How I have not made a million on Amazon or Darcie Chan and Me - CrimeSpace2024-03-28T19:10:02Zhttp://crimespace.ning.com/forum/topics/how-i-have-not-made-a-million-on-amazon-or-darcie-chan-and-me?commentId=537324%3AComment%3A366703&feed=yes&xn_auth=noDear Rob:
The youngest of my…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-02-03:537324:Comment:3669262013-02-03T14:48:36.354ZJames E Stantonhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JamesEStanton
<p>Dear Rob:</p>
<p>The youngest of my grandkids just graduated from high school so there's no hope for me in that regard. I should have started writing at 20 instead of 60. If I had started in 1965 I would have been ready to pounce when the first wave of ebooks hit the beach. Luckily I now can afford to be a starving artist. Keep at it.</p>
<p>Jim</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dear Rob:</p>
<p>The youngest of my grandkids just graduated from high school so there's no hope for me in that regard. I should have started writing at 20 instead of 60. If I had started in 1965 I would have been ready to pounce when the first wave of ebooks hit the beach. Luckily I now can afford to be a starving artist. Keep at it.</p>
<p>Jim</p>
<p> </p> Thanks for sharing your exper…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-02-01:537324:Comment:3668042013-02-01T02:32:23.248ZRichard Krausshttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/RichardKrauss
<p>Thanks for sharing your experience, Jim. Entertaining and educational. </p>
<p>Thanks for sharing your experience, Jim. Entertaining and educational. </p> Hi Jim,
This all sounds very…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-01-30:537324:Comment:3667222013-01-30T08:04:10.332ZRobert Harthttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/RobertHart
<p>Hi Jim,</p>
<p>This all sounds very familiar, though thankfully, not from personal experience. I've avoided Amazon because of their exclusivity clauses. Smashwords are far more supportive. What I'm hoping is to build a strong following through word of mouth and genuine reader reviews. The downside to that is that I have to put up with the one-star reviews of people who complained that my violent, double-figure body-count Pulp homage was too bloody. Aside from that, my following should be big…</p>
<p>Hi Jim,</p>
<p>This all sounds very familiar, though thankfully, not from personal experience. I've avoided Amazon because of their exclusivity clauses. Smashwords are far more supportive. What I'm hoping is to build a strong following through word of mouth and genuine reader reviews. The downside to that is that I have to put up with the one-star reviews of people who complained that my violent, double-figure body-count Pulp homage was too bloody. Aside from that, my following should be big enough to guarantee a living wage by the time my grandkids (yet to be born!) have retired.</p>
<p>Best of luck</p>
<p>Rob</p> Fun.tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-01-29:537324:Comment:3667172013-01-29T21:18:09.143ZJack Getzehttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JGetze
<p>Fun.</p>
<p>Fun.</p> Hey, Jim. Excellent piece. Ve…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-01-29:537324:Comment:3665422013-01-29T16:27:54.239ZCharles Kellyhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/pulpnoir
<p>Hey, Jim. Excellent piece. Very entertaining. I can't believe I'm replying to your post without plugging my books, but your virtue must be catching. I've been trying to figure out the system, too (gee, I guess I'm one of several million by now), and I agree that whatever advantage early adopters had in the self-published system has gone away. Perhaps a year ago, when free books were still a novelty, I put up a little self-help book on KDP Select, Amazon's promotion platform, and gave away…</p>
<p>Hey, Jim. Excellent piece. Very entertaining. I can't believe I'm replying to your post without plugging my books, but your virtue must be catching. I've been trying to figure out the system, too (gee, I guess I'm one of several million by now), and I agree that whatever advantage early adopters had in the self-published system has gone away. Perhaps a year ago, when free books were still a novelty, I put up a little self-help book on KDP Select, Amazon's promotion platform, and gave away 8,000 books in two days. After that, sales picked up for a while and I wound up selling about 500 books. Since then, giveaways have done very little for me. However, I continue to publish--just put out a biography of a mystery writer--and I'm finding some success doing what you are doing: seeking out blogs and people that have a specific interest in a particular book. Okay, I can only go so long without mentioning at least one book. The bio is Gunshots in Another Room:The Forgotten Life of Dan J. Marlowe. Marlowe was an amnesiac hardboiled writer, and I've been approaching operators of hardboiled/noir sites with good results. It's a long, hard slog, but I'm very grateful for the opportunity to get my books to readers directly, and to do marketing on the Internet. Thanks again for a fun read.</p> Focused advertising! Excellen…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-01-29:537324:Comment:3665402013-01-29T14:57:16.884ZI. J. Parkerhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
<p>Focused advertising! Excellent.</p>
<p>Focused advertising! Excellent.</p> Ironically the only things I…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-01-29:537324:Comment:3667122013-01-29T14:44:49.343ZJames E Stantonhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JamesEStanton
<p>Ironically the only things I have found that worked at all were some tactics I made up on my own. When I put out "Tales of Ramasun", a memoir of my experiences at the US spy base of Ramasun Station in Thailand during the Vietnam War I just searched the net for vets websites, especially anything to do with Ramasun or the Vietnam War or military intelligence. I found quite a few of them and posted messages on them if they would let me. Most didn't mind that I was trying to flog my book. …</p>
<p>Ironically the only things I have found that worked at all were some tactics I made up on my own. When I put out "Tales of Ramasun", a memoir of my experiences at the US spy base of Ramasun Station in Thailand during the Vietnam War I just searched the net for vets websites, especially anything to do with Ramasun or the Vietnam War or military intelligence. I found quite a few of them and posted messages on them if they would let me. Most didn't mind that I was trying to flog my book. Some even featured it and published excerpts from it. It wasn't enough to make it a great seller, but at least I got the word out and even made contact with three old buddies who I had been searching for for years. They even found their way past my pen name, but then we all were spooks and spies so we should have been good at that. I plan to keep writing regardless, it's a lot more fun than book promoting and, like you say, if you can reach some sort of 'critical mass' of books out there they may feed off each other. </p> Welcome, Jim Stanton. That w…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-01-28:537324:Comment:3667032013-01-28T22:10:19.748ZI. J. Parkerhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
<p>Welcome, Jim Stanton. That was very funny and your books sounds good to me. Your experience with making a success out of Amazon publication is fairly common. Many of us came at it too late by months or years. Things changed at Amazon as the numbers of self-publishers sky-rocheted. When people started using dirty tricks to self-promote, Amazon stopped them. All of this illustrates that a few people made big money for a short time, and then things began to change. Even Joe Konrath, who is…</p>
<p>Welcome, Jim Stanton. That was very funny and your books sounds good to me. Your experience with making a success out of Amazon publication is fairly common. Many of us came at it too late by months or years. Things changed at Amazon as the numbers of self-publishers sky-rocheted. When people started using dirty tricks to self-promote, Amazon stopped them. All of this illustrates that a few people made big money for a short time, and then things began to change. Even Joe Konrath, who is the guru of self-publishing, has become very quiet. His most recent advice has been "keep writing." For a very good reason: if you don't have a new book out every few months, people won't know you exist.</p>
<p>So, meanwhile: Very good luck with your projects and keep publishing and writing!</p>