My experience self-publishing for the first time.

Biskit said:
Have you considered putting that up on Medium (https://medium.com/)? I've been publishing some of my shorts through a publication there, but it also seems to be a good place for non-fiction articles.
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Do yu have to join Medium and connect your bank account and all that in order to post there? I'm not sure if I really understand the model...
 
Guillermo Stitch said:
Do yu have to join Medium and connect your bank account and all that in order to post there? I'm not sure if I really understand the model...
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You have to pay to read some of the content, but you can post content with a basic free account. In theory, if people like your stuff enough, you can flag it to be part of the paid content and get a share of the subscriptions, but I've not tried that yet.
 
Cathbad said:
I've no idea how many clicked on it. Does Goodreads offer that info? I get lotsa clicks on my mini-url's.
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Thanks for your patience explaining things Cathbad. I'm afraid I'm still not quite there.
I have no idea what info Goodreads offers, but some websites will tell you visitor numbers. I was trying to understand what you meant by zero sales on your Goodreads ad - and since Goodreads doesn't sell books, assumed that by sales you meant clicks on the link.
What do you mean by mini-urls? (They sound successful so worth trying.)
 
I use Booklinker. This reduces long url's to your books on Amazon to a few words. Comes in handy when advertising your books. :) There are several other universal link creators out there.
 
Biskit said:
Have you considered putting that up on Medium (https://medium.com/)? I've been publishing some of my shorts through a publication there, but it also seems to be a good place for non-fiction articles.
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Well, you've nudged me into it. I've been hearing about Medium for ages but I'm not sure I really get. It'll be interesting to see if anything happens. Feel free to to respond to it there or share or however it works...

Mr Stitch goes to Africa – Guillermo Stitch – Medium
 
Guillermo Stitch said:
Feel free to to respond to it there or share or however it works...
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I've given it a couple of claps - that seems to help. So far as I can see, their algorithm will recommend your articles to other readers depending on their interests and how many 'claps' you get. Probably.
Whenever one of my stories goes up, I tend to put links on things like twitter and facebook, but I've no idea what really works. Most of mine got a few reads etc, then one went crazy with over 150 views and 50+ reads - no idea why it was so popular.
 
Biskit said:
I've given it a couple of claps - that seems to help. So far as I can see, their algorithm will recommend your articles to other readers depending on their interests and how many 'claps' you get. Probably.
Whenever one of my stories goes up, I tend to put links on things like twitter and facebook, but I've no idea what really works. Most of mine got a few reads etc, then one went crazy with over 150 views and 50+ reads - no idea why it was so popular.
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I'm not getting many reads on Medium but it has given me an excuse to work on and post some shorts. Another bit of travel writing is up at Mr & Mrs Stitch Go To The Shop – Guillermo Stitch – Medium

On the off chance that anyone around here is interested, I'll soon be posting some details here on how much I spent publishing Literature®. I know I'm often frustrated about the lack of detail people share on that but I have no qualms. More than I intended to, I can confirm. Doing another promotion in December and then leaving it, so that's when I'll post.
 
I found a useful source of reviews was the www.youwriteon.com site. It's one of those peer review sites where you review someone's work and get a credit for someone else to review yours.
Just don't believe the hype about standing any chance of getting a major publisher consideration. Your work will be kicked out of the Top 10, into the long-grass of the 'bestseller' list, when the publishers are doing their rounds. Infuriating but, like I said, the peer reviews can be useful.
 
I am watching this thread with considerable interest!
 
The December promotion I'm doing runs a few days into the new year so I'm likely to post about my expenditure just afterwards, 1st or 2nd week of January.
 
I'm running a one day promo on Amazon on 24th Dec. Will post the results of any sales boosts. I say sales but it is a free ebook promo, LOL. :D
 
Partly because it is a Monday and Sunday promo wasn't so successful. Partly because it is Christmas Eve and there is a hope more people will be looking. Like I said, I don't get a penny for these downloads - just trying to get wider recognition. Which would be nice :D
 
Scookey said:
Partly because it is a Monday and Sunday promo wasn't so successful. Partly because it is Christmas Eve and there is a hope more people will be looking. Like I said, I don't get a penny for these downloads - just trying to get wider recognition. Which would be nice :D
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Will be interesting to see how you get on. My Publisher has gone for post Xmas as people often get new tech and vouchers for Xmas.
 
It's also my understanding that the first week after Christmas is the one to go for. Doesn't mean that Christmas Eve won't be good though. I suppose the hope is that people are relaxed and have maybe had a few and are feeling indulgent, both towards selves and others over the holidays. And yes, new devices and a few quid in people's digital pockets.

I originally aimed for an early December promotion (because I'm clueless) but in the nick of time I noticed that I had set the kdp discount for the UK market instead of US (did I mention I'm clueless?) so had to scramble to reschedule both the kdp countdown and the promo companies I'm using. That's when one of them volunteered the information (very kindly—I hadn't asked) that in their experience the first, second and third weeks after Christmas are the first, second and third best of the year for promotions, in that order.
 
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