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Short stories on Amazon

sharkkiller

By sharkkiller,
in Huddle Lounge

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sharkkiller Rookie

sharkkiller

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Hey everybody. I have decided to try selling some short storied on Amazon. I have two up for sale at .99 each. I am posting this here not as spam, but as a request for some reviews.I hope to be putting up a few short stories a month to help generate some extra income. 

Thank you for helping out a fellow Panther fan. Any feedback is greatly appreciated as well.

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PhillyB Grand Master

PhillyB

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1 hour ago, sharkkiller said:

Anyone had a chance to look at these? I would appreciate some feedback. Thank you in advance.

As someone with numerous publications on Amazon over several years I'm going to offer you some advice, if that's okay.

Without name recognition you have to offer content. Because no one knows the quality of your content either, you have to offer quantity as a way to get people to test the quality. Simply put, even at $.99 nobody that doesn't know you is going to go after such a small bit of content. Unfortunately in the age of the internet short stories are increasingly harder to sell, because there's so much free stuff available out there. You're working against a completely saturated market here, and it's going to be an uphill battle for a long time.

My recommendation is to add content. For starters, combine the two books into a collection of essays, short stories, however you want to brand it. You're doubling your content that way, which helps. And then I'd write about ten more. It may take you a while, but if you're a practiced writer and you've got some concepts floating around in your head you should be able to put out one draft a week. In three months you've got, say, one hundred more pages of content to add. Being able to offer 10+ stories, topping 100 pages on the manuscript, is going to be an infinitely more attractive buy for a prospective reader who may be willing to take a chance on the quality based on the quantity. This will do far more than a review or two; every Amazon author has a couple of reviews from their friends/family, so unless you've hit double digit reviews they really don't do that much for you.

Last thing, drop five bucks at fiverr.com and have someone design the cover for you once the updated manuscript is complete. Amazon stock covers tend to do far, far worse.

Good luck! I will buy a copy from you either way and leave you a review, but you'll have to give me about a month, as all my money is going towards the film I'm directing, and Cambodia ain't cheap.

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sharkkiller Rookie

sharkkiller

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6 hours ago, PhillyB said:

As someone with numerous publications on Amazon over several years I'm going to offer you some advice, if that's okay.

Without name recognition you have to offer content. Because no one knows the quality of your content either, you have to offer quantity as a way to get people to test the quality. Simply put, even at $.99 nobody that doesn't know you is going to go after such a small bit of content. Unfortunately in the age of the internet short stories are increasingly harder to sell, because there's so much free stuff available out there. You're working against a completely saturated market here, and it's going to be an uphill battle for a long time.

My recommendation is to add content. For starters, combine the two books into a collection of essays, short stories, however you want to brand it. You're doubling your content that way, which helps. And then I'd write about ten more. It may take you a while, but if you're a practiced writer and you've got some concepts floating around in your head you should be able to put out one draft a week. In three months you've got, say, one hundred more pages of content to add. Being able to offer 10+ stories, topping 100 pages on the manuscript, is going to be an infinitely more attractive buy for a prospective reader who may be willing to take a chance on the quality based on the quantity. This will do far more than a review or two; every Amazon author has a couple of reviews from their friends/family, so unless you've hit double digit reviews they really don't do that much for you.

Last thing, drop five bucks at fiverr.com and have someone design the cover for you once the updated manuscript is complete. Amazon stock covers tend to do far, far worse.

Good luck! I will buy a copy from you either way and leave you a review, but you'll have to give me about a month, as all my money is going towards the film I'm directing, and Cambodia ain't cheap.

Thanks you for the advice. I will definitely take your words into advisement. I put out a couple of stories just mainly to get some reviews and feedback before I went whole hog on it.

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Khyber53 Grand Master

Khyber53

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Good luck with this. The short story market has been rough for the last couple of decades. Once, you could almost make a living at it.

After the Christmas season has passed, I'll try to grab those and give you a review.

While I haven't been doing the Amazon thing, I've got a background in traditional writing, editing and publishing. I'll be happy to help wherever I can.

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sharkkiller Rookie

sharkkiller

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On 12/21/2016 at 10:37 PM, Khyber53 said:

Good luck with this. The short story market has been rough for the last couple of decades. Once, you could almost make a living at it.

After the Christmas season has passed, I'll try to grab those and give you a review.

While I haven't been doing the Amazon thing, I've got a background in traditional writing, editing and publishing. I'll be happy to help wherever I can.

Thank you, that would be great.

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Porn Shop Clerk Enthusiast

Porn Shop Clerk

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On 12/17/2016 at 9:06 AM, sharkkiller said:

Anyone had a chance to look at these? I would appreciate some feedback. Thank you in advance.

Your covers look better than most of mine. :) 

Did you sign up for Select?

Don't expect to set the world on fire selling short stories. Even in a compilation they are a hard sell. Do use them to get your name out there and sharpen your skills while you work on a novel. 

If you have any more direct questions, feel free to ask.

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