How to Tame Amazon’s Algorithm to Increase your Sales Rank
If you don’t read Nicholas Rossis’s blog regularly, you are missing out. Nicholas has all sorts of great insights…and this post is one of them. (Ever been frustrated by why your Amazon ranking doesn’t seem to make any sense? Nicholas has the reason why…)
Image: dailyfinance.com
When I launched Honest Fibs the other day, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that with just a couple of dozen sales in a few days, it had reached the phenomenal sales rank of some #40,000.
This got me thinking: how is that even possible? I don’t think any of my older works have performed so well, even when they sell bigger numbers – say during a promo.
Then I came across a great resource, courtesy of The Passive Guy: an educated guess as to how Amazon’s ranking algorithm works, by John Doppler of Self-Publishing Advice. I examine his points here and look at how you can use them to increase your own sales.
Amazon’s Sales Rank
As a closely guarded secret, Amazon’s sales rank remains a perpetual source of confusion and myth. Authors find themselves asking questions like this all the time:
- “Why…
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Are You Exhausted and/or Dealing with #Fatigue? Listen to Your Body #inspiration #health
I think this is an important thing to remember.
Also, be sure to check out Mrs. N’s story “Thirsty for Water” today…it’s free at Amazon. (It’s a very short, but very sweet, YA paranormal. I enjoyed it quite a bit.)
Why I Wrote “Bringer of Chaos: The Origin of Pietas” — a Guest Blog by Kayelle Allen
Folks, do I have a treat for you today!
A few months ago, I edited Kayelle Allen’s BRINGER OF CHAOS: The Origin of Pietas, and couldn’t wait to tell you all about it. Pietas is a strong character, someone who starts out dark, forbidding, and almost impossible to like…but somehow, with Kayelle’s insight, Pietas becomes much more than that. BRINGER OF CHAOS is a science fiction novel of cultural clashes, personal growth, friendship, sacrifice, and much, much more. It’s beautifully written, in some spots deeply moving, and a book I hope everyone will check out right away.
Now, on to Kayelle’s excellent guest blog, already in progress…
When I wrote Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas, I was creating the background and origin story for the most notorious villain in my scifi universe. In a series of books based in the Tarthian Empire, I had gone to great lengths to instill a sense of awe and fear in readers regarding the immortal king. Honestly, Pietas scared me, and I created him! I knew the depth of his cruelty because I’d created him to be the baddie all the other baddies feared. In the universe of those stories, he was known by many names: Impaler, Hammer of God, Marauder, Soul Ripper, Destroyer of Worlds, Slayer of Innocents, Hound of Hell, and more famously, the Bringer of Chaos. To reveal the reason he became such a terrifying person, I needed to delve into his head and get to know him better. *Gulp.*
I mentioned to my friend, author Houston Havens, that I didn’t know how to write an emotionless sociopath. First she laughed, then she took me to passages in my own books and showed me the emotions Pietas had displayed. Houston was right. Pietas was far from emotionless. Sociopath was as far from his reality as moonlight is from sunlight. One is cool and pale; the other hot and vibrant. I was trying to write him as a moon. Pietas was a sun.
Houston suggested that we “interview” him. She and I talk almost every day on Skype, so that was easy. I would “be” Pietas and answer on Skype as him. It would be an exercise in free association, and we would record it so I would have reference. Once we got started, it was surprisingly easy to get into his head. She asked him questions that were simple at first. Then she asked about his father, which made me delve into my own past as a child and parent. Mine was innocent and filled with love. My villainous hero, however, had a different bent.
When I was a child, the parent-child bond set my life on a certain path, and I believe no matter how old I get, I will always be the way I was molded to be from childhood. Pietas is immortal, and apparently, so is his love/hate-mostly-hate relationship with his father. Delving into that in detail will take more than one book. In fact, I’ve gone from wondering how I could possibly write a whole book about Pietas to planning another four.
Pietas now fascinates me. Getting to know this character helped me break past an episode of writer’s block that had lasted seven years. I had written, but was producing only non-fiction (Tarthian Empire Companion) and books about the characters (An Immortal’s Guide to Tarth). With Bringer of Chaos out of the way, I’m back where I belong — in the world of the Tarthian Empire. The galaxy of stories beyond that is, as Pietas would say, “ripe for the plucking.”
About Kayelle Allen
Kayelle Allen is a best selling American author. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary every day folk, role-playing immortal gamers, futuristic covert agents, and warriors who purr.
Homeworld/Blog https://kayelleallen.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/kayelleallen
Facebook https://facebook.com/kayelleallen.author
About the Book
Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas
Author: Kayelle Allen
Publisher: Romance Lives Forever Books
Editor: Barb Caffrey
Heat level: PG13
Genre: YA (older young adult), action adventure, science fiction, space opera, military science fiction, space marine, genetic engineering
Wordcount: 52,492
Pages: 186
Two enemy warriors: one human, one immortal. Different in belief, alike in spirit, marooned together on an alien world.
Imprisoned and in isolation over a year without food or water, the immortal Pietas survives. Though broken in body, his intellect and will are intact, thanks to Six, the special ops warrior who captured him, but kept him sane. The warrior had no hand in his deprivation and, like Pietas, was betrayed by his own kind. When Pietas is abandoned on an alien world with nothing but his honor–and Six–he must find and rejoin other immortal exiles. After centuries of war, Pietas detests humans and kills them on sight, but he is too damaged to continue on his own. Though he despises needing help, he allows Six to nurture and restore him to full strength, and then accompany him. As they cross the planet together on foot, the immortal begins to wonder if he has found his first human friend, or if Six is loyal only because Pietas could keep the others from tearing him to shreds. This human will either be his closest living friend, or the one whose betrayal will trigger all-out vengeance by the most powerful immortal ever born.
Immortal. Warrior. Outcasts. Traitors took everything. Except their honor.
Read the first chapter https://kayelleallen.com/chaos-origin/
Amazon http://amzn.to/1R8DAbb
Amazon print http://amzn.to/1SSmueB
CreateSpace http://bit.ly/boc-origin-csp
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So, now that you’ve read all this, what are you waiting for? Go get Kayelle’s excellent novel right now. You will not regret it.
Amazon Turbocharges Book Marketing – but at what Price
Nicholas Rossis has a great take on Amazon’s new book marketing options…but beware, folks.
As I said to Nicholas at his blog, the big indies I know do not need this service; they are already discovered. And the middling-sized ones who might need it probably can’t afford it, while the struggling indies (I’d put myself in this category) have no way to pay for it whatsoever whether they need it or not. (I’d like to think I don’t, and that I’m growing my audience organically. Maybe that’s a forlorn hope, but that’s my hope.)
Anyway, do go read Nicholas’s insightful post, and see what you think.
———————— Nicholas’s post follows:
The Passive Guy alerted me to a big change in the way Amazon does book marketing. As Amy Collins of The Book Designer reports, starting today, Amazon is expanding its Amazon Marketing Services (AMS…
Source: Amazon Turbocharges Book Marketing – but at what Price
How to Keep Writing when the World Seems Against You
Folks, it’s no secret that the last few weeks for me have been difficult, complex, and frustrating.
In other words, they’ve been a long slog.
How are you supposed to keep writing when the world seems against you? When life circumstances jump up, and impede your work, and derail your progress…how can you keep going anyway?
Today’s blog is about how to get through one of these fallow periods, as a writer. (Or at least what I try to do to keep my head in the game, even when most of the rest of me can’t do much.)
What I try to do, with my writing, is to make prose notes. If nothing else, I usually can write one-sentence ideas, and that allows me to continue making a small amount of progress.
See, every day you have to make a little progress, if you can. It may be tiny. It may even be infinitesimal. But if you make that small amount of progress — even during difficult times — it gives you the confidence to keep trying.
Sometimes, I think creativity is all about confidence. Or at least all about the thought that if you try, if you think hard, if you are able to continue, then you can create with a whole heart.
It’s not easy to find time to write when you’re in the crux of a crisis, mind. But take a few minutes here, a few minutes there — I like using the minutes before going to bed, personally, but my late husband was a morning person; whatever works for you — and keep writing.
In other words…the only way through a long slog is forward.
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As for me? I’m still hanging in there…but I still don’t have a clue where I’ll end up. I’ll keep you posted. (If you want to help me, see this post and act accordingly.)
An Update to the Frustrating Situation, Already in Progress…
Folks, bless you all for caring. I need to say that before anything else.
I am extremely fortunate in my friends, especially in the writing community. I am astonished by the outpouring of love and support in my direction. I appreciate that so much.
Now I need to get into some “weeds,” I’m afraid.
Next Tuesday, the house I live in will be sold. I can do nothing about this. I have tried everything I know to avoid this fate. And it has not worked.
Because much of this story is not mine to tell, I can’t say much more than this.
I don’t know what will happen next Wednesday at all. I’ve never been through this process before. I’ve heard, from a friend who’s been through it, that they usually give you at least thirty days to get out — but as I’ve not been through it, I’m very, very worried about what will happen next. And about what will happen to Trouble, too.
I do have some tentative good news, though. My father has said he will help. I can stay with him temporarily. He may even help me find an apartment, for me to live independently…if he does, that would be wonderful.
And my mother believes she will be able to find a way to keep both Trouble and her dog, Brat, together. If so, that would be a good outcome.
My sister, who is a huge dog lover, has also said she’ll make sure that Trouble and Brat will be fostered in an emergency situation, so they will not go to the pound. (She already has a dog, and is in a subdivision where they do not allow multiple animals.)
I believe my family has the best of intentions. But I remain very worried and extremely upset.
This is not a place I’d ever expected to be. That’s why I decided finally to talk about it, and to tell you I’m in trouble…as much as my family dislikes me saying it, what I’m telling you is my truth.
Because I have caring, deeply concerned friends, they are trying to help in all sorts of ways. I appreciate this, more than I can ever tell you.
One of them, knowing how hard I’ve tried over the years, got so frustrated over this situation that he said my family had “abandoned” me. That isn’t true. They are difficult in their ways, as I am difficult in my ways, and sometimes we don’t mesh well. I love them, they love me, we have some serious disagreements, but they usually will help me when push comes to shove.
Do they have a lot of means to do that with, though? No, they don’t. Which is why I decided to do a Patreon appeal. And it’s why I reopened my GoFundMe account as well.
I don’t want my father to be wholly responsible for what happens to me. He’s in his “golden years.” He should not have to do this.
I don’t want my sister, or my mother, or anyone else in my family to have to give all that they have, just to keep me going.
My family deeply dislikes it that I have “put my troubles on the Internet.” My mother in particular is very angry that my concerned and caring friend said that my family has “abandoned” me, and views the fact that I have these two appeals as somehow deceitful, or at least distasteful.
But I’m telling you the flat truth. I do not know what will happen next Wednesday (the day after the house is sold at auction). And that terrifies me.
If you want to help, you have three ways to do it right now.
First, I have a number of books and stories out there — go to my Amazon page, and also to my late husband Michael’s Amazon page, and pick a story. Everything is $2.99 or less; most are only ninety-nine cents. They are all good reads, and I hope might make you feel better. (That’s why Michael and I wrote these stories. Life is too short for doom and gloom.)
Second, I still have the Patreon appeal going. This is a new way to do something very old-fashioned — support an artist, writer, or other creative type. That’s why I was drawn to it, especially because I can give back a little to those who help (by offering stories, etc.)
Third, I still have the GoFundMe appeal going. This is to give me options, in case I can find a job out-of-state. (No matter what, I will have moving expenses.)
I appreciate anything you can do. Thank you.
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Oh, one more thing:
As I am trying my best to make a better life for myself, I am looking into Americorps VISTA jobs. They don’t care what your age is. They only care about your ability. And I like the idea of public service, along with what I’m already doing with my writing, editing, and occasional music-making.
If I can find one of these jobs, I could be much better off in a few months than I am right now. (Here’s hoping.)
ReLaunched GoFundMe to Help with Moving…
Folks, as you know, I’m going to have to make an emergency move next week. I’ve set up a Patreon account (I’ll have to figure out how to add a button for that here, I suppose), and now I’ve updated my old GoFundMe Account as well and changed the URL so it’s easier to find:
https://www.gofundme.com/barbcaffrey
It is dispiriting to have to do this. But it is also gratifying that so many other writers and friends have stepped up to help me get the word out.
My hope is that I’ll be able to move and then get back to what I do best: Writing. Editing. Playing music. And living life.
Thank you for reading, and for supporting me during this trying time.
New Guest Blog Is Up…and Other Writing Stuff
Folks, before I forget, I wrote a new guest blog for the Opinionated Man (who’s doing some book promotion for me; I like him, and his audience, and so far it seems to be a good situation). It’s called “Why I Wrote the Elfy Duology,” and if you’re interested in more thoughts about why I do what I do (or at least some of what I’ve done), please go take a look at it.
I appreciate getting a chance to write about my favorite characters Bruno and Sarah. I want them to have more adventures. But I have to know that someone out there likes what I’m doing…and wants maybe to see more of it?
That is the hope for all writers, of course. We write our stories because we need to tell them. We hope that others will enjoy what we do, and maybe tell more people — it’s like a nicer version of a pyramid scheme, except everybody wins.
Right now, I’m still stuck in the weeds of CHANGING FACES, trying to figure out how to give Allen and Elaine the happy ending they deserve. As most of you probably know (especially if you’ve been following my blog for any length of time), my book is due soon, and yet there’s something that is eluding me. And when I feel like I can’t get at whatever it is that I need to get at, I’m like anyone else.
In other words, I get frustrated. I think a lot about what I’m doing. I try to write other stories, when possible…but right now, my attention is riveted by CHANGING FACES on the one hand and my Elfyverse on the other as I’ve had a long-simmering situation going on there, too. (I have both a prequel and a sequel set up — the sequel will have to be split into three parts, while the prequel can go as one book.)
What I’d tell anyone else, in this situation, is simple: Relax. Take a breath. Take two. And I’d tell them that the story will come to them.
I know all this. But I’m still having trouble believing it, at the moment.
Anyway, wish me luck with this, will you?
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Also…I intend to talk a little baseball soon, if possible. I’ve had some questions about what Vinny Rottino’s doing (that one’s easy; he’s in AAA for the Chicago White Sox, and is currently on the disabled list, poor man), and about what I think about the Milwaukee Brewers season thus far, and whether or not I think the Chicago Cubs will win it all.
So, look for that in the not-so-distant future, along with a book review or two over at Shiny Book Review (SBR).
Barb Caffrey's Blog 