Free Down Loads On Kindle

By Mike Long Until recently I’ve steadfastly resisted giving any of my books away. Sure, I sent copies to folks for reviews (with mostly good results) and even donated a case to a US Army aviation unit in Afghanistan – but that’s not the same as listing a book as ‘Free’ on Kindle for several days. Why on earth would a sane person do that? I’m not sure why sane folks do anything, but what pushed me to try a ‘free download’ promo was the fact that I just wasn’t selling many copies as E-books. I had my first novel (No Good Like It Is) and the sequel (Dog Soldier Moon) available on Kindle, Smashwords, Sony, Nook, etc., but was only moving maybe twenty or twenty-five on each per month. I’d already gone through the Kindle pricing drill, starting at $9.99, then $5.99, then 99 cents and finally establishing my ‘sweet spot’ as $2.99 per. At that price or higher, the author gets 70% of each sale; below that, it’s only 35%. And when Kindle offered their Kindle Owners Lending Library (KOLL), I was slow to join up (why loan books for free, rather than sell them?) – until I learned that the KOLL program actually pays a little to the participating authors. You do have to give Kindle an ‘exclusive’ on your books, but I’d never received a penny from Sony, Smashwords, Nook, etc. anyhow. Another no-brainer, once I studied it. And all that led me to the free download promo. A friend explained that the folks who hold out for freebies on Kindle were probably never going to pay for one of my books – unless maybe they got the first one free and just had to have the sequel, especially if it didn’t cost much. I ran my experiment Nov. 26-30 2012, after a good deal of mostly free advertising. I used Facebook (all my groups therein) and LinkedIn, and found more than a dozen sites that would blog or advertise my effort for little or nothing. There were over 6500 free downloads during that five day promotion; most (6200) were in the first three days, so a two or three-day promo is probably enough. But what happened afterward is what has really surprised me. In the nine days since I stopped the promotion, I’ve had over 220 paid downloads (purchases, KOLL Loans) of my first novel; the figures on the sequel aren’t in yet. Remember, I was only doing about 22 of each per month before. I don’t expect this pace to continue, but it’s sweet now. And there are still 6500+ potential buyers for the sequel. Write On!

SCWW Conference Labor Day Special Offer

By Ginny Padgett

2012 SCWW Conference – October 19-21 – Myrtle Beach

It’s that time of year again. School is back in session, football returns to fan-filled stadia and South Carolina Writers’ Workshop holds its annual conference.

Here’s the latest conference news. The early-bird registration rate ended yesterday (September 1), but if you register by September 15 and email me at ginnypadgett@sc.rr.com and tell me you saw this blog, I will extend the $50.00 discount. Additionally, I’ll extend the deadline for purchasing a manuscript critique to September 15.

Registration remains open until October 17; however, you’ll pay full price and only pitch and query-letter critique appointments remain for sale.

 I hope you’ll join us for the conference. It’s an excellent opportunity to network with other writers and industry professionals, hone your craft, expand your knowledge of publishing trends…and who knows, come away with a book deal! It’s going to be a great weekend for writers in South Carolina.

Take a look at the weekend activities that will mark the 22nd SCWW Conference. (See http://columbiawritersworkshop.blogspot.com/search/label/Ginny%20Padgett) You can go to www.myscww.org/conference/ for all the information, including links to registering for the conference and making your Hilton reservations.

Secret Diary

4/26/2012

Its 3:46 A.M. and I’m sitting in my recliner pecking away on my laptop. Assigned the task of producing a thought-provoking article for our organizational website, I plod along, deleting more words than I allow to remain. The import of what I am doing an ever present burden, I write thoughts that will be read, or at least looked over, by several people, maybe even four.

I’m supposed to be writing a blog. Even old people, such as I, know what a blog is; it’s a web log. Why it’s not called a web log, welog, wlog, web message, or online diary is less clearly understood. I think I’ll title this one SECRET DIARY, probably not though, wouldn’t want to disappoint so many when they learn there’s no sex in it, but then again. Grammar police – If you think, the second sentence of this paragraph should read “old people like me” take it up with Elvis Presley, he sang “a fool such as I” and you didn’t ding him for that.

In my previous blog, I wrote of the enormous possibilities for dissemination of information through social media. I thought I was leading a charge of well-educated people into a new and exciting way of promoting one’s writing.

 Since then, I’ve learned many literate people don’t even check their email regularly. Many don’t FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, or even Link In. In fact, I’ve come to the conclusion some intelligent people don’t have cable, broadband, or Wi-Fi in their homes and might not turn on their computers for days at a time! I’ve even heard of a person who still uses a typewriter and pen and paper to write! They don’t use smart phones, Ipads, or Kindles! How do I deal with such an astounding revelation? I must admit, I went through a stage of denial when first confronted with this information. This couldn’t be, not in 2012!

Then I made a discovery that might explain this situation. Libraries and bookstores still exist. People actually go to them, physically, to borrow or buy books. Theaters still exist and people visit them to watch movies. How Quaint!

The literary world is in the midst of a paradigm shift. Some reside in the old, others in the new, and, as always, many haven’t a clue. Who am I to judge which is the better milieu?

I don’t think I’ll live long enough to see the apex of the pendulum swing into modernity. Maybe I should just play it as it lays and do the best I can by interacting with those who use technology; oh, and not use as many clichés and metaphors.
SCWWsecretary

Twitter use by SCWW

Twitter

When I graduated from high school, high tech consisted of electric typewriters. We had only one electric in a classroom with 24 manual Royal typewriters. The teacher allowed only the “good” typists to use it. I was not a good typist; in fact, I ranked near the bottom of the class because I made so many errors. Erasing those typos and keying over them made my papers look like patchwork hieroglyphics. No one seemed concerned about my lack of progress, however. I was one of only a few boys in the class and most everyone wondered why I had taken a girls’ class anyway.

I thought back on that situation as I considered the election of officers and our discussions during our recent board meeting. I’d almost bet that some of the writers attending workshops at the seventeen plus chapters across the state are still using typewriters. If you are, I applaud you. I gave up on those things many years ago. I now have a PC, laptop, and keyboard Kindle. When I make a mistake, a single keystroke will usually make it right. I’d also bet my typing teacher, Mrs. Hanna, would be amazed that I have been elected secretary of SCWW.

A major theme of our meeting concerned our use of technology. While there will always be books, most of our information now comes to us via digital displays. If one produces an eBook and it’s never printed on paper … but I diverge.

There seemed to be universal agreement that we as a group need to be more proficient in our use of technology, especially the big three: Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Oh yes, YouTube and Skype.

Twitter became my assignment because during the meeting, I was naïve enough to admit I already had an account. However, this tasking caused me to look more closely and the more I become involved in Twitter, the more I realize the magnitude of its potential. I now truly believe the possibilities available in proper use of Twitter are beyond what most of us might imagine. Certainly, it offers us an easy and immediate method for keeping all members in the state informed, but that’s just the beginning. Imagine announcing a conference, book festival, or the publication of a new novel to literally thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of people with one tweet. Imagine continual contact and interaction between SCWW and major publishers, agents, and editors. All this and more can happen.

But first- you knew there was a but- our members must become tweeters. Once signed on at Twitter, search for scwwsecretary and “follow” it. That way you should receive any tweets we send out. A few tweets have already been sent and more will follow. If you wish to have a message tweeted to all members, send it to scwwsecretary@gmail.com

Remember tweets must be less than 140 characters and spaces count as characters. More information about Twitter in future blogs.

SCWW secretary – Monet Jones