[dalya]

(I moved this out from the mega-thread because it must be discussed!)

Hey, did you guys get this in your inbox?
http://www.bookblast.co/

It's from Kindle Fire Department (they forgot to put a URL on the graphics). It made me LOL because it looks like a parody. Book Blast? Who wants to be blasted in the anything with books, much less in the inbox?

ETA: April 17 -- $10 for a bargain 99 cents listing and $25 for freebies. Anyone tried it?

 

[41413]

I got that email. Anyone capable of selling my books can blast me any day. *eyebrow waggle* It's too soon to pass judgment, but I will say that being put on KFD's author mailing list (even with just a couple of mailings a year) has irked me. I did not opt in. And if BookBlast is taking mailing lists from KFD, too, that is of dubious legality.

Otherwise, I like the sound of author partnerships.

But hello, Dalya's new avatar. I am creeping on you now (again). Just so you know.

 

[dalya]

But hello, Dalya's new avatar. I am creeping on you now (again). Just so you know.

RE: Avatar pic - This is evidence I have occasionally worn makeup. It was taken on-set of the worst indie horror film ever made. Analyzing the script for the film, to figure out what was wrong, made me want to learn how to write a story.

ETA: I'd love to set up my own blasting service, but I haven't yet figured out how to get other people to do all the work and then have me profit from the idea. And that would really be the only way to do it.

 

[Hugh Howey]

RE: Avatar pic - This is evidence I have occasionally worn makeup. It was taken on-set of the worst indie horror film ever made. Analyzing the script for the film, to figure out what was wrong, made me want to learn how to write a story.

What movie?! Were you in it? Details, madam! Details!

 

[dalya]

What movie?! Were you in it? Details, madam! Details!

uhhhhh it was a student film.

It's been optioned by Ridley Scott, though. He saw my performance as a devil-monster who sucks the souls of men, and he is going to make a trilogy, but only if I'm attached to star. I'm seriously thinking about it ....

 

[J.R. Thomson]

I've been thinking a good idea would be to have a service kind of like Google alerts.  You pick books that you would LIKE to be free and then if they ever do become free you are sent a free alert email.

 

[dalya]

I've been thinking a good idea would be to have a service kind of like Google alerts. You pick books that you would LIKE to be free and then if they ever do become free you are sent a free alert email.

http://tracker.kindlenationdaily.com

I don't know about an email, but you can track anything you want. Lots of features.

 

[Betsy the Quilter]

I've been thinking a good idea would be to have a service kind of like Google alerts. You pick books that you would LIKE to be free and then if they ever do become free you are sent a free alert email.

EReaderIQ.com has a service that pretty much does this:
http://www.ereaderiq.com/pricewatch/

Betsy

 

[JRTomlin]

(I moved this out from the mega-thread because it must be discussed!)

Hey, did you guys get this in your inbox?

http://www.bookblast.co/

It's from Kindle Fire Department (they forgot to put a URL on the graphics). It made me LOL because it looks like a parody. Book Blast? Who wants to be blasted in the anything with books, much less in the inbox?

I don't understand how anyone in their right mind would want to be blasted with books.

Somebody stop this carousel, because I want off.

I got the email and couldn't decide what I thought about it. I think it is genre specific, which I like. Advertising to people who don't even like my genres is pretty much a waste. But... I'm going to be slow jumping on new advertising this year, so someone else will have to be a guinea pig. The KFD people have always been really nice to work with though, so I have an open mind about it.

 

[WG McCabe]

uhhhhh it was a student film.

That's what they allllll say.

 

[dalya]

And then a couple years later, someone can come along and offer a service that will match authors who will write for food with people that have some table scraps to spare.

That would certainly be an improvement! This future theoretical development cannot come soon enough.

Hey, if it's any consolation, at least we're not indie musicians. At least some of us occasionally get book deals.

 

[MegHarris]

I got this too, and like JRTomlin, my first thought was that the KFD people are really nice, so I wouldn't want to be critical. Still, it doesn't look like the kind of thing I'd be interested in as a reader, so I doubt I'd want to participate. I may wind up changing my mind, though.

 

[Wansit]

I don't get it. Did we get the same email? From my perspective it looks like they're trying to set up Bookbub 2.0 which is fairly successful. They'll just send out emails w/ discount/free books in the readers genre....

 

[JRTomlin]

I got this too, and like JRTomlin, my first thought was that the KFD people are really nice, so I wouldn't want to be critical. Still, it doesn't look like the kind of thing I'd be interested in as a reader, so I doubt I'd want to participate. I may wind up changing my mind, though.

I'm not quite sure. Is it the same sort of thing that Bookbub does? They've been very successful.

I see Wansit just posted basically the same thing.

 

[dalya]

The weird thing about the free books is they're totally free. As in zero cost. You could probably get some hackers working for you, and they'd get some system that downloads 10,000 copies of any specific free book you want, with the touch of one button. I'm sure the only thing preventing this from happening is the fact it wouldn't pay enough to be worth it.

What would you pay to get 10,000 guaranteed downloads on the day of your choice? Not sent to 3k subscribers. Guaranteed downloads.

ETA: This is for theoretical discussion value only. I do not condone teh hackzoring.

 

[dalya]

I got this too, and like JRTomlin, my first thought was that the KFD people are really nice, so I wouldn't want to be critical. Still, it doesn't look like the kind of thing I'd be interested in as a reader, so I doubt I'd want to participate. I may wind up changing my mind, though.

Yes, they are nice. Nice is nice.

I ran a $75 ad in October and got $13 in sales. Who freaking cares about nice.

 

[MegHarris]

I ran a $75 ad in October and got $13 in sales. Who freaking cares about nice.

I did better, but my ad was earlier in the year. A lot of sites tend to lose their impact over a period of time. Maybe they're trying to address that *shrugs*.

 

[dalya]

I did better, but my ad was earlier in the year. A lot of sites tend to lose their impact over a period of time. Maybe they're trying to address that *shrugs*.

It depends on the genre, too. There can be high demand for something as a freebie (the book's in the top 50 on the free list now), but very little demand for it as a paid sale.

And the book in question isn't romance.

There's romance, and then there's everything else. Totes different rules and results, I've found.

 

[Rachel Schurig]

I don't get it. Did we get the same email? From my perspective it looks like they're trying to set up Bookbub 2.0 which is fairly successful. They'll just send out emails w/ discount/free books in the readers genre....

Agreed. I don't see the downside. I've had very good luck with KFD. Adding a book blast email, like Bookbub does, seems to be an effort to keep the site relevant and competitive. I'm all for it. And it's free for authors for a few weeks while they try to build up the list.

Also, I believe they're going to try to keep the emails free of free books; in other words they'll be highlighting discounted books but not free ones. I hope it's successful--it's always good to have options for advertising that aren't dependent on Select/free.

 

[dalya]

I don't get it. Did we get the same email? From my perspective it looks like they're trying to set up Bookbub 2.0 which is fairly successful. They'll just send out emails w/ discount/free books in the readers genre....

It's the name. The name is so awful. Book Blast. NO NO NO NO NoooooOOOooooOOOoodonotwannnnnt.

Compare this to "Pixel of Ink." Okay, it's weird, but at least a pixel is a teeny, tiny thing.

Here are some other bad names for future free ebook paid marketing mailing lists:

- Too Many Books
- So Much Slush
- Find the Diamond in this Rough
- Haystack List
- Buckets of Chowder
- Flaming heaps of Commas
- Every Book Title is in Papyrus Font
- Self-pub Authors Paid to Include Their Books
- Some of These Books Aren't Free After All
- Your Email Inbox is Full
- Your Kindle is Crammed to Capacity and There's Nothing to Read