Kindle Fire Giveaway Finals

If patience is a virtue, and believe me sometimes I am not so sure, then you people are saints for waiting on me to get this up.

On Jan. 1, the deadline I set for the Kindle Fire giveaway, The Congregation finished with only five reviews on Amazon. Luckily for my bank account, I sold quite a bit more than that. It is still a loss leader for those of you curious, but nothing near what I feared. In the process, I picked up five reviews, and since a deal is a deal, only five of you will be slugging it out for the Fire.

Now, per the original rules of the contest, this is for my blog followers to decide, so if you are one, feel free to vote for yourself and direct your friends and family to sign up here at the site and vote as well. The full list of reviews are at this link, so read through them and choose your favorite. The participants, who made it in by the deadline are: S. Mark Dancer, Brad Molder, S. Lawrence, HLLivingLoco, and RedSoxFreak67.

(You all don't hold it against him that he likes those Red Sox, he's actually a swell guy.)

For the sake of transparency, vote in the comments section below the post you are now reading. Simply write the Amazon user name you liked the best. Vote only once. Anonymous votes won't be counted for obvious reasons. Voting closes a week from today at 11:59 p.m.

On Saturday the 14th, your Fire will be ordered and on the way to the address you specify. The rest of you get a free $9.99 (or less) ebook from the author of your choice just because you were such good sports for playing along. Now maybe the next time I do a giveaway, maybe more of you people will take me seriously :).

Seriously, thanks guys, and please tell all the friends and followers you can to buy The Congregation today! It's bloody, it's messy, it's nasty, it's mean, and it's fun. And it won't take up too much of your time.

KDP Select discussion: observing the pros and cons

I wake up today at the bright and early hour of 10:30 in the morning—perk of writing for a living, don’t let anyone tell you it’s not—and there’s an email in my inbox touting KDP Select, a new initiative to increase the amount of lending titles while also compensating writers in the process. Since releasing The Congregation on Nov. 3, 2011, this option has taken on greater significance for me. I have a dog in the hunt, so to speak. 

Initially, I see the “lending” option and think, “What’s in it for me?” At the same time, I acknowledge “Free,” while often vilified as being associated with “self-pubbed crap,” is an effective way to increase exposure and grab those all-important initial reviews. But automatically, I’m thinking how many loss leaders can my sanity afford after pouring so much time into my books?

(Plural, because No. 2 for me will be out in January.) 

Looking at the numbers included in the email, if the money pot is $500,000, as it currently is, and only 100,000 borrows are made for the month, then each borrow is worth $5 to the author. You lend out 10 copies, you make $50. You lend out 1,000, you make $5,000. Obviously, the more in-demand your book is, the better your paycheck. 

Of course, the flip side of that coin is this: if there are 1 million borrows and only $500,000 in the pot, then each one is only worth 50 cents. Is this good or bad for authors? For the most part, I choose good, and here’s why:

1. Free lending on the best supported eReader format in all of publishing

It took me several minutes to figure out the Overdrive option at my local library, and I must say, I didn’t like it. The cover art didn’t come through, there was a due date, and a waiting list. All these things affect my enjoyment of the reading experience in a negative way. Presumably, Amazon’s system will be as simple as making a purchase. Presumably, the cover art will transfer as well. Presumably, the only “due date” will be the one-month option, and if your book is not read in that month, the reader can always re-up it the following month without having to wait on someone else’s term to finish.

2. More people own Kindles than any other eReading device.

Even those that don’t own a Kindle can and do purchase books on the Kindle App via iPad. But then, my understanding is that this promotion is just for Kindle owners, so we’ll just limit our potential reader base to those persons. Even so, you’re dealing with millions and millions of potential readers. The particularly rabid fans can be found over on the @AmazonKindle Twitter profile. Currently, around 80,000 highly targeted candidates. Actual owners dwarf this number, but let’s say that just 1 percent of the most rabid Kindle fans borrow your book each month. That’s approximately 800 people. Using the $5 per borrow example, this would earn you around $4,000. Furthermore, Amazon has guaranteed a minimum of $6 million to the KDP Select lending pool for 2012. That means the revenue pot will be AT LEAST $500,000 per month. Borrows are another story.

3. Amazon giving away 5 days of free promotion every 90 days.

No details included on what that means, but considering that Amazon are pretty much the best marketers around, 20 days of free exposure per year, depending on the depth of that exposure, can be potentially life-changing at best and a shot in the arm for your career at worst. Even if there are 1 million borrows for the month, and you only earn $400, that’s $400 more than you had and the probability that you’ll pick up some good reviews and a nice little boost in the “also bought’s.”

4. Amazon is only grabbing exclusive rights for 90 days versus a lifetime.

I don’t know about you, but I can give up 90 days of my book’s sales life on other outlets if it means exposure and awareness for my titles increase. Granting Amazon the required 90-day exclusivity clause is an excellent way to jumpstart sales and carry the positive buzz over to other eReader platforms.

5. Not everyone will be eligible to participate, which means it won’t kill your sales.

Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is essentially a second revenue stream that you can earn through Amazon. It appeals to a different group of readers (the mostly rabid). Prime members are the only ones eligible. There are many, many more Amazon book customers than Amazon Prime members. Your promotional efforts can reach the widest possible base of Amazon customers, and you could earn 50 cents to $5 per borrow or 35 cents to set-your-own-price per sale. Users of the iPad will still be able to read your book through the Kindle App. Prime owners of a Kindle product will be able to borrow as a perk of their membership.

The Downside:

1. Competing against the big boys. Publishers have some hostility towards Amazon, so there is the possibility that you won’t have to fight Stephen King or Dean Koontz or insert-bestselling-author-name-here for a piece of the pie. However, it’s possible since print copies may continue to be distributed at one’s leisure from any outlet. Should publishers embrace this concept, then it could shrink the royalty pie for newbies considerably.

2. Lack of information regarding promotional tools. Just looking at the KDP Select web page, it’s difficult to determine how effective the “free marketing for 5 days every 90” will be. I do wish the company would give a more involved accounting, so you know what to expect before clicking “enroll.”

3. No grandfathering. The Congregation is on sale at Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, iTunes, Kobo, and virtually everywhere eBooks are sold. Had I known about this option ahead of the publication date, I would have likely not hesitated to give Amazon the 90-day head start. If I want to do that now, it looks like I’ll have to unpublish from Smashwords and wait for the title to disappear on the other sites before becoming eligible. Then, after 90 days, I’ll have to do that crap all over again if I want to have the widest possible reach to electronic readers.

What do you guys think of KDP Select? You can read the details here and the legalese here. Please feel free to let me know if I’m confused on something. I think this is a good overview of the pros and cons, but getting the facts about it out there is my first priority.

Free Kindle Fire Giveaway Writing Contest is here

You’re not talking to a world class marketer, people. That’s why I’ve decided that straying too far from what works is a bad idea. So now that Dec. 1 is upon us, I want to get as unoriginal as I possibly can and attempt to move copies of my ridiculously cheap $3-plus-change horror novel The Congregation.

The way I plan to do that is this: give away a Kindle Fire for free. While much like the Highlander movies, there can be only one KFW (Kindle Fire Winner), nine more of you will not be going away empty-handed. 

Here’s how the Kindle Fire Giveaway Writing Contest works. 

You get my book, which will only run you $3-plus-change if you didn’t get in on the limited time free promotion (ended yesterday). You read it. You write a review (think about 100-150 words) either on your blog, website, or BN/Amazon/iBooks. Send the live link to aric dot mitchell at gmail dot com by Jan. 1, 2012. I read over all of them and choose the 10 best. Then, my blog followers, which could be you if you join, pick the final winner by Jan. 15, 2012. Said winner gets a free Kindle Fire. The other nine get an eBook of their choice, up to $9.99 in value for each prize. 

All prizes are delivered to your door by the end of January 2012. But in order for this to work, we've got to have a cutoff, so I'm gonna have to be firm on that New Year's expiration date. 

Oh yeah, and family members? Sorry, you're out of luck. Gotta be fair. That's why this promotion is only for people, who aren't offended by some bad language and a whole bunch of stomach churning violence. 

This way, I get sales and publicity. You get at least two books for the price of $3-plus-change and a little bit of your time. And some lucky person gets their very own Kindle Fire. Note: if you’d rather have another eReader at or below the Kindle Fire price, then we can do that. And who knows, maybe if you’re wanting a $11.99 to $12.99 eBook, we can work something out there, too. I’m easy to get along with :)! 

So what are you waiting for? We don’t have much time left. To purchase my book, head over to:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Apple iBooks (look up “Aric Mitchell” without the quotes in the iTunes Store)

Reading it will only take about 4 to 6 hours of your life. Good luck, and as always, thanks for giving me your time. I promise you won’t be sorry, even if I gotta pay you off.

I don't want your money

I don't want your money. Not a single dime. Not right now anyway. But I would like your time. More importantly, I’d like to be a good steward of your time.

My debut horror novel The Congregation is out there and ready to devour. I hope it turns bestseller and moves more than a million. Even at the low $3.19 price point, I’d be a rich man.

But it’s more important to me at this juncture to know I’m delivering quality product to my readers. If you’re a fan of the scary, the gory, the grotesque, or the unknown, I’m sure you’ll love the book. If you’re not, then I’d still like to give you your Christmas present early along with a personal thank-you.

Subscribe to my blog by Dec. 1, 2011. I’ll send a coupon code you can then take to Smashwords. Use it to download my book free to the Nook, Kindle, iPad, or derivative thereof. It’s that simple.

Ultimately, I want an audience. A big one. But how’m I gonna do that without you?

One more thing: after you’re done, I’d be eternally grateful if you did two things for me. One, review it. Choose sites like BN.com and Amazon.com or write a review on your own blog. After that, tell your FB friends, Twitter followers, or, God forbid, people you actually see face-to-face.

(Technology abuse—me preacher, me choir.)

Now I've said all that, let me say this: my email address is aric dot mitchell at gmail dot com, and as long as you're not a spamming crap-face, I want you to abuse it. Send me links to your reviews. Talk shop with me about anything horror/writing/book and movie related. You WILL be hearing back from me. With close to 2,000 Twitter followers and more than 800 Facebook friends, it may be a week or two, but you’ll hear from me.

I may make my living with words, but, last I checked, my name wasn’t King or Koontz. Good writing doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and the only way I can deliver high quality horror to your eReaders book-after-book is by knowing what you like and what you don’t. So let's start a conversation.

If you’re just dying to give me money, The Congregation is now available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble directly. That’s where I’d like you to direct your friends. You can also get it on the iPad by using the Kindle or BN apps. Should be available on iBooks in another two weeks, but why wait?

And Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah. Awesome time of year, friends!

3 Reasons You Should Never Send Out Another Manuscript

"It occurred to me today that I wrote my first piece of fiction 25 years ago when I was only slightly less awesome than I am today," he boasted, tongue planted firmly in cheek. That's right, it's like my Silver Anniversary. Since that day, I've seen my name in print a few times, and while it was a good feeling then, it feels less cool today. Don't get me wrong. I'm proud of the things I've got circulating around, I really am. But the novelty of becoming a newly published writer has worn off, and I for one am glad.

Sort of like that new relationship. It's exciting and fun and unpredictable at first, but while you never really want to let go of those jittery feelings--ideally, you've found someone that inspires you to be your best at every turn, and if you ever fail at it, you're inspired to dust yourself off and try again--you don't want to go through life worried about using the bathroom while she's in the same apartment.

There comes a point, where you have to be comfortable with who you are, and plan for the future instead of worrying about the present. So all those fantasies I had when I was younger--of hobnobbing with Stephen King and Dean Koontz--them actually looking forward to MY next book--are locked away in my daydreams forever. If it happens fine, but it isn't going to define my happiness, nor my opinions of what it means to be a success as a writer.

What does any of this have to do with why you should never send out another manuscript if you are an aspiring writer? Hold on and I'll tell you. First, let me start by giving you my three reasons as promised in the title of this post:

1. The Technology Has Changed

Self publishing was once a waste of time unless you had tons of startup capital and plenty of time to go from city to city and beg people to buy your book. Few did. If you didn't prep your manuscript and put your life on hold for the next six months while you waited on that form letter rejection, then you were out of luck. The industry gatekeepers, heretofore mentioned as "The Industry," stood watch with haughty Puritan smirks upon their faces and watched as you ran in place, never going anywhere no matter how hard you tried or how tired you got. Then, ebooks came along while we were still living in the world of Adobe PDF readers. Sure, it was kind of cool for business purposes, but if you wanted to read for enjoyment, the last way you wanted to do it was to scroll up and down, especially on a computer screen after waiting five minutes for a 400-page document to load. Fiction ebooks did terribly, and rightfully so. The Industry patted itself on the back for continuing to up book prices and put out crappier product. But those techie geniuses at Amazon and Apple saw opportunity.

2. The Industry Has Changed

Instead of going with the flow and allowing the Industry to have its way with consumers, Amazon and Apple devised formats for reading that were more pleasurable to the eyes and convenient for the common man. They offered books at cheaper prices, and gave you the option to dispose of the book once it had been read without driving out to Goodwill with a 600-pound box of books that you needed a push-cart just to transport to the back seat of your car. If you wanted to keep said book for another read, you could. No problem. A few short years later, and today, we have the Kindle, the Nook, and the iPad. Now, not only is the format better, but the device is as well. Meanwhile, the Industry continues to charge $14.99 for ebooks from popular authors, while decent writers with talent have the opportunity to charge just $2.99 for a novel and use social media and online networking to promote themselves and their books while still enjoying a tidy 70-85% royalty--a heck of a lot more money than they'd ever see from publishing with one of "the big boys." In much the same way that the RIAA inadvertently helped the music industry by screwing itself and removing the middle man from transactions between artist and listener, the Industry has contributed to its own potential demise.

3. The Consumer Has Changed

So who stands to profit from the two changes mentioned above? Two people: the author and the consumer. Who stands to fail? Brick and mortar bookstores and libraries. Meanwhile, the publishing giants will continue to offer premium marketing efforts to the lucky few, but the means for finding an audience has simplified so much that a web savvy author can find exposure for his book without an agent and without a printing press. So in a sense, the publishing companies fail, too. Unless they learn to adapt. Meanwhile, newbie authors with talent are going to charge less for what they write, profit more, and build more personal relationships with their consumers, which, I believe, is truly a win-win--for everyone that matters. When sites like Smashwords.com offer a free formatting and distribution service in exchange for a 15% commission each time you sell a book, it just makes sense to take matters into your own hands. Consumers are already embracing ereading devices. And I've got to believe that my network of contacts on Facebook and Twitter is more likely to pay $1.99 or $2.99 for an Aric Mitchell joint AND help spread the word than they would be if I charged them $33 for the same novel at a vanity press (or $25 with a mainstream publisher, for that matter).

Now would seem like a pretty good time to end this little tirade, but then it occurs to me that I haven't told you where I was going with those first few paragraphs. Here's the skinny of it: I'm done sending out manuscripts, and I think you should be, too, because you have a better chance of winning the lottery than getting accepted by the limited amount of publishing houses still lucky enough to be in business. Each manuscript mailing is like buying a $1.80 lottery ticket. And I've never been much for playing the lottery. I'm far more attracted to the idea that my own God-given smarts can fuel my passion, enhance my creativity, and help me find an audience. The reasons listed above all play in my favor, and yours as well, Good Writer. The Industry would expect you to do most of the marketing for your book anyway. So why not cut out the middle men, charge a FAIR price, embrace technology full-on, and keep pounding those keys?

How do you think the Industry will adapt to the changes mentioned here? Will they? Or will they continue overcharging for a product with very little overhead? Would love to hear your thoughts.