[RichardLSanders]

Hello all,

I have been writing for several years and finally decided to take the plunge into the e-book market. What appealed to me about it was the amount of content control I could have over my material. However, when dealing with the Kindle, I ran into a problem that I hadn't quite anticipated fully.

Background:
I just published a fresh new contemporary fantasy short story called Betraying Nexus on the Kindle. I am convinced that anyone would find it compelling and unique.

Oh what's that? You've never heard of it? Of course you haven't! No one has. And no one will!

Because the Kindle lacks two things I believe essential for newcomers trying to break into the market.

1. The Kindle will not let you publish for free. My prior belief was that by offering my story for free, people would be more inclined to find it and take a chance on it. Unfortunately I have to charge for it, so automatically anything I publish has to compete with professional e-books which are certainly going to be better marketed. (Although mine is cheaper, it still costs).

2. The Kindle (as far as I can tell) has no ability within the Kindle store (on the device itself) to filter the results. e.g. "show recently published" or "sort by price" or "up and coming" etc. You may look at different sets of books by genre, to an extent, but it always, always, always shows you the "best selling" first. (Which perpetuates their position on the best selling list, right?) So if my story is on page 500, I don't see how anyone could ever find it.

Have any of you found ways to circumvent these difficulties and actually create awareness of your writing? I'd appreciate any/all ideas.

Thanks,
Richard