How to Manage a Book Series on Amazon

Ghost Walk and other books my Melissa BowersockBefore now, managing a series (starting a new one, adding or deleting a book, etc.) on Amazon was no easy task. Every time I added a new book to mine, I had to wait the obligatory 72 hours to see if it would automatically update (it never did), then send a message to Amazon to add the book, complete with ASIN of the new book and the web address of my series page. They would respond pretty quickly, telling me the update would take place within another 72 hours, although usually it happened before that. Okay, not a terrible ordeal, but certainly a PITA when I was releasing a new book every 6-8 weeks.

Imagine my surprise when, after my latest request, I got an email from Amazon saying I could update my series page myself! Yea! No more waiting on them. I don’t know why it took them this long to figure this out, but I’m glad they finally did.

Have you written a series? Or have you hesitated to wade into the waters for fear that it would be complicated to market the series on Amazon? Well, wait no more. Now you can do it yourself, have total control, and offer the full package to your loyal readers. Continue reading “How to Manage a Book Series on Amazon”

Paying it Forward Into the New Year

This time last year I was flailing around, trying everything I could think of to find readers for my newly self-published novel. I did the usual Facebook events and .99 cent sales and joined every online group I could find. I was active in Amazon Author Discussion boards, Kindleboards, Yahoo groups, and anywhere else I thought readers might be. The reviews I was receiving on the book were really positive but I couldn’t reach that next level in terms of finding more readers. My background is sales and marketing and I know my way around the internet, but even with all my efforts I couldn’t hit the big numbers that other Indie authors were achieving. In the first six weeks I sold about two hundred books but I knew many of those were friends and family, and other authors who were kind enough to buy it and support me. I was happy to get my work out there but I wanted to find random readers who didn’t know me, and when I checked the Kindleboard monthly listings and saw there were Indie authors selling thousands of ebooks a month I knew that either I had a book that wasn’t going to sell or I was doing something wrong. So, I contacted Robert Bidinotto, and that’s when I learned about “paying it forward”. Continue reading “Paying it Forward Into the New Year”