I have two things buzzing around in my head today (sorry about the bees reference – you are going to have to put up with it right through the blog this week – I am in that kind of mood).
First – my one and only bee joke. “I’ve just been stung by a bee” says one man. “Oh have you?” asked his friend. “Yes I have,” said the first man. “He charged me $30 for a pot of honey.”........... Ok. Ok, I can hear the deafening silence from here! No more jokes... the blog can only get better from here on in...
“Why the constant references to bees?” you ask..... You don’t? Oh well, I am going to tell you anyway. As writers we are wonderfully supportive of each other. We give each other free copies of our books, we write reviews for each other, we guest on each others blogs, we like, friend and follow each other – and this is all wonderful. Please do not get me wrong. I really do think the ‘fraternity’ of authors is wonderful, and extremely supportive.
The problem is we are all spending our time (well, at least I am , and I do not believe I am the only one) engaged in these mutual backslapping exercises that maybe we are losing sight a little of what maybe should be our main objective – finding READERS to buy our books. This is why I am reminded of bees. It seems we are all like bees in a hive – we are trying to sell our honey to our fellow bees and wondering why we are getting few sales. (Yes, alright, I DO know bees do not try to sell honey to each other – you know what I am trying to say, please give me some poetic licence!)
The question is, what other ways can we get at our READERS? I do not have the answer, I merely pose the question. I will give it some thought and I hope to address it in my blog next week - any suggestions will be included and acknowledged. I hope I can open a discussion here – please comment if you have a view –
Right. On to the second topic. Amazon. I am reading everywhere that Amazon has changed the terms of its Affiliate agreement to make it in some way less advantageous to give ebooks away. I have not read the detail of this change yet, so I am shouting my mouth off before understanding all the facts (I am a lawyer after all!) but my knee jerk view may not please some readers.
I really believe that the wholesale giveaway of 95% of independently published books, either on special days or as a permanent offer really does devalue the skill and effort that we put into our work. Any moves which discourages the current deluge of giveaways gets my backing. Again, I would love to hear others views on this, so please let me know how you feel.
The cats are still here, and always will be – just so that I do not take myself to seriously. While you are here, you may like to check out my review of Rags Daniels book, Lallapaloosa, and visit other bits of my website – no charge, make yourself at home. Happy writing until next time.
First – my one and only bee joke. “I’ve just been stung by a bee” says one man. “Oh have you?” asked his friend. “Yes I have,” said the first man. “He charged me $30 for a pot of honey.”........... Ok. Ok, I can hear the deafening silence from here! No more jokes... the blog can only get better from here on in...
“Why the constant references to bees?” you ask..... You don’t? Oh well, I am going to tell you anyway. As writers we are wonderfully supportive of each other. We give each other free copies of our books, we write reviews for each other, we guest on each others blogs, we like, friend and follow each other – and this is all wonderful. Please do not get me wrong. I really do think the ‘fraternity’ of authors is wonderful, and extremely supportive.
The problem is we are all spending our time (well, at least I am , and I do not believe I am the only one) engaged in these mutual backslapping exercises that maybe we are losing sight a little of what maybe should be our main objective – finding READERS to buy our books. This is why I am reminded of bees. It seems we are all like bees in a hive – we are trying to sell our honey to our fellow bees and wondering why we are getting few sales. (Yes, alright, I DO know bees do not try to sell honey to each other – you know what I am trying to say, please give me some poetic licence!)
The question is, what other ways can we get at our READERS? I do not have the answer, I merely pose the question. I will give it some thought and I hope to address it in my blog next week - any suggestions will be included and acknowledged. I hope I can open a discussion here – please comment if you have a view –
Right. On to the second topic. Amazon. I am reading everywhere that Amazon has changed the terms of its Affiliate agreement to make it in some way less advantageous to give ebooks away. I have not read the detail of this change yet, so I am shouting my mouth off before understanding all the facts (I am a lawyer after all!) but my knee jerk view may not please some readers.
I really believe that the wholesale giveaway of 95% of independently published books, either on special days or as a permanent offer really does devalue the skill and effort that we put into our work. Any moves which discourages the current deluge of giveaways gets my backing. Again, I would love to hear others views on this, so please let me know how you feel.
The cats are still here, and always will be – just so that I do not take myself to seriously. While you are here, you may like to check out my review of Rags Daniels book, Lallapaloosa, and visit other bits of my website – no charge, make yourself at home. Happy writing until next time.
PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM.
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