Jennifer Becton's Blog

September 17, 2018

The Last Blog Post



I love to write, but I can’t write all the things. There just isn’t time.



I have always wanted to gear my blog toward the people who read my books. But surprise! Fans of my fiction don’t seem to care about blogs. Frankly, I don’t blame them. I don’t read the blogs of fiction writers either. As a result, I ended up writing blog posts more geared to writers than to readers of my novels. That’s not a bad thing, but it was not what I originally intended to do.



I wanted–and still want–to write to readers!



I have come to realize that readers of fiction want to read more fiction. Who knew? It makes sense that readers want more stories. More Julia and Vincent getting tangled up in fraud and murder. Or Tripp flirting his way to the truth. Or more Mr. Darcy being charmingly rude. And that’s what I want to write too!



I tried doing a serial novel on my blog when I published an unedited version of Dead Inside, an urban fantasy I wrote a few years back. While I garnered more blog readers, I had a hard time getting the word out when a new chapter was posted. Adding an email notification list helped, but people still had to navigate to my blog to read.



So rather than continuing to try to find an audience and then actually get them to my blog, I want to focus my time and energy writing what I want to write and what existing readers want to read. That’s why this is my last blog post.



I’m going to focus on writing the next Mercer Murder. But I’d like to start sharing more of my writing process. Not the writer-geared stuff that I’ve been sharing, like whether or not I do a formal outline or tips on how to format an ebook.



Instead, I want to talk about the things that naturally occur in the process of novel writing. I want to share pictures from my research trips and stories about how I learned to hot wire cars. (Yes, I can hot wire one very specific type of car. So if you own a GM vehicle from the 1970s to the early 1980s, you’d better watch out!) I want to give occasional updates on my writing progress and show pictures of my home office remodel. I want to talk about the women’s self defense class I took, my trip the Writers’ Police Academy, or the classes I take to learn about the real-life jobs I write about.



But I also want to share more than just my research and work. I’d like to talk about the things I do alongside my novel writing, like fangirling over TV shows or playing with my horse, Darcy. (Aside: I never had a dog or cat as a kid. Parents, let this serve as a lesson to you. Buy your kid a puppy or kitty now, or they will rebel as adults and get the biggest pet they can find.) I may even admit some of the embarrassing stuff I do when no one is watching (like obsessing over old sitcoms or my shameless addiction to Mexican Coke).



What I Do When No One Is Looking

Does a peek behind the curtain sound interesting? If so, I want to make it easy to find and enjoyable to read. I don’t want to end up with another blog that has to be updated every few days, but no one has time to read. Ain’t nobody got time for that!



That’s why I’m starting Becton Behind the Scenes, a monthly email newsletter that will come straight to your inbox. You don’t have to pay attention to social media announcements about new posts or go anywhere special to read.



Becton BTS isn’t the same as my Launch List, which just sends book release announcements. Becton BTS will be a repository of things that go on while I’m writing and where you can ask questions that I may or may not answer.

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Published on September 17, 2018 06:38

August 21, 2018

Bookbub

Are you on Bookbub?


I am. Actually, I’m on it twice under my two different genre names.


I’ve been part of Bookbub for years, and it’s really developed into something more than a book recommendation newsletter. It’s like social media for book lovers.


You can still get book recommendation newsletters for genres you select. But now, you can connect with fellow readers. By doing so, you can get recommendations (not paid ads) from people you trust and share your own recommendations with others.  It’s a fun way to share the books you love.


You can also connect with authors. Once you follow an author on Bookbub, you get updates on book releases as soon as they are available. You can also get updated whenever one of your favorite author’s books is discounted.


If you’re on Bookbub, let’s connect!



Jennifer Becton for Austenesque Historical Fiction and Modern Austen Short Stories


J. W. Becton for Southern Fraud Mysteries and Mercer Murders

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Published on August 21, 2018 05:50

August 20, 2018

Ch-ch-changes


Readers of the Southern Fraud series may notice some changes to the way I’m presenting the books. These changes are all superficial, and half of them won’t even be noticeable to the naked eye. But in the background, I’ll be experimenting with adjustments to genre as well as Amazon’s search categories, keywords, and metadata.


In fact, some changes have already taken place. Beginning with the Southern Fraud series, I began using two variations of my name based on the genre I was writing:



Jennifer Becton=Austenesque


J. W. Becton=mysteries



I jokingly called J. W. Becton my pseudo-pseudonym. Originally, I planned to use separate names mainly as a courtesy to readers. Books by Jennifer Becton would be the sweet Austen stories, and J. W. Becton books would be modern crime dramedies and murder mysteries.


However, my writing names remained connected on one single Amazon author page, resulting is some confusion for the algorithms when it came to suggesting books and other authors my readers might enjoy. On each Amazon author page, there is a list of authors “Customers Also Bought Items by.” The list on my author page was an odd blend of sweet romance and murder mysteries. Totally unhelpful.


The first step in improving my marketing metadata occurred when I crated two separate Amazon author pages: one for Jennifer Becton and one for J. W. Becton. That should prevent any bizarre genre crossover and potential reader confusion.


The next noticeable change will be genre related. My Southern Fraud series will now be classified as a mystery, not a thriller. There will be no change to the content, but the covers will now say “Southern Fraud Mysteries.”


Frankly, I’ve always been unsure where Southern Fraud fits in the book classification system. I knew exactly what I wanted to write: crime dramedies like those on TV. I wanted to write a book similar to Castle, Moonlighting, The Mentalist, etc. These shows deal with serious crimes and often walk on the darker side of theme. But overall, they are fun, uplifting, romantic, and humorous.


So where does a crime dramedy fit in book genres? Are they thrillers? Cozy mysteries? General mysteries?


When I first launched the series, I believed Southern Fraud had many characteristics of cozy mysteries: small town setting, unique heroine, humorous scenes, a lighter tone, and slow-burn romantic themes. But because of the darker themes of rape and murder and the occasional depiction of violence, I was hesitant to put Southern Fraud in the cozy category. I felt it might be misleading to put my books alongside stories about librarians who solve crimes with their cats or mysteries that feature recipes or craft projects. I didn’t want readers to buy my books expecting a cat detective and get a rapist story line instead. I may have misunderstood the genre. A look at the cozy mystery popularity list tells me the genre is much more inclusive than I gave it credit for years ago. You can even find dark cozy mysteries.


The Southern Fraud series seemed a natural fit for mystery->women sleuths. It’s always been there. So why was it called a thriller?


In the beginning, my covers were cartoons of action scenes from the books. I did not want to set any false expectations and tried to blend the lighthearted cover with the darker themes in the book by using the name thriller, which is a genre that sort of blends mystery and horror.


So to offset Southern Fraud’s lighthearted cover art and to take into account the heavier subject matter and the occasional scenes that depicted violence, I wanted to err on the side of caution and opted to call them thrillers. But while there are many heart-pounding action sequences and darker themes, they aren’t action-packed from beginning to end, like Taken. Nor are they full of terror.


At present, I’m in the process of adjusting my genre to better fit the content. Southern Fraud is going to be classified more accurately as a mystery, not a thriller.


In the upcoming weeks, I’ll be experimenting with different covers, including bringing back the original cartoon version. For an unknown amount of time, a cartoon cover edition of the paperback of Sunset Clause will be available. I’ll let you know when.


In the meantime, tell me your opinion:





Take Our Poll


 

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Published on August 20, 2018 17:33

August 6, 2018

The Marketing Department: What Not to Do

As I reviewed my proposed outline for what has turned into a 7-part series on book marketing, I realized I’m heading into the weeds with my Book Business series. I’m going to head myself off at the pass and move on to other topics for two main reasons:



This is supposed to be a series about the business side of publishing, not a marketing manifesto.
I am not a book marketing expert.

The Good Old Days

Given the rapid rate of changes to the digital book-selling world, I’m back to square one when it comes to effective marketing techniques. Allow me to wax nostalgic. Back in the day, I was doing everything right. In 2011, the digital book market was just opening up, and I happened to be ready to publish. Yay! Lucky me. When it came to marketing, all writers had was an active:



blog
mailing list
Twitter account
Facebook presence

Writers participated in book review sites and book blogs. As time went on, they paid to have their books advertised as Bookbub Featured Deals and other similar book recommendation newsletters. Oh, and there were always lots and lots of giveaways!


Yes, back in the day, I was doing all that, and I added the “new” social media like Pinterest and Instagram. I even dabbled in Snapchat. At the time, that was more than enough.


Change Happens

[Insert record-scratching sound effect here.]


But things changed. Now, social media is more limited in its reach without paid ads, and being accepted for a Bookbub Featured Deal is so difficult that it’s considered the White Whale of the indie publishing world. (Plus, Amazon apparently mutes the spike in sales rank that accompanies Bookbub-related sales.)


As far as I can tell, one thing remains consistent. The email list is still vitally important. That’s where you’ll find your most dedicated readers. If you don’t have an email list, get one now. On that subject, please join mine!


What’s more, the market has changed a lot. There are about a zillion more books out there, and that means more competition for attention and ultimately for conversion. On a more positive note, it also means access to more data. Back in the day, analytics didn’t exist on Twitter or Facebook. Now, you can tell which tweets are effective and adjust your style accordingly. But that doesn’t change the fact that social media reach is more limited. Not many of your fans see your amazing and timely posts unless you boost them with paid advertising.


And giveaways, while fun, have always been problematic. You might get more followers on social media, but it’s nearly impossible to tell if your huge, expensive prize converted one entrant into an actual reader. (And that was supposed to the whole point!) Even today, as far as I know, you still can’t tell how well a giveaway worked at actually selling your book.


But guess what I’ve been doing? The same techniques I was using in 2011. Even though I tried a few ads, I do not fully understand how to optimize them. Basically, I have been stuck in the old ways. Change happened in the market, and I haven’t adjusted yet. As a result, I missed a lot of iterations of marketing techniques that could have really helped. I got behind. Consequently, I have a lot to learn about the current state of book marketing. Honestly, I have no idea what to advise you to do in order to attract readers to your books successfully.


I have, however, attained a certain level of expertise at failing in the marketing department. Therefore, I can give you a good rundown of what not to do.


How Not to Market Your Books

1. Do not grow complacent.


No matter how many books you have sold, don’t make the mistake of believing you have reached some sort of permanent critical mass. In fact, you haven’t even reached 1 percent of the potential reading public.


Watch your sales and strive to keep them regular and consistent. At present, Amazon’s algorithms seem to reward consistency. A book declining in sales is seen as unworthy of recommendation. A book that spikes suddenly is also considered at outlier.


2. Do not expect the same technique to work forever.


The market changes. You should too. Social media will always be a factor, but it has limits. Nowadays, Facebook posts only reach a small portion of people who have opted in. In order to reach a wider audience, you have to pay for ads. (Apparently. That’s what I understand based on recent research anyway.)


3. Do not give up.


If you are committed to making writing your career, then keep growing and changing with the market.  Keep writing new books and keep trying different techniques. Pay attention to other writers who make it their goal to figure out Amazon’s algorithms. Do what they do.


Don’t do what I did. Keep growing and changing.


In the coming months, I’m going to be experimenting with new-to-me techniques: metadata tweaks; ads on Amazon, Facebook, and Bookbub; and price promotions. I’ll keep you updated about how things work. But I’ll be ending my official Marketing Department posts here (pending further research).



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Published on August 06, 2018 14:35

July 26, 2018

Gaming the System

Recently, one of my social media feeds spit out this article, which details how certain members of the indie author community are gaming the Amazon Kindle Unlimited system and other Amazon ranking systems to their unfair advantage.


It’s no surprise that people try to work the system. Traditional publishers have been doing that literally forever with the NYT and USA Today Best Sellers Lists. It’s not surprising, but it’s also not helpful to the reading community.


Given the name “best sellers list,” you would expect to find a lists of books readers are actually purchasing. But you’d be wrong!


In reality, these lists are editorial in nature. They are opinions, tools used to influence readers to purchase certain titles. They’re essentially ads for what some editor thinks the world should be reading. How insulting. In fact the NYT says that


“the list did not purport to be an objective compilation of information but instead was an editorial product.”


The list isn’t actually an accurate tally of sales. It’s what they wish the sales would be.


Sorry. That was a digression from the original point. Now indies are working the system too, and many of the tactics are just plain wrong.



book stuffing to take advantage of Kindle Unlimited’s per-page payment plan
selling email lists
inflating rank by purchasing bulk advance review copies
inflating rank by asking readers to buy an ebook and borrow it from Kindle Unlimited
click farming
mislabeling a book’s genre to gain more visibility on Amazon’s less competitive lists

Here’s something else that shocked me:


One of the few things known for certain is that there is a 30-day cliff—a book older than 30 days is likely to drop precipitously in the charts and be less likely to come up in recommendations. Genre writing has long been mocked for prolific, look-alike output, but the 30-day cliff sets a breakneck speed in which the top earners are hustling to put out new titles every 30 days. Read more.


This time limit puts a load of pressure on writers who want to keep their momentum. Can writers put out a quality, well-written, well-edited, compelling book every 30 days? No way. #skeptical


They’re more likely to be



reusing old content
buying content from ghostwriters
writing absolute and total crap

My Riding Fear Free writing partner and I have been victims of genre mislabeling. Riding Fear Free, a nonfiction book, is a solid seller and was almost always in the Top 25 Best sellers in the  Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Individual Sports > Horses > Equestrian.


Now, that list is full of fiction titles. Amazon’s position seems to be to acknowledge that it’s unfair to force nonfiction books to compete with fiction on a nonfiction list, but there’s nothing they’re willing to do to fix it. If a fiction book has horses as a subject, it’s not against their terms of service to list it as nonfiction. Really? Not only is that unfair to nonfiction writers, but it’s also a pain in the neck for readers who are looking for nonfiction books about horses.


I’m not upset just because I’m a writer and this influences my income. (But it does.) I am also a reader and Amazon shopper. I don’t appreciate the fact that corporate policy makes it so that I have to weed through tremendous amounts of garbage that rises to the top thanks solely to disreputable practices.


If dubious practices are what it takes to be seen on Amazon these days, I’m so not into it.


I’m not going to pump out crap every 30 days or stuff my books with utter rubbish to bulk up the page count.


I’m not going to badger those of you who read my books into reviewing. (Apparently, reviews are not as helpful in terms of algorithms and rank as some writers may think anyway.) I would never ask you to do anything shady like purchase and borrow copies to boost my rank.


I will continue to write the best books I can and make sure they are edited as well as possible.


I will express my gratitude to every reader who purchases my books.


Thank you to everyone who reads my books. I appreciate every single one of you. I will do my best to continue to provide quality books for you to enjoy.

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Published on July 26, 2018 09:28

July 16, 2018

Prime Day Deals for Readers


Amazon Prime Day starts today at 3 PM EST, and that means great deals for readers!*


If you aren’t already a Prime member, you can still participate by signing up for a 30-day free trial:



If you don’t want to remain a Prime member after the end of your trial period, be sure to cancel!


You can also give Prime as a gift.


Now is the time to get great deals on Kindle readers and Fire tablets. But you can also score savings on subscription services like Kindle Unlimited and Audible memberships!


Kindles


Amazon Fire Tablets



Tablet Accessories




Kindle Unlimited

Now is a great time to sign up for your 30-day free trial of Kindle Unlimited, where you can read zillions of books for a yearly fee. Several offers are available:


Sign up for a free 30-day trial:



New subscribers can get 3 months of Kindle Unlimited for only $.99 (regularly $29.97)!



For the Kiddos: parents can get a 3-month pre-paid plan at $2.99 (regularly $29.99)!



Kindle Books


 



Audible

Get 66 percent off a 3-month membership of Audible Gold ($30 savings!)



You can get 2 free audiobooks with a free trial!


You can also join Audible Romance! (Some of my books are featured here!) Subscribers get unlimited access to thousands of romance audiobooks. Current Audible and Kindle Unlimited members can upgrade their membership by adding the Romance Package at a discount!



Let a celebrity read to you.



Amazon Trade-in

If you’re loading up with new devices, why not trade in your old one to help defray the cost? If you trade in your old Kindle, you get 25 percent off a new model and a gift card!



You can sell used books too!




Start your bargain hunting now!
I’ll be posting some of my favorite book and non-book-related deals on Instagram and Twitter.

*This post contains affiliate links.

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Published on July 16, 2018 08:42

July 9, 2018

The Marketing Department: Giveaways and Sales (Part 4)


The Marketing Department
Giveaways and Sales

If you opted to enroll your book in KDP Select, you are entitled to 7 days worth of giveaways or sales every quarter.


KDP Select Giveaways

Enrolling a book in KDP Select gives you the opportunity to run a Free Book Promotion, where readers worldwide can get your book free for a limited time.


Once upon a time, KDP Select giveaways had amazing benefits. If you made a title free on Amazon, the book would climb in rank. It had a good chance of making the Top 100 Free Lists (both genre lists and the overall Top 100 Free list).


But here’s what made it amazing: When the book returned to its normal price, its free rank and number of giveaways had a huge impact when its free rank transferred back to its sales rank. If the book was on a Top 100 Free List, it would likely transfer to a Best Sellers List! Therefore, the title automatically became much more visible to potential buyers. Sales would inevitably follow.


Sadly, the algorithm has changed. This is no longer the case.


Now, a KDP Select giveaway allows a book to climb the Top 100 Free lists (genre and overall), but when the title returns to its regular price, the rank basically reverts immediately to its previous level. Lots of titles may be given away, exposing new readers to your book, but there is no real boost to sales or rank once it returns to the regular store.


Giveaways can still be useful by exposing readers to new authors and series. But keep in mind that people will take for free something they would never, ever pay for. Some percentage of those who download a free book may never buy the second in the series.


At this moment, price-reduction sales seem to offer more benefits.


Running a Sale on Kindle

In lieu of or in combination with a giveaway, you can choose to participate in Kindle Countdown Deals, time-bound promotional discounting for your book while earning royalties.


You can offer one low price or raise it gradually over the course of the promotion.


Not only will you continue receiving royalties during your sale, but your book may also rise in sales rank charts. When it returns to its original price, the rank remains at its sale level, giving it a short bounce in visibility at the original price.


In my experience, running a Countdown Deal of one book boosts sales of all my titles.


ProTip: Countdown Deals and Free Book Promotions can be scheduled in advance. Consider spacing promotions throughout the quarter or try running a mega sale of all titles at once. Keep good records so you know what works best for you.


 
Prize Giveaways and Social Media Contests

Another method of book promotion is to give away prizes (books and/or other items) on social media. In my experience, these sorts of contests have also become less effective over time. A contest that used to earn hundreds of entries now struggles to earn twenty.


It’s fun to give away free stuff, but the point of book-promotion-based contest is to expose potential buyers to your work and persuade them to purchase it! If you don’t earn sales as a result of your investment in prizes, then what’s the real benefit to you as a marketer?


Use caution when running a giveaway. Do the math. It’s easy to invest more money in prizes and shipping than you will earn on book sales as a result of the giveaway. This is when it’s important to know the break-even point: how many book sales will it take to earn back the money you spent on the giveaway? (Email list subscribers will have access to the free Break-even Point Spreadsheet, which will help you assess how many books it would take to offset production and promotional costs. So sign up below!)


MoneySaver: If you want to run a cost-effective giveaway or contest, consider making ebooks the prize. Ebooks require no outlay of new money to acquire. They can be delivered digitally for free to any place in the world. No postage or packaging required.


ProTip: Be sure to check each social media platform’s rules for running contests. Follow their guidelines to the letter.


Other Sales Venues

Running a Sale. If you opted not to make your book exclusive to Amazon, you can still run price-promotion sales. You’ll need to change the price of your book at each venue individually. You have less control over precise timing, but there is no time limit to a sale. They can last as long as you find the effective.


Making Your Book Free. BN, Kobo, and Smashwords all allow you to price your book free, and there’s no time limit. You can make it perma-free if you like. Keep in mind that most terms of service require you to keep the price of your book the same at all sales venues.


If you’re interested in getting the free Break-even Point Spreadsheet, sign up for the Book Business for Indie Publishers email list below!



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Published on July 09, 2018 09:12

July 4, 2018

Spend a Year with Jane Austen

I have two new Kindle options:


1. A Year with Jane Austen: Modern Austen Short Stories


Celebrate the holidays and special seasons of the year with a visit to all six of Jane Austen’s major novels.


This is a collection of all my modern Austen short stories originally found in Holidays with Jane. Includes “Infatuation and Independence,” A BRAND-NEW BONUS STORY from Pride and Prejudice! ($2.99) https://amzn.to/2IR1Cqr


 


 


But if you’ve already read all the Holidays with Jane books and just want access to “Infatuation and Independence,” the new short story from P&P, look here….


2. Infatuation and Independence: A Modern Austen Short Story


Lifelong follower Kitty Bennet thinks a summer of solitude in the mountains will help her decide what she wants from life. After a chance roadside encounter with good-looking contractor Josh Parrish, Kitty begins to rethink her choice to be completely alone. Josh immediately likes Kitty and only wants her to agree to one date. Will Kitty yield to the advice of her overbearing mother or follow her heart? ($0.99)


This story is brand new! https://amzn.to/2KMdefX

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Published on July 04, 2018 08:29

May 21, 2018

The Marketing Department: How to Build an Email List (Part 3)

The Marketing Department
How (and Why) to Build an Email List

One of a writer’s greatest pleasures is sharing her book with readers. But how does one reach those elusive readers?


Well, social media, of course.


Unfortunately, social media has limitations. Even though people opt in to your pages and feeds, it’s still not the most pinpointed approach. You’re putting information out there and hoping the social media algorithm will help it reach people who opted in.


Sadly, only a small percentage of those who opted in see your posts. So you still may not be reaching a large percentage of your readership. Not only do social media algorithms limit your potential reach, but lots of readers don’t engage in social media at all. Non-social-media users compose a certain percentage of your readership, and even though they don’t tweet, they can still be excited about keeping up with new releases.


Is there a way to skip the algorithm and keep everyone informed of new releases and other exciting events?


You bet. Even if readers aren’t active on social media, almost everyone these days has an email account. So….


Build an Email List

I’m all about finding the most efficient way to do a given task, but I’d also like it to be cost effective (read: free). Enter MailChimp. (Other mail services are available, but this is the one I’m familiar with.) Mailchimp is a service that helps you build a database of email addresses, design interesting forms and letters, and automate your emails. Mailchimp offers the option of tracking each campaign, so you can find out how many recipients opened the message and clicked your link. This service keeps your database, makes content creation easy, and keeps track of the results for you!


Free Plan.  You can create or important a list of up to 2,000 subscribers and send as many as 12,000 emails each month and pay nothing.


If your list grows larger, there are other plan options available for a fee. Their business plan is $10 a month and their ultimate plan costs for high-volume senders is $199 per month.


Money Saver: You can generate and maintain your own email list using Google Docs and a spreadsheet.


Using MailChimp, you can create a cool sign-up form like this: http://eepurl.com/o-leX (I need to update this with my new covers! Project!)


Or you can use a sleeker embedded option in the sidebar of your blog:



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Subscribe to our mailing list





You can also import existing lists of readers who have opted in previously.


The Takeaway

 If you use MailChimp, you must only send emails to subscribers who voluntarily opt in. You must have their permission to add them to the list. Plus, it’s just rude to add every person who has ever emailed you to your subscriber list. If they wanted to get your newsletter, they would have signed up for it. It’s presumptuous and unethical.
 Make every email count. Say something useful in each letter. If you yammer on in a weekly letter, the important stuff can easily be lost or your domain might be relegated to the junk mail folder.
 Tell readers the purpose of your list and how often you intend to email. Some people want to hear from you every week or month, but others simply want to know when the next book in your series is available. Let them know what to expect and give it to them.

The purpose of my main email list is to send book launch announcements. I don’t use it for anything else. Am I using the list effectively? Some would say no. But when my next book comes out, I will be able to email the people who specifically asked to be notified, and in the meantime, I haven’t made a nuisance of myself. As a result, my click-through rates are high, as are my link clicks. I get very few unsubscribes after each email.


Start building your email list today, and you could have a large built-in audience that is ready to snap up your book the moment it comes out. And since we’re talking about email lists….



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Published on May 21, 2018 08:52

May 18, 2018

Making the Most of Amazon Prime: Prime Reading

You guys, I am so behind!


I’ve had Amazon Prime for years, but I used it primarily (pun, sorry) for the free shipping, video streaming, Kindle Lending, and Prime Day sales.


But I was totally missing out!


Did you know about Prime Reading? You probably do. As I said, I’m behind. I recently went camping and wanted to load up my Kindle with things to read by the fire. While I was browsing, I came across this new-to-me-but maybe-not-to-the-rest-of-the-world feature and about danced a jig.


Tons of free things to read! I loaded up and took my devices to the mountains. There’s nothing like relaxing by a fire in total darkness with a nice book to read.


The fire where actual Prime Reading took place.

Okay, now back to Prime Reading itself. If you’re already a member of the Amazon Prime program, it’s included at no additional charge (unlike the Kindle Unlimited program). You don’t even have to own a Kindle. All you need is a device of your choosing and the free reading apps.


Boom! You get access to tons of books and magazines. And they are actually items you’d want to read! Seriously, go look. You’ll find something to enjoy or mock (whatever suits you).


Here’s how it works:

Choose your books or magazines from the Prime Reading selection.
Click “borrow for free.”
The item is sent directly to the device you choose. (Again, you don’t have to own a Kindle. You can just download the free Kindle app and use whatever you have.)
Read and enjoy.
When you’re done, return the item.
Choose more!

You can check out 10 items at a time! TEN!


Even if you hate the book, you’re not losing any money. It’s risk-free reading from your couch. No trip to the library needed.


With the price of Prime going up this year, it only makes sense make yourself aware of everything the program entails. And that’s:



I didn’t know about Prime Reading, but it makes me much more willing to pay the new, higher price. And it makes me wonder what else I’m missing out on.


So are you already using Prime Reading? If so, what should I check out next? Or are you just as behind as me?

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Published on May 18, 2018 09:01