I'm Afraid of Getting Shot Down in Flames

Just4kix · 02-01-2011, 01:01 PM

I'd like to be able to promote my books, but they are only available on Amazon and I see some people get hot under the collar about that.

I've tried to put them on Pubit! and Smashwords etc, but am thwarted when they ask for a US zip code, or US bank account, or they only pay using Paypal, which isn't available to me.

If I say 'sorry' will it be ok to post?

PS I am e-publishing a children's book through a US publisher who will be able to offer it on all the different devices (see, I am trying)

Steven Lyle Jordan · 02-01-2011, 01:08 PM

Go ahead and promote... we've got your back.

Many of us understand that not everyone has a wealth of choices when it comes to getting your books online. Most MR members may want you to consider publishing outside of Amazon, if you haven't already considered it... but will understand if you have considered it, and the options don't work for you. Some of them may even be able to suggest other options that will work.

And some are just die-hard Amazon-haters... don't worry, we try to keep them under control, too!

Donnageddon · 02-01-2011, 01:15 PM

Hi Just4kix. Since it does seem you have looked into other options, I would say go right ahead. You may still get requests for other ebook options, but... you can always politely ignore them.

For me as long as your ebook on Amazon is not in Topaz format (which I doubt it would be), then there are ways to get around the Amazon mafia and read them on my epub book reader

queentess · 02-01-2011, 03:12 PM

You may want to say at the bottom of your blurb that you're not yet able to publish anywhere else because of your location, but you're looking at all the options and welcome input.

jbcohen · 02-01-2011, 03:47 PM

Great place to talk up your books, go ahead we don't mind. Second doesn't really matter if the books are available from amazon only as long as amazon will sell an epub version.

There are a few US Banks that really have no objection to international customers.

jrlewis · 02-01-2011, 07:34 PM

Amazon may have certain technical constraints, but it's a perfectly good store.

You might try making available an epub version through your own e-store using paypal.

queentess · 02-01-2011, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Just4kix

I've tried to put them on Pubit! and Smashwords etc, but am thwarted when they ask for a US zip code, or US bank account, or they only pay using Paypal, which isn't available to me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrlewis

You might try making available an epub version through your own e-store using paypal.

Indeed, paypal is part of the problem.

jehane · 02-02-2011, 02:32 AM

Hi Just4kix

I would suggest making it clear that you are looking into epub options, and describing, just as you have here, the problems you are having with smashwords etc. Someone may be able to offer suggestions.

As a reader, I generally don't even bother looking at Amazon. From my point of view, there are enough books out there that it's not worth the hassle converting books, so if it's not easily accessible to me in epub/pdf/rtf/txt I will find something that is. I'm not trying to shoot you down, and most of the others aren't, although some do get a bit over the top. But one thing I've found is that many authors who don't read ebooks themselves will publish on Amazon only, because they don't realise that there are other devices and formats out there. So they are missing a whole segment of the market.

Worldwalker · 02-02-2011, 09:34 AM

There are several reasons people get irked at Amazon-only authors. For one thing, it smacks of arrogance. "I'll settle for what I can get Amazon's market share, I don't need your money" might be satisfactory from a marketing point of view, but from the person who's been told their money is no good, it's tends to produce annoyance. For another, if you really do want to read that book and it's only available in a format that won't work on your ebook reader, it's highly frustrating. Yes, I know Amazon will let you have a program to read the book on your computer, but the whole point of buying an ebook reader is so you can use an ebook reader, not so you can read books on your computer. I've seen authors actually, quite literally, say those things: "Amazon has the majority of the market, and that's all I need" and "I don't care about other formats; use one of the Kindle-for-whatever programs if you need to." These did not make me want to give that person money. Nobody on MobileRead is going to gratuitously insult an author; the whole reason we're here is we're bookworms. But when an author starts out by insulting us, the gloves may well come off. And insulting your customers is not good business anyway.

So, all you need to do, really, is distinguish yourself from those people. "I want to offer this in other formats and from other stores, but I haven't found a way to do it yet; check back for updates" would work nicely.

You might want to take another look at your book promotion, too. I didn't read it. Why? Two reasons: One, you didn't give me the name of the book, its formats, or anything else useful, in the title; you quoted a review. You decided that marketing, rather than information, would sell me the book. The only time I'll read a promotion post whose title doesn't even tell me what the book is, just quotes reviews at me, is if I'm reading through every single new book announcement looking for something to read, in which case the title could just as well be blank and it would work exactly the same. Two, you used a post icon. I can hear you already. "Wait, what? Why does that matter? I just wanted my book to stand out." Exactly. You wanted your book to stand out. This makes it look like you think you're more important than other authors. To you, you are; to me, you're one of hundreds, and you're not more important than any of the rest. And I'm the one reading the post.

Other people, of course, don't think the same way. No doubt there are plenty of people who are more interested in a book's marketing than its identity, and are eager to buy books by authors who consider themselves special, and better than the run-of-the-mill MobileRead author. I'm not one of them, though, and I didn't know your book was for the Kindle only because I never even got that far; your "read my review, and remember I'm special" ad didn't work for me. It's up to you to decide whether you're satisfied with only part of the market, and if so, which buyers you want to reject. But it's something you should think carefully about.

Edit: Since I'm responding to this post, I went and took a look at the book promo, even though I normally wouldn't. It does look very interesting, and I would probably have bought it if you had it for my ereader. The "crocodiles" on the wall struck me; if they are indeed what I suspect, I have a caged "crocodile" who screams his mating cry at unholy volume at random hours of night, and I've a weakness for lizards. So it's even more to be regretted that you don't offer your book in a format (epub) I can use. Though if you're selling on Amazon, you probably think DRM is a good thing, and I don't buy DRM-locked ebooks.

DixieGal · 02-02-2011, 10:02 AM

Hi! I just went to Amazon. This book had "Can I Drink the Water" listed below, so based on Grace's review, I got it instead. Ill get this one later. I've been hoping for some new funny books.

Just4kix · 02-04-2011, 01:56 PM

I’m pleased to announce that ‘Leon Chameleon P.I. and the case of the kidnapped mouse’ is now also available at Barnes & Noble as well as Amazon thanks to having it e-published through a US publisher.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/boo...=2940012606440
It’s a humorous, animal, detective (and surreptitiously educational) book for ages 7 – 12 yrs
Thank you for all your responses. There is much to learn about posting on this site, and how easy it is to unwittingly give offence.
To address some of the issues mentioned:
I hope I have made it clear that I am not being arrogant by not making my books available on other e-readers , it’s just that I don’t have a choice at the moment.
The reason I decided to quote the review and not the book title was because:
a) Some US readers have mistaken the title for a book about the environment. (Most British readers recognize the phrase and realize it is humour). My original post did include the title.
b) Some US readers have not taken to it because it is very much British humour and I wanted to warn them in case they bought it and were disappointed (and perhaps give a one star review). (Sales in the US last month 36 and in the UK 2319.)
c) I only used an icon so that I could more easily recognize my post when I scroll down to update it. I’m sorry, I had no idea it would be offensive or off-putting.
I can’t even remember what I did about the DRM as I was merely following instructions when I first uploaded to Amazon. It is quite a challenge for a technophobe and I was just relieved and quite proud of myself for not having to summon nextdoor’s grandchildren for assistance. Since learning about DRM I have not used it.
I hope you will give writers the benefit of the doubt, I don’t think any of us want to deliberately exclude any readers.

Now I have to gather my strength to put my two new books into my signature

Worldwalker · 02-05-2011, 01:35 AM

A one- or two-word mention of the genre should remove any concerns that it might be seen as a book about the environment. Concerns about British humor (there are people who don't like it?!) could be addressed at length in the post itself. Bookmarking your thread (or just dragging a link to it to your desktop) is much more convenient than trying to make it identifiable; all it takes is a bit too long away from MR, and/or an influx of writers with books to hawk, and yours will be off the first page anyway. A bookmark (or the forum search) will get you there much more directly. Oh, and your signature: I'd suggest putting the titles of your books in your .sig, with links from those titles to their Amazon sales pages, like so: Something to Read on the Plane. It'll be clearer and easier to read. Publishing a book through B&N now makes it available to two brands of e-readers, but still leaves out, say, me and mine. Not that I'm in the market for a children's book, but if I was, yours wouldn't be an option.

As far as not irritating people on MobileRead, the easy way to make sure your posts are good is to look at other people and see what they do. Also, MR members tend to like to think we're special, at least special enough for an author to write a few words specifically for us. When what we find in the post is a cut-and-paste of a book jacket blurb, press release, or announcement from fifteen other sites, our reaction is often "if that guy can't find five minutes to write something original for us, I can't spend five hours reading his magnum opus on the tail hair of guinea pigs."

Oh, and don't worry too much about me. I'm the resident curmudgeon.

Just4kix · 02-05-2011, 04:10 AM

Thanks Worldwalker. When I tried to put the title of my book and genre in the signature it told me I had gone over my allocated number of characters. When I used the shortened Bitlit version I got reprimanded because readers didn't know where the link was taking them. How do I do the http://www.amazon.com/Something-Read...tt_at_ep_dpi_3 ? This is how I wanted it to look. Also had a problem with the book covers as I didn't want the sig line to get too big (and get shouted at). Is there a thread that tells you how to do it (with plain vanilla instructions - press button A and then button B)?

Worldwalker · 02-05-2011, 04:01 PM

I'm going to have to do some experimenting (my own .sig is downright boring) and see if I can get something to work out for you. Also, you might want to take a look through other writers' .sigs (check the self-promotion section for a wide assortment) and see which ones look best, then ask them how they did it; that might be faster than waiting for me.

jehane · 02-06-2011, 10:08 AM

Hi just4kix

With the links, try doing them like this:
Title: animal story for ages 7 - 12 yrs

That should cut down the number of characters while still allowing people to see where they are going when they hover their cursor over the link.

To do this, you need to put the url in between the quote marks and the text you want visible between the code tags, ie the example above looks like:

[ URL="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004LRPRFQ"]Title: animal story for ages 7 - 12 yrs[/URL ]

I've added spaces in the code so that it's not been parsed and you can actually see it.

02-01-2011, 01:01 PM	#1
Just4kix Zealot Posts: 135 Karma: 365040 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Durban South Africa Device: none	I'm afraid of getting shot down in flames I'd like to be able to promote my books, but they are only available on Amazon and I see some people get hot under the collar about that. I've tried to put them on Pubit! and Smashwords etc, but am thwarted when they ask for a US zip code, or US bank account, or they only pay using Paypal, which isn't available to me. If I say 'sorry' will it be ok to post? PS I am e-publishing a children's book through a US publisher who will be able to offer it on all the different devices (see, I am trying)

02-02-2011, 09:34 AM	#9
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	There are several reasons people get irked at Amazon-only authors. For one thing, it smacks of arrogance. "I'll settle for what I can get Amazon's market share, I don't need your money" might be satisfactory from a marketing point of view, but from the person who's been told their money is no good, it's tends to produce annoyance. For another, if you really do want to read that book and it's only available in a format that won't work on your ebook reader, it's highly frustrating. Yes, I know Amazon will let you have a program to read the book on your computer, but the whole point of buying an ebook reader is so you can use an ebook reader, not so you can read books on your computer. I've seen authors actually, quite literally, say those things: "Amazon has the majority of the market, and that's all I need" and "I don't care about other formats; use one of the Kindle-for-whatever programs if you need to." These did not make me want to give that person money. Nobody on MobileRead is going to gratuitously insult an author; the whole reason we're here is we're bookworms. But when an author starts out by insulting us, the gloves may well come off. And insulting your customers is not good business anyway. So, all you need to do, really, is distinguish yourself from those people. "I want to offer this in other formats and from other stores, but I haven't found a way to do it yet; check back for updates" would work nicely. You might want to take another look at your book promotion, too. I didn't read it. Why? Two reasons: One, you didn't give me the name of the book, its formats, or anything else useful, in the title; you quoted a review. You decided that marketing, rather than information, would sell me the book. The only time I'll read a promotion post whose title doesn't even tell me what the book is, just quotes reviews at me, is if I'm reading through every single new book announcement looking for something to read, in which case the title could just as well be blank and it would work exactly the same. Two, you used a post icon. I can hear you already. "Wait, what? Why does that matter? I just wanted my book to stand out." Exactly. You wanted your book to stand out. This makes it look like you think you're more important than other authors. To you, you are; to me, you're one of hundreds, and you're not more important than any of the rest. And I'm the one reading the post. Other people, of course, don't think the same way. No doubt there are plenty of people who are more interested in a book's marketing than its identity, and are eager to buy books by authors who consider themselves special, and better than the run-of-the-mill MobileRead author. I'm not one of them, though, and I didn't know your book was for the Kindle only because I never even got that far; your "read my review, and remember I'm special" ad didn't work for me. It's up to you to decide whether you're satisfied with only part of the market, and if so, which buyers you want to reject. But it's something you should think carefully about. Edit: Since I'm responding to this post, I went and took a look at the book promo, even though I normally wouldn't. It does look very interesting, and I would probably have bought it if you had it for my ereader. The "crocodiles" on the wall struck me; if they are indeed what I suspect, I have a caged "crocodile" who screams his mating cry at unholy volume at random hours of night, and I've a weakness for lizards. So it's even more to be regretted that you don't offer your book in a format (epub) I can use. Though if you're selling on Amazon, you probably think DRM is a good thing, and I don't buy DRM-locked ebooks. Last edited by Worldwalker; 02-02-2011 at 10:05 AM.

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02-01-2011, 01:08 PM	#2
Steven Lyle Jordan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,478 Karma: 5171130 Join Date: Jan 2006 Device: none	Go ahead and promote... we've got your back. Many of us understand that not everyone has a wealth of choices when it comes to getting your books online. Most MR members may want you to consider publishing outside of Amazon, if you haven't already considered it... but will understand if you have considered it, and the options don't work for you. Some of them may even be able to suggest other options that will work. And some are just die-hard Amazon-haters... don't worry, we try to keep them under control, too!

02-01-2011, 01:15 PM	#3
Donnageddon Now you lishen here... Posts: 2,494 Karma: 479498 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Seattle-ish Device: Sony PRS-650. Kobo Touch, Kindle Fire	Hi Just4kix. Since it does seem you have looked into other options, I would say go right ahead. You may still get requests for other ebook options, but... you can always politely ignore them. For me as long as your ebook on Amazon is not in Topaz format (which I doubt it would be), then there are ways to get around the Amazon mafia and read them on my epub book reader

02-01-2011, 03:12 PM	#4
queentess Reading is sexy Posts: 1,303 Karma: 544517 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: none	You may want to say at the bottom of your blurb that you're not yet able to publish anywhere else because of your location, but you're looking at all the options and welcome input.

02-01-2011, 03:47 PM	#5
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,032 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Where am I? Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition and a Samsung S24 Ultra	Great place to talk up your books, go ahead we don't mind. Second doesn't really matter if the books are available from amazon only as long as amazon will sell an epub version. There are a few US Banks that really have no objection to international customers.

02-01-2011, 07:34 PM	#6
jrlewis SF/F Author Posts: 160 Karma: 349656 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: USA Device: Adobe Digital Editions	Amazon may have certain technical constraints, but it's a perfectly good store. You might try making available an epub version through your own e-store using paypal.

02-02-2011, 02:32 AM	#8
jehane Book addict Posts: 441 Karma: 2650464 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Antarctica/Australia/Ohio Device: Sony PRS-300/T1/Asus TF101	Hi Just4kix I would suggest making it clear that you are looking into epub options, and describing, just as you have here, the problems you are having with smashwords etc. Someone may be able to offer suggestions. As a reader, I generally don't even bother looking at Amazon. From my point of view, there are enough books out there that it's not worth the hassle converting books, so if it's not easily accessible to me in epub/pdf/rtf/txt I will find something that is. I'm not trying to shoot you down, and most of the others aren't, although some do get a bit over the top. But one thing I've found is that many authors who don't read ebooks themselves will publish on Amazon only, because they don't realise that there are other devices and formats out there. So they are missing a whole segment of the market.

02-02-2011, 10:02 AM	#10
DixieGal Hi There! Posts: 7,473 Karma: 2930523 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Ft Lauderdale Device: iPad	Hi! I just went to Amazon. This book had "Can I Drink the Water" listed below, so based on Grace's review, I got it instead. Ill get this one later. I've been hoping for some new funny books.

02-04-2011, 01:56 PM	#11
Just4kix Zealot Posts: 135 Karma: 365040 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Durban South Africa Device: none	I’m pleased to announce that ‘Leon Chameleon P.I. and the case of the kidnapped mouse’ is now also available at Barnes & Noble as well as Amazon thanks to having it e-published through a US publisher. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/boo...=2940012606440 It’s a humorous, animal, detective (and surreptitiously educational) book for ages 7 – 12 yrs Thank you for all your responses. There is much to learn about posting on this site, and how easy it is to unwittingly give offence. To address some of the issues mentioned: I hope I have made it clear that I am not being arrogant by not making my books available on other e-readers , it’s just that I don’t have a choice at the moment. The reason I decided to quote the review and not the book title was because: a) Some US readers have mistaken the title for a book about the environment. (Most British readers recognize the phrase and realize it is humour). My original post did include the title. b) Some US readers have not taken to it because it is very much British humour and I wanted to warn them in case they bought it and were disappointed (and perhaps give a one star review). (Sales in the US last month 36 and in the UK 2319.) c) I only used an icon so that I could more easily recognize my post when I scroll down to update it. I’m sorry, I had no idea it would be offensive or off-putting. I can’t even remember what I did about the DRM as I was merely following instructions when I first uploaded to Amazon. It is quite a challenge for a technophobe and I was just relieved and quite proud of myself for not having to summon nextdoor’s grandchildren for assistance. Since learning about DRM I have not used it. I hope you will give writers the benefit of the doubt, I don’t think any of us want to deliberately exclude any readers. Now I have to gather my strength to put my two new books into my signature

02-05-2011, 01:35 AM	#12
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	A one- or two-word mention of the genre should remove any concerns that it might be seen as a book about the environment. Concerns about British humor (there are people who don't like it?!) could be addressed at length in the post itself. Bookmarking your thread (or just dragging a link to it to your desktop) is much more convenient than trying to make it identifiable; all it takes is a bit too long away from MR, and/or an influx of writers with books to hawk, and yours will be off the first page anyway. A bookmark (or the forum search) will get you there much more directly. Oh, and your signature: I'd suggest putting the titles of your books in your .sig, with links from those titles to their Amazon sales pages, like so: Something to Read on the Plane. It'll be clearer and easier to read. Publishing a book through B&N now makes it available to two brands of e-readers, but still leaves out, say, me and mine. Not that I'm in the market for a children's book, but if I was, yours wouldn't be an option. As far as not irritating people on MobileRead, the easy way to make sure your posts are good is to look at other people and see what they do. Also, MR members tend to like to think we're special, at least special enough for an author to write a few words specifically for us. When what we find in the post is a cut-and-paste of a book jacket blurb, press release, or announcement from fifteen other sites, our reaction is often "if that guy can't find five minutes to write something original for us, I can't spend five hours reading his magnum opus on the tail hair of guinea pigs." Oh, and don't worry too much about me. I'm the resident curmudgeon.

02-05-2011, 04:10 AM	#13
Just4kix Zealot Posts: 135 Karma: 365040 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Durban South Africa Device: none	Thanks Worldwalker. When I tried to put the title of my book and genre in the signature it told me I had gone over my allocated number of characters. When I used the shortened Bitlit version I got reprimanded because readers didn't know where the link was taking them. How do I do the http://www.amazon.com/Something-Read...tt_at_ep_dpi_3 ? This is how I wanted it to look. Also had a problem with the book covers as I didn't want the sig line to get too big (and get shouted at). Is there a thread that tells you how to do it (with plain vanilla instructions - press button A and then button B)?

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02-05-2011, 04:01 PM	#14
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	I'm going to have to do some experimenting (my own .sig is downright boring) and see if I can get something to work out for you. Also, you might want to take a look through other writers' .sigs (check the self-promotion section for a wide assortment) and see which ones look best, then ask them how they did it; that might be faster than waiting for me.

02-06-2011, 10:08 AM	#15
jehane Book addict Posts: 441 Karma: 2650464 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Antarctica/Australia/Ohio Device: Sony PRS-300/T1/Asus TF101	Hi just4kix With the links, try doing them like this: Title: animal story for ages 7 - 12 yrs That should cut down the number of characters while still allowing people to see where they are going when they hover their cursor over the link. To do this, you need to put the url in between the quote marks and the text you want visible between the code tags, ie the example above looks like: [ URL="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004LRPRFQ"]Title: animal story for ages 7 - 12 yrs[/URL ] I've added spaces in the code so that it's not been parsed and you can actually see it.