The Grey Wolf Strikes Back

No worries! Thanks for responding! And best of luck finishing that anthology!

Nvm.

Nvm.

Btw, in y'all's experience what tends to work better in terms of promotion: Lowering your book's price or making it free?

I understand. Thanks for responding at least!

I pray not.

@Derfel Cadarn Thank you so much! @Lin Meili I understand. Hopefully, the disease clears up soon.

That sounds like pure torture to me. (Still not as bad as listening to Vogon poetry though.)

@Lin Meili Thanks. Will consider. (I thought about listing all the stories but feared readers would find it overwhelming and redundant since they can see the table of contents by clicking "look inside".)

@Lin Meili I am so sorry if I offended you! When I asked Lord Patrek for his input I was thinking more along the lines of how to implement your advice, not second-guessing the validity of it! Anyway, for what its worth, here is what I came up with: "Thirteen amazing short stories plus other written extras. Hero and villain. Fugitive and citizen. Irregulars have been all these things over recent years, especially the ones in Mistland, a Neo-Victorian kingdom out of place and time. But beyond that universe lay countless others. A world where dragons terrorize whole nations from the skies, a world where malcontents scheme for power just beyond the Round Table’s reach, and more. So kindle your hearth, sit down, and open the door to a new adventure. You won’t be disappointed. Because between these pages you will find/there is medieval skullduggery, tragic interspecies romance, gritty war drama, comic book adventures, gothic alternate history, and everything in-between. For/Indeed Tales from Mistland & Other Oddities has something for everyone...including/especially you, (curious traveler?)."

@Lord Patrek Facepalm. I'll ask. And thanks again for all the advice! Also, any thoughts regarding tweaking my blurb?

I got one comment and a few likes but no buyers.

@Lin Meili I'll see if I can tweak or expand my current blurb accordingly. (I take it I shouldn't mention the poems or vignettes in the bolded line?) @Derfel Cadarn I feared as much. Oh well. No harm done.

@Lord Patrek I asked the mods and making a post asking for reviews is strictly prohibited. There's a weekly promotion thread as well as a new releases thread (both of which I've posted in) but apart from that and mentioning it in comments (which will get marked as spam if you haven't build any rep) you have to have some sort of sale or giveaway to make a post solely to promote your book (and KDP Select doesn't let you run a reduced price promotion or freebie for the first month out of three). Therefore, I'm trying to just build up some rep (or karma as I think it's called on Reddit) so that around the 25th I can make a sales post without it getting flagged or taken down. In other news, a few more personal contacts have either bought the book or said they will once they have time. And a few among them have also agreed to post reviews once they've finished reading it. Any advice with regards to what Lin Meili said about the blurb being vague? Oh, and I made an author profile on Goodreads!

@Lin Meili 1) 3 of the short stories and all the vignettes are set in a shared comic book superhero-like setting known the Mistland Universe (so named after the fictitious Neo-Victorian country). A fourth short story is set in one of my co-authors' version of King Arthur, which we hope to expand with more stories in the future. 2) There honestly isn't really a theme beyond all the stories being different examples of fiction and the tone being generally somber. In fact, that's what I'm hoping will be one of the main draws. That there's something in it for everyone. To give a few examples, there's gritty war drama, alternate history gothic, tragic interspecies romance, and medieval skullduggery.

Congrats @The Marquis de Leech!

@Lord Patrek Thanks for the well-wishes. I looked up Mark Lawrence's contest (which reminds me that I really need to read Emperor of Thorns) and unfortunately short stories/anthologies are not allowed. That being said, I looked up the individual judges' blogs and sent review requests to the ones that aren't closed to submissions. Made a Goodreads and Reddit account. Unfortunately, my book doesn't show up on the former when I type in the title, my name, or the ASIN so I'll have to wait 24 hours before adding it manually. As for the latter, I'm going to try (and honestly have to) build up some rep to avoid being banned or labeled a spammer. All that being said, I'm going to try to stay positive and keep whittling away at it, day by day. After all, with enough time waves can break down even the biggest of boulders. (If you want to give the book a shot go ahead or, if you'd prefer, I can send you a free copy.)

I am offering to give a free copy of my newly-released ebook anthology in exchange for an honest review. If anyone is interested please DM me. Thanks and may everyone have a happy new year!

@Lord Patrek All the profits (royalties included), go to me. Two of my co-authors did it for free on the condition that they keep the copyrights to their stories and the other two accepted a one-time fee in addition to that. Thanks for the advice. I'll try my best to act on it.

Oh, and I uploaded some of the artwork to the product page* as well! *US, Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, and India if I'm not mistaken

@Lord Patrek A number of acquitances I've reached out to (some of whom have expressed prior interest and one who said to hold off until New Year's) have yet to respond, probably because of the holidays, so I'm going to send out another round of direct messages in two or three days. That being said, so far I've sold thirteen copies. When you say Goodreads do you mean a page specific for the book or an author profile like the following: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18390181.David_Craig I'll look up the Mark Lawrence thing asap. Can you give some examples of other SFF online venues and how exactly does one go about promoting oneself on Reddit? KDP Select offers two types of promotions: A limited-time discount (I think it can be up to 5 days every 3 months and can go as low as $1.99 or $0.99) and a limited-time freebie (again 5 days every 3 months). I was thinking of making the book free on New Year's (1/1/2022) and discounted for the remainder of that week as a way to both celebrate and entice readers but now I'm not so sure that's a good idea. On the bright side, two of my friends who bought the book said they'd post reviews to Amazon once they've finished reading it and one of the artists I commissioned said they can try to lend a hand too. Debating making a Facebook account just for my writing and uploading the artwork I'm posting to my Tumblr blog there too.

@Derfel Cadarn Thanks and no worries about the formatting! Worst case, I'll just use right ragged but as @Lord Patrek said, I should focus on ensuring the ebook is a success first. If either of you end up giving it a shot mind posting a review? Also, @Lin Meili, @Starkess, do either of you have any advice about self-marketing with regards to Amazon specifically and ebooks/POD paperbacks more generally? Oh, and nice blurb btw! Definitely grabs the reader's attention!

The majority of the work was done by me so that's why I'm doing most of the heavy lifting when it comes to marketing. As for the paperback, a few people asked about having the option available and I have precious little time before I have to resume my studies, hence the urgency.

Double post.

Started working on the paperback manuscript but ran into a slight problem: When I justify the text (in terms of alignment) it creates these huge gaps between words (called "rivers") that really ruin the look and flow of the stories so now I'm wondering if I should just keep things right-ragged even if that isn't the industry standard?