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librarything

Three Updates

Posted on September 26, 2012

1. Jerks Begone
Librarything.com seems to have listened to the complaints about the abuse of their Member Giveaway system. In short, two things conspired to taint the giveaway:

  1. There was no an upper limit on copies that authors could give away
  2. The default view of the page ranked books by “copies remaining” in the giveaway. Other filters were available, but no one was going to use them.

Those two issues meant that whoever had the highest number left was given top-billing on the page. Result? Ten million copy giveaways were not unusual in the last few months, as authors tried to “outbid” each other, knowing that–really–they’d never give more than a few dozen copies away.

Well, in a recent giveaway (see below), I noticed that ebook giveaways are limited to 100. Way to go, Librarything! It only took months for you to program NUM =< 100 into your system.

Now, if you could just improve the data entry experience (like not wiping out critical information upon editing the entry, or not listing each and every country with a checkbox next to it when I pick “all countries.” Saying “all countries” is just fine. I’ll know what you meant.).

2. Finding Emma Giveaway
I’m giving away 25 ecopies of my psychological thriller/horror novella, Finding Emma, on Librarything.com. I’m asking for a review in return. Not a bad deal!

The Giveaway goes until October 4. There are already 35 entries for the 25 copies, but selection is a random pick by Librarything, so everyone has a chance!

Enter giveaway at Librarything.com:  http://www.librarything.com/er_list.php?program=giveaway

Finding Emma on Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Emma-ebook/dp/B008O6RB5Y/

Synopsis

“…a masterful blend of suspense and intrigue.”
– Ray, Amazon Top 1000 Reviewer, 5 star review

No one likes Jack. His wife is gone and his neighbors avoid him. He’s a recluse and a creep and that’s just the way he wants it.

But when ten-year old Emma goes missing in the nearby woods, the eyes of his neighbors turn on him in fear and accusation, escalating as the days pass. The answers they–and the reader–get, however, are the last that anyone would suspect…

Finding Emma is a novella of literary horror totalling 17,500 words or about 70 paperback pages.

3. A Reason to Live price reduction
To celebrate the release of Blueblood I’ve reduced the price of A Reason to Live to $2.99 on all sites (check sidebar to the right). Get it while it’s hot! Get it while it’s buttered!

Posted in: My Books & Titles | Tagged: amazon, discount, Finding Emma, free, giveaway, Kindle, librarything

Six Suggestions for Book Reviewers

Posted on September 25, 2012

Reviewers provide budding authors–and other readers–with an invaluable service, the unbiased consumer review. This is an especially precious service in an age when we can’t wholly trust the literary gatekeeper we had (traditional publishing) nor, even if we could, depend on it to keep up with the avalanche of indie books coming down the pike…and are going to continue receiving in the coming years.

[Read more…]

Posted in: Tip Tuesday | Tagged: alexa, amazon, blog, bloggers, book reviewers, books, goodreads, independent writers, kobo, librarything, reviews, Shelfari, technorati

A Colossal Waste of Time

Posted on May 23, 2012

In preparation for promoting some upcoming titles, I wanted to check in with the giveaway page on Librarything.com and see if anything had changed since I ran some giveaways of my own back in November and January.

Things have changed all right. Imagine my surprise when I saw this news blurb on the LT homepage:

There are 11,007,517 copies of 85 books being given away.

Err…what?

[Read more…]

Posted in: Art and Obligation | Tagged: ebook, giveaway, goodreads, librarything, writing

A Brief Rant on Bad Reviewers

Posted on April 4, 2012

Lord knows independent authors couldn’t survive without the wonderful amateur book reviewers on sites like Amazon, Goodreads, and Librarything.com. I love my thoughtful reviewers (the 2-stars and 5-stars alike) and often thank them for their time. If I ever hit it big in e-publishing, it will be because of them.

But there’s a particular kind of reviewer that drives me crazy. Their approach or conception of what it is to rate or review a book is deeply flawed, unfair, and–frankly–unhelpful to other readers. I’ve boiled down what bothers me about this kind of reviewer in a simple statement:

Your dislike for a genre or format does not constitute a fair criticism of a work.

[Read more…]

Posted in: Art and Obligation | Tagged: amazon, author, critique, ebook, goodreads, librarything, rant, reviewer, writing

Which Ducks? The Author’s Promotional Toolbox: Part II

Posted on January 27, 2012

(This blog post is the second in a two-part series. Read Part I here!)

In the first part of this post, I discussed the important of having blurbs or varying lengths for your book and a set of cover images ready for any occasion. You might also find the following handy to have around when you’re neck deep in promoting your newest title.

You
Almost every online opportunity to display a book also includes a chance to show off the author. Don’t miss this chance to sell yourself!

  • Short bio
    I haven’t seen any particular requirements here, but think of it like your book: having a one-sentence description of yourself as a writer can never hurt. If you come up against a “describe yourself in twenty words or less” request on a site, you’ll be ready. Bits like this can be useful for Tweets and Facebook posts, as well.
  • A medium bio
    This is handy for the Amazon “About the Author” section. Mine is 99 words long, is chunked into two paragraphs for easy reading, and mentions two of my novels (though both are currently unpublished. I would recommend having a “generic” bio that doesn’t assume your book title(s) are nearby, as mine are in my Amazon bio). You’ll find you’ll need this description for author bio sections on Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, Librarything, ScribD, and many more sites.
  • A long bio
    Your medium bio will probably be your workhorse. However, I’ve seen interesting one-two punches on authors’ personal sites where they have both a short and long form. The more interesting the author, the more likely–and useful–a long bio might be. Use your best judgment: if you write spy novels and have twenty years of experience as a CIA operative, you can get away with 400 words on yourself. But probably not if you write cookbooks.
  • Awards and  testimonials
    Have your testimonials and award nominations ready. Check spelling, dates, and facts. If you are lucky enough to have multiple awards or testimonials, arrange them according to impact or length; you may not have the luxury of using them all.

Your Records
This is a little nerdy, but I have a .txt file of all the URLs that matter to my career or to my books. There are many occasions when you may want to include in an email or blog post not just the URLs where readers can buy your books but also your Goodreads profile, a positive reader review, or a place readers can review/rate your book directly.

Here’s an excerpt:

AMAZON/KINDLE
[Author page]        http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00642SZQO
[Three Shorts]       http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0062OM416
[Hard Way]           http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0062OMHD6
[Match]              http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0062OMGBY
[Kind]               http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0062OMW9A

The primary objectives here are convenience and accuracy: you don’t want to have to Google your own Amazon page or try to type these things from memory with the chance that you’ll screw it up and send valuable readers to a “404 Not Found”.

(Again, I use a text file to avoid unnecessary errors; since you’ll often be using this text file to copy and paste links into websites, don’t take a chance that hidden word processor formatting will mess up your links.)

(Also, make sure you keep the “http://” in the URL.: many sites do not add it for you, with the result that if you copy and paste just the “www.” part of the URL into an input box, for instance, it will error.)

Your Sites
As a former IT professional, I can tell you that this next piece of advice is normally a security no-no: keeping your usernames and passwords written out. But let’s face it: you’re going to have a half-dozen or more (maybe many more) accounts related to your writing career and its promotion that have nothing to do with your “regular” online life.

I didn’t have any of these accounts before I started epublishing:

  • WordPress
  • Web host and (separate) email address
  • Amazon KDP/Author Central/Amazon Affiliate
  • Smashwords
  • B&N
  • Wattpad
  • Scribd
  • Goodreads
  • Librarything
  • Twitter (separate from personal)
  • MeetUp
  • Bit.ly
  • Bing Webmaster Tools
  • Kindleboards
  • MailChimp/Constant Contact/TinyLetter (mail programs)
  • A half-dozen writer-centric accounts that existed before the epublishing jazz began (Sisters In Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Virginia Writers Club, etc.)

Many of them can use the same user/password combo, but others have different requirements. With this kind of madness, I ignore my inner IT Manager and keep accounts listed in a document* on a secure site with one strongpassword (a capital letter, a number, a symbol, and a minimum of eight characters,). As a backup, the passwords in the document are also just strong hints for myself, not fully written out.

This saves me immense time when I’m trying to do promotion: I don’t want to waste time and energy trying to find or remember my Twitter, Facebook, and website password to promote a simple blog post.

 *I treat sites that deal with my financials [Amazon KDP, where you have payment info] differently. I do not list these in the master document I describe above.

Your Results
This section is entirely up to you, but I find it handy to have a spreadsheet of any part of the promotion process that is iterative. For instance, I have a spreadsheet of all the book bloggers/reviewers I’ve discovered and keep running tabs on: Name, Date Contacted, Date Submitted, Queue (i.e., wait time), email, blog URL, Affiliations (do they blog for a group or just themselves), and Notes.

For my blog posts, I keep a running tally of the Title, Date Posted, and whether it was a Guest Blogpost or not. You get the picture. Anything you might likely lose track of is often best kept in a worksheet.

Summary
With promotion being a large chunk (some might say the larger chunk) of an epublished author’s job, keeping well-written, carefully constructed information about yourself and your books accurate, up-to-date, and accessible saves time…time better spent writing the next book.

Posted in: Tips for eAuthors | Tagged: author, ebook, electronic distribution channels, Kindle, librarything, novel, novels, promotion, publication, publishing
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