Re-releasing a Book

By June Shaw

Getting a book published is exciting, especially when it's your first one. Getting it published again adds more excitement, mainly when it's a new edition with additional editing and a different cover.

I've had so much fun to finally be selling one and then another and so on of books I write. It been amazing to watch the various editions of the same book. For example, Five Star published RELATIVE DANGER, first book in my series of humorous mysteries, in hardcover with one cover. Harlequin put it out in paperback with a totally different cover. I had it published as an ebook and used a unique cover. It came out as an audiobook, again with a new look, and Untreed Reads recently re-released it as an e-book with a new cover again. (I just remembered RELATIVE DANGER came out in large print, too, but don't recall the cover on that edition.)

Getting to sell a book and then seeing how various editors envision my work has been a joy I never expected when I chose to become a writer.

I'm having a great time seeing the new editions of my mystery series with brand new covers. Untreed Reads just finished re-releasing all three of them. I hope you'll take a look and check them out. Thanks!

http://www.juneshaw.com

How to Promote Free Books to Sell More

Being published by a micropress has its drawbacks, mainly a dearth of distribution and promotion. I like to have my books available in paper for the few who decide to take one, but mainly I sell them at outdoor festivals and book events. Most of my mysteries and thrillers (now ten) are sold as ebooks. And since I decided to cast my lot with Amazon KDP, they're only available in the Kindle Store.

I have used their free days almost monthly over the past year to promote sales. KDP allows you to give a book away for five out of every ninety days. Despite how it sounds, the act of giving away books has a definite effect on book sales. The practice has brought less results as time progressed for several reasons. One has to do with the fact that more and more authors are using the free days route. There are several dozen Internet sites that promote free ebooks, but they get so many requests now that they limit what they do or charge for the service.

I have used several sites in recent months, paying from $5 to $25 for guaranteed listings. When I first began the practice, my books sold well after the three free days (that seems the most effective period) for two weeks or more. Not just the book that had been free, but the rest of my backlist. However, for the past few months, the lingering effect has been much shorter.

Recently I've read posts by my colleagues on some promo sites about their use of  BookBub.com. It sends out an email to its list of thousands of readers daily, promoting from two to four ebooks that are either free or on sale at a discount such as 99 cents. This one is not for the faint of heart. For mysteries that are free, the price is $240. For mysteries priced at $1 to $2, it's $720. They claim 700,000 subscribers to the mystery email list and show average downloads of 18,000.

I started three days for a free Kindle copy of my second Greg McKenzie mystery, Designed to Kill, on Saturday. It goes back to $2.99 tonight (Monday) at midnight PDT. As of 10 p.m., the time I'm writing this, the book has been downloaded 49,009 times. During this time, the first book in the series has sold 47 copies, book three 31 copies, book four 12 and book five 6.

If things go as expected (at least hoped), Designed to Kill should sell hundreds of copies in the coming days, while the other books in the series continue to do well. The theory is that if readers like the free book, they'll come back to buy the others. I've already gotten three new four-star and one five-star reviews since the giveaway began. People who take part in these promotions are good about writing reviews on Amazon.

I'll post in a couple of weeks how the after-effect turns out. Has anybody else tried this approach? How were your results?

Rereleasing a Book

by June Shaw

Having a book released gives an author a fantstic feeling. Having it released anew brings back all the flutters and excitement of the first time.

I'd waited so long, that the first time I sold a book, I couldn't believe it. Was the editor having an especially good day and buying everything that came over her desk? It must have been a fluke. And they published it in hardcover.

Reviews started to come in. Well-known authors really liked my book? And one reviewer after another -- including Publishers Weekly! And Deadly Ink nominated it for their David award for Best Mystery of the Year. Good grief.

Then this first book, RELATIVE DANGER, came out in large print. More sales. And Harlequin bought reprint rights for their mystery mass market book customers. I sold nonexclusive audio rights.

And I sold another book in the series. KILLER COUSINS was fun to write and sell, and again I drank in every bit of praise I received.

Third in the series came DEADLY REUNION, in which a mini-class reunion takes place on a cruise ship in Alaska. And I sold other books. And now...

I've come full circle. Untreed Reads has just rereleased RELATIVE DANGER as an ebook with a new cover. They're about to do the same with KILLER COUSINS and the following month, it will be DEADLY REUNION's turn.

All fun. All exciting. I hope you'll check it out.


http://www.juneshaw.com

Do Blurbs and Reviews Sell Books?

by Jean Henry Mead

Every writer covets a great review from Publisher’s Weekly but how many readers base their purchases on reviews? Nothing I've written so far has grabbed PW’s attention although my new release, Murder on the Interstate, has earned some good comments, starting with a blurb from bestselling mystery novelist, Carolyn Hart:

“Careen into crime with two intrepid sleuths who outwit terrorists in a fast-paced plot taken from today's headlines. A page turner."

Unfortunately, it didn’t jump start book sales, nor did Lefty Award Winner J. Michael Orenduff's colorful review, which I love:

“Murder on the Interstate burns rubber right out of the gate and exceeds the speed limit on every page. With all the car chases, gun shots, screeching breaks, and crashes, the movie version could be the sequel to one of those car-heist action-films. Except for the fact that the protagonists are two women approaching Medicare, and their vehicle is a motorhome. Dana and Sarah are stalwart, clever and funny characters, and author Jean Henry Mead caroms them from one tight situation to another as they weave along the Interstate and into a high stakes mystery.”

I thought, WOW, that ought to stir up interest, but it must have only reminded readers of the tire tracks on the cover. Marilyn Meredith’s great blurb came next:

“Full of surprising twists and turns, Jean Henry Mead has produced an RV adventure with her two senior sleuths in hot pursuit of a murderer, but the tables turn and the two women learn that not only are they in danger but so is our national security. An exciting mystery that will keep you turning pages."

Book sales numbers barely budged. I thought maybe the counter was broken or everyone hated the cover. I received several additional reviews, including one of my favorites from Earl Staggs, who said:

"I don’t expect an amateur sleuth novel to start fast. I expect to spend time getting to know the protagonist, then get a feel for the setting, and maybe get to know another character or two before the story begins to move forward. That doesn’t happen in MURDER ON THE INTERSTATE. Jean Henry Mead kicks it off in high gear and doesn’t slow down. This is the kind of novel I enjoy. . .”

By then I was in the midst of a virtual book tour and Molly’s online review had this to say:

“This was good. REALLY good. REALLY REALLY good. So good, in fact, that I have GOT to go back and get the first two in this series! It was a LOT better than I was expecting. It really gripped me and kept me hanging on, until I was, sadly, on the last page. I couldn't believe the ups and downs and twists and turns it took me on. FANTASTIC!”

Readers didn’t take Molly seriously, so I decided the book’s salvation rested with Kindle and Nook. Murder on the Interstate made its official debut on Kindle today, here, and the UK, and will hopefully be a Nook book soon.

Are readers forsaking print editions for ebooks? How about you? Do you still prefer print or have you joined the ebook revolution?

And do reviews influence your book buying habits? Writers (and publishers) want to know. :)

The Ebook Revolution

Tim Hallinan prompted a raft of comments when he wrote a post for Murder is Everywhere a day or two ago, praising what the ebook has done for authors. Tim pointed out how he has put up some of his old books for the Kindle, books the publisher let go out of print, and plans to release in electronic format some new books publishers were less-than-enthusiastic about.

I'm thinking of doing the same with two or three thrillers I wrote before landing a publisher for my first Greg McKenzie mystery. At least a couple of them were spoken of favorably by publishers before being turned down.

All six of my current mysteries are now available for the Kindle at $2.99. I've put the last two on Smashwords, which makes them available in various e-book formats, and plan to upload the others soon. I get 70 percent of the sales, which gives me a little more than the standard royalty on a paperback. Of course, I don't have a following like Tim Hallinan, who sells about 1,000 ebooks a month. But half a hundred isn't bad and should add  up to more than a thousand bucks in a year. Hopefully my sales will improve, and if I get a few more on my Amazon page, it should cover the cost of attending a couple of conferences.

One of Tim's blogging partners, Stan Trollip (half of Michael Stanley), decried the long-term effect of books going electronic. He talked of fondly remembering times when he opened his grandfather's bookcase and browsed its impressive contents. I sympathize with him. A faded wooden bookcase with artfully decorated glass doors stands against one wall of my office. It opens with an old hollowed-out metal key. It contains some of my own books, plus ones handed down in the family. Pulling out one at random, I hold a thick volume titled The Mentor, Serials 73-96. A little more battered are volumes with Serials 49-72 and 97-120.

These came from my history-teacher aunt who died some years back at age ninety-six. The Mentor was a weekly publication of  The Mentor Association in New York City. Serial 73 is dated December 15, 1914. An early issue of the publication contained this statement:

"The object of The Mentor Association is to enable people to acquire useful knowledge without effort, so that they may come easily and agreeably to know the world's great men and women, the great achievements, and the permanently interesting things in art, literature, science, history. nature and travel."

Serial No. 73 is devoted to Charles Dickens. Printed on heavy stock, it contains beautifully rendered intaglio-gravure pictures illustrating Dickens' characters. The next issue covers Greek masterpieces, with full-page pictures of various sculptures, including one I saw on a visit to the Louvre, Venus of Melos. Following this came an issue devoted to Fathers of the Constitution.

I have my doubts that any e-reader will ever have the impact of turning the pages in this vintage volume. I hope our libraries will continue to provide sanctuary for bound books both old and new. But I think coming generations will depend more on electronic reproductions of books read for entertainment. I intend to contribute my share of ebook fiction to the cause.