I'd love to hear which of these stories is your favorite-- so let me know in an Amazon review, if you like.
Strange Courtships: Nine Romantic Stories - Kindle edition by Carla Sarett. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
Showing posts with label Kindle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kindle. Show all posts
FREE OCTOBER 18 and 19 --Strange Courtships: Nine Romantic Stories by Carla Sarett
I'd love to hear which of these stories is your favorite-- so let me know in an Amazon review, if you like.
Strange Courtships: Nine Romantic Stories - Kindle edition by Carla Sarett. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
The Art Collection and other books are free on Kindle from August 10 to the 12th
All of the books listed here are free on Kindle for the next few days. Among them, you can find my last short-format book, THE ART COLLECTION, which contains three stories (about art) that are tinged with the magical and the surreal-- one set in the Northern Catskills, and two set in my neck of the woods, the Main Line of Philadelphia.
You can also download SUMMER DREAMS for free, where my story, "Stranger in Paradise" appears. That one's a bit of a departure for me (with a happy ending)-- but readers found it "spooky" and "entertaining." Hope you'll download it -- and also give these other authors a chance, too.
FREE July 17 and 18: Crazy Lovebirds: Five Super-Short Stories
Kindle promotion time during Flash Fiction Month. Crazy Lovebirds: Five Super-Short Stories by Carla Sarett is free today-- funny, super-short and sweet. They're all previously published but chances are, you missed them the first time around.
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More thoughts on using Facebook Ads as Market Research for Ebooks
In the post below, I talked about the cost-efficiency of utilizing Facebook as a way to test titles or concepts for an ebook, in my case Nine Romantic Stories. To review, you can set up a campaign for as little as $5 or $10 a day, and once you've established one ad, you can "Create a Similar Ad" (the type is tiny, but you'll see it below the ad.) From there, you can set up similar ads.
Now, as I mentioned Facebook has unusual and intriguing targeting abilities from an author's viewpoint. Yes, you can target cat lovers or dog lovers. And that's fine if you're a nonfiction author.
But what about fiction writers? How can Facebook targeting help them?
Most authors know the general age of their target. Nine Romantic Stories is intended for women who are past the vampire lust stage, and with as with all literary fiction, it is a given that readers are college educated.
So what else is left?
One ways to market books is to compare one author to another. Amazon reviews have compared my book, for example, to Isak Dinesen, J.D. Salinger and even Nancy Mitford! That is a wide range, to be sure. But we often find books because people tell us, if you like X, you'll like Y.
So, for my new test, I set up different targets for my ad (using the copy that I developed from the first campaign) I use the SAME copy for each ad within the campaign (remember, one variable at a time), the SAME "cost per click" and ONLY varying the author. On Facebook, I can target "Jane Austen" fans, Salinger fans, Dickens fans, you name it. I learn how many people "like" a particular author-- and it's a great way to target.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Now, as I mentioned Facebook has unusual and intriguing targeting abilities from an author's viewpoint. Yes, you can target cat lovers or dog lovers. And that's fine if you're a nonfiction author.
But what about fiction writers? How can Facebook targeting help them?
Most authors know the general age of their target. Nine Romantic Stories is intended for women who are past the vampire lust stage, and with as with all literary fiction, it is a given that readers are college educated.
So what else is left?
One ways to market books is to compare one author to another. Amazon reviews have compared my book, for example, to Isak Dinesen, J.D. Salinger and even Nancy Mitford! That is a wide range, to be sure. But we often find books because people tell us, if you like X, you'll like Y.
So, for my new test, I set up different targets for my ad (using the copy that I developed from the first campaign) I use the SAME copy for each ad within the campaign (remember, one variable at a time), the SAME "cost per click" and ONLY varying the author. On Facebook, I can target "Jane Austen" fans, Salinger fans, Dickens fans, you name it. I learn how many people "like" a particular author-- and it's a great way to target.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Is free the new .99?
I've stumbled upon dozens of websites that promise only one thing: they alert readers about upcoming free books on Kindle. Sites like Addicted to eBooks and others list all of the Kindle freebies through Facebook Pages, Twitter, email newsletters of course their own websites. Some of these genre specific (e.g., free romance books, free paranormal, etc.) Others claim to exert some editorial function, in terms of quality
Competition for authors to get a listing in these "freebie"sites is fierce. Some demand a certain number of 5-star reviews for authors to make the cut. Others ask the author to explain why his or her ebook merits a special mention as a freebie. (How about "good writing?" Probably not.) Being free, apparently, is not so easy. Authors have to prove that, at zero cost, they are worth considering.
The upshot of this is that readers can, without too much fuss, find free reads every day of the week. Of course, they could also hop over to Amazon, and click on the various top 100 freebie lists as well. There are free books galore.
Many authors price books at .99, with the hopes of finding new readers. They want to build a platform and find their audience. At a dollar, a book is close to free, but there's the rub. It's not free. It's competing with free. In that context, free always wins. It's not going to be too long before free is the new .99.
Competition for authors to get a listing in these "freebie"sites is fierce. Some demand a certain number of 5-star reviews for authors to make the cut. Others ask the author to explain why his or her ebook merits a special mention as a freebie. (How about "good writing?" Probably not.) Being free, apparently, is not so easy. Authors have to prove that, at zero cost, they are worth considering.
The upshot of this is that readers can, without too much fuss, find free reads every day of the week. Of course, they could also hop over to Amazon, and click on the various top 100 freebie lists as well. There are free books galore.
Many authors price books at .99, with the hopes of finding new readers. They want to build a platform and find their audience. At a dollar, a book is close to free, but there's the rub. It's not free. It's competing with free. In that context, free always wins. It's not going to be too long before free is the new .99.
The Mysterious World of Kindle Cloud, continued
I'd first contacted Kindle Customer Support a month ago with the following query: why did "chunks of text" vanished when previewed on Kindle's online previewer? I had uploaded the book multiple times and still, no resolution.
The answer that I received was the file was fine. It was the online previewer's fault said the Kindle Team. Download a different previewer.
That seemed odd. But I accepted the team's word and "published" it. Of course, e-publishing is different from print. You can upload to your heart's content. Still, you'd rather not. You'd rather be promoting your book or writing a new one. Uploading's no fun.
Then, readers wrote me that, yes, text went missing on Kindle Cloud, but not on Kindles. Again, a flurry of emails to Kindle Customer Support who assured me, many times, that they were "not able to replicate the problem."
A friend contacted Kindle Customer Support about the missing text (on the Kindle Cloud reader.) She was told to reinstall the software as well as the book title. This would have been a complicated matter, since she had dozens of downloaded titles on her Kindle Cloud. And neither of us felt that this was the solution.
I didn't drop the issue. This morning, I received an explanation of what was wrong with my HTML file. (A simple fix: code had slipped in that specified font and background color, which is a no-no. It took a few seconds to remedy the problem)
Lessons learned: A problem doesn't disappear because someone else can't replicate it. And don't believe everything that Kindle Customer Support tells you.
My next big thing
My wonderful writer colleague, Barbara Alfaro, has "tagged" me in her blog post with a challenge: I must interview myself about my own new book. Since I spend a good deal of time in general talking to myself (although rarely about myself), I'll take up the challenge and ask myself the very same questions that Barbara has answered, keeping mind that Nine Romantic Stories is a story collection, and its stories are quite different from one another.
1. WHAT IS THE TITLE OF THE BOOK?
The title is Nine Romantic Stories -- and it's an intentional reference to J.D. Salinger's "Nine Stories." When I first starting writing short fiction (only a few years ago), I said to myself, if I can write 9 good stories, I'll know that I'm a writer, and that this isn't a hobby. Salinger is still one of my favorite short story authors.
2. WHERE DO YOU GET THE IDEAS FOR YOUR STORIES?
Stories and magic are everywhere. I hear conversations or snatches of them, I read articles-- and my mind starts making up a narrative. I try to imagine what happened to people whom I've known and lost touch with. And of course other writers influence stories. Some random character in a larger novel might become the heroine in my stories. It's the way my mind works. I can't help it.
3. WHAT'S THE GENRE FOR THE BOOK?
I go back and forth on genre since the stories themselves go from funny to magical realism. On the one hand, it's romantic, but it's hardly Harlequin-style or steamy. It's Romance with a capital R, and it's literary fiction as well.
4. IF YOU HAD TO PICK ACTORS TO PLAY THE LEAD IN ONE OF YOUR STORIES, WHOM WOULD YOU PICK?
All of my stories are quite different from one another. There's one funny story, though, Victor's Proposal that's written almost entirely in dialogue. I'd love to hear Emma Thompson read those lines.
5. HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE YOUR BOOK IN ONE SENTENCE?
Actually, I'd steal what an Amazon Review said: "Delicious stories for the discriminating romantic." But on a more prosaic level, Nine Stories brings together Carla Sarett's previously published stories with some brand new ones, all intended to charm and entertain.
6. HOW WILL YOUR BOOK BE PUBLISHED OR WILL YOU BE HANDLING IT YOURSELF?
Most of the stories in the collection were previously published. This collection, which is relatively short, is self-published. Right now, I'm thinking of this as a Kindle-only publication, but plan could change. This is more or less an experiment in finding my audience.
7. HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO WRITE THE FIRST DRAFT?
I constantly edit and revise stories so it might take a year or two before I am truly happy with one. The story, "Mandolinata" changed several times before it was published in The Greensilk Journal-- and yet, in preparing the book, I found some stylistic quirks that bothered me. I spent a few months trying to decide which stories were truly "romantic" -- it's not as easy as you'd think!
8. WHAT OTHER BOOKS WITHIN YOUR GENRE ARE SIMILAR TO YOURS?
That depends on the story. I think "Bonny Lass" for example has shades of Salinger, in female-form, while other stories, like "A Strange Courtship" and "A Short Visit" are influenced by the great Yiddish writers. But every writer considers herself an original, that's the nature of writing.
9. WHO OR WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE THIS BOOK?
My mother's death was the catalyst for my writing fiction. She loved fiction and story-telling, and when she wasn't around, I began writing stories that I felt she might have enjoyed. She appears in many of the stories -- for example, she is Mrs. Gold in "A Strange Courtship." When I'm finished with a story, my first thought, would my mother have liked it? As for direct writer influences, I'd have to say, Kipling's early stories are my model.
10. WHAT ABOUT YOUR BOOK WILL PIQUE THE READER'S INTEREST?
Every serious writer hopes that it's the writing itself that piques the interest -- but I do feel that there's an audience for truly romantic material, not filled with cheap sex or profanity or ugliness. I think many educated woman (like me) want sophistication, wit and old-fashioned well-crafted stories. I hope that they'll find Nine Romantic Stories and enjoy it.
Other fab authors that might want to tell the world about Their Next Big Thing?
Here are links to some authors who are always up to something new:
Jim Breslin
Rolando Garcia
Cheryl Snell
Ingrid Ricks
Samantha Memi
Kindle Preview: Beware
I love Amazon and I'm thrilled at all the new developments in self-publishing. So, I was expecting to find formatting and uploading my short story collection to be a straightforward exercise. I'd bought Amazon's own manual and followed it to the letter. Generating the web-filtered HTML file was simple. In fact, nothing seemed to be a problem.
Nothing, that is, until I used Kindle Select's own "online previewer." The web instructions suggested that most authors could use this without any problem. So, I previewed the story collection for every device. Obviously no author wants a reader to be disappointed with formatting-- and the Table of Contents is especially critical in e-books, not to mention story collections.
The stories looked great for iPad and iPhone-- and I thought that I was off and running. But weirdly, the previews for all Kindle devices (Kindle Fire, Kindle, Kindle Fire HD) suggested a deep problem. One of the stories appeared with large chunks of missing text-- clearly, unacceptable in a story collection. Also, in the Kindle (but not, mind you, in the Kindle Fire,) the Table of Contents was inert. Bummer!
Back I went to the HTML file, and over and over, I tried to find odd code or bits that would explain why this particular story, which had been published in Danse Macabre Magazine, should be different from others. No rhyme or reason -- the story just wouldn't behave. I generated the file again, and again, and again. I re-generated the Table of Contents multiple times, not an entertaining way to spend one's time.
Flash forward four days (which I may refer to as File Hell): I wrote to Kindle Select customer service explaining my dilemma. And lo, a cheerful email arrived that nothing was wrong my file. Apparently Kindle's own online previewer, astonishingly, does not accurately reflect displays on Kindle Devices. For that exercise, I needed to download the Kindle Previewer-- which I did, and found that, yes, my story collection looks fine on all Kindle devices.
My suggestion to Amazon: Why not simply have two previewers: one for Kindle Devices (that you download), and one for non-Kindle Devices (that you can use online.) As for authors, now that you know the problem, you can avoid File Hell.
Nothing, that is, until I used Kindle Select's own "online previewer." The web instructions suggested that most authors could use this without any problem. So, I previewed the story collection for every device. Obviously no author wants a reader to be disappointed with formatting-- and the Table of Contents is especially critical in e-books, not to mention story collections.
The stories looked great for iPad and iPhone-- and I thought that I was off and running. But weirdly, the previews for all Kindle devices (Kindle Fire, Kindle, Kindle Fire HD) suggested a deep problem. One of the stories appeared with large chunks of missing text-- clearly, unacceptable in a story collection. Also, in the Kindle (but not, mind you, in the Kindle Fire,) the Table of Contents was inert. Bummer!
Back I went to the HTML file, and over and over, I tried to find odd code or bits that would explain why this particular story, which had been published in Danse Macabre Magazine, should be different from others. No rhyme or reason -- the story just wouldn't behave. I generated the file again, and again, and again. I re-generated the Table of Contents multiple times, not an entertaining way to spend one's time.
Flash forward four days (which I may refer to as File Hell): I wrote to Kindle Select customer service explaining my dilemma. And lo, a cheerful email arrived that nothing was wrong my file. Apparently Kindle's own online previewer, astonishingly, does not accurately reflect displays on Kindle Devices. For that exercise, I needed to download the Kindle Previewer-- which I did, and found that, yes, my story collection looks fine on all Kindle devices.
My suggestion to Amazon: Why not simply have two previewers: one for Kindle Devices (that you download), and one for non-Kindle Devices (that you can use online.) As for authors, now that you know the problem, you can avoid File Hell.
More tips on Amazon Book Reviews
The always interesting Jason McDonald (Find his book on SEO at the Kindle store: Fifty SEO Ideas: Free Tips, Secrets, and Ideas for Search Engine Optimization: Jason McDonald: Amazon.com: Kindle Store:) sent a useful email yesterday. Jason provided his followers (those who have taken his courses on SEO, which I wholeheartedly recommend if you have interest in blogging, web content ) with tips for making reviews visible:
1. Tag your review so that others can find it (e.g., self-help, romance, memoir)-- it's good to remember that tags and labels are the "stuff" of search engines, since potential readers search for these terms. Tagged reviews have twice the power of untagged reviews.
2. Tell your potential reviewers to assign tags to whatever they write about your book. So, let's say you have a book about mental illness-- say: I'd really appreciate it if you would tag your review with the words "mental illness." That's less pressure than saying you want a positive review.
2. Rate other people's reviews as helpful-- and alert your potential reviewers to do the same. Again, this is a matter of visibility. People pay more attention to reviews that are rated.
'via Blog this'
1. Tag your review so that others can find it (e.g., self-help, romance, memoir)-- it's good to remember that tags and labels are the "stuff" of search engines, since potential readers search for these terms. Tagged reviews have twice the power of untagged reviews.
2. Tell your potential reviewers to assign tags to whatever they write about your book. So, let's say you have a book about mental illness-- say: I'd really appreciate it if you would tag your review with the words "mental illness." That's less pressure than saying you want a positive review.
2. Rate other people's reviews as helpful-- and alert your potential reviewers to do the same. Again, this is a matter of visibility. People pay more attention to reviews that are rated.
'via Blog this'
Hashtags
As most of you know, perhaps unwillingly, the meat and potatoes of Twitter is hashtags. These slogans or search phrases are your sole guarantee of being discovered except through the random flow to your followers.
A fun and useful resource for identifying trending hashtags and also searching by hashtag is Twubs (and what a cute name!)
Play around with different hashtags, and see which ones yield results that most in line with your audience. If you're a budding or would-be budding author, with a new Kindle book, it's fun to see which ones work best. And if you're conducting some exploratory market research, you can find out what people are searching for -- either way, a great resource.
'via Blog this'
A fun and useful resource for identifying trending hashtags and also searching by hashtag is Twubs (and what a cute name!)
Play around with different hashtags, and see which ones yield results that most in line with your audience. If you're a budding or would-be budding author, with a new Kindle book, it's fun to see which ones work best. And if you're conducting some exploratory market research, you can find out what people are searching for -- either way, a great resource.
'via Blog this'
More thoughts on Amazon Reviews
I continue to hear about independent authors who are worried or upset about Amazon's new policy (or perhaps not so new policy) of deleting reviews that it considers suspect. I've already given my suggestions for a new review system, but until we do have a new system, I'd like to persuade fellow authors to follow some best practices about online reviews:
1. Don't limit reviews to colleagues. Review major authors of both literary and/or commercial fiction. It seems suspect when all you do is boost those whom you know. It is also ungenerous to the larger readership community. A good side-effect of this is: when you do publish, your potential readers can easily obtain a sense of what you like, and by extension, the kind of writer you aspire to be.
2. Write short reviews. Amazon has a 20 word limit, and I think 20-50 words is adequate is give potential readers a sense of why you like (or dislike) a book. Writing more is not helpful to either readers or authors-- and writing multiple paragraphs suggests a vested interest.
3. Promote your review. This is an easy way to help fellow authors. After you've written a review, post in on Facebook and Twitter and your blog, if you have one. Let your friends know that you've written a review.
4. Say who (women, kids, literary types) will appreciate the book you're reviewing. Nothing helps a fellow author more than connecting with their ideal readers. If it's a perfect gift book, say so. If it's great for teachers or students, say so-- and if it reminds you of other, more famous, writers, definitely say so!
5. Never refer to authors by their first name only. Unless you're writing a creative non-fiction piece or an interview, using first names is suspect. I personally ignore any review in which a reviewer appears to know the author.
'via Blog this'
1. Don't limit reviews to colleagues. Review major authors of both literary and/or commercial fiction. It seems suspect when all you do is boost those whom you know. It is also ungenerous to the larger readership community. A good side-effect of this is: when you do publish, your potential readers can easily obtain a sense of what you like, and by extension, the kind of writer you aspire to be.
2. Write short reviews. Amazon has a 20 word limit, and I think 20-50 words is adequate is give potential readers a sense of why you like (or dislike) a book. Writing more is not helpful to either readers or authors-- and writing multiple paragraphs suggests a vested interest.
3. Promote your review. This is an easy way to help fellow authors. After you've written a review, post in on Facebook and Twitter and your blog, if you have one. Let your friends know that you've written a review.
4. Say who (women, kids, literary types) will appreciate the book you're reviewing. Nothing helps a fellow author more than connecting with their ideal readers. If it's a perfect gift book, say so. If it's great for teachers or students, say so-- and if it reminds you of other, more famous, writers, definitely say so!
5. Never refer to authors by their first name only. Unless you're writing a creative non-fiction piece or an interview, using first names is suspect. I personally ignore any review in which a reviewer appears to know the author.
'via Blog this'
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