My 1st Kindle book is coming out and I need reviews. Anyone want a freebie?

[Andrew_Culture]

It's now live on the store. If I get enough reviews in the next 24 hours Amazon will boost its ranking! Here's the link to my little book, if you could write some sort of short generic review by bedtime tomorrow it will be a HUGE help! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FKX5V8S

 

[User6179]

Getting trapped in an NCP car park, is not firing me up with enthusiasm tbh. What's the next one?

He forgot to mention the 50 nymphomaniacs trapped also , 10 out of 10!!!

 

[hoopdriver]

Depends how much you are paying of course

Even at a few pennies the premise of the story or book has to interest me, or at least show promise of interesting me. A car park story doesn't do that, not from an untried writer at any rate - a well known humorist from the New Yorker might get away with it but someone starting out needs to spread the risk a bit more. A collection of short stories, with a catchy title, might induce me to buy and take a chance.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Have you considered putting these short stories into a larger collection? Five thousand words is really too short for a book. You generally figure 60,000 or so. And as was noted above a book about being stuck in a car park would have limited appeal, but as part of a broader collection of stories these limitations would be negated.

Not saying it isn't a witty and engaging story - it may well be - but as a stand alone it would be a tough sell. And if I were buying a book on Kindle I would expect a lot more than 5000 words.

It's all part of the plan. Three short cheap releases will help hype the 90,000 word novel thanks to Amazon's ranking system. If I pitched in first with the novel it would sink without trace.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I'm not expecting all reviews by Thursday night . Any time will be very much appreciated.

Making the first release so incredibly easy to read quickly is all part of the plan.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Even at a few pennies the premise of the story or book has to interest me, or at least show promise of interesting me. A car park story doesn't do that, not from an untried writer at any rate - a well known humorist from the New Yorker might get away with it but someone starting out needs to spread the risk a bit more. A collection of short stories, with a catchy title, might induce me to buy and take a chance.

I agree entirely, I've been writing professionally for years but this market has to be approached in a very particular way. This is all part of a plan to correctly promote the second of two full length novels that won't be out till next year.

Long term planning, starting small.

 

[MarkF]

Pm'd Andrew. Hope the car park story is good.

I understand what "hoopdriver" is saying, I bought a bicycle travel book from Amazon for my Kindle, only a couple of quid, but it was s.h.i.t. Boring, littered with errors and wouldn't even have made it in to the top 1000 blogs on Crazyguyonabike. That's why I was miffed at the couple of quid and the realisation that I'd been had, via "friendly" reviews.

 

[hoopdriver]

I agree entirely, I've been writing professionally for years but this market has to be approached in a very particular way. This is all part of a plan to correctly promote the second of two full length novels that won't be out till next year.

Long term planning, starting small.

Good idea.

I'll be interested to hear how you go. I hope you'll keep us posted.

I too have written professionally for years, decades in fact, and am interested in the possibilities of Kindle. The big trouble, I foresee, with Kindle is separating the decent stuff from the absolute mountain of rubbish that will inevitably be published. There are no agents and/or publishers to thin out the sludge pile, no editors (generally) to clean up the copy, and generally no designers or layout folks to give it a professional look. I am hesitant to put my work in that big unfiltered pond, although the freedom does appeal.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I'd be more than happy to read and review it. PM winging its way eastward.

 

[jazzkat]

I'll have a read, I'll get the Mrs to read it too, she's a voracious reader!
Pm'd

 

[hoopdriver]

That's just your opinion though, not necessarily the Way of Publishing. How do you know Andrew is 'an untried writer'? He writes some good prose on here at least, and is humble enough to admit he doesn't know everything. I think he's on the right track.

He is an untried writer in that I have never heard of him. That does not mean he is bad or indifferent, just that I have never heard of him. I have yet to try one of his books or stories and for me to part with cash for an untried writer I need to be convinced

 

[brodiej]

I always like a good story - I'd be up for reading it.

PM sent

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Good idea.

I'll be interested to hear how you go. I hope you'll keep us posted.

I too have written professionally for years, decades in fact, and am interested in the possibilities of Kindle. The big trouble, I foresee, with Kindle is separating the decent stuff from the absolute mountain of rubbish that will inevitably be published. There are no agents and/or publishers to thin out the sludge pile, no editors (generally) to clean up the copy, and generally no designers or layout folks to give it a professional look. I am hesitant to put my work in that big unfiltered pond, although the freedom does appeal.

I 'think' I've possibly found a way through the slush. There is an author on this board who was signed to Faber who now publishes on Kindle. It's a bit of a mad thing, but kindle is now hard to ignore. Kindle books now outsell physical copy on Amazon.

I'll let you know how I get on

 

[hoopdriver]

I 'think' I've possibly found a way through the slush. There is an author on this board who was signed to Faber who now publishes on Kindle. It's a bit of a mad thing, but kindle is now hard to ignore. Kindle books now outsell physical copy on Amazon.

I'll let you know how I get on

I agree its hard to ignore, hence my ongoing interest from the sidelines. What are you doing about editing, layout and cover design for your novels?

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I'm so amazed at all the PMs I've had!

Thank you everyone!