Two things

 YouTube vidy of my reading a couple weeks back at Magers & Quinn:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV-J00OamnU

And, Amazon's got a relatively new feature for a series that is much nicer than their Author Page:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FFDLBRD

On $9

Delivered a copy of BONUS MAN to Subtext Books to sell on consignment. Received $9 payment for the last book sold, less the $4 I originally paid Amazon for the book and $3.50 bus fare to and from St. Paul, leaving me with $1.50 profit.

Of course, while in St. Paul I had to have lunch with my sister, so I then spent $20 out of my profit at the Eagle Street Grille.

Will have to check with my accountant on just how this will lead to millions. He tells me to be patient.

On better failure

Over the last half-year, I've been conducting a failed experiment that will now come to an end. I ventured away from an exclusive Amazon Kindle agreement (see December 2, 2017 post) to sell my novels through other outlets such as B&N and iBooks. I sold exactly ZERO BOOKS through this expanded distribution, while the books I did sell through Kindle garnered a smaller royalty than if I had stayed strictly with Amazon.

According to Samuel Beckett I'm right on course: Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.

Hmmm... Shouldn't it be: "Ever Tried? Ever failed?"

Be that as it may, all six titles are still on Amazon, as well as at Magers & Quinn in Uptown. 

Ask about all six at Subtext Books in St. Paul, even though they currently only carry this one particular title:

Thanks!

On ebooks

Over the last three years I've published my ebooks exclusively through Amazon Kindle in order to take advantage of their 70% royalty rate for doing so. Problem is I ain't sellin' any through them lately and have decided to expand to multiple vendors such as B&N, iBooks and others displayed in this post.

Today No Happier State is no longer under any exclusive contractual obligation with Kindle and will soon be available through these other outlets (as well as Amazon). The same will happen with The Cary Grant Sanatorium and Playhouse and The Adventures of Hank Fenn later this month, and the other three at the end of January.

Time will tell if this jump-starts my sales. One thing is for sure, your Facebook feeds will be deluged with links to these new outlets and for that I apologize.

Right...

On giving up on marketing, outreach strategy, page traffic analysis and trends

I've given up on marketing, outreach strategy, page traffic analysis and trends as of August 6, 2017. As all seven of my blog followers here and my Facebook friends are painfully aware, I'm involved in a “reader-powered publishing” venture called Kindle Scout. Readers are allowed to browse as-yet-unpublished books and—if they stumble on a title that strikes their whimsy (like, say, THE CARY GRANT SANATORIUM AND PLAYHOUSE) or a provocative cover catches your eye (maybe one created by my sister, Susan Tinkham)—they may read samples and possibly nominate books for publication by Kindle Press.

The writer, if lucky enough to be selected for publication, receives $1,500 and whatever advertising Amazon will dish out to recoup that advance. I guess that's where marketing comes in. Every day I get an updated “campaign page views per day” chart. Over the last week mine has been pretty constant: dropping below 100 for the first time to 95, slipping as low as 78, then back to 90 on August 5. Being 1/3 of the way through my campaign, I put out a little blurb on FB to remind my friends, maybe get some “shares” and spread the word. Immediately FB flashed me an opportunity: “Boost your ad for $10 and reach 3,400 views in 2 days!”

You gotta spend money to make money, right? I went for it, dammit!

Woke up this morning to find my FB blurb had indeed surged to 338 views—not quite what they'd promised but a 210% increase over my norm. I immediately went to my Scout chart to see how that would reflect on my campaign page views. With my $10 FB “boost” my 90 of yesterday had somehow plummeted to a mere 6—a decrease of 93%.*

   * my first use ever of the snippet tool!

On the bright side: I saw Bryan Ferry last night. DAMN!!!

On Kindle Scout

So I'm doing this Kindle Scout thing again with THE CARY GRANT SANATORIUM AND PLAYHOUSE. It's a bit of a popularity contest--though publication is not solely based on the number of nominations. In 1 - 2 days my 'campaign' will launch and folks will be able to nominate it and other books as they choose. (Not sure if you need an Amazon account--if so, don't bother.) 

Amazon describes it this way: "Kindle Scout is reader-powered publishing... It's a place where readers help decide if a book gets published. Selected books will be published by Kindle Press and receive 5-year renewable terms, a $1,500 advance, 50% eBook royalty rate and featured Amazon marketing."

The whole thing is explained here: How It Works

Yeah, I'll be beggin' for votes. Obviously, I'll keep you in touch...

On changing titles

My last post named my new novel Nazi Abortion Slaughterhouse. This proved to require too much explanation and justification when someone asked: “What's the title of your new book?” I found myself explaining that the original title was Sidney's Sanctum, about a home for unwed mothers that is bad-mouthed by an ultra-religious newspaper to the point where it becomes known as a Nazi abortion slaughterhouse. Too much work.

I've gone with a more whimsical title: The Cary Grant Sanatorium and Playhouse. So far this has drawn smiles and chuckles. Which is how it should be. But there's more than just whimsy behind the change. Mr. Grant is a character in the novel and did, in fact, write a check to Sidney's Sanctum and its clinic for the purpose of building a theater that could double as a clinical facility. Much of the last half of the book takes place in, or centers around, the Sanatorium & Playhouse and activities held there.

Sidney's Sanctum? It was named for a small girl who died during the writing of my third novel, Bonus Man. This new novel pretty much picks up where Bonus Man left off. Heck, if you wanna read Bonus Man, you can find it here. 

And here:

On 1🌟 free books

Between Amazon and Goodreads I have received six reviews/ratings for my novel The Adventures of Hank Fenn: three 5-star reviews (two friends, one stranger), two 5-star ratings (both strangers) and one stranger who just the other day rated the book one star. I have sold 25 copies of that book and given away more than 300 in the hope of gaining readership (and maybe some reviews).

Since I've been present for most of the book's actual sales, it's a good bet that this reader received her copy for free—ruling out any idea that she didn't get her money's worth. She simply disliked the book and I can live with that. Hank Fenn can live with that. She won't be the last.

What troubles me is that she didn't bother to warn her fellow readers about whatever it was she found so distasteful. No review, just clicked that lone star and left it at that. Was it Calamity Jane's coarse language? Hank Fenn's mixed-race marriage? Did the author not treat Mark Twain fairly?

We'll never know because she didn't bother to clarify her disdain for the book. Which is why I write this little post: If you get a book for free and somehow feel cheated, jot your feelings down in the form of a review. It takes less time than that trip to the bookstore you didn't have to take. And it's less painful than actually spending money. Fellow readers can benefit from your ordeal and maybe the author can learn a thing or two as well.

Oh, and Happy New Year! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

On Stocking Shelves

There's nothing quite like getting to schlepp a new supply of books over to Magers & Quinn after my readers all but cleaned them out. Satisfaction! Even discussed a book launch for my next novel with Annie, the book buyer, after I mentioned that there's at least one scene that takes place in their very bookstore—and several more down the street at the old Uptown Bar. We also discussed a new distribution option that will require a hike in my prices, which she admitted were pretty low. Hear that? PRETTY LOW. So, if you've been planning to buy, buy now or pay a couple bucks more later.

Did a reading the other night that I've failed to mention. Another Cracked Walnut affair, this time at Golden's Lowertown. Went over quite well.

Oh, and that Amazon page length snafu I mentioned in my last post was finally cleared up after only three short weeks. Thanks for tuning in!

On the phone with Amazon Customer Service

A week ago I noticed that the page count was off on my last book, THE ADVENTURES OF HANK FENN—listed as 235 pages, actually 268. No big deal. And correctable, according to the immediate reply I got from my email to Amazon's customer service. Today I noticed it had yet to be corrected and pressed the 'Call Me' button on their feedback page. I explained my situation to the associate who called me back. I was asked for my email and billing addresses.

“So, what is the name of the device?” she says.

“It's not a device, it's a book.” I say and am put on hold. A while later another associate gets on the line, asks for the same addresses and the the name of the book. I comply.

“So, when did you purchase the book?” she says.

“I didn't purchase the book, I wrote it,” I say and am put on hold.

 A while later an associate from Author Central gets on the line.

“So, Will,” he says, “I understand one of your books is listed incorrectly at 200 and some dollars?”

It'll be 3 or 4 days before the situation can be corrected.

On May 23

Come Monday, May 23, I'll be reading at Golden's Lowertown with Ethna McKiernan and other fine local writers as part of Cracked Walnut's Spring Literary Festival. “Detached” is the theme and I'll try to be that.

Never did blog about my Lowertown Pop experience. I managed to sell 23 books, doubling my yearly total to that point (not counting those read through Amazon's library set-up). A successful and interesting endeavor to be sure.

My work-in-progress, The Great American Scrapbook, is turning into pretty much of a regional novel, as it's set mainly in south Minneapolis and the Uptown Bar back in 2003-04, though trips to Mount Rushmore and back into the 50s connect it with the other four books in my Americana series. I'm about halfway through it and, I must admit, have no idea where it's really heading.

Tell your friends!

Got my MN tax ID and sent in all the forms, so it looks like I'm set to peddle my wares at LowertownPop in St. Paul on April 9. Here some info. It features: “local artisans and craftspeople, brewers, bakers, distillers, street performers, artists, and musicians,” which may leave me as the only writer there. We'll see how that works out.

Just finished up a 24-straight-day period where 3,000+ pages of all four of my books were read on Kindle Unlimited. I get paid something per page from a pool of some amount divided by a multiple of pages, readers and writers, minus the square root of Amazon's take and rounded down to the nearest penny. I know it sounds complicated but it is. My thanks to the fellow in Wisconsin who liked a sample of Hank Fenn he read, read the whole book and then the other three, and told his friends—who all seem to enjoy Unlimited's $10-a-month, all-you-can-read deal. Tell your friends!

Wanna flip rather than swipe? Shop paperbacks in store and online at Magers & Quinn, Uptown, Mpls.

HANK FENN on sale!

My latest novel, The Adventures of Hank Fenn (Americana Book 4) is out in paperback and digitally at Amazon. Paperbacks are also available in store & online at Magers & Quinn, Uptown Minneapolis. It goes like this:

For Hank, Sam never became Mark Twain. As a riverboat pilot, Sam saved young Hank from the crushing paddle wheels as the boy stowed away on the City of Memphis. Sam returned Hank to Minnesota when news reached downriver that Hank's mother was on trial for killing the father Hank had run away from. Years later, in a barber's chair prior to his mother's funeral, Hank reads a frog story that's awful close to a tall tale Sam once told. The magazine claims it's written by a fellow named Mark Twain.

The Adventures of Hank Fenn sends Hank searching the West—and then the East—for Mr. Twain. All along he and Sam exchange letters and make plans that never seem to get them together—Twain always on the road or abroad. Hank does find hatred and brutality while railroading and mining throughout this new frontier. He finds Calamity Jane in a Wyoming mining camp and Custer breaking treaties. He finds the Emperor of these United States. Ultimately Hank finds love, boys to raise and gold to unearth on a Black Hills mountaintop.

Thanks, Will

PS: An interview from last month concerning an earlier novel, Bonus Man.

On sale now!

The Adventures of Hank Fenn is out and available in paperback and digitally at Amazon. The hope is that Magers & Quinn will be carrying it by the end of the month (I'm not even due to receive my copies till Jan. 27).

2015 saw me publish three books which all started out fine sales-wise then fizzled over the last half of the year. Somehow I have to get beyond Facebook and business card word of mouth and move on to another level. All in all, the 103 copies sold were far more satisfying than the 100-plus rejections I likely would've received had I continued on the more traditional path.

There's talk of a trade show this spring (at which I may be the only writer) at the Union Depot in St. Paul. I'd have to figure out how to set up some sort of slide show (been watching Youtube videos) involving book covers and blurbs. And what if someone wants to buy one? Taxes, credit cards... And what if no one buys one? Then I'm stuck with a bunch of books... So much to learn.

Meanwhile I work on book #5, The Great American Scrapbook. It's the long-awaited sequel to Alice and Her Grand Bell. The much-anticipated sequel to No Happier State, too. And The Adventures of Hank Fenn, for that matter. Come to think of it, if you're worried about those quadruplets born on that train, it serves as a sequel to Bonus Man, as well. And a prequel to more...

On whoring

UPDATE: I "launch" in 2 days (Nov 6). Already have the preview and all, just hours after submitting the thing.

As a self-published author I must whore myself from time to time and, well, 'tis the season. Minutes ago I sent my newest novel, The Adventures of Hank Fenn, off to Kindle Scout—an arm of Amazon (Kindle Press) for self-publishers, where they actually pay an advance ($1,500) and do some advertising for the book as they now have a stake in it, too.

It's a bit of a popularity contest, though they contend that the books are also judged on merit. Works something like this: Kindle Scout sets you up with a “campaign” package that includes your cover, bio, quick “interview” and an excerpt from the book. Readers nominate (one-click button) books that they find interesting. More nominations, I guess, means a better chance of them checking your book out for its merit and hopefully publishing it.

I'll post links—you can count on that.

Also answered a list of questions yesterday for Emily Reads Everything's “Awesome Indies.” (See Sept 6, 2015 post.) They may do a feature—at my request—on my third novel, Bonus Man.

I'll post links. Oh, yeah...

Bad omen: The first chapter of the newest book hinges on the reader's familiarity with Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) and his short story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”—also known by other names. Anyhow, on Jeopardy! yesterday an answer came up about Twain and a frog and not one of the geniuses playing the game could even come up with a guess.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted. And how...