Shameless Self-Promotion, Part XXXVI

[Mindervillain]

OK, here's something fascinating... doing a Google search on the book's title to see who all is selling this book, I noticed Amazon promoted it through Twitter--yes, Twitter--as "women's fiction."

1) Amazon promotes self-published books?!? Without you paying extra for the privilege? COOL! Thank you Amazon!
2) A book about a delusional, foul-mouthed, sex-starved, obnoxious male radio talk show host is "women's fiction?"

Now you know who's pocket the Amazon discount comes from.

[mclarke]

OK, here's something fascinating... doing a Google search on the book's title to see who all is selling this book, I noticed Amazon promoted it through Twitter--yes, Twitter--as "women's fiction."

1) Amazon promotes self-published books?!? Without you paying extra for the privilege? COOL! Thank you Amazon!
2) A book about a delusional, foul-mouthed, sex-starved, obnoxious male radio talk show host is "women's fiction?"

Better " women's fiction" than the " autobiographical " section, I'm thinking.

[skypigeon]

Quite true.

[Mindervillain]

Just wanted to let you know that "Blessed are the Peace Frogs" showed up in the mail yesterday. I've got about 200 pages to go in a book about Wyatt Earp - probably somewhat different from your work - and I'll get to it.

Nice to see it's got large print. As long as it doesn't have large words I should be okay with it.

I'll let you know (and you can thank me for the bump later).

[skypigeon]

Thank you, sir. Much obliged. Look for a PM from me...

KINDLE VERSION UPDATE: The longer chapters near the end are taking me longer than anticipated to fix. I'm guessing it'll take another week to get through it. Then comes plugging in the chapter breaks and fixing my fixes where they don't work... Your patience is much appreciated. If I'd known it would take this much effort to make a Kindle version I'd have done it side-by-side with writing the book. There is NO better way to proofread your own work than to edit its Kindle version...

[Slim]

I'm waiting patiently.

[Indyknut]

Almost thought this was another Ernest post till I saw the posters name.

[skypigeon]

For anyone interested, Amazon has the paperback version back on sale again:

http://www.amazon.com/Blessed-Peace-...p.+butterfield

And, apparently, it's racked up another sale--last I looked its ranking is back up to #443,402!

[skypigeon]

KINDLE TRANSLATION UPDATE: After finishing the first part of doing it the hard way, I finally found Amazon's guidelines that tell you how to do it the easy way.

The downer to that is I could have had the Kindle version ready two freaking weeks ago had I found that first. The upper to that is doing it the hard way forced me to edit the entire book one last time, discover and correct a frightening amount of proofreading mistakes, let my main character have entirely too much fun at the KDP's expense, and in a couple of places significantly improve the story. So I'm calling it a wash.

Give me another week, folks. Two at most. All I ask. The paperback version is on sale again here (don't ask me how they determine what goes on sale when at Amazon, I have no idea): http://www.amazon.com/Blessed-Peace-...p.+butterfield Thanks!

[Mindervillain]

I finished reading the paperback version the day before yesterday. Have been meaning to PM you but, since this thread has jumped again, I might as well comment here. And, perhaps, exchange PMs later.

I enjoyed the book. The writing is great; the plot original and entertaining - a few times I tried to predict where it was going to go, and each time I was relieved to be mistaken. It always went in unexpected ways.

There were some typos, but I've seen commercially published books with more. What surprised me was that I saw, I think, three that should have been caught by Spell-Check. Since Spell-Check reared its head, the number of typos in books have increased - probably from the reduced scrutiny of the trusting copy readers. But seeing Spell-Checkable typos is unusual.

If you enjoy clever writing, entertaining characters, and unpredictable plotting, buy the book. Certainly there are very few TFers to whom all three of those traits wouldn't apply.

[skypigeon]

You, sir, are WAY too kind; but I do appreciate the kindness.

Started putting in page breaks and such tonight and discovered there's an even easier and more common sense way to do it than Amazon's easy way (for which I'm greatly relieved--at one point I was afraid I'd have to start all over ). Back to work!

[skypigeon]

Okay, I'm well along in the process now. Two tips to those here who would self-publish your work in Kindle format:

* As already mentioned, converting your book's original Word file (assuming that's what you're using) to Kindle is not an "automagic" process. At least, not the "automagic" process that CreateSpace makes it appear to be. You must convert your file to Kindle's basic HTML format first.

* THIS IS NOT NEARLY AS DIFFICULT AS SOME WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE. I'm discovering, fortunately before parting with any hard-earned cash, that there are several websites out there that make it sound like a wickedly complicated process--one in particular I'm tempted to flame here except technically, the guy's not lying; he's just being (IMO) rather deceptive so you'll give up and send your file to him to convert for "only" $200. But, he was one of the first hits to come up on my Google search. Beware, beware, beware!

Amazon has lots of help pages for aspiring Kindle authors, but they don't make it easy to know where to start. So I'm going to help you with that. Why? Because I'm a nice guy who hopes you'll buy my books in gratitude. THIS is where you want to start:

https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishi...A17W8UM0MMSQX6

And I will add one tip to this: DON'T rework your original Word file first, then save it as filtered HTML. Save it as filtered HTML first, THEN rework the file in Word. Holy Criminetley, it is so much easier that way; and your Kindle version looks so good when you're done.

So, how do you see your Kindle version when you're done? Easy: Click the "Tools and Resources" link on the left of the above linked page and download Kindle Previewer (and/or KindleGen if you're HTML-savvy). Handy, handy tools.

Finally, for those who would have their work be available in other epub formats as well as Kindle:

http://calibre-ebook.com/

Good to have even if you're not a writer, especially if you decide one day you're tired of your Kindle and you'd like to try out a Nook.

Can you tell this is fun?

[Mindervillain]

You, sir, are WAY too kind; but I do appreciate the kindness.

Started putting in page breaks and such tonight and discovered there's an even easier and more common sense way to do it than Amazon's easy way (for which I'm greatly relieved--at one point I was afraid I'd have to start all over ). Back to work!

It occurred to me while I was reading: when you've finished your page breaks, don't forget to go back and change the text where you've referred to page numbers.

[skypigeon]

It occurred to me while I was reading: when you've finished your page breaks, don't forget to go back and change the text where you've referred to page numbers.

One ahead of you on that one. After removing the page numbers themselves, it's the very first thing you've gotta do.

[skypigeon]

At last, AT LAST, the Kindle version is ready!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008NXEJC6

Three bucks gets you Blessed Are the Peace Frogs on your Kindle right now. This book is also part of KDP Select, allowing you to borrow it from the Kindle Owners Lending Library.

Whether you buy or borrow or not, I'd really appreciate it if y'all would go there and click the "Like" button. Thanks much. Enjoy!

[skypigeon]

Bump. Gotta promote.

[Slim]

Bump!

I just bought this for my Kindle...as promised.

[skypigeon]

Hope you enjoy!

[Slim]

I'm a couple of chapters in and I'm really digging your book. I may never think of Schwan's the same way whenever I see their big yellow trucks around....but I got a huge laugh out of that!

[skypigeon]

[skypigeon]

Today's bump. From this link you can get either the print or Kindle version, your choice:

http://www.amazon.com/Blessed-Peace-...p.+butterfield

For those of you saving money to pay for increased food prices after the drought*, there is a way you can promote your Kindle book for free download within a set period of time. Thing is, Amazon doesn't go out of its way to tell you how... I will give you a free download opportunity once I figure it out, I promise; I just have to figure out how. Much obliged for your patience.

*That's an inside joke. A lady at my work noticed I dropped a dime on my way in one morning, picked it up, but couldn't catch up to me--I walk fast--so she resolved to give it to me the next time I passed her desk. I didn't pass her desk, so--apparently overcome with conscience--she taped the dime to a note and sent it to me via interoffice mail. Upon which I went to her and thanked her and let her know she really didn't need to do that; upon which one of her co-workers said "I tried to get her to keep it because she's going to need it with the drought and all."

[Slim]

I could have downloaded it for free yesterday. It's free for Amazon Prime members to "borrow." However, my conscience won out and I spent the three bucks so it's permanently mine. Gotta tell you, I'm enjoying this book. I am getting the biggest kick out of the * town names you created.

[skypigeon]

Ol' Mac gets rather colorful with them, doesn't he? Thanks--wouldn't have bothered me at all if you'd gotten it through Prime. Glad you're liking it so far!

[skypigeon]

Daily bump. A couple of things:
* If you are a Amazon Prime member, you can download the book for free AND I still get paid. So if that's what's stopping you, though I appreciate your conscientiousness, don't worry about it! Go for it!
* I've learned how to make the free-to-all thing happen. I've made a couple of adjustments to how Amazon pays me, so I'm going to wait a little bit before trying it out, but watch this thread to know when I do it. Thanks much!

[skypigeon]

Top--today, July 27, from now until midnight, Blessed Are the Peace Frogs is FREE on Kindle.

http://www.amazon.com/Blessed-Are-Pe...p.+butterfield

Go for it--download it, give it a read, and if you like it please let your friends know it's out there in both Kindle and paperback form. One thing I'm discovering with now compared to the first time I self-published three years ago is this has become a MUCH more competitive market. Thanks!

[skypigeon]

Bumping for more to see. Again: Until midnight tonight, FREE on Kindle.

Just click the link in the above post.

[skypigeon]

Good morning, TF friends and neighbors...

According to my KDP report, sixty of y'all took advantage of the Free Day for Blessed Are the Peace Frogs on Kindle.



This is the only place I promoted the Free day, so I'm confident at least 90% of that number came from here. Consider yourself profusely thanked, and once you've read the work, please consider these options:

* If you liked it, come back to the link two posts above and click the "Like" button there.
* If you really liked it--or have constructive criticism to offer--or both--consider leaving a review for the book. It's easy to do, just scroll down until you see "Customer Reviews" and click the button that says "Write a Customer Review."
* Tell a friend with a Kindle about it and pass it on.

Enjoy your weekend and THANKS MUCH!

[Turn13]

http://threeamblog.wordpress.com/buy_jps_books/

[skypigeon]

All good things must come to an end... and see you've been so great, you should know first:

Come January 1st, the special Kindle pricing of 99 cents for Blessed Are the Peace Frogs will come to an end. After January 1st, it'll still be available, but for its former price of $2.99.

It's my friendly way of saying if you don't have it on your Kindle, go for it now, and thank you most kindly for supporting a self-publishing writer.

[Media Boy]

I had a gift card for Amazon so I bought a good, old-fashioned hard copy. Should be here in a few days. Look forward to FINALLY reading it, Skypigeon. Back in the day I used to produce a syndicated (only about 15 stations--nothing major) radio talk show. Should make for a fun read.