Amazon's Algorithm For Select

Full of math, you can  read about it here Edward Robertson.

There is also what James Lewis experienced here James Lewis.

I'm summarize what they both said.  It ain't working anymore.

Giving away books used to work but it doesn't really impact sales now.  What did I say months ago?  The GIMME CAP STRATEGY.  Only give away stuff that isn't valuable to you.  Like the buttercup book.  If you think that momentary burst of visibility will help you, then go with Select.  It's a gamble.  Repeat.  It's a gamble. 

If you just want people to see what you do, Select is great.  Ish.  It's a good place to experiment or do something different just for your satisfaction.

I'm sure, no really I am, that it is super for some people and they'll tout its glory.  Those writers are now outliers.  You can't make a gameplan based on outliers.  You're already an outlier and you have to come up with your plan specific to your work.  Note that I didn't say book.  A book is too small of a concept at this juncture in publishing.  You have to think big/long-haul/career.

I don't know what else to say.  Write something super commercial.  People will find you.  Or write what you want to write but tradpub was a roadblock and hope people find you.

Free Falling

I love this song.  I stayed for a while in Reseda.  It's just all houses, there's no discernible town center.  It's off of Ventura Blvd.

I'm not falling at the moment.  Bad Apple is having a free day and doing quite nicely.

• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,158 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
  • #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Children's Fiction > Arts & Music
  • #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Arts & Music > Music
  • #2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Children's Fiction > People & Places > Social Issues

I hope this time readers will connect with it and go on to the other 2 books.

I didn't work on my new YA today instead I took my own Gimme Cap advice and created a booklette called Map of a Heart.  This is exactly what should be free.  A small...oh, perfect phrase for it!  Oh geez, it's French, I better not use it around any drunk trolls or they'll turn me in to the Kindle Spelling Police.

A freebie is an amuse bouche.  It's like a starter, a tidbit to whet your appetite.  You don't serve them the meal, you offer them a tidbit, an amuse bouche.  That's what this booklette is.  I had some vintage postcards and found some more in public domain and used Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese "How do I love thee, let me count the ways...".  I used one line per page, 1 image per page.  It came to about 14 pages.

It'll be free the day after Amazon gets around to publishing it.  I hope they don't wonder if I wrote this one.

How does this have anything to do with anything else I've written?  Well....um, I have a list of my "romance" novels at the end.  It's publicity.  It's about getting your name out there.  It's about getting noticed.

Now I have something of a conundrum.  I had Schtupid Cupid scheduled for a free day on the 14th.  I wrote Sweets For Your Sweet for Valentine's Day.  It's overkill.

Update:  I don't have to worry about it.  Amazon has this new book in review just like Sweets For Your Sweet and that took almost a week to get out of KDP jail, so I just threw away about 6 hours of work trying to finish something for Valentine's Day for Kindle Select.

And Joe Konrath keeps telling us how much Amazon loves authors.