Assuming you want to buy it, that is. I shouldn't presume. But my statistics show that almost nobody uses the product links on this page to purchase my ebook, Smugglers at Whistling Sands.
Instead, people seem to feel that they have to log on to Amazon on a separate page and search for it. You don't need to do that - just simply click in the box advertising my ebook - either the one for Amazon.co.uk or the other one lower down for Amazon.com. This will take you to my Amazon listing where you'll see my book cover and book description. At this point you can choose whether to buy it or not and/or continue shopping on Amazon.
I've put a few other Amazon product links on further down to books that I think viewers of this blog might enjoy, a couple of Enid Blyton's Famous Fives; John Locke's useful advice book on how indie authors can get good sales on Kindle; the current no.1 bestseller on Kindle, Scott Mariani's The Alchemist's Secret, and my all-time favourite book, The Lord of the Rings. I've also put a link to Amazon's new, cheaper Kindle which I think is an excellent product for the price.
It is very much in my interests and all authors who sell their wares on Kindle, that people should have the proper kit to read ebooks. You don't need a Kindle, of course, you can just read an ebook on your computer with easily downloadable softwar, but I think the Kindle, particularly the excellent and more affordable new version really does take some beating.
I intend to put further product links on this blog to books which I personally recommend, in particular of independent authors whose work I am aware of and which deserves pushing.
Showing posts with label John Locke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Locke. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
I got it! My first sale
Yes! It's official, I've found out this morning that I have had my first sale! It's to a chap in Canada who is also writing his own children's novel and who's given me a couple of interesting ideas for getting the book read by people and reviewed. I enclose the evidence below from Amazon.co.uk:
Of course, you may be reading this and thinking, that it's pretty bad having only sold one book three weeks after publishing it. To that I would point out that the likes of John Locke had pretty poor sales at the start too. The first thing any unknown author needs to know loud and clear about succeeding, is that it is incredibly hard. The trick is not to give up - at least to give it a good go.
As I said in an early post, I am not that bothered whether I make it as a novelist, but I will be very bothered if I go through life feeling that I never tried. Now, I have a question for you: who is going to be my SECOND customer?
- Format: Kindle Edition
- File Size: 722 KB
- Publisher: Overton Press (21 July 2011)
- Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
- Language English
- ASIN: B005E0AK2O
- Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #10,985 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
Of course, you may be reading this and thinking, that it's pretty bad having only sold one book three weeks after publishing it. To that I would point out that the likes of John Locke had pretty poor sales at the start too. The first thing any unknown author needs to know loud and clear about succeeding, is that it is incredibly hard. The trick is not to give up - at least to give it a good go.
As I said in an early post, I am not that bothered whether I make it as a novelist, but I will be very bothered if I go through life feeling that I never tried. Now, I have a question for you: who is going to be my SECOND customer?
Thursday, August 04, 2011
New lower price for my Kindle ebook set at Abersoch!
Tempting though it is to go for Amazon's 70% royalty from sales, I have decided instead to accept the lower commission rate of 35%, allowing me to drop the price of my ebook Smugglers At Whistling Sands from £1.71 to just 86 pence. Yes it's a shame that I will only pick up a royalty of some 26p from that from any sales on Kindle, compared to £1 but right at this moment, making money from my book is a secondary consideration. What I really want is sales.
And so far, I have not sold a single book of my children's adventure novel set at Abersoch on the Llyn peninsula of North Wales. Is my price drop a sign that I don't think it's worth £1.71? No of coures not. If anything I believe it is worth far more than this, but unknown authors like me need to take a reality check.
Why should you, reading this, risk shelling out £1.71 on someone you've never heard of before? It seems more reasonable to ask you to part with 86p on the basis that, in the event that you hate my book, it is not a huge amount to lose. When you consider how John Locke and Amanda Hocking started out - they offered their books at very cheap prices. Now that they are well known and have got tens of thousands of sales, they can charge more because they have a following.
And the other thing to bear in mind, of course, is that writing novels has got to be about more than making, or trying to make, money. It has got to be about the love of books. If somebody reads my book free of charge, right to the end, they have paid me the huge compliment of investing their time into bothering with my efforts when there are so many other writers out there.
And so far, I have not sold a single book of my children's adventure novel set at Abersoch on the Llyn peninsula of North Wales. Is my price drop a sign that I don't think it's worth £1.71? No of coures not. If anything I believe it is worth far more than this, but unknown authors like me need to take a reality check.
Why should you, reading this, risk shelling out £1.71 on someone you've never heard of before? It seems more reasonable to ask you to part with 86p on the basis that, in the event that you hate my book, it is not a huge amount to lose. When you consider how John Locke and Amanda Hocking started out - they offered their books at very cheap prices. Now that they are well known and have got tens of thousands of sales, they can charge more because they have a following.
And the other thing to bear in mind, of course, is that writing novels has got to be about more than making, or trying to make, money. It has got to be about the love of books. If somebody reads my book free of charge, right to the end, they have paid me the huge compliment of investing their time into bothering with my efforts when there are so many other writers out there.
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
The Start of a Journey
The journey, to be precise, is towards the promised land of being a published novelist. I already have made it into print as a journalist, writing features and personal columns in the UK regional press.
But like many hacks, I yearn to make it as an author. I want this blog to chart that journey from the very beginning. The first big step towards being a novelist is to write a novel and I have done that. I have written a full-length 45,000 word children's adventure story called Smugglers At Whistling Sands set in Abersoch, North Wales. The next enormous step is to get it published and so far I have sent the opening chapters to one publisher and been rejected, albeit politely.
My next move should have been to push it towards other publishers and agents but a few weeks ago I discovered Amazon's e-book self-publishing service Kindle Direct Publishing. And I thought: what a potentially amazing idea. And then I learned of the success of people like John Locke and Amanda Hocking who have sold more than a million copies each exclusively through Kindle.
Personally, I never thought e-books would take off but they clearly have and that opens up great possibilities for unknown, self published writers. And so I have for now made the decision to publish my book via Amazon's Kindle. That's not to say that I won't try to get it out there as paper and ink, but for now I am happy to try and promote it as an e-book.
The research I have done into self publishing via Kindle throws up a mixed bag of some authors enjoying regular sales and others not doing half so well. One thing we must all bear in mind is that you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. In other words, if our books are, frankly, not very good then ultimately, they will not meet with much success.
But what a service like Amazon's Kindle does, via the magic of the internet, is to give people the chance to read your book almost instantly if they should wish - and, one would have thought, cheaply if you are an unknown.
On that note, an unknown is very much what I am. The world does not know George Chedzoy, nor Smugglers At Whistling Sands. Nobody seems to know that it is now available on Amazon for the reasonable sum of £1.71. Not a single person has bought a copy of it since I uploaded it about 10 days ago. I am not aware of anyone in the Abersoch / Llyn peninsula area of North Wales where the book is set knowing a thing about it.
To date, my book has only been read by my wife, my mum, my dad, and my best friend. My goal is to get at least a few people out there, in the world beyond the fields which surround my house in North Wales to take an interest in it, purchase it and hopefully, to enjoy it. My other goal is to get on with the task of writing more books, the next one possibly aimed at the adult market.
So you join me right at the very start of a difficult journey. You may be in the same position yourself, hoping to launch your first-ever book. If you are like me, you won't care if you never make it, you'll only care that you never tried. Here's to having a go!
But like many hacks, I yearn to make it as an author. I want this blog to chart that journey from the very beginning. The first big step towards being a novelist is to write a novel and I have done that. I have written a full-length 45,000 word children's adventure story called Smugglers At Whistling Sands set in Abersoch, North Wales. The next enormous step is to get it published and so far I have sent the opening chapters to one publisher and been rejected, albeit politely.
My next move should have been to push it towards other publishers and agents but a few weeks ago I discovered Amazon's e-book self-publishing service Kindle Direct Publishing. And I thought: what a potentially amazing idea. And then I learned of the success of people like John Locke and Amanda Hocking who have sold more than a million copies each exclusively through Kindle.
Personally, I never thought e-books would take off but they clearly have and that opens up great possibilities for unknown, self published writers. And so I have for now made the decision to publish my book via Amazon's Kindle. That's not to say that I won't try to get it out there as paper and ink, but for now I am happy to try and promote it as an e-book.
The research I have done into self publishing via Kindle throws up a mixed bag of some authors enjoying regular sales and others not doing half so well. One thing we must all bear in mind is that you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. In other words, if our books are, frankly, not very good then ultimately, they will not meet with much success.
But what a service like Amazon's Kindle does, via the magic of the internet, is to give people the chance to read your book almost instantly if they should wish - and, one would have thought, cheaply if you are an unknown.
On that note, an unknown is very much what I am. The world does not know George Chedzoy, nor Smugglers At Whistling Sands. Nobody seems to know that it is now available on Amazon for the reasonable sum of £1.71. Not a single person has bought a copy of it since I uploaded it about 10 days ago. I am not aware of anyone in the Abersoch / Llyn peninsula area of North Wales where the book is set knowing a thing about it.
To date, my book has only been read by my wife, my mum, my dad, and my best friend. My goal is to get at least a few people out there, in the world beyond the fields which surround my house in North Wales to take an interest in it, purchase it and hopefully, to enjoy it. My other goal is to get on with the task of writing more books, the next one possibly aimed at the adult market.
So you join me right at the very start of a difficult journey. You may be in the same position yourself, hoping to launch your first-ever book. If you are like me, you won't care if you never make it, you'll only care that you never tried. Here's to having a go!
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