xiang
Super Moderator
TLDR: I wrote a book and published it on Amazon. I would like to ask a gigantic favor of you (that doesn't necessarily involve buying it) and ask that you spread the word. If you want to read it but don't want to buy it, I actually can provide you with a free copy. (Details below.) Check out the links!
[PAPERBACK] http://www.amazon.com/The-Old-Smoke...1353543476&sr=8-1&keywords=the+old+smokehouse
[KINDLE E-BOOK] http://www.amazon.com/The-Old-Smoke...1353543476&sr=8-2&keywords=the+old+smokehouse
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If you read the above summary, then you kind of already know what I'm about to say.
First, you've read everything correctly up to this point. I have indeed written a (small) book and would love for everyone to buy/read it. This is my first full-length book publication, meaning that, of course, I'm a small-time, independent author, so I don't have a lot of "promo" cash to throw around and am going to use the free resources I have available to me. Even if you have no interest whatsoever in the book, I would like to ask a huge favor of you and that is that you kindly spread the word. For simplicity's sake, I made a fb event that you can find here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/141281932686370/
You can invite people to this event, you can update your fb status, you can text people, you can tell them in person; whatever. I don't want to impose or want it to be an inconvenience for anyone, which is why I made this fb event since it's easy to ignore (if you want) but also makes it easy to help (if you want).
Second, while I want to make a profit from this book (however small), I still want as many people as possible to read it. So, I priced the book on Amazon as low as I could really feasibly go, and I think the $6 price is very fair and reasonable. That's about half what you would pay for a brand new copy of a paperback from a big-name author, like John Grisham, Judy Picoult, etc. In fact, I think if you went to a used book store a lot of their books wouldn't be too much cheaper than that. HOWEVER, if you don't have money to drop on buying the book (or just don't want to), but still want to read it, just send me a message and we can work something out so you don't have to pay anything. (Because of Amazon's policies, I'm not allowed to put it up anywhere for people to download for free, so I have to deal with such requests on a case-by-case basis. Sad, but it is what it is.)
Third, if you do read it (via whatever method you choose), I would like to ask that you submit a review on Amazon. I'm not here to sway your opinion, so good or bad, I don't care. The more reviews, the more exposure. You don't have to actually purchase the book in order to submit a review. (Although, you do have to have an Amazon account.) So, again, something small, easy, and costs you no money and would greatly help me out.
Lastly, this is me dipping my toe in the water. I have lots of ideas and plenty to write as time goes on, but I wanted to take on a smaller project first. The idea was to put something together and walk through the process of publishing it myself on Amazon so that I know what to expect in the future and what sorts of things I can do differently. (You'd be surprised at how big of a pain it was to format the text properly when I submitted it.) I also wanted to see how clean I could get the writing by myself, meaning that since it was just me (and no hardcore editor like you would get at a publishing company) there are likely to be some grammatical errors or misspellings, but that will get much better next time around as well.
So... you'll be seeing more from me in the future, whether you want to or not. I hope I can give you something to enjoy. And, if you made it this far, you're awesome, I love you, yaddayaddayadda. ;)
[To mods: I know there's a "sellers" forum. Wasn't sure if this really fell into that category, so if it needs to be moved, I understand.]
[PAPERBACK] http://www.amazon.com/The-Old-Smoke...1353543476&sr=8-1&keywords=the+old+smokehouse
[KINDLE E-BOOK] http://www.amazon.com/The-Old-Smoke...1353543476&sr=8-2&keywords=the+old+smokehouse
****************************
****************************
****************************
If you read the above summary, then you kind of already know what I'm about to say.
First, you've read everything correctly up to this point. I have indeed written a (small) book and would love for everyone to buy/read it. This is my first full-length book publication, meaning that, of course, I'm a small-time, independent author, so I don't have a lot of "promo" cash to throw around and am going to use the free resources I have available to me. Even if you have no interest whatsoever in the book, I would like to ask a huge favor of you and that is that you kindly spread the word. For simplicity's sake, I made a fb event that you can find here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/141281932686370/
You can invite people to this event, you can update your fb status, you can text people, you can tell them in person; whatever. I don't want to impose or want it to be an inconvenience for anyone, which is why I made this fb event since it's easy to ignore (if you want) but also makes it easy to help (if you want).
Second, while I want to make a profit from this book (however small), I still want as many people as possible to read it. So, I priced the book on Amazon as low as I could really feasibly go, and I think the $6 price is very fair and reasonable. That's about half what you would pay for a brand new copy of a paperback from a big-name author, like John Grisham, Judy Picoult, etc. In fact, I think if you went to a used book store a lot of their books wouldn't be too much cheaper than that. HOWEVER, if you don't have money to drop on buying the book (or just don't want to), but still want to read it, just send me a message and we can work something out so you don't have to pay anything. (Because of Amazon's policies, I'm not allowed to put it up anywhere for people to download for free, so I have to deal with such requests on a case-by-case basis. Sad, but it is what it is.)
Third, if you do read it (via whatever method you choose), I would like to ask that you submit a review on Amazon. I'm not here to sway your opinion, so good or bad, I don't care. The more reviews, the more exposure. You don't have to actually purchase the book in order to submit a review. (Although, you do have to have an Amazon account.) So, again, something small, easy, and costs you no money and would greatly help me out.
Lastly, this is me dipping my toe in the water. I have lots of ideas and plenty to write as time goes on, but I wanted to take on a smaller project first. The idea was to put something together and walk through the process of publishing it myself on Amazon so that I know what to expect in the future and what sorts of things I can do differently. (You'd be surprised at how big of a pain it was to format the text properly when I submitted it.) I also wanted to see how clean I could get the writing by myself, meaning that since it was just me (and no hardcore editor like you would get at a publishing company) there are likely to be some grammatical errors or misspellings, but that will get much better next time around as well.
So... you'll be seeing more from me in the future, whether you want to or not. I hope I can give you something to enjoy. And, if you made it this far, you're awesome, I love you, yaddayaddayadda. ;)
[To mods: I know there's a "sellers" forum. Wasn't sure if this really fell into that category, so if it needs to be moved, I understand.]
