First, I've decided to make Lyon's Legacy permafree as an experiment. You can currently get it free on Amazon, Smashwords, or Kobo. (Barnes and Noble is pending.) So far, about 900 copies have been downloaded on Amazon, and all I personally did was mention it in a few places on Facebook and Goodreads. The book peaked at #2 on the 100 Free Time Travel best seller list and below 500 for overall free books on Amazon before downloads slowed down yesterday. I'm still waiting to see if this new-found visibility will translate into sales of other books, though I don't expect all readers to continue with the Catalyst Chronicles series.
Second, I've started working with a cover artist for Seasons' Beginning and have sent it out to several beta readers. I've also added it to Goodreads; you can find it here. It will be available in both eBook and print, but I'm considering putting it in Select first for 90 days before making the eBook available everywhere. It should be interesting to see how Kindle Unlimited works, but I don't want it to be permanently exclusive to Amazon either. If you read on a non-Kindle platform, please let me know if this would affect you.
Finally, if you're not reading the Indie Writers Monthly blog, you're missing some good content. Briane is wondering if talking turtles are speculative fiction, Andrew is exploring the blueprint of modern fantasy, and I'm discussing how to break grammar rules in fiction for effect. Pat Dilloway also announced a special omnibus edition of his work. Stop on by and see what's new this week!
Number two in time travel is great!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Alex!
ReplyDeleteIt's not just whether people will continue on, it's whether people will read it at all. My experience with "free" is that people download all the free and very few of them actually get around to reading the thing because they have so much of it.
ReplyDeleteI know about that from firsthand experience, Andrew. I already have over 1400 items on my Kindle, and I still download them faster than I can read or even sort them. But I figure the more people who see my work, the greater chance I have of finding the few people who will become loyal fans. If even 10% of these people become fans, then I'll be satisfied. We'll see if that number is optimistic or not.
ReplyDeleteThe stat I've seen is 1-3%, but with the number of downloads you've had, you have a good chance of picking up some readers.
ReplyDeleteThat's good to know. Maybe if I'm really lucky, I'll pick up readers on other platforms too. It's always good to diversify.
ReplyDelete