Posts Tagged With: kickstarter

Kickstarter Success!

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Kate Policani

My kickstarter project is funded! It just goes to show you that there are some awesome people out there. It was saved at the last minute by a few kind folks.

I learned a bit about Kickstarter and how it works, and I think that a hallmark to success is selling your vision with the audience in a compelling way. It isn’t enough to just state your objectives and offer nice incentives. That is good, but what sells people is your own passion for what you want to accomplish. I’m going to focus on this next time I do a kickstarter.

Categories: Book Launch, Resources | Tags: Author, book, community, kickstarter, promotion, success, vision | 2 Comments

Kickstarter for Pre-order, Pre-release Copies, and Other Goodies!

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Kate Policani

Take a second to check out my Kickstarter project if you are thinking about buying my next book! I’ve got discounts and some fun ways to get my book before it’s available for sale.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/523666041/dont-judge-a-book-by-its-magic-book-launch

If you’re feeling adventurous or would like to get featured in my upcoming Virtual Release Party, there are some options there too.

Categories: My Books | Tags: book, discount, early order, ebook, Fantasy, kickstarter, magic, paranormal, pre-release | Leave a comment

Put On Your Kickin’ Shoes

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Kate Policani

We are live with my Kickstarter campaign! This one is more chill than my previous campaign, and more of a pre-order platform than anything else. There are several ways you can get your hands on my digital pre-release copy without committing to a pre-review. I have Day-of-release paperback options as well as some fancy stuff.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/523666041/dont-judge-a-book-by-its-magic-book-launch

If you want to buy my book, I’d encourage you to go this route because you can get things earlier, and because you get a discount! If you want more swag, I’ve got it there too. (I do still believe firmly in the 99 cent ebook, but I’m going to start my book at $2.99 so I can discount it later and boost sales.)

If you are interested in pre-reviewing my book, you don’t need to buy it. I’ll send you the e-copy as soon as Kathleen has finished her fabulous editing magic on it. Email me katepolicani@gmail.com to get on my pre-review list.

Categories: My Books, Self-Publishing | Tags: Author, book, discount, kickstarter, launch, promotion, reading, reviews, sales | 4 Comments

Ducks in a Row

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Kate Policani

My title is chosen and my cover is ready, so it was time to fix up my book page for Don’t Judge a Book By Its Magic. Se it here: https://katepolicani.com/works-in-progress/dont-judge-a-book-by-its-magic/

My revised trailer video is there, or you can see it here: http://youtu.be/Ih7yjpv-_bQ

I also started a new Kickstarter campaign. It isn’t active yet but you can see the preview here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/523666041/1337809747?token=bbf91262

This time I worked my project as more of a pre-order program with some extras included. If you wanted to buy my book, this is a fun way to get it, with extras available if you want more than just what you can get on Amazon.

I learned more about how to better run the Kickstarter project.

1. Make your low earnings goal as your project goal, not your maximum amount. You can earn and keep money above your goal amount, but you lose it all if you don’t reach your goal.

2. Don’t run the project too early before rewards will be available. I’m closer to the time when I can give buyers their rewards for contributing.

3. Provide plenty of inexpensive rewards. If I were thinking of contributing, it wouldn’t be $20 to some stranger’s book.

Categories: My Books | Tags: art, Author, book, cover, kickstarter, reading, revision, title, youtube | Leave a comment

What Is Working

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Kate Policani

So some things are working for me as an author, and some aren’t. Here they are:

My short story – I have 334 downloads of The Silver Collar on Smashwords. A surprising number of people have bought it for kindle too, even though it is free on Smashwords and I put a link as a comment. I wonder when Amazon will get around to fixing that….
https://www.facebook.com/weloveebooks – This one worked for me and got me 10 sales in one day. The problem is, that is all I got and I’m not sure if I can put more books on there or what.
Lots of Connections – I made a serious push to put The Lustre out where as many people could see it as possible. Also, I put my free short story everywhere I could find to put it. That seems to have upped my visibility a little and I get a few sales here and there where The Disenchanted Pet has gotten none.
Having more books out there – It seems that the more books I have available, the more people are reading.
Time – Yes, the time I have been online and the time my books have been available has worked in my favor. This is another plug for starting your platform early. If I had 140 blog followers and 432 twitter followers before I first published, I think things would have been easier for me.

Things that didn’t work/aren’t working:

Kickstarter – My campaign didn’t earn even a fraction of its amount. Maybe I tried too soon or asked too much. I noticed the ones with lots of support had some kind of perk outside of the book itself – a contribution to a charity or something.
The 99 cent Network – My book was up initially, but now I can’t find my book on the site at all, even though I paid for four months. I emailed them about this and have heard zip-o in return. Boo! I also have no way of knowing if I got any sales through them.
Selling my books at places other than the biggies – I found a lot of little side ebook sellers and posted there. I didn’t see any extra sales, though. No one has sent me big checks because my book is a bigger fish in a smaller pond. I don’t think I am hurt by it, but I don’t know if I will spend the time and effort to put future books out there if I get no return.
Kindle Select – I had hoped that putting the zero-sales Disenchanted Pet up as a Kindle Select title would give me a little boost, but I’ve seen no new sales.

A little about book reviews and getting them: I sent out requests for review of The Lustre to 11 different bloggers in March and recieved 2 replies, one a yes and one a no. It isn’t easy to even get a reply, let alone a review. (Don’t feel bad if you email 3 and don’t get any response.)

As a book reviewer, I am getting lots and lots of requests, even though my list is so long. I’ve amended my review policy and have said “no” to some books I didn’t think I could enjoy enough to give a good review. I still have enough time to reply to everyone, but I can see where an established reviewer would have a hard time.