One of
the hardest parts about being a published author in the 21st century is getting
found by readers. While traditionally published authors do have the advantage
of *hopefully* being on bookstore shelves for their first eight weeks, e-pubbed
authors and self-pubbed authors have an uphill battle from Day One.
There are
ten million books on Amazon ~ and that means one million total authors is
probably a conservative estimate. My overall author ranking
hovers between 20,000 and 30,000. That doesn't sound impressive until you do
the math: I'm in the top 2-3% of all authors on Amazon.
I know
how many books I sell. While I'm not satisfied, I am still climbing the
mountain of success. Along the path, I need to find ways both to expose myself
to new readers, and thank my loyal fans.
The best
way to find new readers, in my opinion, is to give special and limited opportunities
for readers to try me. One thing I have done, is lower the prices of my
self-pubbed books until midnight on the Monday after I am at big events. I
print postcards with the titles, prices, and deadlines, and give them out to
readers who don't purchase AT the event.
I always
see a bump in numbers after my appearances ~ and have found new fans as a
result.
(Here
comes the FIRST good deal!)
Boxed
sets are big on Kindle right now, so I decided to jump on the trend and created
a boxed set of my own. In "Hansens in America" I combined a father, son, and grandson's stories into one
set, and priced the five books (and 500,000-ish words) at just $9.99.
This
special "holiday" price will only be available until midnight on
December 31st. I'm hoping my fans will spread the word, and that this
encourages new readers to give me a try! My books normally sell for $5.99, so
this truly is a smokin' deal.
(Here
comes the SECOND good deal!)
For my
fans, I wrote a novella called "In the Norseman's House" tying together the two novels which I set in
Scotland: Loving the Norseman and Loving the Knight. I wrote
those books to woo the Big Six publishers, but never wrote the connected story
which rounds them off. Now that they are self-pubbed, I decided to write the connecting
novella and give it away for free.
Anyone
who takes a photo of themselves in a public place holding a sign that says,
"Norway is the new Scotland! KrisTualla.com" and emails me the photo
(Kris@KrisTualla.com) will receive a signed, limited edition, print copy of the
novella. Eventually the novella will be available to the world, but not until
my fans have a chance to get a free copy for themselves.
The
bottom line is, I still need to be found. And I think the best way for me to do
that, is to reward anyone who is paying attention!
So: Happy
holidays to YOU ~ with love, from me. I hope you'll enjoy the gifts.
And
spread the word.
Kris ;)
