I just self-published my new book on Amazon (Kindle and Paperback) - Immortal

[FibonacciEddie]

Again, many thanks to everyone for providing feedback and support
(The strength of the SFF forum - thanks Brian)

For reference ... this is my 3rd full length Sci-Fi novel
(Book 1) "Emergence" (did okay) - Sep 2014
(Book 2) "Disconnected" (sank without a trace) - April 2017

And now... (drum roll) ... my third book ...

Immortal

**
“We’re coming to help.”
That’s the message humanity receives from the depths of space.
The senders, calling themselves the Ankor, claim a colossal gamma ray burst from a supernova will engulf the Earth in less than a year, sterilising all life.
But the existence of the incoming gamma ray burst cannot be verified and the Ankor refuse to provide any proof … only demands that all countries must work with them to build an enormous shield in orbit around the Earth.

Francis MacKenzie, industrialist and private owner of the UK’s only satellite launch facility, says there’s no alternative but to accept the Ankor position and mobilise immediately.

Tim Boston is not convinced the Ankor can be trusted but as a divisional head in MacKenzie’s flagship bioengineering company, he won’t risk biting the hand that feeds him. Samantha Turner may do though, despite her ongoing commitment to Tim not to cause trouble.
**

If you can find it in your heart to read it and leave a review on Amazon then I'd be very grateful
(Kindle) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07NKRY852/?tag=brite-21
(Paperback) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993077978/?tag=brite-21

As for my other books, I am very happy to provide free ePub/Mobi files for SFF Chrons members.

regards
Nick

Just tagging a few people who I have specifically interacted with (who may otherwise not track the Self-Pub folder) ... sorry for shameless marketing (it's only once every 2 or 3 years) --- frankly, I am not even sure if my listing them they get Notification Buzz (happy to delete this bit at your request Brian)
@Brian G Turner
@Dan Jones
@thaddeus6th
@HareBrain
@AnyaKimlin
@pyan
@AlexH
@ralphkern
@Jo Zebedee
@Guillermo Stitch
@Ogma
@ratsy

 

[picklematrix]

This sounds up my street. I shall check it out once I finish my current read.
Out of curiosity, what do you think caused your 1st and 2nd novels to perform differently?

 

[thaddeus6th]

I did get the notification.

In the short term, I've got 800 pages of my current fiction to read, and have another book that I've already half-read (had a mega 40k sample which I liked), but after I've finished one/both of those (depending how fast I move with my non-fiction book) I'll have this on the list. Best of luck with it.

 

[FibonacciEddie]

This sounds up my street. I shall check it out once I finish my current read.
Out of curiosity, what do you think caused your 1st and 2nd novels to perform differently?

Hey Pickle,

Why did "Disconnected" do so much worse (a factor of 250 times worse in terms of sales - FYI) than Emergence?

I think it was a combination of 3 factors ...

a) It wasn't such a popular theme; Emergence was Alien Invasion, Conspiracy, and Quantum Mechanics; Whereas Disconnected was "Theory of Mind", "Psychology", and Mental Super Powers --- I loved both but they were different (rather like my kids)

b) I got a few early poor reviews for Disconnected ('too slow', 'too weird') and it took my enthusiasm away - therefore I spent more time writing Book 3 ('Immortal') than promoting Book 2
Note: I call them Book 1 and Book 2 and Book 3, but they are stand-alone novels.

c) For Emergence, I got a really good write-up in a Fanzine (SF Signal) - now sadly closed. I think this had a decent effect (particularly in America where most of my sales happened).

All that said ... I am amazed at just how badly Disconnected did do ...
Emergence sold 20,000 copies over a period of 2 years (mostly on Kindle at 99c) and had 72% of the Amazon ratings as 4 or 5 Stars ... so (applying rough percentages which doesn't really work due to selection bias but I will do anyway) I can't see why (almost none) of those ~14,000 people didn't take a gamble on Disconnected for 99c/99p. I have to assume they were (a) put off by reviews, or (b) simply were never presented Disconnected on their "search pages" ... I did do AMS advertising for Disconnected for 3 or 4 months but Amazon doesn't make it easy to reach previous customers ... that is the bit that amazes me ...

anyway

fingers crossed for Immortal (which is more like Emergence ... I'm not an idiot ish )

nick

 

[picklematrix]

Thank you for explaining.
Those are some pretty respectable numbers I would say.
Taking all that into account, I imagine there must be an element of chance with the effectiveness of amazon's algorithms and whether or not people are made aware of certain books.
Advertising and promotion still remains even more mysterious to me than writing itself, though I am trying to build up an idea of how it all works.
I'll definitely give your work a read.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Why did "Disconnected" do so much worse (a factor of 250 times worse in terms of sales - FYI) than Emergence?

Sorry to hear that - Disconnected is still on my Amazon Wishlist (Novels) to buy at some point. However, my first thought about the difference in sales is that Emergence may have managed to ride some part of the self-publishing wave, before - and I speculate here - Amazon started to decrease the visibility of indies to support its own titles.

So you've another sale coming at some point, I've just had a mountain of other books to get through first.

 

[FibonacciEddie]

- and I speculate here - Amazon started to decrease the visibility of indies to support its own titles.

Amazon certainly are a double-edged sword, I can't see how any indie authors would survive without them (and I'd love to be signed by 47 North) ... but there is a lack of transparency with their algorithms ... that said, however much we may get "triggered" (I think it the current word of the youth), we're nowhere near as angry as the people at Random House, Orbit, HarperCollins etc.

 

[Parson]

Just for your info, I looked for Emergence on Kindle and "Nick" not knowing your name and saw nothing that looked right. Maybe I overlooked something?

 

[FibonacciEddie]

Emergence - Nick M Lloyd
Disconnected - Nick M Lloyd
Immortal - Nick M Lloyd

I wasn't trying to be all clever and mimic Iain M Banks ... it is just that a writer called Nick Lloyd already exists (writing Military History) ... not me though

 

[Parson]

Found it. Picked up on K.U. and then went back to search under "Emergence" again. After perhaps a dozen of that name, and then a couple dozen with emergence in the title, and then a couple more dozen with no obvious link to the word, some of which had only 1 review.... I finally found it buried 5-6 pages (didn't count) in. I had thought that all of the books with that exact name would be shown before those whose connection to that name was tenuous at best. .... Goes to show what I know.