Win some lose some but which way is best? Kindle Unlimited??

Here's another article I had to share. Each author needs to decide which way is best for them. To join KU or not to join. It's never easy. Because we don't have a time machine. There will be some losers and some winners. What we do know from amazon statistics is that romance, erotica and thrillers are the best sellers. Then it makes sense that these writers, if they jump the right way (not sure which way that is) will be winners as the readers who buy the most books buy within these genres.


"To all my fellow writers and self-publishers out there…


Some of you may be aware that Amazon launched its “All you can read for one low monthly fee” program in July of this year (2014). Essentially, you can now download and read as many ebooks as you like from Amazon’s Kindle platform for only $9.99 a month.


While this is great for readers, many Kindle-based authors were on the fence about this new program. After all, for those of us who rely on sales of our books to do pesky things like pay the rent, what would a program like this do to our bottom line?


Well, after about a month and a half of KU (that’s shorthand for Kindle Unlimited, to those of you not hip to my jive), I can certainly see some patterns emerging when it comes to my own work. But before I get into this any further, here are the basics of the KU program:
Only books enrolled in the KDP Select program are offered to KU users. All books outside of KDP Select must still be purchased, even if you subscribe to KU.
Authors get paid from the Kindle Online Lending Library (KOLL) fund. Essentially, all books downloaded by KU customers are treated like “rentals.”
Authors only get paid from KU downloads if the end user reads 10% of the book. (Apparently, Kindle has a way of tracking this.)


Since its inception, many authors have noticed there has been a definite change in their KDP stats. Personally, I’ve noticed sales have gone down slightly, while rentals have gone WAY up. Like, way, WAY up. As in, I barely got any rentals before KU, and ever since KU launched, I’m getting a butt-ton (it’s a word) of rentals on a daily basis.


So here are my recommendations for taking advantage of Kindle Unlimited, from what I know so far…
Use extended enrollment in KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited for all Erotica, Romance, Mystery/Thriller, Short Stories, & Children’s Books.
Keep books short – 10-20 pages (or roughly 4k-8k words).
Break books up into serialized content if they are in KU-heavy niches.
Use KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited for book series, but consider keeping one-offs or stand-alone novels outside of the Select program if you are in KU friendly genres.
Use KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited for the first book in a series, with the rest of the series outside the Select program and sold around $2.99-$4.99, using $0.99 sales to entice readers to buy. "

To read more: http://matthewkadish.com/author-marketing-101-verdict-kindle-unlimited/

How important is a book title?

I imagine it's very important.

I just came across Lulu's title scorer.

Lulu titlescorer

Enjoy.

It was interesting that some of the best sellers didn't score so well. The Secret didn't score very well, but we all know it's a runaway seller.

Are we going to see another Dot Com Crash?

I've just read Rebecca's latest email and it worried me. Is there going to be another Dot Com crash? What's going to survive? How will we market our books in the future? I've copied and pasted the article from her email below.

'The Dot Com Crash I predicted in What's Working Now magazine is on its way. Here are some things you need to know ... Anyone who told you recessions don't happen online was lying to you. The online economy works just the same as any othereconomy. It has cycles. None of your online gurus have warned you about this, because they don't KNOW this. Most of the 'veterans' of online marketing have only been marketing online since the mid 2000s ... WAY after the last Dot Com Crash. The only people you know who can help you navigate this WHEN it happens are people who ran successful businesses online before 2000, and who were still running successful online businesses in 2001. Everyone else either doesn't have the experience to guide you, or they failed.  I was running a successful internet marketing business in 1999, and was still running successful online businesses after the crash. In fact, I helped start another online business after the crash that became the top business in its niche.  Below is a graphic of what happened yesterday with tech stocks. So what has this got to do with you? Tech stocks? You know.... Facebook, Amazon, Google ... If you market anything online this is relevant. If you're an author, this is relevant. If you're building a business based on getting Facebook leads, this is freaking CRUCIAL to understand. Facebook could go. Vanish. Cease to be. It happened to companies that were - relative to the numbers online - more significant than Facebook in the last crash.  When? Any time. Last time it took about 10 days to go from this to a slippery slope, and a couple of moths to crash completely. This time it'll probably take longer because the industry has so much more social proof behind it... but it'll crash. The feeling before the last crash was exactly as the feeling has been online over the last year.  THIS is why I've been SCREAMING for ethics and stable business principles. THIS is why I only work with companies that I know have the specific backgrounds that make them far more likely to be resilient in a crash than others. THIS is why I coach my clients the way I do. I don't care if they have shiny object syndrome. I don't care if they stamp their feet and demand the latest toy. I teach them how to run RESILIENT businesses, and how to build their BRANDS in such a way that they will stand tall when everything else falls.  If Facebook went away tomorrow, do you think people would still open my emails? Yes. Do you think they'd still answer the phone? Yes. Do you think I'd still get paid? Yes. So would many people online - temporarily - if they'd taken the time to build a brand. But after that, things would change. The people who actually KNOW what they're doing in the new normal will thrive. I've done this once. I know exactly how much things change on the flip side of what we're experiencing today. My clients and team members are safe. We'll be standing tall when the gurus who showed up after the crash fail to know what to do, and fall. Which group will you be in when the time comes? Rebecca.' Join-Rebecca.com  Join me on twitter: olgaolha or facebook: MysteryAndThrillerWriters Group The Deadly Caress on kindle

REDRAFTING

Hi

I'm up to page 148 of my fantasy story The Girl In The Mirror. Still loving it. I can't wait to finish it and do the next draft.

I found some great tips in the Writer's News regarding drafts and editing.

Summary of Stewart Ferris's article.

1) First sweep: Look at improving story structure.

2) Next sweep: Focus on characters

3) Focus on dialogue

4) Look at the descriptive language, etc. Ensure your descriptions do not look like large blocks on the page. If you must have the description then filter it in a little at a time.

5) Lastly, do a simple proof read.

I want to add to these and put point 5 last.

6) Look at chapter conflict which is different from the plot conflict. Each chapter must have its own nutshell of conflict (which enhances the plot). This is like the spokes of a wheel. The wheel being the plot.

7) In each scene ensure you have at least 3 of these...colour, dialogue, sounds, smells, conflict. Conflict being the most important one.

8) Look at adjectives. Always use only the best one to describe something. Get rid of the rest.

9) Repeated words on the same page. If it is intentional, then it's okay, but only then.

10) Overuse of descriptions or words.

11) Look for plot holes.

12) Check that main character's voice is consistent.

13)Look at back story as well. Too much and the story stands still.

14) Don't forget to enjoy the process.

Don't forget to make the first chapter as good as possible. A poor first chapter will sink you.

Leave me some comments if you found this useful.

Bye for now.