Tuesday, November 30, 2010

I will never get tired of these posts I guess

November has beaten October as Fairy Tale Fail's best month ever. Amazon also launched (finally) a way to give Kindle books as gifts, even to people who have never opened a Kindle account, so this might even get better. (I hope!) If anything it's taught me that momentum is a big part of the ebook success thing -- a big promo push in the beginning helps, but also constant buildup.

That said, Amazon is a mostly American audience, and I'm never really sure how they'll react to a very obviously Pinoy story (though it's in English). This review by Holly of Book Harbinger came out recently and gave me an idea.

I also found out that FTF's older sibling My Imaginary Ex is still selling, more than a year after its release. Recent reviews by online communities and book bloggers have been significantly helpful.

Speaking of helpful online communities, a Goodreads page has been created for No Strings Attached. (Thanks, Chachic!)

Monday, November 8, 2010

Paper again, and word counts

FTF paperback update: Batch 1 is all out, but I'm expecting batch 2 to arrive in a few weeks. Sorry about the delay -- apparently I'm bad at figuring out supply and demand. (Good thing I'm not an economist!) Please be OK with being batch 2. :)

The books got some exposure on the interwebs this week by being featured on Chachic's Book Nook. It's always exciting, especially now that I've come out and started interacting with people who post stuff about the book. The reviews also give me something to think about, so here are a few thoughts to toss back out:

From Chachic's review of Fairy Tale Fail: "If only the paperback was as cheap as the e-book edition, I’d buy lots of copies and give them as Christmas gifts to my girlfriends. Unfortunately, the paperback is more expensive at P350."

I appreciate the thought, and I do wish the printing was cheaper. :( I got a great deal from CreateSpace, but it still can't beat the cost of distributing an ebook.

From her review of My Imaginary Ex: "I just have to say that I’m enjoying reading local chick lit. I just have a minor complaint – they’re all so thin! Small paperbacks less than 150 pages long. I’d be glad to read something meatier if the authors come up with something like that."

I had to learn to write with a word limit that would still make good business sense to my publisher. But to their credit, my next title's manuscript was 8,000 words over -- but they're still taking a chance on it. (Love them!)

BTW I just found out that that book now shares a title with an upcoming Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman movie. (Story's different, as far as I can tell. Unless they too meet on a beach in Batangas.)