Free Daily Books sent out a tweet about 3 hours ago mentioning your book. There are a few automated sniffer bots that just scan Amazon all day looking for free books and updating lists.
A couple Amazonie questions
A couple of questions:
So I did a three day free promotion a few weeks ago, notified some blogs just before. It went "eh" but I said, "Hey, five or six hundred people have my book. Cool."
I ran a one day one today without any planning, just to see what would happen. I think it might be going better than the last time. But I figure having some good reviews might have helped this time around.
But my question is, how is anyone even seeing my book? I mean, hasn't Amazon made it more difficult to find them, like no "new free books" link or anything like that? And if I search it, it's so far down I don't think I'd ever get to it. Just curious. Obviously I'm pretty green.
The other question. Does this "free preview" technique I've been seeing bother anybody else. I mean, Amazon offers a free preview on all books, if you want it. So why must authors gum up the free book searches with their free previews (obviously I know why, I just think it's underhanded). It bothers me as a reader too. I downloaded one the other day and my son's like, "Mom, that's a preview," and I was mad. Just my thoughts on it, wondered how others felt.
So I did a three day free promotion a few weeks ago, notified some blogs just before. It went "eh" but I said, "Hey, five or six hundred people have my book. Cool."
I ran a one day one today without any planning, just to see what would happen. I think it might be going better than the last time. But I figure having some good reviews might have helped this time around.
But my question is, how is anyone even seeing my book? I mean, hasn't Amazon made it more difficult to find them, like no "new free books" link or anything like that? And if I search it, it's so far down I don't think I'd ever get to it. Just curious. Obviously I'm pretty green.
The other question. Does this "free preview" technique I've been seeing bother anybody else. I mean, Amazon offers a free preview on all books, if you want it. So why must authors gum up the free book searches with their free previews (obviously I know why, I just think it's underhanded). It bothers me as a reader too. I downloaded one the other day and my son's like, "Mom, that's a preview," and I was mad. Just my thoughts on it, wondered how others felt.
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Cool. That makes sense.
G
I don't know, but something must have clicked because my perma-free novelette Star Wanderers: Outworlder is climbing the ranks right now without anything on my part.
With the way the also-boughts work, I think it's helpful to think of Amazon as an ecosystem, where the connections between books are everything. Thus, when a book that your readers have also read gets a boost, or when readers of a more successful book discover yours, you get a boost as well.
It's almost impossible to see these connections, because there's no way (that I know of, at least) to monitor whose "also boughts" you're listed in. I also think that when you cross a certain threshold, either for your sales or for your sell-through rate, Amazon's algorithms move you up in the ecosystem. But even if your book isn't selling, chances are you're still listed somewhere--just as an "also bought" or "also viewed" on a lesser selling book.
Either way, it's not something I can control, so I try not to worry too much about it.
With the way the also-boughts work, I think it's helpful to think of Amazon as an ecosystem, where the connections between books are everything. Thus, when a book that your readers have also read gets a boost, or when readers of a more successful book discover yours, you get a boost as well.
It's almost impossible to see these connections, because there's no way (that I know of, at least) to monitor whose "also boughts" you're listed in. I also think that when you cross a certain threshold, either for your sales or for your sell-through rate, Amazon's algorithms move you up in the ecosystem. But even if your book isn't selling, chances are you're still listed somewhere--just as an "also bought" or "also viewed" on a lesser selling book.
Either way, it's not something I can control, so I try not to worry too much about it.
Yeah, sites like these that sniff and automatically list new free books are a good way for dedicated freebie-hunters to find books, including yours. It's true that it's hard for people to find your book on Amazon itself when it goes free. That's why promoting your giveaway well ahead of time is so helpful.SBJones said:Free Daily Books sent out a tweet about 3 hours ago mentioning your book. There are a few automated sniffer bots that just scan Amazon all day looking for free books and updating lists.
I actually wasn't away that authors were making partial books available for free as separate "previews" of paid books (am I understanding that correctly?). You know, I doubt it will have much impact. There are more than 50K free books on Amazon most days, I think. It's already an ocean of free.
That's right Becca. I saw several listed like that. I just think it kindof mucks things up, for me as a reader as well. If I'm browsing for free books, I don't like seeing something that looks cool only to realize it's a partial book.
G
Actually, I hadn't looked recently but isn't that a TOS violation? Books are suppose to be "complete" products and not just samples or partial products. I would think that if you find something like that, you could report it to Amazon and let them look into it. I doubt they want their system clogged up like that as well.Jessica R said:The other question. Does this "free preview" technique I've been seeing bother anybody else. I mean, Amazon offers a free preview on all books, if you want it. So why must authors gum up the free book searches with their free previews (obviously I know why, I just think it's underhanded). It bothers me as a reader too. I downloaded one the other day and my son's like, "Mom, that's a preview," and I was mad. Just my thoughts on it, wondered how others felt.
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