C. M. Skiera's Blog

I ran my first KDP Select free giveaway for Mirrors & Mist on May 14 and 15, 2015. I thought I'd share the statistics I collected to try and get some idea on what worked and what didn't. On May 14 (Day 1), 139 copies of Mirrors & Mist were claimed on Amazon and 6 copies of Crimson & Cream were downloaded off Smashwords in my coinciding giveaway of Book I of The Oxbow Kingdom Trilogy. On May 15 (Day 2), 40 copies of Mirrors & Mist were claimed on Amazon and 3 copies of Crimson & Cream were downloaded off Smashwords. In the days following the giveaway, two copies of Mirrors & Mist and one copy of Crimson & Cream were purchased on Amazon, along with two Kindle Unlimited selections. So, in total, 188 e-books were given away and three follow-up sales occurred. Obviously, those were not the kind of sales numbers I was hoping for. But,  Mirrors & Mist  did peak at #31 on Amazon's 100 Free Best Sellers in Epic Fantasy and hover...

My avid comic-book reading years are far behind me, and although Batman: The Dark Night Returns and Watchmen are two of my favorite books, I'm by no means an expert on 21st century comics. That being said, I like to feature speculative indie fiction on this blog, so when I was asked if I'd be interested in featuring the indie comic book Biowars , it piqued my interest.  I checked out the Biowars website and was impressed by the professional presentation and phenomenal artwork, so I proceeded to read the first issue of Biowars-The Battle Rages Within titled Infection . Two things immediately jumped out at me. First, the artwork was top-notch; bold, colorful, vibrant, and bursting off the page.  Second, the premise of an entire world full of characters and action set  inside  the main character's body struck me as unique and intriguing. I found the writing succinct and the dialogue crisp and realistic, and the characters possessed individual, developed p...

Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Select Free Book Promotion is a feature where an author can offer a book enrolled in KDP Select free to readers for up to five days.  You can pick the specific days you want to run your giveaway, from between one and five days in a row. I've decided to offer Mirrors & Mist, Book II of The Oxbow Kingdom Trilogy free through KDP Select on May 14 and 15 (next week). Below are websites that will promote your KDP giveaway for free . Some of these sites don't guarantee a listing with their free option (but they offer paid options for guaranteed and/or increased exposure). I've applied to list my free days on all of them, so I know they're active and current (and have a free option, since that's all I used this time). Ask David Author Marketing Club  (registration required) Awesome Gang Book-Circle Choosy Bookworm eBook Lister eBook Stage  (registration required) eBook Stamp eBookasaurus eBooks Habit Freebook...