Tag Archives: kdp select

Calling All Blind Authors

I would be very interested to hear from other blind authors either via comments on this post or, if you prefer by e-mail to drewdog 2060 at Tiscali.co.uk )the address is given in this manner in order to attempt to defeat the scourge of the internet, spammers)! One of the frustrations I’m facing is my inability to independently use the Promotions Manager which forms part of Amazon’s KDP Select Programme. While I can click on most of the links in KDP Select without sighted assistance I can’t operate the Promotions Manager independently. I’ve experienced the same difficulty using both Firefox and Internet Explorer so it is not so far as I can ascertain a browser issue. I’ve contacted Amazon about the issue but they don’t seem to know what is causing the problem. As I say I’d be interested to hear from other blind authors either regarding this or any other matter and, of course anyone else who wishes to comment.

Now You See It, Now You Don’t!

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Yesterday evening I discovered that my collection of short Stories, “The First Time” had disappeared from Amazon for reasons which I will go into in a future post. I’m pleased to be able to announce that it is now back on Amazon and can be found here http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FJGKY7Y (sighs audibly with relief)!

Kevin

Frustrated

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I spent a frustrating half hour or so yesterday evening trying to enrol my collection of short stories, The First Time in KDP Select. My other collections: Sting In The Tail and An Act Of Mercy (together with my short story, Samantha)are all enrolled which provides me with the ability to promote them, free of charge for upto 5 days in any 90 day period. However The First Time just wasn’t playing ball! I’ve emailed Amazon and await their reply. In fact I suspect that I know the answer. The First Time unlike my other books was published using the services of a self-publishing company who, among other activities had responsibility for sending my book to e-book outlets in order that it would appear in their catalogues. I’m drawn to the conclusion that only the self-publishing outfit possess the ability to take action in respect of The First Time which is rather a pain in the neck!

The above highlights the importance of authors understanding what, precisely we are signing when it comes to contracts. Yes I did read the document prior to appending my squashed spider scrawl otherwise known as a signature but the fact that I wouldn’t have full control regarding the distribution of my book never registered. If I use the services of a self-publishing company again I’ll be sure to ensure that I retain the flexibility to send my work to publishers etc.

Book Giveaways

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This month’s KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) newsletter contains a link to a blog post on Create Space which suggests that authors give away free copies of their books in order to raise their profile and build up a loyal following, https://www.createspace.com/en/community/community/resources/blog/2013/06/24/find-advocates-with-free-books?ref=822525&utm_id=6002&cp=70170000000bgWg&ls=Email&sls=KDP_NL. I can see the advantages to such an approach, however the difficulty is that only US-based authors can provide gift copies of their books via Amazon (the facility is not available to UK-based authors such as myself). I would love to be able to give away free copies of my books via Amazon, however, at present my only option is to promote my books free of charge using the KDP Select promotion tool which authors can utilise for a maximum of 5 days in each 3 month period. I sincerely hope that Amazon extends the facility to gift to UK-based authors!

Selling Your Book – A Dose Of Realism

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Selling books isn’t easy unless, that is you are an established author with the support of a publishing house. My short story, Samantha has received 2 4 star reviews, one on amazon.com and the other on amazon.co.uk, however I haven’t sold a single copy. How can that be I hear you ask? Amazon offers a programme called KDP Select. If an author enrols their book in the programme they are entitled to offer their books free for upto 5 days in any 90 day period. Samantha is enrolled in KDP Select and all downloads (and reviews) have been forthcoming during the free promotion of the short story.

I don’t regret having enrolled Samantha in KDP Select (it was instrumental in bringing my story to the attention of over 100 people), however it would be nice to actually sell a few copies.

To anyone starting out as an author I’d certainly recommend considering enrolling your book in KDP Select as it is, in my experience a great way of promoting your work. I would, however add the caveat that using KDP Select doesn’t mean that readers are going to buy your work (they will, almost certainly download it free but free downloads and, hopefully reviews will not, necessarily translate into people parting with cold hard cash. Anyone thinking of using KDP Select should also read the small print and, in particular the stipulation in Amazon’s Terms and Conditions that while enrolled in KDP Select a book may not be offered for sale anywhere other than amazon. Amazon do check so, if you use KDP Select I’d advise that you ensure that your work is only available on Amazon while enrolled in the programme.

To visit my Amazon author page please go to the following link http://www.amazon.co.uk/K.-Morris/e/B00CEECWHY/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Bookshelves

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There is something reassuringly familiar about the presence of much loved books ranged around the room on book shelves. The scent of bees wax perfumes the atmosphere as you sit comfortably ensconced in an armchair. No noise can be heard other than the ticking of a grandfather clock and the periodic sound of pages turning.

On looking at the books displayed on my bookshelves within my KDP Select dashboard I was struck by the somewhat quaint and to me rather lovely reference to bookshelves which conjured up the above vision of a traditional library or perhaps a single bookcase displaying much cherished books. It is good to know that in this age of technology familiar references remain. Everything changes but, somehow remains the same. Oh gosh I am turning into an old fuddy duddy!

to kindle or not to kindle, that is the question

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There is a lot to be said in favour of Amazon from the perspective of authors. KDP Select enables authors to promote their book for free for upto 5 days in any 90 day period (during the recent promotion of my book, Samantha a total of 96 copies where downloaded during the promotion, 3-7 March), a statistic with which I am rather pleased. However there are other aspects of Amazon’s services for authors (in the UK) with which I’d take issue.

On amazon.com there is an option to give Kindle content as a gift. I would dearly like to provide family, friends and readers of my blog with gift copies of my books, however the service does not work in the UK (the country in which I live) so I’m not able to avail myself of this excellent facility.

To my mind authors should be eligible for the same high standard of service irrespective of the country in which they reside. At present those resident in the UK are not obtaining the same services as those living in the USA. I for one hope that Amazon rectifies this situation as a matter of urgency.

Announcement About Samantha By K Morris

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In order to comply with the rules of KDP Select I must remove my book, Samantha from this blog. The KDP Select rules state that while a title is enrolled in the scheme it must be exclusive to KDP Select and in order to continue to benefit from the free promotion days offered I need to remove Samantha.

This is not an easy decision. Looking back at Samantha as it appears on this blog I see many likes and comments. These signs of appreciation encouraged me to keep writing and mean a lot to me. However the rules are the rules so later today my book, Samantha will disappear from newauthoronline.com, It will however continue to be available for purchase in the Kindle store here http://www.amazon.com/Samantha-ebook/dp/B00BL3CNHI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1362209698&sr=1-1&keywords=samantha+k+morris. In addition Samantha will be available free from 3-7 March on Amazon.

Thank you all for your likes and comments.

Kevin