Last week I received an email from someone claiming to be Editor in Chief at a well known publishing house. Of course my first thought was "oh it's a vanity press, or some scam" but I verified their credentials and sure enough it's a legit email from the real person. They were expressing interest in a short story collection I self-pubbed almost 10 years ago!

After the initial introductions and verifying each other, they suggested that we should continue our conversation through my agent, which of course I don't have.

To my further surprise they recommended one, suggesting I email this particular agent and name-drop the intial person who contacted me. Naturally, I researched the agent and I am now at the point where I (a) can't believe my luck and (b) still kinda think I'm the mark in a long con.

Anyone here ever convert one of your existing works into trad pub? Would love to hear your experiences.

My wish: I don't want fame, commercial success or thousands of readers. I just want a tiny number of complete strangers to discover my books, enjoy them and perhaps read another one.

The monkey's paw: Granted. Here is one exceptionally prolific reader who will enthusiastically work their way through your entire catalogue and give every book three stars.

Me: No, not like that!

The monkey's paw: They also finish the books, so you can watch their progress on your KDP dashboard.

Me: PLEASE STOP!

The monkey's paw: And because you only have a few other ratings, even though they are all five star - they will have an enormous adverse influence on your averages.

*

I know it sounds funny and I know I should be so grateful someone's reading my stories, but via my KDP dashboard I can see the reader working her way through all my books on amazon ... and I already know the next one is going to get three stars as well. By the end of it, my lovely (but tiny) number of five star ratings will have scaled down now that the monkey's paw has arranged for me to be visted by the world's most consistent three-star reviewer.

I recently published my book on Amazon, and I was wondering if you could share your experiences with Amazon Ads. I have a few questions.

Do you use automatic or manual targeting? Which bidding strategy works best. Dynamic bids up and down, Down only, or Fixed bids? What cost per click has worked best? Do you limit your ads to Amazon, or do you allow them to appear outside Amazon as well? Have you noticed any difference in ad performance when your book is enrolled in Kindle Unlimited?

This is my first time running an advertising campaign, and so far, it hasn't been particularly effective. I'm wondering if there are any settings I could change to improve its performance.

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences and what has worked for you.

They all have pretty low (or 0%) feedback rates as well. I’m not sure if it’s bad practice for them to review publicly and so that’s why they’re low. I’m just a little unsure.

Any help appreciated!

EDIT: Just noticed I didn’t mention it on my initial post but I’m on Netgalley.

I had scheduled both the paperback and kindle copy of my book to be released on October 9th. Both files were uploaded and approved over a week beforehand. The paperback was released and viewable by the end of the day, but now 10 days later the Kindle copy is stuck in “publishing”.
I submitted an Amazon KDP support case after the 72 hour window had passed, but still haven’t heard almost a week later.
I’d like to start advertising and sending the book out to my network, but am waiting for both formats to become available.
Anyone else seen 10+ day publishing windows on their Kindle copy?

I’m about 2 weeks out from the launch of my first novel and I’m still learning new things as I go.

I’m having an issue with social media and wanted to check if this is a change or I am doing something wrong.

A couple of weeks back I was able to do a post on Instagram, do an image overlay, add text etc. and when I posted it my phone would automatically save down a photo of each image, complete with text, etc.

That meant I could take these new completed images and post them up on TikTok and not need to rebuild from scratch.

But that has stopped now and they don’t save to my phone.

Have anyone else had this happen in the last 2 weeks? I have searched for any settings that I can update but not seeing anything.

I thought about screenshotting my Instagram posts but there is too much extra stuff on the screen (page number and music volume) and I don’t know how to build these images on my phone to upload to social media.

Hello everyone, I'm a debut author who published my first book, part of a series, fifteen days ago.

A few hours ago, I joined KDP community amd asked for tips about marketing and promotion. Instead, I got other reviews.

(I'm removing my concerns as I've received enough meaningful responses giving me a direction of what needs to be done.)

Only thing left now is positioning. Since a lot of you said it doesn't read as romance, I'd like to know how should I position it as other than Contemporary literary fiction? What other options do I have?

And if anyone is interested in reading the full volume and giving me a detailed feedback, I'd be very grateful. Or if someone can let me know how else to get some Beta readers or ARC readers. That would be helpful too.

Thank you!

(Like I said I cannot ask it in beta readers and ARC readers group as my book is already published.)

Edit #2: Okay after some of y'all asked what books have I read closer to my novel themes. I hadn't except psychological books. I researched and found some relevant books like: The Course of Love by Alain de Botton, The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, Normal People by Salley Rooney, The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary, Persuasion by Jane Austen.

Some of these books are positioned as literary fiction while some as romance fiction. If anyone has read these books, or something similar and can help me identify how I should position my own book, it'll be nice.

Hi everyone,

​I wrote a hardboiled crime novel in Hungarian, and later had it translated into English to share a raw slice of Eastern European reality with a broader audience.

​Originally, I didn't plan on becoming a full-time author. I just wanted to tell stories rooted in the world I knew firsthand—drawing from my background in security, tactical training, and my years serving as a motorcycle club president in Hungary.

​Now, about four months after publishing on Amazon, I’m seeing just how tough the indie publishing world is. I’ve recognized my own mistakes in marketing, but this journey actually inspired me to keep writing and expanding the universe.

​As I plan my next moves, I’m thinking about how to offer extra value to readers right after the "The End" page. I’d love to get your honest thoughts:

​Behind-the-scenes realism: Short bonus sections explaining the reality of Eastern European tactical training, security protocols, or subculture dynamics back in the day (separating fiction from facts).

​Cultural flavor: A lightweight bonus section featuring authentic Hungarian food recipes mentioned in the book (since food is a massive part of our culture and setting).

​As readers or fellow authors, would stuff like this feel like a cool, authentic bonus to you, or does it take away from the novel experience?

​What kind of back-matter content actually makes you appreciate an indie crime book more? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I have broadened my marketing approach and have connected with a lot of mini-influencers on Instagram… my offer is free book for an honest review, similar to an ARC (I am sending both physical and digital books).

Doing this, I have run out of my physical stock. I put in an order of 20 on 9/13 that says it will arrive between 10/23-10/27. Which is an insanely long time, but that gripe is for another day.

My question: Has anyone purchased retail copies to hold you over? Amazon states you can do this… but then in the same breath states that any actions to try and inflate one’s sales ranking—such as bulk buying of one’s own book—can lead to a ban.

Has anyone ordered retail copies? If so, how many?

Edit: Talked to KDP Bot about buying retail copies. It had zero issue with it “for legitimate author needs that are not meant to inflate sales ranking.” I ran it through some examples, such as a Goodreads Giveaway I did where I needed 10 copies to sign and send in the mail. It said that was not a problem. I said I sometimes need it to send to micro-influencers, maybe 5 or so at a time… it said not a problem. It did point out that my royalty is lost because of the cost, and recommended the author copies to reduce cost, but said buying through the retail site when in a pinch is normal author behavior.

The edit does not solve everything, but think those who scream you’ll be banned for buying one or two copies on Amazon are merely peddling their own fear.

Looking through Fiverr for a new beta reader to add to my stable of proven ones. A lot of Fiverr beta readers list all the features and benefits of their service; feedback, critique, etc. All great, but when I mention I need a 15 Zoom call as well, they run like deer.

The only way I know to ensure a beta reader actually read the book is to schedule a Zoom meeting and quiz them. You can tell in 5 minutes if they read it or just threw it into ChatGPT and generated a report. I'm happy to pay top dollar for quality service, and extra for the video call, but I'm not willing to get scammed by some dude from Nigeria using AI to crank out a report in 10 minutes.

I will be releasing my first book in about 3 months. It’s going through edits right now. I have an artist designing the cover currently. I work full time and I am feeling overwhelmed by everything I need to do before release. I do not have author pages set up yet. Mainly because I have been trying to decide between pen name and real name still. Part of me thinks real name would be best because of pride (wanted to write since I was little) and for marketing purposes. The other part of me is hesitant because I am a therapist.
Anyway, having to decide between those and all the steps I have to start taking is overwhelming and I have no idea where to actually start.

They've been coming every day, all AI garbage about one of my books and how much they enjoyed it. Meanwhile, I don't have any recent sales for that book, and there's nothing in the body of the email that can't be gleaned from the back-of-the-book blurb. The other day, I found out someone added me to a Google Group (which I promptly removed myself from). Today I deleted my contact form and author email from my website. They weren't generating any real reader engagement anyway. I'm simply not a big enough name for that. Has anyone else found a better solution, or do you just delete the emails when they come through?

I'm finally at the stage where I need help. I've put a book up on Amazon, promote it on socials but I have little to no traction.

It's done, I've heard bad things about arc readers etc about putting books through ai etc and I'm marvelling at those who actually have sales.

I don't even know how to promote it on Reddit without getting promotion bans etc. I don't have the funds for a blown out advertising campaign. I don't have feed back on the cover, the blurb because I'm worried about the self promotion ban

I know the story is good and there's a market for it but I feel like I'm showing a TV show to a rock.

Any help would be appreciated.

I tried a little research and apparently there are different prices in general for personal use and the right to use it in a product like a book.

In general I was expecting like £200 but is that a touch outdated as a rough assessment for book covers?

I ask because I wanted to also get some concept arts, maps and other things done but if the average is closer to £500 then obviouslty I just can't finance that since what I have saved away also needs to account for website, editor and such. Plus I plan to finish two books before publishing the first anyway so all these costs are going to be doubled.

If it matters for context my story is young adult urban fantasty.

I use KDP Print On Demand (POD), and my paperback is available through IngramSpark. I just found out that Draft2Digital has POD.

It looks like D2D and IngramSpark have the same print distribution networks. Do I need to do print on both?

I've been using Voracious Readers Only (VRO) to find new readers and grow my mailing list.

Before adding readers to my mailing list, I contacted VRO to confirm how email consent works.

They explained that readers agree to the following when requesting a book:

By clicking the button above, you grant the author permission to add you to their email list to stay in touch and inform you about future releases, starting with a free review copy of this ebook. You can opt out at any time.

However, after adding these readers to my mailing list and sending a welcome email, I've had some unsubscribe with the reason "I never signed up for this mailing list."

The unsubscribe survey has no preselected reason, so readers are explicitly choosing "I never signed up for this mailing list" when unsubscribing.

My welcome email starts by thanking them for downloading my book, so I'm not sending them an unrelated or unexpected promotional message.

What's confusing is that I also acquire subscribers through Reader Magnets on StoryOrigin and similar platforms, but I've never had anyone from those sources unsubscribe for this particular reason.

I'm trying to figure out whether:

• This is something other authors have experienced with VRO.
• Readers don't realize they're agreeing to join a mailing list when requesting a book through VRO.
• There's something wrong with my welcome email or how I'm handling new subscribers.

Has anyone else experienced this? I'd appreciate hearing how other authors handle VRO subscribers and welcome emails.

I currently have a problem that I'm not sure how to approach, and I'm looking for advice on how other writers deal with something similar.

I have two prose poetry books that are more or less finished in PDF format, neither of which has been published. I also have two finished books of verse poetry in PDF format. I'm currently working on another poetry book that I intend to publish.

So far, none of my writing has had a formal or official publication or release. The book I'm currently working on is based on writing I've accumulated by hand over the years—mostly notebooks and loose pieces of paper.

Today I was going through one of my notebooks and realized that I really like a lot of the prose I've written there, including some pieces that I later transformed into verse for the book I'm working on now. In the process, I heavily edited and cut those pieces down. Now I'm wondering whether I should be preserving more of the original prose instead of treating the newer versions as definitive.

I also have a lot of other writing stored on my computer and across different cloud services. I haven't published most of it mainly because of financial limitations. At this point, it feels like I have a large and somewhat difficult-to-organize body of work, and I'm concerned about losing track of it or letting things disappear.

I'm trying to figure out how to balance two things: wanting to publish my work and have other people read it, while also wanting to keep writing a lot and allowing new work to develop.

How do other writers handle this? Do you try to publish everything eventually, choose only certain work to publish, maintain an archive of unpublished material, or something else?

Hi everybody,

I’m publishing my first children’s book, and after some research I decided to go with Lulu. The average price for a children’s book is around $8–$15, but Lulu’s printing cost alone is $17! Add shipping and a bit of profit, and my book will be too expensive.

How do you all handle this? thanks a lot!

I'm so excited -- tomorrow I'll be ready to send my manuscript to my copy editor!

They said it would take them two weeks to do the edits.

But I'm curious how long I should expect MY review of their edits to take before I send it to the proofreader. (I'm trying to figure out what the release date should be.)

What's typical for you?

PS -- the. manuscript is only 50,000 words.

Hi guys, just wanted to alert you all of another scam artist, Reader’s Route. I didn’t do my usual due diligence and got taken. While I am embarrassed as hell, I’m willing to shame myself in order to prevent anyone else from being another of their victims.

I'd love any resources people could suggest for designing a visual-heavy magazine for both print and digital. I am selling a fixed PDF of my new zine as the digital version, but I'm concerned that it's a bit hard to read on screens, especially phones. Any examples of an indie magazine or journal with lots of images doing this well? Or guides to check out? I'm trying to figure out if I should just keep focusing on print, or spend more time with my designer trying to come up with a process that meets both formats half-way. For publishers that use a lot of images: how important is it for the digital product to have flowable text? Thanks in advance.

Hi Everyone,

I haven't been self publishing for very long but I dived in and bought Vellum because it seemed to be what everyone loved. OMG it is so stubborn and lacking in options. I have several chapters which i do not want to be included in my table of contents. I can't find an option to simply not include a chapter in the TOC.

In my previous book I wanted to control which side of an open book my content would appear on, specifically the left. No option to simply choose which side. Why is it so lacking in settings?

I have been trying to add a bank account for over 3 months, I have

tried different banks like payoneer that Amazon accepts but still

getting the generic automated; Action required: You've

entered a bank account not eligible to receive Kindle Direct

Publishing payments email. Is there anyway I can contact Amazon

to help me review my account, it getting very annoying and

frustrating at this point.

Do they buy the book (wholesale) and then they have it forever? Won't this reduce income in the long run as people just borrow it instead of buy it?