Archive for category Self-publishing
Kindle Countdown Deals
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Promotion, Self-publishing on December 8, 2013
Those of you with e-books available on Amazon will be aware of the new promotional tool that has been made available to authors.
Kindle Countdown Deals allow a book to be sold at a discounted price for up to seven days in a ninety day period. Customers see the usual price and the offer price on the book’s detail page as well as a countdown clock indicating how long the discounted price is available.
Obviously this sales tool is much more attractive to writers than simply offering books for free but it’s not as simple as organising a free promotion. In a nutshell:
- Books must be enrolled in KDP Select and have had a minimum regular price of £1.99 or $2.99 for at least 30 days.
- When discounted, the book continues to earn royalties at its usual rate e.g. dropping the price to 99p doesn’t drop the book into the 35% royalty bucket.
- The minimum discount is £1 or $1 and this discount can be stepped e.g. a regular price of £2.99 could be reduced to 99p for the first 3 days of the 7 day period followed by an increased (but still discounted) price of £1.99 for the remainder of the promotion.
- A Countdown Deal and a free promotion can’t be run in the same 90 day period – it’s one or the other.
- Promotions only apply to the UK and the US
For full details click on ‘Manage Benefits’ in your KDP Bookshelf. Or have a look at this post on Nick Daws’ blog where he’s gone into a lot more detail than I have.
Now I here’s my very own Kindle Countdown Deal for you:
A Writer on Writing – Advice to Make You A Success is available in the UK for only 99p (half price) for the next seven days (until 11pm Saturday 14th December).
It is available in the US for 99c from 7am today until 3pm on 11th December and then at $1.99 until 11pm 14th December (times are PST).
Danita Dyess reviewed A Writer on Writing for Readers’ Favourite. She said, “I was impressed by A Writer on Writing. As a freelance writer, I have read numerous books on the do’s and don’ts of writing. But Sally Jenkins’ down-to-earth advice acknowledged the day-to-day obstacles, e.g. juggling family and work, getting distracted and overcoming intimidation when submitting letters to editors by providing realistic solutions. Her style was personable but authoritative.”
The full review is available here.
So why not bag yourself a Kindle Countdown Deal today (it’s an offer that won’t be repeated for at least another three months)!
Write a Review and Win a Book Journal
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Books, Competitions, Promotion, Self-publishing on October 12, 2013
Karen’s Story, the second in the Museum of Fractured Lives series is available free from all Amazon sites until Wednesday 16th October.
Karen’s Story is contemporary women’s fiction (although some men may enjoy it too). It is the tale of a single woman’s quest to find a man to father her baby. She tempts a work colleague to commit adultery. But he has a secret and their affair has devastating consequences. At approximately 8,500 words the book can be described as a long short story or a ‘flash’ novella.
To celebrate I am running a competition to win a Book Journal (pictured). It is full of pages on which to keep a record of all the books you’ve read – great if, like me, you tend to forget what you’ve read or which author you particularly enjoyed. There’s also a section to keep a list of ‘Books to Read’ – useful if an interesting book is mentioned on the radio or TV or a friend recommends a novel they like.
All you have to do to enter is:
- Download a free copy of Karen’s Story – The Museum of Fractured Lives to your Kindle, tablet or PC. If you use Amazon.com the link is here or search for ASIN: B00F3FMHSK.
- Write an HONEST review on Amazon.
- Email me at sallysjenkins@btinternet.com and let me know which review is yours.
All the emails will go into a ‘hat’ and I will draw one at random after the closing date, which is midnight Saturday 26th October 2013.
If you would like more than one entry into the draw, simply leave another review for any of my other books (you may have them sitting unread on your Kindle after previous free promotions, or you can buy them) and send me another email.
I have thought about the ethics of this competition i.e. people gaining entry to a prize draw in return for writing a review. I have decided it is acceptable (and hope you do too) because:
- there is no guaranteed prize
- winning is not dependent on the content of the review or the star rating
- the practice is well-established, for example Story Cartel offer prizes of Amazon vouchers, Kindles and books to readers leaving reviews (scroll down the page on this Story Cartel link to see the details).
I hope you enjoy Karen’s Story!
Karen’s Story – The Museum of Fractured Lives (plus 2 free e-books)
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Self-publishing on September 15, 2013
I’m pleased to tell you that the second instalment in The Museum of Fractured Lives series has been published this week.
As you may remember from Maxine’s Story, The Museum of Fractured Lives displays objects donated by people who have suffered a trauma in their lives. The objects are a symbol of that trauma.
When accepting a donation, the museum employees try to obtain the full story behind the object.
Each book in The Museum of Fractured Lives series tells the story of one donated object and the person who has given it. These books are ‘flash’ novellas of around 8,500 words.
Karen’s Story tells the tale of a single woman’s quest to find a man to father her baby. Her choice of mate has devastating consequences. Karen’s story is pure selfishness and destroys several lives.
Karen’s Story is only 77p in the UK . It is also available across all other Amazon sites by searching by the title or for ASIN: B00F3FMHSK.
To celebrate this launch, the first Museum of Fractured Lives book, Maxine’s Story, is free for today only (15th September).
Also free (until 18th September) is my collection of writing articles, A Writer on Writing – Advice to Make You a Success.
Amazon Tax Form, a Good Review, Win a Toothbrush plus a Success
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Self-publishing, Successes on September 8, 2013
I’ve a few ‘writerly’ things to impart this week:
Amazon shipment (Photo credit: enno)
Amazon Tax Form
Those of you with e-books for sale on Amazon will have received a request to complete an on-line tax ‘interview’ or risk having your books removed from the website. I was a bit concerned when I saw this, in case I had to go through the palaver of getting a US tax exemption certificate. But the ‘interview’ was very easy and quick to complete and no certificates were needed. The benefit of the tax exemption certificate is that it stops Amazon withholding 30% of the royalties on US sales but the downside is it necessitates a trip to London to get ID validated – not worth it financially for me because the vast majority of my sales are in the UK.
If you want more information on this, have a look at Nick Daws’ blog.
By the way, I wonder if the UK government withholds money from US citizens? I doubt it somehow.
A Good Review
Talking of e-books. Brian David, from the CheerReader website, has sung the praises of ‘A Writer on Writing – Advice to Make You a Success!’ on his site’s homepage (scroll down this page to see the review). He describes it as:
‘a superb little tome that gives you all the hints and advice you need to make your writing as good as you want it to be’.
Win a Toothbrush
Last Monday I picked up the Metro newspaper (free on some public transport) on a train to Milton Keynes and spotted the Rush-hour Crush competition. Just write a few words about that dishy man/woman you’ve spotted on the bus/train/tube and you could win a Sonicare HealthyWhite electric toothbrush. There’s a prize each day but you’ll have to be quick, the competition ends on 13th September 2013. Entry is by an electronic form here.
A Success!
Finally, I had a phone call this week to tell me that I’ve won the Friends of Morley Literature Festival Short Story competition, judged by Gervase Phinn. The story was originally written for last year’s Jeremy Mogford Prize for Food and Drink Writing competition and it came nowhere. But now it’s won me £50 so I’m chuffed to bits! (By the way, I also won this competition in 2011 so maybe I shouldn’t enter next year …)
Amazon Reviews – Is This Ethical?
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Promotion, Self-publishing on August 18, 2013
I’ve gone on before about how important Amazon reviews are to authors. They help to ‘sell’ the book to potential readers and they may also help to push a book up the Amazon rankings and make it more visible to the buying public.
But getting reviews is a battle. It just doesn’t occur to many of us to bother writing one – even if we’ve really enjoyed the book. And to be honest, until I got into Kindle publishing it wouldn’t have occurred to me either.
Bearing all this in mind you’ll understand why an email I received this week got my immediate interest. The sender was suggesting that we do a ‘review swap’ and they included a link to their book on Amazon. I assumed that we would each read and then independently review the other’s book. That seemed acceptable – like ‘proper’ publishers sending out review copies in the hope of getting a positive response.
But further correspondence with the other author made it clear that I’d got it wrong. The idea was that we each write the other’s review ‘to speed the process up’ – meaning that I write a review of my own book for my contact to post under their name and vice versa.
I had a look at this person’s book on Amazon – they had many more reviews than me and their book appeared to be doing much better than mine. It seemed this author knew the secret of garnering reviews and thus growing sales!
I was sorely tempted to go ahead with the swap – perhaps lots of people are operating and making money like this? Why should I miss out?
But then I thought how would I feel if anyone discovered that I had written some of my own reviews?
I would be ashamed and unable to look them in the eye.
So I didn’t go ahead with the swap.
What would you have done?
Related articles
- First do no harm? (in book reviews…) (kevinbrennanbooks.wordpress.com)
- Can And Should You Ask For Reviews? (selfpubauthors.com)
Sally Quilford’s Birthday Giveaways Plus a Catch-up
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Books, Competitions, Self-publishing, Successes, Travel on August 11, 2013
I’m just back from walking the Cleveland Way (109 miles in 10 gloriously sunny days) and am now chasing my tail trying to catch up on everything! 
Just before I left I had an acceptance from My Weekly. It was for a story I subbed in October 2011 – so never think your story has fallen into a black hole if you get no response!
Also, those lovely people at Readers’ Favourite have reviewed my non-fiction book A Writer on Writing – Advice to Make You A Success. They’ve given it a whopping 5 stars (and I promise, no money changed hands!). Read the review here.
Finally, today is Sally Quilford’s 50th birthday and there are lots of exciting things happening on her blog, including e-book giveaways and a massive prize draw. I’ve joined in the fun and one of Sally’s giveaways is my e-book, Maxine’s Story – The Museum of Fractured Lives. It’s free for today only (11th August) and you can get it directly via Amazon or why not pop over to Sally’s blog and check out all the other goodies too? Her prize draw closes on Friday 16th August but many of the e-book freebies are only valid today.
By the way, if you’re looking for an escapist easy read, take a look at Carole Matthews’ new book, Calling Mrs Christmas. I received a review copy via Carole’s newsletter and it was perfect holiday reading. It took me from the misery of a suicide attempt in a young offenders’ institution to the splendour of Lapland’s famous Ice Hotel. And it was all tied together with a little bit of love …
Maxine’s Story – The Museum of Fractured Lives
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Promotion, Self-publishing, Successes on July 16, 2013
Maxine’s Story is the first in The Museum of Fractured Lives series.
The café in the Museum of Fractured Lives is a place for sharing secrets and exploring painful memories.
Several years ago, Maxine and Kaspar experienced the turbo-charged emotions of teenage romance. But the consequences of their relationship cast a long shadow into Maxine’s adulthood and now she is about to reveal something that she has never told a soul …
The Museum of Fractured Lives displays objects donated by people who have suffered a trauma in their lives. The objects are a symbol of that trauma. When accepting a donation, the museum employees try to obtain the full story behind the object. This is difficult because many of the donors are very emotional.
Each book in The Museum of Fractured Lives series tells the story of one donated object and the person who has given it.
This is a ‘flash’ novella of approximately 8,500 words and it is FREE today and tomorrow (16th and 17th July).
Click HERE for Amazon UK or HERE for Amazon.com. Or search for ASIN: B00DO0USNM
The first 3,000 words of Maxine’s Story were professionally critiqued as part of my annual subscription to Freelance Market News. Here are is an extract:
“A thoroughly compelling read, which flows effectively from start to finish. I don’t see how you could improve it.”
Please take advantage of the free offer and, if you enjoy it, as always, I’d be extremely grateful for an Amazon review – these reviews are like gold dust to authors.
Also, if there’s anyone out there who hasn’t read One Day For Me yet – that’s free at the moment too.
One Day For Me – Eight Award Winning Stories by Sally Jenkins
A selection of 8 short stories that have all won or been shortlisted in UK writing competitions.
Click HERE to obtain through Amazon.UK and HERE to obtain through Amazon.COM. Or search for ASIN: B00B4XCYJC on other Amazon sites.
Happy Reading (and reviewing)!
Amazon’s Kindle Cover Creator
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Computers & Technical, Resources, Self-publishing on June 25, 2013
In preparation for my next e-book release, I’ve been playing with Amazon’s Cover Creator.
This can be found within the Kindle Direct Publishing process, at the point where you would normally upload a cover that you’ve created elsewhere.
Designing with Cover Creator is far, far easier than trying to do it with GIMP or any other such design software (unless you happen to be an expert – which I am definitely not!).
There are only three steps:
- Choose Design – select an image from those available within Cover Creator or upload an image of your own.
There is a reasonable selection of images available and they are split into sections such as Animals, People, Architecture, Food and Drink etc. I found a picture which I felt was a reasonable likeness to the heroine in my tale. - Style and Edit – select the layout, colour scheme and font.
There are a limited number of each of these. The layout dictates whereabouts on the cover the title, subtitle and author name will appear. Colour scheme and font are self-explanatory. - Preview – see how your design will look in the Amazon store.
This is the only part of the process that caused me problems. When I tried to Preview I kept getting the message, ‘Cover Creator has encountered an error. We recommend you refresh your browser.’ So I contacted Amazon. They suggested that I use Firefox as my browser instead of Internet Explorer. This worked but first I had to delete everything I’d already done in Internet Explorer and start again.
At any point in the Cover Creator design process you can save the cover and come back to finish it later. And you can design in Cover Creator before your book is ready to be uploaded.
Inevitably there are some disadvantages to Cover Creator, the principle two being:
- The limited number of variables available (i.e. images, layouts, colour schemes etc.) However, I would guess that Cover Creator would become much more difficult to use were there to be an infinite choice. Just be prepared for someone to have a similar cover to yours!
- Covers created within Cover Creator cannot be used outside of Amazon. So if you intend selling on other platforms, source your cover elsewhere. Initially, my next book will be exclusive to Amazon so I’m not going to worry about this at the moment.
Here is a sneak preview of my proposed cover design. Any comments gratefully received!
To put my design in context – this book is intended to be the first in a series of stories (each around 8,000 words long), all of which will be set in The Museum of Fractured Lives. Each e-book will feature a different donor to the museum and tell the story of the object they are donating. Maxine is the heroine of the first book.
It was loosely inspired by The Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb which I told you about here. However, I should emphasise that everything in the book is totally fictional. I have never visited the museum.
Jordanna East and Blood Read Press
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Books, Promotion, Self-publishing on May 14, 2013
Today I’d like to introduce you to psychological thriller writer, Jordanna East. 
Her first book, Blood in the Past, is scheduled for release on June 19, 2013. Blood in the Past is the prelude novella to her debut Blood for Blood Series, which follows three lives entwined by deaths and consequences, revenge and obsession.
Like so many of us, Jordanna is publishing independently and I’ve invited her to guest on my blog because I like her marketing strategy. It started way before she had a book ready for sale. I’ll let Jordanna explain in her own words:
As an Indie Author, it’s kind of hard not to want to climb to the top of the tallest building in your city and scream “Take me seriously!” until your throat is raw. Self-published works are rapidly gaining ground, don’t get me wrong, but there are still some stubbornly ignorant people out there. These same people are the ones who will turn their noses up at your books. They won’t oblige you when you approach them for a review. And they’ll damn near laugh you out on your ass when you ask them to carry your book in their little bookstore. So what’s an author to do? Obviously, you want to write the best story you can. Of course, you want to hire a professional freelancer to create your cover art. And you most definitely—and I can’t stress this enough—want to hire a PROFESSIONAL EDITOR.
But these bullet points are pretty well known now, aren’t they? What if I told you there was something else you could do? There is. You can create your own publishing label. I did. I came up with Blood Read Press (pronounced Blood Red Press) last October. And it was so simple. I registered the name of the business with my county and state. I got myself a business checking account. And now, when a reader peruses Amazon, or some other retailer, they’ll see that Blood in the Past, the prelude novella to my upcoming series, has been released by Blood Read Press. It looks worlds better than the publisher being listed as Amazon. Or CreateSpace. It looks PROFESSIONAL. When I offer the book to a reviewer, they’ll take me seriously as well. So will bookstore owners. And that’s what this is about. Appearing (and actually being) professional so that the people out there with your career in their hands take you seriously.
Take a look at Jordanna’s website (scroll down her pages to see everything) and see how she’s branding both herself and her books in the build up to the launch date. In this way she is already creating an audience curious to buy and read her books.
Her website has a facility for interested people to sign up to her mailing list, in order to receive advance notification of book release dates. I’ve just joined it so that I don’t forget to have a look at her book on Amazon on launch day.
And, just to wet your appetite, here’s Jordanna’s book blurb:
The Blood in the Past.
Jillian Atford falls for an older man, a handsome Philadelphia cop, he’s married, a reality Jillian refuses to accept.
Lyla Kyle finds her mother dead on the floor from an apparent suicide. She blames her philandering father and wastes no time taking her revenge.
Detective Jason Brighthouse Sr. is in the wrong place at the right time to attempt to save a colleague from his burning home. When neither of them make it out alive, his teenage son can only harp on their last argument. He shoots himself in the head…with his father’s gun.
Three lives. Three deaths. One story. To understand the future, you must visit the past.
The Blood in the Past.
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