My Experience with Giving Away a Book on Kindle

Because I'd been reading so much about the give-aways on Kindle, I decided to try it myself. The theory behind this practice is if you have a series and offer on free, those who like the book will buy others in the series.

I chose Angel Lost which is #7 in the series for a couple of reasons--it is one of my favorites and I love the cover.

I chose the dates for it to be free then submitted it to many sites that promote free Kindle books--many sites were free, some charged a few dollars, and I also used BookBub which is expensive, especially for mysteries. BookBub has thousands of subscribers. One thing I didn't know is that it takes time for them to approve your submission and the date you wanted it to be promoted. I had a bit of a problem with the scheduling. Because of the cost, I probably won't use them again.

The last time I checked with my publisher, nearly 52,000 had been downloaded and 107 were purchased.

What I hoped would happen did, and sales increased with the other books with the first one in the series, Final Respects, selling 92 and all the other titles anywhere from 30 plus to 20 plus. Because I'm with a publisher, of course this will not end up being a whole lot of money. And during this time period, no print books were sold at all.

(And aside: What I'm noticing even at in-person book sales is people are asking if the books are on Kindle and not buying the print books like they used to.)

For two days, the book was #1 in Kindle freebies and #1 in police procedural freebies.

Another plus in many ways is the big increase in reviews for Angel Lost. Fortunately, most of them are positive, but there are some interesting ones.

A couple have given away important plot points. (Probably I'm the only one who will ever bother to read all the reviews.)

Some don't like it because they called it a Christian book. I didn't write it as a Christian book--but there are characters who go to church--a devout Catholic, some who pray. Just like people I know. The fact that there is an angel who appears on a store window seemed to offend a couple.

One criticized me for leaving some plot points hanging. (Did it on purpose.)

Others loved the book for the same reasons that were criticized.

What I've decided is that this proves that readers are all unique in what kind of books they like and dislike.

It took a lot of work to do the necessary promotion.

Will I ever do it again? Not any time soon--but I do hope I've gained more readers for the series.

Marilyn aka F. M. Meredith

Writing Advice for Fledgling Auhors

Marilyn Meredith is taking part in the 13-writer Mystery We Write Book Tour. She's published more than thirty books, including her latest Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel, Angel Lost, and the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, the Invisible Path. written as F. M. Meredith. The following is her advice for fledgling writers:

Begin by reading the kind of books that you want to write. Pay attention to how the books begin, how the characters are introduced, how the suspense rises, the dialogue and what makes you like the book.

Attend writers’ conferences and read books on writing. Many people have the mistaken idea that just because they know how to “write” that they can sit down in front of a computer and write a book without learning how. There are many rules about writing a book—yes, some can be broken, but not until you know what they are.

If possible, join a writing group. It’s helpful if the members are writing in the same genre as you, but not absolutely necessary. What you mainly need are people who know about writing and will give you constructive feedback on what you’re written. Listen to what they have to say. You don’t have to take all their advice, but think about it. Frankly, I learned the most about writing from the members of my critique group—the same one I still belong to after 30 years. Develop believable characters. Keep notes about them so they don’t suddenly change eye color or the spelling of their names. Speaking of character names be careful to pick names that don’t rhyme with the other character names, or start with the same letter, or all have the same number of syllables.

Write regularly. If you can, write every day even if it’s only for a short while. The more you write, the better you’ll write.

When you think you’ve finished your novel, it’s time to start the rewriting process. Print it out and go over each page diligently. Check that you’ve been consistent through out. Make sure the dialogue sounds natural but either moves the plot along or reveals character. Are the characters three dimensional?

Don’t rely on the spell and grammar checker. You’ll need to check on the printed page. Many common words have different spellings and meanings. And if you’ve used fragments in dialogue because that’s how a character speaks, you don’t want to make the changes suggested.

When you think you’re done, the manuscript is polished, have someone take a look at it who is a professional. You never want to send something off to a publisher or agent that isn’t as close to perfect as you can make it.

Submitting to publishers is a whole other topic, but just let me say this: follow each agent’s or publisher’s guidelines exactly. They receive so many submissions they’re looking for a reason for rejection.

Never give up. With my first book I received nearly 30 rejections before it was accepted. I did a lot of rewriting in-between those rejections. I’ve had plenty of rejections since, but I never gave up. Rejections are part of being a writer. Sometimes you can learn from the rejection.

Write, write, write.

About Angel Lost: As plans for her perfect wedding fill her mind, Officer Stacey Wilbur is sent out to trap a flasher, the new hire realizes Rocky Bluff P.D. is not the answer to his problems, Abel Navarro’s can’t concentrate on the job because of worry about his mother, Officer Gordon Butler has his usual upsets, the sudden appearance of an angel in the window of a furniture store captures everyone’s imagination and causes problems for RBPD, and then the worst possible happens—will Stacey and Doug’s wedding take place?

Marilyn's website: http://fictionforyou.com

Blog: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com

I'm On a Blog Tour Too

Like Beth Groundwater from yesterday's post, I'm also on a blog tour this month. I'll put a few of the upcoming stops at the end of my blog.

Like Beth, I believe covers are extremely important. I love the cover for Angel Lost. The publisher and I did go back and forth a bit because the first jogger on the cover had long hair, since this is supposed to be Stacey Milligan jogging who has short hair, I asked for a new silhouette and got it. Jogging plays an important part in the book--but Stacey always jogs in the morning and this is obviously a late afternoon sky and since the book is set in the West--well that has to be a sunset. But it does make a beautiful background which certainly adds to the cover so no argument about that.

So far the reviews coming in have been great--but I have to tell you that two emails from readers have pleased me the most.

The first was a friend and fellow author who said, "I stayed up all night to read Angel Lost and I don't do that often."

The second was also from a friend who is a retired New York cop and he gave me an idea for one of the plot threads, he said, "This is the best Rocky Bluff P.D. story yet. Keep on writing."

Now here are the stops for the rest of the tour. I do hope you might take a peek at one or another and leave a comment.


Monday, March 21

Interviewed at Examiner

Tuesday, March 22

Book reviewed at Paperback Writer

Wednesday, March 23

Guest blogging at Acme Authors Link

Guest blogging at Writers Who Kill

Thursday, March 24

Interviewed at Broowaha

Friday, March 25

Book reviewed at Book Reviews by Molly

Marilyn
Books by Marilyn

Snow in Central California and the Whirlwind Begins

Okay, I know snow is no big deal to the rest of you, but here in the foothills of the Central Valley to wake up to snow on the ground was pretty exciting. It's gone from the surround hills now, but plenty in the higher country.

The whirlwind I'm referring to is the promotion for Angel Lost the next in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series, which I wrote as F. M. Meredith.

The trade paperback form is up on Amazon, not sure when the Kindle version will appear. On Friday, the 100 copies I ordered arrived and I must say they look terrific. I offered 3 copies to the first persons on DorothyL who contacted me and heard from more than three right away.

Beginning this week I'll be on a blog tour. These are the first stops:

Tuesday, March 1

Book reviewed and giveaway at The Book Connection

Wednesday, March 2

Guest blogging at The Hot Author Report

Thursday, March 3

Guest blogging at Lori’s Reading Corner

Friday, March 4

Guest blogging at Ginger Simpson’s “Dishin’ It Out”

On Wednesday, hubby and I are heading to Ridgecrest, which means driving through the Tehachapi mountains and taking a turn right before Mojave and heading across the high desert to the town of Ridgecrest that's big claim to fame is the China Lake Naval Air Station. Most of the people who live there are support for the NAS or engineers or Navy personnel and their families and retirees--and of course some folks who just love the desert.

My reason for going is to speak to the Ridgewriters, a branch of California Writers Club. I've been making a pilgrimage to this group for several years--but this time I'm going to take the place of a good friend of mine who was scheduled to speak that same night--Wednesday, March 2 and 7 p.m.--but there was a mix-up of dates, so I'm filling in. My topic is going to be Blogging and Blog Tours. I gave this same talk to Writers of Kern, another branch of the California Writers Club, last weekend.

Except for visiting all the blogs on my tour, the next in-person event isn't until the last Saturday of the month from 1 to 4 which I"m having my official book launch for Angel Lost at Books Off Main, on Oak St. in Porterville. This is a great little used bookstore where I've held my last three book launches.

So--perhaps I might have a bit of time to write, do you think?

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com