Three favorite articles about self-publishing and $

http://www.juliesjournalonline.com/?p=1280 Article about her journey through self-publishing and pricing.

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-meet-the-a-list-authors-of-self-publishing/ All about the top sellers in self-publishing.

http://blog.smashwords.com/2010/12/smashwords-author-brian-s-pratt-to-earn.html Article about one smashwords author who will make over 100,000 this year.

My ranking today...

Still learning what all of this means:

Amazon UK Product details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 250 KB
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
• Language English
• ASIN: B004XJ4NI4
• Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #14 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
  • #3 in Kindle Store > Books > Fiction > Romance > Contemporary
  
  

  Amazon US Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 250 KB
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004XJ4NI4
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• On the FREE list
  
• 

  91.

  Maid for the Billionaire (Legacy Collection)

  Ruth Cardello (Author)

  5.0 out of 5 stars (3)

  Auto-delivered wirelessly

  $0.99 (Why is this not free?) Amazon Bestsellers lists are updated hourly. Between list updates, the price of an item may change from being free to having a price and vice versa. Although the item's price changes immediately, the list and its rankings stay the same until the next hourly update.

Questions and goals

Daily downloads tally:
3533 on Smashwords.com - ^ 101 since Saturday
346 on AmazonUS ^ 184
1825 on AmazonUK ^ 925
9 on Barnes and Nobel

At this point I have more questions than I have answers:

• Is tagging via forums acceptable or not?
• How does that tagging really work?
• How does a book move up on the Amazon list? My book appears to be more visible now.
• Tweeting is working -- although I'm not entirely sure how.
• Stumbleupon is also driving visitors to my site -- and how that one is doing it really baffles my mind. You've got to check out that site. At first I thought it was silly -- now I'm somewhat addicted to it.

I'm going to do something crazy. I think I'm going to try to do an online book "signing". I really don't even know how that works yet, but half the fun is learning how to do it and then the adventure is watching it unfold. I'll post websites I find that describe how and keep a log of what I end up doing. With 5,000+ people having read my book....I should be able to find a few who have questions or would like to chat. Maybe? lol We'll see.

Also:

Just found a wonderful community for new and published authors:
http://agentqueryconnect.com/
chuck full of great information!

Downloads still on the rise

Daily downloads tally:
3442 on Smashwords.com
162 on AmazonUS - wow, this is the most downloads I've seen on Amazon
900 on AmazonUK -- until yesterday this was barely over 10 downloads
9 on Barnes and Nobel (sadly, not sure why I keep checking it...lol)

Suddenly people are downloading my book at Amazon (priced .99). After weeks of watching 10 or so downloads....it's hopping now. Over 100 since yesterday. Was it Stumbleupon? Is it the tweeting I'm doing? The blogs? I don't know, but I sure am happy!

Amazon sales start to shoot up

Daily downloads tally:
3423 on Smashwords.com
119 on AmazonUS - nice jump today
433 on AmazonUK -- since it went free
9 on Barnes and Nobel (sadly, not sure why I keep checking it...lol)

Traffic to my blog seems to be coming from Stumbleupon right now. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but I wonder if it is playing into why I suddenly am being found on AmazonUS. Still, it's about a fourth of the numbers I'm pulling in from AmazonUK now that the book is free there. Prior to being FREE, my UK numbers stayed so low I didn't mention them...but about 400 ppl downloaded my book yesterday and last night. Can I possibly hope for the kind of numbers Smashwords brought in?

I'm hoping and continuing to plug away at promoting my book for about an hour every day.

FINALLY FREE

Getting a reader base is the reason even well published authors put ebooks up on Amazon for free. Not really sure why Amazon only offers this service now as a publicity courtesy to established authors, but it has been my goal all along to get my book on there for free. It's why I originally found Smashwords.

Well, today Amazon UK finally dropped my price to FREE and I instantly had 280 downloads....up from a pretty stable 8-10.

I don't know if Amazon US will drop it next. I had a spike in downloads there even though it is still priced at 99 cents. Today about 40 people downloaded it....bringing me over the 100 mark. Now, considering you only make 35% profit...we're not talking about much money, but I'm thrilled to see that people are beginning to find me.

Promotion that is working

Daily downloads tally:
3400 on Smashwords.com
106 on Amazon.com - nice jump today
9 on Barnes and Nobel

What's working so far?

• Tweeting brings more people to my blog and is increasing my downloads.
• Contributing to other blogs brings over traffic directly to Smashwords.
• I try to send my book or something out each day and that is finally showing results. I'll have to post a list of where I've sent.
  
• I'm slowly making connections with wonderful ebook writers who are giving me advice on where else I should promote my book.
• I just joined Ilovesmashwords.com and will start contributing to that page...as soon as I figure out what I have to say that is worth reading...lol
• Facebook brought a good number of people initially until I exhausted all of my friends of friends.
• Stumbleupon sent several people over to my blog.
• I have received several emails from people around the world -- so making an email more accessible to readers is a new goal of mine.
  

New sites I found

Daily downloads tally:
3323 on Smashwords.com
67 on Amazon.com
9 on Barnes and Nobel

Just discovered some new sites worth checking out as your promote your ebook:

• stumbleupon (I signed up late last night and it seems to already be bringing some traffic my blog)
• Ilovesmashwords.com (great information/tips regarding promoting for Indie books.)
• www.getfreeebooks.com (this one was recommended to me by another Indie author who said it directed 3,000 hits to her site when she did it.) I'll try it today and tell you how it goes.
  

OTT -- off the topic -- Conversations with God

I received good news today at work then took a short bathroom break before returning to a classroom.

While in the bathroom I accidentally started to pray.

It happens. You sit down. Start daydreaming. Suddenly you've direct dialed God.

Now I must spend too much time writing dialogue for my characters...because when I pray, God answers. Is it me? Is it him? Who knows. But since he always has a positive message I'm not seeking medication for the condition.

Anyway, back to the bathroom scene.

So, there I am thanking God for my good fortune while I'm sitting on the toilet and I have a flash of self-awareness.

I said: Oh my God (I think it's ok to say that when you're actually talking to him), I can't talk to you while I'm peeing.

God said: I created you. Peeing is natural. It's not going to shock me.

I said: Yes, but it's rude. I should have never called when on the toilet.

God said: You can talk to your husband while you pee but you can't talk to me?

I said: That's different. I really have to go. I'll thank you later.

God said: So, it's rude to pee while praying to me, but it's ok to put me on hold?

I started laughing....stopped praying....and started hoping no one was in the next stall while I'm laughing while peeing on a public toilet.

I have this funny image of God and the angels talking after my prayer.....

Angels: Was that Ruth again? What did she say?'

God: Oh, you know her. She's just peeing again, thinking of us, and hanging up when she realizes we're really listening.

3308

Daily downloads tally:
3308 on Smashwords.com
60 on Amazon.com
9 on Barnes and Nobel

I'm now tweeting full force. I read tweets. I follow tweets to websites and comment on what is there. I share whatever bit of advice pops into my head. It's week two of tweeting and I have 29 followers now. My number of downloads have increased by about a third since I started. The biggest news I've gotten was an email from a woman with a free ebook blog who wrote to me and told me that she tracks hits to her website and that she is getting a lot of traffic from people specifically searching for me by name. I think that is twitter related. It could be blog related too. not sure.

Another exciting happening is that people have started emailing me from around the world. It's so cool. They ask me questions. They comment on my book. I can't tell you how that alone makes all the hours I spend writing worth it. Even if my sales are never high....it is so wonderful to have created a world and to know that others have not only visited it but also enjoyed it.

More promotion ideas

Daily downloads tally:
2810 on Smashwords.com
50 on Amazon.com
7 on Barnes and Nobel

From the Write Angle blog just talked me into tweeting...although I still have very little idea of what to tweet about. They did have a list of good suggestions, though.

I was invited to join a romane blog, A Pinch of Romance. I hear that blogging is a great way to build a base of followers...so I'll be writing on that blog every Monday.

I'm writing more than I have in a very long time -- so this experience is definitely worthwhile for that reason alone.

Is quantity the key?

Daily downloads tally:
2700 on Smashwords.com
50 on Amazon.com
6 on Barnes and Nobel

I've been reading about authors who are successful on Smashwords. One author is going to make over 100,000 this year and he admits that his writing is not edited well. He has 17 books on smashwords and has found his niche.

Do I have any more books in me? I'm working on the second book in the Legacy series.

I have The Double C....and that story is mostly done. Just some polishing.

I've also talked to Alyssa about co-authoring Serenity's adoption.....one chapter about the bio mom..,one chapter about the adoptive mom....and so on. I don't think I've ever seen that book before.

And, given time, I could finish my space novel. Ok, that would be 3. Hmmmmm. I wonder if people would read the Double C for 99 cents. I guess I'll have to put it up and see.

Promoting

Daily downloads tally:
1887 on Smashwords.com
30 on Amazon.com (USA) 9 on Kindle UK Store
2 on Barnes and Nobel. Whoo whoo. I'm so excited to see the zero disappear. (Ranking 87,083....lol)


In my fantasy, the numbers above eventually provide encouragement for those who are just starting out. I know one thing for sure -- nothing can happen if I don't try.

And that is what makes this so exciting -- almost anything is possible.



Today's promotional endeavors:

• talked the book up to everyone I came across.
• read about virtual book tours utilizing facebook and blogs...this is something to think about
• applied for an ISBN at Smashwords
• put my book on some free ebook sites
• added adsense to my blog. I have no idea what that will do, but I thought I'd try it.

Today was tough for writing, but nice for my family. I spent the evening walking my one year old outside instead of writing. We played with chickens, pet the horses, and watched Dad make a deck.

It's all about balance. Not easy -- but nothing worthwhile ever is.

Plagiarized, Hungary, Finland and an ebook list

Daily downloads tally:
1771 on Smashwords.com
29 on Amazon.com (the price is still .99)
0 on Barnes and Nobel (price is still .99) Strangely there is a review.
Not sure if that means that it is being downloaded there for free or not. Hmmm.


Book promotion.

Sounds so simple until you sit down and try to outline your strategy.

• Tell everyone. (Check -- friends, family, and I listed it on: http://ebooksfreefreefree.blogspot.com/. My goal is to try to do one thing to promote it each day. )
  
• Join like minded people and discuss your book. (Check)
• Add a tag to your email announcing the book. (Not really appropriate for my work email and that's the email I use the most.)
• Create a new email account to help promote book. (Check -- RCardelloromance@yahoo.com)
• Create a blog...and share information that is valuable. (Check -- hope. This blog is designed to document the ups and downs of self-publishing an ebook.)
• Use the social network. (Check -- created a Facebook web page just for RCardelloromance. Today I received my first email via that site. A woman in Finland wanted to know when I was going to release the 2nd and 3rd book because she loved the first one and really wanted to read the next two. I was dancing when I read that!)
  

Ok, that was all I had...until I found out other ways word of my book was getting around....

I was searching the net last night for any possible reference to my book, hoping someone had referenced it somewhere. Bam. There it was. I was entered into a contest....well I wasn't....someone who had taken my name off of the first two chapters of my book and added their own was. The good news was that she was doing pretty well...lol 400 people had read the first chapter that she had posted.

I sent an email to the website explaining and I added a comment below her entry. I said, "Although I am happy that people like the story, I wish the poster had given me credit for writing it since it is published in its entirety on Smashwords.com and Amazon.com." Something along those lines. I added that she should take it down and that I was reporting it.

I received the nicest response from one of the other contributors to that site. She said she thought that it was awful and that she would support me on Smashwords.

When I told my friends about the plagiarism, one gave me a good outlook on it. She said that 400 people had read the first chapter of my book and might now want to read the rest. Hmm, looking at it like that maybe I should have left it up.

It was under -- Maid for the Billionaire, Chapter 1 -- Unbreakmyheart
http://www.wattpad.com/1337318-maid-for-the-billionaire?allcomments#commentss


I also found my book being sent as a PDF to Hungary? Not sure. It was called CanadaHun. http://canadahun.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2932300 It would be something to worry about, I suppose, if I were getting paid per book...but since I put it up for free and I did receive credit for writing it, I was sort of thrilled to see my book on the same message board next to Nora Roberts. Ah, the small joys of writing. Hard to explain to someone who hasn't smashed their forehead into their keyboard at 2 am and wondered if they could write at all.

The best place I found my book last night was on a site that lists the most popular ebooks to download! I was thrilled. http://online-novels.blogspot.com/2009/01/temp-most-popular.html

So, it has been two weeks since I put my ebook up online for free. I've made less than
$10, but I am writing up a storm and loving the adventure.

Finally, I stumbled across a website that said that keeping a blog about something you are working on is the easiest way to write a book....so here I am blogging away.

• Keep writing and look for new projects (check). lol
  

Week 2

May 1st -- 1658 downloaded the book for free from Smashwords.
29 have downloaded the book for $.99 from Amazon.com
0 have downloaded it from Barnes and Nobel

The best part about this process is that it has rejuvenated my drive to write. I get up at 5 every day now to put in an hour before work. I squeeze some in during my lunch and I write during almost every nap my baby takes.

I'm still getting good responses on the first book in my Legacy collection. Now, I just have to finish book 2.

I'm debating whether or not I should put up another book before I finish the collection. I wonder if people would like the Double C? It's not the same kind of story. Hmmm. I might want to work on it this summer....make it tighter then put it up. So much to think about.

When the little one wakes up -- it's back outside for me. This weather is too nice to waste.