Posts Tagged One Day for Me
Amazon Asked Me to Change My Book Title
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Computers & Technical, Self-publishing on February 24, 2015
Regular followers of this blog will know that I published my first Kindle e-book, One Day for Me – 8 Award-Winning Stories, two years ago. It’s a collection of short stories, all of which have either won or been placed in UK writing competitions. 
A few weeks back I received an email about this book from Amazon. It told me that the book’s title contained ‘extra descriptive content ‘ which was not allowed. It said that this extra content could be ‘distracting or misleading to our customers’. I was given five days to change the title of the book or have it removed from the Kindle store.
Initially I was confused about was wrong with the title and queried it. Amazon replied that I must remove the words ‘Award-Winning’. My first reaction was to argue the point because I feel justified in using these words since all the stories have done well in competitions. But I decided it would be a David and Goliath contest and David would probably end up with all his books being removed from the Amazon store.
So, I complied and changed the title to One Day for Me – 8 Coffee Break Stories. Then I realised that I didn’t know how to change the cover image to reflect this new title. The cover was all my own work (following some wonderful advice from many of you about what worked and what didn’t) two years ago but since then I’ve forgotten how to get back in and edit it. I decided time was too precious to waste trying to sort it out so I’ve had a new cover created by Helen Measures on http://www.fiverr.com. It’s quite different from the first cover so I’m hoping that it will attract readers who dismissed the book first time around.
I post this as a warning to those of you thinking of publishing on Amazon KDP. Don’t put any spurious claims or words such as ‘free’ or ‘best’ in your title. If you do you may be asked to remove them.
The Journeyman
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Markets, Self-publishing, Short Story, Successes on August 3, 2014
The tagline for The Journeyman magazine is, ‘a collection of short stories from emerging authors‘.
It is distributed free (in the Sheffield area, I’m guessing from the adverts) to be read ‘on the train, in the office, at home …‘. There is also an example edition to be read online.
I’ve just received a complimentary copy containing my story, ‘One Day for Me’. Like most small magazines the payment is not great – only £10. But the editor will accept things that have been previously published elsewhere, provided that copyright and publishing rights still remain with the author. This means that you can get a little bit of extra mileage out of a story that’s already earned its keep, plus The Journeyman also has a ‘Meet the Authors’ section which includes a short bio of all the writers published in that edition.
If you fancy submitting, the guidelines are here. In brief, the editor is looking for well-written stories across all genres. The preferred length is up to around 3,500 words.
Update July 2015: I understand that The Journeyman has now ceased publication. It’s very sad to see fiction markets like this disappearing.
And the mention of ‘One Day for Me’ gives me the excuse to tell you that my e-book ‘One Day for Me – 8 Award-Winning Stories‘ is available for just 99p/99c (UK & US only) until August 10th 2014.
A First Birthday
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Books, Computers & Technical, Lifestyle, Self-publishing on January 19, 2014
One year ago this week I published my first short story collection, One Day For Me, on Amazon Kindle.
The book has amassed some great reviews on Amazon and Lee Ashford of Readers’ Favorite said, “Sally Jenkins knows how to build a story. She takes the mundane, and makes it intriguing. She hooks the reader, and reels him in. She proves her talent in each of these eight short stories, making this collection one you will be glad you read.”
Since publication lots of things have happened in my life including a health scare (early stage breast cancer – make sure you go for those mammograms, ladies!) and a complete upheaval in my day job (I was transferred from one company to another under TUPE legislation – don’t ask, it’s complicated!).
I’ve also learned a few things during the past twelve months, such as a book of short stories, all written by the same person is a collection. But a book of short stories, all written by different people is an anthology.
Am I the only person who didn’t know that?
I’ve discovered that I’m not much good at book cover design and also that writing stories is much easier than marketing them! But over the last few months Amazon KDP have introduced a couple of features that make both of these difficult tasks a little bit easier:
- Amazon Cover Creator, which I’ve talked about previously here, makes it very easy for anyone to create an eye-catching cover for a Kindle book
- Kindle Countdown Deals which allow authors to discount the price of books for a limited period
So, to celebrate the first birthday of One Day For Me, it will be half-price (99p) from now until Saturday 25th January.
And those of you in the US can buy One Day For Me for only 99c until 12pm (PST) on Wednesday 22nd January and then at $1.99 until Saturday 25th January.
I hope you enjoy it!
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)!
Sally Jenkins 