KDP Select Titles Being Pirated and Distributed to Other Stores

Must reading for authors.

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere minding his own cat business today. Our laid-back kitty decided to make a trip to indie fantasy author Lindsay Buroker's site. It's been quite a while since Panzer has visited her site and he wanted to know what she's been doing.

According to Ms. Buroker, back in August one of her books in the KDP Select program was pirated. She had no idea that had happened until Amazon sent her an email that they were going to remove her account from KDP because she was published elsewhere. She learned through some digging on her part that the book has been pirated. The post tells the steps she needed to go through to get the book removed from the other stores and what happened subsequently.

Panzer says, "You need to bookmark her post for future reference."

To read the post, tootle over to KDP Select Titles Being Pirated and Distributed to Other Stores

NaNoWriMo Prizes, Motivation, and Fun

50,000 words? No, Mom, No!

Yet another chance at prizes if you're participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which Panzer and I are!

Fantasy author Lindsay Buroker (whose also taking part in NaNoWriMo) is sponsoring contests for participants.

If you're interested, tootle over to NaNoWriMo Prizes, Motivation, and Fun -- Enter Here!

Monetizing Serialized Fiction

Monetizing?

Panzer visited steampunk author Lindsay Buroker's blog. He found an interesting guest post by Zachary Bonelli.  Zachary is the author of the serial Voyage.

Zachary discusses the difference between a novel and a serial. A novel is divided into chapters which cannot standalone. A serial is divided into novellas which are each self-contained stories and can standalone. Pretty simple, huh?

The next question Panzer wanted answered was how the monetizing works. According to Zachary and the information he quotes, if each of the novellas of the serial are sold for 99 cents, readers will be more likely to pay the small amounts and the author will make more sales. Later, the novellas can all be put together and sold as a "boxed set" for a higher price. In this way the author will maintain a long-term income stream.

To read Zachary's story of how Voyage was put together as a serial and how the "monetizing" works, tootle over to Monetizing Serialized Fiction

A Cat, Joe Lallo, and Book Promotion

Well, my bad boy is still patrolling the Catosphere looking for book marketing ideas.

Today Panzer stopped in at Lindsay Buroker's blog. He found a guest post there by indie fantasy author Joe Lallo. Joe's post is about book promotion and it's loaded with ideas. He's got ideas I've never heard of like getting your ebook "bundled" with others. He even includes sites for this service. He gives instructions for what should go in a media kit to send to reviewers. And more.

Panzer says, "This post is well worth your reading time!"

For your newest dose of marketing and book promotion, tootle on over to book promotion with Joe Lallo.

Amazon Serials Program

They want me to do what?

Panzer and I have been hearing a lot about the Amazon Serial Program, so my bad boy was happy to find a post at indie fantasy author Lindsay Buroker's blog about it. The guest post is by Roberto Calas and his adventures writing one of the Amazon serials. There's a link here to Amazon's submission guidelines too.

While neither Panzer nor I could write an adventure fast enough to get an episode up every two weeks, it is an interesting concept.

If you're interested in trying out for the Amazon Serial Program, read about it at Lindsay Buroler's blog.

Add A Newsletter To Your Blog

Panzer and I have been searching for a way to add a newsletter and its requisite signup form here at the blog o' cats. We'd like to give our visitors the option to receive news about upcoming events, contests and new ebooks.

We've found that Blogspot does offer a newsletter feature, but it doesn't seem to do what we want. We want a newsletter that would be independent of this blog. That way, if someone signs up for the newsletter at Panzer's soon-to-be launched Facebook Fan Page or signs up here, the information is all at a separate location. (There have been two times in the past month when I have had sign in issues with Blogspot and I don't want to lose all my information!)

So, with Panzer riding shotgun we went cruising around the blogosphere. We stopped in at fantasy author Linsay Buroker's E-book Endeavors blog. And ... we found the newsletter setup information we were looking for.

If you are interested in adding a newsletter to your blog, visit Lindsay Buroker's How to Add A Newsletter to Your Blog.

Got any suggestions for a newsletter site? Leave it in the comments sections.

Gotta go. Panzer wants to go cruising again.

Using Multiple Ebooks To Sell More

On Friday I pointed you to Kristen Lamb's answer to the Secret to Selling More Ebooks  that involved being sticky and having sticky ebooks.  Panzer is still cleaning his fur and not talking to me. (I swear, I did not leave that bottle of honey on the counter on purpose!)

Since having sticky paws doesn't seem to be acceptable in this house, I went looking for another SECRET to selling more ebooks.

How about writing multiple ebooks to increase ebook sales? And writing ebooks in a series?

Fantasy steampunk author Lindsay Buroker makes a good argument  for the Benefits of Publishing Multiple Ebooks.

I agree with her SECRET completely. Her argument makes sense: the more different products you have to sell the more sales you'll make.

So, what do you think?

Your Facebook Fan Page

Okay, I keep hearing the popular wisdom that to be a successful indie writer you need to have a Facebook page to connect with your readers.

Well, I admit it. I don't have a Facebook page. From what I hear from my friends, I think it's a huge time suck.

But ... I've just heard about the Facebook Fan Page. I understand it's easier to set up, doesn't need as much upkeep as a personal page, and from what I've seen it's fun.

Indie fantasy author Lindsay Buroker has a great beginner's level post for Creating a Facebook Fan Page for Authors . After you read her post, go check out her Fan Page. It's nice, simple and clean. I think it looks great. Just what a fan would like. (Hint. Hint.)

Writer's Digest contributing editor Jane Friedman has a slightly different opinion on the Fan Page at 3 Principles for Facebook Fan Pages . Ms. Friedman doesn't believe a writer should have a Fan Page until you have fans looking for you.

Uhmmm. Looks kind of like which came first the chicken (Fan Page)  or the egg (fan) to me. It seems like this would be an excellent way to get fans by including the Fan Page contact information at the end of a Kindle ebook.

I have to admit, I like the idea of the Fan Page. What do you think?