Amazon | Self-Publishing Review

The Best Day to Discount a Book

Book Gorilla, an alternative to BookBub, who are actually pretty cynical about self-publishers (“We’re as tired as you are of emails stuffed with books by authors we’ve never heard of. Ho hum, who needs them?”), nonetheless has some very interesting statistics about when to discount a book.

Average Estimated Daily Open Rates

Monday – 48.21%

Tuesday – 47.56%

Wednesday – 48.01%

Thursday – 47.79%

Friday – 47.54%

Saturday – 47.12%

Sunday – 47.65%

But that’s not the end of the story. Although slightly fewer subscribers open their BookGorilla alerts on weekends, those that do open them are more

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Henry Baum2020-02-21T04:35:10+02:00May 12th, 2014|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon, Newsletter Campaign|

Blurb to Distribute to Amazon

BGood news for photographers. Before, Blurb was more of a boutique press – you’d have to send customers to Blurb to purchase a book. Less like publishing, and more like gift-making. Now Blurb is opening it up to self-publish photo books on Amazon, no matter how many copies are sold. Photo books are so expensive to print with a big print run – not to mention distribute – that this will open up self-publishing’s possibilities to a new crop of creators.

Via the Telegraph:

Although Amazon has sold self-published books before, this is the first time that the retailer

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Henry Baum2014-04-22T18:56:08+02:00April 22nd, 2014|Categories: News|Tags: Amazon|

Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Review

Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) has established itself as the single most recognisable DIY self-publishing platform for authors wanting to publish their books in e-book. Amazon launched Kindle Direct Publishing back in 2007 in beta form and pitched it initially to ‘publishers’ via marketing emails. Amazon had also just launched the first Kindle e-reader hardware—a basic e-ink, black and white text device.

It was clear even back then Amazon saw the Kindle experience as both a facilitator for readers and author/publishers. Since 2007, the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform is available to authors in many countries including USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, […]

Mick Rooney2020-02-21T04:33:24+02:00April 18th, 2014|Categories: Publisher Reviews|Tags: Amazon|

SPR Podcast With Best-Selling Author Kate Danley

Kate Danley’s debut novel, The Woodcutter, was honored with the Garcia Award for the Best Fiction Book of the Year, the 1st Place Fantasy Book in the Reader Views Literary Awards, and the winner of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy category in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Recently, it was signed with 47North. In this, the first of a series of podcasts with best-selling authors, SPR’s editor Cate Baum catches up with Kate in this podcast on her top tips for winning on Amazon and how she was able to become a full-time author via self-publishing.

www.katedanley.com
Kate Danley on Amazon
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Cate Baum2013-12-28T12:02:13+02:00November 1st, 2013|Categories: Interviews|Tags: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Marketing, Book Promotion|

With Goodreads, Amazon Fills Out an Advice Portfolio

Further comment on the Amazon – Goodreads marriage is emerging. This interesting take from Harvard Business Review by Paul Nunes and Josh Bellin discusses the holy grail for book marketing: Unique consumer comment.

Amazon.com announced last week that it would purchase Goodreads, a social network for bookworms. As the “world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations,” Goodreads can help make Amazon the definitive place to go for book-related information. But does Amazon really need that help? The company is already the biggest provider of book advice, with its top-secret personalized recommendation algorithms, trusted user reviews, and inside-the-cover previews.

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Cate Baum2014-01-30T18:07:38+02:00April 2nd, 2013|Categories: Member Blog|Tags: Amazon, Goodreads|

What Amazon’s Acquistion Of Goodreads Means For Self-Publishers

So what does the news that Amazon is to acquire Goodreads actually mean for us self-publishers? Most of us relish Goodreads, and actively star each other’s work, as Goodreads proves to be a more successful platform for honest consumer review than Amazon in some ways – less glitchy than the strange process used by Amazon’s over-zealous non-bookish reviewers in that it tends to attract real bookworms with literary brains.

With 16 million members, it’s no wonder Amazon was grappling for control. So will Amazon complete its domination of everything book?

My worry would be that Goodreads up to now, has […]

Cate Baum2013-11-04T18:21:52+02:00March 30th, 2013|Categories: Lead Story|Tags: Amazon, Goodreads|

Amazon Buys Goodreads

This puts Amazon in an even stronger position to control which books get read and which ones languish. We’ll have to wait and see if Amazon starts deleting bookstore links, thus reducing options for both readers and authors. In any case, the 500 pound gorilla that is Amazon just got considerably bigger.

Amazon.com announced on Thursday that it would acquire Goodreads, a social networking site for readers and book recommendations. With 16 million members and 23 million book reviews on the site, Goodreads is hub for avid readers and one of the leading sites where publishers promote

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Avery Hurt2013-03-28T15:05:47+02:00March 28th, 2013|Categories: News|Tags: Amazon, Goodreads|

Why One-Star Reviews Matter

The most trusted form of criticism for consumers on the internet is now the consumer review. Hailed as SEO gold by Google, these reviews are popping up all over the joint due to rich snippets, which I will explain in my next post in more detail.

In fact, 63% of consumers now buy products not based on the review, but on the rating. Which is scary news for us self-publishers.

However, I am thinking Amazon, Google, Goodreads, Kindleboards and all the rest of them need to be reviewing their reviewers. With one-star reviews being added to books due to […]