Scratch is a specialty novel. It’s horror and not many people are into that kind of scary, suspense stuff. I knew that going in so I also knew it wouldn’t be a quick sell as Butta’ has turned out to be. No problem. So what I needed to do to get the story moving was attract attention through a couple of good reviews. I wasn’t getting any by letting the book just sit on Amazon, so I spent one long LONG night sending emails to online reviewers.

These aren’t people who work for major newspapers and such. They are the regular joes and janes like us who happen to get 100,000 views a day on their blog because of the books they read and review, then sending people your way to buy your book or include it in peoples book club list.

Get it out of your mind that you need to have USA Today and New York Times to be ‘somebody’. You are already SOMEBODY and now it’s just taking a minute to get others to know where to find your book and how good the story is.

So, try doing what I did:

1) Found listings of ‘online ebook reviewers’… here’s what I currently have. Keep checking them because they always update. Also, adhere to their REVIEW POLICIES. Very important:

A | Book Blogger Directory

Fiction Blog List

Book Reviews / Favorite Books I’ve Read: Review Policy

Fiction Book Review: About Me

CELTICLADY’S REVIEWS: REVIEW POLICY

Book reviewers on the Web « Robin Mizell: Treated & Released

Indie Book Reviewer

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. I have a bookmark section filled to the brim with Book Reviewer lists. Not a hard thing to do to Google EBook reviewers and your good to go.

2) Follow their review policy and submit what they request.

Done. Don’t pester them. Don’t try to rush their reading. By the time you submit your work to the first couple of hundred for a review, you’ll forget who you submitted your stuff to and then suddenly start getting reviews gradually by people you started with. Takes a few months … some a few days depending on the length and interest of your story.

But if there was any low to no-cost marketing I HIGHLY suggest you do … it’s that. You can take ONE whole day and just send out copies of your ebook (if they accept them and most do) and you would have done your book great justice.

TWEETING for the NON-Tweeter

Again, about Scratch, it was a specialty niche story so I had to find the niche people. Yes, I submitted it to the appropriate reviewers (mentioned above), but what to do with Twitter? I admit, I never really ‘got’ tweeting and never understood how it could be in the same category as Facebook … but millions play there so we should too.

1) In the “Browse Categories” section, I typed in ‘Horror’ and I got the great listing of everyone and anyone into horror.

2) I wrote a message for each twitter that was a magazine or reviewer type blog on horror: @horrorblog check out Scratch from Amazon.com (with a link to the amazon page)

That’s all. Some of them went and retweeted my message to their 14,000 followers and such. I was like “cool’!. I did this when I offered Scratch for free on Amazon. That bumped up my downloads big  time and continued sales after that was better … not the best … but better. Again…specialty niche.

What I would need to do is keep tweeting in that fashion. I did that on Twitter once before to get the attention of Comic book companies for 40 to Go. It worked then and I just knew it would work again and it did.

@meagangood as butta’

Boy, I’ve had some ideas. I mean REALLY different ideas and it’s a matter of time that I’ll remember some of them and put them in action. most of them circled around how to market my books. One such idea I’m seriously looking back into soon.

It had to do with embedding myself with book clubs. First, you need to understand how book clubs work:

1) A bunch of women get together to talk about a book they collectively read

Done. The frills of it… the stuff to make the book much more ‘gathering-able’ is the stuff that happens AT the book club meetings. People bring food, music is playing, the author him/herself may show up.

It’s that section of ‘frills’ that I’m targeting because it attaches the author to the meeting and future readers, plus leaves an unforgettable mark. Sales isn’t the only function here. Awareness is the key.

I woke up this morning with an idea. I mentioned this in a previous journal entry. About the term ‘packaging’. It’s when someone gathers all the necessary elements, actors, etc who would perform in a film and with enough interest, they build the film.

Well, I have no Hollywood influence whatsoever. All I have is a book that is purchased up to 5-10 times a day that gets great reviews from time to time. So I had this idea …

What if I just gradually campaigned for the whole cast and crew … my fantasy list … of people who would play, direct … hell, even write the screenplay … the entire movie to Butta’? Let’s flesh this out…

Goal:

To get talented Hollywood people who want a good story to option Butta’ as a film and eventually make it to Hollywood.

Execution:

Daily subtle Tweeting, online posts, etc ‘suggesting’ (star, director, producer, etc) to direct/act/perform as one of the characters. Nonstop. Constistently. Not enough to be a pain, but enough that it seeps into the  consciousness.

Projection:

Allowed for time for Google and other search engines to capture and when ‘X’ celebrity or director is mentioned, suddenly that ‘suggestion’ pops up connected to that person. Enough times that the right people will eventually read the book, at the very least (.99 cents … come on! Win-win)…and by the time the second book comes out,it makes even more sense. Ideally, some sort of response or connection happens 1-2 years at most. Possibly less if I connect the dots correctly.

Method:

For instance … F.Gary Gray is first choice as director. Meagan Good is Prime Choice to play Butta‘. I just made a category here for her name and ‘Butta’ movie’. Also made tags for it and Mr. Gray. this journal entry is tweeted. This journal entry also shows up online almost everywhere in short time. Especially later on when you Google ’Meagan Good’, eventually. She pops up … my occasional posts “Meagan Good as Butta’” suddenly appear everywhere.

Somebody asks maybe even Meagan herself … ‘Who is this Butta’?’ …. The link is conveniently there…”Oh look, it’s only .99 cents and it’s HOT! Gottta pass this to my agent … agent passes to, I don’t know … F. Gary Gray … wheels spin and I get a call or email:

Stop and desist! 

LOLOLOL… Jokes ….. “Corey, come to hollywood. We wanna talk ‘Butta’”

And I cry for about a day. Tears of joy, I’m sure.

Sounds like a good plan to me.

And so …. it begins

@meagangood is Butta‘

I’ve never really said what my goals were for 2012 except to simply write my ass off. But if you know anything about me, I usually have a more thought out plot to thicken.

Also, I just realized yesterday was my one month anniversary as a consistent published author. Butta’ was placed on Amazon and an eBook after years of bemoaning when and how it would happen. One month later, how did I do?

Butta’ is .99 cents. Why so cheap? Because my goal was to introduce myself as a new author no matter when I started. Forget the past and just get started. .99 wasn’t free, but it had a price that must be paid and you take a chance with a new author and if the past said anything about the story of butta’, anyone who reads it loves it and we can go from there.

In that regard, things haven’t changed. Butta’ now sells at 5-10 books a day. I don’t get much at all except new readers and potentially new fans and that’s all I ever wanted. The idea of getting rich on what I’m doing without a flat endorsement from a publishing company is not in my plans. I know guys with 45+ books out there and they are making a decent living. That’s pretty much where I’m looking to get to. What confuses me is … guys with so many books out there like that making about $1000-$2000 a month … where’s their book deal? That end of the business confuses me.

I’m not there yet so lets not worry about it. I don’t make any real money on the sale of Butta’ but it keeps that title in and around ranking of 14,000 and 23,000 every day. Weekends are at its worse. I think people buy hard on Mondays and taper off by Friday. Even downloading the free stuff also. Weekends aren’t the best for sales it seems … or online for that matter. People DO go outside after all.

Butta’ went FREE for one day only back in January and blew out 717 copies in a day. Put me at #13 in the thriller category.

I never went back to free with Butta’ and just let her do her thing. It worked. As of now, she is purchased at .99 every day. Hasn’t missed a day since a little past January 18th. That’s a great feeling. Never mind the money … that doesn’t matter. It’s a low level viral thing with my best foot forward. Butta’ speaks for me and how I will write for the rest of my life. I hope that draws others to my other work.

In regards to other work, I concluded a new book once a month was reasonable. Mostly things i already half written that i could clean up and put out to EBook. That includes unfinished film projects. So the next book went on a daring adventure to put audio and video in to the EBook. Scratch, a short horror story incorporated audio and video into the Kindle but discovered regardless of the Kindle Publishing Guides approval to use it, it only works for Kindle for iOS and, unbeknownst to them, Kindle for Android. So there were times it just didn’t work. Especially on the hot new device, the Kindle Fire.

It went up for free the first day and went free for a day … about 90 downloads. Then because I needed greater feedback, I posted it for free for three days and it was downloaded 500+ times. Half way through I posted a new version that did not utilize the embedded practices for Kindle and just kept the links that went to a YouTube page for extended audio.

During this first month, I’ve achieved four reviews (two for Butta’/two for Scratch) and both were 5 or 4 stars with praise for storytelling: the point of my existence.

Scratch, no longer free, doesn’t move as Butta’ does in sales but I think it’s the a cross between the price, the shortness of it, the category and the fears that the story may have something to do with harming children, which it doesn’t. Far from it. so the reviews helped a little get that its a good suspense story and since those reviews, sales picked up an ounce more as opposed to a stand still.

The reviews help but I think thrillers might be doing better than horror right now. We’ll see around Halloween.

The free giveaways at the beginning help, but only carry certain books so far afterward. I can’t explain why Butta’ is doing so well. So well, in my terms, as opposed to first coming out and having nothing. Butta’ could be at a stand still like Scratch. I have no marketing. I don’t understand it except to assume word of mouth, a nice cover and a nice price.

The plan I knew worked for other things also seems to work here as well. I know with YouTube videos that you can post one video of anything you do … and it can just sit there. You post a second video, then the first one gets more play. Post a third and then the first two get more views and so on. Backed by online mentioning and continuously churning the butter, sort of speak, things pick up.

I applied that principal to Amazon, knowingly and purposely making sure I had a second book out right after the first and sales did improve to where its at now by the time Scratch came out. Now they bounce off each other slightly with Butta’ getting more sales. Scratch is priced differently and higher than Butta’.

Butta’ will be my only .99 novel.

Thirty-Day Summary:

I kicked ass considering I came from obscurity 2008 to 2011. Amazon has a royalty payout every 60 days so I’m happy to say within my first thirty days I’ll get money deposited and then some if things keep going this way.

Personal suggestions: Less innovation and get to the story. I say this with 40 to Go coming out tomorrow with audio and video attached for Barnes and Noble but its a proven technique for the ePub format so I’m not doing anything new there. I spent too long trying to get the Kindle to work and while I had a few successes, i could have polished off a book and a half. Spend the rest of this first year just putting out content … for content I am burst at the seams with.

2012 Outlook and Goals

Realistic Goal: One book a month with an extra one somewhere in between. I have the material. A lot of half written novels. Just got to focus on putting them together and putting them out. The vault has everything and writers-block is not an issue with a storage of ready-to-go storylines I had stocked up. stick with what works (Thrillers) and sample a few other genres that are selling right now (Young Adult, Vampire and Romantic drama/comedies). I’m happy that I can switch-genres readily. My calculations say that’s enough , at a steady pace like Butta’ at prices of $2.99 average price, to bring about $200-$450 a month.

Over-The-Top but Probable Goal: By years end, deposit a check for $1000+ exclusively on my writing. I can do it one of two ways: dish out 20-40 books but that would mean I’m writing at least two books a month and I don’t have the peace and quiet necessary … nor the respect for what I do in my house. It’s sad but true. Unless I’m bringing in a PHAT check, my writing is looked at as my hobby and essentially I am not working. Needless to say, my HATE for all concerned is a constant source of my heartburn, stress and occasional depression … but I will say my “Kiss my ass” line here right now because later, when its all said and done, I’ll be too busy writing to say it then.

What’s on my side: My switch-hitting ability to write any genre. I have no problem seeing what’s making money and, like a mercenary, bring a story line to it. Chances are I have one pre-written. CommonSense is a GREAT example of that. While it started off as Fan Fiction, it’s horror but the core characters are perfect Young Adult. The stories are already being downloaded on the net. People like the characters and the stories, so I don’t have too far to go to enter the YA market (now that it’s flooded). Thank you, Twilight.

What’s against me: Lack of money, children responsibilities, loneliness. Being online is cool for meeting like minds but online is cold and void. The connectivity of another writer who understands this process would be welcoming AT HOME.

I said it before, it’s so bad, I can write whatever the fuck I want about anybody and it won’t be noticed because they don’t read my stuff.

I am speaking of specifics people. Maybe if I had some food and a fucking basketball in a story …

Disregard (cause I try each and every day) … 40 To Go tomorrow! The first novel that sets off the series in April and my chance to see if this process of a Motion EBook works. Trying out Barnes and Nobles Pubit services for all that.

Let’s go three for three!

Corey

****Updated Below*****

First, I found this incredible realization over here: The forum for Kindle Publishers:

http://forums.kindledirectpublishing.com/kdpforums/thread.jspa?threadID=11288&start=15&tstart=0

Next, when I read it, I was like … WTF??? You see, Amazon has their website, and you are likely getting sales from, other countries (UK, FR, DE, ES, IT) in addition to US.

What Amazon DOESN’T tell you is your profile is over there too … and all the work you put into the US side (The author details, photo and such) ARE NOT carried over.

So, checking it out … sho’ nuff (Latin, ‘show’nough’, meaning “Yes, indeed”, Gee Willikers or “As I suspected“) I had a practically blank profile.

Oh wait … you didn’t know you were getting sales from other countries?

In your KDP back end, when looking at reports, there is a drop down that says: View Report For… Chose a different country and see where your book was selling. France never gives me any love, but the UK has been treating me like I was Josephine Baker!

Anyway, I’m sure Amazon has a snazzy one click way to access these other sites to change them, but i don’t know how so … allow me to show you ‘Corey’s Bogart-the-scene’ method of getting your other country profiles tweaked:

1) Got to this link: https://authorcentral.amazon.com

It’s your regular Author Central link at Amazon.com (US)

2) Let’s start with the UK:

CHANGE https://authorcentral.amazon.com

to …

https://authorcentral.amazon.co.uk

3) You’ll go thru the same motions you did when you first opened the Amazon.com version (US) and you’ll have to verify your email again. It will ask you which books you have there (as if!!!!) … and presto! You got more internet work to do. (I know, right? Damn … don’t we do enough bio-placing, typing, updating, tweeting, form filling, etc).

But if you love your work, and you want more people to know about where you are and who you are in Germany or Italy … I’d get on it.

For the record, the other sites would be:

https://authorcentral.amazon.de

https://authorcentral.amazon.fr

https://authorcentral.amazon.es

https://authorcentral.amazon.it

OH! Question just popped into my head: Should the work be translated for that country?

Hmmmmmm… I’ll send an email to Amazon and get an answer. Once I get it, I’ll post it here as an update.

Peace and go get yours!

****Updated: Response from Amazon.com*****

Hello Corey,

My name is Chantel from Author Central.

When submitting your information on our International websites through Author Central, the content you submit will be auto translated to meet that websites preferred language.

Our international websites that currently support Author Central are the following:

Japan:  https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/help/contact-us/english-speaking-customer.html

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/gp/help/contact-us/english-speaking-customer.html

France: https://authorcentral.amazon.fr/gp/help/contact-us

The United Kingdom: https://authorcentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/contact-us

I hope this helps, and if you have any more questions or concerns please feel free to contact us again using the link below:

https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us

Shifting from Amazon this time around, 40 To Go will be released as a regular series in EBook format, similar to Scratch. The advantages here are the embedding qualities found in making an ePub are a whole lot smoother and acceptable. Would have stuck with Amazon/Kindle but the Kindle Fire isn’t ready right now.

So, lets see how we fair with Barnes and Noble and their Nook.

40 To Go: Beginnings officially starts the series and, technically, can be called a pilot. Below is a sample of a scene of audio from the … the … what the hell is this? Not a comic book. Not really a motion comic or a graphic motion comic.

Well, that’s why I came up with Emotionry.com (E-Motion) … kind of a twist on Ebooks and ‘motion’ and ‘emotions’, which is what I strive to touch in readers. Gosh I’m either corny or ingenious. THAT will be discovered years from now. Right now, people think I’m crazy.

I just can’t understand why nobody can see the plentiful value out of multi-media eBooks? Meanwhile I’m getting blank stares as if I’m talking in f’n Russian. I just don’t get it.

Well, if that cooks their perspective, then this plan I have for placing ‘banner ads’ in this eBook will really get them going. The idea is, since the failure of Kickstarter, somebody has to pay! So, instead of a free regular online series … 40 To Go gets a $1.99 price tag slapped on it, people pay for banner ads and a page or two of ad space and suddenly I’m making a profit from whence there was none.

With the Kindle Fire being the problem child in the mix … and everyone just DYING to get their hands on a Kindle Fire … making my readership 75% Kindle Fire owners, something had to be done for those owners that couldn’t read Scratch because it stopped working on KF.

So, i nixed the embedded audio and video and just left the links which are easily accessible.

Not the same effect I wanted (as you would get with the Android Kindle App, which is where the embedded audio/video worked 100% (strange as it sounds). But not everyone has the Android or the app for it. and it was iffy everywhere else too so just to play it safe … it was fun while it lasted, but now Scratch is just the regular story with regular hyperlinks.

Just uploaded it so it should be ready to go by the morning. It’s running for free so I’ll let it run till Friday as planned.