Filed under: Amazon, Failure, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: Amazon, direct publishing, jim downey, Kindle, literature, Science Fiction, writing
So, as mentioned early last week, I planned on doing a “make-up” free-Kindle-edition promotion on April 12, in recognition of this first paragraph of Communion of Dreams:
He could see four or five thousand buffalo, one of the small herds. They stretched out in a long line below him, wide enough to fill the shallow valley along this side of the river, coming partway up the sides of the hill, not fifty meters from where he stood. The sky was its perpetual blue-grey, as clear as it ever got at this latitude, though the sun was almost bright. Late winter snow, churned into a dull brown mass by the buffalo where they trekked along the valley floor, nonetheless glinted along the tops of the hills. Weather forecasts said more snow was coming. It was Friday, April 12.
Well, as of noon today, it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. But this time, it’s not my fault – I did the requisite hoop-jumping to get Amazon to provide my promised “make-up” day. But you know how it is with corporate bureaucracies – my submission seems to have been lost somewhere in the dreaded depths of customer service. I even sent a follow up two days ago, asking about the status of the submission, and was promised a response within 48 hours. You can quess how that turned out.
So, from what I can tell, tomorrow will not be a “free-Kindle-edition promotion”. Sorry about that. Here in a couple of weeks the calender will start anew for my participation in the KDP Select program, and I’ll have more promotional days available. And I’ll schedule one right away.
In the meantime, do feel free to continue to tell others about the book, or to get your own copy. I’ve sold almost 100 so far this month – YAY! And the feedback has continued to be very positive, though some more positive reviews would be very welcome so the most recent thing isn’t the fellow who found it “A bit too Insubstantial for me.”
Stay tuned!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Astronomy, Book Conservation, Connections, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, NASA, Promotion, Publishing, Science, Science Fiction, Space | Tags: Amazon, direct publishing, jim downey, Kindle, NASA, science, Science Fiction, space, technology, writing
Two items.
One: Yesterday’s post was the most popular thing I’ve written here in years. Actually, I think it might be the second-best ever. Go figure.
(Well, three. I should mention this other item.)
Two: Possibly related, though things were doing quite well even before yesterday’s post – so far this month we’ve sold almost 50 copies (mostly Kindle) of Communion of Dreams. Thanks, everyone!
(No, make that four. Damn, forgot about this one.)
Three: Got another review. And it serves as a nice counterpoint to all those who enjoyed the book.
(Finally.)
And lastly, which I intended to be my second point all along: this very cool site showing relative scale of our solar system. I’ve seen this attempted a number of times and different ways online, but this is the best I’ve come across yet:
OMG SPACE is the thesis project of Margot Trudell, an OCAD student studying graphic design in Toronto, Canada. This website aims to illustrate the scale and the grandeur of our solar system, as well as illustrate through the use of infographics our work in the exploration of our solar system with various spacecraft.
And now I need to turn my attention to some book conservation work I want to wrap up. Cheers!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Book Conservation, Depression, Health, Kindle, Marketing, Music, New Zealand, Promotion, Publishing, Writing stuff | Tags: Amazon, depression, direct publishing, jim downey, Kindle, money, music, taxes, travel, writing
This is . . . difficult.
Difficult because it is hard to see myself this way. Difficult because it is largely taboo in our culture. Difficult because I’m still struggling with it. Difficult because reality sometimes comes as a shock.
Last year was a hard year for me, as I said earlier:
Because 2011, while it had some good things about it, was mostly just painful. Literally. In many regards, I’d just as soon forget the bulk of it.
But I hadn’t quite realized just how hard it was until confronted with some numbers yesterday. Those numbers were on our tax returns, collected from the accountant.
Yeah, like I said, taboo. You’re not supposed to talk about income in our culture, at least within certain limits. I won’t stray too far over the line, but I will say that there was a reason that I was feeling frustrated and angry last year about the response to my writing efforts. That reason amounted to having an income so low that after deductions, we owed *no* taxes to either the state or federal government in the final analysis. Well, we had to pay the ‘self-employment’ tax, but that’s it.
Do you know how little you have to make in order to not pay any income tax? Well, trust me, if you don’t, you don’t want to, at least not by direct experience.
It was due to a combination of things. The recession had squeezed my book conservation business all along, limiting the money people had for something so discretionary, but last year was the worst. And the pain from my intercostal tear was very limiting until very recently. And I sunk way too much time and energy into getting Her Final Year ready for publication and then trying to promote it. Yes, I accept my own culpability for this, and I am not trying to blame or shame anyone else.
Which is why it is difficult to talk about. But facing the hard, cold reality helps me to understand some things. About my self. About my motivations and behavior over the last year or so.
Obviously, I got through the last year OK, thanks to a variety of resources I had. Hell, I was able to travel to New Zealand (a commitment made when things were more flush). And I’m happy to say that so far this year things are looking up. My book conservation work has picked up. My intercostal tear is *slowly* getting better.
And I’m actually selling books. Not too many of Her Final Year yet, but a decent start with Communion of Dreams.
Thanks to all who have helped to change the dynamic. Seriously, just knowing that people find the books worthwhile – that they are willing to tell others about them, write reviews, et cetera, makes a huge difference. I very much appreciate it.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Connections, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, tech | Tags: Amazon, direct publishing, Kindle, literature, Science Fiction, technology, travel, TV Tropes, writing
Some miscellaneous bits this morning…
Since the close of the Kindle edition promotion on Saturday, about two dozen people have actually purchased a copy of Communion of Dreams in one form or another. Yay! Keep it up, people!
Oh, no! – TV Tropes Warning – while doing some ego-surfing this morning (actually, I’m still trying to get a handle on what promotional efforts work, what don’t) I found that CoD is the first listing under the ‘Literature’ sub-heading of the TV Tropes entry on First Contact Team. I always get sucked into TV Tropes, because it is such a good tool for exploring modern literature in all its various and sundry forms, and it is cool to be included in it. Thanks to whomever added Communion of Dreams to the entry! (Any chance of getting a direct link to the CoD homepage?)
As you all know, I screwed up and wasn’t able to extend the promotion to yesterday. However, there’s another day coming soon which is also important in the novel: April 12. From the very first paragraph of the book:
He could see four or five thousand buffalo, one of the small herds. They stretched out in a long line below him, wide enough to fill the shallow valley along this side of the river, coming partway up the sides of the hill, not fifty meters from where he stood. The sky was its perpetual blue-grey, as clear as it ever got at this latitude, though the sun was almost bright. Late winter snow, churned into a dull brown mass by the buffalo where they trekked along the valley floor, nonetheless glinted along the tops of the hills. Weather forecasts said more snow was coming. It was Friday, April 12.
Hmm…let’s see if I can get my act together for that date. Stay tuned.
Lastly, there are some new reviews up on the Amazon page for Communion, and I’d invite you to check them out, rate them if you find them useful. As I said yesterday, reviews seem to really make a difference – if you’ve read the book, please consider writing your own review. Thanks!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: blogging, direct publishing, jim downey, literature, suspenseful novel, technology, writing
So, as noted previously, forty years from today is the actual day which Darnell Sidwell finds the ‘artifact’ on Titan. I won’t say more in case of, well, spoilers.
Anyway, as I said, I had intended on having the Kindle promotion extend into today, but managed to screw that up. Since Amazon hasn’t gotten around to activating the additional promotion day, I’ll just have to pick a date here later this month to do so.
But that’s OK – yesterday’s promotion was actually quite good. It was slow going until one of the big “free ebook” sites posted about Communion of Dreams being free, and then things took off quite nicely. In the end, there were a total of 1,777 downloads of the book putting Communion at #1 in the “High Tech SF” category of the free Kindle store for much of the late evening. Yay!
And altogether, that means that there were 7,067 people who got the book in one form or another in all of March. Add in the 111 already in April (the difference between the accounting and scheduling branches of Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing – though there have been 4 actual sales of the book this morning already), plus the sales in the first six weeks of the book being available, and that puts us well over 8,000 total copies of the book distributed. As I’ve said previously:
And again I would like to thank everyone who has helped to make this a reality. And in particular I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to let me know they’ve enjoyed the book, or have gone and written a review on Amazon. That is both rewarding and very helpful.
And speaking of which, if you *have* read the book, please do take a few minutes to review it on Amazon. It seems to make a huge difference – I’ve seen several people comment elsewhere that they decided to take a chance on the book because of the reviews. Likewise, rate the other reviews, or ‘Like’ the book – that also seems to make a substantial difference.
Lastly, just a note – you can ‘Like’ the Facebook page and follow me on Twitter. Now that the book is somewhat unsteadily standing on its own feet I plan on cutting back on the promotional efforts on my regular Facebook account. I will keep posting info here, but mostly I intend to focus communication about upcoming events on those other outlets specific to the book.
Thanks again, one and all – and Happy Artifact Day!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Failure, Humor, Kindle, Marketing, Predictions, Preparedness, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, tech | Tags: jim downey
As noted, Sunday is the actual 40th ‘pre-anniversary’ of the discovery of the artifact on Titan. And as noted in that blog post, I had intended on having a free Kindle edition promotion all day to celebrate that, but had also decided to add in tomorrow just in case someone thought that the Sunday listing might be some kind of April Fool’s prank.
Well, it looks like the joke is on me. Or I’m the Fool. Take your pick.
See, because of some glitches in the Amazon scheduling system back on March 4 when last I did a promotion, Amazon decided to give me an additional promotion day (you get 5 such days during each quarter you’re signed up with KDP Select). That’s cool – so I intended to use it this weekend.
Except I screwed up and didn’t note that said additional promotion day needed to go through Amazon’s bureaucracy, rather than just being scheduled directly by yours truly. Oops.
So I have contacted said bureaucracy, and submitted said request. But whether they’ll get it in place by Sunday is an open question.
So let’s just assume that tomorrow may be the only day this weekend for you to get your free copy of the book, and plan accordingly. Should Amazon get the extra day in place, I’ll let people know. But for now, help to share news of Communion of Dreams being *FREE* all day tomorrow! And remember, you don’t even need to own a Kindle to get your copy: there is a Kindle emulator available for just about any computer/tablet/mobile device – ALSO for FREE!
This was my screw-up. And I’ll make it up with another free weekend sometime in the next quarter. But for now, spread the word that Communion of Dreams is going to be free all day tomorrow (and maybe Sunday!) We had over 5,000 downloads last time – and I keep hearing that people really love the book – so let’s make the world a little better for others who would enjoy it!
Thanks.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Connections, Guns, Predictions, Publishing, Religion, Science Fiction, Society, Space, Writing stuff
For whatever reason, recently I’ve had an interest in pickled eggs.
* * * * * * *
Bits & pieces:
“It is late, and things are not getting better.”
“A gun don’t make you bulletproof.”
“Tribal groups who all have their chieftains.”
* * * * * * *
I’ve had false starts, and false hope, before. In some ways, “false hope” is something of a summary of my life.
Anyway, I’ve been doing a *lot* of thinking about the prequel to Communion of Dreams, titled St. Cybi’s Well. I think this is the fourth of fifth time that I’ve started writing it. Before I’ve gotten as far as a chapter or two, outlines for more of the book. Or sometimes just making notes.
This time? We’ll see. At least some people are asking about it after reading Communion. That helps.
* * * * * * *
Yeah, bits & pieces. But none of those . . . fragments . . . necessarily means what it might seem. As I work through a story, I get these summations, these insights into something a character might think or do. I’ve been thinking a lot about Darnell Sidwell, who is the main character of St. Cybi’s Well. That much I’ve known all along.
And thinking about Darnell is risky. Why? Because he and I are tied together in some ways. Well, more than just occupying too much space in my head, I mean. He’s not an alter-ego of mine or anything, but we are close enough in age and cultural experience that I can’t help but compare myself to him at times. And the comparisons don’t always make me particularly happy.
* * * * * * *
For whatever reason, recently I’ve had an interest in pickled eggs.
Not sure why. I don’t remember eating them as a kid or anything. Frankly, I don’t remember ever having eaten one, though I’m sure I must have.
Eggs. Vinegar. Sugar, salt, spices. I like the way the kitchen smells now.
Sometimes you have to experiment.
Jim Downey
It is not stated explicitly, but a close reading of Communion of Dreams will confirm that Darnell Sidwell discovered the ‘artifact’ 40 years from this Sunday.
Yeah, on April Fool’s Day.
That was just a little ‘Easter egg’ I put in the text, for the amusement of anyone who might catch it (there are a number of such things in the text). It becomes clear early enough in the book that it could make someone go “wait a minute . . . is all of this just a hoax?”
Anyway, in observation of the future anniversary of this event, I thought that I’d have another “free Kindle edition” promotion on Sunday.
But then I got to worrying that people might think it was all just an April Fool’s Day prank.
Damn. Hoist by my own little fart.
The only solution is to add in Saturday as well, to make it clear that the book really is free.
So, if you have yet to download Communion of Dreams for reading on your Kindle, computer, tablet or other device, this is your chance.
And if you have already read the book, this is your opportunity to tell your friends that they can get it free! Think how much they will love you for this, showering you with praise and respect for sharing such a wonderful, incredible, life-changing story with them! Your popularity will soar, your teeth will be whiter, your bank balance will swell, and that cute guy or gal will start to return your smiles. Even the president may call you for advice. No, seriously – it could happen!
Or, you know, not. But hey, it’s worth a chance, right?
So, this Saturday and Sunday, the Kindle Edition of Communion of Dreams, currently ranked an amazing #54,632 Paid in the Kindle Store! Which isn’t bad, considering how many books are out there. Really.
Jim downey
Filed under: Amazon, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Expert systems, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science, Science Fiction, Society, tech, Writing stuff
Via my Her Final Year co-author, this fairly light but interesting look at the current tech which is very much the precursors of what I envision in Communion of Dreams:
5 Exciting Innovations That Will Change Computing in 2012
Technical innovations are incoming in the next year or so that promise to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds like never before, whether that’s controlling your computer with gestures, opening programs with your eyes or extending the menu options for touchscreens with wearable devices.
There are a number of things they feature in the slideshow which gave me a chuckle, they’re so clearly direct ancestors of what is in Communion. Such as the Keyglove:
The Keyglove is a wearable, wireless, open source input device that boasts unprecedented flexibility and convenience for all kinds of computer applications.
With exciting potential for gaming, design, art, music, device control and even data entry, the glove-based system’s multi-sensor combinations mean it could be programmed to offer one-handed operation of many systems and software.
But this had me laughing right out loud, from the last of the five entries:
We predict that the press-a-button-and-speak method will become outdated as smart virtual assistants — which offer an AI-powered, conversational style solution — emerge.
Gee . . . a smart virtual assistant. Now, *there’s* an idea I never considered for the future. Well, maybe this passage from page 6 does sort of hint at that:
“Hi Seth.” Jon just talked to the not-quite thin air next to him. It was common enough to see people walking through the halls, or sitting at their desks, chatting with someone invisible. He could have Seth give him the feed for the images of the other experts, and see their ghostly manifestations, if he wanted.
His expert was one of best, one of only a few hundred based on the new semifluid CPU technology that surpassed the best thin-film computers made by the Israelis. But it was a quirky technology, just a few years old, subject to problems that conventional computers didn’t have, and still not entirely understood. Even less settled was whether the experts based on this technology could finally be considered to be true AI. The superconducting gel that was the basis of the semifluid CPU was more alive than not, and the computer was largely self-determining once the projected energy matrix surrounding the gel was initiated by another computer. Building on the initial subsistence program, the computer would learn how to refine and control the matrix to improve its own ‘thinking’. The thin-film computers had long since passed the Turing test, and these semifluid systems seemed to be almost human. But did that constitute sentience? Jon considered it to be a moot point, of interest only to philosophers and ethicists.
Heh. You know, reading that again, I’m pleased with just how much of the entire story of the book is foreshadowed in those couple of paragraphs. It’s almost like I planned it or something.
Anyway, another countdown of a sort: this coming Saturday and Sunday, all day both days, the Kindle edition of Communion of Dreams will be available for free to any and all who want to read it. And in preparation for that, I would ask that anyone who has had a chance to read the book to please go post a review on Amazon, or at least give the book a “Like” there. Building that sort of recommendation base will really help – thank you very much!
Jim Downey
Communion Of Dreams 