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Post by unclegarf on May 6, 2021 1:59:42 GMT -8
Drifta's Quest 2 going through the D2D mill and the pdf version looks good to me. It took about 20 fairly pain free minutes to put the thing through the process. Now what colour Lexus shall I order?
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Post by ChrisLAdams on May 6, 2021 7:13:07 GMT -8
I don't get the zon v smash thing, Chris. Zon wants world domination. Going only with zon will reduce the circulation possibilities... I get what you're saying. The thing is I only get paid sales on Amz. If I received sales evenly across the spectrum (Amz, Smash, B&N, Apple, Kobo, Google) it'd be different. But I don't. I only get action on my freebies on Smash and Smash's affiliates (Apple, B&N, etc) and none whatsoever on Google. On Amazon, people actually spend $$ (or ££, as it were). So, if every single copy of The Hunter and the Sorcerer is sold on Amazon riddle me this: how does it benefit me to have it on 50 other sites where it never--ever--sells? I just can't argue with the data, which is telling me it's a waste of time to have paid titles on any site but Amz for the type of material I write.
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Post by unclegarf on May 6, 2021 12:24:42 GMT -8
Chris. I absolutely get what you are saying. I'm on a whole bunch of sites via smash. Much the same lot with D2D. On smash, Apple do well for me, but only freebies. Smash and Kobo are in the mix. The rest, zilch. beggars the question, does ANYBODY actually buy a book off these other sites? When it comes to the 'Dark realm' of ebooks, Mighty Zon has world domination in mind. If I were to fly solo with Zon, it would have to be with KU. It's the only way to play into their rules. I don't play their games. I gave KU a go, reluctantly, and was glad to ditch it in the end. You may recall one of the longest ever threads on this site following that journey. Anyway. YAHOO!!! A new book is out there. As I type this, D2D is spreading the joy to the world with my latest effort. I know I've been at this since stuff was carved on tablets, the stone version. But I still get a buzz and a huge sense of achievement and relief to get the job done. Birthday weekend in lockdown on my own coming up, drinking too much and ignoring the rest of the world. Perhaps I should settle down and read a new book. Naw! I'd rather write my own.
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Post by ChrisLAdams on May 7, 2021 4:43:41 GMT -8
Chris. I absolutely get what you are saying. I'm on a whole bunch of sites via smash. Much the same lot with D2D. On smash, Apple do well for me, but only freebies. Smash and Kobo are in the mix. The rest, zilch. beggars the question, does ANYBODY actually buy a book off these other sites? When it comes to the 'Dark realm' of ebooks, Mighty Zon has world domination in mind. If I were to fly solo with Zon, it would have to be with KU. It's the only way to play into their rules. I don't play their games. I gave KU a go, reluctantly, and was glad to ditch it in the end. You may recall one of the longest ever threads on this site following that journey. Anyway. YAHOO!!! A new book is out there. As I type this, D2D is spreading the joy to the world with my latest effort. I know I've been at this since stuff was carved on tablets, the stone version. But I still get a buzz and a huge sense of achievement and relief to get the job done. Birthday weekend in lockdown on my own coming up, drinking too much and ignoring the rest of the world. Perhaps I should settle down and read a new book. Naw! I'd rather write my own. I'm stoked to hear that you got this book launched, Gary! I know that feeling you describe. I'm still plugging away at this latest fantasy painting, and also tinkering on an old yarn I started probably 25 years or more ago, the sword and planet story I mentioned. I'm ditching some of the plot which has slowed me down a bit, but hopefully it'll start shaping up soon. Good luck on Drifta 2! <edit> btw I think I'm going to just leave things as-is for now on Smash etc. Doesn't cost me anything to leave them there, although there is more effort required when releasing a new title to have to load it on all of the various sites. It'll be a while before I'm ready to do that again tho.
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Post by unclegarf on May 7, 2021 6:00:37 GMT -8
I put the book with smash for old times sake. It's already on the other sites via D2D so job done. www.smashwords.com/books/view/1083165A good job I eventually remembered to go to the smash channel manager to opt out of the distribution as that would have clashed with the D2D roll out.
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Post by djmills on May 7, 2021 17:17:02 GMT -8
Gary, I love the cover for your latest book. Did you create it? Lovely.
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Post by unclegarf on May 8, 2021 1:01:35 GMT -8
Hi, Thanks for that. Yes. Being a poor starving writer, I can't afford to pay for covers. But I slipped up when publishing on D2D and entered the wrong version. I tried to correct at the time but the version on Zon etc isn't the best one. The best one is on Smash because I put it there myself. Hopefully I can resolve it soon and have contacted D2D about this. I'm getting old is my excuse.
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Post by unclegarf on May 11, 2021 5:16:55 GMT -8
The correct cover is finally being shown on Zon. Out of my hands now. New book is drifting aimlessly through space at the moment with two little adventures already played out by chapter seven. And that's the plan for it. I'll keep shoveling the drama on with a few 'take a deep breath' character development chapters thrown in. Something to do while I'm drinking beer. Cheers.
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Post by unclegarf on May 22, 2021 0:22:16 GMT -8
Decided Drifta's Quest 1 needed a new cover in keeping with D Q 2 which is on smash now. Changes to all other sites are going through D2D but I added it to smash for old times sake. www.smashwords.com/books/view/908371
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Post by jaydax on May 24, 2021 5:17:19 GMT -8
"Hi. Remember me? I just thought I'd pop in to say hi. Hope everyone is ok. Just finished Drifta's Quest 2 which is being head hitted and due out soon. I'm still dodging covid and living in a cave on a remote island with dodgy wifi. " Of course we remember you. At least I think we do .oO(Isn't fuzzy thinking a symptom of Covid-19?) I'll look out for Drifta's Quest 2. .oO(Ah, found it and got it.) Stay in that cave. I and my wife predicted a Covid-19 like virus back in 2007 when we wrote the first version of Immortality Gene. I'm sorry to say it's only a practice for something much nastier. It's inevitable that someone in India will be infected with both Covid-19 and Nipah virus and that will cause a new mutation which spreads like Covid but kills 40% of those infected.
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Post by unclegarf on May 24, 2021 14:06:35 GMT -8
You were the one who bought DQ 2? If so, thanks.
As Del boy used to say, this time next year I'll be rich. It's a long book so crack on with it before the next virus gets you. Not sure it makes much sense without reading DQ1 first. If you've not bought either, no worries. I'm writing a new one (not a DQ book) as something to do until summer eventually kicks in here in UK. I enjoy meeting the new characters and making their lives complicated. Ah, the power!
When it comes to the virus, I've had both doses of vaccine so I feel bullet proof. Hopefully what we have learned from this pandemic will stand us in good stead for later ones.
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Post by unclegarf on May 27, 2021 13:35:51 GMT -8
Dunno about you good folk, but for some strange reason, most of my readers are with Apple. Sadly, 99% freebies. Better that than none, I suppose. There's a long list of so called other retailers but apart from the odd one to a Kobo reader, they might as well not be there. I've loads of great reviews and ratings on the mighty zon, but actual cash sales are negligible. Things took a nose dive on Zon after they started their elite little band of writers, which I reluctantly joined for about a year, only to drop that less than a year later. We have to admire Zon I suppose, for their success and also giving anybody with a story to tell an outlet. I have a love hate relationship with Zon. They picked up the ball that Barnes and Noble dropped. Apple do their best but I always fine it 'clunky' to get around their site and seems stuck in a rut of its own making. I would love to sit down with Apple ebooks and say, "Right you guys. A nice try but maybe if you try this..." But Zon is after world domination. They can't just leave things alone and are compelled to meddle. They hate it if I put a book for free, even if that is what made the Craggy books popular right through to the paid books. Prices on my books on Zon seem to change on a daily basis. They can't help themselves. I've been at this stuff for about 12, 13 years and grateful for the chance to tell my stories to a wide audience for nothing and occasionally, even get some money for it. But with literally millions of ebooks out there, it is really a lottery to make a sale these days. Audio books take it to the next level, but I can't help thinking the new next big thing is about to hit us. Time will tell.
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Post by ChrisLAdams on Jun 2, 2021 6:10:00 GMT -8
Dunno about you good folk, but for some strange reason, most of my readers are with Apple. Sadly, 99% freebies. Better that than none, I suppose. There's a long list of so called other retailers but apart from the odd one to a Kobo reader, they might as well not be there. I've loads of great reviews and ratings on the mighty zon, but actual cash sales are negligible. Things took a nose dive on Zon after they started their elite little band of writers, which I reluctantly joined for about a year, only to drop that less than a year later. We have to admire Zon I suppose, for their success and also giving anybody with a story to tell an outlet. I have a love hate relationship with Zon. They picked up the ball that Barnes and Noble dropped. Apple do their best but I always fine it 'clunky' to get around their site and seems stuck in a rut of its own making. I would love to sit down with Apple ebooks and say, "Right you guys. A nice try but maybe if you try this..." But Zon is after world domination. They can't just leave things alone and are compelled to meddle. They hate it if I put a book for free, even if that is what made the Craggy books popular right through to the paid books. Prices on my books on Zon seem to change on a daily basis. They can't help themselves. I've been at this stuff for about 12, 13 years and grateful for the chance to tell my stories to a wide audience for nothing and occasionally, even get some money for it. But with literally millions of ebooks out there, it is really a lottery to make a sale these days. Audio books take it to the next level, but I can't help thinking the new next big thing is about to hit us. Time will tell. The "next big thing" for me would be some dude who writes movie scripts wanting to do a mini-series or "made for TV" movie based on my stories. Of all the Smashwords affiliates (including Smash itself), Apple is where I see the most action, but that is ONLY on freebies---Apple customers never pay for anything of mine, period. I never (never ever) score a cash sale on Apple. I never score cash sales on Smash, either. Except for a couple of outliers, I've never scored any cash sales at all with my Smash & Co offerings. 99.99% of my cash sales (which are extremely few and far between) come from Amazon. As you said, and it's 100% true, there are billions of offerings on Amazon Books and the chance of a potential reader coming across your titles is slim to NONE. I struggle with how to "push" my books in front of the readers who would possibly be interested in them. They're not geared for everyone, I know that. The type who would most likely enjoy them are those who love the old pulp authors that I love. It is the Conan and Tarzan and Cthulhu stories I loved as a kid that inspired me to write, and my writings are of a similar nature.
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Post by unclegarf on Jul 1, 2021 23:15:19 GMT -8
Had a wee break from things creative, painting and writing. Urgent attention in the garden followed by the Euros football left no time for it. I'll soon be back into the writing with fresh eyes. In the meantime, still getting a steady readership on 'smash' with the titles I left on there for old times sake. But it amazes me how my Davron serial (not series) is continuously read. Years old but still gets interest. There are ten in serial, each about 10k words each. The trick to a serial is that 'cliff edge climax' for each one. It wouldn't work if there was a price on it with only 10 k words each installment but as a feebie it brings me readers. Yes, it could be cobbled together as a couple of books, but I'll leave it as is. So if you have a potential project bubbling away, why not try the serial way? For me I'll be back in harness next week on my new book with renewed vigor and ideas, lubricated by beer.
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Post by ChrisLAdams on Jul 2, 2021 5:21:22 GMT -8
Had a wee break from things creative, painting and writing. Urgent attention in the garden followed by the Euros football left no time for it. I'll soon be back into the writing with fresh eyes. In the meantime, still getting a steady readership on 'smash' with the titles I left on there for old times sake. But it amazes me how my Davron serial (not series) is continuously read. Years old but still gets interest. There are ten in serial, each about 10k words each. The trick to a serial is that 'cliff edge climax' for each one. It wouldn't work if there was a price on it with only 10 k words each installment but as a feebie it brings me readers. Yes, it could be cobbled together as a couple of books, but I'll leave it as is. So if you have a potential project bubbling away, why not try the serial way? For me I'll be back in harness next week on my new book with renewed vigor and ideas, lubricated by beer. The best lube of all! Cheers, Gary. Glad you're getting back in the swing of things. Not much writing for me. I've been busy on this fantasy map. It's a tough one. I've also done a couple more B&W to color conversions that came out decent. Their fun, and kind of therapeutic, maybe. Here's a couple of my most recent ones. Edgar Rice Burroughs and his son, John Coleman Burroughs (who painted many of ERB's book covers, including the one in the image). Natalie Kingston, played Jane in Tarzan the Tiger (1929) Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon!
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