Barbara Gregorich

November 15, 2024

Newsletter #94 — New Sampler Plus Second Edition

 

Fiction Sampler, Second Edition — The sampler idea came to me back in 2018. I published five "sampler" ebooks that year and offered them free on Kindle Select and at 99-cents (lowest price allowed) on Amazon. One of the samplers was titled Fiction Sampler. It contained three chapters from Dirty Proof, three from Sound Proof, and one from She's on First, with a Buy Link after each sample. Readers could click on the link and buy the book they were interested in.

When The F Words was published in 2021 I meant to add it to Fiction Sampler, but never got around to it. Once Exit Velocity was published I knew I had to add both books. If not, the Fiction Sampler would not only be woefully out of date, but, also, it wouldn't do a good job of selling books for me because two important books would be missing.

So a couple of weeks ago I figured something like, "Oh, how hard can this be? I'll just add the sample chapters to the original document, then upload it."

Life is never that easy. The first thing I learned is that KDP no longer accepted the platform I formatted back in 2018. Instead, I had to use a Kindle Platform or ePub. In other words, I had to reformat the manuscript.

Then, I wondered if I should upgrade the cover. This book is, after all, a second edition. My very first second edition! (I've had second printings before, but never second editions.) I decided to keep the old cover because it is of a type with my other Sampler books — but I was itching to use Second Edition, so I slapped those words on the cover. You can find the new Fiction Sampler on Amazon.

Social Justice Fiction Sampler — Even though both Exit Velocity and The F Words were now part of my Fiction Sampler, I felt that they needed to be singled out somehow as examples of social justice novels. So I decided to create a brand new sampler, one featuring only The F Words and Exit Velocity. I put it together in a few days and titled it Social Justice Fiction Sampler. As with my other samplers, I offer it for 99 cents on Amazon, free on five selected days four times a year (five free days out of every ninety). If you would like to send this 99-cent ebook to anybody, you can do so on Amazon. Simply click this link and look for the Buy for Others button, which is usually on the right-hand side of the page.

 Frankfurt Book Festival Results —  I was sorry to learn that no publishers attending the Frankfurt Book Fair requested copies of Exit Velocity. I looked through the list of what books represented by IBPA were requested, and the overwhelming majority of them were nonfiction. I don't regret sending my book to Frankfurt, though, because I wanted to know how it would be received. Now I know, and this will influence future decisions.

BookBub Ads — Speaking of disappointments, I'm disappointed but not surprised in the results of my BookBub ads for Exit Velocity. Only readers in Canada seem interested in the book. (Hooray, Canada!) 

However, even before creating the ads I anticipated that they would not do well based on two factors: (1) my novel is neither Romance nor Fantasy, which are the leading categories of books on BookBub; (2) I will not sell my ebook for 99 cents, which is what BookBub readers seem to judge books by: the cost. (Note: a 99-cent sampler of 80 or 90 pages is one thing. A 400-page novel for 99 cents is another thing altogether.)

This was something I wanted to do, mainly to see if I was wrong in my anticipations, and then, when I was right, to stop the ads and remove BookBub from my list of sites on which to advertise. I do much better with Amazon ads. In January I want to try one more site, BookyCall, and then I will have tested all the sites I planned to test for Exit Velocity.

Windycon 50 Results — Speaking of success (we weren't, but I want to make sure you're paying attention), Windycon 50 was a success: my second-highest sales per capita since I started selling Exit Velocity in June 2024. The conference was well-organized and well-run, and I found the panel discussions interesting, both as a Windycon attendee and as a panelist. 

Before I attended Windycon, I thought my favorite panel to speak on would be "Mittens and Fido Visit Mars," but it turned out that my faves were "Changing Genres" and "Modern Censorship."

The importance of speaking at a conference if one wants to sell books was clearly illustrated to Phil and me by how many people came to our table to buy books after they heard me speak on a panel. I spoke on seven different panels, and after six of the panels people came directly to our table to buy books. Nobody came after the seventh panel, probably because most people had gone home by that time and also because vendors were starting to tear down their booths.

All in all, Windycon was a very good experience.

Videos— In my November 15 blog I talk about how and why I updated my YouTube videos.