The 99 cent novel/short nonfiction is here to stay.

I love the idea that anyone can write and publish a book; however, the increased volume has put strong downward pressure on ebook prices. My book, The Misadventures of Russell Quigley, is priced at $2.99, and I don't want to go any lower, so I am serializing it into six smaller ebooks for $0.99 each.

Two of these books, Russell Quigley Joins the Navy, and Russell Quigley and the USS Enterprise, are finished and in the Kindle Store.

Should new and unknown authors write short fiction/nonfiction for $0.99 to garner impulse buyers and increase their audiences? I believe the $0.99 ebook is here to stay, and new authors should take advantage of it.

Dave

Hi David,

I would be interested to know how this goes. I'm writing a sequel to a children's novel that is currently free on Amazon. My original intention was to price the book at $2.99. The chapters vary in length between 4,000-5,000 words. There will be eighteen chapters. I could upload the chapters individually or two at a time. Please keep us informed about customers' responses to the $0.99 episodes.

I sold three copies of Russell Quigley and the USS Enterprise the day it was published. I sold ten copies for the month. However, Russell Quigley Joins the Navy has yet to sell a single copy. So, it is kind of hard to tell so far.

I wonder if anyone else is trying it.

Dave

PS: Shelagh, How do you publish a book for free. The Kindle Direct Program would not let me do that.

David, this is a valid and serious question that is being asked by both writers and potential readers.

I have been considering writing a post about a similar and related question, and wondering just how to go about it and where to put it.

After reading your question, I composed my post, and, after thinking about it, decided to post it here.

Shelagh, feel free to move it, or even delete it, if you think that would be best.

Ann

Ann,

I read your article. It was both instructive and thought provoking. You've obviously given it more thought than I had. My book is a collection of 128 sequential short stories and essays that describes a man's life in the Navy. As such, it is virtually divisible any where, so I missed the fact that most works could not be so easily divided.

So, if anyone wants to shoot for the "impulse market," they should plan accordingly from the beginning. Nonfiction is so much easier to write and sell.

Thanks for the insights.

Dave

Part of my reasons for writing it had to do with some comments I've noticed, not only on a couple of my short stories, but on other short works as well, about being disappointed because the download had turned out to be only a "chapter," rather than a full work.

I am currently working on a novel, and had decided, after reading some of the comments on this thread, to take some of the material about the characters that would not be included in the book, write them as short stories, and publish them as free downloads to encourage interest in the characters and setting. They are not chapters from the book, and the incidents are not a part of the book, mostly happening before the book's beginning. There are references to the incidents scattered through the book, but by no means is it necessary to have read one to complete the other.

Overall it seems to be working. There have been several thousand downloads, so I am still hopeful that they will translate into sales for the book itself.

I have browsed some of the comments and questions on the writer's forum at the Kindle site, and have come up with some questions that could maybe be addressed here.

Ebooks don't have a page count, and instead of giving a word count, the information as to the length of a work is given in kilobytes. That can help to give an idea of how long the work is, but a word count would be better, I think. Perhaps, when we write our descriptions, we ought to include the number of words.

I think that some readers are confusing the concepts of chapter or excerpt with a complete short work.

It is, of course, a very new program, and we will all learn more as we go along.

Ann

It is, at times, a frustrating business. You can put in so much effort and see no return. Another time, you whip up a story in a hurry, and it's a hit.

Reading in this new environment is just as frustrating. I am bogged down in a book with mile long paragraphs and no dialog. I know there is a story in it that I want to read, but I doubt that I will be able to finish it. He must have had a lot of friends writing reviews.

At the same time, I was asked for help by 12 year old Kyla, who has finished her first book and is starting on a second. She writes like a dream.

Question: How do you publish for free? I would love to put up some free short stories. I can't think of a better way to advertise.

Shelagh knows the process better than I. I followed her directions, which I believe are posted here, on another, older thread.

Basically, you need to publish them through Smashwords, which will accept them as free; then, once they show up on, say Barnes & Noble as digital books, you can publish them through Kindle (if you haven't already), then go to your book's Amazon page, and you will see a link for letting Amazon know the book is available for less at another site. Click it open and paste the URL from your B&N page, and they will probably, eventually, lower the Kindle price to match.

It took them a week or so to reduce the cost of mine from $.99 to free, but they've been downloaded quite a lot since.

Ann

Thanks much. Nite.

When you publish one of your stories for free, be sure to understand the process of getting them to make it a paid for story again once your promotion is over. I had a lot of success with Fire Fell From Heaven, getting several thousand downloads of it as a free story. But so far, even though I've changed the price, it's still free. And still getting downloaded. I've offered three other stories for free, and so far they haven't responded to those stories at all. So, the process is a bit complicated, and even though it can be done, there needs to be an easier way to get them to add the price back once you want to move on. BTW, you can upload your stories to Smashwords with a free price, wait till they show up at Barnes and Noble for free, and then tell Amazon that you found them for a lower price. Post the link and the amount, and for some of them Amazon will price match, which will make them free on Amazon as well. But at some point in time you're going to want to start selling the stories again (I think) and that's where the problem comes in.

Ann, when you publish with Smashwords, there are a lot of options as to what formats you want them to appear in. Kindle is one of those formats, so once you have them with Smashwords and they make their way through the system, they'll be on Kindle. You don't have to go through the Kindle process at Amazon.

Thanks, E. Don. I didn't know that.

Ann

Ann, I would edit the description of your stories (the edits appear in about 24 hours) and state exactly what type of story is on offer and its length.

Yes, your are right. I will be doing that soon.

Ann

Writing the book is the easy part.

Learning a new way to do anything involves time, effort, and errors before it becomes natural and effective.

It's good to have a place to ask questions and get helpful responses.

Ann