[image: Goodreads]Onward with our experimental Goodreads giveaways. Yes, plural.
Here are the questions we raised in the last post:
Story Cartel: A Postscript
[image: Story Cartel]Just had a great phone call with Joe Bunting, one of the founders of Story Cartel.
There was a flaw in my experiment, and it wasn’t until we were chatting that I realized it. Rather than telling you right away, I’ll make it into a long story because that’s what I do.
Last week, Joe emailed his regrets that Story Cartel hadn’t worked out for me, and asked if I’d have time for a phone call to chat about my experiment. As I mentioned in my response, he and Jeff Goins‘ reputations were one reason I opted to try Story Cartel. They’re a couple of guys who genuinely care about other writers and their readers. They’re not about making a quick buck, and that’s driven home by the fact that Joe took the time to ask me some good questions and really listen to the answers.
Big Discovery
Marathon, Not Sprint
[image: Cliff Young] Cliffyoung1983. Via Wikipedia.Immediately after urging Best Beloved to take it slower, consider her health, self-care blah blah blah, I started stressing about the post I’m supposed to write today about my Goodreads giveaway.
Pot. Kettle. Nobody here but us kitchen utensils.
I plan to get back to the Goodreads giveaway education I promised by next week, but today, I’m going to spill a bit about what we’re doing and why I’m taking it slow today.
Years ago, Best Beloved almost died of pancreas problems. Couple years later, she almost died of complications from the previous issues.
For 7 years, her primary symptoms have been fatigue, a lack of stamina. Past 6 – 9 months, it’s been extreme fatigue, general pain, and mental blur. Doctors are looking into everything from fibromyalgia to hepatitis. No reason for excessive concern yet, just do the research, find the source, and then decide what action to take.
Goodreads Giveaway: Gathering the Info
[image: Goodreads]First step to doing a Goodreads giveaway is to upgrade your account so they list you as an author, not just a reader. It’s free. They give directions on the site. (Dear Goodreads: Please have a data specialist organize your site and make things easier to find. Thank you.)
Next, you’ll need to be sure your book is listed at Goodreads. If you just released it, you’ll have to fill out the form and wait patiently for it all to coalesce. They recommend searching for the book first, in case someone else has already added it. I recommend it too, because A Long, Hard Look was already there. (Perhaps Sue added it.)
Now, decisions about the giveaway itself. Here are the questions we’ll have to answer:
Next Experiment: Goodreads Giveaway
[image: Goodreads]Still learning little bits from the Story Cartel experiment: two new 5-star reviews — both from people in my own network, not Story Cartel. And their explanation of the “every download is an entry” is that making folks write a review is the legal equivalent of making them buy something to enter a sweepstakes, which isn’t legal in the US. I make no comment. Yet.
You deserve more of this wild entertainment, watching me flail my way through some forms of marketing I’ve never done. After reading a great article by Catherine Ryan Howard, who does not post nearly often enough Cath are you listening? I’ve chose Goodreads as my next skydive.
Best Beloved and I will research what’s involved in doing a Goodreads giveaway (hopefully in more detail than I “researched” Story Cartel’s process) and report what we do and how it works.
What do you know about Goodreads or giveaways? What would you like to know?
Story Cartel Just Doesn’t Add Up for Me
[image: Story Cartel]Short version: unless greater benefits roll in over time, I didn’t get anything from Story Cartel which I couldn’t have done just as well myself, without spending $25.
Update: maybe it was me —> Read more
Big Ol’ Nonsense Alert
Stop the presses and hold everything. Fellow writer Libi Astaire pointed out a line in the drawing rules I’d missed:
Every reader who downloads a book gets one entry.
They are rewarded for downloading your book, whether or not they have any intent on reading it, any interest whatsoever.
This violates my primary principle of free: it is not a price, it is a strategy.
“Here, download this” is not a strategy.
The founders of Story Cartel are authors. And they may be good at marketing their service. But they have a long way to go to be good at marketing our books for us.
Long version:
Your genre or network may deliver completely different outcomes, so this isn’t a sweeping condemnation of the tool. It does what it claims to do. My book was exposed to a wider audience, and I got reviews. It just didn’t add enough value to offset the cost.
During the experiment, I got two 4-star reviews from Story Cartel readers. In the same time period I got two 4-star reviews plus one 5-star review from my own network.
Some folks responded to my email to the 23 addresses Story Cartel provided. At least a dozen, more than half, didn’t participate in any manner beyond downloading the book. No review, no response to my two emails, nothing.
One old friend tried to download, couldn’t sort it out, and bought a print version instead. There’s a sale which may have been triggered by Story Cartel, but was consummated because he’s been a friend for 20 years. (I offered him a free copy, but he graciously wanted to reward me for my effort.)
New Book Before Summer’s End
Into the Fog, the sequel to my very first mystery Through the Fog, will be ready before the end of summer. Yeah, that’s only 3 weeks away.
Watch for preordering and other info at my personal website.
Story Cartel Home Stretch
[image: Story Cartel]The free downloads closed last week, with a total of 23 copies downloaded.
9 of those happened before I even started promoting it. These are clearly Story Cartel regulars who grabbed the book. One of them left a 4-star review of A Long, Hard Look so that’s super.
During the time it was free 14 more people downloaded it. I recognize 6 of the names from my newsletter or other places.
What’s not clear, or even possible to know without asking, is whether the other 8 downloads were the direct result of our promotion, or just more Story Cartel regulars who would have downloaded anyway.
Publishing Yourself is (One Part of) the Correct Choice (Guest Post by Ed Teja)
In last Friday’s newsletter I stated pretty emphatically that self-publishing was, both artistically and commercially, the right choice. Long-time reader and valued curmudgeon Ed Teja took a different view. He made good points, which he’s allowing me to share here. Please, tell him what you think because we’d both like to know how this resonates with y’all. And Ed, thanks for nudging me to reconsider this topic.)
[image: Ed Teja] Ed TejaWhen Joel presented a case for self-publishing über alle it struck a chord in me, yet simultaneously resonated with my automatic “ain’t necessarily so” response. The problem I have with the idea is that it suggests a fish-or-cut-bait approach, presenting a false dichotomy (as writers we get to use words like that. Enjoy). between self-publishing and everything else. The truth is, it’s worth considering a mix of strategies.
Let me say one thing clearly upfront: You will likely, probably, almost certainly, make more money publishing your own work than by working with any publisher. I’ll even suggest that doing things yourself, you stand a better chance of publishing the book you want, not one someone else thinks it should be.
Now give me a bit of room to swing my arms while I explain why, even if making money is the goal, excluding other options is an over-simplification. … more … “Publishing Yourself is (One Part of) the Correct Choice (Guest Post by Ed Teja)”
Story Cartel Promotion Process Details
[image: Story Cartel]Last week I shared some details about setting up my promotion at Story Cartel. I’d like us all to see what an author gets for a $25 investment (which, if I recall correctly, includes Story Cartel giving copies to the winners of a drawing, meaning the author doesn’t shell out on the back end, only the front end. I’ll confirm this detail for you by the end of this series.)
Today, the details of the promotion itself: the messages we used, how often we used them, and the response we’ve gotten.
The Messages
Here are the messages we used. Twitter has its 140-character limit, so I wrote 3 short ones to fit that, and when I realized one of them was perfect for longer-format networks as well, only wrote 1 more long one. Twitter benefits from more frequent posting, which is why we created more short messages than long. … more … “Story Cartel Promotion Process Details”