About Me
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
It was a long day, but I think I made a dent in some much
needed promotion. So, here’s what I’ve been up to. I finally came to the
conclusion that to move into a better paying platform ( Gum road, or Payhip) I
needed to leverage the audience building power of Amazon to sell enough books
to make the transition. For whatever reason, people will spend money on Amazon,
even at a slightly higher price, than on these other platforms. So, I’m moving
full bore Amazon.
At the moment, I’m promoting my Origin Dime Chronicles
series, a collection of three novellas that all add up to one novel sized
collection, The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Saving the Multiverse. Through the
magic of Kindle select, I have two types of promotion at my fingertips and I’m
using them both. I can only use one for each book, so here’s what I determined
to do. First: a 2 day give away of “Jacked” (part one of The Complete Beginner’s
Guide to Saving the Multiverse)
Then, a Kindle Countdown deal on the whole enchilada!
Starting Thursday, The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Saving the Multiverse,
formerly titled All Jacked Up until I realized there was too much competition
for that name and it also said nothing about my story, for 99 cents! The hope
is that the bite sized sample of the 80 page JACKED will lure readers into the
larger purchase of The Complete Guide, for a cash price.
Since Amazon stopped promoting free books, even when they
hit #1, getting a book to paid download status, is the key to getting ranked.
Also, the Kindle Countdown program has its web pages, where the countdown
volumes are listed separately for readers to find. So, what’s the benefit? Same
as the benefit of being sold in a small book store, less competition for
eyeballs!
So far, I’m up to #8 free in Time Travel scifi and hoping to
break #1! Then, when The Complete Guide moves to Kindle Countdown, I’ll shift
the second novella into free give away mode to keep the traffic coming. The
final piece of the puzzle, book three, will not go up for discount or free
giveaway, making the novel length “omnibus” containing all three novellas, the
best deal and hopefully a sure fire seller. So, while I may not make much off
the 99 cent sales, hopefully, I will move up in the rankings.
I’ll keep you posted! Thanks for tuning in. Be sure to share
my blog if it interests you and I love comments! Like to learn more about any
phase of self-publishing? Message me at MarkRMorris2@gmail.com
with your questions! Thanks!
Jacked Part of The Complete Beginner's Guide to Saving the Multiverse is currently on free giveaway on Amazon,
today and tomorrow! This is leading up to an Amazon countdown deal on
the whole first book in the Origin Dime Chronicles! So, get the first
novella and take a free sample. You're going to love it! Then come back
on Thursday to get the novel-sized portion for 99 cents!
When I write fiction, I do it to change the world, and the Origin Dime Chronicles is no exception. Sure, it's filled with twists and turns, and laughs and gasps, and great heroes and cool tech, but it's also going to make you think and feel and reconsider your own existence in new ways. So, why not check it out? You might just find your new favorite author right here on a blog you thought was just about freelance writing!
When I write fiction, I do it to change the world, and the Origin Dime Chronicles is no exception. Sure, it's filled with twists and turns, and laughs and gasps, and great heroes and cool tech, but it's also going to make you think and feel and reconsider your own existence in new ways. So, why not check it out? You might just find your new favorite author right here on a blog you thought was just about freelance writing!
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Today is day three of the challenge and I managed to accomplish a little. I got the second podcast episode up today, with some strategy for IFTTT automated syndication networks to spread your blog traffic across the web with every single post! Go check out the specific strategy for IFTT and a link to an applet building tutorial, here.
Following the strategy outlined in this post, you will create over 800 backlinks from your blog per year, or, blog daily and increase that to over 5000! just by posting on your blog! That's right, one time set up, and forget the rest.
So, day three didn't go exactly as planned, but we are gaining some momentum, I got over 60 new Twitter followers, and was added to four large lists yesterday, just through sharing this challenge.
So, I need your votes on the Gumroad.com or Payhip.com platforms to sell from. For now, I'm on Gumroad with the podcast, because the platform offers me the ability to add a file for each episode, and you can access the whole archive just by leaving an email to sign up.
In addition to the Twitter followers, we gained a few likes on our Facebook page, which is here. Please take a moment to go like it and comment. Thanks!
So, we are on our way and tomorrow I'll share some blog numbers so far and more on the IFTTT network building !
Following the strategy outlined in this post, you will create over 800 backlinks from your blog per year, or, blog daily and increase that to over 5000! just by posting on your blog! That's right, one time set up, and forget the rest.
So, day three didn't go exactly as planned, but we are gaining some momentum, I got over 60 new Twitter followers, and was added to four large lists yesterday, just through sharing this challenge.
So, I need your votes on the Gumroad.com or Payhip.com platforms to sell from. For now, I'm on Gumroad with the podcast, because the platform offers me the ability to add a file for each episode, and you can access the whole archive just by leaving an email to sign up.
In addition to the Twitter followers, we gained a few likes on our Facebook page, which is here. Please take a moment to go like it and comment. Thanks!
So, we are on our way and tomorrow I'll share some blog numbers so far and more on the IFTTT network building !
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
60 day challenge, day 2 was a success! The first episode of the Indie Pub Academy podcast is up and ready for download here! It was a bit of a learning curve, since I've never produced a podcast before. I do however, have a ton of audio engineering experience from my theater days, so it all came out in the end.
I really wanted to get it up on Youtube
In fact, this was my plan, from the beginning but I had a tough time finding a video editor that would do what I wanted, that I could afford on my zero budget. So, after spending the afternoon dinking around trying to solve this problem, I finally came to the realization that it wasn't a problem and I needed to launch it from one of the platforms I'm considering for the challenge, so, there it is folks, ready for download.
I've set the cost to $0+
As the show progresses, I will probably add a price to access the archive, so get in early and you'll get the premium stuff for free once we get going. If you find the information helpful, or would like to support our quest, please contribute generously, every penny helps.
So, here's what's next
Next on my agenda for the next day or so will be setting up a syndication network for the Indie Pub Academy blog using a tool called IFTTT.com . If you've never hear of it, you should really take a look. Not only is it free, it is the single most powerful automation tool online, and that is no exaggeration.
For our purposes, I'll be setting up some relays to broadcast every post from the Indie Pub Academy blog into several dozen other platforms. I'll set up some repeater blogs, a few bookmarking sites, and some social media automation as well, so don't miss it! You'll learn a lot.
By the way, if you'd like to read one of my books, they are on sale for Christmas! $0+ pricing on all volumes on my Payhip store, so check it out!
If you ever have publishing, or writing questions, please leave me a comment, and don't forget to vote, Gumroad.com or Pahyhip.com for the 60 day challenge platform? Every comment will be entered to win a free membership in Indie Pub Academy when we go premium, so start talking!
I really wanted to get it up on Youtube
In fact, this was my plan, from the beginning but I had a tough time finding a video editor that would do what I wanted, that I could afford on my zero budget. So, after spending the afternoon dinking around trying to solve this problem, I finally came to the realization that it wasn't a problem and I needed to launch it from one of the platforms I'm considering for the challenge, so, there it is folks, ready for download.
I've set the cost to $0+
As the show progresses, I will probably add a price to access the archive, so get in early and you'll get the premium stuff for free once we get going. If you find the information helpful, or would like to support our quest, please contribute generously, every penny helps.
So, here's what's next
Next on my agenda for the next day or so will be setting up a syndication network for the Indie Pub Academy blog using a tool called IFTTT.com . If you've never hear of it, you should really take a look. Not only is it free, it is the single most powerful automation tool online, and that is no exaggeration.
For our purposes, I'll be setting up some relays to broadcast every post from the Indie Pub Academy blog into several dozen other platforms. I'll set up some repeater blogs, a few bookmarking sites, and some social media automation as well, so don't miss it! You'll learn a lot.
By the way, if you'd like to read one of my books, they are on sale for Christmas! $0+ pricing on all volumes on my Payhip store, so check it out!
If you ever have publishing, or writing questions, please leave me a comment, and don't forget to vote, Gumroad.com or Pahyhip.com for the 60 day challenge platform? Every comment will be entered to win a free membership in Indie Pub Academy when we go premium, so start talking!
Monday, December 5, 2016
I'm frustrated. Amazon is a cool site, don't get me wrong, but when it comes to selling books, there are some serious drawbacks and other platforms can help fix them.
For more details of the challenge, my rules, what part you can play, and more, check out my latest post on Indie Pub Academy.
- Low commission, the best you EVER get is 70%, and that's if it sells on Amazon, and it's priced right!
- No analytics, so you have no clue how well your offers are converting, no traffic numbers, equals flying blind.
- No contact information, your buyers are really Amazon's buyers, unless you convert them to a mailing list.
- Changes are complicated, discounts are limited, and giveaways are extremely controlled.
- Payhip.com, instant commissions, earn 90% on every sale, super simple uploading and changes, price changes, give aways, coupons, affiliates and more.
- Gumroad.com commissions paid weekly, more advanced interface, with product selections based on keywords, and a market place where they share your content with shoppers.
For more details of the challenge, my rules, what part you can play, and more, check out my latest post on Indie Pub Academy.
Friday, December 2, 2016
Thursday, December 1, 2016
When it comes to Indie Publishing, you have got to find a
way to stand out from the crowd, really make people pay attention. We live in a
post-consumer age now, and we are really on the edge of developing an almost
entirely attention driven economy, where those that have, get more and those
that have no audience, shrivel up and blow away!
It’s not about talent, or substance, it’s about style. It’s
about making people want to be a part of
something. Involving them in an “experience!” right? So, in book marketing, how
do you achieve that? Well, in my searching recently, I stumbled across this
Indie Pub genius, who calls themselves “Future You” and has put out one book so
far, “A Message From Your Future Self”.
It’s going viral!
The last I checked, the social media tools I use said over 15,000 people had shared or liked it so far, and the number keeps going up. Well, when I
saw it, it was on a friend’s Twitter and I asked her what was in it, but she would not tell me. So, finally, I
broke down and bought it.
Here’s what I
learned!
First, I’m not going to tell you what’s in it, it’s
inspirational, that’s all I’ll say, and it was a really great little read. But,
I’m going to play Future You’s game and go along with it, for now. Why? Because
I like what they’re doing and they are standing out from the crowd with
something unique. There are no sales pitches, nothing to keep this chain going,
just a simple, inspirational book.
They got under my
skin!
I went to bed, and started thinking about it again. I wish I
could show you the order page, but I
didn’t screen capture it, it must have been three in the morning when I broke
down and ordered this book and I’m glad I did. It really did speak to me, but
mostly for the simplicity of the marketing the boldness of the message!
Kudos to Future You!
Well done, whoever you are, and if you get the book, and
find out, don’t tell me. Of course, if it was really my future self sending a
message back, I’ll know eventually, right? LOL
Monday, November 28, 2016
I’ve been working on a series
of training lessons for self-publishing, and as I did, I realized, I know a
lot of writers who have learned a ton of good stuff that could save a lot of
you a lot of time, trouble and money. So, I asked, who would be excited about
writing a lesson or two for people getting started in Indie Publishing? I was
pleasantly surprised when not one person I messaged, came back with a negative
response. Self-publishing is such a big topic, and self-published authors
really get excited about it!
In fact, four of them said, yes, I have time to work with
you on that, and so, Indie Pub
Academy was born! And then I thought, you know, it’s not just writers that
I’ve learned from over the years. So, I messaged my business coach and a couple
of other friends that I thought could contribute some valuable insights and
again, without fail, everyone said, wow, this is a cool idea, and two of them
agreed to help!
So, with seven instructors, and an outline of what we wanted
to teach, we set out to launch a one-of-a-kind
training course for writers just like us! We learned so much of this crap
the hard way. It took me over a year of full time freelance writing to make
back what I spent, in time, hassle and money on learning how to get started. That’s
why I created Indie Pub Academy.
Here’s what we did. We set up a ten week schedule and I donated about
half of my library of books to each student of Indie Pub Academy. We’re sharing
interviews, tips, articles, how-tos, checklists and more. In each lesson you
will find an interview with at least one author on that week’s topic. Then,
they’ll share in written form, in more detail, how they do what they do, with
the students of Indie Pub Academy.
I am so excited about the Indie Pub Academy self-publishing
course. Really. I woke up with the idea in my head weeks ago and have not been
able to sleep for thinking about how many people this could help. It’s being
delivered in 10 lessons, because frankly, if we just sent it all this great
self-publishing training to you at once, you’d never even read it all. I wouldn’t.
So, we broke it down and we take you through the whole self-publishing process,
from finishing and uploading your first book, to establishing a marketing plan
to keep you going.
I wanted to share this here, because many of you have been
very supportive of my work in self-publishing, and I know you’ll want to share
this, and take part! So, we are offering a special price of $50 for the first
100 downloads. Get yours now to get the
special price before it’s gone!
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