Day: October 2, 2013

My $5 Advertising Experiment

Okay, I’ll admit, I’m cheap. I hate to pay for things that I can get for free. Don’t you? And there are lots of free eBook advertising sites out there if you’re willing to take the time and find them. I’ve used many to very good success. A post on EReader News Today sent my free eBook, Space Crazy, to the #4 slot on Amazon in its category (sci-fi/space opera) and had over 1,000 downloads in one day. Some of you may not think that’s huge, but to me, a small fish in the Indie sea, it was. Any free exposure is good exposure.

So why did I decide to spend money on advertising? As the title states, it’s an experiment. I wanted to see if paying something for ad space got me anything. I found a smaller site on Facebook called Sweet Free Books.com (http://sweetfreebooks.com/). They were currently offering ads as low as $5. My ultra-cheap meter dinged. Five bucks was perfect to carry out the experiment. Continue reading “My $5 Advertising Experiment”

Flash Fiction Voting

Who will be the next Flash Fiction Star? It’s time for IU readers to choose.

Check out this week’s entries here. Vote for your fave then use those share buttons at the bottom of the post to spread the word.

Remember, all our winners will be included in the next edition of the IU Flash Fiction Anthology. So, support your fellow writers and participate in this week’s voting, then spread the word, bang the drums, and share the link to let everyone know the vote is on.

Polls close tomorrow at 5 PM.

 

Who gets your vote for flash fiction star of the week?

  • Jacqueline Hopkins (34%, 27 Votes)
  • Lynne Cantwell (30%, 24 Votes)
  • Leonard Little (29%, 23 Votes)
  • Jon Jefferson (6%, 5 Votes)

Total Voters: 79

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NOTE: Entrants whose submissions exceed the 250 word limit are eliminated from the poll.

Going on a Witch Hunt

A friend called my attention to this post at a site called Amazon Alert: Your Guide to Unethical Authors. I read the article which largely focuses on a specific author who they allege to have purchased a large number of ‘fake’ reviews. The post ends with a list of authors who they claim have each purchased in excess of 500 fake reviews using the site fiverr.com. As I scanned the list I saw a bunch of names that meant nothing to me (I’m constantly amazed at how many indie authors are out there) along with a few I did know, a couple that should be recognizable to most of you.

But none of this is surprising or new. In the first (and thus far biggest) scandal over “fake reviews” a little over a year ago, the Fiverr site was one that got mentioned time and again as one source for getting these reviews. And there is no doubt in my mind that authors are using this site to get paid reviews. I was able to easily find authors who had done so and identify accounts on Amazon that were being used to post the reviews. Continue reading “Going on a Witch Hunt”