Arirang: The Bamboo Connection - 488 pp. FREE ebook 4/27&28

Thanks Shelagh - I think I figured out how to put Arirang: The Bamboo Connection on Amazon.com KDP select with a free two-day promotion April 27 and 28 for the ebook.

Please pass the info to anyone you know. After the promotions and the end of the 90-day KDP select period, I will be pulling Arirang never to be seen again in the 488 page format.

With Korea in the news, this is the perfect time to walk in S. Korea and Asia - and six continents, following the travels and troubles of Melani and those she loves on land and sea.

Well done!

It would not have happened without your kind help, shelagh. Now to see if there are any downloads....that lead to sales of any of my books...

Use the promotion list posted on Kindleboards to help maximise the number of downloads:

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,146105.0/topicseen.html

I joined the board, Shelagh; but did not see a promotion list... did I miss something? I posted that my book was free - but it was not to a promotion list that I know of. Thanks :-)

Click on the link in my post, scroll down to : ULTIMATE MARKETING PLAN! The list is below STEP 3.

Did you promote at all those places? There's not enough time in the day - or night! But Thanks! I found what you meant.

The successful authors do promote round the clock. It's the reason I've stopped writing. I can make sales whenever I promote. No promotion means no sales. Unfortunately, it isn't cost effective. When the initial high of making sales wears off, all that's left is hard work for very little profit. Self-publishers who write in popular genres, Romance, Thrillers, Mystery etc., fare much better and can make enough profit each month to become full time writers. It only accounts for a small percentage of self-published authors, but that is the same for commercially published authors.

Shelagh, I am sorry to hear that you have stopped writing. Yet, I know your feelings as I have experience the same promotion syndrom myself. I am only trying the Arirang promotion because it will soon be removed as a single volume and put back as three -

I've really poured my heart into the magazine writing because it has immediate publication, immediate feedback and immediate financial return, though very small. It makes up for the frustration of larger works.

I started with Publish America so eager and naive. I will continue to write, but my muse has also slipped away from caring about my endeavors and that has made the writing less exciting as well without the continuous encouragement and edit help.

I will continue writing and accepting freelance assignments - I do need the extra income and have learned not to spend so much on advertising that it eats my profits. The "future benefits" of advertising spent now did not materialize.

Your writing is very enjoyable. It's as I always say, many churches have vocalists on Sunday that should be making $millions compared to what does succeed today. Talent is a gift that we may use or not, but there is no guarantees that anyone will care...

You have, however, helped many of us in this forum and those who lurk. Your talent is more than writing...

Seven of the top twenty books in the Kindle store sold January-March, 2013, were self-published:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/56697-going-their-own-way.html

All seven are Romance books. If writers want to make money, writing Romance novels is the easiest way for ardent readers of romantic literature, which I am not.

Shelagh, I thought you were a romantic.

Yeah - I've taken a look at Harlequin...many of the L&L Dreaspell published authors have a second run with Harlequin. I read those books and just don't get it. When I submitted my novel, they complained about not enough dialogue and too much telling - yet every great book with which I am familiar is either written in the first person (forbidden) or philosophizes and worries about issues that concern the reader as well.

I just finished an award winning mystery. A murder occurs. The heroine has connections to both the person murdered and her new boyfriend who might be a suspect. The rest of the book is conversation between the heroine and her lover. By the way, he didn't do it...I struggled to get to the end of the story. Oh- there was also plenty of light sexual context and references to a man who is very attractive.

Abe F. March wrote:

Shelagh, I thought you were a romantic.

No, you didn't!

Did too.

Fifty free downloads so far. Where are the thousands?

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dkchristi wrote:

Fifty free downloads so far. Where are the thousands?

Your current sales rank is: #2,579 Free in Kindle Store. 2,578 free books are placed higher than your book in the Kindle store. At intervals of one, the number of downloads for the #1 book is at least 2,578 + 50 = 2,628. This is not entirely accurate -- sales ranks are based on the number of downloads/hour, but it is safe to assume that the downloads for the top book are in the thousands.

You have made it to two top 100 lists on Amazon UK:

#3,135 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#5 in Kindle Store > Books > Nonfiction > Travel > Asia
#16 in Kindle Store > Books > Nonfiction > Travel > Continental Europe

Thanks for the analysis, Shelagh. I did promote on as many sites as I could get to on and off today. There are about 50 facebook sites I did not promote. Felt redundant.

#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Travel > Asia

Well, it took a lot of layers, but #1 somewhere counts.....even if I haven't made the 100 top free ebooks list - only 88 downloads in the US so far.

If everyone on publishedauthors.org downloaded a free copy, that would help. Read it later....:-)

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #192,728 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#15 in Books > Travel > Caribbean > Dominican Republic
#21 in Books > Travel > Caribbean > Bahamas

This is today, a week after the free book give away. Perhaps it did have an impact on a few follow-up sales. I'll go check KDP reports.