# The Amazon Game



## David Gordon Burke

Hey all, long time no see.

So I am about to put the pedal to the metal and find out if all this work has been in vain or not.
IÂ´ve been planning this for about a year and a half.  It was my belief that publishing a novel, offering it free via the Amazon KDP free book thingy was going to be an enormous waste of time.  One book.  You offer it for free, it gets a few thousand downloads, it goes up in the sales ranking, then you make a few sales after itÂ´no longer free, then it disappears into oblivion.  You by that point are on chapter 2 of your next novel.  Long hike that one.


So I decided to work on two fronts - Novels and Non-ficion books plus tutorials and any other idea that would take advantage of any expertise IÂ´ve accumulated over the years.  My first project has been a series of Texts for teaching English to Spanish speakers.  I now have 5 for sale on Amazon.  They range in price from $1.49 to $2.59.  

November and December is going to be my Promo Blast.  Weekly, one of these books will be available for free.  ItÂ´s a small market so they will rise really fast into the single digits ranking.  After five days they will be free.  I previously did this with the first in the series and it downloaded about 700 times and then sold about 100 copies.  With any luck this time it will be even more lucrative due to the number of books I have available.  

Will let you all know if it was successful or not.  I am yet to see cent one from Amazon - it gets a bit depressing.  If it werenÂ´t for their various subsiduaries - .com, .ca, .it, .es, .mx etc. I might be seeing at least biyearly deposits but since the cash is split up between the various country domains.....I mean hell, when can I expect a check from Australia?  2036?

Anyway, thatÂ´s the plan.  Will inform as to success or failure.  As soon as that is finished I plan to do the same with my Novels - non-fiction in English.  I should have three or four titles by then.

David Gordon Burke


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## InstituteMan

Good luck! I am keenly eager to hear how that works out for you. Please keep us posted.


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## Plasticweld

Dave, thanks for sharing I am looking forward to seeing where this goes for you....Best of luck...Bob


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## David Gordon Burke

Hey.  First off, sorry for the weird symbols.  The Spanish Keyboard doesn`t have an apostrophe so freaky things happen.
It turns out that aside from free downloads, another way that your ranking increases is from Lending - viewing.  If a certain group of elite Amazon users view your book past a certain point, it makes you eligible for a portion of the million dollar fund.  It looks like it might also spur sales.  I have been averaging about 6 - 8 sales a month.  Today is the 4th of the month and I`ve already made three sales.  My current goal is one sale a day.  On track for that one.

I was also way off base.  It seems that you have a 90 obligation to be exclusive with Amazon.  You can also do the free book give-away once for 5 days every 90 days.  It looks like the way to succeed is to have something free ALL THE TIME.  Means having about 15 to 20 titles.  

Back to the wood-shed.  
Will report on futher developments.

David Gordon Burke


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## David Gordon Burke

So far it has been about 6 hours - averaging one download an hour on the first book.  
My ranking at this moment is....

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46,292 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store) 
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Education & Teaching > Teacher Resources > Education Theory > Contemporary Methods > Bilingual 
#8 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Reference > Foreign Language Study & Reference > Language Instruction > English as a Foreign Language

Obviously, you don´t need to sell or give away a whole hell of a lot of books in a very small market like this one.  I´m more interested in seeing how the overall rank goes down.  It may be beneficial when people NOT looking for that kind of book stumble across it.  

Will all this nonsense magically merge in a market share that will make me some money?  Sales please?  
Only time will tell.

David Gordon Burke


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## Morkonan

David Gordon Burke said:


> ...
> Only time will tell...



I like this documentary approach. Keep it up! I'd like to witness your reactions and insights as the process unfolds in real-time. It should prove to be very interesting.


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## David Gordon Burke

Here´s yet another update.  As of today, Monday Nov. 10th, the fourth day of the free book give-away, I have had 45 downloads of the first book.
My status at this moment - 
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,638 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store) 
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Education & Teaching > Teacher Resources > Education Theory > Contemporary Methods > Bilingual 
#5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Foreign Languages > Spanish > Lengua, Lingüística y Redacción

I have to say I am rather disenheartened by the result.  Without getting out the cape of total racism, the market here is a bit of a waste of time.  I am caught between the Spaniards from Spain who have cried foul in the comments section due to the fact that my books are written in a Mexican dialect of the Spanish language, and the Latino people who neither read nor believe that anything cheap or free is worth their time.  
The last time I offered the book for free I had close to 700 downloads.  
Still, the only thing that matters is how the book does in sales after the free period.  

I am also thinking of changing the free days for the other books.  It might be better to start the free days mid week and end on the weekend rather than what I did....start on Friday and run til Tuesday.  

A couple of things learned.
1.  It´s time to write a book that teaches Spanish the the English speaking world.
2.  Got to get my Novels and stuff up and running and do that Promo Blast soon.
3.  This writing thing may turn out to be a disappointment.  I need to face the fact that if on-line Indie sales never take off at all, I may need to pack it in.  Why?  Location.  How the hell do I try to got the traditional route as a writer if I live in Mexico?  Even if I could sell an article to a newspaper or magazine, they are likely to reject it in the long run just due to taxation issues - if they can´t pay me due to not being a US citizen???????  It may be time to direct my creative juice back into playing the guitar.  Not throwing in the towel yet but in all honesty (and many newbees need to consider this)  the Amazon INDIE gold rush is OVER.  Got on board two years too late.  

David Gordon Burke


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## Tyler Danann

If you have a TIN number you are good to go. I was lucky, I got mine using a SSN from my work permit days in the US.

If you don't have a TIN number you can apply for one and it takes about a month or so.

Unfortunately Amazon Indie Publishing has rarely been a get-rich-quick scheme. For every singe 50 shades of whatever there's there's 5000 folks struggling to make 10 sales or so. In fact I heard most self-published authors struggle to sell 10 copies for $$.

Good luck!


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## David Gordon Burke

The final report from the first free book.

73 books downloaded.  (May get a few more before midnight)

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,815 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)  
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Education & Teaching > Teacher Resources > Education Theory > Contemporary Methods > Bilingual 
#4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Reference > Foreign Language Study & Reference > Language Instruction > English as a Foreign Language 

Again, will this mean a burst of sales over the next week or so?  We´ll see.  

As of next Friday and each consecutive Friday for the next month, I will have another free book.  Whether they do better or not is anyone´s guess.  This book had been free once last year so that might have something to do with the lack of renewed interest.

As for the get rich scheme - I´m just looking for a fair return on my investment.  I´ve been working on this Project for about 20 months.  I´ve yet to receive any return whatsoever.  Still, Amazon is selling Kindles by the truck-load.  I´m giving away books.  People are buying my novel and then getting a refund (how that works is beyond me....I figure you bought it....you´re stuck with it)  

Again, I´ll give this whole project another 6 rmonths or so .... if there is no regular return I´ll be looking for another creative outlet.  

David Gordon Burke


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## David Gordon Burke

Wow.  The hits just keep coming.  It looks to my inexperienced eye that Amazon has done some funky changes that work against the Indie writer.  From yesterday`s ranking when my book was free to this current ranking.

*Amazon Best Sellers Rank:* #676,052 Paid in Kindle Store.

So I ask, to whose benefit was it for me to offer my book free?  At that rate I don`t see myself getting any extra sales in the near future.  To make matters worse, if you do a relevant search, many books that have a worse ranking are coming up before mine.  Hmmmm.  Could Amazon possibly be selling their search positioning?  No idea what the hell is happening.  

If I had to guess, Amazon has been bought off by the traditional publishing houses - the Indie revolution is over, has been corrupted yet again, the power of the buck has won out.  Hopefully somewhere down the line I will eat my words but I highly doubt it.  

My plan?  Get my books onto Createspace just so I can manage to have a physical copy of what I have created.  
Finish everything I am working on.
Keep my fingers crossed.  
Nothing happens?  Get those Tim Armstrong acoustic guitars I`ve been dreaming about and go back to playing the blues.  

David Gordon Burke


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## Morkonan

David Gordon Burke said:


> ...Nothing happens?  Get those Tim Armstrong acoustic guitars I`ve been dreaming about and go back to playing the blues.
> 
> David Gordon Burke



There's no reason why you can't continue writing and trying to sell your work. It usually takes a lot of rejection before you can get some serious results. 

I wouldn't worry too much about this book. It's a niche subject. However, you might be able to apply for a job as an English teacher in Mexico. After all, you wrote a book on the subject, didn't you? 

Keep plugging away at it. You can't succeed if you don't try.


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## qwertyportne

David Gordon Burke said:


> It turns out that aside from free downloads, another way that your ranking increases is from Lending - viewing.  If a certain group of elite Amazon users view your book past a certain point, it makes you eligible for a portion of the million dollar fund.



Yes, Amazon sent me a check a few months ago. I've published over 10 books on the Kindle platform and somehow managed to tap into the "fund" because people had viewed more than 10% of my books, or borrowed them from the lending library. It's difficult for readers to find an author ~ kind of like looking for a needle in a hay stack. But offering them free every now and then does increase exposure. I'm just looking for readers to enjoy my writing and benefit from it some how, not money. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I really appreciate reading what other independent authors are doing to find an audience for their writing. By the way, did you receive your "Published Author" award for publishing your book at Amazon? Or because you sold a few copies? How does that work?


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## Terry D

I just put my short story collection on Kindle today. Sold one a hour later--I'm already in the black!


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## Schrody

Terry D said:


> I just put my short story collection on Kindle today. Sold one a hour later--I'm already in the black!



Woo hoo! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 We're proud of you, David and Terry! 

Btw. Terry - your first link isn't working


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## Terry D

Thanks, Schrody. I need to work on that.


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## qwertyportne

Congratulations. Wow, that is a fast response!


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## Schrody

Terry D said:


> Thanks, Schrody. I need to work on that.



Actually, the first and second link are the same :-s


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## Terry D

Schrody said:


> Actually, the first and second link are the same :-s



The first should take you to the page for the print book, the second to the Kindle version.


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## Schrody

Terry D said:


> The first should take you to the page for the print book, the second to the Kindle version.



Oh yeah, LOL. But why isn't both on the same page? It usually is :-s


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## Tyler Danann

Ok, things that trip you up in 'The Amazon Game'

Bad Editing
Typos
Poor Grammar

Books being refunded often fall under those fallings. Make sure if you got for CreateSpace you absolutely have a book that can stand with the big-boys, with E-Books there's a little more leeway for forgiveness. Yet even then too much of the above can fall down on you.

Giving books for free is often a double edged sword but for the noise and broadcasting you can hook some fans that way.


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## Seedy M.

Lobo - apostrophe is 2nd after the zero. Alto is standard question mark. ' You get the symbols with the unsupered tilde. P´. 
Amazon is a place where little or nothing happens. I put the eBooks on Smashwords and the printed on Lulu, costs nothing, you get a free ISBN. It goes on Amazon and almost all the others. I put some freebies on Smashwords and got thousands of downloads and enough name recognition that I've increased sales to the point B&N sold more than a thousand books this year. You set the price and royalties. You own the copyright and can put it anywhere else you like, just so it is offered at the same price - which you can change at anytime.
The Lulu books are sent in PDF, which is easy for me. Smashwords wants Word, which is easy enough except it has to follow the rules for Epub, which is a RPITA. They do all the converting and, until you learn what goes, it can be frustrating. I have over 200 books on them, so very seldom have a problem anymore.
The example I show is in the sales. B&N 1,117. Apple 347, Kobo 132, Scribd 51 ... Amazon 17.
Good luck!
Click on the link under my signature phrase to see what Smashwords looks like.You may have to type it in. It doesn't go there when I click it, but does when I type it in the address bar.


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## David Gordon Burke

Hey Seedy.  Thank for the head up.  Yeah, it looks like Amazon, the creator of the Indie Revolution, has sold the Indies down the river.  I am going to ride out the storm for a while longer and then bail on them.  

As for good grammar, tipos and bad editing, I think I´m covered in the English novels - memoirs - non-fiction books.  Sadly, there really is no accepted Spanish.  That written by Spaniard isn´t accepted by Latino and vice-versa unless it is Cervantes or Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  So like I said, I am going to finish the stuff I have put together so far and then BAIL on writting in Spanish and for those people.  I have so many bad comments (mostly unjustified) I mean what kind of a person gets a book for under $2 and then writes a bad comment about it because it´s not written in the local dialect?  (Oye, Pepe, here´s your two bucks - now kiss my lily white Canuck fundament)

I will continue to write but sadly I don´t see any future in it due to living in a Non-English speaking country.  Unless anyone has a suggestion as to how I get published via the traditional route LONG DISTANCE I just don´t see it working.  And....like I said, Amazon no longer allows a book to climb in the ranking by giving away free copies.  Unfair to say the least.  

Now to add insult to injury there is a new Amazon - Amazon.nl  .... Yet another subsiduary which will split the sales again.  If they were to merge all the Amazons tomorrow they would have to cut me a check right away.  As it stands, they are saving /stealing millions by spreading the sales across their varios domains.  

Meanwhile, the second book in the series is free right now.   My ranking
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,468 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store) 
#5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Foreign Languages > Spanish > Lengua, Lingüística y Redacción

20 downloads in 3 days (sic)  Three sale this month.  
Like I said....time to get practicing that Pentatonic scale.  

David Gordon Burke


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## Morkonan

Aren't there English speaking books where you live? A shelf titled "English Language" or something? Books written in Spanish and other languages are on the shelves in the US.


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## David Gordon Burke

Morkonan said:


> Aren't there English speaking books where you live? A shelf titled "English Language" or something? Books written in Spanish and other languages are on the shelves in the US.



Next to nothing on the shelves here in Mexico.  A very broad generalization that I feel completely free to make without the slightest hint of racism ¨Mexicans don´t read.´ It´s a national phenomenon.  

David Gordon Burke


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## David Gordon Burke

I see a ton of folk interested in this post so I´ll keep it going.  I suppose I should have called this thread ´Going down in Flames´ but I had no idea when I started this promo blast that the results would be as bad as they have been.  

On the second free book I got a total of 47 free downloads.  To date that has worked out to exactly Zero paid downloads.  

Towel - Catch.

David Gordon Burke


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## Morkonan

This is interesting: http://www.academia.edu/728363/Language_Education_and_Literacy_in_a_Mexican_Transnational_Community

Basically, it focuses on Chicago. But, it might be worth taking a look at. You might find out some ways to target your market. Check the references, too.


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## David Gordon Burke

The final word on the whole free book deal on Amazon.  In the end I gave away aproximately 250 book of my series of English tutorial books for the Spanish ESL student.  This converted into aproximately 15 sales.  The last time I did this the free results were much better and then I had over 100 sales.  The difference is that (it appears) that Amazon no longer allows your ranking to rise after a give-away.  Dirty pool in my opinión.  

For the moment I am tied up with a ton of other projects including getting my new house in order.  Over the Christmas holiday I will be finishing up my latest WI P and then getting my books into print via  Createspace (from which I doubt I will see any profits either)  My next plan will be to move away from Amazon and discover if there is life on any other distrubutor.

David Gordon Burke


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## David Gordon Burke

If at first you don't succeed...
Working on yet another disapointment. I have my first two books set for a give away and an Amazon count down deal for early 2015.  Since sales have ground to a stop  I figure I have nothing to lose. Will report if this has any effect.  On a bright note, my latest WIP is finished and in editorial phase now.  The half full of the deal is that I wrote these books.  Many folk spend their lives dreaming about doing it.  I did it.  
David Gordon Burke


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## Schrody

David, you already accomplished what many haven't - you wrote and published several books, and that's what many people will never be capable of  You should be proud of yourself, as we are proud of you. Hope your sales will increase, though.


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## movieman

It's hard to get to a point where Amazon sales become self-sustaining. After the first three months, when Amazon tries to make your book easier to find, many people find books through the 'also bought' lists, so unless you sell enough copies early on to get onto the lists for a few similar books, yours disappear. I have several books that used to sell moderately well, but have barely sold a copy in the last six months.


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## David Gordon Burke

Well, the second round of freebees has had a slightly more positive result.  I offered my first ,,, a memoire about dogs in the family.  It usually sells for 2 bucks.  Cool to see it become the #2 book in the free kindle stoe in both memoirs and dog book.  That spurred a few sales of my novel - LOBO.  I'll take what I can get.  Later this month I am trying the Kindle countdown deal.  My $3 novel will be $0.99 for a few days, then $1.99 and then back to regular price.  I hope to have my next finished around the time the special finishes.  
Still looking into diversifying with other distributors.  
Any suggestions?  I sold a few on Smashmouth but their formatting is a beach.  
Who is with other companies?  Apparently Kobo only deals in $3 books and up.
Stay cool and happy 2015.
David Gordon Burke


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## movieman

David Gordon Burke said:


> Apparently Kobo only deals in $3 books and up.



Are you sure of that? My cheapest Kobo ebook is a short story for $0.99.

I use Smashwords for sites I can't get into myself, or don't want the hassle of dealing with, but I'm uploading direct to as many places as I can now. Kobo will probably be the next one I switch over.


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## David Gordon Burke

movieman said:


> Are you sure of that? My cheapest Kobo ebook is a short story for $0.99.
> 
> I use Smashwords for sites I can't get into myself, or don't want the hassle of dealing with, but I'm uploading direct to as many places as I can now. Kobo will probably be the next one I switch over.



They must have changed their policy from a year ago.  Good to know.
DGB


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## Tyler Danann

Don't forget the KDP select program locks you in for 3 months at a time! Blocking you from selling on Smashwords etc.

I didn't find ANY benefit to KDP. Just the occasional blue indicator on the sales traffic that someone had borrowed the book. I don't think one of them converted to sales either.

So far I've had....

5 Sales in December and one KU/KOLL (borrow). Half of those sales were direct messaging to people, not walk-in sales.


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## movieman

KU seems to work better in some genres than others. The couple of SF and horror books I have in there have rarely been borrowed, but borrows greatly exceed sales for my less reputable pen name. I'm guessing those are genres where people don't want their relatives and friends to find it on their Kindle; they can borrow it, read it, then get rid of it.


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## David Gordon Burke

Got a 4 star review for the freebe so that certainly doesn't hurt.
DGB


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## TKent

Tyler, I have Kindle Unlimited and I would never buy a book after borrowing it. That's why I have KU. So I don't think you should be expecting borrows to convert to sales. Just hope they read more than 10% so you get your payout for the borrow.



Tyler Danann said:


> Don't forget the KDP select program locks you in for 3 months at a time! Blocking you from selling on Smashwords etc.
> 
> I didn't find ANY benefit to KDP. Just the occasional blue indicator on the sales traffic that someone had borrowed the book. I don't think one of them converted to sales either.
> 
> So far I've had....
> 
> 5 Sales in December and one KU/KOLL (borrow). Half of those sales were direct messaging to people, not walk-in sales.


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## movieman

TKent said:


> Just hope they read more than 10% so you get your payout for the borrow.



I'm 90% sure that borrows only show up on the KDP dashboard now when they've read 10% of the book and you're going to receive the dollar and change that Amazon pay for a 10% read. It used to be that they showed up as soon as someone borrowed the book, but I believe Amazon fixed that a couple of months ago.


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## Prescottfry

I second this^


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## Tyler Danann

TKent said:


> Tyler, I have Kindle Unlimited and I would never buy a book after borrowing it. That's why I have KU. So I don't think you should be expecting borrows to convert to sales. Just hope they read more than 10% so you get your payout for the borrow.



Will removing KDP remove this?


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## David Gordon Burke

Further Adventures.

Well, Amazon seems to have screwed up my KDP countdown sale.  It didn´t start when I expected it to and it´s not listing the book correctly.  On my author page and when you search my name the $0.99 price comes up.  Click on the book and it lists the regular price.  
Haven´t done a ton of promo but what I did can be considered wasted time.  

Hope they fix this soon.

David Gordon Burke


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## David Gordon Burke

Hey all,

Continuing this thread about the KDP discounts and free book give-aways.  Here´s the thing.  I am going to have to eat a big, steaming plate of crow with a side dish of humble pie cause the miracle of miracles is ..... somehow, even with the lack of real success where my freebees and discounts are concerned, the after effect of the Promo priced days is that I´m selling more than ever.  Freak accident?  Act of God?  Who knows but where in some months I was averaging a book a week or less, they are jumping out of the ether and into people´s kindles at a rate of more than one a day.  Yeah.

This is for both my English language stuff and my Spanish books.  
I have two new books almost ready for publication.  
One is another dog book ... a collection of short stories and news stuff called ¨Mexican Mutts, Tequila Pups and Chili Dogs - True stories of the Dogs of Mexico.
The other (a guaranteed bestseller)  is a book - dictionary called (In spanish)  Insults, Swear words. Profanity and the worst of Low Class English´ 
I´ve a good feeling about that one.

So the moral (as I will probably stop updating this thread) is that the KDP discounts and freebees may or may not work .... how can you lose by trying it.  Oh, and it may have all worked better if I had done more promo (no time for that) or if I had been willing to PAYOLA a bunch of those corrupt sites that undermine the meritocracy that the OLD amazon publishing used to be.  Not willing and not rich enough to play that game.  

David Gordon Burke


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## Mike_IAA

If there's one thing about Amazon, it's that they will always keep you guessing!


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## Yumi Koizumi

David Gordon Burke said:


> Why?  Location.  How the hell do I try to got the traditional route as a writer if I live in Mexico?  Even if I could sell an article to a newspaper or magazine, they are likely to reject it in the long run just due to taxation issues - if they can´t pay me due to not being a US citizen?



How much would having a US agent (assuming US is your biggest target market) to transact your sales/taxes be? From there it is a matter of transferring funds under the radar to you, or a neutral bank account in a 3rd country, right?

I'm no legal beagle, so I don't know if doing so is legit, but it would seem the US would love to have people pay taxes to it that aren't even living there to take advantage of the services your taxes pay for...

Assuming this really is the big roadblock, has any of that research revealed anything?


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## David Gordon Burke

So I did another 5 day giveaway on my latest ESL tutorial.  100 copies downloaded.  Was #1 in two different categories for a while.   No to see if any attention and sales comes my way.
Something is up.  My blog just jumped from a few readers per week to 200 a day average.  How'd that happen?  
Critical mass in sight?
Will report if the giveaway generates sales.
David Gordon Burke


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## InstituteMan

I hope it works for you, David! Who knows where critical mass really is? Not me, but I do know a positive step, and it sounds like you've made one recently.mgood luck, and please keep us posted.


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## David Gordon Burke

The latest news in my long line of Amazon promos.
I am at the critical point where if I don´t get a paycheck from Amazon soon, I´m going to go postal.  I may be about 2 cents short of that elusive $100 mark at Amazon.com.  Spain owes me a bunch of Euros but it´s still a bit short for the payoff.
The interesting thing is that due to the conversion to Mexican pesos and the horrific international response to our current government under the iron fist of Enrique Peña Nieto and his pack of mafioso PRI cohorts and minions, the devaluation of the peso means I will actually get MORE from Amazon once the payout comes through.

To further this endeavor, I am running yet another KDP countdown deal .... actually, about 4 countdown deals and 1 freebee book days.  

Here´s my Schedule.  (Not schlepping for sales...just reporting)

Inglés al Poder de Tres – Compilación Nivel UNO
June 5, 2015 at 8:00 AM (PST) $0.99
June 6, 2015 at 4:00 PM (PST) $1.99
June 8, 2015 at 12:00 AM (PST) $2.99
June 9, 2015 at 8:00 AM (PST) $3.99
June 10, 2015 at 4:00 PM (PST) $4.99


Inglés al Poder de Tres – Volumen UNO
1	 June 15, 2015 at 8:00 AM (PST)	80h	$0.99	67%
2	 June 18, 2015 at 4:00 PM (PST)	80h	$1.99	34%
End	 June 22, 2015 at 


Lo Peor de las Mentadas, Maldiciones, Insultos y el Inglés de Mal Gusto
May 31, 2015 at 8:00 AM (PST) $0.99
June 2, 2015 at 8:00 PM (PST) $1.99


Lobo
1May 31, 2015 at 8:00 AM (PST)	60h	$0.99	67%
2June 2, 2015 at 8:00 PM (PST)	60h	$1.99	34%
End June 5, 2015 at 8:00 AM (PST)Original list price $3.00


A Rose by Any Other Name
Free
May 29, 2015	June 2, 2015	Scheduled

If that doesn´t put me over the top, generate some sales, get my books up in the ranking and in the end get a deposit into my bank account, I´m taking up naked basket weaving.  

David Gordon Burke


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## movieman

I thought the $100 only applied to payment by check, and it was $10 for direct deposit?


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## David Gordon Burke

movieman said:


> I thought the $100 only applied to payment by check, and it was $10 for direct deposit?



I have never heard of any other payment option other than the $100 limit.  Of course the Mexicans are paying me in 20 and 30 pesos dribs and drabs.  
TME
Typical Mexican Efficiency.  (Sarcasm in case you aren´t getting that)

David Gordon Burke


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## David Gordon Burke

So it begins.  I have a bunch of KDP countdown specials and Freebees planned for the end of this month and the beginning of next.  (As mentioned previously)

After just 4 hours in the freebee mode my book ¨A Rose by Any Other Name - Life Lessons from an Unremarkable Dog´ has had about 30 downloads.  
Ranking.


Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,185 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#11​ in Kindle Store > Kindle Short Reads > Two hours or more (65-100 pages) > Biographies & Memoirs
#15​ in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Animal Care & Pets > Dogs.
I like it.  Hopefully I´ll go to NUMBER 1.  Hopefully, this will lead to extra downloads of my two other dog books.  
One can pray (delude themselves, lie to themselves etc.)  

David Gordon Burke


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## David Gordon Burke

Update - It seems that the Amazon KDP countdown deal are only applicable in certain marketplaces.  Well doesn´t that just bite?  So all my time promoting my book(s) is only going to pay off for certain markets.  Oh well.  There´s something to keep in mind.

As an added pain in the keister, I cannot even see my own KDP prices since I am in a foreign land.  So I have to log on to my books individually via a proxy server to make sure that the price change has gone into effect.  

Nevertheless, I now have 3 books on special - One for free and two at $0.99.  So far a lot of folks have taken advantage of the freebee.  I did get a boost in KU sales (those people who are Amazon super-customers who get to read for free and if they pass a 10% point in the book you get a payout)  This is actually sometimes more lucrative than selling the book outright so COOL!

This whole PROMO thing I have going on will last for most of June, one book at a time.  At that point I am pulling those books out of the ¨EXCLUSIVE´ with Amazon situation and will post them to Smashwords and KOBO etc.  Time to give another market a try.  (Unless of course they absolutely EXPLODE before the end of June .... in which case, look for me somewhere on the Riviera Maya)

David Gordon Burke
PS.  Look for me at @dbwriterteacher


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## David Gordon Burke

Update - 76 free units downloaded.
After two days with 2 $0.99 deals there hasn´t been a single download.  
Basket weaving, here I come.

David Gordon Burke


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## hhourani

Selling baskets on Etsy is way more profitable that writing books, I'll tell you that much. 

Nothing disheartened me more than the other day when I posted about my first novella being published on Facebook (hear me out!) and got 20 likes whereas a few weeks earlier I had a new profile pic and got more than that. Yes "likes" are worth about a fart, but I think it's indicative _somehow_ (don't judge me)

I've also released a sh*tty short story that I wrote the other day in an hour and its performance on amazon is comparable with a short story that I took three months to edit and make nice.

So, yeah, basket weaving. Or Napkin folding.


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## Phil Istine

A suggestion:  Write a book on how to weave baskets.


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## hhourani

If only I knew how to weave baskets, Phil Istine, if only I knew how.

Can't teach this old dog new tricks.

More likely to write a book about giant baskets that weave people.


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## David Gordon Burke

hhourani said:


> More likely to write a book about giant baskets that weave people.



Sadly it´s been done already.  But it was a XXX version.  Written by an award winning bestseller.

David Gordon Burke
(referencing other posts here)


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## David Gordon Burke

The days of free book giveaways and $0.99 book discounts are over.
The first time I ran a free book giveaway on Amazon, a little over a year ago, the number of free books affected your overall book rating.  
In the days following the freebees, I sold 75 books.  Not a bad deal.

That is no longer the case.  Your free books do not affect your ranking and so you go right back to the bottom of the barrel when it´s over.
I´ve said it before and I´ll say it again ..... the indie self publishing revolution is over.  It lasted about 15 minutes before the half dozen people who led the way made their millions.  Now Amazon is selling out the effort of the little guy and there is just no way to compete.  

This is doubly depressing for me as the possibility of going the traditional route is beyond my possibilities .... I truly have no idea how anyone outside an English speaking market could ever even begin to get their work published.  

I gave away 99 books and ran 4 promo price deals and I sold 1 stinking book.  

Oh, and get this.... the KDP countdown deals are not available in all countries.  So if you are a writer with a book aimed at your particular culture, and you log into your Kindle account, set up your countdown deal and promote the snot out of it, the people in your market are possibly not going to get the discount. 
What´s that all about?  

No offense to the US members of the forum but how 1st world centric is that bloody business plan?  At the very least they could let me know when I set up the deal so I won´t waste my time.

Amazon ????   I dont´know what they´re thinking but it is definitely time to move out.  Every cycle they add more and more obstacles to make it harder for indie writers.  I give up.  Smashwords and Kobo here I come.  

David Gordon Burke


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## Foxee

Painful to hear about but also pretty instructive. Thanks for reporting your experiences here. I'd like to hear how Smashwords and Kobo go for you.


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## Terry D

I'm trying my own give away. My book Chase is on a three day give away which started this morning. There have been 350 downloaded so far. We shall see if it generates any interest in my other work.

UPDATE: Midway through the second day and the download count is up to 650. Chase is sitting at #6 in free crime thrillers. That and a buck will get me coffee at McDonald's.


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## Terry D

Time for bed and Chase has been downloaded more than 1000 times today. That puts the total at over 1400 with one day to go.


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## dale

Terry D said:


> Time for bed and Chase has been downloaded more than 1000 times today. That puts the total at over 1400 with one day to go.



did you do a lot of promotion on your free days? or are there just a lot of people who seek out books when they go free like that?


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## Terry D

Zero promotion. I think crime thrillers are a genre which draws a lot of lookers, and the 5 star rating for the book by reviewers probably helped. The way I look at it is the book has been out for two years, so a three day freebie isn't going to kill paid sales at this point and if I can get my work in the hands of 1700 new people (as of right now) it might get someone to pick up a copy of one of my other books. We'll see. If nothing comes of it, so be it.


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## dale

Terry D said:


> Zero promotion. I think crime thrillers are a genre which draws a lot of lookers, and the 5 star rating for the book by reviewers probably helped. The way I look at it is the book has been out for two years, so a three day freebie isn't going to kill paid sales at this point and if I can get my work in the hands of 1700 new people (as of right now) it might get someone to pick up a copy of one of my other books. We'll see. If nothing comes of it, so be it.



think i might ask my publisher to give it a 3 day freebie run for the ebook. i don't think he'll object. it's not like it's been selling like hotcakes lately.


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## Schrody

Terry D said:


> Time for bed and Chase has been downloaded more than 1000 times today. That puts the total at over 1400 with one day to go.



That I can only dream off


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## Terry D

In one way I hate putting it out there for free -- all the time and work -- but in reality, at this point, it's more about selling me as an author than selling the book. I know only a fraction of the people who download a free book ever actually read them (I have several on my Kindle shelf that I haven't read yet), but some will. I'm confident that most of those who read Chase will like it. That's what I'm banking on. Well... at this point not really _banking_...


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## Terry D

Here's the weekend wrap up. There were 1861 copies of Chase downloaded for free across seven Amazon market places world-wide. There were two copies downloaded via the Kindle Unlimited program (if those folks read at least 10% of the  book they will convert to sales). This morning there have been two copies actually purchased. The book topped out at #3 in free crime thrillers and #6 in suspense. It made it to #112 in the entire Kindle free store.


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## musichal

Terry D said:


> Here's the weekend wrap up. There were 1861 copies of Chase downloaded for free across seven Amazon market places world-wide. There were two copies downloaded via the Kindle Unlimited program (if those folks read at least 10% of the  book they will convert to sales). This morning there have been two copies actually purchased. The book topped out at #3 in free crime thrillers and #6 in suspense. It made it to #112 in the entire Kindle free store.



Amazon tracks how much of a book I read on my Kindle?


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## dale

Terry D said:


> Here's the weekend wrap up. There were 1861 copies of Chase downloaded for free across seven Amazon market places world-wide. There were two copies downloaded via the Kindle Unlimited program (if those folks read at least 10% of the  book they will convert to sales). This morning there have been two copies actually purchased. The book topped out at #3 in free crime thrillers and #6 in suspense. It made it to #112 in the entire Kindle free store.



talked to my publisher last night. he said he didn't have a problem running it for 3 days free. not sure exactly when it's
going free, though. plus, i won't be able to watch the progress on how it's doing like you can yours. or at least i don't think
i can.


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## Terry D

musichal said:


> Amazon tracks how much of a book I read on my Kindle?



It seems that way. It may just be for those signed up for Kindle Unlimited, but I can't say for sure.


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## David Gordon Burke

Partial results from Promo blast.
3 books didn´t get a single sale.  I have given up on the books focused on teaching English to Latinos.  That well is dry.
Between free books and reduced price books there has finally been a blurp in sales.
So far for the month.
Sales 5
KU/KOLL 4
Free Units 27 (there were a bunch more but that was the same special that fell over the the end of May, beginning of June)

Today is the 11th of the month.  My first goal is one book downloaded per day.  My long term goal is 6 books per day.  Then retirement.  
To date my goals are WAY in the future.

David Gordon Burke


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## Terry D

I hope you don't mind me jumping on your thread like a lamprey on a shark, David, but it seems the best place to discuss my free give away experience. In the two weeks since my Chase give away I've sold 18 copies -- 12 straight Kindle downloads and 6 KU/KOLL borrows, which should generate some payback next month. Almost as important, there have been two new reviews (both 5 star), one in the U.S. and one in the U.K. Eighteen books isn't going to land me on any best seller lists, but it is a nice spike for a two year old book. 

I'm encouraged enough to do a similar three day event for my short story collection which I published last fall. I'll start a separate thread for the results of that one so as not to keep hijacking yours.


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## David Gordon Burke

Terry D said:


> I hope you don't mind me jumping on your thread like a lamprey on a shark, David, but it seems the best place to discuss my free give away experience. In the two weeks since my Chase give away I've sold 18 copies -- 12 straight Kindle downloads and 6 KU/KOLL borrows, which should generate some payback next month. Almost as important, there have been two new reviews (both 5 star), one in the U.S. and one in the U.K. Eighteen books isn't going to land me on any best seller lists, but it is a nice spike for a two year old book.
> 
> I'm encouraged enough to do a similar three day event for my short story collection which I published last fall. I'll start a separate thread for the results of that one so as not to keep hijacking yours.



Terry,

Feel free to add results here.  Damn, the thread seems popular so keep it going.
Congrats on your results.  I have been getting a trickle of good results but it is slow.
I realize that it has a lot to do with genre as well.  Maybe everything to do with genre.

David Gordon Burke


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## dale

my results were nowhere near terry's. like about 50. and i think those were from me starting a thread about it here
and putting it up on facebook and twitter. so i said to the publisher..."i don't think that dude (terry) is a liar. he doesn't seem
like the lying type. i wonder if he just dropped the price? or whether he actually PLACED it in the free book section for
those days?" he messaged me back and said..."man. all i did was make it a free download. you may be right. we'll try it
again in another month and this time i'll actually try to place it in the 'free horror books' section and see what happens."


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## Terry D

dale said:


> my results were nowhere near terry's. like about 50. and i think those were from me starting a thread about it here
> and putting it up on facebook and twitter. so i said to the publisher..."i don't think that dude (terry) is a liar. he doesn't seem
> like the lying type. i wonder if he just dropped the price? or whether he actually PLACED it in the free book section for
> those days?" he messaged me back and said..."man. all i did was make it a free download. you may be right. we'll try it
> again in another month and this time i'll actually try to place it in the 'free horror books' section and see what happens."



All I did was choose the 'Free Promo' option in Kindle Direct. I think you need to have the book as a Kindle Select offering (slaved to Amazon, not available through other e-retailers). I'd done the same for my first book and it received less than 100 downloads each time. This one blew me away. I do think genre makes a difference.


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## stevesh

musichal said:


> Amazon tracks how much of a book I read on my Kindle?



Oh, yes, and this, I think, changes everything:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business...on-publishing-authors-payment-writing/396269/


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## David Gordon Burke

As for Amazon's new tracking and KU/KOLL, I doubt very much this is going to work in the INDIE author's favor.  Time and again I have seen Amazon tip the scales in favor of the Traditional publishing world ... I just cannot figure out how this is in their favor.  

As for my personal progress, I have seen a spike in sales this month.  This is due to one or two factors.  It may have to do with my free promos earier in the month or my new massive Twitter promos.  By linking with a bunch of like minded indies who regularly retweet each other's posts, I am getting my book ads in front of hundreds of thousands of people, various times a day.  

Facebook is dead.  It is the old social networking platform ... sadly, friends and family are the last people who will buy your book or help you out.  Twitter is the way to go.  I'm up to 5,000 followers in a short time and growing.

This month I am averaging about one sale or one KU/KOLL download per day and a sale of my print editions each week.  The promotion takes up WAY too much of my time that I'd rather be spending writing but that's the name of the game.

David Gordon Burke


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## Terry D

Final tally for my free promo this past weekend; 38 copies of my short story collection downloaded. What a difference a genre makes. This book was in horror and climbed to #12 in volume for free horror collections. That's compared to nearly 2,000 downloads a couple weeks ago for my crime thriller.


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## David Gordon Burke

Here we go again.
I am running a freebee promo on my Mexican Mutts, Tequila Pups & Chili Dogs - True Stories of the Dogs of Mexico.  It will run June 30th to July 4th.
Here´s a few things I have learned that I am putting into play.  
Sunday is the worst day - Don´t bother.  
And the thing that I had missed previously was PROMO.
If only 50 or so people download your book .... well I guess that only 100 or so have actually stumbled across it.  
You have to figure that most people will download a book if it is free and even remotely in the genre they are looking for .... so the thing that is missing is to get that book in front of the maximum number of people.
How to do that?
Twitter.  For the first time I have a massive support network built up with Twitter.  My promo tweets are regularly getting retweeted to 100,000 or more  people.  YEAH!

Finally, (and I don´t have the slightest idea why I share these gems .... ) if you are about to run a promo of any kind, you should check out this page.

http://www.tckpublishing.com/list-of-sites-to-promote-your-free-amazon-kindle-books/

I have listed my book with a dozen or so sites that run FREE promos for FREE books.  
Hopefully that will push my book into the stratosphere of ranking.  

Do a guy a favor .... download my book would ya?

Thanks,
Will report when the promo is underway.

David Gordon Burke


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## TeriBeth

Will download when available.  Love the title.


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## movieman

David Gordon Burke said:


> I´ve said it before and I´ll say it again ..... the indie self publishing revolution is over.  It lasted about 15 minutes before the half dozen people who led the way made their millions.  Now Amazon is selling out the effort of the little guy and there is just no way to compete.



No, the market has just grown up. You can no longer upload any old crap for $0.99 and sell it to people because... *a book for only $0.99! *

Now we have to compete with the best that trade publishing can offer, including decades of backlist works, many of which are classics of their genre. Which is fine by me, but many of the $0.99 wonders of a few years ago have seen their income sink to nothing, because they were only ever able to sell on price and can't compete in a mature market.


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## David Gordon Burke

movieman said:


> No, the market has just grown up. You can no longer upload any old crap for $0.99 and sell it to people because... *a book for only $0.99! *
> 
> Now we have to compete with the best that trade publishing can offer, including decades of backlist works, many of which are classics of their genre. Which is fine by me, but many of the $0.99 wonders of a few years ago have seen their income sink to nothing, because they were only ever able to sell on price and can't compete in a mature market.



I stand behind my original statement.  Why is it that Amazon is constantly changing their search engine algorythmn and their policies?  To help the little guy or to benefit the established mainstream.  (No question mark as that is a rhetorical question)  I have heard a thousand arguements that seem to put Amazon on a pedestal.  I don't buy it.  

Why did I sell 75 copies after a free run two years ago and today after a free run it is barley a blip?  Same number of books downloaded free but the result and payback for my good will is next to nothing.  

Add to that the number of vultures that are dealing Payola to get your book into the public eye.  In racecar terms, the guy who spent more money on his car wins.  It's like Mexican politics, the party with the biggest war-chest wins.  I for one do not believe that the KU/KOLL changes are at all fair to writers.  It is based in part on a person grabbing the book and reading it while constantly being connected to the internet so that Amazon can track the number of pages read.  That's a big assumption.  There is no safeguard that would stop anyone from reading while off-line.  My kindle is never on-line.  

If you download the book ... whether via regular sale or KU/KOLL the author should be due a flat fee.  Then if the KU/KOLL wants to have a per page extra .... ok, that seems fair.  Otherwise, it's a faulty plan and the authors are the ones that will lose ..... Amazon is the Las Vegas of Self publishing and be sure .... the house always wins.  (the house and their big business masters)  

David Gordon Burke


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## movieman

Amazon's algorithms don't exist to help the little guy or the big guy; they exist to make more money for Amazon. Originally, people could push their books to the top of the best-seller lists by making them free and getting thousands of social media followers to download them, and that was obviously bad for readers, so Amazon removed the free boost. Anyone who looked at the impact the free days had back then could see it was going to have to change.

Similarly, while I think KU is probably the worst idea Amazon ever came up with, the original policy of paying a fixed amount per borrow was pushing novels out and encouraging writers to release very short shorts. The new policy is pushing shorts out, and encouraging writers to release novels, which is what most readers want.

If Amazon was favouring trade publishers over indies, we'd be seeing trade published ebook sales going up, not static or declining. Personally, I've spent about 5x as much on indie ebooks over trade published in the last year, much of it on books recommended to me by Amazon's algorithms.


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## David Gordon Burke

Here's a tip.  Let's see if it works.  The tendency would be to blast your promo on the first day of your Kindle promo - either for freebee days or the KDP countdown.  But it might be a better idea to increase your promos in the later days.  The first days always seem to be the peak of downloads from my experience so I am going light on day one and increasing the promos for each consecutive day.

We'll see if it's effective.  Tomorrow the Promo begins.

David Gordon Burke


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## movieman

Oddly enough, I've always found Thursdays were my best days for sales and free downloads. I normally try to release books on a Thursday for that reason (or release earlier and use a few free days in the hope of getting a review or two before Thursday).


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## Terry D

My peak day, by far, was Saturday (1170 downloads compared to 427 on Friday and 267 on Sunday). My promo generated a brief flurry of sales and KU/KOLL activity and I have received 3 new reviews (all 5 star). All in all I'd say it was a worthwhile exercise.


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## David Gordon Burke

Yet another report from the front line.

I have seen little or no difference in the number of free downloads even though I did a ton of promotion for this Freebee at Amazon.  
Still, my previous experience has been that it doesn´t matter the number of freebees given --- what matters is what happens next.  So if I go on to have a lot of sales after, that´s all that counts.

My ranking at this moment which is the best so far with two more days to go.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,498 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#12 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Animal Care & Pets > Dogs
#293 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Short Stories > Single Authors

David Gordon Burke


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## David Gordon Burke

Looks like this is going to be my final ranking before the freebee days end tonight at Midnight.

Note for furhter reference - Don´t run any specials during any big holidays.  This one ran over the Canadian Independance day and the US as well.  It might have done better than it did without those distractions.  Even still, I had double the downloads than some people that I´ve talked to via Facebook author groups.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,106 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#10 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Animal Care & Pets > Dogs
#320 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Short Stories > Single Authors

Wtihout a doubt, the Amazon game is getting harder every day and the new KU/KOLL policy has made my recent advances null and void.  It took me two years to get to a ´One sale or borrow´ per day status.  I don´t see that continuing in the near future.  

David Gordon Burke
PS.  Like a susperstitious gambler or baseball player who always carries a rabbit´s foot in a pocket before a big game, I am continuing to have my doubts.  Hopefully, as in the past, the result will be a hell of a lot better than what I predict.  Fingers crossed.


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