Filed under: Amazon, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: Amazon, direct publishing, free, jim downey, Kindle, literature, Science Fiction
Well, let’s look back at April…
All in all, it was a good month for Communion of Dreams. Perhaps the least impressive statistic is the number of visitors to the website for the book: only about 1,000. But that’s OK, because a lot more people went directly to the Amazon pages for the book (Kindle and paperback), and actual sales were right at 275 over the course of the month. Sales have cooled a bit in the last couple of days, and the ranking has slipped from a high of about 3,500 to about 8,000 when I checked it a little while ago.
Even better, the book has continued to get a fair amount of attention thanks to the Kindle promotional days. That has meant more mentions and reviews around the web (including a new one here at Amazon). In April, a total of 5,899 people downloaded the novel for free. As I’ve said before, I think that this is great, and helps to build more awareness and sales overall.
Which is why I’ll have at least one such promotional day this month. Watch for details soon.
So, thanks, everyone! I really do appreciate your interest and sharing your thoughts about Communion of Dreams with me, with your friends, with your readers/followers. If you’re on Facebook, pop by and “like” the CoD page. You can also follow me on Twitter for quick news/updates/links.
Cheers!
Jim Downey
* OK, damn, the WordPress software messes with the blog title. It’s supposed to be “MAYDAY” in Morse Code. Sheesh – try and be clever, see what happens? The story of my life.
Filed under: Amazon, Connections, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science, Science Fiction, tech | Tags: advertising, Amazon, blogging, direct publishing, free, jim downey, Kindle, literature, Louis Slotin, science, Science Fiction, self-sustaining, technology
Earlier this month I had mentioned that Communion of Dreams had more or less stabilized at an Amazon ranking of about 30,000.
Well, since then things have changed. The big Kindle promotion last weekend was one. But as I noted the other day, evidently some other things have changed as well. The spike in sales of Communion on Thursday (total of about 50) dropped off a bit on Friday when there were just 25 or so. But then it picked up again yesterday, with about 40 total. With the result that the Amazon ranking has moved up to about 5,000 – sometimes a little higher, sometimes a little lower – and Communion of Dreams has pretty consistently stayed somewhere in the top 50 “Science Fiction – High Tech” category. And other than blogging a bit here, I haven’t done much to promote the book this week. So it’s entered a kind of self-sustaining reaction, like reaching critical mass.
What I find interesting is that in trying to track down and understand what happened to help promote the book, I discovered that a number of sites are starting to list the book as a “recommended read” of one sort or another. Usually this is being done as part of an Amazon affiliates program, where if you buy the book via their site they get a small commission. No complaint from me – this is all advertising, as far as I’m concerned, and I’m happy that others are able to generate a bit of income to support their sites.
Now, what’s curious is trying to figure out what it will take to kick the whole thing up another notch. What is the equivalent of “tickling the dragon’s tail” – of pushing the self-sustaining reaction just a little further, so that it speeds up but doesn’t just figuratively blow up in my face? The story of Louis Slotin remains a cautionary one, after all.
I suppose we’ll see.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing | Tags: Amazon, blogging, direct publishing, free, jim downey, Kindle, literature, Science Fiction, writing
Thanks in part to the almost 6,000 people who downloaded Communion of Dreams last Sunday, there are more followers of this blog and the associated Facebook and Twitter accounts.
So I just wanted to take a moment and say “welcome” to everyone. I don’t do much song & dance here (or anywhere for that matter, and if you heard me sing or saw me dance, you’d be thankful for this), but I do ramble about a bit, and you can never be entirely sure what I might write about next. Because I’m never quite sure.
I would invite any and all who have had a chance to read Communion of Dreams to please write a review or “Like” the book over on Amazon. It may not seem like it, but this helps me a great deal, and I would really appreciate it if you took the time to do so.
I would also appreciate any word-of-mouth promotion of the book. That could be in a formal setting like Goodreads or on your favorite forum, or informal discussion with friends in whatever venue.
Lastly, feel free to contact me directly by email, Twitter, or through comments here or on Facebook. I’m usually pretty quick at responding, depending on how many other things I am juggling at the moment.
Thanks. And Welcome!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Bruce Schneier, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Society, Writing stuff, YouTube | Tags: bruce schneier, direct publishing, free, game theory, jim downey, Kindle, Science Fiction, writing, www youtube
The other day I posted a video clip which nicely demonstrated one particular aspect of “game theory” and mentioned that it tied in to Communion of Dreams, though I wasn’t explicit how (nor did I explain what I found so interesting in the clip). Partly this was just due to my being preoccupied with the Kindle promotion that day, and partly it was because I like to leave people to figure things out for themselves.
Well, yesterday Bruce Schneier, whom I have mentioned here a number of times, posted an excellent explanation of what was so interesting about the clip (which has been making the rounds). Here’s the gist of the explanation:
Think about Nick’s strategy. He can’t trust that Abraham will split. More importantly, he can’t trust that Abraham will do what he said, because it’s in Abraham’s best interest to say one thing and do another. So he changes the game. He offers to split the pot outside the game — set up a meta-game of sorts — and removes Abraham’s incentive to lie.
Read the whole thing – it’s only a couple of paragraphs long, and nicely goes over exactly why this strategy works.
And that is also why I thought it had such a strong connection to Communion of Dreams: because in one very real sense, the whole book is about what happens when you unexpectedly ‘change the game’. The character of Chu Ling is the key in this regard, both literally and metaphorically, and that is why I had to have her as a game theory prodigy.
Just thought I’d share that.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: Amazon, direct publishing, free, jim downey, Kindle, literature, Science Fiction
So, had this little promotion yesterday. Since the last one only generated about 1,800 downloads, I didn’t have really high expectations. Which was probably a good thing, in light of how yesterday went.
Good, because what actually happened just blew me out of the water: almost 6,000 downloads. 5,831 to be specific. That includes 42 in the UK and 4 in Germany.
That beats the previous high tally of 5,277. When combined with the other sales and whatnot this month, that makes a total of about 5,950 copies of Communion of Dreams distributed since April 1, and something in excess of 14,000 since the launch of the new edition. Not bad.
So, as I’ve said before, thanks everyone. Really – it makes a huge difference. Your downloads. Your purchases. Your reviews. Your ‘likes’. Your telling friends and forums about the book. Your helping push it to #1 in the Science Fiction category of the free Kindle store for most of yesterday, and something like #53 overall. It all has an impact.
And it is all very much appreciated.
Stay tuned for further developments.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Arthur C. Clarke, Astronomy, Carl Sagan, ISS, Kindle, Marketing, movies, Music, NASA, Promotion, Publishing, Science, Science Fiction, Space, tech, Writing stuff, YouTube | Tags: 2001, art, aurora, direct publishing, free, jim downey, Kindle, music, NASA, predictions, science, Science Fiction, space, technology, video, writing, www youtube
From Chapter 3:
Wright Station was one of the older stations, and its age showed in its design. The basic large wheel structure, necessary when centrifugal force simulated gravity, was still evident, though significantly altered. The station hung there as they approached, motionless. The aero slowly coasted toward a large box well outside the sweep of the wheel, connected to the wheel by an extension of one of the major spokes. This was the dock, and it was outside the AG field.
Sound familiar?
Though I do think that were someone to film Communion of Dreams, this scene would more closely reflect this reality, taken from the ISS:
Still, it is fascinating that we have already so deeply connected music with space imagery. And that what is seen as a pale blue dot in the distance is, up close, a living world with a thin sheath of atmosphere – a wisp, glowing green.
Tomorrow is a promotional day: the Kindle edition of Communion of Dreams will be free for any and all to download. Share the news.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: Aliens, Amazon, direct publishing, E.T., First Contact, free, jim downey, Kindle, Science Fiction, Titan
So, this coming Sunday is the 40th pre-anniversary (preversary?) of when the main character of Communion of Dreams first encounters the artifact. Here’s the relevant passage from Chapter 8:
The two of them stood there, on the edge of the excavation pit, looking down. Beams of light flooded the pit, but didn’t seem to really touch the misty grey surface of the artifact. There was no reflection, no glint, and no shadow. There was that roughly hexagonal shape to each of the several facets of it, but it had more of an overall tear-drop shape than he expected. Flat top, rounded bottom. And the large burl of gel directly below the suspended artifact, quicksilver with a little electric blue thrown in.
“Mind if I go down and take a good look?”
As I mentioned previously, I now have more promotional days with KDP Select, meaning that I can schedule a promotional event in ‘celebration’ of the novel’s ‘first contact’. So, plan on it – tell your friends, post it to blogs, heck shout it from the rooftops – the Kindle edition of Communion of Dreams will be free to one and all on Sunday, April 22!
Jim Downey
Communion Of Dreams 