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POINT OF VIEW: Amazon vs. Going Wide

going wide - Deposit Photos

If you spend much time in indie-pub circles, you’ll hear a lot of discussions about “going wide.” This is short-hand for “selling through many/most/all available book vendors. You’d think it would be a no-brainer, right? Put your book in front of as many different audiences as possible? Surprisingly, it’s not. And it’s mostly because of a little thing called Kindle Unlimited. You see, Amazon sells books. Tons and tons and tons of books, along with hoses and candles and snow tires and just about everything else under the sun. But they always want to sell more books, and to find … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Riding the Rocket

Rocket Ride - deposit photos

So I had a BookBub for “The Stark Divide” last week. BookBub, for those who don’t know, is a daily email service that sends out specials (usually free or 99¢) to a huge list of potential readers/buyers. When you get one, it can mean a big, if temporary, boost in sales. How big? Potentially a thousand books or more in a single day, all sent to Amazon. Numbers that make the ‘zon stand up and take notice. I was ready and waiting for the start of mine. I only told a few people, and even then, I was warned to … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: At Pride

Davis Pride

Last week I talked about personal pride. This week it’s all about the capital kind of “Pride” – in this case, Davis Pride. Davis is a college town about 1/2 an hour West of Sacramento. It has an adorable downtown, and at this time of year, lots of college students. This year, for the first time, our local author group – the Queer Sacramento Authors’ Collective – decided to set up shop there for their pride festival in Central Park. Kim Fielding, S.A. Stovall, Mike Lopez, Kelly Haworth, and I all ran the booth, with help from my hubby Mark … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Critical Acclaim and Crickets

Scott

Hey all, I am in the midst of the blog and review tour for “The Stark Divide,” the first book in the Liminal Sky series. So far, the reviews are uniformly good and even amazing. No writer minds hearing how someone couldn’t put their book down. * grin * But it all makes me wonder. Despite a huge blog and review tour (85 stops at last count) and great reviewer enthusiasm, the few indicators I can see tell me the book’s not selling as quickly as I’d like. Part of the problem is that I only have a few metrics … Read more

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Point of View: Selling at a Con

Scott Angel Freddy yaoicon

Hey all, Just got back from YaoiCon in San Francisco – I went for one day on Saturday to hang with MCB Books’ Angel Martinez and Freddy MacKay. I thought I’d share some of what I learned from this and the other cons I have attended about how to get the most out of your book sales. and to be as organized as possible beforehand. Find Out if You Need a License: Some states require you to collect taxes and send them in for sales made at cons and trade shows. I don’t know if it was required for YaoiCon, … Read more