What Price Success? (ECO-WARRIORS) (Volume 1)
The re-issue of my novel Spirit Bear now available for pre-order
This was my first novel and though far from stellar it deserved better than to languish on my publisher’s website. So when the contract expired I yanked it and have re-issued it as an indie publication, both in paperback and e-book.
Will it do better? Let’s just say it can’t do worse.
I fixed a few typos, tweaked the front and back matter, designed a new cover and added the word “saving” to the title. It’s now called Saving Spirit Bear.
I began by using Amazon’s Createspace to publish the paperback version. I find this platform pretty straightforward and the turn around time remarkably quick. Unfortunately, Createspace does not have a pre-order option, so the paperback is out there and available for $7.99.
I took advantage of Kindle Matchbook, Amazon uses the same files from Createspace to publish a companion e-book on Kindle Direct Publishing. The only condition is you have to sell your e-book for $2.99 or less.
It’s too easy, really.
KDP has a pre-order option so I’m trying it out.
The book-marketing gurus tell you this is the best way to “gimmick” yourself onto the New York Times bestseller list – briefly. The deal is you promote your book in advance as a pre-order and the day the book is released those pre-orders are converted to orders all at once. That could give you a real bump in the ratings – maybe enough to make it to a bestseller list.
If you make it to that esteemed position, however briefly, you can legitimately(?) promote yourself as a bestselling author, forever, on any book you write. You’re not saying the book is a bestseller, only that at one point in time the author had a bestseller on the New York Times bestseller list – thus, a NYT bestselling author.
And saying a book is written by a New York Times bestselling author evidently sells more books.
Can this possibly work?
Only a couple of months ago my novel, The BIG PICTURE – A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic had two sales in one day and my author rating jumped from 2,593,668 to 173,973, a gain of 2,419,695 points.
So yes, I would imagine this gimmick can actually work.
In my quest to become a New York Times bestselling author I’ve also lowered the pre-order price to 99¢ from $2.99.
I’ve also published Saving Spirit Bear on Smashwords which allows you to set up a pre-order account without even uploading a book. The price there is also 99¢ during the pre-order period, after which the e-book will be $2.99.
From now until November 8, 2015, when the e-book edition of Saving Spirit Bear becomes available, I’ll be trying to find ways (like this blog) of letting readers know about this pre-order deal.
Both KDP and Smashwords allow me to check to see how the pre-orders are flooding in – or not, so I’ll keep you posted.
I’d like to become a New York Times bestselling author, but I’d rather not do it manipulating sales figures and ratings. However, when I read all the excellent independent authors whose books are abandoned in the backlists of Amazon and Smashwords for no other reason than the lack of publicity I realize I have to give this a try – for them as well as myself.
Stay calm, be brave, watch for the signs.
