Best of luck with yours to Mark.
It's quite an exciting time, although I am scare about the reviews, lol.
However, we all have to start somewhere and it is a good springboard.
Oh, someone clicked your like button, wink, wink.
Hi Steve
Thanks for the info - have now used Amazon to upload my two collections EVEN WHEN TONIGHT IS OVER and THE HAIR OF THE HOUND - best of luck with your kindle!
Her latest read was War Horse, she said it was the best book she had ever read, although we do have two horse! But she still managed to find some mistakes.
Unfortunately she cannot check every post I make on here!
I have build a website today, I have a few blogs on blogger, but went for wordpress.com as you can make the landing page the welcome page. That way it looks more like a website than a blog, as it is difficult to blog every week about just one book.
An eagle-eyed secretary is probably exactly what you need for checking them over! I think that means your book has much better checking than most ebooks anyway! And I do love the instant ability to correct and change as things come to light. I can't believe how many errors slip through the net. My bugbear at the moment is the Daily Telegraph. I don't know who's doing their copy, but it's shocking!
Emma
I will have to consider you when I produce my next best seller!
As my partner was a secretary she is always picking up mistakes in quite high profile best sellers.
I just tend to get lost in the story and do not notice them, but it makes you wonder who has proof read them. I am sure my little novel has a few mistakes, but the good thing about an e-book is that you can go back in and change any that are picked up by readers, if you get any feed back.
I sold five book in the first 24 hours, so its a start. Just 99,995 to go.
Steve, it all depends on the level of changes I make as a proof-reader. I usually look over a couple of chapters or sections from the middle (a random bit) and then either charge by the job or per 1000 words. I usually use these sections to work out how much time I'm going to spend on the rest/how many errors/changes need making. I usually work on 0.03 € per word (i.e. 30€ per 1000 words) but that depends on whether there are a lot of errors or changes to be made. In some texts, when I make 3 changes, it seems a bit rich to get paid as much as I do for making thousands of changes! When I work for Penguin, I get 9 pence per word for editing and 6 pence a word for proof-reading.
As for the blog and twitter, FB etc for it - it's definitely a good way to spread the word, otherwise, yours is just one of millions of books.
Hi Vala
The cover was on article on line, but I altered it to suit. I feel it is perfect for the book, as the lead character is sort of a white van man. I emailed for permission to use the artwork.
Emma
My partner is quite good at proof reading, but for future use, what do you charge.
I have couple of blogs relating to France with twitter and Facebook as they are linked to my business, but I presume a new one would help further. I just feel there is only so much I can put about a book on a blog and to keep a blog popular it needs a lot of posts. Saying that, it would help if I write more books in the future. I presume it would be best in my name.
I cannot upload it yet as Kindle had a special deal to promote the book if it was only with them, for 90 day.
But I think in the future I can make it a down load on my sites for those without a Kindle.
Thanks for the advice.
Kindle's a great idea for those who want to get into writing. I write textbooks and have recently started to ebook mine rather than use my publisher, because I'm quicker to respond to market need than they are and I resent the fact I get 6% royalties, as well as the fact it's an 'insider-only' industry... so good luck! If you need anyone to proof-read it, feel free to send it my way!
p.s. if you haven't already, link it into a blog, into a FB page and into twitter. Get the social media working for you! The hard thing is always getting your book noticed. Once you do... you might net yourself a small fortune, like a few thriller writers who are exclusive to Amazon do. Also, upload it to Barnes & Noble and any other ebook retailers. I also use mobipocket.
I love your cover! A real eye-catcher. How did you manage to do that, or did you 'get someone in'?
Just a final update, I have sold about £3500 worth of books, mainly Kindle downloads. It is still just ticking over a few sales a week, but I should have finished the sequel which would have kept the momentum going, but I had a few other things going on. I have dropped the price to just over a euro on Kindle, which most authors do once a book has run it’s main course, then add the new one at a higher price. When it was first published it was 2,99€ and I earnt 70% from each sale. The lower the price the less the percentage commission.