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10 Reasons You're Not Selling eBooks
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I'm not going to beat around the bush, I'm going to tell you what I think, and it might offend you. Yep, and I got run over too. In fact, you can see me in this video, about 1:00 minute in. It all started in mid-June 2009. I’d just finished up my first year of teaching in China and was set to travel. Beginning in Hong Kong, I took the train up to Beijing, stayed a week, then moved up through Mongolia and into Russia. By that point I was on the Trans-Siberian and stopped off at the small fishing village of Listvyanka to visit Lake Baikal, the deepest freshwater lake in the world. I’d written a 3-page report on it for Mr. Hartman’s World History class my sophomore year in high school, so it was nice to see it. After that I headed to Moscow for a couple days and then to St. Petersburg for a few more. From there I flew to Berlin, slept in the airport there, then got the morning flight to Madrid and then to Pamplona, Spain. There are no hotels there and I had a big backpack and not much else. I took a bus into the center of town and then got some white clothes and red sash, which they sell from stands. Next I found a place to stow my backpack for a few Euros. Relieved of my worldly possessions, I could set to the task at hand, which was getting drunk. I just don’t think Carnival and Mardi Gras combined can hold a torch to the Festival of San Fermín. In some spots the plastic cups, wine bottles, beer cans, and other rubbish was piled up to my knees. It was a circus with people chanting in unison in this square while others jostled about and cajoled one another to do…whatever, in another. Spanish residents were walking babies in strollers next to drunk frat boys from God knows where. And there I was in the middle of it all, becoming more bleary and oblivious by the minute. I woke up on some grass somewhere, oh…about 7:30 AM. The bulls would be let loose at 8 AM on the nose, so I hustled back to the main thoroughfares, getting a sausage to eat on the way. From there I got hard-packed into a huge throng, the rocket went off, and I started running. What happened after that is anyone’s guess, but I did wake up on a stretcher while being carried to an ambulance. It was quite surreal, and from there I was taken to the hospital, had some X-rays done, and generally wallowed in my misery. My right ear required a good 7 to 8 stitches while my forehead above my right eye got about 6 to 8. I never really asked and didn’t request to look in a mirror. To me it felt like my ear was gone, or hanging by a thread. It’s still pretty mashed up and weird-looking to this day. After that I sat on a stretcher for a few hours until they let me go. My clothes had been ruined and my shirt cut off, so they gave me a paper shirt to wear. I was lucky enough to have a few Euros and caught a bus to the middle of town.
From there I got my backpack, a cheap hat to cover my wounds, and got the hell out of Pamplona. I headed to the bus station and got on the first one going anywhere but there. I remember trying to eat a piece of pizza at the bus station but my jaw was so sore I couldn’t chew and had to throw the damn thing away. That night saw me 70 km north, in the city of Villabona. I got a room for €40 or some ungodly sum, but I just wanted to lay down and feel sorry for myself. This wonderful place had the windows sealed shut so it was completely dark in the room. I stayed there until morning and then got a bus to Balboa, then a train to Madrid. I hung out in a cheap hostel in the capital for a few days until I was just about healed, then continued my travels of the continent. I sure hope those folks running with the bulls over the next two weeks will have great memories. I might head back there one day to get a complete run in. We’ll see. Note: This is the 250th post on this Writing Blog. This video will give you a rundown on the possible benefits, advantages, and disadvantages of two different eBook marketing strategies. There’s lots of useful stuff out there on this, and these links should help: Goodreads for Authors Joanna Penn on the Creative Penn How to Market a Book and Strengthen Your Author Platform with Goodreads Kimberley Grabas How to run a GoodReads giveaway with maximal results: 11 tips we know you’ll need Emlyn Chand on Novel Publicity, Co. Marketing after a Goodreads Giveaway L.A. Lewandowski on Indies Unlimited Goodreads Book GiveawayTarot Card Killerby Greg StrandbergGiveaway ends July 03, 2014. See the giveaway details at Goodreads. What? I can't do some shameless promotion after all that?
Price pulsing is a common eBook marketing tactic where you reduce the price of your eBook from the regular list price following a free promotion.
You do this to boost your ranking on the paid charts, thus increasing your visibility and keeping you on the Top 100 of your genre longer. I got my first print book created with the help of Createspace, a division of Amazon that helps authors make Print on Demand (POD) books. I decided to go with Tarot Card Killer for my first print book because that market prefers print. It also just seemed like a good idea. So here’s a video to tell you more. Enjoy! |
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