Here are the results of day 1, February 14, for my story "Bride-and-Seek" being free to all kindle users (this includes those who don't have a kindle but do have a kindle app either on an ipad, iphone, or even your computer).
Yesterday was my first freebie day for "Bride-and-Seek". When I got to checking at about 8:15 AM yesterday morning, I had 30 something downloads and was ranked at the bestsellers ranking of #41 in the ghost stories category. Throughout the day, the rankings dropped (good thing) and by 3 PM, I had made it to the #9 bestselling spot in ghost stories. This is really amazing considering I had only had about 135 downloads (USA) since the book went up for free. I hovered at the #9 spot in freebie ghost stories throughout the rest of the evening/night - jumping up to #10 one time and then back to #9 the rest of the time I checked my stats and downloads. At the end of the day, when last checked for me at 11 PM, I was still at #9 bestselling freebie ghost stories but had 237 downloads and picked up 22 from the UK which I didn't really gain those UK downloads until late in the day. So from 3 PM to 11 PM, I picked up roughly 100 downloads but remained at the same spot on the bestsellers top 100 freebie ghost stories list.
This morning, the second day of my freebie promotion, when checked at roughly 8 AM, I had only gained about 30 downloads in the US from the night before up to 272 US downloads, and only 6 UK downloads up to 28, but I also picked up one download from Denmark. This put "Bride-and-Seek" at the #7 bestsellers freebie ghost stories list. And the last check at about 11:15 AM was 277 USA downloads, 37 UK downloads and 1 Denmark downloads, which put back to the #9 spot on the bestsellers list. (the final results will be posted tomorrow night but there will be a short posting at the end of my day tonight to show where I ended up, at least on the east coast time zone when I get to posting it; and my sales and downloads will also be posted in Saturday's posting, This and That).
I'm pleased and disappointed but also have realised that when looking at other's who have reported their kindle downloads during free promotions really have no comparison. One person I know who ran her free days the middle of January posted something like 5,000 downloads but then again, her book is a suspense or mystery or thriller where as mine is a ghostly romance story - way different stories. My other friend who did three days of freebie downloads last week, Faye Tollison, had over 1700 downloads over the course of three days but then again, her book, To Tell The Truth, is a romantic suspense and mine is a ghostly romance story - big difference in genres. I think I'm a little disappointed in the just barely over 300 downloads on my story more than anything but I'm also happy that I'm still in the top 10 (that was my original goal to be there at the end of the two days, not expecting to be there at the end of the first day).
So here is what I'm thinking of doing, even though my story "The Proposal" is doing well on smashwords or has done well on smashwords, I'm thinking of unpublishing it from Nook and smashwords and listing it in the KDP program and run it for free the day before and after and including April 1 - forthree days basically - since it is an April Fools Day story and see how a humorous romance does compared to a ghostly romance.
Do I think the promotion is working? In a way yes, because I did pick up a sale on another story, "The Proposal" in addition to the downloads. Do I think I could have done better, at this point I wish I had done better with the number of downloads, but overall I can't complain as there are folks looking at my books and I'm in the top 10 bestsellers free downloads (at the moment) and that was my ultimate goal. Do I think this program is for everyone? Hard to say right now as I don't have enough experience with the program and I've only seen stats on other stories that aren't even similar to mine, and we all know comparing apples and oranges just doesn't work; other than the similarity that they are both fruits - lol.
If you are thnking of self-pubbing and using the KDP select program to promote your books, I would suggest do it on a trial basis - nothing says you have to sign back up for another 90 days after the original; but if you are doing well enough to take away a good portion of the downloads and the money that is available, then definitely continue in the program. Each author's results will depend on a lot of variances - the type of story they have, the promotion they do, and of course name recognition (I'm still building mine). I think it is helpful being on the top 10 list, if even for a day or two because in the end, it is exposure that we are looking for.
If you have downloaded any of my stories and haven't done so yet, I'd really appreciate it if you did a short review for them. This helps folks in deciding whether or not to spend any money on a story and helps the rankings. I know I won't be in the #1 spot but I can get closer by having reviews. This is very much appreciated by every author. - E :)
Showing posts with label short stories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label short stories. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Republishing short stories
So the other day while I was emailing Heather some information, I got the idea to republish all my previous stories as ebooks. I'm waiting to hear from Heather to see if she can do up some covers for four of my previously published stories so I can get them out there and have a poster, or several posters really, done up before the end of October using the coupon I have for Walmart for a free poster (I believe they measure 16 x 22). I am totally stoked about getting more stories out there.
Stay tuned for more info about The Tulip Kiss (romantic paranormal), Butterfly Halves (a children's fantasy story), The Proposal (an April Fool's Day humorous romance) and Bride-and-Seek (a past lives romance). Maybe I'll have covers for these four stories in October - E :)
Stay tuned for more info about The Tulip Kiss (romantic paranormal), Butterfly Halves (a children's fantasy story), The Proposal (an April Fool's Day humorous romance) and Bride-and-Seek (a past lives romance). Maybe I'll have covers for these four stories in October - E :)
Sunday, December 16, 2007
More on the unofficial good news - stories hopefully will be published soon
I've had contact with Randy's partner, Tom, and so far things are looking up and I've been put "in the pot" for an editor's position that will need to be filled (and yes it pays but those details haven't been worked out yet). So fingers crossed I get this position, plus get my stories published. I have to have a core of 15-20 right now but hopefully by the end of January or February I have all 50 of them and I think I finally have the idea that will work for the stories (thanks to my good friend Batya) - so who knows by the end of January - you may see me in your kids' schools supplementing the social studies curricula.
Anyway - I'm posting another call for submission for the 5-minute mysteries and hopefully some of my readers will submit stories -
Randy O'Kane posted a looking for 5-minute mysteries ont the Short Mystery Fiction Society forum on yahoo. I have had contact with both Randy and his partner, Tom - who works for an educational publisher. This looks to be an excellent opportunity if you can write very short stories - no more than about 4 or so pages (1500 words is probably too much as far as reading time goes)
Anyway if you are interested - here is the information that was posted and remember even though they are looking to use these in the schools, doesn't mean that they have to lack the usual information you need in a mystery.
--- In Shortmystery@yahoogroups.com, "Randy" wrote:
I hope this is an acceptable post on this site. My company is
currently in the process of
launching a new web site which will be utilizing short mysteries in
an educational setting.
We are currently looking to find writers to submit stories for
publication as we need about
200 stories. We are hoping to work with organizations such as yours
to find qualified
authors to submit stories. If there is anything that you can do to
advise and/or assist us,
we would be greatly appreciative. Thank you in advance for your
assistance.
Our submission guidelines:
1. We ALWAYS include the author's name with each and every use of
the story.
2. Only previously unpublished stories can be used.
3. Given that we will be using the short stories both for
electronic and audio purposes, we
will need full copyright.
4. We pay upon the story being scheduled for publication.
5. We pay $50 for each short mystery used.
6. Once we have accepted one of your stories, you are eligible to
upload other work to be
sold on our affiliate site.
Submission guidelines:
1. Stories must be about 1500 words.
2. Stories should be written for the sixth to eighth grade reading level. While stories
outside of this range might be purchased, preference will be given to those that fall within
it. In Microsoft Word, there is the ability to check for grade level prior to submission
3. The story needs to have the main portion of the story which includes at least 5 clues
and at least 3 suspects as well as the solution section.
4. We want to give the authors as much freedom and latitude to be creative as possible in
terms of theme, etc. Note that we will be using these stories in schools so keep that in
mind when dealing with sex, drugs and violence. It is okay to say someone died (that is
the who done it), but no need to get highly graphic unless it is crucial to the story.
5. No red herrings
Randy will be accepting submissions at the above address. The way this system is going to work is by ranking the readers - how soon you solve the mystery based on the clues and info provided in each line so make each word count. I am currently working a different aspect of the mysteries in that I've been wanting to do something sort of like "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?" with each state as the mystery place. So when I get my stories worked up, they won't be murder mysteries but they will be able to supplement the school curricula in social studies and state history information - so I'm gearing my stories to 4th and 5th grade levels.
Hope to see lots of stories from here and the SMFS forum. I think they are going to try to do a new story a day so definitely need lots of stories. Good luck everyone. - see you in the postings - E :)
Anyway - I'm posting another call for submission for the 5-minute mysteries and hopefully some of my readers will submit stories -
Randy O'Kane posted a looking for 5-minute mysteries ont the Short Mystery Fiction Society forum on yahoo. I have had contact with both Randy and his partner, Tom - who works for an educational publisher. This looks to be an excellent opportunity if you can write very short stories - no more than about 4 or so pages (1500 words is probably too much as far as reading time goes)
Anyway if you are interested - here is the information that was posted and remember even though they are looking to use these in the schools, doesn't mean that they have to lack the usual information you need in a mystery.
--- In Shortmystery@yahoogroups.com, "Randy"
I hope this is an acceptable post on this site. My company is
currently in the process of
launching a new web site which will be utilizing short mysteries in
an educational setting.
We are currently looking to find writers to submit stories for
publication as we need about
200 stories. We are hoping to work with organizations such as yours
to find qualified
authors to submit stories. If there is anything that you can do to
advise and/or assist us,
we would be greatly appreciative. Thank you in advance for your
assistance.
Our submission guidelines:
1. We ALWAYS include the author's name with each and every use of
the story.
2. Only previously unpublished stories can be used.
3. Given that we will be using the short stories both for
electronic and audio purposes, we
will need full copyright.
4. We pay upon the story being scheduled for publication.
5. We pay $50 for each short mystery used.
6. Once we have accepted one of your stories, you are eligible to
upload other work to be
sold on our affiliate site.
Submission guidelines:
1. Stories must be about 1500 words.
2. Stories should be written for the sixth to eighth grade reading level. While stories
outside of this range might be purchased, preference will be given to those that fall within
it. In Microsoft Word, there is the ability to check for grade level prior to submission
3. The story needs to have the main portion of the story which includes at least 5 clues
and at least 3 suspects as well as the solution section.
4. We want to give the authors as much freedom and latitude to be creative as possible in
terms of theme, etc. Note that we will be using these stories in schools so keep that in
mind when dealing with sex, drugs and violence. It is okay to say someone died (that is
the who done it), but no need to get highly graphic unless it is crucial to the story.
5. No red herrings
Randy will be accepting submissions at the above address. The way this system is going to work is by ranking the readers - how soon you solve the mystery based on the clues and info provided in each line so make each word count. I am currently working a different aspect of the mysteries in that I've been wanting to do something sort of like "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?" with each state as the mystery place. So when I get my stories worked up, they won't be murder mysteries but they will be able to supplement the school curricula in social studies and state history information - so I'm gearing my stories to 4th and 5th grade levels.
Hope to see lots of stories from here and the SMFS forum. I think they are going to try to do a new story a day so definitely need lots of stories. Good luck everyone. - see you in the postings - E :)
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Mystery Readers/reviewers needed
Below is the information from today's posting under "Masterclass" - This is a relatively new blog and the postings have been really great so far. I would like to encourage all you mystery fans out there to post reviews on the site. Reviewers are wonderful to us authors.
you can see all the postings by going to www.criminalbrief.com - hope to see you all in the postings - E :)
Below, Doug Allyn makes a casual reference to his fifth Edgar nomination. He neglects to mention that he has actually been nominated seven times, more than any other mystery writer in any category, and once walked home with the little porcelain bust of Poe. He arrived on the mystery scene with a bang in 1986, winning the Robert L. Fish Award for Best First Short Story, which despite its name, is an Edgar equivalent. He has also won the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine’s Readers Choice Award more times than any other writer.
THE NOT-SO-SHORT STORY
by Doug Allyn
What a fun site this is going to be. In the premier essay, Ed Hoch posed the question, ‘why do I write short stories?’ and while I agree 100% with Ed’s answers, (the precision of the plot, the intensity of the experience), my own reply would be quite different.
As Samuel L. Jackson says in “Pulp Fiction,” (just after he shoots the kid on the couch) “allow me to retort.”
Here’s a dirty little secret short story writers guard like aces in a game of Texas hold ’em. As an art form, short stories offer more creative freedom than the novel.
Whoa, aren’t there limits? Poe himself said “The short story must involve a single incident which is resolved at a single point in time.” Or words to that effect.
Horse hockey. Here’s the truth: The short story must be…short. If you can’t make your point in fifteen thousand words, you’re either writing a novel or you belong in politics. Aside from the lone limit of length, shorts offer all the splendid possibilities of the novel, plus a few perks.
For example: Jeffery Deaver sometimes employs literary slight of hand in his excellent short fiction. He’ll describe a character with complete accuracy, relying on the reader’s own preconceptions to provide the mystery. His stories supply a double kick when we realize Jeff hasn’t misled us, we’ve tricked ourselves. It’s a gutsy gambit, and while Jeff plays it to perfection, the technique won’t work at novel length, where further descriptions would necessarily destroy the illusion.
Shira Rozan’s exquisite, Edgar-nominated tale, ‘Building,’ illustrates another bonus of the short form; the hero needn’t be likeable. Her brutish narrator tells his tale in savage interior monologues. As a short, the story works brilliantly, but a novel set inside this guy’s head would read like a bad month at Buchenwald.
What about time? Unlike the novel, a short can actually play out in real time, in a single, intense moment, a la Poe. Nor are greater lengths a problem. My personal fave, and a big influence on my own work, is John O’Hara. Best known for epic, socially conscious, (i.e soapy) novels, O’Hara also wrote short stories that trashed every time limit profs tried to drum into my skull in Creative Writing 101.
Some O’Hara tales resolve in minutes, others can take decades to play out, but the payoff is always worth the wait.
In short fiction, style is like a smorgasbord, and in my own work, I’ve pretty much tasted everything on the table. The late, great, Cathleen Jordan (longtime editor of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine) once remarked that there was no such thing as a Doug Allyn story. When you open the envelope, you never know what you’re going to get. Which ain’t necessarily a good thing.
After my fifth Edgar nomination, (and fifth loss) my agent griped that the weirdoes who populate my tales couldn’t win. (My hero that year was an alcoholic undertaker) “Try somebody more mainstream, a cop or a private eye, even a lawyer.”
Perhaps he was right. Or not. When I did win, my hero was a medieval minstrel obsessed with a blind bear. Not exactly mainstream novel material.
I truly believe the most egregious limitations of the short form are those we impose on ourselves. Writers are human. We want people to like our stuff, (with the exception of Joyce Carol Oates, who doesn’t give a damn, and rightly so), but our eagerness to please sometimes tugs us toward safer, oft-traveled pathways.
There’s nothing wrong with using a classic form when it suits the story, but when we restrict ourselves to the familiar, in an attempt to ‘give the readers what they want,’ we risk becoming the equivalent of Golden Oldies radio.
Time and again, our readers have proved their ears are wide open. This year’s Ellery Queen Readers Award winner, was a first time writer with an off-the-wall tale of a college professor driven to outlawry in the Everglades.
Why write short fiction? Because when we trust the readers, our creative options are unlimited. Write it right, and they will come.
-->
Posted in Mystery Masterclass on June 2nd, 2007RSS 2.0 Trackback.
2 comments
June 2nd, 2007 at 5:18 pm, Tom Walsh Says:
Doug Allyn: “What a fun site this is going to be.”
Doug, it’s already fun, but it would be a lot more fun with greater reader participation!
The bloggers, published writers all, are doing their part with great enthusiasm and success. But where is the input from folks who are merely readers?Comments encouraging the bloggers are fine, they’re just not enough. So far, we have only four Instant Reviews, three by published writers and the other by an elderly gent with no authorial ambitions. Why haven’t more, non-writer fans of short form crime fiction been willing to contribute a review?
Wouldn’t it be great if mystery fans were like sports fans who can’t wait to share their strongly held views (positive and negative) about yesterday’s game? The goal of this site is to promote the short mystery story. What better way than to review a story just read? Well, all right, bloggers’ stories should be off limits (for reasons of civility). That still leaves a heck of a lot of stories to discuss. Fans, start typing!
June 2nd, 2007 at 9:49 pm, Elysabeth Eldering Says:
I agree - where are the readers? It seems the same few of us are commenting (not that it is a bad thing) but still we need to promote this blog and need to get more readers in here to do reviews - I would but since I have so many reviews going on right now, it is hard to get more going (unless I can post a review that I’ve posted on other websites here?) - I know that the more we get ourselves out there, the more readers we will attract. Like I’m part of this blog -I’ve just adopted it as one of my own - lol.
I will post on my blog - looking for readers to do book and short mystery story reviews - and I’ll get others to post too - I’ve got several places to post - hopefully that will bring in the readers - E
you can see all the postings by going to www.criminalbrief.com - hope to see you all in the postings - E :)
Below, Doug Allyn makes a casual reference to his fifth Edgar nomination. He neglects to mention that he has actually been nominated seven times, more than any other mystery writer in any category, and once walked home with the little porcelain bust of Poe. He arrived on the mystery scene with a bang in 1986, winning the Robert L. Fish Award for Best First Short Story, which despite its name, is an Edgar equivalent. He has also won the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine’s Readers Choice Award more times than any other writer.
THE NOT-SO-SHORT STORY
by Doug Allyn
What a fun site this is going to be. In the premier essay, Ed Hoch posed the question, ‘why do I write short stories?’ and while I agree 100% with Ed’s answers, (the precision of the plot, the intensity of the experience), my own reply would be quite different.
As Samuel L. Jackson says in “Pulp Fiction,” (just after he shoots the kid on the couch) “allow me to retort.”
Here’s a dirty little secret short story writers guard like aces in a game of Texas hold ’em. As an art form, short stories offer more creative freedom than the novel.
Whoa, aren’t there limits? Poe himself said “The short story must involve a single incident which is resolved at a single point in time.” Or words to that effect.
Horse hockey. Here’s the truth: The short story must be…short. If you can’t make your point in fifteen thousand words, you’re either writing a novel or you belong in politics. Aside from the lone limit of length, shorts offer all the splendid possibilities of the novel, plus a few perks.
For example: Jeffery Deaver sometimes employs literary slight of hand in his excellent short fiction. He’ll describe a character with complete accuracy, relying on the reader’s own preconceptions to provide the mystery. His stories supply a double kick when we realize Jeff hasn’t misled us, we’ve tricked ourselves. It’s a gutsy gambit, and while Jeff plays it to perfection, the technique won’t work at novel length, where further descriptions would necessarily destroy the illusion.
Shira Rozan’s exquisite, Edgar-nominated tale, ‘Building,’ illustrates another bonus of the short form; the hero needn’t be likeable. Her brutish narrator tells his tale in savage interior monologues. As a short, the story works brilliantly, but a novel set inside this guy’s head would read like a bad month at Buchenwald.
What about time? Unlike the novel, a short can actually play out in real time, in a single, intense moment, a la Poe. Nor are greater lengths a problem. My personal fave, and a big influence on my own work, is John O’Hara. Best known for epic, socially conscious, (i.e soapy) novels, O’Hara also wrote short stories that trashed every time limit profs tried to drum into my skull in Creative Writing 101.
Some O’Hara tales resolve in minutes, others can take decades to play out, but the payoff is always worth the wait.
In short fiction, style is like a smorgasbord, and in my own work, I’ve pretty much tasted everything on the table. The late, great, Cathleen Jordan (longtime editor of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine) once remarked that there was no such thing as a Doug Allyn story. When you open the envelope, you never know what you’re going to get. Which ain’t necessarily a good thing.
After my fifth Edgar nomination, (and fifth loss) my agent griped that the weirdoes who populate my tales couldn’t win. (My hero that year was an alcoholic undertaker) “Try somebody more mainstream, a cop or a private eye, even a lawyer.”
Perhaps he was right. Or not. When I did win, my hero was a medieval minstrel obsessed with a blind bear. Not exactly mainstream novel material.
I truly believe the most egregious limitations of the short form are those we impose on ourselves. Writers are human. We want people to like our stuff, (with the exception of Joyce Carol Oates, who doesn’t give a damn, and rightly so), but our eagerness to please sometimes tugs us toward safer, oft-traveled pathways.
There’s nothing wrong with using a classic form when it suits the story, but when we restrict ourselves to the familiar, in an attempt to ‘give the readers what they want,’ we risk becoming the equivalent of Golden Oldies radio.
Time and again, our readers have proved their ears are wide open. This year’s Ellery Queen Readers Award winner, was a first time writer with an off-the-wall tale of a college professor driven to outlawry in the Everglades.
Why write short fiction? Because when we trust the readers, our creative options are unlimited. Write it right, and they will come.
-->
Posted in Mystery Masterclass on June 2nd, 2007RSS 2.0 Trackback.
2 comments
June 2nd, 2007 at 5:18 pm, Tom Walsh Says:
Doug Allyn: “What a fun site this is going to be.”
Doug, it’s already fun, but it would be a lot more fun with greater reader participation!
The bloggers, published writers all, are doing their part with great enthusiasm and success. But where is the input from folks who are merely readers?Comments encouraging the bloggers are fine, they’re just not enough. So far, we have only four Instant Reviews, three by published writers and the other by an elderly gent with no authorial ambitions. Why haven’t more, non-writer fans of short form crime fiction been willing to contribute a review?
Wouldn’t it be great if mystery fans were like sports fans who can’t wait to share their strongly held views (positive and negative) about yesterday’s game? The goal of this site is to promote the short mystery story. What better way than to review a story just read? Well, all right, bloggers’ stories should be off limits (for reasons of civility). That still leaves a heck of a lot of stories to discuss. Fans, start typing!
June 2nd, 2007 at 9:49 pm, Elysabeth Eldering Says:
I agree - where are the readers? It seems the same few of us are commenting (not that it is a bad thing) but still we need to promote this blog and need to get more readers in here to do reviews - I would but since I have so many reviews going on right now, it is hard to get more going (unless I can post a review that I’ve posted on other websites here?) - I know that the more we get ourselves out there, the more readers we will attract. Like I’m part of this blog -I’ve just adopted it as one of my own - lol.
I will post on my blog - looking for readers to do book and short mystery story reviews - and I’ll get others to post too - I’ve got several places to post - hopefully that will bring in the readers - E
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Echelon's New Fast Fiction contest is out
Come on all you short story writers - Echelon has posted it's new Fast Fiction contest and we love contests. You may get published within a week of the notification time or you could write something just as awesome as the winner and receive a contract to be published - which is what happened with my Butterfly Halves story. -
So here are the details -
So here are the details -
Fast and Foreign Fiction Writing Contest
As writers we have a wonderful array of locations to set our fiction in. This month Echelon Press challenges you to step outside your comfortable neighborhood and take us to someplace foreign. We want you to send us your stories of the unique and exotic, the bold and adventurous, the mystical and romantic. Take us far away. We want to read your stories that take place anywhere outside of the United States. For some this may mean where you live, but not where live!
Every author at every level should be committed to keeping their name in front of readers. Are you looking for your first publishing credit? Are you between books? Looking for a way to revive characters from books that have been out for a while? Want to introduce new characters for upcoming books? Looking for a way to build your readership? Have we got a promotional opportunity for you!
Echelon Press would like to publish your "Fast and Foreign" June story. The fast part means you have until June 11, 2007 to submit your story of 3000-6000 words. The winner will be notified by June 12, 2007 and have 5 days to edit/revise the story. Echelon Press will publish your story in its e-book division on June 18, 2007. Simple!
Send your submissions as a Word (doc) attachment to contest@echelonpress.com. Your cover letter should be in the body of an e-mail. Cover letters that do not adhere to professional standards will disqualify the submission from further consideration.
Our only real request is that the setting, anyplace outside of the United States be the catalyst for your story! You pick the genre. Stories must adhere to the following guidelines.
Standard Manuscript format:
File saved in Word format (.doc) or (.rtf)
8 ½ x 11 page
Times New Roman 12pt font/black
1-inch margin on all sides/ 1.5 line spacing
Align text left, do not justify (aligning text both left and right)
Header containing title, author name, and page number
Capital letters at the beginning of sentences and proper nouns
Indent new paragraphs 0.3. Do not add blank line between paragraphs.
Show scene breaks with * * * * centered in the appropriate line.
All cover letters must include:
Name (and pseudonym if applicable)
Mailing address
Phone number
E-mail address (required)
Web address (required)
*Winners under 18 years of age must show parent's permission prior to contract.
Previous Winners:
June 2007 -- Coming Soon!
May 2007 -- No Contest
April 2007 -- No Contest
March 2007 -- Janelle Dakota -- Hear the Wind Blow (Fanciful)
February 2007 -- Yvonne Walus -- Small Price to Pay (Frisky)
January 2007 -- Elysabeth Eldering -- The Tulip Kiss (Frigid)
December 2006 -- Dan Strohschien -- The Naughty List (Festive)
November 2006 -- Jamie Summers -- A True Friend (Fatal)
October 2006 -- C.A. Verstraete -- The Witch Tree (Freaky)
Friday, May 18, 2007
Top rankings for stories on fictionwise.com
I've been asked that since this was good news on the Echelon Authors forum on yahoo - to post the info here.
Fictionwise is a pretty neat place for our short stories and other ebooks. They update their website every Monday and so by chance I was looking through the short stories (I did all, then by individual categories) and then browsed through all the fiction posted there and these were the results I came up with -
For just browsing the short stoies there are 5175 items posted in all the short stories, The Tulip Kiss was 469 (I think that's the right spot or maybe it was 439 - it seems I remember it being in the top 500 - which equates to the top 10%) out of those.
Breaking it down to mainstream (the category that The Tulip Kiss falls in) - there are 154 items listed and The Tulip Kiss was 3rd - that's pretty impressive if I do say so myself.
For the overall fiction category - of 2744 items under the mainstream category, The Tulip Kiss is 56th - again - right up there a good bit.
When I checked Echelon Press's books - I ranked 12th out of 151 items -
Tells me that The Tulip Kiss is selling some but not a lot. I'd like to see sales pick up but not sure how to really market that one story - I've tried several things and am gearing up a display for the Printer's Row in Chicago June 9-10 (Karen will allow us authors to pay a small fee and will set up a display for us to get our stuff advertised). I'm doing up some bookmarks, some tulips with some information (going to be really cute because the tulips will be in little flower pots) and a few other things since by this time my young adult fantasy story, Butterfly Halves, should be out.
I checked out Janelle's rankings and the following is true for her:
For overall fantasy stories - of 1845 items, Hear the Wind Blow ranks 6th - way to go Janelle - keep up the good work
For short stories - overall - no category - of the 5175 items, she is 31st (again this is pretty awesome).
For short stories - fantasy category - 2nd of 506 items (now her story just went up on fictionwise on April 30th, so basically in two weeks she has maintained some high spots on fictionwise)
On Echelon Press's listings of the 151 items, she is ranked #2 - I think she deserves a round of applause for doing such a great job - onl being on fictionwise for 2 weeks and already ranking in top 10 of her category and on our publisher's listing as well.
For everyone who has purchased any story from fictionwise or Echelon Press, please make sure after you read to rate the stories or go to the Echelon site and post a review - with ebooks, I think reviews and covers really do help sales a lot. We appreciate everyone who has already purchased our stories and for those of you haven't, what are you waiting for - they are good, quality short stories (or we wouldn't be published) - so I encourage you all to download a quick read and check back and drop us a note when you have purchased a story and let us know what you think of them - For a $1 - you can't go wrong - see you all in the postings - E :)
Fictionwise is a pretty neat place for our short stories and other ebooks. They update their website every Monday and so by chance I was looking through the short stories (I did all, then by individual categories) and then browsed through all the fiction posted there and these were the results I came up with -
For just browsing the short stoies there are 5175 items posted in all the short stories, The Tulip Kiss was 469 (I think that's the right spot or maybe it was 439 - it seems I remember it being in the top 500 - which equates to the top 10%) out of those.
Breaking it down to mainstream (the category that The Tulip Kiss falls in) - there are 154 items listed and The Tulip Kiss was 3rd - that's pretty impressive if I do say so myself.
For the overall fiction category - of 2744 items under the mainstream category, The Tulip Kiss is 56th - again - right up there a good bit.
When I checked Echelon Press's books - I ranked 12th out of 151 items -
Tells me that The Tulip Kiss is selling some but not a lot. I'd like to see sales pick up but not sure how to really market that one story - I've tried several things and am gearing up a display for the Printer's Row in Chicago June 9-10 (Karen will allow us authors to pay a small fee and will set up a display for us to get our stuff advertised). I'm doing up some bookmarks, some tulips with some information (going to be really cute because the tulips will be in little flower pots) and a few other things since by this time my young adult fantasy story, Butterfly Halves, should be out.
I checked out Janelle's rankings and the following is true for her:
For overall fantasy stories - of 1845 items, Hear the Wind Blow ranks 6th - way to go Janelle - keep up the good work
For short stories - overall - no category - of the 5175 items, she is 31st (again this is pretty awesome).
For short stories - fantasy category - 2nd of 506 items (now her story just went up on fictionwise on April 30th, so basically in two weeks she has maintained some high spots on fictionwise)
On Echelon Press's listings of the 151 items, she is ranked #2 - I think she deserves a round of applause for doing such a great job - onl being on fictionwise for 2 weeks and already ranking in top 10 of her category and on our publisher's listing as well.
For everyone who has purchased any story from fictionwise or Echelon Press, please make sure after you read to rate the stories or go to the Echelon site and post a review - with ebooks, I think reviews and covers really do help sales a lot. We appreciate everyone who has already purchased our stories and for those of you haven't, what are you waiting for - they are good, quality short stories (or we wouldn't be published) - so I encourage you all to download a quick read and check back and drop us a note when you have purchased a story and let us know what you think of them - For a $1 - you can't go wrong - see you all in the postings - E :)
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Fast fiction contest on Echelon
Okay, so today is April Fool's day - and this is not a joke - Echelon Press has posted the next fast fiction contest and the theme - Fast and Foolish - Jane and I had a thought this would be the theme - so write on - it is very fast. You have to submit by April 12, with winner announced on April 14, and story published on April 19; the foolish catalyst has to be a lie or joke (in honor of April Fool's days jokes abounding today).
Short stories are fun and can lead to publication (is how I got my second story submitted to publication - Karen was impressed enough to offer me a contract on the story) - Anyone interested, just check out www.echelonpress.com - scroll down to the bottom of the home page (second block of news) - and you will find all the guidelines needed for the story. Good luck to you all - see you in the postings - E :)
Short stories are fun and can lead to publication (is how I got my second story submitted to publication - Karen was impressed enough to offer me a contract on the story) - Anyone interested, just check out www.echelonpress.com - scroll down to the bottom of the home page (second block of news) - and you will find all the guidelines needed for the story. Good luck to you all - see you in the postings - E :)
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