Results of KDP Select (Lucifer's Odyssey)

Intro

For those who aren't familiar with KDP Select, it is a program on Amazon that trades exclusive distribution of an eBook for three months for 1) 5 days worth of free promotion (e.g., your book goes free for 5 days), 2) enrollment in the KDP borrowing program which rewards each borrow with a percentage of the 500k-700k pot of money for all enrolled in the KDP Select program, and 3) possibility of better exposure with the Amazon algorithms (unverified).

I removed my novel from distribution sites like Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, and all other vendors earlier in January and patiently waited to be eligible to enroll my book and try out the service. We're two days out of my free promotion. Let's find out what we learned.

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The Free Promotion

The Free Promotion got off the a bad start. The KDP console wouldn't let me edit or delete the first promotion I did, and I wanted to reduce it from 5 days to 3 days, so I could have 2 days of free promotion before the release of Goblin Rebellion in late February/early March. The promotion was scheduled to go from January 26th to January 30th, and I contacted KDP 3-5 times asking them to please help me remove it before it started so I could get it going correctly.

When January 26th came around, the promotion failed. It registered as in progress, but it never went free. At about 3-4 p.m. the system finally allowed me to cancel the promotion. Even though it never went free, I was charged for a full day of promotion. I'm down to 4 days. I decide to use 3 of them (27th through the 29th) and leave the 4th for the release of the Goblin Rebellion. You know what they say about a plan, right?

I contact Kindle Nation Daily and Ereader News Today and inform them that Lucifer's Odyssey has 13 reviews and is going free the 27th until the 30th. KND runs with it, but ENT is busy and says they can't post it until the 30th. "Great, thanks!" and then it hits me. If they post the ad on the 30th, the free promotion will be over. So, I bite the bullet and schedule another promotion on the 30th, my final day. It's all or nothing.

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The Results

From January 27th to the 29th, Lucifer's Odyssey was within the top 700 on the free list and top 10 in Epic Fantasy. I was hanging out with Derek Prior's "The Nameless Dwarf" and David Dalglish's "Night of Wolves". On the night of the 29th, it started falling, and I went to bed going, "OK, I guess that's it."

The ENT ad went up sometime on the 30th and when I checked it, I was in the top 200 free list and had almost doubled my downloads for the promotion.

Total downloads: 2820

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After the Storm




Lucifer's Odyssey went from a 140k-300k average rank to hovering within the 9k to 30k ranking. In the first two days since the promotion, I've had 5 sales and 3 borrows. That's very good news for my book launch. Even if 60% of the people that downloaded Lucifer's Odyssey do not read it, that means that I now have well over 1,000 potential readers for the 2nd book in the series, and I'm very happy about that.

Even more interesting is what the promotion did for my "Customers Also Bought" list. This list is available on all books and serves as a recommendation engine for other books to purchase in the genre or that your book-buying habits mirror. All those downloads gave the Amazon engine more information on how to categorize and target the book to other readers, and it's working. That's why more people are purchasing and borrowing the book. After four months of luke warm sales, the book feels like it's actually gaining traction, much more so than the KND ad I took out in December which came nowhere near making the money back. I had ~30 sales of 0.99, because they recommend it, and it didn't pick up. Nothing happened during the Christmas rush.

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Overall KDP Select Experience: Very positive (A-)
Room for Improvement: They really need to fix their console to allow removing the promotion before it goes live. I could have used that extra day that got lost in the system to do more experiments.

Tell Me About Your Odyssey (and get Lucifer's)

With the release of Lucifer's Odyssey, readers get a chance to follow the Crown Prince of Chaos across the multiverse--from Earth to Chaos, the Goblin Realm, and even part of a primal pattern (a projector of universes). His journey may cover trillions of light years and hundreds of pages, but he's also a fictional character. Let's get real for a minute.

I want to hear more about your life journey. Make me laugh. Make me cry. Make me want to reach out and give you a hug or a high five. And feel free to embellish if you like (i.e. make it all up if you want to spin a thick yarn on us!)

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Contest

Top 5 odysseys get signed paperback copies of Lucifer's Odyssey (U.S. mailing addresses only) or an eBook version in the format of your choice (MOBI, EPUB, or PDF). Additionally, I'm throwing in Pink Snowbunnies Ski in Hell, a charity anthology that features one of my flash fictions.

No purchase of any kind is necessary. Here's all you need to do:

1.) Reply to this post with a comment detailing your odyssey. It can be two sentences. It can be hundreds.
2.) Indicate in your post what your email address is so I can contact you in case you are a winner. You can also send me an email at rexjameson@gmail.com, if you would rather not leave your email address on this public website.
3.) Your odyssey must be less than or equal to 1,000 words. This is how much space we had available to tell our story in the Pink Snowbunnies Ski in Hell anthology and is about 4 pages worth of possibilities. Good luck!

Like one of the odysseys posted here? Then leave a comment and vote for it! Have fun, be creative, and win yourself a copy of my book and a great anthology for charity!

Contest ends September 10th!!

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Embellished Example:

I was born in Alabama. I didn't have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out of, but my mom Francis, brother Steve, sister Jackie and I had each other. We vagabonded around the Huntsville area, moving from home-to-home until I was eleven years old. That's when my mother formed a plan--not a particularly bright plan but a framework to temporary riches nonetheless.

She and my step father robbed five banks in the family van and clown suits, and they might have gotten away with it if they had been remarkably smarter. When the cops showed up at our door, Steve, Jackie, and I had no idea what was going on, but we were pretty sure it wasn't good. My younger siblings and I ogled Huntsville through the striped back window of a cop car as we were carried north to our father's house in Tennessee.

Somewhere along the way, we were told what our mother had done, but we didn't dwell on it. I dove into my books and theories, and my brother and sister started building friendships in elementary school. We adjusted well, all things considered, and I graduated in the top 25 of my class. I packed up my belongings and got ready to enroll in college, but I soon got a surprise from the financial aid office. Apparently, according to the IRS, I was a female.

At first blush, the perks seemed overwhelming. I was rooming with a hot, smart girl and the dorm featured community showers. Unfortunately, it also meant that I was being audited and ineligible for financial aid, and my girlfriend was absolutely livid about the possibility of me rooming with a hot, smart girl.

I convinced the ladies in administration that I wasn't a female but was never issued a male parking pass, which resulted in some amusing traffic court cases. After a year of trying to pay for college with a full time job waiting tables, I decided to take up an offer that some researchers had presented me with through college channels and dropped out of school.

The new job was located in the tropical paradise of St. Cloud, MN. 9 months of winter and wind chills frequenting the negative thirty range. Oh, and the Fargo accents that they swore they didn't have!

The terrorist attacks happened shortly after we started our company, and the market for our research was practically obliterated. We stumbled along for another three years, I got married, and then I got out of the four digit salary (you read that correctly).

We moved back to Tennessee, I went back to college as a card-carrying man this time and actually received financial aid. Woo hoo! It's like Christmas! Then I got divorced, earned three degrees, and met my fiancee at a charity strip poker game for graduate students and senior citizens on Halloween.

So, my Odyssey took me from Alabama to Tennessee, Minnesota, and back to Tennessee. Where has your journey taken you?

P.S. Remember, embellished.

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Sneak Peak at the Primal Patterns Series

Lucifer's Odyssey

The release of the first novel of the Primal Patterns series is coming up on September 1st, and reviewers are already taking a look at the advanced review copies and posting sneak peaks. For readers curious about the setting of this series, check out the breakdown at my Reader Blog.

As a result of the review on eBookworm.us, I plan on adding the following Author's Note to the book to prepare the reader for the first book. What are your thoughts? Will this help shape reader expectations better?

Author’s Note
This book is about a war between angels and demons but with a different premise and origin story. Angels were once demons, and Jehovah has created a truly unique universe for humanity and his other creations to thrive in and ultimately be reborn into, instead of being placed permanently into heaven- or hell-based eternities. As a reflection of some of our current Earthly religions, this god prefers his creations to those in the rest of the multiverse. And so the saga begins …

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Introducing The Goblin Rebellion

The follow up to Lucifer's Odyssey should be released in February of 2012. I've commissioned Christopher Steininger for the cover art, and he has delivered once again! Then again, I may be a tad biased here. What are your thoughts?

Angels vs Demons (new Novellette)

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I've added information on a new novellette (10,000 words) called "Angels vs Demons: Perspectives of a Violent Afterlife" to the site. I expect the novellette to launch on Kindle and Nook on October 1. The information for the novellette is included below:

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Title: "Angels and Demons: Perspectives of a Violent Afterlife"
Cover:



Summary:

Heaven and hell are vying for human souls in vortices between humanity and the afterlife. When Lucifer and his demons overwhelm Archangel Michael and Gabriel, heaven is faced with the possibility of losing all souls on the planet.

Reincarnated in heaven, Michael must fight his way back to Earth to stop more demons from swarming the planet and help his brother Gabriel track down the devil before he tricks humanity into harvesting billions of souls into his fiery kingdom.

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Lucifer's Odyssey is still looking good for an eBook launch for September 1. Beta readers are currently pouring over the edited version and giving feedback. I will try to have the paperback version up via Lightning Source to all major outlets by September 15th at the latest.

Release Date Set

My editor and I are in the final stages of our substantive edit, and we've managed to set a date for the release of my debut novel Lucifer's Odyssey on September 1, 2011. We hope to have advanced copies sent to book reviewers on August 14th at the latest. If you are a book reviewer for speculative fiction or independent authors, please send me an email at rexjameson@gmail.com, and we will add you to the reviewer list for the early copies.

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Title: Lucifer's Odyssey
Genre: Speculative Fiction
Series: Primal Patterns
Release: 09/01/2011
Word count: 84,000
Cover:

Abstract:

Lucifer languishes in an earthly prison, awaiting the apocalypse that will finally free him after 200,000 years. Before breaking loose, he discovers that the armageddom he set in motion will destroy the capital of Chaos, his home universe.

He travels back to Chaos and stumbles upon a bloody civil war devastating his homeland. The realm’s magic wielders are firmly under the control of a rival clan, and without their protection, Lucifer's family is in mortal peril. As old demon clan rivalries blossom and a new hostile universe expands across the known multiverse, Lucifer is faced with not only protecting Chaos from annihilation but also saving his rightful place on the throne.

Chapters (1-3): MOBI | EPUB | PDF

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This is an extremely exciting time, and I couldn't have gotten here without the support of so many great friends, family, and the great folks at the Kindleboards. Be sure to check back here every week or so, as I plan on having contests for autographed paperbacks. Also, be sure to check out the Pink Snowbunnies in Hell anthology, which should be coming out August 15, 2011, and features one of my flash fictions Don't Mess with the Meadow.

Progress Updates

We're wrapping up the 12th chapter soon for Lucifer's Odyssey in the redraft, and the story is looking great. I have put the first three chapters up on the Novels page, so if you are wanting a sneak peak at what is in store, feel free to check it out. We're thinking this first book will be out by September, now, instead of my initial projected dates. Sorry for the delay.

I did a collaboration on a flash fiction with Jeanne Miller for a second entry into the Pink Snowbunnies in Hell Flash Fiction anthology. We'll see if either of my two submissions make it into the collection. If not, I'll be sure to link them on the blog so others can read them.

No changes have been made to Dead Winter, and that one will need redrafting as well. Depending on reader wishes, I may push that one back quite a bit and focus on a 2nd Primal Patterns book instead.

Updates On Redrafting and Anthologies

Lucifer's Odyssey is currently on Chapter 9, and things are going really well. I've also submitted a flash fiction to Debora Geary's Pink Snowbunnies in Hell Flash-Fiction Anthology.

As for this blog, I've updated the Lucifer's Odyssey novel page with the current results of the rewrite up to Chapter 3, but I hadn't written an official post about it. It doesn't look like I'm going to hit my original July 1st target. August 1st is more realistic.

New Redrafted Chapter 1 posted - Lucifer's Odyssey

So, I've redrafted the first chapter and have been working closely with my editor throughout the process. I think he has done a fantastic job, but I'm also a bit biased.

To those who have read my old first chapter (or tried to) or any new visitors to the blog, how do you feel about the current pacing, point of view, character development, etc.? Are Derek and I on the right track?

Lucifer's Odyssey - Chapter 1

Editing Updates

After getting comments back from the editor, I've decided that Lucifer's Odyssey needs a full redraft of most, if not all chapters. I've taken down the sample chapters and will put a few of them back up when I get through the redrafts.

I have rewritten the first chapter without the major info dumps in a way that I hope will increase the pacing. As for other updates, the short stories are up to 7,500 words total, and I haven't touched Dead Winter for a couple of weeks. I'll keep everyone posted on the progress, however.

Lucifer's Odyssey Full Cover

I posted this on my Facebook, and several followers have commented on it. Special thanks to Ben White who pointed out some issues with the back cover and helped make it even better.



Cover art is by Christopher Steininger.

Editing has started with Derek Prior. Everything is still looking good for a July 1, 2011 release.

Cover Art for Lucifer's Odyssey

Christopher Steininger and I are nearing the final version of the cover for Lucifer's Odyssey. Here is the current incarnation:

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Thumbnails

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Large Images

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I have requested a few small changes, but for the most part, this is what the cover of Lucifer's Odyssey - my first novel - will look like. We're currently working on banners too. I'll post them when I get them in my hands.

In other news, I have been busy with work, but I did manage to add another 2k words to The Winter Phenomenon. As always, feel free to check out the samples on the Novels page and let me know what you think.

Updates on both novels

Lucifer's Odyssey

Christopher Steininger has begun a detailed version of the cover art for Lucifer's Odyssey. We have been going through sketches for a week or so, and we're both in agreement that it's time to start on the final (hopefully) version. I'll be sure to post the final up as soon as it is available.

Beta readers are currently working up through Chapter 10. I can't thank you guys enough for taking a look at the novel before it goes into the editor. If you are currently in need of a next chapter, let me know. Unless he gets done with his current works, Derek Prior should start editing the novel on April 10th.

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The Winter Phenomenon

Making a lot of progress on The Winter Phenomenon - a series that is completely separate from Lucifer's Odyssey. This is a sort of post-apocalyptic urban fantasy. I think that's the right description of it. There's a LOT of sex right now, and enough sexual tension to choke a walrus, but all of it is hopefully flowing well with the story right now.

I may end up posting Chapter 2 and 3 to the Novels page soon, despite the sex scenes, unless I get specific complaints within the next couple of days. I'm currently working on Chapter 8.

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If I maintain this pace, I'll definitely hit the planned December release of The Winter Phenomenon, but I may even get a chance to start on Book 2 of the Primal Patterns series.

Lucifer's Odyssey overhaul

Lucifer's Odyssey has had a bit of a cosmetic facelift, and I couldn't have done it without many of you readers. Some of the comments I had gotten back were that the first and second chapters were too long, and you were right. These chapters are now separated into four total chapters. Similarly, the third chapter has been broken into two chapters.

Along with other chapter splits, Lucifer's Odyssey has expanded from 11 chapters to 17 chapters, which will give readers more resting points and hopefully result in easier reading. But chapter splits are not the only changes that have been done.

Additional comments from readers were that people were getting lost in the description from Chapter 1 and especially Chapter 2. The introductory paragraph in Chapter 2 has been updated to remove the name given to the vortex that was created and instead tries to focus on what happened when the shit really hit the fan.

In addition, some readers have told me that they were having problems following the timeline of when Batarel and Lucifer arrived in Chaos, and I've added a more explicit description which I hope flows naturally at the beginning of Chapter 2. Additional buildup has been added to hopefully explain why the demon revolt was so inevitable as well.

The interrogation of Michael has received changes. When Sariel had noted how closely the captured man looked like his brother, some readers were a bit unnerved by the nonchalance of the reaction, and that's because I hadn't done a good job at describing what was really going on. Hopefully the setup is a bit clearer in Chapter 1 and the flow is enhanced.

I've expanded the Novels section here on the blog to include the first five chapters instead of the first three. If you would like to sample later chapters, send me a message at rexjameson@gmail.com.

Lucifer's Odyssey Editor and Cover Art Ongoing

Lucifer's Odyssey is coming along. I was able to take another look at Chapter 1 over the weekend and do some light editing for consistency in dialog in 2-11. However, the bigger news is that I have chosen an editor and cover artist.

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Cover Art
The cover artist is named Christopher Steininger. We have been discussing the artwork direction for about a week, and he was able to get me some mockups this weekend. So far, there have been two samples, and Christopher has just been phenomenal. These samples are included below in miniature - to give you an idea of how they'll look as thumbnails on Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, etc.



We're still hammering out the designs. Currently, another wing is being added (he has 8, and so we're showing the 4 on the left side) and the wings are going to be shifted right. Lucifer will be facing fully forward on this next one, and the wings will no longer be wrapping around again in front of the viewer. Some other small adjustments are being made as well (like the title is currently slightly more difficult to read in miniature).

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Editor
The editor I am going with is Derek Prior. Derek is a speculative fiction writer and editor and has helped out various writers on the Kindleboards within the past year. Editing starts on April 10th and may take up to two months, depending on how much work needs to be done. I'm currently working on synopses for each universe and doing light passes over the novel to ensure Chicago style is being enforced (which will help us focus on more indepth reviews of the document).

I'm currently planning for a summer release on Amazon, Kindle, and Smashwords. I may also do a paperback version on CreateSpace for POD options.

What do you guys think of the cover art so far?

Lucifer's Odyssey: Author Apology/Notes

I posted a similar question to the Writer's cafe which can be found here, but since some of the readers that come to my blog are in no way associated with the Kindleboards, I felt I should post the topic to my blog as well.

After some comments from readers of Chapter 1 concerning conflicts between Lucifer's Odyssey and the biblical canon, I have done some introspection and am looking into composing an Author's Apology or Author's Notes section that explains to the reader where the story is coming from and why aspects of the canon were changed.


You can find the draft of this note here:
Author's Note - currently located before Chapter 1.

Do you think it is a good idea to include such a note at the front the book? Do you feel that such an apology is unnecessary?

Lucifer's Odyssey Updates (Chapter 1 also revised)

The second major revision of Lucifer's Odyssey is complete. Though I feel pretty good about the overall story, several of you have expressed concerns about Sariel's biblical changes in Chapter 1. Before I send this off to an editor, I'll definitely do another pass and see how I feel about.

Additionally, Chapter 1 has been updated after I realized that I didn't actually finish Chapter 1's revision during the last round. The pdf has been reuploaded, and you can read the latest changes by clicking the Novels link above, or by clicking the following:

Lucifer's Odyssey - Chapter 1

I'll start from Chapter 1 and read the entire thing through before sending it off to an editor. Let me know if any of you guys feel there are flow problems in any of the three sample chapters. Thanks!

More updates on Lucifer's Odyssey

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Chapters revised today: Lucifer's Odyssey (10)
Happiness with revisions: 8/10
Chapters left to revise in this pass: Lucifer's Odyssey (11)

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The 10th chapter is a bit long at 36 pages now, but the changes in flow should help - I hope. I feel really good about the changes I made to the grumpy old architect. He won't be anyone's favorite character, but he should be at least more interesting.

In additional news, I'm talking with a talented artist about cover art. I think everyone is going to be pleasantly surprised with the results once we get started. He seems interested, and his work seems right up my alley.

Update on Revisions

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Chapters revised today: Lucifer's Odyssey (2, 5, 7, 8, 9)
Happiness with revisions: 8/10
Chapters left to revise in this pass: Lucifer's Odyssey (10, 11)

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To those who are reading Chapter 3 and 4, the next chapters (5 through 9) are in pretty good shape, so let me know when you are ready for the next one.

Also, don't be shy about problems you are finding with setting, characters, etc.!

Edit: I went ahead and revised Chapter 2 finally. It needed a nice, hard scrubbing. I've uploaded the new version to the Novels page. Feel free to check it out!

Extra Edit: Lucifer's Odyssey is now over 100,000 words long... O_O

To sex scene or not to sex scene - that is the question!

Over the past two days, I've revised Chapter 5 and 6, and man, has it been an up and down battle. Chapter 5 was simply a disaster. I rewrote the first few pages completely, and I'll have to revisit it again because I went through a similar process that I did when first writing many of these sections. Namely, I just kept chanting "Okay, okay, okay, just fill in the gaps. It will all work out."

Chapter 6? The front of it seemed to be a bad carry over from 5. I actually started on it right after 5 hoping that it would help me break on a good note, but instead I went back to sleep. After awaking the next day and working on some other work related stuff, I came back to the chapter, and I'm glad I did - it got really good later on.

Chapter 6 has what I hope are some great humor scenes and is also really the first of what will probably be many sex scenes in my books - unless I stop writing. Every time I start to do a revision of this chapter, I sort of cringe because while I'm revising other chapters I tell myself that one day I'll probably have to go back to Chapter 6 and completely remove the sex scenes.

Thankfully, I don't feel that way after reading the chapter again. Maybe some of the people reading the book will feel differently, though. You guys and gals will have to be the judge. Anyway, I have no plans of writing romance books or putting an image of my six pack on one of my books (ROFLCOPTER - this is very much sarcasm), but I hope that I can continue to write these short scenes into books and not throw readers off the books completely.

Has a sex scene ever gotten you to stop reading or writing a book? If so, what really set you off about it?

Lucifer's Odyssey - Chapter 1 (Revised)

I woke up at 2 a.m. with an idea in my head for the bar scene. I tossed around in bed for an hour or so, and my brain just kept going and going about Chapter 1 and some of the comments that you guys had given me.

There's some preamble that I should mention here. Chapter 1 used to be large enough to choke a horse. One day, I decided it was all terrible, and so I erased the entire chapter and started over. Twenty some odd pages was more manageable, but there were a lot of ideas that went away with the revision.

That being said, the explanations for what the demons were doing on Earth, how they got there, what they did when they got there, etc. were lost on the chopping block. I felt it was time to address them once again. The result is that Chapter 1 is up to thirty pages - nowhere near as full as it used to be but still hefty and hopefully better.

For those that gave comments or just want an introduction to Lucifer's Odyssey, please feel free to check out the newly revised Chapter 1 below. Comments are always welcome - even if it's just to say that I've managed to ruin your faith in authors or something :D.

Lucifer's Odyssey - Chapter 1

Happy reading!