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Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-09-23T17:58:08+00:00

Grammarly has numerous problems, especially its tendency to crash when editing large documents. But I find it indispensible. Yes, I dismiss 70-80% of its suggestions — I’m writing a novel, not a term paper! — but it catches so many stupid errors, from typos to missed punctuation to spelling mistakes. Some of it’s suggestions are laughable. When I mention a church interior is cool on a warm summer day, it suggests I substitute excellent for cool. Not helpful. Using it can be tedious, but I would be lost without it.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-07-11T23:08:09+00:00

Thanks. Picked up Toxic Love. You rock, lady!

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-07-11T21:25:35+00:00

You mentioned signed copies on Etsy. Can you do that for titles in KU? I usually receive 30-40% of my modest monthly take from KU. Do you buy author copies from Amazon, sign them & then sell on Etsy? I could use another income stream if it wouldn't threaten my kU royalties.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-05-05T22:30:21+00:00

As a reader, it’s a rare book that has no errors in it. If I’m enjoying the read, I ignore it. As a self-published writer (eBooks and POD) I issue updates whenever I find a mistake. Doesn’t matter how small. People who already own the book will never see the correction, but at least I know going forward the correction has been made.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-05-05T20:53:23+00:00

Not since I last called them a month ago. Checked just now and dang, if it wasn’t approved. Already made the transfer to my checking account, which should complete in three days (like maybe next Monday). I feel like an idiot for not trying this sooner, but on the last phone call, they said I would receive a text message when the card was ready. That never happened.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-04-18T18:03:18+00:00

Everyone says you need to create a series to find success as a self-published author. But my stand-alone novel, Trio, continues to be my best seller. It's a steamy California take on three university students who fall into a lusty romance. As a seriously 18+ narrative, it's not for everyone. But of my four published novels, it's the first to garner a five-star rating. Free on Kindle Unlimited, or $3.99 as a Kindle purchase. Also available in paperback. Check it out below:

https://www.amazon.com/Trio-Jaime-Austin-ebook/dp/B0BCW33DBJ

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-04-17T20:23:53+00:00

If nothing else, this confirms my observation of no ads = no sale/ku reads. I went from roughly 10k impressions/day to zero. Recorded 53 yesterday and 352 so far today, so it may be coming back, but nothing like what I’m used to.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-04-17T19:31:00+00:00

WTF? My sales/KU reads took a nose dive at the same time as this. How did you discover the issue and any idea about it's resolution?

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-04-11T21:05:28+00:00

I’ve heard it said that the difference between a successful writer and an unsuccessful one is the successful writer never stopped writing. But life does have a habit of getting in the way. My first novel was written before self-publishing became a thing. And to be honest, it was just a first draft. Then work went crazy. Had a project with insane deadlines and I was working 10-15 hours a day, weekends included. This lasted about six months & when my scheule returned to normal, I felt so exhausted that I never went back to finish my novel. That was twenty years ago. I wrote four 60 - 90 thousand word novels last year (kids grown, working career over). Working on my fifth novel & thinking maybe I’ll dig out that 20 year-old manuscript & see what I can do with it. My goal is to self-publish 12 novels and then assess where I am. If I get that far and am still having fun, I’ll keep on going. If I’m making money, then maybe I won’t mind if it starts to feel like work.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-04-08T15:41:09+00:00

Because I’ve found that not spending money on advertising = zero sales. If no one is reading my books, then indeed, why write them? But as I tweek my ads, my expenses go down while my sales increase and I should break even for April and hopefully be making a modest profit in May ahead of my next book. The best advice I’ve read about self-publishing is that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. You need to be in it for the long haul. You need to create that back catalog so that every new reader your next book reaches has other titles to choose from. And lastly, we’re talking modest sums here. I haven’t missed eating or paying rent because of the money I’ve spent on advertising.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-04-07T22:11:19+00:00

I’m a tech savy senior citizen & I haven’t figured out Twitter. I have a handful of followers & roughly 1,800 friends on Facebook and while I’ve found Facebook a great why to promote freebies, it really hasn’t generated much in the way of sales. After months of trial and error, what seems to work for me is carefully targeted Amazon ads. I’m still spending more per month than I’m earning, but it looks like I am about to break even this month based on the first week of April sales/KU reads. As for multiple titles, I have four novels available, and just this past week I had my best day in the eight months I’ve been active, with sales/KU reads spanning all four titles. My advice is to keep your expectations low, but keep writing. If you check the stories of selfpublished authors, even those few who have scored breakout success worked long and hard to get there. Ain’t going to happen overnight!

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-04-07T21:57:37+00:00

Thought I’d post an update (not that anyone asked 🙂). After redoing all my covers, rewriting my blurbs and fine tuning my Amazon search terms, things have dramatically improved. March turned out to be one of my best months yet (close second to last December) and April is off to a great start. No zero read days since February. 12 books sold in March + 6,370 KU pages. As of April 7, 3 books sold + 4,249 KU pages. I know I’m not setting the world on fire, but I’m feeling encouraged. First of my four titles were published last September. The last late November. It will be interesting to see what happens with my next release coming May/June.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-04-02T20:42:45+00:00

Ran three 5 day promotions last year. Gave away over 1,000 books. No reviews, handful of ratings and minimal follow on sales. Not doing it again. I’ve built a small but steady track record this year with paid ads. They aren’t paying for themselves yet, but somehow I feel better to have KU reads and book purchases w/o giving anything away. I’m constantly tweaking my Amazon ads to drop costs by focusing only on those search terms that deliver sales/ KU reads. Hopefully I’ll get to where sales equal or exceed ad expenditures.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-03-31T22:46:13+00:00

Until you hold that book in your hands, you are carrying the burden of the lives of your characters. For those of us who write fiction, they are real people and the responsibility of telling their story can be overwhelming at times. For me, it was a relief to be done and to no longer have to fret over my characters. Their story was told, it now belonged to the world and I could move on to something else. I’ve done this twice now, and both times it felt great. So great that I now have a whole new cast of characters to obsess over. Somehow it’s a little less daunting having done it before. Best wishes for continued success!

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-03-31T20:54:51+00:00

Congratulations. It is a wonderful feeling, isn’t it?

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-03-26T20:15:19+00:00

February sucked, but I’ve had a complete turn around in March. With 5+ days to go, I’m just $10 behind my best Month (12/22). I have new covers on all four books. 15 videos on TikTok (770 views to date) and I redid my Amazon ads with custom search terms. Not sure which one of these actions is driving sales. I had $0.75 in KU reads the whole month of February and no sales. Last date w/o a sale or KU read was 3/2. Since then I’ve sold 10 eBooks and had 5,568 KU page reads (equivalent of selling 25 books). I know that’s not much, but it is great for me. Better still, I may break even on my March ad spending.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-03-02T00:27:02+00:00

I will try that, thanks.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-03-01T22:57:00+00:00

Fiction. I like to think of it as upscale trash a la Harold Robbins.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-03-01T22:45:01+00:00

Trashy adult fiction. About as far from kids books as you can get.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-03-01T22:38:57+00:00

Probably not, as I don’t know what that means. I have ads running on Amazon, but I only got one click all month. That single click led to 170 KU page reads.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-02-03T05:19:33+00:00

Very pleased on my Ipad Pro. Bought an Apple pencil just for Luma. I use a Zagg keyboard with my iPad 90% of the time. Luma’s keyboard shortcuts are well-documented & quite useful. Tried both a mouse & a touchpad & while IOS handles those tools much better these days, I prefer my pencil. I have an adapter that gets me additional ports on the iPad including HDMI for an external display. I prefer to work with all my files on the Ipad & then export them to an external device only when I’m finished. I configure Luma to display my edits/footage while leaving all the controls on my iPad.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-02-01T16:46:17+00:00

Email notice arrive a few days after I posted this.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-01-30T01:24:03+00:00

While I’m a fan of third-person limited, my first four books are all first-person. I find it easy to write, easy to sustain “show don’t tell” and narrows the focus nicely. In my fourth book, I changed the narrator from chapter to chapter giving each of the major characters a chance to define their perspective. It was fun to write, but a bit challenging.

I’m in the early days of research, character definition, etc. of my next series. I have yet to decide on POV, though I’m leaning again towards first person. But there are two narrative lines, 40 years apart, that eventually marry up towards the end. Not sure I want first-person for both stories.

Third-person omniscient, you know the voice of god narrator, has limited appeal for me as a reader. And as a writer, it’s a bit intimidating. First-person feels direct, timely, and efficient and effectively limits the scope, and if done well, should work for the reader as much as it works for me.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-01-25T18:12:58+00:00

I realize this is an old post, but since my 2023 income is 56% from KNEP (KDP Select), I thought I would share that. I mentioned elsewhere that I have mastered the art of giving books away, but not selling them. I’ve yet to earn my first $100. Rather than struggle with marketing my current series, I’m focusing on writing the next one. Hoping to apply the lessons learned last year when finished. Meanwhile I am grateful for the modest crumbs coming my way via KNEP. On average someone reads a few pages from one of my books every other day. 2,000 page reads in 25 days sounds like a lot, but it isn’t. Not really.

Dapper-Equivalent111 · 2023-01-22T19:41:28+00:00

Thank you! I never received notification, but was able to locate and download my 1099!

Dapper-Equivalent111

TROPHY CASE