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#16 |
It's Dr. Penguin now!
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I agree with whatʻs been said. It would not make me more likely to buy the book. As someone said, Iʻd rather just get a lottery ticket. For me personally, the only "gimmick" that makes it more likely I may buy a book I may not normally buy, is if itʻs in a "bundle" that gives me a discount on the total cost of what the books would cost individually. I like bundles, and I have bought a few where I wouldnʻt have purchased those titles individually. Discounts, whether on individual books or bundles, are things that motivate me to buy.
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#17 |
Grand Sorcerer
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No amount of gimmicky contests or offers would encourage me to buy a particular book.
I will always read the blurb, and if I like what I read I will buy the book. If I don't like, I don't buy. However, when I choose a book, and get a little discount that's a nice bonus. Slan Mag. |
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#18 |
Country Member
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I don't think a competition is going to get me to buy a book I am not interested in and/or know nothing about the author of. What might is if the author or publisher told me that, if I found out that the book wasn't really for me I could have my money back - but then again, maybe not - there's so much in my TBR pile that something has to be really worthwhile, (in my terms), just to get on there.
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#19 |
Wizard
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Just FYI, but my dad has a book (non-fiction) published by a 'real' publisher in paper, sold 200 copies and his publisher was thrilled. For a new author, the expectations are just very low---no matter if it's indie or not. Imho you simply can't go into this expecting that it will be the instant path to fame and fortune. It just doesn't work that way, and there isn't really a way to *make* it work that way simply because you are competing in a very crowded marketplace for people's eyeballs and attention, never mind their money
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#20 |
Feral Underclass
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Unless it was a big publisher or sponsor, people wouldn't really trust a prize draw like that to be fair.
When David Moody had a new book out earlier this year he had a competition where you had to send in a photo of yourself holding the book within its first week of release for a chance to win a T-shirt. I don't think he got many takers, but the idea would have been to get as many people as possible buying the book within a short period of time. If you can hit a best seller list, even if just for a short period of time, that will be its own promotion. |
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#21 | |
Banned
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Quote:
Contests and give aways are tricky in the US. Contests which award cash, smell of money laundering and number running...now this applied only to US offerings, still I would say to discuss it with an attorney before trying it out online. I like and applaud your attempt at finding a way to increase any marketing buzz via a hope your plan goes viral...but really it is tough to run a true contest here in the US because of laws controlling them. |
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#22 | |
Addict
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Quote:
That means coming up with ideas that work. What is great about forums such as this is that you can *test* an idea with knowledgeable readers and get good solid feedback, often with anecdotes, as to what might work. Approximately 3 billion books are "sold" (doesn't include 2nd hand books or freebies) each year in the US alone. That figure is increasing, and I believe that globally the number of books read is increasing and will sharply increase in the next few years. As an aside, I haven't put my book up for sale yet; that will happen in Oct - this is pure market research. What I can say is that 400+ have downloaded the free pdf and epub versions - so if all I can expect is 200 copies then I really am screwed :-) My preferred method of marketing would be: - write book - put in review bucket - paste sample - put price on it - dump in distribution bucket aka Smashwords or Amazon - repeat Unfortunately (and I use that word somewhat with tongue in cheek - have you tried to say something with your tongue in cheek), I am reliably informed via a gazillion blogs on the subject that I have to "reach out", "connect", "promote", and otherwise hang out a shingle to get noticed. Maybe getting arrested for running an illegal lottery would do it... The problem is compounded if you're a "foreigner" as I am. Although I once lived in the States, I do not live there now. I live in Bangkok, and whilst that has a great many advantages (none of which I am willing to give up), the ability to promote a book is mostly limited to what you can do digitally. Approximately 1 million new books are hitting the digital and traditional shelves every year, in the US alone. To get a book seen, especially if is fiction is competing with that number. You can divide it up between fiction, non-fiction and split further into genres and categories if you like - the reality is that someone goes to a bookstore with the idea of buying something to fill a space of time; for some time in the future, and have that space of time be valuable. A book is therefore a "futures contract" on time. An author's track record, sample pages, the underlying fundamentals of the "stock". I appreciate the heads up, that instant fame and fortune are an unlikely scenario, and to be clear I am not being sarcastic, as such is a common mis-perception of the realities of selling a book - I do think it worth exploring ideas that can take well written books above the average. The average life expectancy for a male in Thailand is 65 - I'm working on that one too :-) |
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#23 |
Enthusiast
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Location: St. Augustine, FL
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Sorry, competitions just wouldn't do it for me. However, one of the reasons why I picked up a new-to-me author's book recently was due to her consistent, pleasant interaction on her Facebook page. She asks great questions and frequently becomes involved in discussions about her books. A friend "liked" her on my FB page which is how it's quite often how new authors are spread around. Is this the type of information which interests you?
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#24 | |
Banned
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#25 | |
Wizzard
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But yeah, there needs to be more. I'm hoping for a Totally Complete Adventures of Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson, myself. |
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#26 | |
Banned
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Quote:
![]() I once emails one of the Effinger fan sites and basically was told the same bummer story of other favorite writers of mine, for example Edward Abbey, that the estate/rights holder is either refusing to make the work available or nobody really knows who owns the rights or the rights holder wants an insane amount of cash for the rights. I wish an agile company like Baen could make it their goal to try and get some of these neglected authors works... BTW, I was never even aware of the Barbarian Swordsperson works...THANKS, another set of stories I won't read before I croak. ![]() Anyway, sorry to Simon for the mini-jack of his thread!!! d'oh!! In the mean time, I have d/l'd Simon's TAG and can't wait to read it...thanks to him for that being out there to try out!! ![]() EDIT: Oh, wow, I just realized that you mentioned Budayeen Nights was on FW...that's new since my last visit to FW...just added it to my Kindle...weeee... ![]() Last edited by brecklundin; 09-08-2010 at 11:14 PM. |
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#27 | ||||
Wizzard
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Quote:
But the problem there is that a) Effinger's personal stuff apparently got caught in the New Orleans Hurricane Katrina disaster, and b) Hambly's having her own problems getting her rights-reverted backlist in e-ready format (apparently her agèd mother has been manually typing things up from the paper copies, Hambly having lost her electronic ones some years ago in a computer/hard drive crash). So neither of them will be getting their older work out soon, though Hambly has been writing new novella-length stories in some of her popular settings and selling them at $5 a pop off her website. Unfortunately, while her webmaintainer is e-reader savvy enough to offer ePub and Mobi versions alongside the PDF, they're not quite savvy enough to offer all the formats in a single bundle instead of charging for each separately. But I'm buying anyway. Quote:
It seems the last few novels and stories in that series were translated and sold exclusively to the Poland sf/fantasy market before that. I have no particular objections to learning Polish, but I don't even want to think about hunting down out-of-print Polish fantasy books and magazines… ![]() Quote:
Thanks for the Callahan recs. I've already read most of them, I think, but I should go back and see if Robinson's written any more since then. (He lives in my general geographic region, it turns out.) Quote:
On a more advice-ish note, perhaps band together with a number of writers similar in style/taste and offer a periodic newsletter which gives updates, excerpts, and occasional discounts to subscribers? Say, feature one writer each time as the "featured writer", do a little interview/snippet bit and offer a % off discount coupon for one work of theirs, maybe even a freebie for starters and % off other selected works if you liked the freebie, good until X date? It helps you share out the "advertising" cost among a pool of like-minded colleagues, targets your promos at people who've actually signed up for and want them, and lets you reward your loyal readers who follow you without asking them to pony up more than they might want to give for a little something back in return, while also attracting newer potential readers who might take a chance with a coupon. And if you gain a fairly large-ish pool of fellow writers and you've got lots of works between you, you could keep rotating between them for a long time before you run out of works to feature. |
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#28 |
Banned
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Wow, interesting stuff about Effinger and his wife, I knew they parted on good terms, I mean sometimes life just does not cooperate for good people.
![]() I definitely appreciate the tip on her site...added it to my check it out list as you and I seem to have similar likes in authors. And oh, gee thanks so much for NOT telling me how fun the Swordsperson stories are...I mean that was great for you NOT to mention it...snickersnicker... About Robinson, he is not writing much these days as Jeannie has cancer and at last check not looking like things will work out for the good. He still has his podcasts but I am not sure he will ever write again...but it also could be good therapy but they guy is no spring chicken anymore. If the world could only run as Callahan's Place what a great thing that could be...I actually used a bunch of my Audible credits to get all of his books they have because they are fun to listen to...oh, if you like Callahan, consider The Sam Gunn Omnibus by Ben Bova. All are basically short stories with no true theme other than something light and fun to read...well worth the effort and a nice bedtime or lunchtime read... I love the idea of a group of genre related authors doing a newsletter, I am a big fan of the early cyberpunk writers but to be honest, these days my energy levels are so low I don't sleuth out the stories as I once did so I miss a lot of geed new stuff...oh, wait, isn't that a magazine like ummm, Asimov's thingy or the udder one? ![]() ![]() BTW, thanks for the friendly chatter...very enjoyable!! ![]() ![]() |
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#29 | |
Addict
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Quote:
On the newsletter idea I think that works when you have a following ... the issue here is creating one. All in all we'll see how it goes. The general opinion appears to be against the idea of a competition or a lottery of some sort, but I haven't thrown in the concept of the beach timeshare in Liberia or Guatemalan bearer bonds yet ![]() |
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#30 |
Addict
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