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Gingernut Books and the Book Trailer

21/8/2014

I'm SO excited right now! First, Gingernut Books is moving forward with a new service to Authors and Writers - well anyone actually. They're offering a Book Trailer service that has credentials as long as your arm! An Award Winning Film Director has offered to build personal mini-movies for books so Authors and Writers can get their book promoted in a visually dynamic and exciting video.

Of course, mine is one of the first to get the treatment and that's another reason to be UBER excited. It's AWESOME!

The next thing I'm excited about is that I've put the embed code in this blog ALL BY MYSELF!

Haha! So you see, it's EASY!

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Amazon's marketing 'ethic'

13/8/2014

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Cruel and Unusual is the second in my Wolf series. I'm very proud of that book, it took a lot of hard work in the writing and researching. I get great reviews for it and people are shocked and surprised by how the book makes them feel - in a GOOD way.
Imagine my surprise then, when I found Amazon were discounting the book. I was quite pleased because when Amazon discount a book, the author still gets the FULL royalties on the original price. What I didn't realise was that Amazon also plays a dirty, nasty and underhand trick with the ebook pricing when it discounts books.

The ebook was at £2.99 - $4.75
When the price for the paperback book was dropped from £7.99 $11.68 to £1.08 they then dropped the price of the ebook to £1.03 claiming the ebook must be 20% lower than the print price of any book - that doesn't work out to 20% but hey, what do I know?

My publisher, Gingernut Books emailed Amazon to ask why they had dropped the price of the ebook if it was THEIR decision to drop the price of the paperback. This is the email conversation:

Subject: My ebook is listed on US and UK sites at a low price.

My book price should be $4.75 and £2.99 but is listed at $1.73 and £1.03.

Why is this and what do we get paid if they sell at this price.

If it's a promotion on your part then thanks.

We do not sell this book anywhere at a lower price.

Thanks

The reply:

Thanks for contacting us and giving me the opportunity to help you. I will

be more than glad to assist you with your inquiry!

Any update to a list price is subject to the KDP pricing terms and

conditions. For example, if you set a list price higher than the list price

in another sales channel, we may price-match your book.

In addition, if the digital list price is not at least 20% below the list

price of the corresponding physical edition, we may lower the sale price.

Please see our pricing page for more details:

https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A29FL26OKE7R7B

Royalties paid under the 70 percent option are calculated off of your list

price, unless we sell your book at a price below the list price to match a

third party's price for a digital or physical edition of the book, or

Amazon's price for a physical edition of the book. In that case, the

Royalty will be equal to 70 percent of the amount equal to the price at

which we sell the book, less the delivery costs.

Your sales report will show the weighted average of the price at which we

sold your book, so that you are able to determine the royalties due.

Our reporting does not specify what other sales channels price matches occur

with, or the individual sales prices of each unit sold.

Please visit the link below for more details on the 70 percent royalty

option:

http://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=200634500

In case if you have more questions, do not hesitate to contact us back, we

are here to help and we will gladly assist you! You can contact us back

using the following link:

https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/contact-us

I hope you have a very nice day! Thanks for using Amazon KDP.

In effect, because they're price-matching the book, I don't get the full royalties, even though it's Amazon that has determined the price that they're matching.
Hatchette is beginning to seem quite reasonable in all of this, aren't they?

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Happy Birthday Gingernut Books!

4/8/2014

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Four years ago today I was a busy bee. I was determined to get this thing done, get the show on the road! I'd had some very timely advice from my good friend Philip Gardiner and instead of signing with a self-publishing company, we (hubby and I) decided that we could do this ourselves!
I have to admit I knew it was going to be bloody hard work - I wasn't wrong either - but I also knew we'd have a lot of job satisfaction. We've met and worked with a lot of wonderful people and we've enjoyed every moment. We've learned a lot on how the publishing industry works and found those parts we don't like are easily changed to suit everyone.
Today then, Gingernut Books Ltd is celebrating four years of publishing wonderful books and because we can't speak for everyone in the GNB stable, we've decided to discount the set of books we do have a say on where pricing is concerned.
My Wolf series books are at the ridiculous price of a fiver for all three ebooks in the series. The offer is time-limited and will be fulfilled through Smashwords.
Please share the links, everyone is welcome to take advantage of the offer.

Happy Birthday GNB!

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Mission day #5

3/8/2014

2 Comments

Oh what a day!
I got up and put on clean jeans (no, that's not newsworthy, keep reading!) and I'm down a size! YAY! Yeah, it made me happy.
I then got on to Facebook and there was a message from someone I don't know, not on my friends list and has only one mutual friend. It was a flirty message but fun and complimentary, not like the creepy, stalkerish messages I sometimes get. Again, still smiling.
The day was progressing nicely, a few bits of good news on friends' walls etc, you know the stuff. A few messages of best wishes from friends regarding my GoFundMe campaign - all cool and chilled.
Then a bolt from the blue side-swiped me and hell, I feel bad.
Something brought home to me the fact that I am in effect, begging for money and I'm begging from friends, people who hardly know me and from people that have never met me - not only that, I'm asking them to beg on my behalf too.
No, the message didn't say that, not at all, but it led to my conclusion - remember I told you about how my brain works? Sometimes, I swear it's out to get me!
I doubted myself, I doubted my motives for starting the campaign and I doubted the validity of it all.
A few friends asked what was wrong and I've glossed over it for the most part. I supposed that if I said the conclusion I'd come to by myself had hurt me, had torn at my self-confidence and self belief, I'd be giving that conclusion more credit than it was worth; more value to it, allowed it to have power over me - a lot like allowing the bullies from school get under my skin with their words. I'm trying not to allow it that power, but bloody hell fire, it's damned difficult.
Now, don't get me wrong, this is NOT an exercise in shooting the messenger, it's NOT the person that sent the message that made me feel bad, it's myself, my own demons - MY fault. A few more messages from other people have me back - if not on an even keel again, at least with a life jacket to hold on to while I get this damned boat from the bottom of the sea.
Should I stop the campaign? I don't think so. I'm giving value for the donations, I'm not forcing anyone to give me money and it's certainly not money for nothing. I don't think stopping the campaign will make me feel better about having started it and the reason for starting it is still there. No, I'll not call a halt to it.
Should I stop campaigning then? Stop asking people to help and support me? Would I ask people to stop asking me to support them? Would I ask that people quit posting on their wall when they feel they could use a little help, whether that's in the shape of money, physical help or a kind word? The answer is no, I couldn't stop helping my friends if they asked and so why would I think my friends would expect the same of me?
Now, the person that messaged me telling me they don't agree with my GoFundMe campaign sent a further seven messages, none of which I read - none of which I will read because I can guess what they may say and I have no wish to read it. I'll get Trev to open them and if I'm wrong and they're nice messages of support, I'll not get him to delete them.
I suppose the moral of this tale is this:
If you know your brain won't like you doing something, if you know it will corrupt every motive you have for doing anything in this world and if you know it will make you feel bad for the smallest thing if it possibly can, then you should just give up now and never try anything because sooner or later, no matter how 'nice' a person you are for the most of it, you're going to feel terrible at some point - and the feeling is exponential to the length of time you've gone feeling OK in yourself - the longer you've gone without beating yourself up for something, the worse you'll feel when it finally gets through and hits home.

Or...

Fuck it, screw them, do what you like!

Guess what I'm going to do now... :D

2 Comments

Mission day #4

2/8/2014

4 Comments

I wonder how many people would like a story written about them, around them, around a character based on them?
Here's my GoFundMe page that's offering exactly that. Not only will you get to work with me on creating 'you' inside a story, but the whole thing will be written around you, to your spec. Then the ebook will be dedicated to you and you'll be immortalised alongside Dusty the Demon Hunter - or Sentinel Exemplar if you prefer.
Please also consider joining me on my Thunderclap - donate a Tweet, just one - or a Facebook post - please, I need 250 people to make it through.

I know full well how exceptionally lucky I am to be able to write my stories. I also know that I'm so very fortunate to have such a strong and loyal group that support and encourage me.
Whenever I look at my Facebook pages and see the well-wishes, the likes and shares on my posts, I smile.
Yes, I'm aware that my aim and posting about it is going to get on people's nerves and for that I'm sorry - it's not going to be forever though, just a month or so.

Let me tell you about what I hope for my career.
My dream is to write from a little stone cottage out in the middle of nowhere where my dogs can run around the large garden without me being fearful for their safety, either because they escape or because the neighbour has taken a dislike to them. I'll sit on the sunny patio and drink my coffee while I tap away on the laptop. The characters that are fighting for a prominent place at the forefront of my mind at the moment will take their turn to voice their story (some hopes) and the stories will flow - endlessly cascading onto the screen of my computer to be turned into books that will delight and enthrall.

OK, enough of the 'dream' let's get on to another unlikely scenario - not quite utopia but close enough.
Someone sees my campaign and reads my books because of it. That person is ludicrously wealthy and has a few hundred grand to spare. They drop the few hundred grand off at my campaign and my worries are over, I pay off EVERYTHING and never need to worry - well, I'd worry about the electric, I need that to work so I can get the stories uploaded... I'd also like food too, but you get the picture. Trev would potter about the place, finishing the jobs he's never quite got around to, we'd take the dogs for walks so I get to at least sample the view of the countryside and life would be rosy. The stories would flow, the characters would introduce new creations to my mind - perfect.

Next best thing? Well, that would be the campaign taking off, my books getting a bit more publicity and start selling enough to keep us in this house. Actually, that's not just 'the next best thing' - it's really all I want. I don't like asking people to help me with handouts, that's why I created the rewards - to give something for the donation. I don't like asking for help, I never have. I know my stories are good. I know the characters work. The trouble is getting people to take that chance on reading them in sufficient numbers to gain traction for my writing.

For my writing to pay the bills and pay for food for the animals (and us too) would actually be up there with that first scenario - I wouldn't need the stone cottage and unlimited view of wide open countryside, I can make that happen inside my head. I wouldn't really like for someone to drop hundreds of thousands in cash in my lap, I'd always feel I owed far more than I could ever repay (I already owe far more than I can ever repay to everyone that has helped me so far).
For my stories and my characters to go running off to the masses would be simply awesome for me. An honest day's work for an honest day's pay is enough, I would be satisfied, I'd be contented and I'd be so gracious and grateful my head would spin!

So which of the scenarios is most likely?

Well, the last one is always likely, but on some days (most) it seems just far enough out of reach as to be unattainable.
Will I give up? Hell no! I'll only stop dreaming when I'm dead - perhaps.

4 Comments

Mission day #3

1/8/2014

2 Comments

Terrible night's sleep again. Up at 3am, sporadic and disturbed sleep after. So, I'm tired, like yesterday; but is my mood as dark as yesterday? No. I can't see the light at the end of the year-long tunnel yet but there do seem to be some people along the path and they are holding bright beacons of light to help me through. Some of those people I've never met, yet they're helping me along, they're cheering me on and I'm so very grateful for them.
Yesterday started out (for me) as black as any day I can remember in a long time. I can't explain why I was so down but I struggled through (if you saw the blog from yesterday, you can tell how dark it was inside my head).
A few people helped me along and as I began to shake off the dark, a few more and yet more came along. The day ended on a huge grin and I think the storm clouds were dissipated.
This morning, sitting in my attic office, watching the rain pattering on the window above me, I'm smiling - not like a loon, not yet, but it's getting there.
The fundraising is coming on well (far better than I expected - which was zero) and I have a few more ideas to put into action. Whatever happens this year, whether I get an offer of publication or not, whether I raise all the money we need or not, I know I've turned a corner now. There may be more hazards ahead, more corners, there may be obstacles that I just can't get over, but I'll have to find a way around somehow.
All I know is that friends and people I don't even know well are cheering me on with this, I'm being encouraged rather than criticised for holding out the begging bowl (I was dreading that) and people are travelling this rough and rocky path with me.
Some are even apologising for not helping much. To those I say please don't worry, just share the links and review my books if you've read them, it ALL helps. Every time I see someone has shared a link, I smile and appreciate the gesture. It all helps!

Thank you everyone. I really DO appreciate this, all of it xx

Paypal accepted fundraising
GoFundMe page

2 Comments

Gingernut Books and the Book Trailer

Amazon's marketing 'ethic'

Happy Birthday Gingernut Books!

Mission day #5

Mission day #4

Mission day #3

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