/lit/ - Literature

>>3065865

That's pretty much it. Giving it away for free both endeared me to potential fans and just got exposure all over the place. In the first three months the first book was downloaded about 5000 times. In this last day and a half, the books have been downloaded around 2700 times combined. Still trying to get that number way up, but we'll see what happens. I'm kinda running out of advertising options.

I actually just started a google ads campaign and have hired someone to tweak it for me, but most of my ads have been facebook-oriented or by handing out flyers and business cards. I've been trying to break into reddit and twitter, but haven't had much luck from it. Thought briefly of doing craigslist ads, but don't really know how to go about that.

Right now it's kinda at a plateau, which is kinda disappointing. They're both in the top 5 for sci-fi with a day and a half left of promotion, but I won't think I've succeeded until I hit the Top 100. Just need to find a way to get there.

Oh, I completely forgot to include this. It's a short video I wrote along the lines of Poe and Lovecraft, so you might be able to get a feel for my writing, even though it's a different style. It's much, much sillier and immature, as it's about a victorian gentleman having a bit of an ....accident. I have a feeling it's right up 4chan's alley, though.

Anon, I present The Telltale Fart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkwLyKA50gQ&feature=youtu.be

You'll want to have headphones or loud volume so you can actually hear it.

>>3063327

They tend to want things they imagine will be wildly popular. The closest thing I could claim for that is my series could be classified as an adult rip-off of The Hunger Games (which is a bit of a sore spot. I didn't know about the series til I finished the first book).

I actually didn't bother with direct dealings with the publishing houses. The quickest turn around with author-to-publisher communication is something like six months, which could still just be a "no." The best way to go about traditional publishing now is by agents, and they just weren't going to put themselves out there for me since I was a first-time author, especially since it was a trilogy and they had no guarantee that I would finish.

That and, honestly, when I was going after agents it might not have been the most well-crafted book. I edited it for about six/seven months while I was putting out queries and waiting for responses, taking turns with writing this second book. By the time I gave up/got impatient and went the self-publishing route, the book was much better than what I had been giving agents. Even then it still had some problems, which is why after a couple reviews I spent a couple weeks making a second edition before releasing the second book, while also finishing off the third book.

I've been busy.

>>3063768

Aww, I would have print-screened that! I'm not complaining, though, since they just broke 500.

My goal is to get to the Top 100 this time around. My last successful promo for the first book got it to 106 in all books and 2 in all sci fi. Believe me I was so upset when I realized I had gotten that close.

So it looks like I'm going to run to the movies, but I'll be back in a couple hours if you guys have questions/want to make fun of me.

>> 3063188

Not a single one, actually. I have an issue with integrity, I have a little too much of it, so I try to stay out of the way. Only thing I've done is talk to the people who are more critical and incorporate their feedback into future edits.

Even more strangely, most of the reviewers are strangers. My friends offered to leave reviews to help it sell, but I told them they needed to read it first. There are one or two reviews on there from friends who haven't read it, but I was pretty upset at them. Enough that other friends got the hint.

>>3063177

Yes and no. I tried going through the traditional route for a long time, looking for an agent to help me through. Unfortunately, the style of book I was offering was not something they could sell in the era of 50 Shades, paranormal erotica and YA flooding the market. To get my stuff out there, it became almost necessary to self-publish.

Luckily, it seems to be working out. I'm impatient, so I constantly have to remind myself, but I'm doing fairly well. The first book was downloaded 5000 times in the first three months, which is a big number that impresses everyone. Along that line, I have almost 2k fans on facebook, and I'm hoping only 80% of those are bots.

On the other hand, like you said, publicity is the biggest problem. I've had to spend a bunch of money on ads and with little income to show for it. For indie authors it's all about exposure, and to do that I have to offer it for free and push it that way. Along those lines, whenever I do a free promotion I try to line it up with a big convention which helps me pick up the numbers. This weekend it was NY Comic Con.

What's really cool is that I make sure to talk to people already in the industry and they seem to be supportive. Just this weekend I gave books to Mike Mignola(Hellboy), Ryan Sohmer(Least I Could Do/Looking For Group/Gutters), and Bill Willingham(Fables), who actually remembered me from HeroesCon earlier in the year. Then I have a bit of a secret weapon with Tycho from Penny Arcade, but it might be some time before that pans out.

So for me, it's looking like it was worth it. But I had a bunch of capital to invest and, well, not to be horribly egotistical, my books are pretty good. The only problem is that I'm almost by myself. I have a couple friends who help every once in a while, but when I'm sitting at my computer at two in the morning and editing the third book, it's hard to feel confident that I'm doing the right thing.

>>3063168

Thanks, Anon. Free does tend to be popular. There are reviews on the Amazon pages if you want public opinion.

And here's the site: kevinkauffmann.com

Hey, /lit/ it's been a while.

Few of you guys might remember me from a few months back when I was talking about my first book, Murder of Crows. As I recall, a couple Anon actually read it and had positive things to say about it.

Well, I'm back because I'm all done with the sequel, Phoenix Rising, and both books are free for the next couple days. And even though I probably shouldn't say this, the second book is way better. If you like dystopian fiction or mythology at all, you might want to check it out.

I meant to tell /lit/ a while ago, but 4chan has been kinda stubborn with me. In fact, it's doing it now, too.

I'll be around to talk about the books, writing process, self-publishing, all that jazz. Won't even be bothered if you guys decide to rip into me, so go for it. Kinda stuck at the computer for the next few days, anyway.

>>2756048

Alright, last one. The way that Kindle borrowing works is that if a friend grabs a copy of a book, they can let you download the file for about a week. That means someone liked the book enough to tell their friend they had to read it, and now that friend only has a week to get done with the entire book unless they want to buy it.

So, unlike other readers, that particular reader has a time limit of a week. They're much more likely to read it than just keep it on the shelf. And then when they're done they might tell other friends, etc., etc. Just another way to get easy word of mouth.

>>2755525

Sorry, had to do that sleep thing. Just checked the stats and 2586 people downloaded it and three random people bought it (one person borrowed it, which is exciting for another reason).

So six real dollars in the pocket and I *think* that I get a very small amount for each free copy. If that's the case, even at one cent I'd get $25, too. Nothing compared to what I spent, but I'm super happy about the turnout. And that's the last I'll talk about it unless anybody asks. I really didn't mean to hijack this thread.

Also, there's nothing wrong with women writers. A lot of them write terrible lit, but so do men. Gender has little to do with it.

(cont)

And because of that, the book clones come out. To a small extent I had to go down the same path. I don't particularly like my book description because it sounds too much like the baby of Hunger Games and this science fiction book which I can't remember right now. But, you have to draw people in. It's the only real sacrifice I had to make in content, but I made sure not to let my actual work be affected.

Other authors don't do that. In order to make their book deals and put food on the table they make all-out copies and inspired works from the most popular books in the genre. Classic romance novels, science fiction, fantasy, all the genre literature does it, which is why it usually has a stigma associated with it, but the paranormal erotic fantasy is what hurts me the most. It's usually horrible writing, the books are CLEARLY working off of Twilight (even if it was old school Anne Rice it would be more acceptable) and now it's the go-to success for publishers and agents alike.

50 Shades is basically the culmination of this trend and it is just .... frustrating. It is total and complete disregard for good writing. And even though Time isn't really relevant anymore, to see that woman's name on the top 100 is enough to make my blood boil.

Because they're right. She is extremely influential in the literary world. She's killing it. And really, it will only get worse.

>>2755080

I chose the 2.99 minimum at 70% royalty. That's the great thing about the Select Program. I can still grab up the people who want free stuff without turning into a panhandler.

>>2755087

Basically I agree with 2755095. As a writer it's incredibly frustrating:
A) because of my ego. I'm understandably not the best writer, but I really try to make stories worth reading with the best possible writing and I know other authors doing the same. Writing is a craft that people dump years and even decades into refining and even then most of the time the final products are not entirely satisfying.

B) It's basically dancing on the corpse of the industry. What stopped me from publishing regularly was the fact that the whole industry is broken. The only REAL way to get published these days is through agents, directly trying to contact publishers is like playing darts underwater while wearing a blindfold. It's a six month commitment of time and expectations for the most likely answer of being ignored.

Thus, agents are the way to go, but just like the publishers, they don't want to invest any of their time on anything they can't sell. In order to really have a chance, authors must(not always) compromise their work in order to have mass-market appeal.

(cont)

>>2754873

Don't... just, don't. When I learned about it I was livid. I read the first couple pages and then the summary/author paragraphs on wikipedia and it broke me for a couple minutes. The woman wrote Twilight fan-fiction and then re-worked it into a female sub fantasy and is ridiculously rich now.

And Time named the author one of the top 100 most influential people of the year.

That said, from an objective standpoint, she is actually THE success story for self-publishing. She published the first book online and then the attention she got was able to bring in the publication companies. Got a three book deal out of fan-fiction.

But her writing is cancer and makes me angry for authors who actually try to make something of merit. So I'll just stop, now.

>>2754822

What I got from it was that he thought I didn't care about dumbing down the themes or the story in order to sell the book, which is exactly right. I didn't compromise any aspects of the novel in order to attract the masses.

And without actually reading any of the book how can you know I write shit? If you did, I apologize, but it's pretty unlikely that you took any time with it.

I wouldn't be insulted if the plebs do like it, actually. I'd rather a series like this be popular than 50 Shades of Grey. The plebs might not get all of it, but there's multiple levels to enjoy and the writing quality doesn't make me want to throw up like Shades.

>>2754810

Hah, it's a problem I've had for a long time and only recently have I started to get over it. I really don't want to waste anybody's time or annoy people by clamoring for attention. Even the possibility of doing so kinda unnerves me.

Luckily some growing up and waiting tables really helped me start to ignore it, but, well, sometimes the sentiment hits me hard. Besides, I had been monitoring that thread for about seven hours. Felt like I had overstayed my welcome.

>>2754770

Here's the site. You can click the big red button and get a free book :) kevinkauffmann.com

I was keeping up a thread on here for most of the day but then, well, I felt like I was being rude to keep bumping it.

It's sci-fi, but really light on that aspect. It was just a good way to tell the story.

>>2754744

God, yes, and I wish I was there, but, alas, I will still be waiting tables come Wednesday. But that's the thing:

No one knows me. Now, 2400 people in addition to the other 1000 people now have my book sitting on their kindle, PC, or whatever they use to read ebooks. That's 3400 people that could read my book, tell their friends, and then at such a cheap price ACTUAL sales could start coming in.

And once the momentum starts, it really doesn't stop. Book sales are like that. I'm certain that the last thousand of my sales came from the fact that my book was the #2 top-selling free sci-fi book today. And before today I was NOWHERE close. I had sold all of six books between this promotion and the last. It would have been absolutely fantastic to break into the Top 100 free books today, but I'm at 106 with just an hour left. Kinda infuriating to come so close.

Still, for an unknown, unrepresented 25 year old who self-published two months ago, I really, REALLY, can't complain.

(cont.)

And just as a personal example, my first two free days I had 500 people download the file, my second set of two days I had another 500 people download it. I thought these numbers were really good, even though it's hard to really ever be satisfied in this realm. I tweaked my marketing and advertising strategies and prepared for today, which was my last free day until the August rollover.

I had about 2400 people download it today. I have an hour left and it would be awesome to get to 2500, but I'm trying not to get ahead of myself. While it's probable that a lot of those people aren't going to get around to actually reading it for a while, that's 2400 extra people that could possibly love the book, leave reviews, and most importantly recommend it to their friends.

When's the last time three dollars stopped you from reading a book that your friend was telling you to read? To me it's just as big a barrier as one dollar (mainly, the effort of putting in a credit card number. I'm lazy)

tl;dr Really up to you

>>2754678

I've heard that .99 is a great selling number, but the math just doesn't work for me. To me and most of the people I know, there's very little difference between one dollar and three. Add to that the fact that with the select program you get those five free days and that exposure you would normally receive for being just a dollar kinda dissipates.

The way I see it, you get the exposure of being cheap when it's free, which I see as WAY more likely than the dollar option, and then when people start to respect the work and hear about it, if they buy the book you're getting two dollars per copy instead of thirty cents.

For self-publishing it's really just about exposure at first. My first book is part of a trilogy and I basically went into it not expecting to make any money off this first one. That's what the sequels are for. Once enough interest is garnered, I can charge a bit more for the sequels and make back my investment.

So, kinda like a drug dealer? First taste is free.

(cont.)

>>2754587 This

I might suggest doing just an e-book format first through Kindle Direct Publishing, which is part of Amazon. If there are any errors or people see things wrong with it, it's really easy to fix.

Plus, if you enroll in the Kindle Select program you get five days out of every three months to promote your book for free and get extra exposure, which, as a self-published author, is really what you need in the beginning.

Also, the royalties are way better. Minimum pricing is .99 cents at 30% royalties, which really sucks, or 2.99 at 70% royalties, which is what I opted for.

Once you do that and reviews start to come in, it's easy to set up the print version through Createspace. The only cost associated with that is if you use their services for editing or design or opt for more exposure into bookstores. Royalties suck for print versions, but it's always nice to have a book in your hands. I didn't feel like I had really self-published until my first proof came in the mail.

And something I'd really suggest: hire a professional editor. I had a handful of minor errors in my book that I wish didn't make it into the final product, but I'm kinda stuck with them now.

>>2753791

Never heard of the movie before writing the book, either. A murder of crows just happens to be a popular phrase, referring to a group of crows. There's actually about twenty books with the same title; my content is just drastically different.

It's actually a perfect title for it. All my characters are on a team called the Crows and they're constantly dying. And there's a third layer, as well, but that's at the end of the book, so I don't want to spoil it for potential readers.

>>2753637

Unfortunately the traditional way of getting published is archaic and I decided I couldn't trust it, at least not directly. In most cases it takes six months just to possibly get a response(most of the time that doesn't even happen), let alone a book deal.

I did try for a long time to get an agent in order to have a leg up in the publishing world, but as other posters have noticed, it bears some similarities to Hunger Games and, really, most people are biased against science fiction. It's really difficult to sell.

Most genre literature has stigma associated with it, but I feel like science fiction has it pretty bad. What sucks is that except for two or three factors, there's very little science fiction in my books. By the third book the only thing that could be considered science fiction is that it takes place in the future. For me, it just happened to be the best way to tell the story and explore the characters and themes.

Basically, I was impatient and didn't want to spend half a year just to get rejected or ignored, especially since I already have the second book done, too. And with the advent of e-books, the business model is changing. My dad actually gave me the advice, since that's what he experienced with Kindle. He would buy the first book for dirt cheap, and then once he got hooked he would pay more for the sequels. Since I'll be done with the entire trilogy by the end of the year(they're all pretty short and I spend a lot of time writing), it just makes more sense for me to pursue self-publishing.

And, well, apparently I'm getting results.

>>2753605

You rock. I won't give my own opinion of the books, but I've heard it's engaging from people I don't even know. I wish I could discount the physical book, but it's not in the cards.

Thanks a lot, Anon. I appreciate you.