The Behemoth

Next week I shall return to shorter and fluffier posts involving all manner of sugary goods, I promise. But today I'm going to talk about something any writer, published or not, can't avoid: Amazon. Here are a few things I've learned:

1. If you or your publisher is going to run a promotion on Amazon, give yourselves (and Amazon) plenty of time! Prospera uploaded my Kindle file on 15th November, just in case there was an issue with the file, pricing or cover. Everything seemed fine, until a few copies were purchased and the bloody thing still didn't have a sales rank -- after a week (usually it takes anywhere from 30 mins to 24 hours for a rank to appear). Cue much stress, hair pulling, and back and forth with the Amazon team as the date for the Splash grew ever closer. Happily, it did get fixed a few days beforehand, and I was so thankful we'd planned ahead.

2. No one really knows how Amazon calculates the sales rank, but a few copies sold in a short period of time have the ability to move you up the rank faster than those same copies stretched out over a few days, for example. You need to keep selling at that pace, though, to maintain your rank or better it.

3. Clicking on tags relevant to your product help your product come up in searches. The more clicks you have, the more 'relevant' your product appears.

4. Novelrank.com (a third-party website which lets authors see how their novels are selling on Amazon) might be accurate for hard-copy sales, but it's not accurate for e-book sales. When compared with the numbers my publisher forwards me, it's out by a lot.

5. On Kindle, covers matter. A lot of books sell through the 'Others Customers Bought' towards the bottom of the page, where the book covers are displayed as thumbnails. If your title isn't easily readable, it could impact your sales. You may have noticed my cover changed recently... and that's why!

There you have it! Anyone care to add anything?

Have a great weekend!

The Weather Outside

This post is a bit of a mish-mash; quite representative of my head at the moment. Bear with me!

The Take On Amazon Web Splash is tomorrow! I can't quite believe the day is finally here. A massive thank you to everyone taking part and to those who've taken the time to read and review The Hating Game. Fingers crossed!

I'll be on Twitter all day, keeping people up to date on Amazon rankings with the hash tag #TheHatingGame. Along with posting updates, I'll also be serving virtual champagne, chocolate, cupcakes and assorted fizzy drinks for everyone. Pop by on Twitter and say hi! Make sure to use the tag #TheHatingGame so your tweet won't be missed. I'll also be guest posting on Strictly Writing, talking about the importance of social networking (big thanks to Debs Riccio for organising that!).

I want to give Sangu Mandanna a big shout-out today: her novel Woven is going to be published! Head over and say congrats if you get a chance!

And finally, since the UK is covered in a blanket of snow and ice (rare for November), I leave you with this photo taken a few years ago during London's snowstorm. Only in Britain!

Roll on December 1!

On December 1, Help Me Take on Amazon!

Happy Friday all and welcome to anyone dropping by from Karen's!

So...I need your help, blogging buddies (and apologies to any new bloggers dropping by here from Karen's party! Feel free to check out my September contest!).

On December 1, The Hating Game will be released as an e-book, ahead of its UK hard-copy launch in early 2011. I can't wait! I'm excited because anyone, anywhere in the world can buy a copy of the e-book version on Amazon. You don't even need to have a Kindle to read it -- you can download the Kindle software to your computer and read it that way. Plus, it will be very reasonably priced (likely well under a fiver in the US and the UK).

Here's where you come in. It's amazing how few copies it takes to rocket your sales rank on Amazon. Wouldn't it be incredible if people bought copies of The Hating Game ebook -- all on Dec 1 --- and brought it up the charts? If for one brief moment in time (or maybe more), The Hating Game was an Amazon Kindle bestseller?

So on December 1, I'm hoping you can all join me in a Blogsplash to help spread the word. If you sign up, all I ask is that on Dec 1 you post a short paragraph about what I'm trying to accomplish and The Hating Game blurb. I'll send you all the content so you just have to cut and paste! I am aiming to have one thousand bloggers take part (I know, I know -- but it might happen! I'm thinking big!) so anything you can do to spread the word would be FANTASTIC. Please leave a comment with your email or just email me at: talliroland@gmail.com to take part.

UPDATE: AS OF 13/09, I'M NOW UP TO 155 BLOGGERS! See the full list here.

And... of course if you could purchase a copy of the book on December 1, that would be fab as well. The closer together in time the sales are, the higher the book climbs in the ranking. I understand not everyone may be able to so no worries if not! There will be prizes for those who take part in the Blogsplash, there will be more prizes for those who buy, and there will be even more prizes for anyone who writes a review! I should clarify this is just for the ebook launch; the hard-copy launch will be coming in the New Year (you'll be sick of me, I'm sure).

Thank you all for reading this and for all the wonderful help and support you've given me so far! You rock!