|
Posted on Tuesday, March 06, 2012 9:59 AM
I've just finished a one-week FREE campaign for The Second Mouse Gets the Cheese. During that time 1,339 readers downloaded an electronic copy of the book. and once again people are asking, "Why would you give away that many copies of your book?" The question is the same one I've been hearing since last summer -- and my answer is the same, too. In case you've missed it, here it is again. In the last chapter of "The Second Mouse," I wrote:
Someone
mentioned that my book, Beyond All Price,
had become the number-one bestseller among Amazon’s free Kindle editions of
historical fiction. What did the other listeners hear? “Free.” One fellow shook
his head in pity: “That’s nice, Carolyn, but those are all copies you gave
away. They’re worthless. You didn’t make a cent on them.” I don’t remember what
I mumbled in response. But here’s what I should have said:
 “Worthless? More than thirty
thousand people now have my book in their hands. It didn’t cost them anything,
but they asked for it because they wanted to read it. How is that different
than a patron going into the town library and asking to borrow an interesting
book? A library buys one book and passes it around until the cover falls off.
The author may earn a few cents, but
the readers get it for free. Money doesn’t bestow any value on a book. The only
thing that gives a book value is the moment when a reader picks it up and
“gets” what the author has to offer – whether that’s new knowledge, an
emotional experience, inspiration, understanding, or pure entertainment.
So, in answer to all the critics of
electronic books, as well as to all those who judge an item’s worth by dollar
signs, I suggest that Kindle’s free book offerings are the equivalent of a
great public library. Both provide free books to readers. Sure, a reader still
has to pick and choose among the offerings. Some books will be wonderful and
some will be trash. But it matters that they are free and accessible to millions
of people who would not otherwise be able to read them."
If you missed the last offer, the Mouse's e-book is still available at $2.99 on Amazon. Or if you want a real bargain, you can find it at smashwords.com for only $1.50. The Coupon Code REW50 is good until Sunday, March 11th. Happy reading! |
|
|
Posted on Sunday, March 04, 2012 2:05 PM
 During this promotion, you can find my books by clicking on the links below:
Beyond All Price, a Civil War novel based on the life of Nellie M. Chase, nurse for the 100th Pennsylvania Regiment. The trade paper version currently sells on Amazon for $12.78.
But go to:
Use Coupon Code REW50 and get the e-book for just $1.50.
The Second Mouse Gets the Cheese: How to Avoid the Traps of Self-Publishing,
an anecdotal account of why and how I managed to abandon traditional
publishing methods and become a best-selling independent author. The trade paper version currently sells on Amazon for $9.32.
But go to:
Use Coupon Code REW50 and get the book for just $1.50.
|
|
|
Posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2012 12:45 PM
Book news is leaving me overwhelmed this morning. Yesterday, a member of The Military Writers Society of America posted a review of my newest book on Amazon. By pure coincidence, hers was the tenth review of "The Second Mouse Gets the Cheese," and that magic number made the book eligible for a free promotional period. So without my knowledge, The Mouse 's price dropped to $0.00 last night on Kindle, and the downloads began. By this morning, here's what the book listing looked like:
 It's an exciting development, because those rankings will promote sales even after the promotional period is over. Even better, I'm seeing some fallout for my other books as well. Several other sales have happened this morning. Somebody even bought the paper version of The Second Mouse.
Anyway, between watching the sales figures rise and trying to do another editing read-through of a 3/4-finished historical novel, I'm buried in virtual books! I can't promise how long the free offer will last; it will be purely at the whim of Amazon. So if you have ever considered exploring the possibilities of self-publishing, here's a place to pick up some free tips and advice. Happy reading.
|
|
|
Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2012 11:20 AM
 On "Good Morning America" today, the "Play of the Day" featured a chimpanzee who is able to memorize the locations of randomly-placed numbers. He can handle as many as 19 numbers, even when he sees them for less than a second. I need that chimp!
 The numbers popping up all around me this morning are book prices -- my own book prices -- which have been changing and bouncing around without warning. When I began to plan for the book launch of "The Second Mouse Gets the Cheese," I decided to reduce the prices of all the books on my website. Now, understand that we're just talking about trade paper copies of the books. (To get electronic editions, you have to go elsewhere.) So I took $3.00 (a nice round number) off both of my self-published books and offered free shipping. I already had cut the price of "A Scratch with the Rebels" in half because the remaining copies in my inventory have been laying around here for almost 5 years. I finished editing the website to reflect the new prices, and sat back, satisfied with my decisions.
Then up popped a couple of moles. First, Amazon lowered the price of of one of those books by 28%, making the paper version of "Mouse" a strange $9.32. Several days later, they lowered "Beyond All Price" by 15%, to $12.78. At that point, one of my special offers was lower than theirs, while the other was higher. Sales were doing a little better than I had expected, so I decided to leave well enough alone.
Ah, but we weren't through. I had set the price of "Mouse" on both Smashwords and Amazon at $0.99, which should have been appealing to budget-minded folks, but apparently wasn't. Meanwhile, the publisher of my 2007 history, "A Scratch with the Rebels" enrolled that book in the Kindle Select program and opted to take their free days right now. They're doing amazingly well. The Kindle free version has popped up at #2 in Civil War history, bested only by a version of Lincoln's Gettysburg address! But "Mouse" is suffering from the competition.
 There's only one solution to competing with a free book (even one of my own!). I have now listed "Mouse" on Smashwords for free. Will Amazon follow suit? Probably. They don't like being undersold. But when will that change occur? I have no way of telling. I'm just sitting here, waiting for that particular mole to pop up.
In my days of traditional academic publishing, I could release a book and sit back, knowing exactly what was going on -- a set price and standard distribution channels. But self-publishing? Wow! It's a constant challenge to keep up with the changes. Wonder how I contact that chimp! |
|
|
Posted on Thursday, November 17, 2011 9:52 AM
I'm in over my ears again this morning. On the writing front, I'm deeply into a series of Frogmore chapters on proposed land sales that took place in South Carolina in 1863. I pounded out over 2700 words yesterday, but the discussion is still in its early stages. I'm hearing conversations and arguments in my head, and I need to get them down before they fade away.
However, I also have to go to a Chamber of Commerce meeting to set up a "mini-expo" for our Lions Club Pecan Sale this morning. That ties me up from 10 until 1. And after that, I must try to straighten out the confusion surrounding a book talk in South Carolina that the planners wrote into their schedule but forgot to tell me about. Arrrgh!
So, to keep you occupied, I thought I'd pass along an interesting bit of statistics. More conversations are breaking out in writers' groups about the whole question of pricing ebooks on Kindle. Every side has its advocates. Book publishers recommend high-end pricing (naturally), while self-publishers like me testify to the benefits of low-end pricing. Finally, some folks are getting around to analyzing the question statistically. The most conclusive bit of analysis I've seen is this simple graph done in mid-2010.
Here's what this shows. If you have a book priced on Kindle at $1.99, you can expect to sell 1200 books, and you receive 35% of the cost. That amounts to $840.00 in your pocket. If you price the same book at $9.99 (the publishers' standard), you can expect to sell 75 books and receive 70% of the cost. That's a blazing $52.00. Why is there any question about all of this?
|
|
