It pushed me up to a rank of #2,948 Sunday night.

Ok, then perhaps Monday would prove to be the day of fade. No such "luck"; between Sunday night and Tuesday morning, I sold another 51 copies and got my first Select borrows! The most I had ever sold in one month was ~50. I'd now managed that in one day.

As I post this, early on Wednesday February 1st, a full 72+ hours after going free, I have sold 180+ copies and 15 Select members have borrowed the book (which I'll be compensated for). The book's current rank is:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #967 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#82 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Suspense

I'm there, hanging with the likes of Dean Koontz, Lee Child, and John Locke, even if only for a moment. If there was ever a time for the book to really take off, it's got the best chance it's ever had.

Obviously, in the short term, the results look good. I'm now eclipsing the number of books I sold all of last year (5-1/2 months on sale), in a matter of days. Did I give away a lot? Yep. But, I look at the freebies as going to people who never pay for books. If my gift to them helps me get the book into the hands of folks who are willing to pay the $3, I have no problem with that. And, if perhaps I can get a percentage of those 6700+ freebie folk to actually purchase (God forbid!) the sequel, well...I can dream, can't I?

I'm sure I'll revisit this topic. For someone who has seen just brief glimpses of sales success in the past, it's a potentially strange new world to venture into. I already consider it a large success. I've got pretty lofty goals to be able to call it an overwhelming success, but stranger things have happened. ;)

To Select or To Not Select, That's the Question - Revisited

Last month, you might remember that I wrote a post debating the merits of getting involved in Amazon's Kindle Select program. I hemmed and hawed about it, but eventually fell victim to a sense of "missing out." So, I pulled my book from B&N and Smashwords (which had, combined, generates <10 sales over the last 3 months) and enrolled it into the Select program. On Saturday, January 28th, I'll be taking advantage of the program's biggest draw; the ability to sell my book for free. I get 5 days out of 90 to do so and I'm testing the waters with a single day this weekend. If you've considered buying my book in th epast, well...now is your chance. No buyer's remorse here. Heck, you don't even have to read it! Just picking up the freebie will help me out immensely. As always, it can be found here on the Amazon US site (it will be free on all Amazon sites, though, so those in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain will have a fair shot as well). Obviously, the hope is that the "sale" of freebies will propel the book into the upper rankings and result in added real sales when it comes off of free. That's the hope. ;) So, spread the word and pick up a freebie. If you like it, the sequel isn't too far away. After my free run, I'll probably gather some numbers and report on my take on the process next week.  

To Select or To Not Select, That's the Question

So, Amazon's self-publishing arm, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), recently announced a new feature for self-publishers called KDP Select. To say that it's created a bit of a stir in the self-publishing world is an understatement.

It presents indie authors with a bit of a double-edged proposition. In order to "join the club", you must make your book exclusive to Kindle for 90 days (ie, it cannot appear anywhere else in any form...including teasers on your own web site). In return, your book will be made available through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library for US Amazon Prime members for "free." (Prime members pay $79 a year for expedited shipping and other perks). Authors will also have an opportunity to set their price to $0 for five days every 90 days (while some books are currently free on Amazon, it's only accomplished through "tricking" the system and putting your book free through another distributor. The new setup will allow authors to set the price to $0 right through the KDP manager).

So, what's the hook? A share of half a million dollars a month. Authors' cut of the share is based on how many loans their book(s) gets. Amazon's example is a bit conservative, in my estimates: "...if the monthly fund amount is $500,000 and the total qualified borrows of all participating KDP titles is 100,000 in December and if your book was borrowed 1,500 times, you will earn 1.5% (1,500/100,000 = 1.5%), or $7,500..."

But, you're not gaining anything by letting your book go essentially for free, you say? Not quite. You see, borrows are now being incorporated into the Amazon ranking algorithm. So, though you may not see increased sales, any "free" borrows will push you up in the rankings (which, theoretically, would lead to more exposure, borrows, sales, etc). Conversely, it means that if you're book is NOT in the program, you're not only fighting sales of other books, but the added weight of borrows against your book's ranking.

Tempting, no? Like a good number of self-published authors, I have cast my book's net as far as possible. I have uploaded my book to Amazon, B&N, and the multi-platform distributor Smashwords for the other ebook fish (eg, iPad, Kobo, Sony). However, when it comes down to actual sales (like a good number of self-pubbed authors as well), I have received the most sales through Amazon. Here's how the numbers break down for my ebook sales after 6 months on the market:

• Amazon - 77.9%
• Apple - 10.3%*
• B&N - 8.3%
• Smashwords - 2.0%
• Kobo - 0.7%*
• Sony - 0.7%*

*May be higher, but reporting is monthly at best

Now, comes the question that many indies are faced with. Do I give up that ~20% of sales produced by the other channels for 90 days to try and grab a piece of the Amazon carrot? To be honest, the only channel I'm loathe to give up is the Apple one. As much a I'm a fan of B&N, they've done little to spur the kind of interest in indies that amazon has. Whereas, Apple hasn't quite got a hold of the potential clout they have with the iBookstore. They could probably be a major player in the ebook world if they just got their act together and cared about it, but therein lies the rub. They'll probably never invest the time and energy required, simply because it's not the game they want to play. They're only in it because the game came to them.

At the moment, my answer has been to not do anything. If the process of removing my book from the various sales channels was an easy one, I might have jumped on the band wagon. However, because it can be a bit convoluted and slow to pull books back from Kobo and Sony, it might be January before I'd be "let into the club." But, with my sequel on the horizon (the slowly developing Divisible by Six), I will have to seriously consider my options. By then, the results from the December kickoff will be in and we'll have some numbers to consider.

But, besides the consideration of whether it will be a financial boon or not, we may need to consider whether we, as self-pubbed authors, are fueling the desires of a machine bent on monopolizing an industry. Yep, I said it. And, it shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone. Sure, you're only giving exclusivity for 90 days, but what comes next? How much money will it take for authors to completely forego all other outlets and remain exclusive to Amazon? Some have already taken the bait. How many authors might just not bother to put their books back up on other channels after their 90 days is up? It's a subversive move, and akin to a recent move that some US retailers are openly calling ruthless. Is it ok because "everyone else is doing it" and "I don't want to be the one that missed out"? Last time I checked, those were pretty lame excuses. Perhaps we all really need to take a step back and consider the possible consequences of our actions.

Comments? Thoughts? Ideas? I know you've got 'em. Would love to hear 'em.

Guest Post - Chris Blewitt - The Path from 100 Rejections to #1

Today, I'd like to welcome back one of my Same Six Questions alum, Chris Blewitt. Chris has stopped by today to share his self publishing journey with us. So, without further ado...

______________________________

            My publishing journey has been long and arduous.  I finished my second novel, Deep Rough in 2005 and anxiously awaited all of the agents and publishers to scoop it up.  I was naïve in my thinking, but I didn’t know any better.  I sent out a handful of queries and then forgot about it.  Years later, the itch returned.  I had a good story to tell and the world must have it available to read.  I edited furiously and then proceeded to send out over 100 queries to publishing agents.

            Zip.  Zero.  Nadda.

            Sure, there were a few that said, “Good story, well written, but unfortunately no one reads sports fiction anymore.”  I was frustrated and heartbroken.  Down and out on my luck, I was put in touch with a published author who said I need to find an agent.  Well, I already tried that, I explained to him.  He said to shoot his friend an email that had some success in self-publishing. 

            I quickly learned about Createspace and a few months later, I had Deep Rough in paperback form, in my hands.  It was exhilarating to say the least.  Seven years after I began to write, I finally had the finished copy in my hands.  I told everyone I knew and I sold around 50 paperback copies that first month, October of 2010.  I uploaded to Amazon’s KDP and now DR was available in Kindle, and a month later I put it on Barnes & Noble’s Nook. 

            Now what?

            Sales trickled in.  Sales were decent in December, about 40, and then completely stalled in January.  I sold 4 copies on Kindle, 3 paperbacks, and surprisingly 19 on the Nook.  I made some connections and soon I found Kindleboards, an online networking forum for Kindle owners and Indie authors.  I lowered my price to $.99 in February and sold 23, up from 4.  In March I sold 45 and started to be interviewed on other people’s blogs and websites.  I contacted Daily Cheap Reads and they agreed to feature my book on the Monday of The Masters (the subject of my book).  I sold around 40 copies that day.  I received an email on Masters Sunday from Pixel of Ink and they were featuring my book that day.  I sold 65!

            I was ranked # 1 in Sports Gambling, Sports, and Golf.  In the month of April I sold over 200 copies of Deep Rough.  It was a dream come true.  Was I making any money?  Not really, but at that point I didn’t care.  I leveled out at around 100 sales for May and June but maintained the # 1 position in Sports Gambling and the top 10 in Sports and Golf.  So I did something drastic.  I raised the price to $2.99 and sales fell.

            But not by much.  I sold 63 in July and made a lot more money too.

            Then something strange happened.  I started selling more at $2.99 than I did at $.99.  180 in August.  240 in September and 250 in October!  Sales have since leveled off which I’m okay with because I’m excited about my new release, The Lost Journal.

            So what are the lessons learned:

-          Never Give Up

o   I went from 4 sales in January to 250 in October

-          Have a Plan

o   Request to be interviewed from fellow authors.  Make sure you are on social networking sites as a reader and an author.  Make friends in the indie-world.  Get on Twitter, Facebook, and most importantly for me, Kindleboards.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions. 

-          Experiment with Price

o   $2.99 did not work right out of the gate for me.  I experimented with $.99 and also $1.99.  I got high rankings in my categories so then I raised my price to $2.99.  See what others are pricing their books at in your categories and price accordingly, or cheaper.

Everything I did may not work for everyone.  You definitely have to experiment.  I was on a cover review blog once and they suggested I put something about Augusta on the cover.  I did, “A Thriller in Augusta” now appears and I think it helped sales.  Most of all, don’t give up.  It takes time and energy to get results and I heard this once and it’s a saying I live by:  “If you want to be successful, do what other successful people do.”

The Lost Journal is available on Kindle for $2.99.

In 1778, during the peak of the Revolutionary War, a secret document is hidden and its whereabouts are known to only one man. Now, more than two centuries later, Seth Layton accidentally discovers the journal that will unlock its location and he is on a quest to find it. Joined by his grandfather and new female friend, Madison, they are chased by unsavory characters and some powerful people through historic Philadelphia to the streets of Washington DC. What American secret will the journal unveil and will Seth and his companions live long enough to reveal it? 

Questions?

Feel free to shoot me an email at chris@chrisblewitt.com.

Price Drop! Aisle Six!

I'm cheap, not easy...there's a difference.

In preparation of my upcoming sequel release in January (Divisible by Six), I've lowered the cost of my debut book to the bargain basement price of $0.99 on Kindle, Nook, and more. That's right, you can now purchase my entire novel, all ~70,000 words of it, for about the price of a pack of gum. Full of substance with absolutely zero calories and no chewing required. So, if you've been on the fence, jump off and lay down your dollar. I promise, it's worth a Washington.

Remember, you don't have to own an ereader to buy an electronic copy. Both Amazon and B&N provide downloadable apps for either your smart phone or PC. Or, click on the "more" link above to go to Smashwords where you can download it in PDF form.

Featured on The Frugal eReader today

Multiples of Six is featured over on The Frugal eReader today. Be sure to stop by and check out some of their other offerings.

 http://thefrugalereader.com/2011/10/27/multiples-of-six-trilogy-of-the-six-book-1-andy-rane-2-99/

Sales Boost

Had to throw out a quick shout out to the Kindle Lovers blog (http://thekindle3books.com/). There had been some comments over on the KindleBoards regarding this site, so I decided to try it out. They were offering a free posting in return for a link to their site. Fair enough, right? So, I posted thir link (in the left sidebar I believe) and sent them my info. No response, but I didn't think anything of it. Recently, I had some issues with my Kindle Publishing account, so I wasn't checking my numbers. Finally had it resolved last night and went in this morning. I thought it was a glitch! I had been having a horrible month. Somehow, I'd sold 34 copies in 24 hours...and was ranked at #4134...

My highest ranking ever to date, and by far the most I'd ever sold in a day. I then went over to the UK site and found this...

Sweet, right? My UK rank actually improved during the day as I sold 1 more copy there. My US ranking has since slid, which I knew it would, but what a rush! I've got a paid position coming out tomorrow and I'm thinking it couldn't have been timed better. If I do well enough, I might actually push into the top 100 in suspense/thriller, which is not an easy feat. I think I need to get down below #2k though. Lots of competition.

I've since heard that they are backlogged for the moment. No surprise. Once word hits the streets that something is working, it isn't unknown for long. ;)

Happy Birthday to My First Book! Multiples of Six Release Day!

Start spreading the news!

There is something both inherently exciting and frightening about letting your story go out into the world. As a writer, it's the ultimate moment of exposure. Until now, I've limited the readership to my debut novel to a trusted few. But, the time has come to let go of its hand and see if it can walk on its own.

I am very proud to announce that my suspense/thriller, Multiples of Six, is now available through most ebook retailers. It's been a long time coming, as the initial idea for this story began in 2004. Phew!

It's just over 70,000 words and I've had a lot of great feedback on it so far. I hope you'll give it a chance and let me know what you think if you do.

For Nook owners, the book can be found at Barnes & Noble.

For Kindle owners, you can click on the link below:

For all other formats (Sony, Apple, Kobo, PDF, etc), please check out Smashwords.com.

Next week, I'll have a new post regarding the final steps to publishing. In the meantime, I'll have a new edition of my indie author interview feature, The Same Six Questions every Monday and Thursday. Make sure to stop by and check it out. You never know, you might find a new author to read (besides me, of course)! ;-)

How to NOT Use Social Media

1. When using Twitter, do NOT be vague in your bio. You only get a few words to let people know who you are. Writer? Say so. Don’t be cute. If I can’t tell why you’re on Twitter, I won’t follow you back.

2. Do NOT spam me with repeated messages on Facebook. I haven’t seen it often, but recently someone who shall remain nameless has “shared” their post…six consecutive times, creating a wall of identical posts that I have to scroll through. This is spamming. Don’t do it. It makes me want to unfriend you.

3. As a writer, I understand the purpose of Twitter. You’re there to sell your book(s). I get it. I’m right there with you. However, there is a limit. Do NOT send out more than one message a day about the same book. I realize you’re trying to cover various audience reading times and reach as many potential readers as possible, but this is spamming too. Not cool.

4. Do NOT be a snob. If someone follows you on Twitter, or your author page on Facebook, or your blog, etc, and they’re into the same stuff, follow them back! It’s one thing to be picky, but don’t be rude. Pay attention to your followers. That’s your community. They’re the ones you’re trying to reach. Share the love! Of course, if they then engage in any of the first three items, feel free to drop them like the freeloading second cousins they are.

5. Do NOT rain on anyone’s parade. We all have dreams. For some of us, pursuing that dream is what keeps us going. For some, happiness hinges on chasing that dream. Social media puts us in touch with many whose pursuits will never be more than a dream. I, for one, do not want to be responsible for shattering any dreams. Be gentle.

6. Do NOT direct message (DM) me on Twitter more than once about the book you wrote, the blog you’re writing, or something else you’re selling. I saw it the first time. I’ve got your info. If I want to seek out your book/blog/stuff, I know where to find it.

Social Media is a great tool. Use it properly and you’ll see great results. Abuse it and you might just alienate your potential audience.

Got any of your own “Do NOTs” for social media? Please share!

Cover Art for Multiples of Six

So, I'm very excited to show off the new cover art for Multiples of Six.



I'm really quite pleased with it and its creation certainly makes me feel like everything is coming together. There's something a little egotistical about having your name (even if it is a pseudonym) on a book cover. With the new Web site and the cover art complete, it's just a matter of getting the feedback from my phase 2 beta readers in. I'm still aiming for the end of June for my release. But, if I'm not careful (and diligent with what's required of me) it might slip into July. Not a huge problem, but I would certainly like to have it go live sooner.

Looking forward to working on this book over the next month and wrapping up its publication. Then, the real adventure begins and I get to see if anyone actually wants to read it. ;)

Building a Web Site

When I first went to college, way back in the early 90’s, the Internet was still something of a myth. Only a few had seen it and it seemed like even fewer knew how to get there without help. When I returned to school later in the decade, I was fortunate enough to take a Literature class that introduced me to HTML coding. I took to it like a duck to water at the time, cranking out pages just for the fun of it. Even then, change was in the air. A program called Dreamweaver would take the nuts and bolts programming out of web site design. I lamented the change. There was something satisfying about building something from the ground up, tweaking it offline like an engine in a shop, then taking it for a spin.

Then came a long stretch of time where having an online presence was satisfied by MySpace (who?) and Facebook. I was content to not have anything more than that. But, eventually, in an attempt to spur on my writing, I started a blog. I’d heard about blogging (everyone had one!), but thought it would pass as a fad. Hmmm…not quite...yet. And, though my initial blog was a bit of a failure, it was the first platform I returned to when I decided that it would be important to have an online soap box to stand on and spout from.

And now, as I reach the home stretch of self-publication, I find myself coming full circle. The blog, I feel, just isn’t enough for some people. They need to see a Web site in someone’s name to give credence to their legitimacy. Though I won’t admit a need for this in my own mind, it certainly has a psychological effect when I can click on joesmith.com and lo and behold, there’s Joe Smith. I imagine this might be a generational thing that passes.

The good news is that there are several options out there for someone wanting to build a website. Most sites that offer hosting also offer do-it-yourself web-site building programs as a part of your purchase. For an extra fee, some sites will also build your site for you. Shop around if this is the route you want to go. Remember, for something like an author Web site, where you might not have a ton of extra pages, bigger might not necessarily be better.

However, when you’ve had server space offered for free, you don’t turn it down (yes, that squeaking sound is me). So, now it’s up to me to figure out how to build my new website. I took a look around and found two programs in particular: Kompozer and CoffeeCup both provide feature-rich HTML editors. Of the two, CoffeeCup is a little more refined, but offers fewer editing options (available in their paid version).

Both programs feature tabs that allow you to see the HTML coding and preview what it will looks like online (Komposer also has tabs that show you CSS tagging and the ability to edit on the preview screen). Both come with a couple of simple templates, but you’re probably better off searching for one on the web. There are hundreds of websites out there (do a Google search for free web site template). I think there must be some “start your own business” kit for these sites. Most of the sites look alike and offer free templates next to “premium” designs that make the free ones pale in comparison. Obviously, you get what you pay for. If you want a Flash design element or some other fancy effects, you might need to know more than the basics, and you might need to open up your wallet. But, there are some really good looking, simple designs out there for free.

Getting back into web site design was sluggish at best. Both programs have simplified guides that give you the basics for text placement and image insertion. But, I definitely didn’t want to build from the bottom up. So, I dug around on the internet looking for a template. I think I went cross-eyed the first night. I must have looked through a couple thousand. I wanted something simple, but at the same time, I wanted it to convey my writing style. It was a lot to ask from something I was getting for free.
When I finally chanced upon a design I liked, I downloaded it. Most templates come in a zip form and may include a CSS style file, along with any associated image files. CSS can be a little daunting. Essentially, it makes things in the HTML more streamlined. Gives definition to your coding. Don’t be afraid of it! It might look scary, but it’s actually fairly intuitive, once you figure out what parts need to change (if any). And, best of all, CSS is just a simple text file that you can edit right in Notepad.

You’ll want to open the index file with your software. This should allow you to see the working template. Now, you just have to go in and fill in the blanks, or in most cases, replace the filler text with what you really want on the page. HTML can look like a bunch of gobbledy gook, but Kompozer actually lets you highlight an item on the preview tab, then show you that code in the HTML. Very handy when you’re unsure of what you’re doing.

Though I’m sure there are plenty of websites that will ramble on about how to properly code a web page, I found that the best way to do it is trial and error. Always keep a copy of your original files, in case you mess up. But, play around a little. You’ll be surprised at just how easy it can be with these newer programming tools. That being said, if you type in how do I insert an image into my web page into Google, I’m sure you’ll find plenty of help

As for hosting your page, there are plenty of sites out there (again, just type in web site hosting to Google and I’m sure you’ll get a bunch of hits). One in particular does plenty of advertising without my mentioning it here. Their CEO recently decided to hunt and kill an elephant in Africa. Yeah, not exactly the kind of guy I can get behind. There are plenty of services out there. If you’re looking for relatively cheap domain registration (if, like me, you have server space already available), I suggest 1&1. They charge nothing to register the domain itself, and only a nominal yearly fee to maintain the registration (presently $4.99/yr). That shouldn't break anyone's bank account.

Overall, building a web site shouldn’t drive you crazy. As much as I believe it’s a must, things are changing every day. I don’t believe they are so important that you have to invest hundreds of dollars or hours of your time. It’s important to have the platform, but when it comes down to it, people are going to come for your writing, not because you’ve got a flashy web site. The aim should be to make it a functional and helpful tool for readers to discover more about you and your writing. I'm hoping to have mine wrapped up soon (if www.andyrane.com works, then I've finished!).