Posts Tagged ‘amazon’

Dawn of Wolves Rewrite Complete

Posted: January 16, 2012 in Dawn of Wolves, fantasy, writing, writing update
Tags: , , , ,
0

I have finished the rewrite of Dawn of Wolves, ending at around 49,000 words, which is slightly over what is normally classified as a novella, but close enough I’ll still call it one.

Now comes the next step – formatting, editing, proof reading and of course cover design.  Hopefully that will not take too long.

For the release I’m going to do something a little different this time around – I’m going to enrol it in the Amazon Kindle Select programme.

Kindle Select is a programme where by it is enrolled in a lending library and Amazon fork up a bunch of money (currently at 500,000 a month).  Those enrolled get a percentage of funds equal to the percentage of loans they make.  In addition you get 5 days per free months where you can offer your book for free.

There is a but through – there is always a but.  Firstly a lot of people are signing up – and it is the big names that will get the most lends.  Secondly, you can’t sell the book anywhere else.  Not even on your own website.  It is for that reason I’m leaving my old books out of it, as they are elsewhere.  This one is going to test it out, to see if it makes much of a difference.

Advertisement

Winter Wolves Redone

Posted: December 8, 2011 in winter wolves, writing, writing update
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0

I have finally finished the re-edit of Winter Wolves.  In addition it has received a new cover as well, in keeping with the others of the series.

In addition to trying to fix up all spelling and grammatical errors that I could find, I also re-wrote the last 10,000 words.  I had never been entirely happy with the ending, given I felt it had too much in common with the ending of Tears of the Mountain.  And there was a good reason for that.  I had started work on Winter Wolves first, plotting it out and writing about half of it.  Then, as is my way, I switched projects and starts on Tears.  This time I actually stuck through to the end and finished Tears.  However I had never had an ending for Tears planned and in the end borrowed the one I had planned for Winter Wolves.  When I went back to Winter Wolves I found myself without an ending and tried to cobble one together, one that I felt had too much in common with the ending of Tears.  The re-edit gave me a chance to re-write the ending into one not so similar, and one that I fell makes more sense – at least for me.

The new versions are kicking around at Smashwords and Amazon.

March Report

Posted: April 2, 2011 in fantasy, General, writing update
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

Here we are, a quarter of the way through the year already. Where does time go?

Output fell again, down to around 40K last month, though there were a number of reasons for that. For half the month I was dog-sitting my brother’s dog while he was overseas and that tends to chew up time. Also looking for work.

Output wise saw work on various short stories/novelettes, cleaning them up and re-releasing them on Smashwords, and putting some of them up on Amazon for the first time. More on that in a latter post. I also, finally, finished off Cara’s Choice; it is currently in editing when I can find the time and I hope to have it released in April at some stage.

Against my better judgement, I started work on two new stories; the Tirhanium novella I mentioned previously and a pure sword and sorcery pulp idea that I will post about later.

Sales dropped from February, down to just five, but as I’m not actually pushing it at the moment that can be expected.

Not setting any real goals for April – will just see what pans out.

February Report

Posted: March 1, 2011 in fantasy, General, Tears of the Mountain, winter wolves, writing update
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
9

And here we are in March already – two months of the year gone.

The output was reduced a lot compared to January, only around 50-60K done, but a lot of time was spent finishing Winter Wolves, proof-reading it and publishing it on Amazon/Smashwords.

The givewaway of Winter Wolves has slowed down some, but has now hit 101 people having acquired it. No reviews yet but three people have said that they will at some stage.

Sales wise, between the two novels I managed 15 sales for the month. Not a huge amount, but it is a start. Of those 6 were of Winter Wolves, so I’ll have to calculate how much goes towards supporting my sister – that one of them was on Amazon.uk and is listed in pence makes it more challenging.

I didn’t hit all my goals – a fair way off it actually, but it was a decent month still.

Aims for March. Work on He Stands Between, Dawn of Wolves, Hammer of the Skies and a novelette for another project. Aim is to try and finish one of the first three and the novelette.

Reviews and Giveaway Progress

Posted: February 27, 2011 in fantasy, General, Tears of the Mountain, winter wolves
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0

Late last night, just before I was about to head to bed, I got my second review for Tears of the Mountain – and my first 5-star review. Needless to say I was pretty stoked as I hadn’t been expecting it at all, and the person who wrote it isn’t someone I know. They read it and liked it, a lot. Its got me pumped now to go crazy with the writing – knowing you aren’t a complete hack and someone liked your stories enough to post such a glowing report really does help out the confidence.

And now onto the progress of the Winter Wolves giveaway.

It initially started very slow – just six were taken up in the fist 2 days. And then yesterday it took off, with 58 people purchasing it through the coupons in total now. It seems it got picked up on a website that advertises free books and this pushed a fair bit of traffic my way. Too date I haven’t gotten any reviews, but a couple of people have said they will write one.

Hopefully, with a week and a half still to go, it will help generate a number of reviews and even a sale or two.

Supporting My Sister Through Winter Wolves

Posted: February 25, 2011 in winter wolves
Tags: , , , ,
2

My sister is currently working overseas in a third world country that, for security reasons, can’t be named. It isn’t the worst around but still isn’t exactly safe – the school she works at requires armed guards 24/7. The work she does is entirely voluntary and all the support she gets has to come from home in the form of donations and pledges.

As a poor starving writer there is not much I can do to help, until now.

I have decided that all the profits from my new novel, Winter Wolves, will go towards supporting her and the school she works at.

Currently I am offering it on Smashwords for free, by using the coupon VC42F, for the next two weeks. This is in an effort to garner reviews and hopefully help spread the word.

If people are interested in buying a copy, it can be purchased for $0.99 on Amazon or Smashwords. Given the way royalties work on the two places, Smashwords is better value – one sale there produces twice the profit it does on Amazon.

January Report

Posted: February 2, 2011 in fantasy, Tears of the Mountain, The Oncoming Storm, winter wolves, writing update
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0

January has come and gone – yes already. One twelfth of the year has already flown by.

Writing wise it was a decent month. Notable points are;

130K words written – mostly rewriting old drafts but still that is progress.
70K done on rewrite of Winter Wolves novel.
10.5K done of rewrite of Dawn of Wolves novella.
Tears of the Mountain published on Smashwords/Amazon.
Halfway into the rewrite of He Stands Between.
Various notes and ideas done for other stories.

Hope I can keep up the pace for February.
Aims for February are finishing off Winter Wolves and hopefully Dawn of the Wolves, plus a short story or two. And trying to market Tears of the Mountain better.

Amazon Selling More Ebooks Than Paperbacks

Posted: January 30, 2011 in General
Tags: , ,
0

The latest report put out from Amazon (which can be read here) has some very interesting figures – they are now selling more ebooks than paperbacks, at the rate of 115 to 100. That is good news for ebook sellers, especially the indies.

That doesn’t mean bad news for paperbacks though. Ebooks generally sell far cheaper than paperbacks, with a whole slew of them going for just $0.99. So while the volume may be higher, paperbacks still make the larger portion of profits.

Still, it points to a shiny future ahead for those like me – I hope.