Well, getting the book onto Amazon.com was a good thing. Revenue-wise it isn't a major immediate score, though. Because they take 55% up front, and because it was self-published, I have to cover the printing fees, shipping, and packaging. When all is said and done, I make about $.08 per book. (Depending on the cost of the packaging supplies. I could actually lose money.)
Where this is potentially a good thing, is that Amazon has a program in which they allow publishers to view self-published products, and the stats regarding their sales. If a product shows promise, then a publisher may contact the owner and propose a contract. I've signed up for that program (it's free) and am interested in getting people to generate activity around my book in hopes of attracting a publisher's attention. Long shot, yes, but the printed books are a sunk cost at the moment and I may as well try. I've got no potential of success if I don't try.
I previously sent an e-mail out to family and friends asking them to search for "The Shopping Cart Man" from Amazon.com, write reviews, or buy the book, in an effort to move the book up in Amazon's rankings. It worked surprisingly well.
It started out somewhere around being the 1,000,000th best seller. I was hoping to get it somewhere into the 10,000th place. It peaked at about the 4,200th best seller, surpassing that goal.
It's a bit of a shot-lived victory, however, as once the initial flurry ended, the ranking tanked again. It's currently ranked 335,239th. (Which is better than the last time I checked.)
The trick is sustained activity, of course.
I appreciate people helping with this effort, so I've generated a tangible "thank you" for anyone who helps out. "Hidden" on my book's website (
http://peepsockpress.com/Cartman/) is a book-on-tape recording of the book that I made. I have it for sale on that site, but I've also temporarily posted it for free download to those who help me at this URL:
http://peepsockpress.com/Cartman/new_page_1.htmI plan on leaving it there for a few weeks, only. And, I still intend to keep the copyright to it and so forth going forward. But, I felt that this was the best and easiest way to get my "thank you" out to those who have helped.
I've also been told by friends that on Amazon.com, you can post "search tags" and create "lists" that include the book, which also helps with its ranking.
I don't want to pester people, so I'm going to send out one more e-mail to an expanded list of people and let them know that I'll post updates on whether or not this is successful here. Those that are interested can come here to find out the latest news, or ping me.
For anyone else foolhardy enough to ponder self-publishing, you can see what's posted here and see if that will convince you one way or the other...
Read the original "Lines of our Times" post here.
A Way to Help
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