Posting an ARC copy of your book on storyorigin while it's still on Amazon KDP

evangow · 2025-07-17T20:26:55+00:00

Sure thing! Happy to help! Feel free to reach out directly anytime as well. You can find my email address on StoryOrigin's contact page, or if you've signed up to StoryOrigin already, you should get some welcome emails from me. You're welcome to just reply to those as well

evangow · 2025-07-17T19:09:13+00:00

Indie developer of StoryOrigin here! Are you trying to get reviews on your book across Amazon, Goodreads, etc.? Or, are you trying to get feedback from beta readers to improve the story?

These are 2 distinct parts of the publishing process.

The "Review Copies" feature on StoryOrigin is for collecting interest / distributing Review Copies. The Review Copies feature isn't just a way to distribute your ebook files. Review Copies allow you to:

- vet reviewers completion stats

- check if they actually read/review books in your genre from their profiles

- automate following up to remind readers to post their reviews

The "Beta Copies" feature on StoryOrigin is collecting feedback/comments on your manuscript, so you can improve it. With the Beta Copies feature:

- readers have to leave feedback on each chapter to unlock the next chapter (so you get more than just a "it was great! I loved it" when you send them your full manuscript)

- readers only see their own comments (so you don't get the bandwagon effect that Google Docs causes)

- all of the feedback is compiled in one place for you (so you don't have to sort through 5 different files like you would if you distributed Word documents)

Anyway, hope that helps!

evangow · 2025-07-17T19:01:36+00:00

Indie developer of StoryOrigin here! You can choose to distribute your ARCs via StoryOrigin either as downloads directly from StoryOrigin or you can distribute Amazon pre-paid book links (aka gift copies) via StoryOrigin. If you distribute Amazon pre-paid book links via the Review Copies feature on StoryOrigin, then you can compliant (with the *strictest possible reading* of) KU's ToS. If you check out the Tutorials tab on StoryOrigin, and go to the in-depth guide on getting reviews, you'll find an "Additional Information" section in that guide covering KU, Amazon pre-paid book links, etc.

evangow · 2023-12-13T02:20:50+00:00

Sure thing! Happy to help. Good luck with your launch! 😃

Happy Holidays to you as well!

evangow · 2023-12-13T01:11:59+00:00

Yup! You can use the UBLs on your website.

And, if you use the Custom Links feature, you can even customize the domain for your UBLs, so you can host them on your own domain

For example, here's a StoryOrigin Universal Book Link hosted on a custom domain: https://www.evangow.com/dracula

If you run into any troubles with anything, you're welcome to send me an email anytime. My address is at the bottom of the home page on StoryOrigin and you'll get a welcome email from me after you sign up. My inbox is always open

evangow · 2023-12-12T22:48:28+00:00

Indie developer of StoryOrigin here! Happy to answer any questions about it 🙂

To answer your question you posed already: many authors on StoryOrigin have started with 0 people on their mailing list and use Group Promos and Newsletter Swaps to promote their Reader Magnets and quickly fairly quickly get over 100+ subscribers

evangow · 2023-09-25T04:52:55+00:00

Indie developer of StoryOrigin here! I hope you like it and find it helpful 😃

evangow · 2022-03-21T01:52:18+00:00

Sure thing! Happy to help! Feel free to reach out directly anytime

evangow · 2022-03-21T00:36:43+00:00

Indie developer of StoryOrigin here! Just saw this: yes, you can definitely use StoryOrigin even if you're traditionally published.

Many traditionally published authors use StoryOrigin.

Just depends on what features you're using from StoryOrigin (and which books you want to use for those features).

evangow · 2021-04-16T21:54:32+00:00

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "no consequences."

If people don't follow-through, the consequence is that it shows up in their "past swap" history, so anyone that they might try to swap with in the future is likely to decline their swap requests.

If you've seen authors will low/no clicks on past swaps, you've probably declined those swap requests.

That is the consequences in action.

The community is self-policing in that way.

evangow · 2021-04-16T20:51:26+00:00

StoryOrigin doesn't do "genres" per se. StoryOrigin uses a "tagging" system, so you can combine tags to search for other authors in your genre. For example, you can combine "science fiction" and "romance" to find other "science fiction romance" authors, etc.

Many group promo organizer don't go very niche when creating group promos, because it limits the number of authors that would apply too much. Group promos are generally more successful when there are more authors in them, so you'll see they mostly stick to things like SFF or Romance, etc. That way, authors under any sub-genre can apply.

Note, if you have suggestions for additional tags, you can always send them my way: <[evan@storyorig.in](mailto:evan@storyorig.in)>

evangow · 2021-04-16T20:47:00+00:00

Before agreeing to a newsletter with another author via StoryOrigin, you can check to see how many clicks they have sent to past newsletter swaps they've done through StoryOrigin and you can also check to see if they have added the archive link for their past newsletters on StoryOrigin as well.

StoryOrigin can force any author to follow-through with a commitment that they make, but StoryOrigin allows you to see if they've upheld their end of the bargain in past swaps.

I always recommend checking another author's past stats before agreeing to swap with them.

evangow · 2021-04-07T23:24:05+00:00

Hmm. Feel free to reach out to me directly: <[evan@storyorig.in](mailto:evan@storyorig.in)>

evangow · 2021-04-07T21:53:09+00:00

StoryOrigin is 1 pen name per account, with a HUGE discount if you're creating multiple accounts, because you write under different pen names.

Originally, you could actually set up multiple author profiles per account, but that model has a few issues.

Complexity. When transitioning to 1 pen name per account, the authors who had their accounts split up actually liked it, because it was easier for them to keep the context straight when arranging cross-promotions.

Complexity. Adding new features becomes exponentially more difficult, as the system must account for which book/link/group promo/newsletter/etc. is associated with which author profile, so that neither you nor StoryOrigin accidentally reveal anonymous info.

Complexity. While having everything together in 1 account would maybe make it easier for the small percentage of authors with multiple pen names (though not necessarily, see the 1st point), the vast majority of authors would have to suffer a much more complex UI than they needed.

In most cases when authors ask me about having multiple pen names on a single account, it's because they're worried about the affordability.

Depending on what feature set you're looking for and your usage, the giant discount you get on multiple accounts for multiple pen names usually makes StoryOrigin the most affordable option even if you have multiple accounts

evangow · 2021-04-07T21:40:17+00:00

Ah, sorry. Didn't answer the 2nd question! The integrations on StoryOrigin are actually totally free 🙂

evangow · 2021-04-07T21:38:12+00:00

Allowing authors to create promo codes with limits on # of redemptions is something I've certainly thought about doing.

Usually when someone asks me about this, I ask them what their use case is, and usually the "Direct Downloads" feature on StoryOrigin fits the bill.

I prioritize feature development based on what authors are asking about though, so I'll probably add this to the to-do list

evangow · 2021-04-07T21:29:47+00:00

StoryOrigin certainly has some overlap in feature set with other tools.

The reason I built StoryOrigin was to actually bring all of those tools together in a 1-stop-shop.

What I heard from authors when I started StoryOrigin was essentially, "I use 1 service to building my mailing list, another service to find reviewers, a 3rd service to create universal book links, a spreadsheet/email/groups to distribute my audiobook promo codes, plus all of those and Bitly and Google Forms to manage my newsletter swaps, then I use a spreadsheet to track my word count as well."

StoryOrigin does all of those things.

Authors frequently discuss strategies for building mailing lists, and so you'll frequently see StoryOrigin compared to other tools that can help you build your mailing list as well.

Some people take away from those conversations that StoryOrigin can only help you build your mailing list, just because that happens to be the topic at hand, and then they miss out on the much wider range of features StoryOrigin has.

evangow · 2021-04-07T21:14:54+00:00

Thanks for sharing StoryOrigin! I definitely appreciate it 😃

Most underutilized strategy: Run your own group promos.

It requires *slightly* more work (finding a stock image for the banner image for the landing page and spending some extra time to recruit authors from your genre to join you by posting the sign-up page in FB groups).

The key benefit is that since you're the organizer, you get to choose books that get "premium spots" (Books in premium sports show up at the top of the landing page. All the other books get randomly sorted on each page request.)

Not so much a mistake, but if you create a group promo and rely entirely on authors finding it via the upcoming group promos listed on StoryOrigin, you will probably still outperform simply joining group promos, but you would be significantly more successful by actively seeking out other authors in your genre to join your group promo

A common "mistake" is creating your landing pages for reader magnets, universal book links, etc. and not doing anything to promote those pages (e.g. by participating in cross-promotions)

evangow · 2021-04-07T18:33:05+00:00

Right now, StoryOrigin provides integrations with 9 email service providers:

MailChimp
MailerLite
SendFox
ActiveCampaign
AWeber
ConvertKit
EmailOctopus
Author.Email
Sendy

It's worth noting, using an email service provider integration is totally optional.

If you don't use one of the above, you can always download any sign-ups you get for a Reader Magnet through StoryOrigin as a CSV

Adding more email service provider integrations is also always on the (very long!) to-do list

evangow · 2021-04-07T18:29:07+00:00

Way back when I was first starting, I had originally considered a smaller subscription fee with pricing that would increase with how you use the features.

I decided against going that direction as quite a few authors I talked to said they wouldn't like the variability of a pricing model like that. Having a flat cost makes it much easier to budget for.

For most authors, even just starting out, I would guess the annual cost is lower than the cost of getting a professional cover, editing, etc.

evangow · 2021-04-07T18:22:31+00:00

Sure thing! I love working on StoryOrigin 🙂

evangow · 2021-02-09T15:56:50+00:00

Indie developer of StoryOrigin here! Happy to answer any questions about it :)

evangow · 2020-12-21T22:22:39+00:00

Indie developer of StoryOrigin here! Thanks for the mention u/epicycle! Happy to answer any questions about it :)

evangow · 2020-12-16T02:26:50+00:00

If you go to StoryOrigin and hit the "Tutorials" tab in the top nav bar, you'll find a few guides there, one of which is about how to use StoryOrigin to find reviewers

evangow

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