# 15,000 books in two months, 32,000 books first year. Advice for newbies!



## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Augh! I really hate doing this, because I'm not, by nature, a braggart, and I feel that I'm going to make myself a target for bad reviews. That said, I feel that I have a lot of good information to impart to those who are struggling. Because that was me my first few months. 

Short bit about me. I published my first novel, Beautiful Illusions, on June 22 of 2013. I published the second novel, Deeper Illusions, on the same day. That was my strategy for getting a little foothold - make the first book free, and hope that the fans go on to buy the second one in the series. At that time, I had no Facebook page, no Twitter page, no Internet presence, no blog, no fans, and little confidence in my ability to find an audience. I could barely get my friends interested in reading my books, let alone anybody else. I literally was on food stamps and giving plasma for money, because I made all of $9000 from my writing jobs in the year 2013. I enrolled both books in KDP Select, and made Beautiful Illusions free for four days. I somehow was able to give away around 5000 books that weekend without publicity, and went on to sell about 160 books of Deeper Illusions in the month of July.

And then...crickets. I sold about one Beautiful Illusions a day after that fast start, even though it was only .99, and about one Deeper Illusions every other day at $2.99. I got quite discouraged about this, but kept on writing so that I could finish the trilogy. I published the third book in the trilogy around the end of September, which sold all of about 10 copies on the first day it was out. To say that I was struggling would be understating the matter. 

Things started to turn around when I took all the books out of KDP Select and made Beautiful Illusions permafree, which happened towards the beginning of October of 2013. I sold 400 books that month, between Deeper Illusions and End of Illusions, which was four times more than I had ever sold before.  And then, in November, I got a BookBub ad, and thought that I hit the pinnacle. I sold almost 3400 books that month across all channels, which still included Smashwords for Nook and Apple, etc. My earnings was around $10,000 that month. Woo hoo! I was able to quit my day job when I got paid in February!

Since then, as you can tell from my sig, I completed another series. Once again, that series stalled until I made Broken permafree. I made the mistake of putting Broken into KDP Select when I published it, because I wanted to take advantage of a Freebooksy ad that I paid for. And the other books in the Broken series sold okay, mainly on Amazon.com, and very little in Britain and other places. But I sold my other paid books pretty well, ever since November of last year - anywhere between 1500 books and 2800 books a month across all channels, from November until April. 

May was my breakthrough month. I got another BookBub ad for Beautiful Illusions, which definitely helped. But what really made the difference was that Broken was made permafree. Since then, my sales of the Broken books have literally skyrocketed, in the UK especially - I started making more than $1500 a month just from Kobo, most of that my Broken books, not my Illusions books, and on Amazon UK, I started making around $1500 a month just from them as well. Saving Scotty zoomed to around #600 on Amazon.uk, and stayed in the top #1000 there for well over a month. My Illusions series might have been the one that was boosted with a BookBub ad in May, but the Broken series has been the serious cash cow. It has taken on a life of its own, without much publicity - I haven't been able to BookBub Broken at all. They've turned me down every time I have asked, which has been about 7 times now.  My earnings in May were $18,500 across all channels. My earnings in June were around $24,000 across all channels. So far, in July, I have made around $6000 across all channels. 

Anyhow...enough about me. I'm thrilled to be successful, and hope that it lasts. But that wasn't why I am writing this. I want to give advice for struggling newbies who are losing confidence and hope. Don't lose the faith, and keep believing in yourself, and the fans will come. 

And...for the more nitty gritty on what I have learned this past year, and it is a ton!!!! These pieces of advice are in no particular order. I'm just going to write them as I think of them. 

1) Permafree, permafree, permafree. No matter how many times you might read this, at least for me, .99 is NOT the new free. I couldn't get arrested when my first books in the series were .99. No promo worked to move any copies at all. Once I went permafree, and especially after I was able to score a couple of BookBub ads, things came together. 

2) Don't set it and forget it (the permafree I mean). Permafree is never a "set it and forget it" strategy. What happened with me was that, initially, I had thousands of downloads of the permafree, and that will happen the first week or so that you have it free because it is visible. 

And then, just like that, my downloads crashed and burned to 20 a day. I got soooo discouraged about that, thinking "welp, so much for that strategy. I'm out of ideas now." Because, obviously, 20 downloads a day isn't going to sustain your series. Especially since, at first, I was only getting a 4% conversion rate (it's up to 25% now). 

I was lucky enough to get a BookBub ad to get it going again, but most of you won't be so lucky. What I would do when your downloads inevitably crash is to get a Freebooksy ad. Basically, when your book falls out of the top 1000 or the top 100 in your sub-category, get the $100 Freebooksy ad. But you can't do that all the time, as it will lose its effectiveness. So, when the books falls out of the top 1000 again, try BookSends or another service before you go back to Freebooksy. And apply for BookBub often. It certainly doesn't hurt to dream! 

3) Write in a series, but, even more important, if you have more than one series make them interrelated. My Illusions series had a protagonist named Ryan whose best friend is Nick. Nick was very prominent in all these books. Then Nick got his own series, Broken, and Ryan was featured a lot in those books. The beauty of this is that the series both sell backwards and forwards. The fans who jump in reading the Broken series get to know Ryan, then I put at the end of every Broken book that they need to be sure to read the Illusions series to get to know Ryan more. Same thing with the Illusions books. The goal was to get the fans reading all the books, and that has worked well. 

4)Don't ignore other sales channels. It takes awhile to get established at Nook, Kobo and Apple, so be patient. It's easy to get impatient and reason that you're losing borrows over at KDP, and pull your books from other channels, but that, IMHO, is a big mistake - I have found that, once I got a foothold at those other channels, I've been pretty sticky in all of them. Of course, in the last few months, the sales have exploded across these channels - I made $24,000 last month, and only $14,000 of that, or so, was from the Amazon channels. So, yeah, if I was in KDP Select, I not only wouldn't have a permafree, but I would be missing out on $10,000 of income. And the sales on those other channels continue to be hot - I've already made as much on Apple this month as I have on Amazon, which is around $1400 from each of those channels. Also, you never know where you might pick up your next SUPERFAN - the one who will spread your gospel far and wide. That fan might just come from Nook or Apple, and, before you know it, you're soaring. 

5) Related to the above - just say "no" to aggregators. The reason behind this is simple - it takes a few minutes of pain to upload to Nook and Kobo, but it is sooo worth it, just because you shouldn't have to give up 10% of your income to somebody else. Look at it this way - I sold around 1500 books on Nook last month. If I would have gone through D2D or somebody else, I would have give up around $600 to the aggregators, $600 that I could have in my pocket - ON JUST ONE CHANNEL IN JUST ONE MONTH! Now, if I would have went through Kobo on an aggregator as well, that's another $600 or so gone. It doesn't take that long, and I love the Nook and Kobo interface. They're both simplistic and elegant and you can see everything right there. The caveat - other countries where you cannot upload directly to Nook or whatever, use D2D. Never touch Smashwords. I've had wayyyy too many problems with Smashwords to ever want to do business with them again. Another story for another day. Another caveat - Apple. They've made things too painful, and I don't have a Mac, but I'm tempted to buy a Mac just so that I can upload directly to them. It would be worth it in the end if I keep selling well over there. And, of course, if you want to have a free book on Nook, you HAVE to use an aggregator. Again, use D2D. Never Smashwords. It took well over 6 WEEKS from the time that I published Broken on Smashwords for Broken to appear on Nook - and that was only because I FINALLY WAS ABLE TO PUBLISH IT ON D2D. It took D2D a matter of days for Broken to appear on Nook, where it never did get there through Smashwords. Ugh. Just say no to Smashwords. 

6) Write, publish, repeat. I know, you've heard it before, but, really, there's no substitute for butt-in-chair-hands-on-keyboard time. I have a goal now of one full length novel published every two months, and it has been sooo important for me to stick to that goal. My next one will be out in a week or so, which is almost exactly two months after my last one was published. The next one will be no more than two months after that. Etc. It keeps the momentum for the fans, and, of course, the more books you have published, the more you will sell. And the greater chance that you might hit it out of the park. Babe Ruth once said that every strike out brings him closer to his next home run, and that's the way you have to look at it. It's a numbers game. 

7) You don't have to be Shakespeare. My first book was, and is, seriously flawed. I used soap opera plot points instead of delving into emotions, there wasn't a coherent story, and I threw in everything but the kitchen sink. Still, it ENTERTAINED enough to get me going. I will have to admit that my second series is objectively better - more coherent, more poignant, and there are actual themes in these books. Which is no doubt why that series has taken on a life of it's own, where I still have to constantly push my Illusions series. But, the bottom line is, to entertain. You don't necessarily have to have a Dickensian way with words as long as the readers keep turning the pages. 

 Fool around with different stuff until you hit your sweet spot. I mean, I'm allergic to marketing. Hate it. HATE IT. But it only takes a few minutes to apply to BookBub, and it's not that expensive when you look at the ROI. And Freebooksy - I'm a fan! A HUGE fan! They will literally take anyone, so, if BookBub turns you down, try them out! I have always had an AMAZING ROI with them, and they've been a great help to me, especially since BookBub keeps turning down any book of mine not named Beautiful Illusions. 

9) Cliffhangers WORK! Readers say they hate them, and I've gotten plenty of one stars for my cliffhanger on Broken. But Broken has a 25% read-through rate, even though the second book in that series is $4.99. So don't be afraid of the cliffhanger.


10) Most of all, believe in yourself. Don't give up because you are having a hard time getting going and the sales just aren't coming. Believe in yourself and your abilities and stories and keep on keeping on. You might not be successful, but you definitely won't be if you give up. 

I'm going to be at the RWA National Conference at the end of this month, where I hope to pick up enough tips to make it to the next level - bestsellerdom! I have faith that I can, and you should too! So, hit me up if you see me there. I love to talk to anybody at all! 

Until then, peace! If you want to ask me any questions at all, message me. I'll also be checking this thread throughout the day.


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

Thank you for sharing your success!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

C. Gockel said:


> Thank you for sharing your success!


Aw, you're welcome! I'm just glad that I can pay it forward, because this board has been a GODSEND to me!!!


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## Lisa Grace (Jul 3, 2011)

Bookmarked. Excellent advice, and congratulations.


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## Navigator (Jul 9, 2014)

This is seriously inspiring and gives me hope my first serial will at, the very least, be decent.

Thank you very much for sharing!


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## going going gone (Jun 4, 2013)

That's great! It happened fast for you.

I can't hear good advice too often. (Series. Keep publishing, try this and that until you find the combo of free/paid/ads that works for you. Gotcha.)

I'm so happy you can keep your own plasma now!  And I'll wish for that bestsellerdom for you.


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## Guest (Jul 9, 2014)

Thanks for your information. Bookbub says it only accepts 20 percent of the authors who apply. So including Bookbub in a marketing strategy is under the assumption you'll get in, and for many authors, they won't.

I may or may not pull my books out of KDP Select after 3 or 6 months and put them on other channels. But that's something _I _can control. I can't control whether or not Bookbub accepts me, and therefore, I won't include them in my marketing plan. If they take me someday, great, but I'm not counting on them.

I appreciate your information, but I'm also always on the lookout for people who sold successfully _without_ Bookbub. Thankfully, they do exist.


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## ScottS (Jul 3, 2012)

Congrats! That is awesome!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Thanks for the encouraging words, everybody! You guys all rock, and it's been through reading this board that I have learned so much. 

And Jolie, while BookBub has helped, it doesn't account for having a rocking June and July. My ad was in May - early May. The BookBub effect doesn't last that long. I'd like to think that BookBub is not the ONLY reason why I have done well. Besides, as I said, they keep turning me down too , and it doesn't help in the UK, where I have seen most of my growth in the past few month.


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## Guest (Jul 9, 2014)

anniejocoby said:


> And Jolie, while BookBub has helped, it doesn't account for having a rocking June and July. My ad was in May - early May. The BookBub effect doesn't last that long. I'd like to think that BookBub is not the ONLY reason why I have done well. Besides, as I said, they keep turning me down too.


Well, as you said, a site like Freebooksy is much more inclusive, and many authors, including yourself, have come back with rave reviews.


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## Kenosha Kid (Jun 23, 2011)

Congratulations, Annie, and thanks for your pointers. Very helpful.

Good luck at the RWA conference!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Y


Joliedupre said:


> Well, as you said, a site like Freebooksy is much more inclusive, and many authors, including yourself, have come back with rave reviews.


Yep! I cannot say enough good things about Freebooksy!!!!! I should buy stock in their company!


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## Indica (Jul 7, 2014)

Super inspiring stuff. Congratulations and thanks so much for sharing! I've really been on the fence about using KDP Select for releases on a new pen name, so thanks for your experience with that.


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## Michael J. Scott (Sep 2, 2010)

Congratulations! That's so awesome/encouraging! 

Quick question: When you went with freebooksy, did you go with the $50 or the $100 option? 

Thanks!


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## AgnesWebb (Jan 13, 2013)

Thank you so much for sharing your awesome story! 
I love #6 on your list of advice, because it's so important. Readers want to be entertained!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Michael J. Scott said:


> Congratulations! That's so awesome/encouraging!
> I went with the $100 Freebooksy option every time. They're soooooo awesome!
> 
> Quick question: When you went with freebooksy, did you go with the $50 or the $100 option?
> ...


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## Andrzej Tucholski (Jan 4, 2014)

1. You rock.
2. You rock.

For real!


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## BradMcDauthor (May 22, 2014)

Much love to you for this. Us newbies need to know that people do indeed make it as fresh writers


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## Kj (Jan 17, 2014)

This was SUCH A GREAT READ. Super inspiring... and lots of useful advice that's relevant to decisions I'm going to be making in the next six months. Thanks for sharing your success!


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## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

Congrats and thanks for taking the time to write up your experience. Some great advice in there. Bookmarked!


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## Rin (Apr 25, 2011)

Bookmarked.


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## williamvw (Mar 12, 2012)

I LOVE posts like this. Thank you, Annie, for having the courage to risk attracting the haters. (I think of them as wasps drawn to a delicious picnic.) Your point #4 particularly resonates with me. I have taken to using aggregators for the time savings, but this seems small-minded and short-sighted. As your numbers show, there is a point when the income lost and the minutes saved no longer make sense. $600 (and counting) seems well beyond that point.


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## Josey Alden (Aug 6, 2013)

Thank you for sharing your story, Annie! I've been questioning myself and my work this week, so your advice is timely.

I can't seem to get over the permafree hurdle. I have the first books of two serials free at Apple and All Romance. I've reported the price several times, and I sent an email to the 'zon to ask them to price match. Nothing.  I just keep writing.


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## A past poster (Oct 23, 2013)

Good for you, Annie!!!  You worked hard and you deserve it. And you're always willing to share.


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## KL_Phelps (Nov 7, 2013)

congrats


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## Andie (Jan 24, 2014)

Thanks for sharing your experience. It's always helpful to see what has worked for others.


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## Geoff North (Apr 2, 2011)

Great post, Annie, and very timely considering the '15 sales dream' thread going on. This is the kind of stuff writers like that (including me) need to see to keep encouraged and working hard. By the way, yours covers and author name are awesome!


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## ZanaHart (Nov 22, 2013)

Wow, this is really inspiring! My first novel did pretty well, my second one didn't ride that wave like I hoped it would. I'm going to finish my 3rd one (about half done now) before going for permafree. I could feel my energy level and enthusiasm rising as I read your first post here!


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## fictionwriter (Nov 2, 2010)

:Congrats! That's terrific!! 

A couple of questions:
1. What's the difference between permafree and free?

2. Who does your covers?

3. Do you only write romance?

4. I started self-publishing in 2011, and got the write, write, write idea totally wrong. I was writing in many genres, not one as is the key, many with a co-author, although I do have quite a few young adult titles (that run the gamut from paranormal to contemporary; none with the same characters) or my mysteries (which run from forensic/gritty to cozy/humorous). Is it too late to use Book Bub and should I focus on the young adult titles, my mysteries, or my three romances? none of which have the same characters in them?

Thanks much for any insight you can provide.

Again, congrats! and thanks for sharing.

http://www.amazon.com/Carolyn-Chambers-Clark/e/B000APFWWQ/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1404943341&sr=1-2-ent


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## AmpersandBookInteriors (Feb 10, 2012)

Awesome success! Congratulations


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## Heather Hamilton-Senter (May 25, 2013)

Congrats, congrats, congrats! And thank you for sharing - I know it feels risky, but I'm so grateful to all the kboarders who have volunteered this kind of information. I've learned so much and it's inspiring!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

fictionwriter said:


> :Congrats! That's terrific!!
> 
> A couple of questions:
> 1. What's the difference between permafree and free?
> ...


Thanks everyone for your encouragement! You guys ALL rock!

Fiction writer, so glad you asked about my covers, because I forgot to give a shout out to the amazing Viola Estrella who does all my covers. She's amazing, fast, and only $100 a cover! Love her! And, yes, I stick to erom. Not that it's my first choice - given a chance to read anything at all, I'll read thrillers and fantasy like Dean Koontz. But, as Willie Sutton said when asked why he robs banks and he said "That's where the money is," it's the same with romance. It sells, the fans are voracious, and they're relatively easy to write. So that's why i write romance!


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## Kay Marie (May 15, 2014)

Thanks for this thread! I so needed to see this and I got a ton of inspiration from the information you provided! Thanks again! You rock!!!!!!


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## R.V. Doon (Apr 1, 2013)

Annie,

Great story to share. Bookmarked!


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## I&#039;m a Little Teapot (Apr 10, 2014)

Hooooooray! Many congratulations! 

And it's not bragging (although I get what you're saying, because I'm the same way).


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## LBrent (Jul 1, 2013)

Annie, posts like this are awesomeness to read.

Congratulations and thank you!



Stupid auto correct turned posts into posers.


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## AnthonyJMelchiorri (Apr 4, 2014)

Thanks so much for posting this! As a new author, it's great to see this as another unique road map that led to someone's success. Congrats and best of luck as you continue writing!


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## 鬼 (Sep 30, 2012)

Josey Alden said:


> I can't seem to get over the permafree hurdle. I have the first books of two serials free at Apple and All Romance. I've reported the price several times, and I sent an email to the 'zon to ask them to price match. Nothing.  I just keep writing.


I think you would have much better luck with price matching to nook or google play.


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## Guest (Jul 9, 2014)

anniejocoby said:


> Y
> Yep! I cannot say enough good things about Freebooksy!!!!! I should buy stock in their company!


By the way, Anne posted a nice testimonial for Freebooksy here:

http://freebooksy.com/testimonials


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Congratulations, Annie, and thank you for sharing your advice! Food stamps to $24,000/month. d*mn, that's just about as good as it gets. Good for you!


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## Twizzlers (Feb 6, 2014)

I have a question about the interrelated stories. 

Currently I'm writing everything under the "Bucklin Wolves" banner. 

Basically there is one large overarching story for these characters. 

But then I'm writing individual three part serials under that banner focusing on different characters in each serial as they move forward towards resolution of the overarching story. 

Would you make the first part of each serial permafree or just the very first one set in that world?


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

J Ryan said:


> I have a question about the interrelated stories.
> 
> Currently I'm writing everything under the "Bucklin Wolves" banner.
> 
> ...


I would make each part of the serial permafree. At least, that's basically what I did with Beautiful Illusions and Broken. They are two series, distinct in their own way, so each gets their own permafree. I tried it the other way - basically hoping that my Illusions fans might be inspired enough to actually pay for Broken, which bridges the two series together, but they really didn't. But when it went permafree, it caught fire. So, yeah, one permafree for each series. 

Oh, and thanks Jolie, for posting that link! I really do love that service. Great success whenever I used them!


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## David Pandolfe (May 2, 2014)

Thanks, Anne, for posting this! I’m both new to KBoards and was just mulling over how to go about reaching new readers as I prepare to publish book 2 in a series next month. Nice timing to come across your informative post. Continued good luck!!


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## wtvr (Jun 18, 2014)

It is so inspiring to hear this sort of story!! I was just sitting here wondering if it was worth it to finish the third book in my series... Ha! Thanks for the encouragement!

Best of luck and continued success!


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## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

Annie,
Thanks so much for sharing. Success couldn't have happened to a nicer person! You deserve it!

Also, I wanted to let you know, if you are at the book page for your very first book in your sig, which I believe is your first book...and you click on the author name to see other books written by you, it only shows the first two books in this series. It's missing all your other books  
Now, if you start with the first book in the 2nd series, and click on the author name, all of your books are shown. So your first funnel book isn't giving you its full potential (although I'd love to be where you are). It appears to be a 'Zon glitch. I know many people won't start a series until they see at least three by the author, so this could be holding you back from some readers.

Crack the whip, girl! They're losing you sales! 

So happy for you. You rock!


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## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

Congratulations on your success, Annie.


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## C.P-Bukowski (Jul 10, 2014)

Congrats and awesome story, thanks for sharing Annie.  It's definitely beautiful to hear of success stories like yours. To your continued forward momentum!

Warmest
C


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

L.L. Akers said:


> Annie,
> Thanks so much for sharing. Success couldn't have happened to a nicer person! You deserve it!
> 
> Also, I wanted to let you know, if you are at the book page for your very first book in your sig, which I believe is your first book...and you click on the author name to see other books written by you, it only shows the first two books in this series. It's missing all your other books
> ...


Thanks LL! And thanks so much for the headsup - I need to fix that. Oops! I think it's because I was too lazy to update my author profile on the Zon. Tsk, tsk...


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## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

And your new cover in your avatar is absolutely beautiful! Is this your next series?


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

L.L. Akers said:


> And your new cover in your avatar is absolutely beautiful! Is this your next series?


Thanks! I do LOVE that cover myself - it's by far my favorite! Viola Estrella. She's amazing!!!! That's going to be the first book of my next series, like you asked. So excited to finally have that up and running.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

FYI - many people use D2D, Smashwords, etc for Nook because they are physically unable to publish directly there due to country restrictions.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Krista D. Ball said:


> FYI - many people use D2D, Smashwords, etc for Nook because they are physically unable to publish directly there due to country restrictions.


Yup, I know, which is why I addressed this. That sucks, too - I think that Australia is one of those countries. I remember reading it from another poster. I just said that, given the choice between Smashwords and D2D, D2D is definitely the lesser of two evils. For a multitude of reasons. Another post for another day....but if anybody is interested in all the reasons why Smashwords infuriates me, message me.


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## Justawriter (Jul 24, 2012)

Awesome post, Annie! Congrats on your success. Look forward to saying hello at RWA in a few weeks.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

PamelaKelley said:


> Awesome post, Annie! Congrats on your success. Look forward to saying hello at RWA in a few weeks.


Cool! Hit me up when you see me. I would assume that we will all have name tags?


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## SanMarine (Nov 27, 2013)

Annie, thank you so very much for sharing! Your success is inspiring and I echo the many voices here who appreciate the generosity. Your knowledge is a gift! Congrats!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

BTW, I've gotten some questions about permafree, so I will just answer them right here.

The difference between permafree and free is that free is what you get when you go through KDP Select. You can have your book free for five days out of the 90 that you are in KDP Select. Which is an excellent way to give your book some exposure, particularly if you have a series. Permafree means just that - the book is permanently free. For as long as Amazon wants to make your book free, it will be.

How does that happen? Through price-matching. That means that you upload through other channels your book as free. Google Play and Kobo, so far, are the only two channels where you can easily upload the free book. On Nook, you have to go through D2D. On Apple, you have to either sacrifice a goat or go through D2D to get your book free. Your choice.

So, then, next step. You contact KDP support at https://kdp.amazon.com/contact-us and you inform them that your book is free on Google Play and Kobo, and send them the link. And, voila, you might have a free book in 24 hours! At least, that was how it went with me with Broken, but perhaps I just got lucky. With Beautiful Illusions, it took a tad bit longer, because I didn't upload to Google Play, and I was still going the report a lower price route, which is an inefficient way of accomplishing the same thing. You basically go to the your books page, and scroll to the "report a lower price" thingy and report your book being free. Then try to get all your friends to do the same, and post on the Kboards message thread having them all do the same thing. Then wait. Then repeat. Then sacrifice a goat. Lots of goat sacrificing there.

And that's really it. A PIA, but worth it, so worth it....


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## hyh (Jul 21, 2013)

Congratulations, Annie, and thank you for a wonderful, inspiring post (and for taking the "risks" of expsoure to help newbies!). I find it especially encouraging because you didn't just have some inexplicable overnight success out of the gate but actually struggled initially and built from there with a logical strategy.

I've got a question about the timing of permafree: would you recommend definitely waiting until you have 3 books in the series before going permafree on the 1st? (ie. rather than get going from when Book 2 comes out)

And when you say "erom" - I assume you mean "erotic romance"? Do you think the 'having a lot of sex' in your books plays a big role in your commercialism & potential success? ie. if you don't write very steamy romances, do you have less hope of succeeding (in the same way that if your books are standalones as opposed to in a series)

Thank you.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

anniejocoby said:


> Yup, I know, which is why I addressed this. That sucks, too - I think that Australia is one of those countries. I remember reading it from another poster. I just said that, given the choice between Smashwords and D2D, D2D is definitely the lesser of two evils. For a multitude of reasons. Another post for another day....but if anybody is interested in all the reasons why Smashwords infuriates me, message me.


Canada is on the list, too. In fact, we can't even buy books from Nook because they hate our money that much.


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## Navigator (Jul 9, 2014)

Krista D. Ball said:


> Canada is on the list, too. In fact, we can't even buy books from Nook because they hate our money that much.


Oh wow, you're kidding?! Why on earth would B&N do that? They're missing out on so much $$. It doesn't seem to make any logical or financial sense to deliberately not be available in a country like Canada.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

Cryptic Fawn said:


> Oh wow, you're kidding?! Why on earth would B&N do that? They're missing out on so much $$. It doesn't seem to make any logical or financial sense to deliberately not be available in a country like Canada.


There were a couple of magazines exclusive to Nook in digital format that I wanted. Nope. They only take US credit cards/US address. Meh. Their loss. I just bought the print copies from Chapters.


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## legion (Mar 1, 2013)

Thank you so much for sharing, Annie!
It's always great to see posts like these, and get some of the usual reminders (and a kick in the pants to keep going)!


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## briasbooks (Sep 11, 2013)

Great information and very inspirational! Bookmarked for future reference. There is hope for us newbies after all!


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## Gator (Sep 28, 2012)

Congrats on your success!  Thanks for the terrific advice and inspiration!


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## Maia Sepp Ross (May 10, 2013)

Many congrats on your success, and thanks for sharing the deets!


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## jlmarten (May 9, 2012)

Just so you know, Annie, if anything your post came off as humbled, amazed, and grateful - not hint of bragging to it.

Thanks for giving us the benefit of learning from your experience. And of course, a big congratulations! Look out NYT bestsellers list!


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## C Ryan Bymaster (Oct 4, 2013)

Congrats and thanks for the encouragement!

And ... Bookmarked!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

jlmarten said:


> Just so you know, Annie, if anything your post came off as humbled, amazed, and grateful - not hint of bragging to it.
> 
> Thanks for giving us the benefit of learning from your experience. And of course, a big congratulations! Look out NYT bestsellers list!


Aw, thanks!!!! And thanks to everybody on this thread! Just like when I came on the scene, we had the Elles and the Russels of the world giving advice, I am so happy to be able to do the same!

HY - I would definitely go permafree as soon as you can. Others say wait until you have three books out, but I'll be honest with you - I don't necessarily see the logic in that. I mean, definitely have another book out that is a sequel to your permafree book. And it all depends on how your book that you want to make free is selling. But here is how I look at it - if the book isn't selling, you got nothing to lose. And erom means erotic romance. Mine don't have as much sex in them as many of the erotic romances do, although they are somewhat steamy. I think, as far as whether the amount of sex is what sells the book - it all depends on the reader. Personally, if I read romances, I prefer little to no sex. If anything, I skim over the sex passages, because I like the story. But there are readers who like lots of sex. Broken was the cleanest of all my books, and it has been my favorite so far.


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## hyh (Jul 21, 2013)

anniejocoby said:


> HY - I would definitely go permafree as soon as you can. Others say wait until you have three books out, but I'll be honest with you - I don't necessarily see the logic in that. I mean, definitely have another book out that is a sequel to your permafree book. And it all depends on how your book that you want to make free is selling. But here is how I look at it - if the book isn't selling, you got nothing to lose.


Thank you so much, Annie, for answering!  When you say "it all depends on how your book that you want to make free is selling" - how would you define "not selling well" in terms of numbers? (I know this is a hard one to answer but just in your opinion - like what would it have to sink to for you to feel it's no loss going permafree instead?) Thank you again!


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## Howietzer (Apr 18, 2012)

That's just straight up awesomesauce! Great post!


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## Writer1000 (Jul 28, 2013)

Congratulations, Annie! And I love your covers, especially the new one.


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## RachelMeyers (Apr 17, 2014)

Really inspiring and encouraging, I'm planning on releasing my first novel in a couple of months, so bookmarking this for future reference


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## AssanaBanana (Feb 1, 2014)

You are amazing and I hope to be where you are in a few months (my self-publishing anniversary is late January). Thank you for sharing. I'll be at RWA, too... My first conference. I'm a little terrified, but if there are fellow indie authors there, it might not be so bad.

I'm on my second series now... sales are slow, but I expect them to pick up once I've published my third book and made the first free. That's my plan for now. At the moment the box set of my first series is selling like hotcakes though (God, I have a craving for maple syrup now). Sales in general are low, but I hope they'll pick up as the new series gets going. I'm impatient.

Oh, I also swear by Freebooksy.  Brenna Aubrey turned me on to that one. I'm still skeptical that Bookbub will even accept my stuff since it's mostly short erotica and their guidelines are pretty clear.


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## Evenstar (Jan 26, 2013)

Thanks for this post Annie. I was feeling a bit low today and this was exactly the pick me up I needed.

I've been publishing longer than you, but have very limited writing time, so I try not to give myself too much of a hard time that I'm not producing as much as I'd like or as fast as I'd like.  I so want to get to the point where I earn enough to pay the mortgage and the bills. 

I'm with smashwords for everything except Amazon and google, I haven't had any problems with them at all so far, but I don't earn very much from them, I would love to hear if you think that would improve by switching to D2D?

Finally, congrats on your success, it's so great to see people on writer's cafe doing well and sharing their knowledge - Hugs!


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## rachelmedhurst (Jun 25, 2014)

Thank you so much for this! I'm so glad that I've found kboards.

I'm only 2 months into my publishing career and am writing like mad around my day job. I've learnt so much about getting more work out there.

I love to see these success stories, it inspires me to graft hard while doing something I love. 

Thanks!


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## markhealy (Jun 5, 2014)

Congrats, and thanks for the advice!


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## Kee (Jun 3, 2013)

How many times do you run ads on Freebooksy?  
How many days, weeks apart?  

I am a newbie with only one book out in my series and book #2 should be out this month!  ;-)  Do I make Book #1 free even though I have only 2?  #3 & #4 will hopefully be out by the end of the year.  They are full novels. Thanks so much! You are an inspiration!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Good morning, peeps! I woke up and saw several questions, so I will go ahead and answer them. Love it! I just love to help others, so thanks so much for your interest and questions!

HY - here is what I think about free books. And this answer is going to be long and convoluted, so bear with me...Anyhow, here is the thing. With a new author, you pretty much have to either price your funnel book at .99 or you make it free. To me, .99 just sucks for soooo many reasons. 

1) It's a BARRIER TO ENTRY. Yeah, it's .99, big whoop, right? Wrong. No. Any money at all is a barrier to entry, no matter how small. Think about it. I get my BookBub email every day. Most days I don't open it up, but on days that I do, I skim for what's free and download it. Because it's no big deal, except that it clogs up the Kindle. Then, I only buy a .99 book if it is really flipping intriguing to me, and, even then, I'm hesitant, because I'm kinda cheap that way. Or think about it in terms of music downloads. You might find really cool bands because you were able to pirate a song or two by them and find that you like them. But think about that same new band and you have to pay for their songs. You probably aren't going to do it. It's all psychological. People like free. If you make them pay any amount of money, they're probably like "eh."
2) It hinders the word of mouth for your book. It's the same principle as the barrier to entry, but, in this case, it's one friend telling another "you gotta try this new writer HY Hanna, her Honey Dog Mysteries are amazeballs!" The friend says "cool, let me check it out." Well, if the book is free, that friend will, 99%, check it out. She figures that it's no big deal - if she doesn't like the book, she's out nothing. But, if it's .99, the friend might say "well, I don't know. There's other cute mystery writers that I've heard about, and I don't really know this HY person, so not sure if I want to invest the money." In scenario A, the word of mouth might spread like wildfire because the people in the communication group don't have to pay anything to check you out. In scenario B, the word of mouth probably won't spread like wildfire as much. 
3) And this is the biggest thing. .99 sucks because, in addition to limiting your exposure, YOU MAKE NO MONEY ON IT. You sell 100 books in a month, which, by the way, I never did. Ever. More like 30 books of Beautiful Illusions when it was .99. Anyhow, you sell 100 books in a month, and you get $35. A steak dinner. Big whoop. And it's a huge price to pay for the sacrifice of limiting your exposure drastically. You would have to sell 1500 books a month, I think, to justify having it that way, and, even then, you're only getting less than $500. And, if you're popular enough to actually sell 1500 books, you would REALLY go gangbusters if you're free. 
4) Caveat - your name is Rosalind James.  But come on, Rosalind is obviously sacrificing 50 goats a night to have the kind of sales that she has without a permafree. 
So, there you have it. The looooonnng answer to why one should ALWAYS go permafree instead of making the funnel book .99. And why wait? Ever?  Except, of course, you might want to wait until you have a second book out, but, really, I don't necessarily even see the wisdom of waiting for having a second book out, especially if you can write fast like myself. Personally, if you know that you're going to have a series going, it's a good thing to get early exposure. If your book rocks, then you might get the word of mouth going even before you get the second book out. My upcoming book, Fearless, might just be permafree from the get-go. I have been seriously considering that. 

So, there's my view on the permafree. Now, in the next post, I'll answer the other questions posed to me in this thread!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Okay, as promised, the answers to other questions. Star Fish, I really don't think that it matters, sales-wise, which aggregator you use. I simply say use D2D, because of the following reasons. Again, this is going to be a somewhat long answer, so bear with me.

1) Smashwords doesn't have its act together. As I said in an earlier thread, I uploaded Broken to them at the end of April, which was the very earliest date that I could, because it was in KDP Select before that. I had a BookBub ad coming up on May 12, so I thought I had plenty of time. Well, not so much. One week went by, and then two. In the meantime, the BookBub ad came out, and I was selling my Illusions Series on Nook like wildfire - AND I HAD NO BRIDGE TO MY OTHER SERIES!!!!!!! Broken wasn't on Nook because somebody dropped the ball. So, I emailed Smashwords. They assured me that Nook would have it in a day. ANOTHER WEEK GOES BY. By now, Deeper Illusions is number 700 in the store, and my Broken series is barely moving because the first book isn't there yet. I start emailing Smashwords again. I email Nook, and they say ask Smashwords about it. I email Smashwords, and, each time, they say the same thing - they don't know what's going on, but it will be there shortly. 

Cut to D2D, which started offering the option of uploading free books to Nook towards the middle of May. First thing, as soon as I was able, I uploaded Broken to them and WITHIN A COUPLE OF DAYS Broken was free on Nook. The publisher? D2D. Smashwords never did get it to them. 

2) The meatgrinder. Ugh. Nothing worse. There are hidden tables that mess it up. Then the font is too big. On and on and on. Then, the kicker was that I had a book that passed the meatgrinder finally, and was up for several months there. I changed the cover. Nothing else. And this book suddenly didn't pass the meatgrinder anymore. It kept saying that there were hidden tables, and I went through with a fine toothed comb and found none. It recommended the nuclear option of taking out all formatting and putting it back in. Not doing it. I wasn't going to spend hours bolding stuff and italicizing other stuff all the way through the novel. So I just gave up and put that book on D2D and never looked back. 

3) The fact that it pays quarterly, when everybody else pays monthly. Why? No idea, but it's stupid. 

4) Sales lag reporting. I heard that this was fixed, so maybe that's not an issue anymore. 

Anyhow, that would be why I will always choose D2D over Smashwords. Sorry, SW, but you guys really have to get it together when there's another service that does have it together. 

Kee - I run Freebooksy every other month. I haven't run it for a few months, just because things have gone so well, but I will probably run one whenever my new release comes out next week. Every time I run it, though, my downloads go through the fricking roof. I always run the $100 option. 

As for the question about the permafree, see my answer to HY above. I think that you should go permafree ASAP, and I see absolutely no reason not to. 

Phew! Keep the questions coming. I love it!!!!!!


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## hyh (Jul 21, 2013)

anniejocoby said:
 

> Good morning, peeps! I woke up and saw several questions, so I will go ahead and answer them. Love it! I just love to help others, so thanks so much for your interest and questions!
> 
> HY - here is what I think about free books. And this answer is going to be long and convoluted, so bear with me...Anyhow, here is the thing. With a new author, you pretty much have to either price your funnel book at .99 or you make it free. To me, .99 just sucks for soooo many reasons.
> 
> ...


Thank you, thank you, Annie!  You are really AWESOME!! Thank you for taking the time to give me such a detailed answer. And the bit about the numbers you were selling/would have to sell a month was the sort of rough guide I was looking for. That really helped. So THANK YOU - I really appreciate it!


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## HarperLin (Jul 10, 2014)

Amazing! Thanks for sharing. I'm so happy for your success.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

H.Y. Hanna said:


> Thank you, thank you, Annie!  You are really AWESOME!! Thank you for taking the time to give me such a detailed answer. And the bit about the numbers you were selling/would have to sell a month was the sort of rough guide I was looking for. That really helped. So THANK YOU - I really appreciate it!


You are very welcome!


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## hyh (Jul 21, 2013)

I forgot to add, Annie, that I do have a permafree in my Big Honey Dog Mysteries series (one of the holiday theme novellas) and I totally agree with you - it's really effective. I'm getting steady sales of my full novels (not huge sales - but hey, this is MG   )- and considering that I'm doing NO promoting at all on the kids books at the moment, it's pretty good going. 

I just wasn't sure on the strategy for my new romantic suspense series. Launched Book 1 three weeks ago and aiming to publish Book 2 early Sep but I probably won't be able to get Book 3 out until early next year, coz I've got to write another Honey book in time for Xmas trade... so that's why I was wondering whether to permafree Tender Deceit (Bk 1) as soon as I get Book 2 out in Sep... or wait until I have Book 3 out next year. I think I'll follow your advice and permafree Book 1 as soon as Book 2 comes out.

Anyway, your answer was really helpful so thank you again!


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## Sylvia R. Frost (Jan 8, 2014)

More and more I'm realizing that I should just publish my first novella and second novella at the same time, or maybe only a week apart or something with ARCs just so I can make the first one free and then the second. Awesome job on these books!


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## jamielakenovels (Jan 14, 2014)

Have you ever tried/thought about making the second book in the series perma-free instead of the first? Does that work? I'm just thinking that maybe if it's great enough, people will think to themselves, "Well, I need to buy the first book to find out how this story started" and then they'll buy #3 because they want to know how it ended.  Has anyone tried this before and what happened as a result?


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## rrodenparker (Jan 18, 2013)

Annie, thanks for posting your success, and thanks again for following up and answering questions!  It really helps us newbs that can get discouraged.  I've bookmarked this to keep referencing it over time as I need to.


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## katrina46 (May 23, 2014)

You aren't bragging. Most writers appreciate hearing of another writer's success. You actually really helped me because I've been considering Freebooksy and was kind of on the fence because it's more expensive than the ads I usually place. I'm definitely going to give it a try now, so thanks for giving me that push I needed. Oh, and congratulations.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

jamielakenovels said:


> Have you ever tried/thought about making the second book in the series perma-free instead of the first? Does that work? I'm just thinking that maybe if it's great enough, people will think to themselves, "Well, I need to buy the first book to find out how this story started" and then they'll buy #3 because they want to know how it ended. Has anyone tried this before and what happened as a result?


I'm thinking no on that one. And here's why - the first book should always be the funnel. If you make the second book permafree, then it's just confusing and it might be a turnoff. You know, the reader's like "what? I don't understand." And then they get upset because they HAVE to buy your first book and they might resent that. And I personally don't see the logic in it, unless your second book is appreciably better than the first. Actually, that was the case with me. My second book, by the reviews and my own personal feelings about it, was miles better than my first. So, maybe in that case...

So glad to see the comments from newbs who are encouraged and inspired! That was the whole point of my post. To show what's possible! Dream big!!!! Dream huge! And remember Babe Ruth's comment - every strike out brings you closer to your next home run! 

Also, don't let bad reviews get you down. I got my first one star about a day after I published. And it was a nasty one, too, and was one that gave away every plot twist in both of my books that I published together. And, she posted this one star on .com and Amazon.uk, where it was the only review for a long time. So the UK readers logged on and saw my book with a one star average. Not cool. I almost wanted to crawl into a hole and die, and quit writing altogether. But, I didn't. And I still get the nasty one stars that are full of venom and tells the world that I am a hack who needs to DIAF. Whatevs.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

katrina46 said:


> You aren't bragging. Most writers appreciate hearing of another writer's success. You actually really helped me because I've been considering Freebooksy and was kind of on the fence because it's more expensive than the ads I usually place. I'm definitely going to give it a try now, so thanks for giving me that push I needed. Oh, and congratulations.


Oh, yeah, Freebooksy. Here are my results. I ran Broken for a one day free, got 7500 downloads and 100 paid sales at $2.99 the day after. Ran Beautiful Illusions, which was crawling along at 20 downloads a day - got 4500 downloads in a matter of days, and 9000 downloads for the month. It works! Next to BookBub, I think it's the absolute bestest!!!!! I always run the $100 ad, BTW.  Hope that helps!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

BTW, if anybody is curious - I just checked my Google Play sales. This month I have made....drum roll...about $8!!!!! Woo hoo! Time to buy me a Starbucks Latte!

Seriously, though, if anybody reads this thread and does well on Google Play, please post or message me. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to get traction there. Thanks!


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## KaraKing (May 25, 2012)

Thank you for sharing this very motivating and informative post! When I first started writing I would search for posts like these to motivate me. When you speak of actual dollar amounts, it really gets me going. Now that I'm setting up to do my third book, I really needed to find that motivation again. I confess, I've gotten very lazy, and with three kids under 9 and one on the way, it's hard to find the energy and silence needed to write. Thanks again for motivating and sharing such helpful hints! 

And anyone who would leave you a bad review for posting such awesome info, is a a douche, but I know it happens. What's wrong with people? Really?


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## hardnutt (Nov 19, 2010)

Many congratulations, Anne.

You seem to have approached this business in a thoroughly professional manner after the first few hiccups, so well done!

And thanks for all the tips. That's one of the amazing things about kboards for me; it's that sense that we're all in this together. I've never experienced that in my writing career before the kindle came along. And it's wonderful!


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## Navigator (Jul 9, 2014)

Looks like my first book is going to be permafree right from the very start! =P Thanks for all the advice, it's been very helpful.


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## Twizzlers (Feb 6, 2014)

anniejocoby said:


> BTW, if anybody is curious - I just checked my Google Play sales. This month I have made....drum roll...about $8!!!!! Woo hoo! Time to buy me a Starbucks Latte!
> 
> Seriously, though, if anybody reads this thread and does well on Google Play, please post or message me. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to get traction there. Thanks!


Amazon Last Month- $3500

Google Play- $29

Your guess is as good as mine!


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## SA_Archer (Dec 20, 2013)

Thank you so much for posting this. Especially for including the heartbreaking start. I have been floundering in the heartbreak for a very long time (since starting in Nov 2011). Coming to Kboards has begun to change things around for me, even if slowly. I haven't had a day of 0 paid sales on Amazon since starting to implement some of the strategies in mid-June. Even just averaging 4-5 sales a day, most only 99 cents, is a massive improvement. Your advice and your reassurances have been deeply helpful for me. Thank you!


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## Cheryl Douglas (Dec 7, 2011)

Congratulations on a great first year. Btw, I love your covers. They're beautiful and very eye-catching.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

SA_Archer said:


> Thank you so much for posting this. Especially for including the heartbreaking start. I have been floundering in the heartbreak for a very long time (since starting in Nov 2011). Coming to Kboards has begun to change things around for me, even if slowly. I haven't had a day of 0 paid sales on Amazon since starting to implement some of the strategies in mid-June. Even just averaging 4-5 sales a day, most only 99 cents, is a massive improvement. Your advice and your reassurances have been deeply helpful for me. Thank you!


yay! Can you do a permafree? If so, do it yesterday!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Thanks!  Viola Estrella!  Love yours too!


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## S.R. Booth (Oct 6, 2013)

Thanks for being brave enough to post numbers! I know some say it's a real 'no no', but it's so encouraging to read!


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## Tasman (Oct 29, 2012)

Annie, thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience and method. Your post couldn't have been more timely for me. Much appreciated.


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## bellabentley (Mar 25, 2013)

This is really awesome! I am loving this thread . Major congrats to you!! I totally agree with your method. It's what I do, as well.  Although my books are more like novelettes. However, I am moving toward releasing larger works in the fall.  I have a question for you! I noticed you mentioned that you release a book every two months. I was wondering how many hours a day that takes from you and any tips to overcoming writer's block or when you don't "feel" like focusing. Thanks!! <3


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## cblewgolf (Jan 3, 2011)

Kudos to you and your success.  Very inspiring!  I've started 2 series and can't wait to get them out there.
Thanks for sharing!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

bellabentley said:


> This is really awesome! I am loving this thread . Major congrats to you!! I totally agree with your method. It's what I do, as well.  Although my books are more like novelettes. However, I am moving toward releasing larger works in the fall.  I have a question for you! I noticed you mentioned that you release a book every two months. I was wondering how many hours a day that takes from you and any tips to overcoming writer's block or when you don't "feel" like focusing. Thanks!! <3


Thanks for the question! I'm a fast, fast, fast writer. I guess I'm lucky that way, because once my fingers start to fly, the words just tumble out. Plus I can type about 90 WPM, which helps immensely. I can get 1500 good words out an hour. That doesn't count editing time, of course. So, I can basically write a 60,000 word novel, which is the very shortest I can do, in about 40 good hours. But that's assuming I don't have writer's block, but I just push through that.

As for writing when I just don't wanna...I either try to push through it, if I'm on deadline (I make personal deadlines), or I just watch television and veg if I have just finished a novel. Inevitably, if I am in a sour mood, I think that my writing is crap as I do it, but, I read through it when I'm in a better frame of mind, and it doesn't sound half bad.

Right now, I've been dealing with home stress - I had the flu, which kicked my butt, my husband and I have been fighting a lot, and he's dealing with depression, so I've been most unproductive as of late. Have to get back on track, which means 6000 words a day next week. I hate doing that, but it has to be done.


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## Sheluvspink (May 14, 2014)

This is SOO Super encouraging thank you so much for sharing!!


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## P.T. Phronk (Jun 6, 2014)

This is the best story I've read in weeks! 

Thank you thank you thank you for sharing.

Furthermore, thank you.


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## CesarAnthony (Jul 10, 2014)

Congrats.

Thank you for the tips.
I hope to one day have this kind of success.


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## RN_Wright (Jan 7, 2014)

Very inspiring! Thank you.


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## SA_Archer (Dec 20, 2013)

anniejocoby said:


> yay! Can you do a permafree? If so, do it yesterday!


I am trying to get Amazon to go permafree on my first collection. It is free everywhere else, but so far no dice. I do have 6 permafree episodes, but they don't move a bunch. I need to get it up on Google Play as free, and maybe that will make the difference with Amazon.

I think my serial format was too experimental and I don't get a lot of conversion onto the next collection. Like I had two big promos the past few weeks for my 99 cent first collection, which sold 150 copies. (A huge amount for me.) But the second collection which continues the story has only had 11 sales.

I am wrapping up the final book in that serial now, and switching to a novel series. It will be easier to promote and market with that, I hope.


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## WrittenWordMediaTeam (Oct 23, 2012)

anniejocoby said:


> 7) Fool around with different stuff until you hit your sweet spot. I mean, I'm allergic to marketing. Hate it. HATE IT. But it only takes a few minutes to apply to BookBub, and it's not that expensive when you look at the ROI. And Freebooksy - I'm a fan! A HUGE fan! They will literally take anyone, so, if BookBub turns you down, try them out! I have always had an AMAZING ROI with them, and they've been a great help to me, especially since BookBub keeps turning down any book of mine not named Beautiful Illusions.


<3 <3 <3

We're a huge fan of yours as well!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

SA_Archer said:


> I am trying to get Amazon to go permafree on my first collection. It is free everywhere else, but so far no dice. I do have 6 permafree episodes, but they don't move a bunch. I need to get it up on Google Play as free, and maybe that will make the difference with Amazon.
> 
> I think my serial format was too experimental and I don't get a lot of conversion onto the next collection. Like I had two big promos the past few weeks for my 99 cent first collection, which sold 150 copies. (A huge amount for me.) But the second collection which continues the story has only had 11 sales.
> 
> I am wrapping up the final book in that serial now, and switching to a novel series. It will be easier to promote and market with that, I hope.


Did you try actually writing Amazon at https://kdp.amazon.com/contact-us ? If not, do that, and be sure and give them the link to your book where it is free on other channels. That should speed things up! Good luck!


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## christianem (Sep 15, 2013)

Thank you so much for the super informative post.


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## bellabentley (Mar 25, 2013)

Wow, thank you for sharing and replying to my question.  I'm wishing you the best and hope you feel better! Isn't it nice to have writing to turn to sometimes when the outside world seems a bit off. I'm happy you have that  <3 Thanks for inspiring me to write when I don't feel like it! One last thing!! LOL, do you outline? Or are you just a fly by the seat of your pants so to speak?


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## LJ (Feb 14, 2014)

Thank you, Annie! Thank you for sharing and congratulations!!!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

bellabentley said:


> Wow, thank you for sharing and replying to my question.  I'm wishing you the best and hope you feel better! Isn't it nice to have writing to turn to sometimes when the outside world seems a bit off. I'm happy you have that  <3 Thanks for inspiring me to write when I don't feel like it! One last thing!! LOL, do you outline? Or are you just a fly by the seat of your pants so to speak?


Definitely a pantser, LOL. I have NEVER outlined anything. I would think that would be too restrictive. I pretty much sit down and write, and then the ideas flow from there. I did try to do a sort of outline once, in that I wrote down what I wanted to have happen. But, of course, not much of what I wrote down actually happened, because the story usually takes twists and turns that I don't anticipate at all. It never cooperates with me, LOL.

It is funny, though. I always have a mini-panic right before I start a new story, just because I have no idea what to write about. I never have confidence that I will actually pull it off, but that goes away once I start. And I cannot think about the story in my head. It literally has to come as I write it, so I don't generally dream up plotlines as I'm walking the dogs or whatever. I know, it sounds weird, but that's how I roll!

And I would also like to say a HUGE "you're welcome" to the newbies and others who have said thanks. And, honestly, it's my pleasure to be able to pay it forward. It really is. I want EVERYBODY to be successful. I truly, truly do. So, thanks to everyone who said thanks to me. And it would give me no larger pleasure than for the newbies on this thread to write their very own success story on their one-year anniversary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

Thanks for all the excellent information. It's really helpful.

I have a question.

The book I am planning to take out of Select, publish on the other sites through D2D and make permafree currently has backmatter descriptions (+ cover images), and links to, my other books in the Amazon stores as well as my website. I assume I'd have to take these links out before submitting to D2D since the other sites won't want to display Amazon links. So how do you direct readers to your other books if no links are allowed? Do you just display the books' titles? Put in book descriptions? Cover images? Or just a link to your website?

Thanks


Philip


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Philip Gibson said:


> Thanks for all the excellent information. It's really helpful.
> 
> I have a question.
> 
> ...


Apple is the only one who's picky about that. Nobody else seems to care. But, yeah, if you even MENTION the word Amazon in your book, Apple will kick it out and take 8 weeks to do so. Found that one out the hard way, let me tell you.

What you are talking about is another great reason to upload direct. Not sure what country that you are in, but if you upload direct you can tailor each book for that particular sales channel. It's a bit of a pain, though. On Nook, here is how I do it - I upload the books to get the link. And then I go in and edit the books to add the links in. You can do that with Nook without having to upload a new manuscript. With Kobo, it's trickier, as you actually have to upload a whole new book to them with the links added in. And, the problem with Nook is that when the book is free, you cannot upload direct, you must use an aggregator, so you can't add in links through D2D. So I just put in a blurb at the end telling them that the next book is available, and don't put in a link. I'm sure that I lose sales because of that.

All this is making me more motivated to buy a Mac so that I can upload direct to Apple. You can upload freebies to Apple. It's just that they make it so damned difficult. You have to download their software, and you have to use a Mac. I have found the hard way that renting an Apple, where you turn your pc into a Mac, doesn't work, because you have to have administrator privileges to download their software. I spent a good 8 hours trying just that, and finally threw up my hands in frustration. So, it does look like I soon will be getting a Mac.


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## SA_Archer (Dec 20, 2013)

jamielakenovels said:


> Have you ever tried/thought about making the second book in the series perma-free instead of the first? Does that work? I'm just thinking that maybe if it's great enough, people will think to themselves, "Well, I need to buy the first book to find out how this story started" and then they'll buy #3 because they want to know how it ended. Has anyone tried this before and what happened as a result?


I used to listen to The Self Publishing podcast, and they actually did this. With the second collection of their serial running for free they had a ton of sales on the first books. Now, they have a lot of advice that works amazing for them, and doesn't work at all for me. That being said, I thought I would share their results.

I think maybe if your series is not super-linear you could probably do this well. If each book stands strong on its own, then any book could be your gateway book, in theory. Some mystery series and romance series would be a good examples. Like, you could read any Miss Marple book and enjoy it, without having read any of the previous books. But you might want to go back and read them to see if any story thread carry through the series.

Just my two-cents.


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## SA_Archer (Dec 20, 2013)

anniejocoby said:


> Did you try actually writing Amazon at https://kdp.amazon.com/contact-us ? If not, do that, and be sure and give them the link to your book where it is free on other channels. That should speed things up! Good luck!


I just sent them the email. Thanks for the advice! I've got my fingers crossed that they will feel in a generous mood.


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## Evenstar (Jan 26, 2013)

anniejocoby said:


> BTW, if anybody is curious - I just checked my Google Play sales. This month I have made....drum roll...about $8!!!!! Woo hoo! Time to buy me a Starbucks Latte!
> 
> Seriously, though, if anybody reads this thread and does well on Google Play, please post or message me. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to get traction there. Thanks!


Hi Annie
I make about $200 on google every month, with six books but two of them are free, so that's only from four books. I have no idea why I do so well on there though. I loaded them all up one day and haven't checked back since.

I think it's amazing that for about four hours work (it took me a while to work out their interface), that I consistently get paid by them for doing nothing more. Which basically means that in the last four months (since I put my books up) I've made $800 just for that four hours work (after all the books were already written and loaded up everywhere else).

So I have to recommend google to others because it would make no sense for me not to. I have no idea why I do so well there though, maybe it's my genre? Maybe teenagers use googleplay a lot?


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## Evenstar (Jan 26, 2013)

Hi, sorry, I have another question about switching from smashwords to D2D.  Would the old versions of my book merge with the new D2D version or would I lose all my reviews and basically be starting from scratch?


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## SA_Archer (Dec 20, 2013)

Annie,

I just got an email back from Amazon saying the price matching should be in effect in the next couple of days!

Thank you!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

SA_Archer said:


> Annie,
> 
> I just got an email back from Amazon saying the price matching should be in effect in the next couple of days!
> 
> Thank you!


Yay! Good luck! And remember - when the downloads drop off a cliff, buy a Freebooksy ad to keep it up there. And good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Star Fish said:


> Hi, sorry, I have another question about switching from smashwords to D2D. Would the old versions of my book merge with the new D2D version or would I lose all my reviews and basically be starting from scratch?


Hi! Wow, you have done AMAZING on Google Play. So congrats to you! You've done nothing special over there at all? I'm impressed!

As for the question about D2D v. Smashwords. I think, but I'm not positive, but I think that it won't affect anything if you switch over. But I probably wouldn't switch if you aren't have problems with Smashwords. I always advice people not to start with them because of the headaches that inevitably ensue, but if you are already there with no problems I wouldn't bolt. If ain't broke, don't fix it.


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## Perro Callejero (Dec 23, 2013)

Thanks very much for being so generous with your experiences, Annie. It's very kind of you.



anniejocoby said:


> 7) You don't have to be Shakespeare. My first book was, and is, seriously flawed. I used soap opera plot points instead of delving into emotions, there wasn't a coherent story, and I threw in everything but the kitchen sink. Still, it ENTERTAINED enough to get me going. I will have to admit that my second series is objectively better - more coherent, more poignant, and there are actual themes in these books. Which is no doubt why that series has taken on a life of it's own, where I still have to constantly push my Illusions series. But, the bottom line is, to entertain. You don't necessarily have to have a Dickensian way with words as long as the readers keep turning the pages.


This point is one of the ones I appreciated most in your original post. Probably one of the biggest struggles I've faced as a writer is my own self-doubt about the quality of my writing. Getting a degree in Creative Writing didn't help with that, either--the workshop process is basically a fault-finding machine. It's only recently, after writing for nearly 20 years, that I've started to shake off that self-doubt handicap. I've basically decided that I'd rather be a hack writer than an excellent office drone. So, my new mission is to flood the world with my words.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

M.F. Soriano said:


> Thanks very much for being so generous with your experiences, Annie. It's very kind of you.
> 
> This point is one of the ones I appreciated most in your original post. Probably one of the biggest struggles I've faced as a writer is my own self-doubt about the quality of my writing. Getting a degree in Creative Writing didn't help with that, either--the workshop process is basically a fault-finding machine. It's only recently, after writing for nearly 20 years, that I've started to shake off that self-doubt handicap. I've basically decided that I'd rather be a hack writer than an excellent office drone. So, my new mission is to flood the world with my words.


So glad that I could inspire you about that! I mean, we ALL have self-doubt. I think that goes with the writer's temperament. Each and every book I think "welp, this might be the book that will force me to get a new pen name." And to think that you have actual rabid fans, and that they might be let down by what you write next, is paralyzing in a way. I'm feeling that way right now about my new book. It's a little bit different from my others, as the guy in this is an actual, gods-honest nice guy who is penniless. The girl is rich, though. I really like it, but am so afraid that my fans won't that I'm just going to make it free from the get-go so that I won't feel that I have cheated anybody.

So, you aren't alone. Just write, write, write, and eventually something will hit. Good luck!!!!!


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## LanelleH (Jul 4, 2013)

Thanks for writing this, reading it was super helpful.


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## BlairErotica (Mar 1, 2014)

anniejocoby said:


> Then sacrifice a goat. Lots of goat sacrificing there.


It's okay to eat the goat after, isn't it? Wouldn't want to jinx the process.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

BlairErotica said:



> It's okay to eat the goat after, isn't it? Wouldn't want to jinx the process.


No, I think you just have to sacrifice it and be done. Not sure, though!


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## BlairErotica (Mar 1, 2014)

Thanks. I don't want to get the process messed up. Especially since it seems to work. Thanks for all the point, even the ones not about goats. Now you have me trying to recall what I use with goat besides LOTs of oregano.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

BlairErotica said:


> Thanks. I don't want to get the process messed up. Especially since it seems to work. Thanks for all the point, even the ones not about goats. Now you have me trying to recall what I use with goat besides LOTs of oregano.


My pleasure!


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## jjholden (Jul 13, 2014)

Such an inspirational read. The first episodes of my serial novels are now permafree and I will definitely give Freebooksy a try.

Thanks, Annie!


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## jamielakenovels (Jan 14, 2014)

How many free downloads did you get from using Freebooksy? Sounds like a great service.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

jamielakenovels said:


> How many free downloads did you get from using Freebooksy? Sounds like a great service.


It is, it is!!!! Here are my numbers. The first time I tried them, I put Broken free for one day. It was enrolled in KDP Select, and I thought I would do a free day to boost my mailing list and stuff. I expected to get around 1000 downloads, and would have been thrilled with that. I got 7500 downloads!!!!! In one day! And, best of all - the very next day, the book went back to $3.99, and I got 100 sales on that day! I thought, dayum.

Cut to Beautiful Illusions. The downloads for that one crashed to 20 a day a couple of months after a Bookbub ad. I did a Freebooksy ad, and I got around 4000 downloads in the next few days and 9000 downloads for the month! Not as impressive as the other ad, but, still - this was a book that had been out for awhile and went through a successful Bookbub cycle earlier. I was afraid that it was too saturated, but it really wasn't. So, yeah. Freebooksy. All the way.

I'm going to be running three Freebooksy ads the week after next, as I hope to have three permafrees by then. Beautiful Illusions, Broken and I'm going to go ahead and make my new release, Fearless, a permafree from the get-go. I'll definitely post my numbers.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

jjholden said:


> Such an inspirational read. The first episodes of my serial novels are now permafree and I will definitely give Freebooksy a try.
> 
> Thanks, Annie!


Good luck! PM me with your numbers, or post!


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## Kit_Kat_Purrr (May 10, 2014)

anniejocoby said:


> 10) Most of all, believe in yourself. Don't give up because you are having a hard time getting going and the sales just aren't coming. Believe in yourself and your abilities and stories and keep on keeping on. You might not be successful, but you definitely won't be if you give up.


Thank you for # 10. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!

@struggling_here


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Kit_Kat_Purrr said:


> Thank you for # 10. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!
> 
> @struggling_here


Keep the faith!!!!!! Seriously. There were times when I wanted to give up, but I really had no choice. My day writing job paid next to nothing. If I would have had a good-paying day job, though, I probably would have quit. Thank goodness I didn't.


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## SA_Archer (Dec 20, 2013)

Amazon finally made my first book free. Thank you Annie for the advice!

It is currently #504 in the free store and #4 in both my categories (Action Adventure>Fantasy, Horror>Dark Fantasy) with 447 downloads.

No collateral sales in the 13 seconds Scattered Magic has been free, but I am hopeful!

I wish I knew how to include a picture of my graph. It is kind of funny. In the last month I had a ENT inspired spike to 83 sales in a day. And this was huge compared to all the data points under 5 around it. Now I have a free spike up to 527 for today, and my little sales boost is just a blade of grass next to it.

I was really surprised at the number of downloads without any promotion at all. I've had 6 'episodes' free for a while, and the best one for this month was at 50. I didn't expect the collection to do SO much better. With my collection going free, some of the episodes have boosted up, but just like 20 or so more copies. I wouldn't have guessed that the collection verses the episodes would have had such a different result.

So far I am just grinning at the downloads and at the ranking. 

Thank you Annie!


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## Dina (May 24, 2013)

You are lovely! Thank you for sharing. And congratulations. Well deserved.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

SA_Archer said:


> Amazon finally made my first book free. Thank you Annie for the advice!
> 
> It is currently #504 in the free store and #4 in both my categories (Action Adventure>Fantasy, Horror>Dark Fantasy) with 447 downloads.
> 
> ...


So happy for you!!!! Yay, you! Remember two things, though - at least, let me tell you my experience, just so that you don't panic. When I first went free, I had a lot of downloads. I mean, a lot. About a week later, they dropped off the cliff. I panicked, of course. But if that happens to you (I hope it doesn't!!!!!), but if it does, get a Freebooksy ad to get it back up there.

Also, my read-through rate was low at first. Only around 3%. That grew over the months, though, and it's now 12% for one of my books and 25% for the other. That has been the experience of others on this board, too - the read-through rate grows and grows as you get more of a name. So, if you don't get a ton of sales off your freebie at first, be patient. This, too, is a long game!

But you are on your way!!!!! Congrats!!!!!!!!


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## SA_Archer (Dec 20, 2013)

Thank you so much Annie! Up to 818 downloads for the collection and a total of 946 downloads across all my freebies in a single day. The collection is up to #315 in the free store, and #3 and #4 in my genre charts. You're right about the sales, too. Just one each of the next two collections in the serial so far. I'll not sweat it, thanks to your advice. Like many who've been screaming in the wilderness and not getting noticed, right now it is just nice to know the story is in the hands of so many new readers. 

I'll watch it and use Freebooksy and the other places mentioned in this and other posts to try and keep it sticky on the charts, like you've said.

Thank you again!


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## jamiegrey (Oct 1, 2013)

Congrats, Annie! And thanks so much for this post, it's really inspiring. I wasn't planning on making book 1 of my series free until I had a few more out, but I'm starting to rethink that.

One more question for you if you don't mind? With your fast release schedule, how do you handle editors? Do you use one? And if so, how does that work with scheduling? I'd keep my poor copy editor booked to the gills if I wrote as fast as you!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

SA_Archer said:


> Thank you so much Annie! Up to 818 downloads for the collection and a total of 946 downloads across all my freebies in a single day. The collection is up to #315 in the free store, and #3 and #4 in my genre charts. You're right about the sales, too. Just one each of the next two collections in the serial so far. I'll not sweat it, thanks to your advice. Like many who've been screaming in the wilderness and not getting noticed, right now it is just nice to know the story is in the hands of so many new readers.
> 
> I'll watch it and use Freebooksy and the other places mentioned in this and other posts to try and keep it sticky on the charts, like you've said.
> 
> Thank you again!


Good luck! Glad that you took my advice. And remember, don't panic - this, too, is a long game!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

jamiegrey said:


> Congrats, Annie! And thanks so much for this post, it's really inspiring. I wasn't planning on making book 1 of my series free until I had a few more out, but I'm starting to rethink that.
> 
> One more question for you if you don't mind? With your fast release schedule, how do you handle editors? Do you use one? And if so, how does that work with scheduling? I'd keep my poor copy editor booked to the gills if I wrote as fast as you!


Gah! I'm going to have admit something that might get me pitchforked and torched, but...I self-edit. Don't throw things at me, please! But my production schedule is most of the reason why I don't have an editor. I don't know of anybody with that kind of turn-around time. I do have a beta reader, though.


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## AnyaWrites (May 16, 2014)

anniejocoby said:


> Gah! I'm going to have admit something that might get me pitchforked and torched, but...I self-edit. Don't throw things at me, please! But my production schedule is most of the reason why I don't have an editor. I don't know of anybody with that kind of turn-around time. I do have a beta reader, though.


No pitchforks here! Your books are great!


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## jamiegrey (Oct 1, 2013)

anniejocoby said:


> Gah! I'm going to have admit something that might get me pitchforked and torched, but...I self-edit. Don't throw things at me, please! But my production schedule is most of the reason why I don't have an editor. I don't know of anybody with that kind of turn-around time. I do have a beta reader, though.


Not at all! I think that's great. Wish I was that talented  I'm a bit dyslexic so I need to hire a copy editor or it's just not pretty! And yeah, I can see where turnaround time would be difficult.

Thanks for answering! I appreciate it.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Thanks Anya and Jamie! I sometimes feel bad for self-editing, so it's nice to know that you guys like it anyhow!


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

Awesome story, Annie. I love it when people here share what works and what doesn't. Makes us all smarter.

Like you, I put some books in Select. While it did have its perks, I can see now that there is a better path. I plan on making one of my old books permafree soon (just have to decide which one) and am close to being done writing the first in a totally new series. 

Your experience shows that patience is key. And that it can be worth the risk to switch gears and try new things - whether that's a new series or a new way of marketing.

Thanks for sharing and I wish for your success to grow and grow and grow. You rock!

ETA - I am *floored* that BB has passed on your hugely popular book so many times. Sounds like you're doing just fine anyway. ;-)


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## bellabentley (Mar 25, 2013)

Thanks again for a wonderful thread! I continually come back here! I'm going to send in my first book to freebooksy. Even though it's a long short story,...and the remainder of the series are novelties. Think that's okay? I researched their page and found a few short stories. I was wondering if anyone had an success with that?

Again, this is book 1 of an 8 part novelette erotic romance series. With each book, the books progressively increase in words! <3


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Thanks, Gemini! I wish you luck with the permafree, just have patience! As I noted to other posters, I started with a 3% read-through rate, and I now have a 12% read-through rate on Beautiful Illusions and a 25% read-through rate for Broken. So, if your read-through rate starts out small, don't be too discouraged. I have read that with other posters as well - the read-through rate keeps growing as you get more established. 

And, yeah, I'm a little bit perplexed on why I can't get a BookBub ad for Broken. I just tried again yesterday, so we shall see....

Bella, yeah, I think that Freebooksy takes any book lengths at all. I think. At any rate, they are well worth the price! I have had enormous success with them, as have other posters here, so you should do great! Good luck!


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## bellabentley (Mar 25, 2013)

thank you!! <3


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## bellabentley (Mar 25, 2013)

I have another question haha. How long does it take for you to edit your book? Or do you edit as you go? I find that that is what is slowing me down and I'm trying to pick up the pace!! And by editing...I mean...making sure it's publish ready you know? Like do you write a scene or two a day and edit that and make it perfect....or do you edit at the very end?


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## DonnaK (Jul 16, 2014)

Wonderful.  Thank you so much for sharing your excitement and how to.  I'm in non fiction and some most of these ideas will work for me.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Keep being successful.. it's an encouragement to everyone!


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## Rachel E. Rice (Jan 4, 2014)

Thanks so much for your advice. I feel like I'm always late for the party and everyone has started without me and now they are going home.


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## SA_Archer (Dec 20, 2013)

anniejocoby said:


> Thanks Anya and Jamie! I sometimes feel bad for self-editing, so it's nice to know that you guys like it anyhow!


I used to pay for outside editing, but it just became too expensive and time consuming. And what's more, even though I used 3 different editors, they all said my manuscripts were extremely clean and they had few corrections.

One of the things that have helped is the dictation software "Dragon: Naturally Speaking". You can use it to transcribe what you speak, but the function that I find most useful is that Dragon can read back your typewritten chapters.

I will read along as Dragon is reading out loud, and I will hear errors that my eyes will miss. It has been incredibly helpful and I highly recommend it to self-editors. And it is less than $75 dollars, so it pays for itself quickly, if you compare it to the price of a good edit. http://www.nuance.com/dragon/index.htm


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

SA_Archer said:


> I used to pay for outside editing, but it just became too expensive and time consuming. And what's more, even though I used 3 different editors, they all said my manuscripts were extremely clean and they had few corrections.
> 
> One of the things that have helped is the dictation software "Dragon: Naturally Speaking". You can use it to transcribe what you speak, but the function that I find most useful is that Dragon can read back your typewritten chapters.
> 
> I will read along as Dragon is reading out loud, and I will hear errors that my eyes will miss. It has been incredibly helpful and I highly recommend it to self-editors. And it is less than $75 dollars, so it pays for itself quickly, if you compare it to the price of a good edit. http://www.nuance.com/dragon/index.htm


Wow. thanks for posting that. I've wanted something this for a while just because I'm such a lousy typist. The way you use for editing sound great, too, but does it really work for entering new content?


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## BellaStreet (Apr 15, 2011)

Thanks for sharing. Just a note--your amazing covers must also be a part of your success. They rock!


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## SA_Archer (Dec 20, 2013)

Stephen T. Harper said:


> Wow. thanks for posting that. I've wanted something this for a while just because I'm such a lousy typist. The way you use for editing sound great, too, but does it really work for entering new content?


It takes the software some time to learn your voice. You have to read samples of text so it can try and dial in to you. The more you use it, the more accurate it gets. But it was a little trying to get it to recognize my words at first. You can also teach it new words, which is useful for fantasy and scifi where you have made up your own words and names.

I find that I must speak a bit more slowly than I would normally speak, so the words are distinct and don't run together and confuse it. When it makes an error, I manually correct it by typing the changes. The software learns each time you correct it, so you have to correct it less over time.

Also, the microphone that came with it was horrible. I bought a $5 pair of ear buds with a mic on the wire and it works great. You can buy it without the headset, I think. You are better off getting your own mic, if you can.

My husband bought it for me because I have carpel tunnel and my wrists and hands get weak and hurtful from too much typing. Teaching myself to speak the words, rather than type them, was probably the hardest part really. But my hands are much happier when I use it.


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

SA_Archer said:


> It takes the software some time to learn your voice. You have to read samples of text so it can try and dial in to you. The more you use it, the more accurate it gets. But it was a little trying to get it to recognize my words at first. You can also teach it new words, which is useful for fantasy and scifi where you have made up your own words and names.
> 
> I find that I must speak a bit more slowly than I would normally speak, so the words are distinct and don't run together and confuse it. When it makes an error, I manually correct it by typing the changes. The software learns each time you correct it, so you have to correct it less over time.
> 
> ...


Thanks again. Here's a key question not mentioned on their website:

Can you use the keyboard and dictate at the same time? Meaning, can you just hit "return" instead of saying "New Paragraph?" Or just type a period and keep talking with a new sentence?

That would make a big difference for me. I think if was writing fiction and had to keep speaking all the commands I'd lose my place in the story.

Would you recommend this for just a slow typist?


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

bellabentley said:


> I have another question haha. How long does it take for you to edit your book? Or do you edit as you go? I find that that is what is slowing me down and I'm trying to pick up the pace!! And by editing...I mean...making sure it's publish ready you know? Like do you write a scene or two a day and edit that and make it perfect....or do you edit at the very end?


I do edit as I go. I pretty much read through it as I write, and make corrections. Then, at the very end, I read it all through again. I have found, perhaps not surprisingly, that my every book gets cleaner than the last. One day I hope to have a book without any silly mistakes, but that's probably asking too much. I always have one or two missing or extra words!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

SA_Archer said:


> I used to pay for outside editing, but it just became too expensive and time consuming. And what's more, even though I used 3 different editors, they all said my manuscripts were extremely clean and they had few corrections.
> 
> One of the things that have helped is the dictation software "Dragon: Naturally Speaking". You can use it to transcribe what you speak, but the function that I find most useful is that Dragon can read back your typewritten chapters.
> 
> I will read along as Dragon is reading out loud, and I will hear errors that my eyes will miss. It has been incredibly helpful and I highly recommend it to self-editors. And it is less than $75 dollars, so it pays for itself quickly, if you compare it to the price of a good edit. http://www.nuance.com/dragon/index.htm


That sounds awesome! I think that I will check that out!


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

anniejocoby said:


> I do edit as I go. I pretty much read through it as I write, and make corrections. Then, at the very end, I read it all through again. I have found, perhaps not surprisingly, that my every book gets cleaner than the last. One day I hope to have a book without any silly mistakes, but that's probably asking too much. I always have one or two missing or extra words!


You know, even today, the editors of The Grapes of Wrath haven't caught a couple of mistakes that appear somewhere in the first 100 pages.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

BellaStreet said:


> Thanks for sharing. Just a note--your amazing covers must also be a part of your success. They rock!


Aw, thanks! Viola Estrella. She rocks! Only $100 too. Love her!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Stephen T. Harper said:


> You know, even today, the editors of The Grapes of Wrath haven't caught a couple of mistakes that appear somewhere in the first 100 pages.


That does make me feel better! Broken had two mistakes that a friend caught, and she accused me of being "sloppy." Nice to know that Steinbeck was just as "sloppy!"


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

I’m still looking at that dictation software.  Anybody else use it?  Whats it really like to write something long form on it? 

Thinking about this is really making me wonder if I could actually write just as well if I spoke the words.  I think I pause a lot, then think of a better way to express the idea half way through.  I just started thinking about the chapter I plan to write tomorrow, and started ‘writing’ out loud to see what it would be like.  It wasn’t very good.  That is, I wasn’t very good.  

But maybe I’d get used to it.

Anybody else with experience using this software?


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## EC Sheedy (Feb 24, 2011)

I'm in the process of moving, so I haven't been dropping in to the Writer's Cafe as much as I usually do. (Which is usually way, way too much!) But I wanted to add my voice to the Gratitude Chorus. Great post, full of useful ideas and inspiration. Thank you so much!

"_Perma free, perma free,_" she mutters as she turns off the lights.


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## coolpixel (Sep 17, 2012)

anniejocoby said:


> Thanks, Gemini! I wish you luck with the permafree, just have patience! As I noted to other posters, I started with a 3% read-through rate, and I now have a 12% read-through rate on Beautiful Illusions and a 25% read-through rate for Broken. So, if your read-through rate starts out small, don't be too discouraged. I have read that with other posters as well - the read-through rate keeps growing as you get more established.
> 
> And, yeah, I'm a little bit perplexed on why I can't get a BookBub ad for Broken. I just tried again yesterday, so we shall see....
> 
> Bella, yeah, I think that Freebooksy takes any book lengths at all. I think. At any rate, they are well worth the price! I have had enormous success with them, as have other posters here, so you should do great! Good luck!


i am having a slow day... what's read-through rate?

btw i think Tattooed Warrior also has a very high book production rate and i think he too self-edits.


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## Nathaniel Burns (Nov 1, 2013)

Excellent advice, Annie. Thank you for sharing. I love posts like this.


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## SA_Archer (Dec 20, 2013)

Stephen T. Harper said:


> Thanks again. Here's a key question not mentioned on their website:
> 
> Can you use the keyboard and dictate at the same time? Meaning, can you just hit "return" instead of saying "New Paragraph?" Or just type a period and keep talking with a new sentence?
> 
> ...


You can just hit the keyboard at any time while in dictation mode. I do it all the time to make corrections as it goes. I have tried not looking and just speaking to keep the flow, but the occasional mistakes are hard for me to figure out what I originally said, so it is better to watch it.

I think that there is a learning curve that you have to be prepared for, or you will get frustrated early on. As you are learning about it, Dragon is learning to translate your words. But, if you get past that, I think it would really increase the word count for a slow typist. It could even increase the word count for anyone for whom the story is often running ahead of them and they've found it hard to keep up.

Oh, one more thing to be prepared for! You'll want to change the settings to automatically save to the clipboard as a backup. Once in a while when you tell it to transfer, it just 'poofs' everything you've just written and there is no way to get it back if you've not done this. And that can be heartbreaking and frustrating. I have just gotten into the habit of transferring from the dictation window to Scrivener manually to be sure.

But overall, if you can get past it's few faults, I think it is an excellent tool.


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## Harry Manners (Jul 6, 2013)

Some really excellent advice. Thank you so much. Bookmarked.


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## SA_Archer (Dec 20, 2013)

Stephen T. Harper said:


> I'm still looking at that dictation software. Anybody else use it? Whats it really like to write something long form on it?
> 
> Thinking about this is really making me wonder if I could actually write just as well if I spoke the words. I think I pause a lot, then think of a better way to express the idea half way through. I just started thinking about the chapter I plan to write tomorrow, and started 'writing' out loud to see what it would be like. It wasn't very good. That is, I wasn't very good.
> 
> ...


I am going to start a new post in the Writer's Cafe about the software to open up the conversation to more input.  I'll respond to your question there, Stephen.


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

SA_Archer said:


> I am going to start a new post in the Writer's Cafe about the software to open up the conversation to more input.  I'll respond to your question there, Stephen.


Thanks!


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

Just wanted to add - thanks for mentioning the 'don't be afraid of cliffhangers'. I've been wrestling with this for a while now. As a reader, I despise cliffhangers with the heat of a thousand suns (but - and this is key - I buy the next book!). I've given a book a low rating BECAUSE of a cliffhanger... and then gone on to  buy the next one (I did go back and change it once I'd calmed down).

As an author, I know the value in cliffhangers, but the reader in me wants to slap myself upside the head. If it sells books; it's a winner, as long as we don't mind the odd low rating coming in off the back of it. So - yay to the cliffhanger!


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## SA_Archer (Dec 20, 2013)

DaCosta said:


> Just wanted to add - thanks for mentioning the 'don't be afraid of cliffhangers'. I've been wrestling with this for a while now. As a reader, I despise cliffhangers with the heat of a thousand suns (but - and this is key - I buy the next book!). I've given a book a low rating BECAUSE of a cliffhanger... and then gone on to buy the next one (I did go back and change it once I'd calmed down).
> 
> As an author, I know the value in cliffhangers, but the reader in me wants to slap myself upside the head. If it sells books; it's a winner, as long as we don't mind the odd low rating coming in off the back of it. So - yay to the cliffhanger!


How big of a cliffhanger do you leave? A main character in dire danger? A minor character in danger? Or have you 'won the battle, but the war still rages' kind of thing. Just curious.


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

DaCosta said:


> Just wanted to add - thanks for mentioning the 'don't be afraid of cliffhangers'. I've been wrestling with this for a while now. As a reader, I despise cliffhangers with the heat of a thousand suns (but - and this is key - I buy the next book!). I've given a book a low rating BECAUSE of a cliffhanger... and then gone on to buy the next one (I did go back and change it once I'd calmed down).
> 
> As an author, I know the value in cliffhangers, but the reader in me wants to slap myself upside the head. If it sells books; it's a winner, as long as we don't mind the odd low rating coming in off the back of it. So - yay to the cliffhanger!


Cliffhangers rule! I love cliffhangers. I think every chapter should end in a cliffhanger, then after the story is resolved at the end, there should be another cliffhanger just to keep the readers imagination going.

Just between you and me, and the internet, the third book in my trilogy literally ends with someone hanging off of a cliff. As all stories should. That's why God invented sequels.

Yes, the story is complete and the danger averted. You assume she's going to climb back up and be alright (after all, nearly falling from a cliff was the least of her problems a few pages ago)&#8230; but nevertheless, she is last seen above a long drop.


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## Amy Corwin (Jan 3, 2011)

Annie:
Thank you so much for doing this. I'm not a newbie by any means but somehow, your post hit me at the right time to give me a bit of hope.

I've been avoiding a lot of posts because I get so depressed reading the phenomenal sales numbers other writers chat about. But you were able to give cogent, optimistic, and helpful tips that I personally found very useful. And optimistic is key, here. I've applied and never been able to get a bookbub ad. And I avoided the perma-free thing after trying it for a while, but you've made me reconsider, and that's important.

The key thing for me (and others) to remember is that you can always revise your strategy.

I'm a slow writer--two or three books a year is about all I can manage--but I'm still hoping to find my audience. Perhaps it will take longer, since I have to build up sufficient books, but I think I may eventually meet my very modest goals.

So thanks again. I needed your touch of optimism--it was the right combination of encouraging words at just the right time.
Amy


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## SA_Archer (Dec 20, 2013)

Amy Corwin said:


> Annie:
> Thank you so much for doing this. I'm not a newbie by any means but somehow, your post hit me at the right time to give me a bit of hope.
> 
> I've been avoiding a lot of posts because I get so depressed reading the phenomenal sales numbers other writers chat about.


I totally feel you on this. And you're right. Annie's encouragement and the way she's been so giving in this post was a blessing for me, too.

Thank you, Annie!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

coolpixel said:


> i am having a slow day... what's read-through rate?
> 
> btw i think Tattooed Warrior also has a very high book production rate and i think he too self-edits.


 Read through rate is basically the percentage of people who pick up Book One and go on to buy Book Two. Mine used to be extremely low, now it's really high, which means that I can sell more books with less freebies given away. A lot less freebies have to be given away now then before. I have found that other posters say the exact same thing - that read-through rate grows and grows and grows. So, if the read-through rate starts out slow (mine started out at 3%, is now 12% for Beautiful Illusions and 25% for Broken), don't get discouraged. That number will build on itself through the months.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

SA_Archer said:


> How big of a cliffhanger do you leave? A main character in dire danger? A minor character in danger? Or have you 'won the battle, but the war still rages' kind of thing. Just curious.


Deeper Illusions ends with the hero being shot and bleeding in the heroine's arms. So, you don't know if he's alive or dead (but come on, this is romance. Of course he's alive, LOL). Broken ends with the heroine finding the hero naked with another woman (the other woman drugged him, but the heroine didn't know that), and then the heroine ran out into the street and got hit by a car. That's the one that has a 25% read-through rate, even though the second book is $4.99.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Amy Corwin said:


> Annie:
> Thank you so much for doing this. I'm not a newbie by any means but somehow, your post hit me at the right time to give me a bit of hope.
> 
> I've been avoiding a lot of posts because I get so depressed reading the phenomenal sales numbers other writers chat about. But you were able to give cogent, optimistic, and helpful tips that I personally found very useful. And optimistic is key, here. I've applied and never been able to get a bookbub ad. And I avoided the perma-free thing after trying it for a while, but you've made me reconsider, and that's important.
> ...


I'm really glad that my post touched so many people! That was what it was designed to do. That was what I needed to read last summer when it seemed that I couldn't get arrested. I used to cry so many tears, thinking that I would never find an audience. But I persevered and found the right formula - permafree + promotions on the permafree + interrelated series (I think that the interrelated thing is the one key to my success, to be honest). And, you know, I have somehow managed to make $52,000 since the beginning of May.

Even so, even I STILL get discouraged. I don't yet feel that I'm in the league with Viola and Rosalind and others. In fact, I just released a new book at only .99, and, even though I have like 700 people on my mailing list, I have only moved like 60 copies of the book. Which tells me that my fan base is not yet rabid, buy-anything-I-write, which makes me worried that my success might all go away. So, I'm still insecure in a way.

We're all in this together!


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

SA_Archer said:


> How big of a cliffhanger do you leave? A main character in dire danger? A minor character in danger? Or have you 'won the battle, but the war still rages' kind of thing. Just curious.


It all depends on the story. The book I nearly threw across the room was all about build-up and had zero resolution. It just ended. And boy was I mad.

Personally, I like to tie up the major plot arc of that particular book, but leave something in the epilogue so the reader thinks 'WTF? - I need the next one, now!' I've gotten away with it so far, (I currently have a 40% read-through rate - my first book isn't free though)) but I'm going to be leaving a huge cliffy at the end of book 4 in a five book series, and I'm expecting a backlash.


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## BiancaRaven (Jul 26, 2014)

Wow! What awesome advice for a newbie. I was seriously starting to get discouraged that my sales are starting to falter, but then I found this post and it's helped me so much more than you might imagine. 

Thank you so much!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

BiancaRaven said:


> Wow! What awesome advice for a newbie. I was seriously starting to get discouraged that my sales are starting to falter, but then I found this post and it's helped me so much more than you might imagine.
> 
> Thank you so much!


Yay! So happy I could inspire! Don't give up. Success will depend on you finding your path, whatever that is, so soak up the wisdom of the board. You'll figure it out if you just perservere. Good luck!


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## John Ellsworth (Jun 1, 2014)

"1) Permafree, permafree, permafree. No matter how many times you might read this, at least for me, .99 is NOT the new free. I couldn't get arrested when my first books in the series were .99. No promo worked to move any copies at all. Once I went permafree, and especially after I was able to score a couple of BookBub ads, things came together."

AJ: I keep this post bookmarked and still read it every so often because it contains so much helpful, knowledgeable info.

The quoted portion above: Has your experience with KU changed this insight? Or are you still in permafree on the first in series?

Thank you.


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## Julz (Oct 30, 2014)

I feel like a fawn taking her first steps but thanks to threads like this one, those steps aren't so terrifying


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## Irisdeorre (Jul 26, 2011)

Thank you, thank you for sharing! This is what I needed to hear. I wish you more success than you ever imagined!


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## jegarlick (Jun 23, 2013)

Struggling discouraged newbie here...thanks so so much for sharing this information, it is very enlightening, uplifting and encouraging. A million times thanks. Love your backstory too! So happy things are working out for you!


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## jillb (Oct 4, 2014)

Thanks for sharing your story! It is truly inspirational!!


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## Leif Sterling (Jul 19, 2014)

John Ellsworth said:


> "1) Permafree, permafree, permafree. No matter how many times you might read this, at least for me, .99 is NOT the new free. I couldn't get arrested when my first books in the series were .99. No promo worked to move any copies at all. Once I went permafree, and especially after I was able to score a couple of BookBub ads, things came together."
> 
> AJ: I keep this post bookmarked and still read it every so often because it contains so much helpful, knowledgeable info.
> 
> ...


+1

I also would like to know how KU has affected your strategy?

I currently have the first in my series permafree and the rest in KU (couldn't gain any traction at other retailers).

Thanks.
_*~Leif Sterling~*_


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Leif Sterling said:


> +1
> 
> I also would like to know how KU has affected your strategy?
> 
> ...


I haven't changed my strategy regarding KU yet...but that will change. Specifically, next month, I'm writing erotica all month, and putting all of the erotica stories into KU. As of now, I have no titles in KU.

I will also say that I have promoted since July, except for my newest series, which was a total dud. My sales are slipping, as you might imagine. Why I haven't promoted is simple - I have audiobooks coming out for my first two series, and I wanted to wait to promote when the audiobooks are out. I think that all three Broken audiobooks are going to be out soon, so, as soon as they're live, I'm going to heavily promote the Broken series again. I'm going to try BB, but they always turn down Broken for some reason, so not expecting to be accepted. But I am going to promote everywhere else I can.

The Illusions series will have the audiobooks out early next year. At that point, I'm going to promote that series. BB has taken Beautiful Illusions, twice, so hoping they'll take it a third time. If so, I expect that early next year should be good. If not, who knows? I'm hoping that my new erotica titles will be successful enough to give me a cushion, in case my audiobooks are duds and, for some odd reason, my upcoming promos don't work, but that's hardly a guarantee either.

What I do know is that you're only as good as your last release, and if you don't constantly promote, sales are gonna die. No matter what level you were at before.


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## Avril Sabine (Jun 18, 2014)

Congratulations and thanks for being willing to share your experiences.


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## Tracie (Jul 16, 2014)

Thanks for sharing Annie.


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

Bookmarked to read again and again. Well said, thank you for sharing )


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## deedawning (Aug 31, 2013)

Hi Ann, Thank you for your wonderfully helpful post. I have a question and an observation. First the question. Your books are all series. Are they serial series where the last book is the ending or are they stand alone books with much repeating characters? I suppose I could find the information somewhere but I'm always so short of time. 
Now the observation: I maintain that free books get many more negative 1 & 2 star reviews than books that never or seldom have been free. Many board members have disagreed, some to the point of mocking me. The reason I bring this up is your books unmistakenly bear out this theory. Your perma-free books all average under four stars and have a fair quantity of negative reviews, while your for sale books have few negative reviews and average around a star higher. Would you concur with this assessment?


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

deedawning said:


> Hi Ann, Thank you for your wonderfully helpful post. I have a question and an observation. First the question. Your books are all series. Are they serial series where the last book is the ending or are they stand alone books with much repeating characters? I suppose I could find the information somewhere but I'm always so short of time.
> Now the observation: I maintain that free books get many more negative 1 & 2 star reviews than books that never or seldom have been free. Many board members have disagreed, some to the point of mocking me. The reason I bring this up is your books unmistakenly bear out this theory. Your perma-free books all average under four stars and have a fair quantity of negative reviews, while your for sale books have few negative reviews and average around a star higher. Would you concur with this assessment?


The problem with the free vs. pay review argument is that only fans of the work move on to the sequel, so it's much more likely to get positive reviews. Yes, free books get more negative reviews, but it's often because they're the first book in a series. People are only going to read the second book in a series if they liked the first one, so those that left negative reviews on the first book and not on later books didn't do it because they had to pay for them, they didn't do it because they didn't move on to the other books. Now, there are some people out there who just give negative reviews on free books because that's what they do -- but they're (thankfully) the exception rather than the rule.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

I would agree with Yoda - not many of the people who loathe me are going to buy my next books. Although sometimes they do and they give me one stars on all my books. But, generally,  the haters aren't going to keep going with the series. Not that permafrees don't invite bad reviews. They do,  I think.  So the bad ratings on my free books  vs the better reviews on later books is probably due to a variety of reasons.


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## LanelleH (Jul 4, 2013)

Thanks for all the advice, SUPER helpful!


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## anotherpage (Apr 4, 2012)

anniejocoby said:


> Augh! I really hate doing this, because I'm not, by nature, a braggart, and I feel that I'm going to make myself a target for bad reviews. That said, I feel that I have a lot of good information to impart to those who are struggling. Because that was me my first few months.
> 
> Short bit about me. I published my first novel, Beautiful Illusions, on June 22 of 2013. I published the second novel, Deeper Illusions, on the same day. That was my strategy for getting a little foothold - make the first book free, and hope that the fans go on to buy the second one in the series. At that time, I had no Facebook page, no Twitter page, no Internet presence, no blog, no fans, and little confidence in my ability to find an audience. I could barely get my friends interested in reading my books, let alone anybody else. I literally was on food stamps and giving plasma for money, because I made all of $9000 from my writing jobs in the year 2013. I enrolled both books in KDP Select, and made Beautiful Illusions free for four days. I somehow was able to give away around 5000 books that weekend without publicity, and went on to sell about 160 books of Deeper Illusions in the month of July.
> 
> ...


What a great thread.

Thanks for sharing your advice. That is beautiful!

One question: Do you create your own covers or someone else?


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## Revolution (Sep 17, 2012)

I love me a good success story, especially when deserved. Congrats.


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## deedawning (Aug 31, 2013)

anniejocoby said:


> I would agree with Yoda - not many of the people who loathe me are going to buy my next books. Although sometimes they do and they give me one stars on all my books. But, generally, the haters aren't going to keep going with the series. Not that permafrees don't invite bad reviews. They do, I think. So the bad ratings on my free books vs the better reviews on later books is probably due to a variety of reasons.


Why would anyone loathe you? Maybe envy your success, but loathe you. Course it takes all kinds. Right now I LOVE your post. Thanks again, Annie


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

deedawning said:


> Why would anyone loathe you? Maybe envy your success, but loathe you. Course it takes all kinds. Right now I LOVE your post. Thanks again, Annie


LOL. I meant that they loathe my books, not me. And there are some who do loathe my books with the hatred of a thousand suns, and that's okay. I figure if my books drive any kind of strong emotion, even hatred, then I've done my job!


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## JWTapper (Nov 26, 2014)

Thanks for the detailed, informative and encouraging advice. The whole thread makes for a very entertaining and positive read.


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## Russell Brooks (Dec 23, 2010)

Thanks for sharing, Annie. I only had success with a free book once through BookBub. But afterwards my ROI was always negative, so I never did free again.


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## sunsong (Nov 19, 2014)

Thank you for the wonderful detailed advice.

I was wondering if you had any advice or experiences with library distributors like Overdrive, or do authors find Google Play to be a good place to sell?

Thanks!

Paula Sunsong
    [br]Paula Sunsong | Sunsong Creations | Paula Sunsong Facebook | Paula Sunsong Google


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

sunsong said:


> Thank you for the wonderful detailed advice.
> 
> I was wondering if you had any advice or experiences with library distributors like Overdrive, or do authors find Google Play to be a good place to sell?
> 
> ...





sunsong said:


> Thank you for the wonderful detailed advice.
> 
> I was wondering if you had any advice or experiences with library distributors like Overdrive, or do authors find Google Play to be a good place to sell?
> 
> ...


I have no experience with library subscription services, but I am on Google Play. Up until recently, Google Play has been a sinkhole for me. But it's turned around slightly. I think that I'm going to make around $400 there this month, and that number climbs each month, so I'm hopeful.


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## frog (Nov 29, 2011)

What an incredibly informative thread. It makes me consider going permafree once I have books 2 and 3 out of my serial.


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## RuthNestvold (Jan 4, 2012)

Very inspiring story, Annie. Thanks for sharing!


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## Jason Eric Pryor (Jan 30, 2013)

Great post! Thank you so much for the encouragement! I just made a post this evening looking for this type of info. This forum is so great!


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## dragontucker (Jul 18, 2014)

Wow! Amazing story  Here I was shooting for 5k a month. I am going to make more now thanks to you  Congratulations....I couldn't imagine how thrilling it must have been to reach that income level. You provided some great tips by the way. I took notes!


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## LyraParish (Aug 27, 2013)

Thanks for sharing! This is awesome!!


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## dragontucker (Jul 18, 2014)

Quick question for you Annie. You say you type around 90 wpm. So, do you just come up with an outline, plot points etc before you start? Do you type without worrying too much about errors and then come back after you are completely done with the book to fix the errors?

I type very quickly too. But sometimes, I really worry about the way I phrase sentences, grammar etc. It really slows me down and takes away my freedom sometimes. I am trying to figure out a system that will work better for me while still having good grammar etc.

So I was wondering if you have any advice on this. Do you type first and then correct the errors later? Thanks and you really are an inspiration


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## JaroldWilliams (Jan 9, 2014)

Wow. Congratulations on your success and thank you very much for sharing those tips!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

dragontucker said:


> Quick question for you Annie. You say you type around 90 wpm. So, do you just come up with an outline, plot points etc before you start? Do you type without worrying too much about errors and then come back after you are completely done with the book to fix the errors?
> 
> I type very quickly too. But sometimes, I really worry about the way I phrase sentences, grammar etc. It really slows me down and takes away my freedom sometimes. I am trying to figure out a system that will work better for me while still having good grammar etc.
> 
> So I was wondering if you have any advice on this. Do you type first and then correct the errors later? Thanks and you really are an inspiration


Actually, no, I'm a pantser so far. So, I generally don't know where the story is going until it's going. I type first, and correct as I go, and then do further corrections after I'm done writing for the day. Hope this helps!


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## KBoards Admin (Nov 27, 2007)

Thanks for posting this, Annie -- very interesting and helpful. (We've added this thread to our Essential Tips and Useful Threads for Authors.)

-Harvey


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## deedawning (Aug 31, 2013)

anniejocoby said:


> Actually, no, I'm a pantser so far. So, I generally don't know where the story is going until it's going. I type first, and correct as I go, and then do further corrections after I'm done writing for the day. Hope this helps!


I'm a pantzer too. Once a pantzer always a pantzer


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## Russell Brooks (Dec 23, 2010)

anniejocoby said:


> Augh! I really hate doing this, because I'm not, by nature, a braggart, and I feel that I'm going to make myself a target for bad reviews. That said, I feel that I have a lot of good information to impart to those who are struggling. Because that was me my first few months.


Well, I caved. I've added all four of my titles back to Kobo. I may add them back to NOOK and iTunes, although I'm not that crazy about NOOK because they don't like Canadians and iTunes is very complicated. But I'll see how this goes.


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## Brigitta Moon (Dec 20, 2014)

I found this information at A time when I really needed some inspiring. Awesome advice.
Thanks. Brigitta


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## Sophrosyne (Mar 27, 2011)

Congratulations! I love hearing success stories!


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## Kirk Hanley (Dec 16, 2014)

Truly inspirational and motivational. Thank you so much for sharing!

Kirk


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## ChrstnaBergling (Jan 1, 2015)

Thank you for the advice! Happy success!


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## DawnLee (Aug 17, 2014)

I think this is the third time I've read through your original post. Thanks so much for sharing it. I opted for KDP for the first 90 days of my first novel and will probably do the same with the second one in March. After that, depending on traction or lack thereof, I'll need to look at the options. Right now, Amazon alone is a little overwhelming. I'm still clotheslining myself on the learning curve.


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## Darren Writes (Nov 30, 2014)

Hi Annie, great post, I'm so glad for your success.

I had a question. When talking about the number of people who read your permafree books then went on to buy another one, you said:

"Especially since, at first, I was only getting a 4% conversion rate (it's up to 25% now)."

What did you do to get that percentage up so much higher? Other than having a really good first book of course.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Darren Writes said:


> Hi Annie, great post, I'm so glad for your success.
> 
> I had a question. When talking about the number of people who read your permafree books then went on to buy another one, you said:
> 
> ...


 Hi! I don't know, but I think that my percentage just went up because some of my downloads came because word of mouth, as opposed to just random people downloading my books. Also, it's cumulative - some of the people buying book 2 now might have had my book one on their kindle for months. So, over time, you'll get sales both from those who downloaded your book recently AND those who might have downloaded it a long time ago.


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## alexandraamor (Oct 26, 2014)

Thanks so much Annie, for this detailed and encouraging post! This was just the information I needed today. 

Wishing you LOTS of continued success!

Alexandra


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

alexandraamor said:


> Thanks so much Annie, for this detailed and encouraging post! This was just the information I needed today.
> 
> Wishing you LOTS of continued success!
> 
> Alexandra


Aw thanks!  I learned even more since I first posted. Maybe I'll post again about my lessons hard learned!


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## Nomadwoman (Aug 25, 2011)

Annie do you still say permafree is the way to go?
Is KU now taking up a lot of the slack that permafree offered for promo?


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Nomadwoman said:


> Annie do you still say permafree is the way to go?
> Is KU now taking up a lot of the slack that permafree offered for promo?


Definitely. Sell through has diminished somewhat,.but it's still the best promo tool around without a doubt. Besides, I wouldn't ever go into ku just because I sell so much on other sites. So, if you don't do permafree and you don't do ku, then how can you gain traction? I have no answer for that.

That said, permafree might go away one day. If it does then I'll figure something out. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.


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## Gregg Bell (May 13, 2013)

Thank you, Annie. I needed the hope.


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## MarkTH (Mar 18, 2015)

Thank you so much for this advice.  Wow, I don't know enough to know how ignorant I was on publishing.  The only thing I knew was, throw it on Amazon.  My one question is, when you say permafree, what are you talking about?  I have two books, one that sold well for a while, and the other is just not getting off the ground.  Unfortunately, I didn't read your post until well after I first published them.  They are two different series, one fantasy, one science fiction, so I can't take your advice on that portion.  I greatly appreciate your help with this.


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## Michael J Elliott (Dec 18, 2014)

thanks Annie
Your post was very inspiring. I only have two short stories out atm with the third being released soon then followed by the collection. I've been toying with the idea of a series but have really lacked confidence in myself to undertake that sort of project. Your post was the shot in the arm I needed, thank you


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Michael J .Elliott said:


> thanks Annie
> Your post was very inspiring. I only have two short stories out atm with the third being released soon then followed by the collection. I've been toying with the idea of a series but have really lacked confidence in myself to undertake that sort of project. Your post was the shot in the arm I needed, thank you


Go for it! Series are where it's at. IMHO it's way easier to get a series off the than a standalone. You need a funnel. Good luck!


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## writer-artist-mom (Feb 21, 2015)

anniejocoby said:


> I learned even more since I first posted. Maybe I'll post again about my lessons hard learned!


I'd love to hear more about your lessons learned and updated numbers 

I have a series (first one is in my sig) that's a trilogy and I'm writing 4 novellas (22,000 words ish) that will be published in between the books. Chronologically, the first 2 novellas occur before the first book of the trilogy and the last 2 take place after the third book in the trilogy. (does that make any sense?) Since a reader could read either my first full book or either of the first 2 novellas in any order, which one do you think I should make perma-free?


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Eliza Marie Jones said:


> I'd love to hear more about your lessons learned and updated numbers
> 
> I have a series (first one is in my sig) that's a trilogy and I'm writing 4 novellas (22,000 words ish) that will be published in between the books. Chronologically, the first 2 novellas occur before the first book of the trilogy and the last 2 take place after the third book in the trilogy. (does that make any sense?) Since a reader could read either my first full book or either of the first 2 novellas in any order, which one do you think I should make perma-free?


So, you have two prequels, right? Here's what I did when I wrote a prequel to my first series. I made the first book of the trilogy the freebie, and the prequel is $2.99. My thought on that is that the prequel is a very different animal from my series, and I don't want that to be the first book that introduces my books to the readers. Really, the prequel is mainly for the people who read the trilogy and wanted to get to know my MC a bit more. I hope that makes sense. If your prequels serve similar functions, than I would make the prequels paid and the first book of the series the freebie.

I think I might do a post on my second anniversary of publishing, which is coming up in June. I've learned so much through my stupid mistakes. I'm quite sure in the third year I'll continue to make dumb mistakes and continue to make posts warning others about them. 

Hope this helped!


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## Michael J Elliott (Dec 18, 2014)

anniejocoby said:


> Go for it! Series are where it's at. IMHO it's way easier to get a series off the than a standalone. You need a funnel. Good luck!


Thanks for the encouragement Annie!
I do have an idea for a series based on a charater from my short story, she's a witch who solves supernatural mysteries a bit like a magical Miss Marple. I'm just petrified no one will actually like the idea lol


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Michael J Elliott said:


> Thanks for the encouragement Annie!
> I do have an idea for a series based on a charater from my short story, she's a witch who solves supernatural mysteries a bit like a magical Miss Marple. I'm just petrified no one will actually like the idea lol


That sounds like a fun idea! You should do it - if it's executed right, you can find a good audience. I'd buy it, because I really dig things like that. Witches, psychics - I love them. And mysteries, too. You should definitely pursue that!


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## AyrBray (Mar 20, 2015)

What an inspirational piece of advice. I love hearing about other authors success, especially when they break down what worked and did not work for them. I am running over to look at Freebooksy now.


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## SeanDGolden (Jan 28, 2015)

My noobness is showing again. I understand the idea of setting a book as a free download so that it leads into other books in a series that people might buy, but in reading through this thread, it sounded sometimes like you can make money on the perma-free book itself. I must be missing something. I still get that "write another book" is still the best marketing you can do, I'm just not totally following the whole perma-free thing.


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## katetanner (Mar 8, 2015)

AyrBray said:


> What an inspirational piece of advice. I love hearing about other authors success, especially when they break down what worked and did not work for them.


I feel exactly the same. love hearing other authors success stories. I am paying my bills with the books I'm writing but I want to make more money so that i can give up the temp work.


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## 67499 (Feb 4, 2013)

Annie - I'm curious:  Considering your sustained success, do you foresee a point at which you may need to do LESS promo for your books because you as a brand have developed a word-of-mouth momentum that carries forward strong sales?  And I'll join the chorus thanking you for a terrific post!


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## writer-artist-mom (Feb 21, 2015)

anniejocoby said:


> So, you have two prequels, right? Here's what I did when I wrote a prequel to my first series. I made the first book of the trilogy the freebie, and the prequel is $2.99. My thought on that is that the prequel is a very different animal from my series, and I don't want that to be the first book that introduces my books to the readers. Really, the prequel is mainly for the people who read the trilogy and wanted to get to know my MC a bit more. I hope that makes sense. If your prequels serve similar functions, than I would make the prequels paid and the first book of the series the freebie.
> 
> I think I might do a post on my second anniversary of publishing, which is coming up in June. I've learned so much through my stupid mistakes. I'm quite sure in the third year I'll continue to make dumb mistakes and continue to make posts warning others about them.
> 
> Hope this helped!


Thank you!! That's exactly what I wanted to know


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## Kim Brooks (Oct 17, 2013)

Thanks so much for this great post.  Sounds like permafree is key   In addition, I created a goal to publish 5 more titles this year, 2 novels and 3 non-fiction books.  I still have yet to get really acclimated here on KBoards... but I guess consistency is key...yet another goal...but thanks so much for your tips.  Unfortunately I was recently in a bad car accident in which my femur/right thigh was broken so it looks like I'll be spending some of my down time, while I'm stuck at home, writing.


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## MKP (Jan 5, 2012)

I am so happy to have read this post! This summer, I plan to write and publish my first novel. These are very helpful tips for doing such! I'm seriously considering waiting until the second is released to publish, now.


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## LifesHumor (Feb 5, 2014)

Michael J Elliott said:


> Thanks for the encouragement Annie!
> I do have an idea for a series based on a character from my short story, she's a witch who solves supernatural mysteries a bit like a magical Miss Marple. I'm just petrified no one will actually like the idea lol


I love those types of mysteries and witches are my favorite supernatural characters. I would read it.

I just read the opening post for the first time. Very encouraging and helpful advice. I keep starting stories, but I never finish them. I get too caught up in details. I try not to and just write, but I can't. My goal is to finish everything I started by the end of the year. I should have about 8 books in 4 genres.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

I'm not going to congratulate you because I'm too jealous!!  But, sorry if this has been asked and answered ten pages ago, but how long, on average, does it take you to write, edit and proofread your book?


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

First off, I haven't had time to read the whole thread. I managed the first page.

I don't have the first clue what you are talking about.

One thing that annoys me sometimes is people talking like everyone knows exactly what they mean. We don't do that in our books, so why do it here ?

"Permafree, permafree, permafree" tells me exactly NOTHING. What exactly is Permafree? How exactly do you use it?

As far as I'm aware, Kindle doesn't allow free books, except as a short term special. If they do, tell me how.

What is Bookbub? And why is it worth all that mucking around to get anything on it? It sounds worse than publishers. I went the Kindle route deliberately to avoid publisher and agent rejections. I don't need that sort of negativity. I don't have either the patience or inclination to submit my books 20 times on the off chance they pick it up. I'm too busy writing. I understand we need to market, but so far, I've not seen a single way of doing it that looked feasible, that involved zero money, which is what I have available.

Some explanation of what you are advocating for us newbies who don't have a clue what you are talking about, PLEASE.

Sorry for the attitude, but I get sick of reading advice from people who assume we know what they are talking about. I don't have time to join the dots. And I'm writing this now, only because it was getting in the way of my novel session and I had to get it out.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

TimothyEllis said:


> First off, I haven't had time to read the whole thread. I managed the first page.
> 
> I don't have the first clue what you are talking about.
> 
> ...


Permafree means permanently free, which you know or you wouldn't have said that kindle don't allow it. In order to have a book as permanently free on Amazon, you have to publish it elsewhere, like Barnes and Noble or Apple, where you can publish it for free. Once it is up and running, then you can ask Amazon to pricematch it so that they also carry it as free. Of course, that means it cannot be in kdp Select, which the original poster is against. I personally don't agree with that, but it works for some.

You also know what Bookbub is or you wouldn't be saying it is like getting to a publisher, agent, etc and you don't want that sort of rejection. I absolutely agree with that, but a lot of people have tougher skins than me and don't mind the constant reapplying. It is very expensive, but since they are so fussy about what they will accept - i.e. no rubbish - they usually work out very well so I am told. I would never pay to advertise a free promotion, but I have in the past paid for a countdown deal or a 99 pence book. There are sites which are free or very cheap, BookScream being one of them, but obviously you're not going to get the same response as with BookBub and you do need a well written book, with a good cover etc to make it work. That is where bookbub comes into its own in not accepting anything less.

I put a countdown deal for one of my books on Bookscream and sold a few hundred copies overnight. I put another on, same genre but different historical period, and it did no better than it would have without. But it was free, so there you go.

I realise you don't have time to read all this and work out what all the words mean, but I doubt OP (that means original poster) has the time to give her encouragement to new authors either.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

TimothyEllis said:


> What is Bookbub? And why is it worth all that mucking around to get anything on it? It sounds worse than publishers. I went the Kindle route deliberately to avoid publisher and agent rejections. I don't need that sort of negativity. I don't have either the patience or inclination to submit my books 20 times on the off chance they pick it up. I'm too busy writing. I understand we need to market, but so far, I've not seen a single way of doing it that looked feasible, that involved zero money, which is what I have available.


I'm not going to address the rest of your post because someone already did. The sad fact of the matter is that marketing is inevitable if you want people to purchase your books. I get that money is a factor, and if you don't have any you definitely shouldn't put in for Bookbub ads. However, they are the king of the ads and they do make a huge difference. Indie publishing is great. It really is. You still have to put out some money, though. I wish you well.


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## Shelley K (Sep 19, 2011)

> Some explanation of what you are advocating for us newbies who don't have a clue what you are talking about, PLEASE.
> 
> Sorry for the attitude, but I get sick of reading advice from people who assume we know what they are talking about. *I don't have time to join the dots.* And I'm writing this now, only because it was getting in the way of my novel session and I had to get it out.


The explanation is all over this board and everywhere writers gather, has been for years. In the time it took you to write that post and act as if your time is far more valuable than anybody else's, you could have found all the information you needed.


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## AllyWho (May 16, 2015)

Shelley K said:


> The explanation is all over this board and everywhere writers gather, has been for years. In the time it took you to write that post and act as if your time is far more valuable than anybody else's, you could have found all the information you needed.


^ this

I'm a newb, planning to hit publish in August on book 1 and I'm reading, learning and soaking up the advice on the k-boards. There is so much valuable advice, strategies, links & sites here, I'm kind of staggered that you don't know what either permafree or Bookbub are when I've figured it out. I've found this thread invaluable as I work out my strategy and the first thing I did? I made a coffee and scheduled the time to read the entire thread.


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

SeanDGolden said:


> ...in reading through this thread, it sounded sometimes like you can make money on the perma-free book itself. I must be missing something. I still get that "write another book" is still the best marketing you can do, I'm just not totally following the whole perma-free thing.


No, the permafree book itself does not bring in any money. Your first instinct was correct. The permafree book acts as bait to draw the reader into your writing, which they hopefully like so much that they lay down money for something else you have written. It works best if your permafree is the first book in a series, as others have touched on above.

"Write another book" is only the best marketing you can do if the books you've already written are selling. If they are, then they can feed into your new books, which you hope will keep you on the hot new release list, which gets you visibility.

If you have already written five books and those five books are not selling, then it is time to look at your craftsmanship, your covers, your blurbs, and your marketing techniques and figure out how to get them selling -- and then write more books to keep them selling.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Shelley K said:


> The explanation is all over this board and everywhere writers gather, has been for years. In the time it took you to write that post and act as if your time is far more valuable than anybody else's, you could have found all the information you needed.


Nope sorry. My time is valuable to me. How it compares is not something I concern myself about. Nor was I asking anyone to spend some time. I was merely asking the questions I bet a lot of people ask when they see this OP for the first time.

"Go find it elsewhere here" is an answer I rejected years ago in another forum. People giving advise, where they don't provide a proper explanation, should link to where the information is. Its basic forum courtesy. Likewise people saying its already here, should provide some links to what they are talking about.

I have spent hours on here. I've not found anything to answer these questions. In fact, I only found the author list this morning. I still don't know what else there is to find.

I'm new to to this whole marketing thing. I've been on this forum for mere days, and had hours to spend over that time.

All I know about permafree is in the OP of this thread and the last few replies. The name implies permanently free. That was a guess. Same with whosyBub, never heard of them before reading the OP. I cant even remember the name without going to look it up again.

I've been writing for a long time. I started putting books on Kindle in 2014. Its in only in the last few weeks I've started even thinking about marketing outside of Facebook.

I'm reading what I find, when I find it. In the meantime, a little help is appreciated. That's what these kinds of forums are for after all. But this forum is HUGE.

For anyone really helpful who has the time, some links please to the relevant threads.


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## Guest (Jun 4, 2015)

This is the point, we are all limited in our time, as we are ALL trying to get our books seen too! Not just you my friend. Sorry but you have to do two things, like I do: 1) Do the research!!! There is a mass of info 2) Play with the info and find a system ,from all the things you find around, to suit YOU! You sound quite negative, I thought the original post was a nice and inspiring read. I can understand your frustration but I would spend maybe a weekend, with a notepad and make notes on some key things you find and just TRY them out! We can always tweak our approach later.


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## Crime fighters (Nov 27, 2013)

TimothyEllis said:


> Nope sorry. My time is valuable to me. How it compares is not something I concern myself about. *Nor was I asking anyone to spend some time.* I was merely asking the questions I bet a lot of people ask when they see this OP for the first time.





> For anyone really helpful who has the time, some links please to the relevant threads.


You're blatantly pointing out that A.) You're time is valuable, and thus you can't be bothered to use the search feature and B.) I don't have the time to search, but you do.

Everyone here is busy. We write, publish and market. Many of us have jobs and families to attend to. You are not in a unique situation. You probably don't mean to come off the way you are, so I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt here. The problem of linking to a particular thread for answers to your questions is that these threads in question aren't written in dictionary form. For starters, go to bookbub.com. That'll explain what it is.



> "Go find it elsewhere here" is an answer I rejected years ago in another forum. People giving advice, where they don't provide a proper explanation, should link to where the information is. Its basic forum courtesy. Likewise people saying its already here, should provide some links to what they are talking about.


The problem you're having here (besides being too abrasive) is that the posts here would become far too cluttered if we had to post a 'works cited' every time we posted. 99% of the writers in this forum know what Bookbub and Permafree are. It's something they learned along the way. Really, a quick search is all it would take on Google, or here, to find the answers to your questions.



> I have spent hours on here. I've not found anything to answer these questions. In fact, I only found the author list this morning. I still don't know what else there is to find.


Hours isn't going to cut it. Many members here have spent hundreds to thousands of hours on these forums. There is so much to learn.



> All I know about permafree is in the OP of this thread and the last few replies. The name implies permanently free. That was a guess. Same with whosyBub, never heard of them before reading the OP. I cant even remember the name without going to look it up again.





> I'm reading what I find, when I find it. In the meantime, a little help is appreciated. That's what these kinds of forums are for after all. But this forum is HUGE.


Forgive me for thinking this, but it seems to me that you want everything out of the people of this forum, but have no interest in investing in the community. This forum is about so much more than having your questions answered. It's about answering questions in return, sharing information, networking, shooting the [crap]. These forums are for bonding and nurturing writer-writer relationships that can be difficult to cultivate in the speed of daily life.

Trust me. This is the most helpful indie publishing community on the internet. Certainly, the most helpful I'm yet to find. But I didn't come here expecting answers to all my questions after mere days.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

K.B. said:


> Hours isn't going to cut it. Many members here have spent hundreds to thousands of hours on these forums. There is so much to learn.
> .....
> Forgive me for thinking this, but it seems to me that you want everything out of the people of this forum, but have no interest in investing in the community. This forum is about so much more than having your questions answered. It's about answering questions in return, sharing information, networking, shooting the [crap]. These forums are for bonding and nurturing writer-writer relationships that can be difficult to cultivate in the speed of daily life.
> 
> Trust me. This is the most helpful indie publishing community on the internet. Certainly, the most helpful I'm yet to find. But I didn't come here expecting answers to all my questions after mere days.


Mere days. Yes, I just got here.

Hundreds of thousands of hours - Yes, I put them in elsewhere. 13,500+ posts on another forum over eleven years. No, it had nothing to do with writing. And yes, it was ALL about helping others.

Search feature - Sorry, but it actually works here? I hadn't tried it, simply because on the forums I have used, it was useless. My bad for making an assumption.

Investing - give me time. It works both ways. People help me as a newbie, I return the favour when I am able to help others. That does take time, and it hasn't elapsed yet. I am posting where I feel able to.

Andrew, understood. Sorry I appeared negative. But people who post stuff without explanation is one of my hobby horses. It pressed a button I didn't know was still active. I'll try to do better.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

TimothyEllis said:


> Mere days. Yes, I just got here.
> 
> Hundreds of thousands of hours - Yes, I put them in elsewhere. 13,500+ posts on another forum over eleven years. No, it had nothing to do with writing. And yes, it was ALL about helping others.
> 
> ...


On another thread people were posting about PI and BBW. I hadn't a clue what they were talking about so I politely asked and was given an answer. What I did not do what to rant about how nobody should use these terms because I don't understand them, how they should all change their way of doing things to suit me, and how I didn't have time to look them up. That must be the difference.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Doglover said:


> to rant


Thanks for pointing that out.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

K.B. said:


> For starters, go to bookbub.com. That'll explain what it is.


Thanks. I did. I'll see what the emails look like for a while.


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## Guest (Jun 4, 2015)

No need to apologies mate. I understand how frustrating it is. Just take your time and experiment. It`s suppose to be fun, this empire building, right? I wish you the best!


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## Guest (Jun 4, 2015)

One thing, if you don`t mind me saying sir, is that I think your covers could do with some updating. Perhaps a wiser investment to start with, is a few fivver commissions for a re-brand? Might help get people intrigued. I am sure your stories are great, but the attention to detail may help you. It`s about the full package and we live in a more visual driven world. I have bought albums based on cover art alone, taking a punt.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Andrew Murray said:


> One thing, if you don`t mind me saying sir, is that I think your covers could do with some updating. Perhaps a wiser investment to start with, is a few fivver commissions for a re-brand? Might help get people intrigued. I am sure your stories are great, but the attention to detail may help you. It`s about the full package and we live in a more visual driven world. I have bought albums based on cover art alone, taking a punt.


I looked at Fiverr. Of the few I found that had artwork I liked, and did my genre, none were interested and only a few got back to me. Two took the time to find out what I wanted, but decided it wasn't for them.

I was actually very unimpressed with what I saw there. Most of them seem to be doing generic artwork using other peoples images and expecting authors to choose something already made.

With my novels, I'm using actual images from a game that correlate with the story line. I have permission. One of my covers is an actual photo I took of what the book is about. Three of them, including a series, use a painting a friend of mine did, which is relevant. Again with permission to use them.

Sure, I'd like my novels to have slick graphics, but so far, I've not found anyone who can and wants to do what I think they should have. Nor am I in a position to pay much.

It is something I will look at down the track. I've not looked here yet for artist recommendations. That's on the to do list.

Re Bookbub, I'm thinking I'm not ready for it yet.


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## RBK (Nov 28, 2014)

TimothyEllis said:


> Search feature - Sorry, but it actually works here? I hadn't tried it, simply because on the forums I have used, it was useless. My bad for making an assumption.


Quick tip (for you and anyone else who doesn't know this).

Go into Google and search for what you'd like to search on Kboards, and follow the search term with site:kboards.com

So for example if you want to research permafree, go to Google and type 'permafree site:kboards.com' (without the quotations). You'll get a much more accurate set of results than via the forum search, not just on this site but on most.

Hope this helps.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

RKC said:


> Go into Google and search for what you'd like to search on Kboards, and follow the search term with site:kboards.com


The very obvious is always the first thing you miss.


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## Shelley K (Sep 19, 2011)

TimothyEllis said:


> Likewise people saying its already here, should provide some links to what they are talking about.


My god, you're entitled.


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## CJAnderson (Oct 29, 2014)

Thanks Annie


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Shelley K said:


> My god, you're entitled.


No, accustomed.

In the forum I've spent more than 10 years in, people giving advise always include a link to what they don't spell out themselves. 
Some of us even went to the length of storing links so we had them to hand, for the most repeated questions. When you've answered the same question dozens of times, its easier to link people to the best post you made on it, than type it again. And when that gets a chore as well, you write a guide and spell it out in gory detail, and post links to that instead.

I started writing, doing 'how to' guides. In fact, that's where my annoyance at this OP comes from. A guide post that misses the most important details. As I pointed out earlier, we don't do that in our books. Each new book in a series has to have enough detail to identify things for readers coming in part way through the series. Good guide posts do the same. They dot the i's and cross the t's, and the new reader isn't left floundering around, wondering what they are talking about.

Call me odd, but in a forum dedicated to helping people, I do expect people to be helpful. Telling people to go look it up isn't being helpful. For most newbies, being told to look it up is annoying.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Timothy, I'm sorry I didn't provide links. I've written so many papers that I had to footnote and attribute everything, and I have to say, that was the worst part of writing these papers. I HATE doing that kind of stuff. But my bad. 

Permafree - that is where your book is permanently free. How you make your book free on Amazon is that you publish it elsewhere (preferably everywhere - Apple, Google, iTunes, Kobo) free, then report it to Amazon that it's free on these other sites. Amazon will then price-match.

Bookbub - the very elusive advertiser that you have to sacrifice 100 tiny goats to be a part of. Bookbub.com.

Freebooksy - a much less elusive advertiser that takes anyone and everyone and delivers decent to excellent results. As with any other advertiser, it matters how many times you have run the same title with them. The first time you run it, you're going to see excellent results. The second time less so, third time even less so, etc. FWIW, I've seen the same thing with BB, too, so it's very difficult to keep having good results time after time. 

Aggregator - Draft2Digital and Smashwords. These are sites that distribute your  book to the retailers. I avoid them except to get into Scribd. Scribd is a retailer that is small and I think that it's a subscription thing. I've made pretty amazing money there ($200-$450 a month), I think because I have my bundles there and bundles probably do well because Scribd is a subscription thing and bundles are good bang for your buck. I don't know, though.

BTW, a bundle is a collection of books in a series in one volume. 

Hope this helps!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Doglover said:


> I'm not going to congratulate you because I'm too jealous!!  But, sorry if this has been asked and answered ten pages ago, but how long, on average, does it take you to write, edit and proofread your book?


 I publish a shortish novel every two months, but I hope to publish one a month from now on. I've been dealing with a lot of family stress recently, so I lost a lot of focus. And don't be jealous - this post was last summer when I kicking ass and taking names. This summer, not so much - I'm in a serious slump.  So, I don't have all the answers, either, but I keep on keeping on anyhow. I think that's key, really - just keep going.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

anniejocoby said:


> Timothy, I'm sorry I didn't provide links. I've written so many papers that I had to footnote and attribute everything, and I have to say, that was the worst part of writing these papers. I HATE doing that kind of stuff. But my bad.


I think we all do. But it is a good habit to develop. imo



> Permafree - that is where your book is permanently free. How you make your book free on Amazon is that you publish it elsewhere (preferably everywhere - Apple, Google, iTunes, Kobo) free, then report it to Amazon that it's free on these other sites. Amazon will then price-match.


Best summing up I've seen yet. Thanks.



> Bookbub - the very elusive advertiser that you have to sacrifice 100 tiny goats to be a part of. Bookbub.com.


And where do we get said tiny goats?

Sorry, couldn't resist. 

I get the impression I've not heard of it before, because I wasn't ready for it. After I release my current novel, 3rd in the series, I'll go back and make the first one free as suggested, then try for bookbub.



> BTW, a bundle is a collection of books in a series in one volume.


I've been thinking about that, once my 3rd book is out. Its effectively part one in a larger series.

Whats the wisdom about when to do this?



> Hope this helps!


Yes, thank you.


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## Shelley K (Sep 19, 2011)

TimothyEllis said:


> I think we all do. But it is a good habit to develop. imo


Are you for real? I feel like David after Dentist: _Is this real life?_


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Shelley K said:


> Are you for real? I feel like David after Dentist: _Is this real life?_


Am I real ?

No, I'm a figment of your deranged imagination. LMAO

Yes, I'm real. I've no idea what your reference means though. I did Google it, but I don't get your context.


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## Guest (Jun 5, 2015)

I think we all do. But it is a good habit to develop. imo


I am sorry to say but this is extremely hypocritical.  You should develop more astute habits also, if you want to succeed.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Andrew Murray said:


> I am sorry to say but this is extremely hypocritical. You should develop more astute habits also, if you want to succeed.


Please explain.

I am not aware of anything to do with my comment that could be associated with the word hypercritical.


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## Guest (Jun 5, 2015)

Because you are commenting on good habits from others, yet are unwilling to dig a bit deeper for yourself. The answers cannot be delivered on a silver tray, we have to work for our gold...each one of us. And the answers are there, you just have to develop a habit to search them out. And THAT is a habit that you seem unwilling to develop for yourself. You want it handed to you with as little effort as possible, hence the hypocrisy. Forgive me if I am wrong, perhaps it was just badly worded.
Going back to practical help, like I said, and I know you are adamant on your covers but I wouldn't pick your books up based on them. The sc-fi ones look amateurish to me. I think you should definitely try to push for a re-brand. Yes, I know it costs but better cover art may breathe new life into your work. That is probably the first and biggest stumbling block to get over. I am sure you are a terrific writer but it`s about the whole experience and maybe the covers are dissuading people to part with their cash. Best to invest in that first, I would guess, than promotion.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Andrew Murray said:


> Because you are commenting on good habits from others, yet are unwilling to dig a bit deeper for yourself.


I cant even say I follow that. What you followed it with has no bearing on what my original comment was about. There is more than one thread going on here at the moment and it appears you answered one with something from the other.

The only problem I see here, is that you cant see my past ten years forum posting history, so you have zero context to weigh what I say.



> The answers cannot be delivered on a silver tray, we have to work for our gold...each one of us. And the answers are there, you just have to develop a habit to search them out. And THAT is a habit that you seem unwilling to develop for yourself. You want it handed to you with as little effort as possible, hence the hypocrisy. Forgive me if I am wrong, perhaps it was just badly worded.


No, I'm just commenting about the difference between where I come from and here. So my expectation based on previous forums is completely backward for here. That's part of the learning curve for new forums. Calling people names because they come from a significantly different environment doesn't achieve anything except pissing people off. Personally, I see this as a context issue that some here don't get. That's ok, now I know about it, I'll adapt.



> Going back to practical help, like I said, and I know you are adamant on your covers but I wouldn't pick your books up based on them. The sc-fi ones look amateurish to me. I think you should definitely try to push for a re-brand. Yes, I know it costs but better cover art may breathe new life into your work. That is probably the first and biggest stumbling block to get over. I am sure you are a terrific writer but it`s about the whole experience and maybe the covers are dissuading people to part with their cash. Best to invest in that first, I would guess, than promotion.


I'm not adamant about anything.

I have already said, I haven't found an artist willing and able to take on what I was originally looking for.

Plan B was to use what I had available. And while some people wont like the result, the covers of my novels, which are the only ones I'm actually concerned about, are specifically relevant to the experience by which I can write space combat. So for the moment, it works for me.

When I find an artist who can do what I originally wanted, and is willing to do it, at a price I can afford, I will seriously consider it. So far, looking at everyone here's cover designs, I've not seen one that makes me want to ask who the artist was. I will keep looking. A lot of the slick sci-fi covers I see on amazon when I look around, actually put me off.

In the meantime, I'm focused on getting the story out of me. Marketing can come later. My head is in the 27th century. The here and now is kinda fuzzy.

At the moment, while finding out how to do what the thread title says is an interest, its not yet a focus. I'm on a learning curve. Emphasis on the learning. Doing will come when I've learnt enough, and my writing reaches a stage where it isn't driving me so hard.

A lot of the advice here isn't suited to someone with only 2 novels out. I'm not far enough advanced yet for bookbub, for example. But I'm looking at someone on fiverr at the moment who does marketing.


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## Jack Krenneck (Feb 9, 2014)

anniejocoby said:


> Definitely. Sell through has diminished somewhat,.but it's still the best promo tool around without a doubt. Besides, I wouldn't ever go into ku just because I sell so much on other sites. So, if you don't do permafree and you don't do ku, then how can you gain traction? I have no answer for that.
> 
> That said, permafree might go away one day. If it does then I'll figure something out. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.


I don't have anything against permafree, and I certainly don't believe that it devalues books. However...

I see many people thinking of it as a great idea, and while I believe in using tools that work, there are pitfalls (as well as advantages) to this one.

But first, it's possible to gain traction without permafree. Or 99 cents. Or paid advertising. If you look, you see it all the time on Amazon across many categories. But the trend of them all is that they're books written in highly popular genres. And they conform (more or less) to the tropes of those genres. And they have the golden package: a cracking title, cover, blurb and sample.

These things are the only advertising/promotion that many books at the top of genre lists ever get.

So, back to permafree. It's a handy tool (though much less handy than it used to be) but what happens if you rely on that tool and it's removed from the toolbox? KU has already disrupted it. There's no law that Amazon must price match to free. _Permafree could disappear overnight_. It probably won't, but it _could_.

What won't ever disappear is the value of the title, cover, blurb and sample. My suggestion is to invest your time, effort and skill into them. And when you think they're the perfect match for your target readers - keep on improving them anyway.

If you rely on permafree you can have the rug pulled out from under you. If nothing else is holding you up - you'll sink.

No offence to the permafree people here. I just thought it would help to introduce another perspective.


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

TimothyEllis said:


> I'm a figment of your deranged imagination. LMAO


What's LMAO?



> But it is a good habit to develop. imo


What's imo?


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Philip Gibson said:


> What's LMAO?
> 
> What's imo?












LOL = laugh out loud.
LMAO = Laugh my arse off.
ROFLMAO = Roll on floor laughing my arse off.
imo = in my opinion.
imho = in my honest opinion.

Sorry, basic forum abbreviations. I sometimes forget some people are new to them.


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## Chris Dietzel (Apr 2, 2013)

Really great thread, Annie. Thanks for posting all of your strategies and tips. I learned a lot and am bookmarking it to come back and reference for my next series. 

A question about how you use BookBub: did you use the "discount" bookbub add ($.99, etc) or the "free" bookbub option? Did you use it for the first book in your series to help get it into the hands of as many readers as possible, or did you use it for the second book in your series to help increase sales?

Congratulations on your success, and thanks again for posting here to inspire the rest of us.


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

TimothyEllis said:


> LOL = laugh out loud.
> LMAO = Laugh my arse off.
> ROFLMAO = Roll on floor laughing my arse off.
> imo = in my opinion.
> ...


I knew that - I was attempting irony.

I've been toying with the idea of compiling a list of specialized terms, names, abbreviations, etc. I've learned in the nearly two years I've been here in the Writer's Cafe. Can't do it - it would be too huge. But it would kind of start like this:



> Bookbub, ARCs, MailChimp, CreateSpace, permafree, FKB&T, Goodreads, Wordpress, ENT, Kobo, borrows, CTR, Smashwords, Zon, Google Play, D2D, Librarything, fan fiction, Babelcube, WIP, Choosy Bookworm, CTA, Freebooksy, pantser, OHFB, Bargainbooksy, epistolary fiction, pre-order, HH, Subs, Booksends, Calibre, ASIN, Genre Pulse, YA, Payoneer, Shelfari, CPC, BKnights, ROI, ChickLit, B&N, ereaderiq, POI, Scrivener, BookReport, Steampunk, Fiverr, eBooksoda... and on and on and on.


Hundreds of them. The different promotion sites alone number in the hundreds. My active vocabulary has increased massively through participating in this forum, mostly due to a kind of osmosis and the occasional use of Google.

These terms are known and used daily by those of us who have been here a while and while they may be incomprehensible to new members (avoids using 'Newbies'), it would not be reasonable to expect definitions and explanations each time they are used.

Philip


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## tjshortt (May 17, 2015)

What a beautiful posting.
I love the part where you say to keep the faith alive for struggling authors.
Much love to you and congratulations.


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## Maia Sepp Ross (May 10, 2013)

Annie, I think I said this upthread a while back, but I just wanted to thank you again for your generous and helpful post.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Jack Krenneck said:


> I don't have anything against permafree, and I certainly don't believe that it devalues books. However...
> 
> I see many people thinking of it as a great idea, and while I believe in using tools that work, there are pitfalls (as well as advantages) to this one.
> 
> ...


I tend to agree with you now. You have to understand - my original post on this thread was last summer. It was made before KU came along. So, things have changed with the permafree. That said, I STILL see much better results with promoting the permafree than I ever did when the first book in the series was .99. By far. But I will concede one thing - if you have a permafree and you're not promoting it, it's doing you little good.

I don't agree, though, with the notion that cream will just automatically rise to the top. It does if you're lucky. But if you're in a crowded genre, then you have to find your audience somehow, someway. Putting a book up and hoping that readers are just going to find it is generally folly, IMHO, even if the book has a killer blurb, cover and sample. You still need a way to market the book. I read somewhere that there are 3500 new books a day being published on Amazon. If a writer is going to try to break through that noise, and expects that just putting up a great book is enough....I wish that writer luck.

Again, though, there are exceptions to the rule. I've seen my share of posters around here who do nothing to market and somehow their books are selling like hotcakes. Good for them. But for the experience of the majority of us, there's a need for some help in visibility. Permafree + PROMOTION OF THE PERMAFREE seems to still be a good method. Not as good as it once was, but better than nothing.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Chris Dietzel said:


> Really great thread, Annie. Thanks for posting all of your strategies and tips. I learned a lot and am bookmarking it to come back and reference for my next series.
> 
> A question about how you use BookBub: did you use the "discount" bookbub add ($.99, etc) or the "free" bookbub option? Did you use it for the first book in your series to help get it into the hands of as many readers as possible, or did you use it for the second book in your series to help increase sales?
> 
> Congratulations on your success, and thanks again for posting here to inspire the rest of us.


I always use the free ad for BB, and I've only been accepted for one book. Unfortunately, the one book that they take is, by far, my worst book. But it is what it is.

As for promotions, I ONLY promote the first book in my series. I see no point in doing it any other way. And, for my latest series, I'm doing something slightly different - I haven't promoted it, at all, because it's not finished yet. I haven't even informed my mailing list of the books being out. Because there is something else that I have clearly learned - promotions get weaker and weaker every time you run the same book. So, if you promote your permafree when you only have two books out, you basically shoot your wad without much to show for it. Here's what happens - you do heavy promotion on the permafree when you have two books out, and your series is planned for four books. You get a lot of downloads on your permafree, and, hopefully, your sell-through is decent. Great. Then, when books three and four come out, you try to promote the permafree again. But your downloads are MUCH less this time because it's the second time you're promoting the book with the same service. So, your promotions are less effective during the period of time when you have more books to sell the reader. It should be the other way around.

So my new advice is to leave a series alone, promotion-wise, until the series is completely finished. And then you promote like crazy.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

anniejocoby said:


> I tend to agree with you now. You have to understand - my original post on this thread was last summer. It was made before KU came along. So, things have changed with the permafree. That said, I STILL see much better results with promoting the permafree than I ever did when the first book in the series was .99. By far. But I will concede one thing - if you have a permafree and you're not promoting it, it's doing you little good.
> 
> I don't agree, though, with the notion that cream will just automatically rise to the top. It does if you're lucky. But if you're in a crowded genre, then you have to find your audience somehow, someway. Putting a book up and hoping that readers are just going to find it is generally folly, IMHO, even if the book has a killer blurb, cover and sample. You still need a way to market the book. I read somewhere that there are 3500 new books a day being published on Amazon. If a writer is going to try to break through that noise, and expects that just putting up a great book is enough....I wish that writer luck.
> 
> Again, though, there are exceptions to the rule. I've seen my share of posters around here who do nothing to market and somehow their books are selling like hotcakes. Good for them. But for the experience of the majority of us, there's a need for some help in visibility. Permafree + PROMOTION OF THE PERMAFREE seems to still be a good method. Not as good as it once was, but better than nothing.


I put one of my books up as permafree at the end of February and since then it has had 30,000 downloads with no promotions whatsoever, so that theory doesn't always work either. It is only now beginning to drop a little and once it does, I shall take it down and put it back in select, which actually makes me more money. That permafree book has only had about 80 downloads from all the D2D channels put together, while 30,000 on Amazon.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Hey, folks--

Let's keep this thread on track and not let the early-this-morning discussion derail the thread.  Again.

Thanks!

And a big thanks to our members who generously provide all kinds of useful information to useful members and to Annie for this thread!

Betsy
KB Mod


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Doglover said:


> I put one of my books up as permafree at the end of February and since then it has had 30,000 downloads with no promotions whatsoever, so that theory doesn't always work either. It is only now beginning to drop a little and once it does, I shall take it down and put it back in select, which actually makes me more money. That permafree book has only had about 80 downloads from all the D2D channels put together, while 30,000 on Amazon.


Yay, you! Those are amazing numbers! So, obviously, you've managed to find a way to break through the noise. I would daresay, though, that your results aren't typical. But congrats!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Maia said:


> Annie, I think I said this upthread a while back, but I just wanted to thank you again for your generous and helpful post.


Aw, you're welcome! And Tshortt too! (I still don't know how to reply to multiple people!)


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## Deke (May 18, 2013)

The original post is way too long. Can someone write up a digest version for me?


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

I'm in Select (and have no intention of leaving right now) so I do the .99 first in series and $3.99 for sequels. I also have added .99 shorts to my witch series. They're 25,000 words and done purely for KU. I have never done a permafree. I can't really comment on it. If I ever go wide, I'm not sure how I will handle that situation. For me, and I'm just talking about me, KU is amazing. Everyone has to make their own choices, though. I'm waiting to see if my May numbers were enough to catapult me into the top All-Star bracket for that payout. I never dreamed of a month like May -- and I'm enjoying the ride. Things are always shifting, though. That's why I added in the pen name and didn't just stuff everything under my main name. I think it's always good to experiment. I think it's good to always be willing to change your approach. I'm still learning and tweaking. I'm just going through audio now and it will take me years to catch up. Other than a few ads here and there, though, I do very little marketing. I think, as long as you're open to change, indie book publishing is something that can continue to grow for a lot of people. Annie is someone open to change. If you're not open to change, that's when I think the indie train is going to run you over.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

anniejocoby said:


> Yay, you! Those are amazing numbers! So, obviously, you've managed to find a way to break through the noise. I would daresay, though, that your results aren't typical. But congrats!


Thanks. Perhaps the genre is not so busy, but I set up my newsletter on that book as well and have managed to acquire 35 subscribers, which is not bad. Not brilliant, but not bad. While it's still getting 10,000 downloads a month I'll leave it alone.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> I'm in Select (and have no intention of leaving right now) so I do the .99 first in series and $3.99 for sequels. I also have added .99 shorts to my witch series. They're 25,000 words and done purely for KU. I have never done a permafree. I can't really comment on it. If I ever go wide, I'm not sure how I will handle that situation. For me, and I'm just talking about me, KU is amazing. Everyone has to make their own choices, though. I'm waiting to see if my May numbers were enough to catapult me into the top All-Star bracket for that payout. I never dreamed of a month like May -- and I'm enjoying the ride. Things are always shifting, though. That's why I added in the pen name and didn't just stuff everything under my main name. I think it's always good to experiment. I think it's good to always be willing to change your approach. I'm still learning and tweaking. I'm just going through audio now and it will take me years to catch up. Other than a few ads here and there, though, I do very little marketing. I think, as long as you're open to change, indie book publishing is something that can continue to grow for a lot of people. Annie is someone open to change. If you're not open to change, that's when I think the indie train is going to run you over.


Yup. I think that we all have to be like sharks - we have to keep swimming, or we will die. That's why I come on this board - I'm always learning, too. I like to know when things are changing, even if I don't exactly have the answers on what to do when things change. I'm still working on that.

Much congrats to you, Amanda, for your AMAZING success. I haven't yet tried out KU fully, although, as soon as my latest series is finished (this month), I'm going to write a KU-only serial with a pen-name. I'll see how it goes. That might be something I'll explore - keeping my main name wide and doing KU serials with a different name. My main name will have the full-length novels, my pen-name will have serials with each book around 20,000 words. Again, though, I'll see how KU goes. I've seen some amazing success stories with it, so it's worth a try!


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

anniejocoby said:


> Yup. I think that we all have to be like sharks - we have to keep swimming, or we will die. That's why I come on this board - I'm always learning, too. I like to know when things are changing, even if I don't exactly have the answers on what to do when things change. I'm still working on that.
> 
> Much congrats to you, Amanda, for your AMAZING success. I haven't yet tried out KU fully, although, as soon as my latest series is finished (this month), I'm going to write a KU-only serial with a pen-name. I'll see how it goes. That might be something I'll explore - keeping my main name wide and doing KU serials with a different name. My main name will have the full-length novels, my pen-name will have serials with each book around 20,000 words. Again, though, I'll see how KU goes. I've seen some amazing success stories with it, so it's worth a try!


Probably a daft question but what's the rationale for having one series in your main name and the other series in a pen name? Seems counter-intuitive if you are having success under your main name.

Philip


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Philip Gibson said:


> Probably a daft question but what's the rationale for having one series in your main name and the other series in a pen name? Seems counter-intuitive if you are having success under your main name.
> 
> Philip


My pen name will have stuff that is different from my main name. It will probably be raunchier. But, you're right, I have thought about using my main name for everything. I just don't want to confuse my readers.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

Philip Gibson said:


> Probably a daft question but what's the rationale for having one series in your main name and the other series in a pen name? Seems counter-intuitive if you are having success under your main name.
> 
> Philip


I have massive success under my main name but the pen name is romance and my main name is all snark. They are vastly different. While I knew launching the romance stuff under my main name would lead to increased sales off the bat, I knew it would also lead to bombed reviews given reader expectations. I didn't want that. My pen name and main name are completely different, and this fall -- almost exactly one year after I launched the name -- I should have built it to the point where it gets an All-Star bonus along with my main name. The whole pen name was engineered with KU in mind.


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

Philip Gibson said:


> I've been toying with the idea of compiling a list of specialized terms, names, abbreviations, etc. I've learned in the nearly two years I've been here in the Writer's Cafe.


Here's the last attempt at that. Thought I would save you some trouble!

KBoard Acronyms: help!
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,190795.0.html


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

Deke said:


> The original post is way too long. Can someone write up a digest version for me?


ROTFLOL!


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## Maria Romana (Jun 7, 2010)

Cherise Kelley said:


> ROTFLOL!


Had the same reaction!


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## Trans-Human (Apr 22, 2015)

TimothyEllis said:


> Nope sorry. My time is valuable to me. How it compares is not something I concern myself about. Nor was I asking anyone to spend some time. I was merely asking the questions I bet a lot of people ask when they see this OP for the first time.


Hi Timothy

Here's the thing buddy. How does this sound to you - "Hi guys, I'm Timothy, newbie on the forums, as new as they get. I saw the OP mention 'permafree' and 'Bookbub'. As I have no idea what these things mean, can somebody please tell me what do they mean?"

Now look back at your post and how you worded yourself there.

Asking questions is fine. Actually, its encouraged! We learn more that way. But the way you approached the thread, was with a very off-putting attitude in your post. So even if somebody was willing to help otherwise, the attitude would keep them at bay, or even make them engage you. Things are not served on silver platter here for anybody. People can and do ask questions, but they also do research elsewhere too (and then they share finds). That's how it works. As far as your problem with the OP, imagine if everybody kept elaborate explanations as to what they mean? Just so that new members don't get confused. It wouldn't be an efficient way of running things. Hence, terminology is invented.

Here's the bottomline dude - we all have obligations. Whether they are work-related or not. Jobs too. Mine is from home, but is very, very time demanding. Yet, I still manage to separate some time for the forums here. Even if its not about learning something new or helping others, but just exchanging some words with other folks here (because people are awesome). You say you don't care how other people's time is wasted and you don't care how it compares to yours. Why should somebody care to help you if you don't care in return?

If you are serious about writing - the most crucial factor you need to invest in is time. This is not something you can learn in a few days. If it was we all would have been light years ahead with our carriers.

I was a newbie once too. I took my time to get to know people, and find answers, without demanding anything upfront.



TimothyEllis said:


> When I find an artist who can do what I originally wanted, and is willing to do it, at a price I can afford, I will seriously consider it.


What's your max acceptable budget costs, and what did yo wanted originally?

(FWIW, I don't mind your book covers. They are not amazing, but if I liked the blurb, I'd most likely buy the books. So, like you said, its different for different people).



> A lot of the advice here isn't suited to someone with only 2 novels out. I'm not far enough advanced yet for bookbub, for example. But I'm looking at someone on fiverr at the moment who does marketing.


bknights? Its the only one I know from Fiverr that everybody here has had very positive working experience with.
_______________________________

To Mods:

If we don't have one - perhaps a sticky thread of FAQ glossary terms can be made?



Betsy the Quilter said:


> Hey, folks--
> 
> Let's keep this thread on track and not let the early-this-morning discussion derail the thread. Again.
> 
> ...


Eh ... I just posted and then flipped the page :/

Sorry. Noted.


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## Kathryn Meyer Griffith (May 6, 2013)

Annie
for me (I have 7 self-pubbed books and various short stories out while I wait for my publisher to slowly give me back my other 14 books starting this month...yippie!...and working on book #23) ....How do I make my book Permafree? I have a 3 book series (Dinosaur Lake) that I have NEVER given any away free, ever. It's been my bread and butter and I'm terrified of losing that stable income. I have the 3 books wide in Amazon and D2D, Smashwords, not in KU, and have finally decided I need to try the permafree strategy. Do I just ASK (email) Amazon and ask them to make Dinosaur Lake (first book) free or do I do it another way. I have read about this process here before but never jotted down how to do it all exactly. I am about to finish the 3rd book of another series, a murder mystery, and will do teh first book permafree, too. Email me at [email protected] or PM me, please


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## Jack Krenneck (Feb 9, 2014)

anniejocoby said:


> I don't agree, though, with the notion that cream will just automatically rise to the top. It does if you're lucky. But if you're in a crowded genre, then you have to find your audience somehow, someway. Putting a book up and hoping that readers are just going to find it is generally folly, IMHO, even if the book has a killer blurb, cover and sample. You still need a way to market the book. I read somewhere that there are 3500 new books a day being published on Amazon. If a writer is going to try to break through that noise, and expects that just putting up a great book is enough....I wish that writer luck.


Agreed. Cream doesn't always rise to the top. And luck plays its part.

But of those 3500 new books a day on Amazon, how many of them have a killer package of title, cover, blurb and sample?

The thing is, there are lots of different opinions as to what actually puts any of these things into the "killer" category. But if an author isn't getting the sales they would like, perhaps it would help to reexamine their beliefs as to what constitutes "killer." What might be killer for them, might not reflect the tastes of the book buying market.

One thing for sure, the title, cover, blurb and sample are extremely powerful tools.


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## Maria Romana (Jun 7, 2010)

Kathryn Meyer Griffith said:


> Annie
> ..How do I make my book Permafree? I have a 3 book series (Dinosaur Lake) that I have NEVER given any away free, ever. It's been my bread and butter and I'm terrified of losing that stable income. I have the 3 books wide in Amazon and D2D, Smashwords, not in KU, and have finally decided I need to try the permafree strategy. Do I just ASK (email) Amazon and ask them to make Dinosaur Lake (first book) free or do I do it another way. I have read about this process here before but never jotted down how to do it all exactly. I am about to finish the 3rd book of another series, a murder mystery, and will do teh first book permafree, too. Email me at [email protected] or PM me, please


This is discussed in many places, but just to state it here again: to make a book permafree on Amazon, you must first set it to free on one of the other venues that allows this, like Kobo, for example. Then you email Amazon, tell them about it, send them the link to where the book is free, and just ask. If you have other paid books out, and they sell at all, Amazon will almost always do as you ask, as they can see that it is just a sales strategy and a win-win for all.

I think their fear of allowing people to set books free at will is the fear that people will just use KDP to distribute materials at no cost (for example, marketing/scammy type stuff) and without any intent to actually sell books and make money for Amazon, but that's just my theory.


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## Kathryn Meyer Griffith (May 6, 2013)

Thank you Maria. I will try that. Note: Just to see if they would, I sent an email to Amazon asking to make my Dinosaur Lake Permafree and they denied my request. I guess I will try it the other way. Wish me luck.


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## Shelley K (Sep 19, 2011)

Kathryn Meyer Griffith said:


> Thank you Maria. I will try that. Note: Just to see if they would, I sent an email to Amazon asking to make my Dinosaur Lake Permafree and they denied my request. I guess I will try it the other way. Wish me luck.


First, you have to make it free everywhere else. Then you can report it at Amazon as being free other places. There's a link on each page that says _report a lower price_ or something similar. If that doesn't trigger the price match as it usually it does, email and ask Amazon (or email right away, up to you). Sometimes they'll say no. Email again. One CSR doesn't know what the other CSR is doing, they're a poorly-trained, inconsistent bunch, so eventually you will hit one that knows what to do.


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## Incognita (Apr 3, 2011)

Kathryn Meyer Griffith said:


> Thank you Maria. I will try that. Note: Just to see if they would, I sent an email to Amazon asking to make my Dinosaur Lake Permafree and they denied my request. I guess I will try it the other way. Wish me luck.


Did you include links to the other places where the book is free? That's really important. Also, it seems that the outlets Amazon cares about most are Apple and Google Play, then B&N. If something is only free on Kobo and Smashwords (just as an example...I couldn't tell from your post exactly where Dinosaur Lake is free), then a lot of times Amazon won't bother to price-match.


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## eeriestories (Jul 7, 2015)

Seriously inspiring. I'm going to try Freebooksy now, too. Thanks for the tips


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## Mafalda Writes (Jul 25, 2015)

Thank you for such inspiration. It helps me stay focused on my goal.

L.A.


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## KLRomo (Aug 1, 2015)

I'm new to KBoards, so checking everything out.  Thanks so much Annie for your great post.  Very inspirational and tons of info.  Appreciate it!


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## JanMoran (Jun 17, 2012)

Thank you, Annie, for your great advice! I have a small indie series going (3 books, working on #4) and a couple of historicals with St. Martin's, but really hoping to make a living off writing! The permafree is in the plans, and glad to hear it worked for you, along with your laddered promos. I'd hesitated buying ads for free books, because it seemed counter intuitive, but seeing your conversion rate, now I understand. Thanks!


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## ShariLTapscott (Sep 18, 2015)

Thank you so much! I'm going to give Freebooksy a try! I've heard of them, but I didn't know much about them.


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## Venture Press (Sep 30, 2015)

I'm new here, but I can testify to FreeBooksy's usefulness. They'll get you the free downloads you're looking for.

But they also offer slots for books on 99p/99c promotions through Bargain Booksy. Can't properly attest to its effectiveness or ROI but I've got my first book on there tomorrow October 2nd, so we'll see!


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## [email protected] (Oct 8, 2015)

Your story is inspiring.  I'm working on getting the first of many published, and am learning as much as possible.  I wrote down the points about Freebooksy and BookBub.


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## SheriMcclurePitler (Oct 13, 2015)

Thank you for sharing! You've given me hope!


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## Mjcaan (Aug 22, 2013)

Congratulations!  It's always great to read inspiring accounts of how other authors are making it. Thank you for taking the time to share.
MJ


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## Kessie Carroll (Jan 15, 2014)

I love reading these sorts of posts. The funny thing is, I subscribe to a ton of these book newsletters and I see kboarders on there all the time. Then once in a while I happen across a fascinating indie author, via interview or Twitter or something, who doesn't advertise. They have 3 reviews on a book that deserves more. They should be farming the newsletters, but they don't. It breaks my heart.


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## trishajennreads (Sep 23, 2015)

I did not know about Bookbub or Freebooksy. Thank you for enlightening me! I'm going to file this information away for when I finish my novel.


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## JenOrtiz (Nov 9, 2015)

Thank you so much for your advice! Much appreciated!


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## chalice (Jan 5, 2013)

*This thread nearly slip pass me.

Best Regards,
Shana Jahsinta Walters.*


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## Veronica Sicoe (Jun 21, 2015)

Thank you so much for posting this, Annie! Congrats on your success & thanks for the great advice. It's threads like these that make KBoards the most valuable indie forum out there.


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## motherspider (Jan 23, 2016)

anniejocoby said:


> I'm going to be at the RWA National Conference at the end of this month, where I hope to pick up enough tips to make it to the next level - bestsellerdom!


Just got here and saw this post. AMAZING - the missing key I have been searching for. Thank you so much for sharing.

Can I ask, what happened at RWA?


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## kemobullock (Aug 18, 2015)

Thank you for the wonderful advice! I'm going right now to move my books from Smashwords. It's just a nightmare to get paid in a timely fashion and the communication is awful. Thanks again for all the nuggets!


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## jlstovall4 (Oct 6, 2015)

This is an excellent thread. I've bookmarked it for all the great advice.


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## Ryan J. Ward (Jan 26, 2016)

Just joined Kboards today and am ecstatic with the advice I have received from everyone. Thank you all for being so involved and encouraging with one another. It has helped this author already on day one!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

kemobullock said:


> Thank you for the wonderful advice! I'm going right now to move my books from Smashwords. It's just a nightmare to get paid in a timely fashion and the communication is awful. Thanks again for all the nuggets!


I'm glad, ML! Smashwords is a nightmare. If I were to do an aggregator, I would definitely go with D2D, but you're smart in uploading direct. You get all kinds of goodies when you do that, including being invited to participate in monthly promotions with Kobo. Apple is more likely to promote you if you upload direct, too, I think, and they've been very good to me. It's a pain in the rear, of course, when you have a lot of books, and whenever I release something new, I'm spending an entire day changing all those links in my books and uploading them to the retailers, but I think that going direct is overall worth it.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Ryan J. Ward said:


> Just joined Kboards today and am ecstatic with the advice I have received from everyone. Thank you all for being so involved and encouraging with one another. It has helped this author already on day one!


Yay! Good luck Ryan!!!!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

jlstovall4 said:


> This is an excellent thread. I've bookmarked it for all the great advice.


Glad to be of help!


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## caarsen (Aug 28, 2015)

anniejocoby said:


> I'm glad, ML! Smashwords is a nightmare. If I were to do an aggregator, I would definitely go with D2D, but you're smart in uploading direct. You get all kinds of goodies when you do that, including being invited to participate in monthly promotions with Kobo. Apple is more likely to promote you if you upload direct, too, I think, and they've been very good to me. It's a pain in the rear, of course, when you have a lot of books, and whenever I release something new, I'm spending an entire day changing all those links in my books and uploading them to the retailers, but I think that going direct is overall worth it.


If you don't mind my asking - what do you mean, changing all those links and uploading. What links do you have to change?


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

caarsen said:


> If you don't mind my asking - what do you mean, changing all those links and uploading. What links do you have to change?


Oh, I mean adding in new links! Whenever I release a new book, I have to change the front matter and back and matter and upload everything again. Sorry for the confusion!


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## caarsen (Aug 28, 2015)

anniejocoby said:


> Oh, I mean adding in new links! Whenever I release a new book, I have to change the front matter and back and matter and upload everything again. Sorry for the confusion!


No! I was curious. Thinking maybe I was doing something wrong.  It's the perfectionist in me.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

caarsen said:


> No! I was curious. Thinking maybe I was doing something wrong.  It's the perfectionist in me.


 I get that - I'm a Virgo.


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## PJ Davitt (Jan 26, 2016)

Got to say that is one of the best, most uncomplicated, jargon-free check lists I have come across. Thanks for sharing and caring...


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

PJ Davitt said:


> Got to say that is one of the best, most uncomplicated, jargon-free check lists I have come across. Thanks for sharing and caring...


Aw, thanks! A lot of the advice doesn't work as well now, as the post was written pre KU Apocalypse! But I'm still glad to have helped!


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## EmmaS (Jul 15, 2014)

> Aw, thanks! A lot of the advice doesn't work as well now, as the post was written pre KU Apocalypse! But I'm still glad to have helped!


How would you update it for today? I realize that could be an entire huge other post, so perhaps the question should be: What one or two biggest changes have you made to your strategy?

Thanks so much for the original post. I read it back when I was still lurking and contemplating this crazy self-publishing thing, and it was as inspiring then as it was today when I re-read. So much gratitude to you for sharing your story, experiences, and advice!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Ember Forest said:


> How would you update it for today? I realize that could be an entire huge other post, so perhaps the question should be: What one or two biggest changes have you made to your strategy?
> 
> Thanks so much for the original post. I read it back when I was still lurking and contemplating this crazy self-publishing thing, and it was as inspiring then as it was today when I re-read. So much gratitude to you for sharing your story, experiences, and advice!


Well, I'll let you know in a week or so, when I see what happens with my new series. My newest thing is releasing the first three installments on the same day, make the first book .99, and support the release with Facebook ads (that a professional is running for me. That whole thing is too complicated for me, and I want to get it right), a Street Team, Hungry Author new release activities, and promo ads with Books Butterfly, BKnights and BargainBooksy. I'm also going to try other sites that C. Gockel is using for her boxed set. I'll probably submit every site I can think of once the writing is done. I've also amassed 30 reviews, because I released the paperback on CreateSpace as a placeholder for the reviews.

The idea is to tickle the algos. I've never done that with any launch, because, with my previous launches, I just kinda released Book One without a single review, told my mailing list and Facebook fans, and called it a day. That's not nearly enough, from my understanding, to get the algos working in your favor. So, I'm trying to get this release right. If it doesn't go right, I'll just make Book One permafree and try for some more ads like I usually do. Hopefully it won't come to that.

So, yeah, I'm always trying different things. That's really my new advice - always be like a shark, constantly swimming. That's the best way to survive, I think!


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## fbsbrev (Feb 15, 2016)

Congrats and Kudos! I 'm am an old brick and mortar writer and publisher of non- fiction, and just tried my first fiction book as an ebook, and results were dismal.  I am lost in this new world of publishing so I read up and followed kindle suggestions for marketing and then ran a FREE promotion for 3 days and did 20 the first day, 3 the second, and 2 the last day!  I also have no Twitter, FB or other followings, so my question is then how did you manage on the first shot out, with no support, to give away 5,000 books and sell 160.  i am in awe! I gave away 25 after  a month of premarketing.  I still have no followings so in this new world I could use help!  
I read your success and see how it progressed, but how did you do 5,000 books the first time out?  
I now have a 3 book writing series, the rest of the fiction trilogy and a compilation of 10 books about the 20th century that are being made into ebooks.  I don't want to waste more time doing things that don't work and your advice gives me some ideas, but with all my years in publishing I feel like a baby-- can you help me take my first step?
thanks and again I am very impressed!


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## William Collins. (Jan 20, 2016)

Thanks for this thread Annie, it's really helpful and encouraging.


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## Zaitsev (Feb 21, 2016)

This must be the most helpful post I've read -- anywhere. I've just joined Kboards today and I'm sure glad I did. A great big thanks for taking the time to do this -- you really are very kind. I wish you all the best in the future.


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## jlstovall4 (Oct 6, 2015)

Zaitsev said:


> This must be the most helpful post I've read -- anywhere. I've just joined Kboards today and I'm sure glad I did. A great big thanks for taking the time to do this -- you really are very kind. I wish you all the best in the future.


You'll find the KBoards filled with great posts like this. Half of my favorites now go to KBoard posts.


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## Devon Michael (Jan 3, 2016)

Excellent information, thanks a million!


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## KeraEmory (Feb 8, 2016)

I hate to be a downer, but one thing I've realized in the month I've been on kboards is that a lot of these long massive-success threads stem from the 'wild west' days of self-publishing and/or Kindle Unlimited. And those days appear to be  behind us. (Not saying success isn't attainable, but managing expectations may be necessary.)


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## dorihoxa (Feb 12, 2016)

Thanks so much for sharing. What an amazing story. We need stories like this to pick us up more often than we know.


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## thenicknick (Mar 1, 2016)

Thank you for this. I've been rethinking my publishing strategy. You've pretty much cemented it for me.  So, I'll work on the permafrees and developing some patience.


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## bbstar (Jun 4, 2015)

nice


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## RachelDel (Mar 25, 2016)

Such great advice, thank you for sharing!


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

KeraEmory said:


> I hate to be a downer, but one thing I've realized in the month I've been on kboards is that a lot of these long massive-success threads stem from the 'wild west' days of self-publishing and/or Kindle Unlimited. And those days appear to be behind us. (Not saying success isn't attainable, but managing expectations may be necessary.)


I hate to be a downer on your downer, because I started in 2011, and it was NEVER easy for most of us. Managing expectations is a major part of the deal and has always been. There WERE no golden days for the vast majority of writers. True, there were some things that worked back then that don't work any more. And we have some things today that won't work next year.

The people who have done the best, consistently, are always the ones who spend most of their time on writing their books and who are prepared to change their tactics all the time.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

KeraEmory said:


> I hate to be a downer, but one thing I've realized in the month I've been on kboards is that a lot of these long massive-success threads stem from the 'wild west' days of self-publishing and/or Kindle Unlimited. And those days appear to be behind us. (Not saying success isn't attainable, but managing expectations may be necessary.)


Yeah, I know. I'm almost embarrassed by this post because I was doing sooo much better then than I am now. I posted this before KU came along and kicked my ass. I have a lot more books published now than I did then, yet I'm making a fraction of what I was doing during the time of this post. I'm just about ready to throw up my hands, start a brand-new pen name, switch genres and go straight KU. In other words, I'm about to cry "Uncle," which is what Amazon intended all of us to do when it set up KU and obviously showed preferential treatment for those in the KU ecosystem. I can't deny it - I read every new thread where there's a newbie tearing it up, or somebody who isn't a newbie, but never had success before, and now is, and I see that 100% of these threads are posted by KU authors.

Still, I'm glad the post still inspires people. But understand that the world has changed 180 degrees since the summer of 2013, which is when I posted this.


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## KeraEmory (Feb 8, 2016)

Patty Jansen said:


> I hate to be a downer on your downer, because I started in 2011, and it was NEVER easy for most of us. Managing expectations is a major part of the deal and has always been. There WERE no golden days for the vast majority of writers. True, there were some things that worked back then that don't work any more. And we have some things today that won't work next year.
> 
> The people who have done the best, consistently, are always the ones who spend most of their time on writing their books and who are prepared to change their tactics all the time.


Sorry, didn't mean to cause offense.

P.S., I signed up for your promo a few days ago and also PM'd you, but didn't hear back. 

Annie: sorry to hear you're having problems. This whole gig seems to be quite an emotional roller-coaster, and I've barely been at it a month.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

KeraEmory said:


> Sorry, didn't mean to cause offense.
> 
> P.S., I signed up for your promo a few days ago and also PM'd you, but didn't hear back.
> 
> Annie: sorry to hear you're having problems. This whole gig seems to be quite an emotional roller-coaster, and I've barely been at it a month.


Thanks. I have a BookBub ad next month, so crossing my fingers that I can get out of my slump. We'll see.

Roller-coaster is right, but lately, for me, it's been mostly downhill.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

i write too said:


> I discussed this topic with an author making a lot of money with a new pen name with everything in KU. Her advice was start fresh with a new pen name and throw everything in KU.
> She points to authors who write series, release fast (every 2-4 weeks) and box them up fast. She said go and look at the All stars and see who is consistently appearing there.
> Kelly Favor, Hannah Ford, M.S. Parker, Lauren Landish, Claire Adams, Aubrey Dark. Hot romances, quick reads that you just want to gobble up and buy another one.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the advice! You saw my goofy interview, too, which is pretty cool. Yeah, I think that you're right, as much as I hate to admit it (because Apple has been quite good to me) - but KU might be the way to go going forward. I tried KU with some old series. Didn't really work out. Now I'm anxious to try it for some brand-new stuff and see if I can take off. I'll have to see.

That's the advice that I have now - constantly review tactics and change if you need to. Back in June 2013 (or whenever it was the I wrote this), permafree + e-rom/NA was the way to go. Now E-rom is saturated, so is NA (well it always was, but it feels moreso now), and permafrees mean precious little. So, I'm going to do my own 180 and see what happens.


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## DanaG (Feb 13, 2011)

Annie, I'm curious, how did the new release go? Did you find that your new promo methods helped?

What I do these days is put all of my new releases in KU for the first 90 days and then pull them out and put them on all outlets.  For the first month, they get great visibility. By the end of 90 days, the page reads have dropped so much that it's not worth keeping them in KU anyway.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

KeraEmory said:


> Sorry, didn't mean to cause offense.
> 
> P.S., I signed up for your promo a few days ago and also PM'd you, but didn't hear back.
> 
> Annie: sorry to hear you're having problems. This whole gig seems to be quite an emotional roller-coaster, and I've barely been at it a month.


I didn't see any offense. *scratches head*

It's just that new peeps like to think that it was all "publish you book and make millions" back then, but it was never like that.

I didn't see a PM. It's a bit off-topic, but don't worry. You'll hear. Keep an eye on the promo thread, because that's where I post what I've done


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

anniejocoby said:


> Yeah, I know. I'm almost embarrassed by this post because I was doing sooo much better then than I am now. I posted this before KU came along and kicked my ass. I have a lot more books published now than I did then, yet I'm making a fraction of what I was doing during the time of this post. I'm just about ready to throw up my hands, start a brand-new pen name, switch genres and go straight KU. In other words, I'm about to cry "Uncle," which is what Amazon intended all of us to do when it set up KU and obviously showed preferential treatment for those in the KU ecosystem. I can't deny it - I read every new thread where there's a newbie tearing it up, or somebody who isn't a newbie, but never had success before, and now is, and I see that 100% of these threads are posted by KU authors.
> 
> Still, I'm glad the post still inspires people. But understand that the world has changed 180 degrees since the summer of 2013, which is when I posted this.


As counter to this, I took a main series out of KU and haven't looked back. The series was selling poorly outside Amazon (which made me put it in KU in the first place) but it's been going really well everywhere else since making it wide again. The field wide is so much less crowded.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Patty Jansen said:


> As counter to this, I took a main series out of KU and haven't looked back. The series was selling poorly outside Amazon (which made me put it in KU in the first place) but it's been going really well everywhere else since making it wide again. The field wide is so much less crowded.


I hear ya Patty. I put two series in KU last year and they both tanked, so I pulled them back wide. That said, another poster made a good point - it's much more difficult to do well when you put old series in KU then if you put a fresh one in. That makes sense, considering how much more of a push the algorithms give to new series as opposed to a series that has been around for awhile. That's why I'd like to try KU one more time, but with a completely new series and possibly a new pen name. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. No harm done.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

DanaG said:


> Annie, I'm curious, how did the new release go? Did you find that your new promo methods helped?
> 
> What I do these days is put all of my new releases in KU for the first 90 days and then pull them out and put them on all outlets. For the first month, they get great visibility. By the end of 90 days, the page reads have dropped so much that it's not worth keeping them in KU anyway.


Thanks for asking, Dana. It was definitely "meh." Not setting the world on fire by any stretch of the imagination. On Amazon, when I released the first three books in the series at once, and made the first in series .99, it was like pushing a boulder up a dang hill. Even a bunch of ads, including ENT and Robin Reads and Booksends, coupled with Facebook ads that were done by a professional, couldn't get the first book over the 4,000 rank. So, I just made it permafree after a week and said "screw it." The series did okay over at Apple, though, because they promoted the first in series. It didn't have legs, though. At all. It didn't register at all over at Nook or Google or Kobo. So, yeah. Third series in a row that I would label "underperforming" for me. Pretty discouraged, which is why I think I might try KU for my next fresh venture.

I'll rise like a Phoenix. I hope.  I definitely think I'll try your strategy for all my future releases - KU for ninety days, and then go wide.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

anniejocoby said:


> I hear ya Patty. I put two KU series in last year and they both tanked, so I pulled them back wide. That said, another poster made a good point - it's much more difficult to do well when you put old series in KU then if you put a fresh one in. That makes sense, considering how much more of a push the algorithms give to new series as opposed to a series that has been around for awhile. That's why I'd like to try KU one more time, but with a completely new series and possibly a new pen name. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. No harm done.


True.

One day, if I get around to writing it, I want to try a new pen name with a new series starting in KU.

I'm finding that people expect me to be wide, and I don't like betraying their trust. I'm selling a lot of books in a lot of very offbeat countries on Google Play this month.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Patty Jansen said:


> True.
> 
> One day, if I get around to writing it, I want to try a new pen name with a new series starting in KU.
> 
> I'm finding that people expect me to be wide, and I don't like betraying their trust. I'm selling a lot of books in a lot of very offbeat countries on Google Play this month.


Go for it! I think Sci-fi does very well in KU. It couldn't hurt. I for one want to see what all the fuss is about.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

anniejocoby said:


> Go for it! I think Sci-fi does very well in KU. It couldn't hurt. I for one want to see what all the fuss is about.


It was my space opera series that I put in for that reason, but I found it did well for a bit, but trailed off very quickly. I could fling promo money at it, but that would negate extra income from borrows. KU heavily cannibalised my sales, and... surprisingly, I had no more sales on other venues to pick up the slack (fancy that...)

This is my first month that all five books are out of KU, and my income from the series has increased five-fold (one part for Kobo, one part KU borrows that are now sales, one part GP, one part Apple, one part B&N).


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Patty Jansen said:


> It was my space opera series that I put in for that reason, but I found it did well for a bit, but trailed off very quickly. I could fling promo money at it, but that would negate extra income from borrows. KU heavily cannibalised my sales, and... surprisingly, I had no more sales on other venues to pick up the slack (fancy that...)
> 
> This is my first month that all five books are out of KU, and my income from the series has increased five-fold (one part for Kobo, one part KU borrows that are now sales, one part GP, one part Apple, one part B&N).


I found the same thing with the series that I put in. They started out kinda meh and then picked up some steam. I thought "all right, all right, not bad." Then they both fell off a cliff and stayed there. They never did crazy numbers, though. I can't remember, but they never did burn up the charts. They just did okay. Then they didn't. Then I pulled them back wide, where they've been ever since. They're still not setting the world on fire, but they're doing okay I guess.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

anniejocoby said:


> I found the same thing with the series that I put in. They started out kinda meh and then picked up some steam. I thought "all right, all right, not bad." Then they both fell off a cliff and stayed there. They never did crazy numbers, though. I can't remember, but they never did burn up the charts. They just did okay. Then they didn't. Then I pulled them back wide, where they've been ever since. They're still not setting the world on fire, but they're doing okay I guess.


*looks at Amazon page*

Ha, it looks like your OK is pretty much as OK as my OK. I've never had anything take off, so I'm happy where I am.

The only thing I wonder about is... All your books have remarkable branding, but it also makes all the series look a bit samesy. Have you tried something entirely different with a slightly different but still related genre and wildly different covers (maybe a different pan name)? I think that's where I'd go next.


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## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

anniejocoby said:


> Yeah, I know. I'm almost embarrassed by this post because I was doing sooo much better then than I am now. I posted this before KU came along and kicked my ass. I have a lot more books published now than I did then, yet I'm making a fraction of what I was doing during the time of this post.


And I am doing a fraction of a fraction, and that fraction was a tiny fraction of yours to begin with. But it sure is good to hear your story, and I appreciate your honesty, and your letting us understand that times are tough for many of us.


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## DanaG (Feb 13, 2011)

anniejocoby said:


> Thanks for asking, Dana. It was definitely "meh." Not setting the world on fire by any stretch of the imagination. On Amazon, when I released the first three books in the series at once, and made the first in series .99, it was like pushing a boulder up a dang hill. Even a bunch of ads, including ENT and Robin Reads and Booksends, coupled with Facebook ads that were done by a professional, couldn't get the first book over the 4,000 rank. So, I just made it permafree after a week and said "screw it." The series did okay over at Apple, though, because they promoted the first in series. It didn't have legs, though. At all. It didn't register at all over at Nook or Google or Kobo. So, yeah. Third series in a row that I would label "underperforming" for me. Pretty discouraged, which is why I think I might try KU for my next fresh venture.
> 
> I'll rise like a Phoenix. I hope.  I definitely think I'll try your strategy for all my future releases - KU for ninety days, and then go wide.


I'm sorry it didn't take off, Annie. I really appreciate your sharing that original post, and I know how frustrating it has been to see earnings go down.

Here is what I find - I am fortunate that I am still making a six figure income, but I still have hits and misses.

What has helped me maintain my income the most has been to analyze my bestsellers and to try to figure out the elements of my stories that were successful. I also look at my flops, painful as that is, and I have asked bestselling authors to look at them in comparison to my bestsellers, and I've gotten some very good, specific advice on what I did wrong with the books that were flops. (Example - for one of my romances, I had story tension, but no real romance tension. There was no real reason the hero and heroine couldn't be together from the start, nothing for them to spar about.)

I have re-invented myself so many times I've lost count. I guess my long-winded point is - if you've been a bestseller in the past, you know you have what it takes, and you can do it again.


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## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

anniejocoby said:


> I'm just about ready to throw up my hands, start a brand-new pen name, switch genres and go straight KU.


May I ask what do you mean by start a brand-new pen name? Will you link to your other pen-names and older books? Or will you reissue the successful older books under the new pen name? Thanks.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Patty Jansen said:


> *looks at Amazon page*
> 
> Ha, it looks like your OK is pretty much as OK as my OK. I've never had anything take off, so I'm happy where I am.
> 
> The only thing I wonder about is... All your books have remarkable branding, but it also makes all the series look a bit samesy. Have you tried something entirely different with a slightly different but still related genre and wildly different covers (maybe a different pan name)? I think that's where I'd go next.


Thanks Patty! I have thought about doing something slightly different with the different series. The only thing is that all those series are connected under one umbrella. They're all series within a series. They all used to be different, then I hit on the idea on making them all look the same, so that the readers could know that they're related. That said, I've thought about doing a slightly different thing with each one - I like the soft look and the blue and stuff, but maybe going different colors. I don't really know. What I do know is that when I get out of "The Gallagher Family," which will eventually happen, I'm going to go with manchest and stuff like that. If I don't completely change genres, which is what I might do. I don't know. I'm kinda at a crossroads. What I do know is that what I'm currently doing isn't working, so I don't necessarily want to be the very definition of insanity (trying the same thing over and over looking for a different result).

Crossing my fingers for my BookBub ad April 12....Not that it's going to be a panacea, but I just need a little breathing room so that I can figure out my next move.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

DanaG said:


> I'm sorry it didn't take off, Annie. I really appreciate your sharing that original post, and I know how frustrating it has been to see earnings go down.
> 
> Here is what I find - I am fortunate that I am still making a six figure income, but I still have hits and misses.
> 
> ...


Aw, thanks Dana! You're so sweet! I appreciate your kind words. I get frustrated, because I feel like I'm doing everything right, yet nothing seems to be working. I try to write to market and all that, but it's just been pretty hard. I don't know if it's because I don't have any KU series or what the problem is. I'm sure I'll figure something out. But thanks for the encouragement! I'll be back. I just don't know when.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Richardcrasta said:


> May I ask what do you mean by start a brand-new pen name? Will you link to your other pen-names and older books? Or will you reissue the successful older books under the new pen name? Thanks.


My idea is to get a new pen name, but tell my mailing list about it. So I can get a boost from them. My rationale is that maybe my current pen name is played. Plus, my first book wasn't that great - it might be poisoning the well, although that series has sold a lot, really. It's just the first book in that series that I'm not happy with - I like the other two books in that series. But it's pretty low-rated for a lot of reasons. It was my first attempt at writing a full-length novel. Switching pen names was just a thought. Also, I might switch genres altogether. TBH romance was never the genre that I liked to read. I was always more into thrillers, mystery and fantasy. So maybe it's time to write in a genre that I've naturally gravitated towards.

Stay tuned....


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## C. Rysalis (Feb 26, 2015)

anniejocoby said:


> TBH romance was never the genre that I liked to read. I was always more into thrillers, mystery and fantasy. So maybe it's time to write in a genre that I've naturally gravitated towards.
> 
> Stay tuned....


I believe there is a demand for Fantasy / Mystery / insert genre with a complex plot, complex characters, AND some steamy romance. In many cases 'complex non-romance genre plot' and 'romance' seem to be mutually exclusive, and it's such a shame because I'd love to read more Laurell K. Hamilton style books with 80% plot and 20% steam (instead of the other way round, which is why I stopped reading her books).

There was a discussion about this on Reddit a while back. I think many other readers feel the same way.


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## Evenstar (Jan 26, 2013)

I feel every inch of your pain. KU kicked me so hard that I went all in. Now I can't wait to get out because my income halved yet again.

From now on I'm going to release every new book / series into KU then take it wide at the end of the term.

I have a question. Does a new name really make much difference?
As you know (because you commented on the thread) I had decided I was done with YA and was going to start over. Except that I feel so overwhelmed with what I am already committed to (and because I really want to try to go direct with Apple which is a whole nother scary learning curve) that I can't face the idea of starting _a new mailing list, a new website, a new facebook page, a new twitter feed, etc etc_.

I feel like I've spend so darn long building this brand that now has loyal fans, that I would be mad to ditch it... but oh, the temptation to write Urban Fantasy (which I love) or maybe simple "grown up" romance, which is an easier sell, does nag at me. But the work! So much work to start again...

So I was curious about your new name plan, because it is my plan too, except I haven't managed to do it, and I'm not sure if I have the time/energy for it. And what happens to the back list? Does it languish forgotten or do you keep promoting it?


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Evenstar said:


> I feel every inch of your pain. KU kicked me so hard that I went all in. Now I can't wait to get out because my income halved yet again.
> 
> From now on I'm going to release every new book / series into KU then take it wide at the end of the term.
> 
> ...


I'm still on track to try a pen name.

This is what I'll do:

New series, same genre, all in KU, release three books quickly.

On release day, email my *existing mailing list that this "new writer" is really me."
In the back of the books, I'll have a different signup, which will be segmented into a different part of my existing list. I don't plan on doing a new website. I might make a subdirectory for the series in one of my existing domains, just as placeholder. I will make it really easy to find out who I am


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## elizabethsade (Feb 3, 2015)

C. Rysalis said:


> I believe there is a demand for Fantasy / Mystery / insert genre with a complex plot, complex characters, AND some steamy romance. In many cases 'complex non-romance genre plot' and 'romance' seem to be mutually exclusive, and it's such a shame because I'd love to read more Laurell K. Hamilton style books with 80% plot and 20% steam (instead of the other way round, which is why I stopped reading her books).
> 
> There was a discussion about this on Reddit a while back. I think many other readers feel the same way.


If you're interested in mystery + steam, there's Kendra Elliot and Melinda Leigh and a handful of others kicking absolute arse with that sort of thing, in the romantic suspense list. They're basically police procedurals but there's a romance plot, too.

Lindsay Buroker's Dragon Blood series mostly fits the fantasy + steamy romance, although depending on your definition of steamy it may or may not hit that. There's generally romance subplots in those books, depends on which one.


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## Chinese Writer (Mar 25, 2014)

Evenstar said:


> So I was curious about your new name plan, because it is my plan too, except I haven't managed to do it, and I'm not sure if I have the time/energy for it. And what happens to the back list? Does it languish forgotten or do you keep promoting it?


I hear you about the energy. I'm branching out to another genre before the end of the year, but I plan to use the same name. I doubt it there would be a cross over readership, but I'm hoping some readers would give the books a try. I've been a primarily fantasy reader most of my life. I picked up cozy mysteries in the last few years because I need lighter reading for my mommy brain, but I love the complexities of fantasy. But I'm also worried because fantasy is at least twice the word count of my cozy mysteries.

I plan to continue writing my cozy mystery books, but only releasing one per year and promoting my backlist occasionally. They are assets that could pick up if a big promo site takes them.


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## Antara Mann (Nov 24, 2014)

A very inspirational post. Now, I'm thinking our bringing my serial back to other vendors. But serials work better in KU.
Anyway, your post is very riveting after some comments on threads about "permafree not working".
I intend to do just that with my latest release - Alcie in Sinland. I keep it very quit and once the Amazon Gods price-match the price, I'll email my subscribers and will haev the book in lot fo hands (hopefully) in E. B. brown's and Patty'r promos. But...Amazon is irritating me saying they cannot currently price-match.
Maybe, if my title isn't price-matched, I could enroll in Select to get the free promotion (while still being wide) and after the 4 free days again email KDP with links to the other vendors. It's very strange cause I haev my book free on Kobo and Smashwords. Oh, speaking of Smashwords, I got a very engaging fan from SW. Aggregator-publishing with them sucks but nevertheless, upload on them!


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## Antara Mann (Nov 24, 2014)

Oh, and speaking of success stories, I know one author (we cross-promote on our lists) who achieved finally success because of KU. He tried everything - free permafree, he got a BokBub ad, Freebooksy etc, tried FB ads, email marketing, givaways but finally released 2 new books from a series and bingo! He's now an author in top 100 in sci-fi and fantasy.
he posted a thread on Mark Dawson's SP FB group and his post was very popular but Mark or some of his admins deleted it because the author shared he had no success with FB ads


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Patty Jansen said:


> I'm still on track to try a pen name.
> 
> This is what I'll do:
> 
> ...


Sounds like my plan exactly. New name, new genre, tell my mailing list, go all-in with KU. Although I share Stella's pain about having to start over. I'm kinda agonizing about that one as well. New Facebook page, new Twitter, etc., etc. I don't even know if I'm going to do all that, but I'm guessing I need to.

Sounds like a bunch of us are trying new things. That's the name of the game in indie publishing - always be willing to try different things. Something might hit if we throw enough spaghetti against the wall, huh?


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## Ann H (Jan 9, 2016)

Annie, 
Before you do anything drastic, have you considered asking the forum for advice or suggestions as to how to grow your sales? i think collectively you would  get some great, honest advice that could possible make a difference.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Ann H said:


> Annie,
> Before you do anything drastic, have you considered asking the forum for advice or suggestions as to how to grow your sales? i think collectively you would get some great, honest advice that could possible make a difference.


That would be a great idea, but I think that I'm a little too shy to try to do that.


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## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

anniejocoby said:


> That would be a great idea, but I think that I'm a little too shy to try to do that.


I'll pipe in, as an old acquaintance of Annie's... (((Waves to Annie!!!)))

Annie, this is a great idea to ask for feedback. You didn't ask, but I'll throw my 2 cents in. I frequently recommend your books to my readers/friends since I write quite slow and cannot keep them fed. I got some interesting feedback that I think you might want to know about and once brought to my attention, I sorta agree. I told a friend about your books. Later, I asked if she'd read any yet, and she responded that your series was waaaaay too long for her to be committed to. After a little questioning, I realized she thought all your series were one very long saga/series. It was because of the covers. While they're all lovely, they do look too much alike. It's not obvious where one ends and another begins. Wonder if your cover designer could change the blue on two of them to some other background color to differentiate?


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## LisaW (May 10, 2015)

Coming out of prolonged 'lurkdom' to thank you personally Annie. Your story and your advice is so appreciated! Thanks for sharing with us.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

L.L. AKers said:


> I'll pipe in, as an old acquaintance of Annie's... (((Waves to Annie!!!)))
> 
> Annie, this is a great idea to ask for feedback. You didn't ask, but I'll throw my 2 cents in. I frequently recommend your books to my readers/friends since I write quite slow and cannot keep them fed. I got some interesting feedback that I think you might want to know about and once brought to my attention, I sorta agree. I told a friend about your books. Later, I asked if she'd read any yet, and she responded that your series was waaaaay too long for her to be committed to. After a little questioning, I realized she thought all your series were one very long saga/series. It was because of the covers. While they're all lovely, they do look too much alike. It's not obvious where one ends and another begins. Wonder if your cover designer could change the blue on two of them to some other background color to differentiate?


Wow, Lisa, thanks so much!!!! Thanks for the feedback and for recommending me!  I admit, I have struggled a bit with the cover branding stuff. They're all related, but they're series within a series. There's four series now that is under one overarching one. That's an interesting suggestion, though, to differentiate them all slightly. I've gone back and forth with that. At one time, they were all very different. Then they were the blue covers, which they are now. Then I made them all look the same but slightly different. Now I'm back with blue. But if the length of the series is turning people off, then maybe I need to look into all that. It's certainly some fat to chew on! 

Thanks again! I'm not looking forward to paying my cover designer again. *Sigh* I've spent so much money designing and redesigning those things. It's hard to figure out what to do.


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## Evenstar (Jan 26, 2013)

anniejocoby said:


> Thanks again! I'm not looking forward to paying my cover designer again. *Sigh* I've spent so much money designing and redesigning those things. It's hard to figure out what to do.


Don't hate me, but I adored your original covers! I find the blue too cold. The first set had characters that were very relatable (and rather attractive lol)


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## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

Evenstar said:


> Don't hate me, but I adored your original covers! I find the blue too cold. The first set had characters that were very relatable (and rather attractive lol)


Me too. Loved old covers. New covers are beautiful too, though. Just too close in coloring to each other, even if all the series are related. Maybe the designer can give you a break. It wouldn't take long at all to go in and change the background colors, would it?


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## Mafalda Writes (Jul 25, 2015)

Giving JMHO
Yes all the series in the same blue makes it look like one looooong saga. I thought they were until I re-read your original post. 
An option might be to leave the first series in blue but the other two in a different colour tone. That would make them visually distinct and separate enough to garner more readers.



anniejocoby said:


> Wow, Lisa, thanks so much!!!! Thanks for the feedback and for recommending me!  I admit, I have struggled a bit with the cover branding stuff. They're all related, but they're series within a series. There's four series now that is under one overarching one. That's an interesting suggestion, though, to differentiate them all slightly. I've gone back and forth with that. At one time, they were all very different. Then they were the blue covers, which they are now. Then I made them all look the same but slightly different. Now I'm back with blue. But if the length of the series is turning people off, then maybe I need to look into all that. It's certainly some fat to chew on!
> 
> Thanks again! I'm not looking forward to paying my cover designer again. *Sigh* I've spent so much money designing and redesigning those things. It's hard to figure out what to do.


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## annmajor (Mar 5, 2016)

Thank you so much for writing this!  It was extremely helpful. I put several of your ideas onto my todo list! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.


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## Kathy Dee (Aug 27, 2016)

anniejocoby said:


> if BookBub turns you down, try them out! I have always had an AMAZING ROI with them, and they've been a great help to me, especially since BookBub keeps turning down any book of mine not named Beautiful Illusions.


Thank you very much for this advice (the entire post, I mean); I really appreciate it.

I just wanted to suggest something to you: write another book that incorporates 'Beautiful Illusions' into the title 'XXX Beautiful Illusions' or 'Beautiful Illusions YYY' then have another bash at them.

Thanks again and good luck,

Kathy x


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## Melody Simmons (Jul 8, 2012)

anniejocoby said:


> Wow, Lisa, thanks so much!!!! Thanks for the feedback and for recommending me!  I admit, I have struggled a bit with the cover branding stuff. They're all related, but they're series within a series. There's four series now that is under one overarching one. That's an interesting suggestion, though, to differentiate them all slightly. I've gone back and forth with that. At one time, they were all very different. Then they were the blue covers, which they are now. Then I made them all look the same but slightly different. Now I'm back with blue. But if the length of the series is turning people off, then maybe I need to look into all that. It's certainly some fat to chew on!
> 
> Thanks again! I'm not looking forward to paying my cover designer again. *Sigh* I've spent so much money designing and redesigning those things. It's hard to figure out what to do.


I loved your covers but am I right that you just changed all of them from couples to males with a much lighter style? Just curious to know why you did this and if it has improved sales?


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## Carol M (Dec 31, 2012)

Thanks so much for sharing your success. It's truly inspiring.


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## velvetinna (Dec 25, 2015)

So inspiring and so what I needed to hear today! Thank you.


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## TamaraWilding (Sep 9, 2016)

Fascinating.


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## bberntson (Oct 24, 2013)

Well done, Annie!  It's good to see you having this kind of success.


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## dakila (Nov 20, 2016)

Very inspiring!


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## Pam771771 (Sep 24, 2016)

Thanks for sharing your success story.

I've only got one book released at the moment (at 0.99) and it's not doing too well (but then again I've done no promo on it - was wanting to wait until I had book 2 out), but once I get book 2 out, I can't wait to start playing around with promotion ideas. Will probably take your advice and make book 1 permafree.

Just need to get the thing finished!!!


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## alex dire (Mar 19, 2016)

Regarding permafree. What do watchers of this thread think about the idea that permafree  could pollute your also boughts and therefore negatively affect your visibility with the target audience?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## alex dire (Mar 19, 2016)

I have no personal experience with this and was hoping some folks out there could comment. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Steven Kelliher (Jul 12, 2016)

Noob question. I'm in Select right now, but considering going wide. 

Do you Wide folks do sales separately on the different channels? Sort of curious how promos work when you're wide. Do you just include the links to all channels in the promo or spread your marketing efforts out and focus on each individual channel?


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## Rachel E. Rice (Jan 4, 2014)

Steven Kelliher said:


> Noob question. I'm in Select right now, but considering going wide.
> 
> Do you Wide folks do sales separately on the different channels? Sort of curious how promos work when you're wide. Do you just include the links to all channels in the promo or spread your marketing efforts out and focus on each individual channel?


I have always been wide because I didn't take the time to do my research on how to sell on Amazon. Moreover, I have too many books now to try and pull them off some sites and put them into Amazon's library.

To answer your question about doing "sales separately on different channels," yes you sell and receive payments from different channels. However, if you go through D2D or Smashwords, they will handle that for you and you will have to pay more to them which makes your end less. I hope I understood your question correctly and answered it.

On the question of promotion, most places favor Amazon but there are some that will ask you to include your link for Apple, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo. I don't know how well these promos work outside of Amazon. Try going through some recent threads on here to get a complete overview of what works and what doesn't when it comes to promotions on other vendors beside Amazon. 
I hope that answers some of your questions.

Chris Fox in his new book addresses the notion of going wide and promoting on Apple.


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## KyleArmstrong (Nov 19, 2016)

Cheers for the info, as a relative novice its always good to get advice from the vets!


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## itsrosecastro (Dec 6, 2016)

This is great information. Thanks for sharing! The platforms you mention, such as Nook, Kobo, and Apple; do you continue publishing through these channels?


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## caarsen (Aug 28, 2015)

Rachel E. Rice said:


> Chris Fox in his new book addresses the notion of going wide and promoting on Apple.


Can you tell me which book this is?


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## gcs (Mar 21, 2017)

Very kind of you to share all that! thank you!


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## Daniel Roy Greenfeld (Mar 22, 2017)

This is a wonderful summary of how to succeed. I'm trying to focus on writing as much as I can, and I've gotten to the point where I can reliably get 3000 words down a day. My plan is once I have another book or two out I'll really focus on the marketing (except during release days).

Thank you very much for sharing!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Melody Simmons said:


> I loved your covers but am I right that you just changed all of them from couples to males with a much lighter style? Just curious to know why you did this and if it has improved sales?


Oh, my, i just realized that I haven't replied to this thread in quite awhile. I missed a bunch of posts. Sorry!!!!

On the question of the covers...I changed them around a lot. I'm back to my original covers on my Broken series, and I have different covers for my other series, too. I change them around a bunch. I'll probably change them again. I don't think that my covers make that much of a difference, TBH. I regret changing them so much, just because they were always a lot of money because I changed all of them at once, and I did it like three times. I wouldn't recommend that.

I also see some questions about permafree. Unfortunately, I wrote this thread back in 2014, and soooo much has changed since then - both for me personally and for self-publishing in general. I think that KU kinda killed the value of permafree. I really don't know. What I do know is that my backlist is currently doing very little for me, across the board, these days. On Apple, my backlist still does okay - I don't think that I've ever made less than $600 there in a month. But everywhere else, including Amazon...things haven't done so well.

I have switched genres, though, and that seems to have revived things for me. I have three legal thrillers out, one on preorder, and no permafrees. I haven't run a single ad, either. But they are all <10,000 in the store. I think that my latest strategy of cranking out the books, one a month, is my new strategy. I hope I don't burn out, but, so far, that seems to be working.

I guess the point of my update here on this thread is that things change. The market changes, and you have to always make changes to your strategy. If I would have done it all over again, I probably would have switched genres a few years ago, when I had my first underperforming romance series. 2014 was really the last time I've had a successful romance series, but I just kept on spinning my wheels, with the same strategy, hoping for something to change. It never did - it just got worse.

The moral of the story is - always reassess. If something you did works, and then it stops working, figure out why and what you can change. And don't delay in that - that was my mistake. I kept on going, even though it was pretty clear that my earlier strategy of writing romance trilogies with a permafree loss leader was no longer working for me.

In my case, I needed to get out of a super-saturated genre and get into a genre that is popular but not saturated. Legal thrillers fit that bill. I'm not back to making five-figure months, yet, but I hope to be by the end of this year.

Also, I plan on getting into KU with my legal thrillers in a few months. Once I get five books in that series, I'm putting them into KU and I'm going to do a rolling promo on each book - make one free for five days, with promo, and then the next month, make Book Two free for five days, etc. We'll see if that works.

I'll read some of the other posts to see if there's any other inquiry I missed. Good luck guys!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

alex dire said:


> Regarding permafree. What do watchers of this thread think about the idea that permafree could pollute your also boughts and therefore negatively affect your visibility with the target audience?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I don't really find that permafrees pollute my also-bots. My also-bots are pretty on-point, and they always have been. I wouldn't worry about that too much!


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Steven Kelliher said:


> Noob question. I'm in Select right now, but considering going wide.
> 
> Do you Wide folks do sales separately on the different channels? Sort of curious how promos work when you're wide. Do you just include the links to all channels in the promo or spread your marketing efforts out and focus on each individual channel?


This is actually the main reason why I'm going to try KU with my new series, and probably with every book I write from now on - promos don't generally work that well on other platforms. iTunes is the one possible exception - when I run a Freebooksy ad, I get a bump there. But on Nook - nope, no bump. Kobo - no bump (although their internal promos are pretty okay). Google - no bump whatsoever. The ONLY thing that works wide is BookBub - but good luck getting one of those. And even BookBub has no effect on Google and little effect on Kobo. It has a pretty good effect on Nook, and I generally do AWESOME on iTunes with BookBubs. But, since other platforms are difficult to boost with regular ads, I find that it's very difficult to keep things evergreen on the different platforms. I can't help but think that KU might be better, in the long run, because promos work so much better on Amazon then anyplace else.

If you can get regular BookBubs, then wide is fantastic. If that's not the case, it's hard. Patty is the exception. There might be others.


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

itsrosecastro said:


> This is great information. Thanks for sharing! The platforms you mention, such as Nook, Kobo, and Apple; do you continue publishing through these channels?


I am, but that's no longer my long-term strategy. For now, my long-term strategy is going to incorporate KU for my new books going forward.


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## NovelDiva (Oct 25, 2016)

anniejocoby said:


> Augh! I really hate doing this, because I'm not, by nature, a braggart, and I feel that I'm going to make myself a target for bad reviews. That said, I feel that I have a lot of good information to impart to those who are struggling. Because that was me my first few months.
> 
> Short bit about me. I published my first novel, Beautiful Illusions, on June 22 of 2013. I published the second novel, Deeper Illusions, on the same day. That was my strategy for getting a little foothold - make the first book free, and hope that the fans go on to buy the second one in the series. At that time, I had no Facebook page, no Twitter page, no Internet presence, no blog, no fans, and little confidence in my ability to find an audience. I could barely get my friends interested in reading my books, let alone anybody else. I literally was on food stamps and giving plasma for money, because I made all of $9000 from my writing jobs in the year 2013. I enrolled both books in KDP Select, and made Beautiful Illusions free for four days. I somehow was able to give away around 5000 books that weekend without publicity, and went on to sell about 160 books of Deeper Illusions in the month of July.
> 
> ...


I noticed that your Beautiful Illusion book is on KDP Unlimited which means the digital version cannot be sold at other retailers. I saw that book one in the Bad Faith series is permafree. Does this mean the strategy you outlined above has evolved? If so, would you consider writing an update about your strategy?


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## jaglionpress (Oct 5, 2016)

NovelDiva, it looks like this author published an update in 2017 on page 20 talking about the move to KU and some other changes in strategy. Might be worth looking at, even though it's a few years old.


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## Madeline2015 (Jul 3, 2021)

NovelDiva said:


> I noticed that your Beautiful Illusion book is on KDP Unlimited which means the digital version cannot be sold at other retailers. I saw that book one in the Bad Faith series is permafree. Does this mean the strategy you outlined above has evolved? If so, would you consider writing an update about your strategy?


The OP hasn't been in here in years. I doubt she's coming back any time soon. If you are on Facebook you might wanna see if you can look her up there or go to her website and email her. Always check the dates of these posts because a lot of these people left years ago. I don't know why this site shows these old posts at the beginning of the page like this. Old posts should be buried behind the new stuff. I can see how someone would be confused and assume these are new posts.

I joined here as a poster a few months ago but I have been lurking on this site since way before Harvey passed. This place used to be full of people and posts. It's nothing like it used to be and as I said, most of the oldheads who used to frequent the place left even before Harvey's family sold the site.


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## jb1111 (Apr 6, 2018)

Madeline2015 said:


> The OP hasn't been in here in years. I doubt she's coming back any time soon. If you are on Facebook you might wanna see if you can look her up there or go to her website and email her.


Her website is down. It comes up with Chinese characters. I suppose one could check out her Author Central and email her using the email addy there if they were interested.


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## Crystal_ (Aug 13, 2014)

If you look at Annie's Amazon page, you'll see her new pen name on there. She may be contactable that way. She was very helpful to me when I was starting out, but it's always possibly she's been burnt out by the direction of the industry. There used to be a respect for wisdom. Pushback and arguments, sure, but a respect for wisdom gained from experience and a desire to share and help each other. That has been missing from Kboards for awhile and hard to find other places for almost as long.


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## Linwrit (3 mo ago)

anotherpage said:


> What a great thread.
> 
> Thanks for sharing your advice. That is beautiful!
> 
> One question: Do you create your own covers or someone else?





anniejocoby said:


> LOL. I meant that they loathe my books, not me. And there are some who do loathe my books with the hatred of a thousand suns, and that's okay. I figure if my books drive any kind of strong emotion, even hatred, then I've done my job!


Great! but for me a real newbie who is an artist illustrator, wrote 3 children books went with a terrible publisher who is now out of business since 2017 and I don't have a clue how to get my books removed from Amazon so I can reinstate them back and sell them at a fair price! I have no promotion skills or business sense. I have one Young Adult chapter book on amazon self published, Cemetery Simon. I don't know if it sold any copies I don't know where to go to see if if sold copies and I can't figure out how to have my royalties paid by check rather than direct deposit! I know I sound pathetic but I thought if I went on this forum I could get help. I don't understand any of the promotion like BookBub and Permfree Where can I go to get some simple help this is all over my head and I am stuck


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## chrisliberty2019 (Apr 13, 2019)

Linwrit said:


> I know I sound pathetic but I thought if I went on this forum I could get help. I don't understand any of the promotion like BookBub and Permfree Where can I go to get some simple help this is all over my head and I am stuck


No, you don't sound pathetic. Asking questions is what intelligent people do so they can learn. Paying for a promo from Bookbub, Freebooksy, wherever can be costly, but it also gets your name and your book in front of thousands of readers. You have to put the link to where your book is for sale or for free on the promo form that you fill out when signing up for the promotion. It's always best to have a series of books so that you can make the first one free, hoping the people will like it enough to buy the sequel(s) at full price. 

On the date the promo takes place, you'll see the downloads of your book skyrocket from what it usually is at, and it'll stay there for a day or more. Keep in mind that if 2,000 people download the book, many of them won't read it; they're just getting it because it's free. Most of those who actually do read your book will not leave reviews, but if you're lucky perhaps 5%-10% of them will. 

I hope I answered your question with enough clarity. If not, I'm sure others on here will lend their advice.


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## travelinged (Apr 6, 2014)

Linwrit said:


> Great! but for me a real newbie who is an artist illustrator, wrote 3 children books went with a terrible publisher who is now out of business since 2017 and I don't have a clue how to get my books removed from Amazon so I can reinstate them back and sell them at a fair price! I have no promotion skills or business sense. I have one Young Adult chapter book on amazon self published, Cemetery Simon. I don't know if it sold any copies I don't know where to go to see if if sold copies and I can't figure out how to have my royalties paid by check rather than direct deposit! I know I sound pathetic but I thought if I went on this forum I could get help. I don't understand any of the promotion like BookBub and Permfree Where can I go to get some simple help this is all over my head and I am stuck


You MUST get a written statement from the publisher returning rights to you, unless your contract has an escape clause. Without something like that, you don't own the rights. If the publisher declared bankruptcy, whoever is handling that can sell all the rights to someone else. You need to follow that thread. It's an old trail now, but someone else has your rights unless there is a reversion clause. If there is, simply republish, and if Amazon asks, send them a copy of the contract with an explanation. I've done it.

Go to your dashboard to see if your selfpublished book sold.
There are many free videos (David Gaughran's for instance) on promotion. CHeck Youtube. The subject is too complex to cover on a forum like this and there are too many options.(And differing opinions, most good if you understand the author's situation.)


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## Desmond X. Torres (Mar 16, 2013)

Oh God…I really have a massive to-do list to attend to. But…
AH SAY BUT!
Back in 2013 K-boards was one of two sources for my wife and I to create a writing/selling biz that has positively affected our lives. Nope, not making Amanda M. Lee money, but we are living the dream. We are Indies (i.e. we write and self publish our books) 
(N.B.: I’m also PM’ing this to you b/c you’re such a noob on this board I’m not sure if you’ve clicked the clickities that will let you know that someone replied.
N.B. 2: Yo Ann J! How the hell are you doin’ huh? Lol)
So, here's my two cents...

ANYWAY…
The first thing that IMHO that you need to do is you need to determine what do you want. And what are you willing to commit in order to fulfill this desire. 
1. Look, if you’re looking at making some $ creating and selling books to the tune of a couple of hundred a month, go for it. 
2. On the other hand if you want writing and selling books be your full time biz making you in the ballpark of $100K/year or more, by all means go for it. Currently there are about 2,000 authors (according to Bezos) who make $50K and up in KDP. 
Here’s the thing: both 1 and 2 above require the identical skill sets. The only difference is a matter of scale of effort and investment and time. 

Look, you’re a noob and that’s fine. Every single member of this board was a noob once, okay? 
My off the cuff answer regarding reversion of rights is to forget about those books. IDK if the effort required to get the rights back is worth it. I DON’T KNOW. But if you Google ‘reversion of rights for authors’ you’ll find knowledgeable stuff there. For me, there’s too much stuff I don’t know about the contract you signed, the status of your publisher legally, etc. etc. to give you anything other than a half baked opinion about as valid as my take on Superman v. Mighty Mouse. (I’m old…lol) 

As far as your ‘self published’ book…I’m a little confused. Did you publish it on Amazon? Or somewhere else? Let me know the title and what website you put it up on and we can start from there. 

Finally, if you’re hoping to earn decent money writing and self pubb’ing your own work from here on out, it’s important for you to know that it takes a L O T of work. My wife and I knew butkis about this when we began—from the writing craft itself all the way to cover design and marketing basics. It took us FIVE YEARS (b/c I’m not ½ as smart as I want you to think I am) to get the hang of all the moving parts. It can be done, absolutely; but it’s a L O T of work to start from ground zero. 

Best of luck, and don’t be shy about reaching out.


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## Linwrit (3 mo ago)

chrisliberty2019 said:


> No, you don't sound pathetic. Asking questions is what intelligent people do so they can learn. Paying for a promo from Bookbub, Freebooksy, wherever can be costly, but it also gets your name and your book in front of thousands of readers. You have to put the link to where your book is for sale or for free on the promo form that you fill out when signing up for the promotion. It's always best to have a series of books so that you can make the first one free, hoping the people will like it enough to buy the sequel(s) at full price.
> 
> On the date the promo takes place, you'll see the downloads of your book skyrocket from what it usually is at, and it'll stay there for a day or more. Keep in mind that if 2,000 people download the book, many of them won't read it; they're just getting it because it's free. Most of those who actually do read your book will not leave reviews, but if you're lucky perhaps 5%-10% of them will.
> 
> I hope I answered your question with enough clarity. If not, I'm sure others on here will lend their advice.


Thank you so I have to go to these promo sites and sign up for paid promotion? They will bill me? When you say the downloads of my book will skyrocket you are talking about my ebook not the print book? When I go to the promo sites they will give me prices on promo?


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

Linwrit said:


> Thank you so I have to go to these promo sites and sign up for paid promotion? They will bill me? When you say the downloads of my book will skyrocket you are talking about my ebook not the print book? When I go to the promo sites they will give me prices on promo?


When you go to the promo sites, you have to pay by credit or debit card when you book. Also, they might not accept your book. Some are more fussy than others, certainly Bookbub is incredibly fussy. E Reader News Today is also fussy. I've done well with Bargain Booksy but Facebook ads have always given me my best results. However, don't just plunge into them. You have to know how to target or they will just waste your money.


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