Hard Sci-Fi Space Opera- HEGEMONY, by Mark Kalina - Page 4

sabredog · 06-15-2012, 04:42 AM

I shall have to be patient

MUST be patient....

markkalina · 07-16-2012, 12:26 AM

As of about two weeks ago (a bit more) Hegemony was given Premium Catalog status on Smashwords, making it available on the Apple itunes book store, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, the Sony ebook store and several others.

sabredog · 07-16-2012, 12:31 AM

Congrats

markkalina · 07-17-2012, 01:50 PM

Amazon.com seems to have had a problem with their sales ranking system for kindle books. My book, among many others, has lost its sales ranking, and accordingly also seems to have lost its place in Amazon's recommendation system. With the reduced recommendations from the Amazon system, my book's place in the "most popular" list for space opera went from 37th to 103rd and falling.

Amazon claims they are working on the problem, but I suspect that lost sales rank will not be returned, and when the system is fixed, the books that lost their rank will be re-ranked much, much lower. Very frustrating.

I guess this shows that when a single vendor (Amazon) has this much dominance, they can mess things up even with no ill-will on their part. I have no reason to believe that Amazon is doing anything wrong here, and I suspect they are working on the problem as fast as they can, but the result is the same from my end; my book's sales just fell off the edge of the Earth.

ApK · 07-17-2012, 02:15 PM

Sounds like you're saying that sales are where they would be if you hadn't had the boost provided by Amazon's huge influence in recommendations in the first place.

I think that says nothing about 'single vendor dominance' and more about what happens when something we like and are used to is taken away.

markkalina · 07-17-2012, 05:07 PM

Maybe so. But since Amazon keeps more than half the price of my book (given the price point I set it at) the recommendations system is part of what I "pay" them for.

At any rate, Amazon has fixed the problem for my book, though there are still some that seem to be missing their rankings. As I noted, I don't think there was any wrong-doing or ill-intent on Amazon's part, just a very frustrating glitch. I will give them the fact that they reacted fairly quickly to fix the problem.

markkalina · 07-19-2012, 02:13 PM

Back from the edge of the Earth. Annoying as it was, I have to say that Amazon did a good job of putting things back together. I suspect I lost some sales, but it *seems* not to be as bad as I feared.

markkalina · 09-03-2012, 09:43 PM

To anyone who might want more background on the setting of Hegemony, some background info and pics are available at

http://home.arcor.de/francisdrakex/index1.html

The 3-d pics are by the very helpful Franz Berner, who has put this website together, to my delight. The background documents and the 2-d pics are mine.

The sequel proceeds slowly, but meanwhile Hegemony has reached over 5,000 total sales, mostly on Amazon, but with some on Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Smashwords.

sabredog · 09-03-2012, 10:56 PM

Excellent stuff, thanks for that. I like to read background information.

Torwan · 09-04-2012, 10:01 AM

Cool. Available in Germany.

Added to my wishlist and to be bought soon.

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06-15-2012, 04:42 AM	#46
sabredog Geographically Restricted Posts: 2,629 Karma: 14933353 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Device: Sony PRS-T3, Kindle Voyage, iPad Air2, Nexus7v2	I shall have to be patient MUST be patient....

07-16-2012, 12:26 AM	#47
markkalina Member Posts: 21 Karma: 45888 Join Date: Apr 2012 Device: kindle	As of about two weeks ago (a bit more) Hegemony was given Premium Catalog status on Smashwords, making it available on the Apple itunes book store, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, the Sony ebook store and several others.

07-16-2012, 12:31 AM	#48
sabredog Geographically Restricted Posts: 2,629 Karma: 14933353 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Device: Sony PRS-T3, Kindle Voyage, iPad Air2, Nexus7v2	Congrats

07-17-2012, 01:50 PM	#49
markkalina Member Posts: 21 Karma: 45888 Join Date: Apr 2012 Device: kindle	Amazon.com seems to have had a problem with their sales ranking system for kindle books. My book, among many others, has lost its sales ranking, and accordingly also seems to have lost its place in Amazon's recommendation system. With the reduced recommendations from the Amazon system, my book's place in the "most popular" list for space opera went from 37th to 103rd and falling. Amazon claims they are working on the problem, but I suspect that lost sales rank will not be returned, and when the system is fixed, the books that lost their rank will be re-ranked much, much lower. Very frustrating. I guess this shows that when a single vendor (Amazon) has this much dominance, they can mess things up even with no ill-will on their part. I have no reason to believe that Amazon is doing anything wrong here, and I suspect they are working on the problem as fast as they can, but the result is the same from my end; my book's sales just fell off the edge of the Earth.

07-17-2012, 02:15 PM	#50
ApK Award-Winning Participant Posts: 7,389 Karma: 68329346 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: NJ, USA Device: Kindle	Sounds like you're saying that sales are where they would be if you hadn't had the boost provided by Amazon's huge influence in recommendations in the first place. I think that says nothing about 'single vendor dominance' and more about what happens when something we like and are used to is taken away.

07-17-2012, 05:07 PM	#51
markkalina Member Posts: 21 Karma: 45888 Join Date: Apr 2012 Device: kindle	Maybe so. But since Amazon keeps more than half the price of my book (given the price point I set it at) the recommendations system is part of what I "pay" them for. At any rate, Amazon has fixed the problem for my book, though there are still some that seem to be missing their rankings. As I noted, I don't think there was any wrong-doing or ill-intent on Amazon's part, just a very frustrating glitch. I will give them the fact that they reacted fairly quickly to fix the problem.

07-19-2012, 02:13 PM	#52
markkalina Member Posts: 21 Karma: 45888 Join Date: Apr 2012 Device: kindle	Back from the edge of the Earth. Annoying as it was, I have to say that Amazon did a good job of putting things back together. I suspect I lost some sales, but it seems not to be as bad as I feared.

09-03-2012, 09:43 PM	#53
markkalina Member Posts: 21 Karma: 45888 Join Date: Apr 2012 Device: kindle	To anyone who might want more background on the setting of Hegemony, some background info and pics are available at http://home.arcor.de/francisdrakex/index1.html The 3-d pics are by the very helpful Franz Berner, who has put this website together, to my delight. The background documents and the 2-d pics are mine. The sequel proceeds slowly, but meanwhile Hegemony has reached over 5,000 total sales, mostly on Amazon, but with some on Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Smashwords.

09-03-2012, 10:56 PM	#54
sabredog Geographically Restricted Posts: 2,629 Karma: 14933353 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Device: Sony PRS-T3, Kindle Voyage, iPad Air2, Nexus7v2	Excellent stuff, thanks for that. I like to read background information.

09-04-2012, 10:01 AM	#55
Torwan Zealot Posts: 115 Karma: 1063860 Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Germany Device: Kindle3 (3G)	Cool. Available in Germany. Added to my wishlist and to be bought soon.