Amazon Done Good, part 2

Last week I wrote an article (linked here) where I talked about Amazon’s hunter/ killer strategies when it came to seeking out reviews they felt were unfair. Reviews by authors on other author’s books, for example. Their hope is to kill bogus reviews written influence customers, either positively or negatively. I wondered if there campaign would have some bearing on a series of novellas I wrote that had a few people slam them into the gutter with one star reviews blasting me for asking people to pay $.99 for books that ranged from 15,000 to 32,000 words.

You see I took those seven novellas down last year after I was hit below the belt by the handful of people (handful as in I had a few fingers left over when I counted up the negative reviews I received, even though they went out of their way to post 1 star reviews on multiple books). I’d sold thousands of copies of each, bringing them into the top 10 and top 20 lists in their genres (science fiction), but not that many positive reviews that a few stinkers couldn’t drag the books into the rubbish heap. I compiled the novellas into an omnibus (Vitalis Omnibus) and then later wrote a full novel length sequel to it (Vitalis: Resurrection). I have plans for future Vitalis books as well, but I haven’t had a chance to revisit those yet. I even left the first novella (New Beginnings) on Amazon but set it so that it was free to download. My way of apologizing to people who might think I was trying to screw them over.

Five or Six months later (as in, last week) I got to thinking that maybe a few pricks were sucker punching my books because they wanted to help their books reach the upper ranks on Amazon. One reviewer even commented in his review that there should be enough 1 star reviews to knock my books out of the rankings. Yes, he really said that. I don’t know if that review is still up or not, Amazon has removed several of them already. I received my 4th quarter results from Smashwords and since I’d removed them fro Amazon I never put much thoughts into the novellas. Well they were still on Smashwords, and that meant they were still out there on iTunes, Sony, Diesel, and others. My results weren’t earth shattering but I sold enough of the various books to let me know that no, I wasn’t crazy. People did like them and they weren’t pissed off about the rock bottom price I assigned to them. Especially considering so many other writers ask more for works that are even shorter!.

So now they’re back and I’m excited to see how they’re doing. The results aren’t great yet, after a week, but they’re promising. I’ve seen some action on them. A few sold here and there. A far from the 5000 a month I was selling in April and May of 2012, but I’m patient and I’m happy to get whatever I can out of them. They don’t need to be bestsellers, I just want to know that people don’t really think I’m trying to screw because, damn it, I’m not!

And to my fellow writers out there. Knock that shit off. People read what they want to read. You don’t do anybody any good by trying to beat somebody else down. Try helping instead. I have writers ask me things all the time – a hookup to a cover artist or an editor or tips on how to do something. I help them and I’m happy to help them. They, in turn, come right back and help me when and if the need is there. Good will goes a lot further than bad.

As another example, Gayla Drummond, a writer and blogger in her own right, had some discussion with me on the prior post and that prompted her to hop up on a soapbox and vent her thoughts on the matter (linked here). G.L. Drummond’s site can be found here, by the way, and I’m happy to recommend checking her out. Not just because she’s got a heart of gold and agrees with me, but because she’s an intelligent woman with talent. That will lead to good books every time. Agreeing with me and having a heart of gold also helps, by the way.

To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to read about him, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.

Did Amazon Do Something Right?

I was chatting via email to another writer the other day who was asking for some tips on getting his first book out there. The man was an English Lit professor and here he’s asking me for help with words. I found that ironic. But I shared what few tips I have. It boils down to writing a lot, accepting criticism, writing some more, making sure you find decent editors, and then doing some more writing.

I also touched on the reviewing process (part of the criticism speech) and how bad reviews can sink a book. I mentioned how Amazon is trying hard to eliminate bogus reviews, although they take some good ones along the way. I went on to talk about how my Vitalis series, when I sold them as novellas for $.99 a pop, were butchered by a couple of people that slammed them  in reviews because I was allegedly trying to abuse Amazon’s system and being greedy. Nevermind that the price for buying the Omnibus is the same as it was for buying all seven novella length stories.

I had a possible epiphany while writing that. I took my novellas off sale after the abuse I received for them. Prior to the hateful reviews they were ranked in the top 20 and top 10 in their categories (sci-fi). Was it possible the bad reviews were actually bogus reviews written by other writers? In some cases I even had identical reviews on multiple books from the same person! It got me wondering, with Amazon’s push to eliminate bogus reviews would my novellas possibly stand a chance of being popular again?

With that thought in mind, I’m going to re-release my Vitalis novellas. Book 1, New Beginnings, will remain free. The rest will be $.99. Here are the links if you’d like to check them out – or at least try the first one (it’s free!).

Vitalis books:

Episode 1: New Beginnings

Episode 2: The colony

Episode 3: Parasites

Episode 4: Screamer

Episode 5: Squatter’s Rights

Episode 6: Evolution

Episode 7: Matriarch

or the Vitalis Omnibus (parts 1 – 7)

Vitalis: Resurrection, the novel length sequel

To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to read about him, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.

Weapons of the 21st Century

With a title like that, this blog has to be pretty cool, right? Well, I leave that to the reader to decide, but here’s a spoiler: the weapons I’m referring to are words.

I just did something I try not to do very often. I read my reviews. Not the reviews I’ve written, but rather the reviews people have written on my books. The last 4 were 5 stars, then a 3 star, then numerous other 4 and 5 star reviews. Pretty darn cool, I have to say!

But that’s dangerous too. I’ve figured out a lot of things as a writer with over 20 books published. I’ve learned how to write through adversity and slumps. I’ve figured out what makes the books interesting for me and the readers. I’ve learned the value of good editing. And according to a lot of my reviews, I’ve written some great books and have made some lifelong fans. It would be easy for me to think I’ve peaked and I don’t need to learn anymore. FAR FROM IT!

There’s so many things I want to try and learn that the list is limitless – and that’s just with writing! I haven’t even touched on hang gliding or scuba diving. Reading reviews that praise books like Bound, Bounty, and The Lost Girls leaves me a very warm and fuzzy feeling. Yet it doesn’t teach me anything. Oh sure, it tells me I made some people happy and that’s a great thing. I’m here to entertain, after all, but I want to know what I can do better. The writer that can’t improve his craft has not yet been invented. I certainly appreciate the reviews though, and I hope to earn many more yet to come.

So this blog post is to share some great reviews on the books linked above. It’s also to remind myself and any of my peers paying attention that no matter how good it gets or how great we may feel, we should never take success for granted. Reviews, for example, don’t put food on the table. Working hard and always striving to write the next book a little better than the last one, on the other hand, can help pay the rent.

To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to read about him, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.

 

The Woes of the Written Word

This post is dedicated to editing. Not how to edit, nor what a wonderful thing a good editor is. Rather it’s about the different styles of editing and how very misunderstood the concept of editing is. I’m far from above making the mistake of misunderstanding it as well, it took several books and years for me to be able to wrap my brain around it. Truth be told, I’m sure I’m still missing out on a lot.

You see I hate typos and grammatical mistakes. They infuriate me because they’re so easy to miss. I assumed, years ago, that by sending out my work to an editor they would magically be corrected. Then I’d get reviews or comments complaining about how my book needed editing. I keep my hair short for many reasons, not the least of which is so that it’s too hard for me to pull it out when stuff like that happens.

The misconception is that all editing is the same. It’s not. All of my books are edited, and nearly 95% of those are done by a third party person as well as myself (and sometime by other parties as well). The third party is the content editor. A content editor is reading the story and looking for it to make sense and to make it flow better. They help revise poorly worded areas and also catch other things that drag a story down or make it difficult to read / understand. These people can truly make a story shine, yet to the average reader they have no idea these people exist or that they aided in the publication of a given story.

Then there’s the copyeditors, or proofreaders. They look for the formatting and typographical errors. Copyeditors are the parade soldiers in dress uniforms that people see. They make a writer and a reader feel like they’re being protected from the barbarian hordes wielding fragmented sentences. In reality, the copy editor has less of an impact on the story than anyone else does, yet their work is the most visible. For me, most of my stories have not been reviewed by a proper third party copyeditor. I admit this and regret it, but when it comes down to managing costs it’s a difficult burden to bear. Instead I try to do my own proofreading (shame on me, I know), and try to sucker anyone else I know to do the same. As time and money becomes available I send stories off to be copyedited, but I write faster than I can afford to edit so it’s a growing backlist.

So my friends, when I say I’m a stickler for editing, I mean it. That doesn’t mean you won’t find superfluous errors with no impact on the story though, it only means the story itself has been polished and shined to be something fun and provoking. I’d love to be able afford to provide both, but that requires more sales. How can you help? Tell your friends what you’re reading and how much you like it – it helps even more if the book your reading is one of mine! Tweet about it, post it on Facebook, blog about it, or write a glowing review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, iTunes, Sony, Kobo, or wherever you go it. And keep checking back, I’m always writing the next book – my current project is Black Widow, book four in the Lost Girls series, which I’m hoping to release in August.

To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to learn about him, his books, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.

Learning to Surf

I spent a week in Florida recently in a hotel on Daytona beach. Beautiful hotel, beautiful ocean, beautiful beach. You get the idea. Anyhow, I was blessed with some waves coming in from some mild storms that happened a few days and happened to see several people surfing on them. I was clueless as to how to surf, but I decided I want to learn how someday. The rest of this post, however, has nothing to do with the ocean or with surfboards or the ocean, for that matter.

It’s really about the changing tides writers must deal with when it comes to book sales. And by writers I mean me – I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’d wager other people have similar experiences. Right now, for me, the ocean of book sales is calm. Calm, by the way, is not always a good thing. By calm I mean very little movement, or maybe only the little swells best used by someone with a boogie board.

Back in February my books started taking off. I’d already grown disillusioned with KDP select so I wasn’t using it much at all. Instead I just focused on writing and releasing books. My daily sales grew at a rate that astonished and thrilled me! I climbed from 30 books a day to 50 and then by the time March was in full swing I was nearing 100. April saw my sales climbing to 200 on a daily basis, and in May I’m not sure I had a single day under 200, with many breaking 300. I was in the zone and loving it! Now it’s June, and suddenly things have changed. I say suddenly because it’s been just like that. Over the last week my sales have tanked. I was amazed (in a good way) to see I still broke 100 yesterday.

So WTF happened? I’m still writing and releasing more books as rapidly as my fingers and editors will allow, yet the sales have dropped. This is interfering with my kids college plans, not to mention my own desire to write full time. Can I blame Amazon for tweaking their algorithms yet again? My guess is that there is something along those lines behind the drop in sales. Frankly, I can’t imagine anything else causing a drop so severe. I could shake my fist at Amazon and beg them to bring back the old formula, but I might as well stand and curse at the ocean for a still day.

As a creative and driven guy, it’s easy to see that wallowing in self-pity isn’t going to fix the problem. Action begets action! The answer then is to push forward. I’ve been fortunate to have experienced the successes that I have thus far. I’ve sold thousands of books (and given away tens of thousands), but I desire to sell hundreds of thousands more. Sure, maybe I’m greedy, but I’m a very thankful kind of greedy!

My plan, in case you haven’t figured it out, is to weather the storm. Keep writing and publishing. Perhaps I’ll stay in becalmed waters, but the more material I have available, the more people it will reach and the more word will spread. It might be slow, but it beats climbing out of the surf altogether. Long term success in this field, I believe, comes from perseverance and in having a large library for readers to choose from. I’m branching out into different genres and trying many different things, all geared at broadening my offerings. It may not be a big help, but I guarantee it’s not going to hurt me. And at the end of the day, every book sold is a exactly that, a book sold.

So my fellow writers, take heart if you don’t see things taking off as you’d like them too. You may never ride a massive wave, but as long as you keep trying you should have some level of success that makes it worth it. And for my readers – thank you so very much for reading and enjoying what I’ve done thus far. Take heart from this that I will continue to write and continue the stories you’ve loved, as well as attempt to introduce you to new stories and new characters that are also deserving of your love.

And my apologies for the excessive use of oceanic metaphors and allusions. No dolphins or other marine life were harmed in the creation of this blog post.

To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to learn about him, his books, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.

This is what worked for me

I’ve been reading recently about how Amazon changed their algorithms to determine what’s listed on the most popular lists. I guess there are now three lists even, one which takes free books into account, one which decreases freebies and another which ignores free books and weighs books based on their price (higher price = higher ranking).

This change is upsetting a lot of independent writers, most especially those that use the KDP Select program. By offering up their books for a day or two free every 30 days they can boost their downloads and appear higher on the “most popular” charts. Then they drop down again as other people do the same thing. It’s a vicious cycle that requires a lot of work. I tried it for a little while and my ultimate opinion on it was…not for me.

I felt kind of like a used car salesman offering up blue light specials and dancing leprechaun gimmicks. Instead I decided to forgo the KDP Select and instead focus on expanding my distribution to include Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, and a few other retailers for my ebooks. My print books are available to Amazon and Createspace.

So what’s my angle? I’ve got free books out there. But the difference is they’re free all the time. Voidhawk, Wanted, and Dark Earth are freebies at present. I anticipate that changing in the near future, but for the benefit of my readers. I’m adding another freebie to the mix! But more on that when it becomes available.

Until then, I’ve got my freebies that stay free. The sequels for those books I do sell, and I seem to do pretty well at them. Not well enough to give my dayjob the finger, but I’m working on that.

To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to learn about him, his books, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.

 

Sharing Success

2012 has been a very interesting year. There’s been so good news and some not so good news. I’ve had loads of challenges in all sorts of venues, and so far I seem to be doing well (knock on wood). Now it’s time to share some of that with the people who have helped me along the way. Oh sure, I’ve got a long ways to go but assuming I’m not in the middle of a statistical anomaly, I’m on my way thanks to a lot of hard work and perseverance.

KDP Select. That’s been a big buzz word for 2012 and late 2011. Some writers say it’s changing their lives. Others say nothing because, well, it didn’t. I was skeptical at first, but I tried it in a limited fashion. I saw some success with those books, but like many people report the success isn’t lasting. It seems to work well when using the free book promotion as a loss leader for a series, but I could have already told you that (more on that in a little bit). Now that I’ve run several books through it for 3 months I’m opting out of it and have no plans to return. Sure, for a $.99 book it’s great to receive $1.60 or more for a borrow, but the number of borrows are insignificant compared to the number of sales. Even a ratio of 10:1, in my experience, is generous.

So instead of using KDP Select I’m going to broaden my distribution channels. Does that offset the potential difference? In my case yes it does, even though the amount of sales I generate from everybody who’s NOT Amazon are pretty insubstantial. What I’ve found works far better is selling the first book in a series for $0.00. Yep, free. I’ve talked about it before and I stand by it. Especially in the case where the subsequent books in the series are $2.99 or more. I have a couple of those and I’m working on a few more. I’m planning on releasing Devil’s Icebox, the sequel to my free paranormal fantasy novel Dark Earth, early May and it will be priced at $2.99. I have two or three more books planned in that series. I’m at three sequels right now to Voidhawk, my freebie super-novel (each priced at $2.99) and they’re practically jumping off the shelves – and my next project is the fifth book in that series. Hopefully by early June I’ll have another series opener that’s a freebie too, but we’ll have to wait and see how things go with that one.

On the other hand, I have a series of $.99 science fiction books. I price them at $.99 because they’re all novellas in the 20k – 30k word range. I’ll be honest, I’m considering raising the price to $1.99 on them, but I’m not sure. Right now all five of them are on fire, with each being on various bestselling lists. I hate to screw with the mojo, but I also have to be honest and realize that my goal is to devote all of my working hours to writing and sating my readers need to read more. I can’t do that without either more volume or higher prices. I will put it in writing that, under Amazon’s current pricing template, I’ll never raise my Vitalis books above $1.99. Oh, and for those following the Vitalis series I’m part way through the sixth book, Vitalis – Evolution. On a personal note, I’m absolutely thrilled with this series. It excites me in ways that may be illegal in some states!

In 2012 my books have taken off. In April I haven’t seen a day where combined sales in the US and UK dropped below 100 books. That shocks me to my core and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I need more in order to meet my goals, but that’s my job to earn, not my readers job to give. I have a few theories on how those increased numbers have come about, especially since every paid attempt at advertising I’ve tried thus far has met with resounding failure.

A. Loss leaders to draw people in and make them realize my writing is pretty good. The writing factor depends upon the writer and the editor, and those are obviously important variables. But if someone can write a halfway decent book and remove the mistakes with some decent editing, giving away free books is a great way to generate interest and get people to check out your other, not-so-free books. Especially if you have one or more series.

B. Links. I go out of my way to make it as easy as possible for people to find my books. I put links in all of my books to the other books I’ve written, as well as links to my website and blog. Both the website and blog have links as well, making it easy for people to click it and get it. Think about it – ask yourself whether you’re more likely to buy something that’s right in front of you or something you have to go and hunt for?

C. Amazon is truly an independent author’s best friend. Some people will bitch all day about how evil Amazon is. Why is Jeff Bezos and the Amazon empire evil? Are they stopping anyone else from doing business? Do they prevent me from selling my books on other venues? What Amazon has done is make it possible for someone like me who doesn’t fit in with the established traditional publishing recipe to still write and find people who want to read quality material. There are plenty of people great writers selling millions of books traditionally, but there are tons of other guys out there too. We’re no less talented, we just aren’t as fortunate or don’t fit in with the paradigm of traditional publishing methodology. Amazon leveled the playing field for us, and in doing so they’ve opened the floodgates and made it so that excelling isn’t about being in the right place at the right time with the right person, but instead it’s about hard work and being talented.

And that’s just the balancing part, it has nothing to do with the extra benefits a successful writer at Amazon can gain. By selling books on Amazon each book gains a little more chance to be displayed on various lists. Bestselling lists, similar book lists, you-might-be interested-in lists, and the list of lists goes on. It doesn’t just happen, and it’s not a matter of pure chance. It happens thanks to a lot of hard work writing, editing, and promoting. And that brings me to my next point…

D. Writing. Quality must come first, but second to quality is quantity. I accepted some time ago that I’ll never be a one hit wonder. I may never be a consistent best selling author either. It’s not that I suck – I’m actually pretty good at it. It’s because there are some writers out there that have savant level talent when it comes to stringing words together. For others, the answer is to just keep writing. At the time of this blog I have 18 books published, number 19 in editing, and number 20 partially written on my hard drive. #21 is planned out and ready to begin as soon as 20 is finished. By the end of the year I hope to be close to 25 or 26 books published, and for the most part I write full novel length books. Yeah, it means a sacrifice in time spent relaxing or doing other things, but my family is very supportive because they share my dreams of making writing my day job. If I can make that happen then I can maintain my pace or even increase it, yet be able to slow down enough to get a full night’s sleep and truly enjoy all facets of life. I’m a ways off still, but writing will get me there.

The reason writing works isn’t just because I’m famous and people can’t wait to read more from me. FAR FROM IT! I’m a relative nobody in the publishing world. Up through and including March of 2012 I’ve probably sold fewer than 7,000 books. I’ve given away close to 80,000 books, but that’s not even a drop in the bucket. The reason writing more books helps is because when somebody finishes one book, they can go and find another book you’ve written. Maybe they’ll tell a friend, and maybe that friend will have a similar experience. Plus every new book is a chance to reach out to a new reader that’s never heard of you, but by scanning for new releases they find it and give it a shot, then they’re sucked in and want to see what else you’ve done. There’s a synergy to it, and the end result is that the more you write, the more you sell. I have no intention of ever stopping writing, even if I can reach the point of publishing 100 books or more. Heck, my Vitalis series could easily reach beyond 20 titles by itself! My Dark Earth setting, through the various series that take place in it, is already at five (soon to be six) books and I’ve got plans and ideas for at least four, if not more.

I once read something about the difference between writers and authors. To summarize, writers write. Authors have written. If you want to be successful you need to write, not reminisce like a high school quarterback about how you wrote a book one time…

To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to learn about him, his books, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.

Researching Success – Continued

A fellow writer and dear friend of mine, J.E. Taylor, paid for an advertisement as book of the day in Ereader News Today late last year. Thanks to the exposure, her sales skyrocketed for a couple of days. It wasn’t just exposure, for the record, I happen to think she’s a hell of a writer too. I’ve been trying to get a spot reserved in there as well but apparently I haven’t been quick enough to snag one for 2012. Woe is me.

But I did just manage to land a quarter page ad in a magazine called Shelf Unbound. It went live today and I have to say, I was impressed with it. Not just my ad, but the magazine too. Check it out, my ad is on page 37. While you’re there enjoy the magazine too – it’s free and interesting.

How are my sales doing because of this? Well it just went live this afternoon and it won’t be published to iTunes until 24 – 48 hours, so I’ll wait and see. The add will run through March, giving me (hopefully plenty of exposure). I’ll be sure to post on the success (or lack thereof) for this experiment as well…although if it’s successful I may be slightly delayed until after I get a few more ads lined up for future issues!

As far as overall success as a writer is concerned, I consider the fact that I can consider paying for an advertisement to be a milestone in itself. I’ve got a long ways to go, but I’m fighting to get there!

To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to learn about him, his books, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.

My Path to Writing Success: Giving

I’ve promised updates on the marketing experiments I’ve been conducting on myself (cue mad scientist laughter), and I’m now able to give an update. After several weeks of trying to figure out how to make it happen, one of my attempts at getting Wanted to go free on the Kindle succeeded. Not only did it go free, but inside of 24 hours it climbed to the #1 spot on Amazon’s best selling list for science fiction / adventure free books. I didn’t think it was possible, but after a stumble at the #2 spot it managed to beat out The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells and it’s still there, 4 days later.

So that’s great, but how does that help the bottom line if all those books being “sold” bring in $0 revenue? The exposure has caused my other books to sell better, especially Voidhawk. Even better though was the sales of the sequel to Wanted, Ice Princess. I blogged a while ago about the power of the sequel. Well in this case that power is really blowing the roof off! Sure, I’m losing out on revenue from Wanted, but considering the increase in Ice Princes sales, I’m more than making up for it. Ice Princess sales have increased over 20x.

So what’s next? Trying to figure out if I can recreate this miracle for my other books that are in a series. Vitalis, Dark Earth, and Voidhawk. I’ll be sure to share what I learn along the way – and in the meantime go ahead and check out Wanted, it’s free on the Kindle in the US!

Wanted, on Amazon

Wanted on Amazon UK (not free)

Wanted on Barnes and Noble (not free)

Wanted on Smashwords (free)

 

To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to learn about him, his books, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com.

Ahh Karma! (Review on Human Nature)

I review a book, somebody reviews a book for me. Pretty darn good trade I’d say! Read on for a bit on the review done for Human Nature over at “Love on the Bookshelf”.

This book had me at post-apocalyptic. I admit, I’m a sucker for post-apocalyptic stories whether they’re books, movies, or just a good yarn. Now, Human Nature didn’t have Kevin Costner, but it was still a really good story. Dawn Vincent, aka the Doctor, is one of a handful of people left on Earth that survived an alien attack. (I know! There are aliens!) Most of the aliens have left, deeming Earth unworthy of their attention, but they left a few stragglers that are causing trouble. You know, like killing and eating the humans. And not necessarily in that order.

The real theme in this book is growth. The human race is growing stronger against the aliens. As she works on patching people up, Dawn grows

more confident in herself and her skills – both as a doctor and as a leader. And, an unexpected love grows between Dawn and ________. Well, I can’t give it away, can I?

Read the rest of the review here.

Or click on the image to read the book itself!