Amazon’s Kindle Countdown Deal

Kindle Countdown DealsSo what’s the deal on the Kindle Countdown Deal? You may have heard of it, but let’s break it down to the nuts and bolts and see how it works. The Countdown Deal (CD) is an additional promotional tool Amazon offers to those authors who have their books in KDP Select (KDPS). It allows authors to create a gradually diminishing discount of their books over a four day period with the idea being to inject a bit of urgency and excitement into sales.

Here’s an example. If your book is normally $4.99 on Kindle, you can set up a Countdown Deal to work like this: Continue reading “Amazon’s Kindle Countdown Deal”

Mailing Lists and Advanced Readers and Bookfunnel, Oh My!

author email list building tipsIn my years as an Indie publisher, there have been a number of schools of thought as to what it took to be successful. In the salad days of 2012, the advice was, “Do a free run, then sit down and wait for the Brinks truck to back up with your money.” Those were good days, almost certainly too good to last. Since then, the advice has ranged from “write in a series and make the first book free” to “drive sales through Facebook ads,” to “use keywords and sharpened metadata to drive traffic.” Through it all, though, one thing has been constant: you need a mailing list.

The reason why is simple: You control how and when you access a mailing list, as opposed to investing everything into working the Amazon or social media algorithms. The problem with algorithms is, they change. What might be golden today can turn to lead tomorrow. A mailing list is yours forever, though, or at least until someone unsubscribes.

The key frustration I hear from most writers, though, is that it is awfully difficult to build a list into any kind of size that will deliver results. I feel your pain. Let’s look at the various ways to build a mailing list. Continue reading “Mailing Lists and Advanced Readers and Bookfunnel, Oh My!”

How Many Books Have You Sold?

how many books have you soldDo you ever get that question, “How many books have you sold?” Do you know the answer to the question? Well, today we’re going to talk about why you might want to know this number and the best way to keep track of books sold.

If you’re not keeping track, let’s start with the why you might want to. Continue reading “How Many Books Have You Sold?”

Howard Johnson Wins Flash Fiction Challenge

Howard Johnson is the Readers’ Choice in this week’s Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge. The winning entry is decided by the popular vote and rewarded with a special feature here today. (In the case of a tie, the writer who submitted an entry first is the winner per our rules.) Without further ado, here’s the winning entry:

Continue reading “Howard Johnson Wins Flash Fiction Challenge”