Tag Archives: Kindle Unlimited

Something stupid, but I fixed it

I’ve been a little disappointed in the performance of Wreck of the Lanternfish. There were a lot of people who loved the first book and encouraged me to turn it into a series. Book two did fine, and Serang picked up a lot of fans of her solo story. Why didn’t the final volume draw those same readers?

I mentioned both here and at Story Empire that most of my action has been via pages-read on Kindle Unlimited. Sales are kind of rare these days, but readers love being able to read for free.

I don’t check Amazon stats all that often, but I cruised through the other day. A friend said he was enjoying The Hat, and I thought I might find a review eventually. That’s when I noticed my error. Wreck of the Lanternfish was not available via Kindle Unlimited.

I don’t have any idea why not, I always try to set my books up there. Admittedly, some of the older ones aren’t, but Lanternfish absolutely should be. It is now. If you’ve passed this one up because of this, never fear.

Look at the sidebar.

Click on that cover and enjoy a bit of piracy. I have no idea how this happened, maybe the root monsters were “helping” me that day.

In other news, I got a manuscript back from my formatter. If I can glean it this weekend, I could publish at any time. I’ll take some time to write promotional posts, and I have to consider three new Lisa Burton posters that should be shared somewhere.

Here’s a little hint as to what might be coming…

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Workhorse kind of day

I wrote yesterday about how my day was kind of blah. I decided today would not be a repeat of that.

I managed it by taking the reins myself. I didn't count on Hollywood or any actors to entertain me. We made turkey soup instead of counting on a restaurant to please us.

Here's a bit of what I accomplished today.

I finished my first editing pass on The Playground. I have other passes to go, but they each get a specific focus. Still, I get to check something off my list.

I sent out a requested review copy of Will O' the Wisp. This might not seem like much, but dealing with multiple formats and large attachments can be tricky. A confirmation email proved it all worked.

A writer friend encouraged me to enter a micro-fiction contest. It has to be unpublished, including blogs, and it has to be under 500 words. I write what I write, and don't usually worry about the word count. The Muse was with me, and I sent off my submission today. Part of the prize is a case of beer. I can get behind a contest like that. I've no idea how tough the competition will be, but I did it anyway.

I spent some time prepping for a fun guest post. Watch this space tomorrow for news about a wonderful new book. I peppered my own comments into the post, and had to create a few links. It seems like there's always one when someone sends over materials. I'm not complaining, it's a fact of life. The links work in the submitted material, but some of them break during copy and paste.

I got an email that Zite Magazine is going dark, and I have to convert to Flipboard. Zite was the source for much of my Idea Mill material. I converted a month ago, and haven't been overly impressed. I learned today that I can have my own magazine under this format. I started one, and pasted a few of my blog posts there. I included some reviews, and the debate with Charles Yallowitz too. I have no idea if this has value to me, but copy and paste doesn't take too much effort.

Speaking of my Idea Mill posts, this next one took a round about path to the internet. Victo Dolore and I joked about her creepy facial cream some time ago. Our conversation came back to life during my last Idea Mill post. Today she posted this delightfully creepy bit of micro-fiction, and credited me with the inspiration. I may have provided a fleck or two, but she built it into a story and executed it beautifully. Go read about facial cream at her site. While you're there consider following her, and sharing her story across social media.

I shared the voting portal at Rosie's Book Review Team across social media today. In case you missed my last post, Will O' the Wisp is nominated. It's up against some tough competitors, and I would appreciate your support. You can vote here.

On the topic of awards, I was hoping to see one of my covers get nominated for a Rave Award. I think Will O' the Wisp and The Experimental Notebook have phenomenal covers. The nominations were revealed, and I didn't make the cut. This does not mean I wasn't nominated in other categories, but there are no nominations in the public categories. Bummer.

I see today that some wonderful person started reading my Experimental Notebook via Kindle Unlimited. It amounts to about a half cent per page, but I need fans, and that's my positive point here.

I posted a couple of book reviews this week, but they didn't work out too well. I always use the mechanism at the end of every book. One only posted to Goodreads, and the other one didn't post to Goodreads or Amazon. I don't know if I need to try a different way to post, or if Amazon has teamed up with NSA and has me on a watchlist of some kind.

I got a notification that said Amazon would tell me when they went live. They must be aware of my attempt. I wrote a new review for the one that never made it to Goodreads. I'll hold off on Amazon for a few more days. If they still don't come through, I'll copy and paste from Goodreads and try again.

All in all, it was a productive day. Back to the paycheck job tomorrow.

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The Fates are Smiling

Last week one of my Macabre Macaroni stories yielded the highest number of views and follows in one day. That record lasted exactly one day. The next day surpassed the day I posted. I’ve gotta tell you, I was one happy blogger.

Things got even better today. I woke up, fed the old pit bull, and made coffee. When I opened my iPad and checked my email, it completely blew up.

It took me a minute to figure out what happened. I was selected for a “push day” with the Rave Reviews Book Club. They call this “Push Tuesday,” but it was Monday.

Club members are supposed to post all over social media and promote my book to their followers. I had hundreds of mentions on Twitter, and many of those folks have thousands of followers. I may have reached a million people today.

The club chose to promote Panama, and it was a good choice. This is a fun story, and is a great intro to my work. I managed a few book sales too. I don’t know if there will be any carryover, but I hope so.

I didn’t sell a jillion books, but it was Panama’s best day ever. Someone even picked up a copy using Kindle Unlimited. This has happened a couple of times now, but I still think it’s cool.

I’m celebrating. I’ve had to build my writing project one brick at a time. Today I hit an easy stretch. Maybe I’ll get a dozen reviews out of this.

Here’s a link to the Rave Reviews Book Club. You guys might want to check it out for yourselves.

And, just in case, here is a link to Panama. There might be one of you who didn’t get the tweet today.

Any idea how to thank a couple of hundred Twitter folks?

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