I'll tell you how you can enter to win a free Kindle Fire HD in just a moment. But first, I want to tell you about a bit of a shakeup in Amazon Land over the weekend. If you like finding free books for your Kindle, it might impact you. Have you ever thought about why websites like Free KIndle Books and Tips and Pixel of Ink list free books every day? The reason is that they make money by doing so. An obvious question would be "How in the world do they make money by telling me about something that is free?"
They make money by being an Amazon Affiliate. What that means is that they attach a code to every free link that you click on. If you click that link, it takes you to Amazon, where you can download your free book. But, it also puts a cookie in your browser that stays there for 24 hours. If you buy anything else at Amazon during those next 24 hours, that Affiliate gets a small percentage of whatever you buy. If enough people click on a free book link and then buy something else over the next day, that can add up to some serious change for those websites.
On Friday, Amazon put the brakes on that program by sending an email to all their Affiliates stating that if they primarily promote free ebooks on their site and meet certain parameters, Amazon will not pay them any of the Affiliate money they've earned over a particular month. As I mentioned, that can be some serious money, so those sites are taking it pretty seriously. The fallout from all this is just starting, but we are already seeing that a number of the sites that promoted free Kindle books will not be doing so any more. That means, of course, that it will be more difficult for independent writers to get the word out when they run a free promotion.
This change, coupled with the Facebook algorithm change (where FB decides who and how many will actually see any post you make) has led me to want to find a way to reach out to people who enjoy reading my stories in a more direct way. I've done this by establishing a New Book Release Newsletter. This will basically just be an email mailing list that I will use to send you a notification when I have a new book or story available. I also have plans to occasionally send out unique content, like a new short story or flash fiction to the people on the list.
Here's the deal: I know and appreciate how much email shows up in our Inboxes every day. I have no intention of adding to that very much. If you sign up for my newsletter, you will hear from me somewhere between 3 and 6 times a year. No more. It should go without saying that I will never sell your name to anyone and I will protect your privacy completely. But, in case it doesn't, let me say it: I will never sell your email address to anyone and I will protect your privacy completely.
Now, here's the fun part. I will randomly select one person who joins the mailing list between now and the end of March to win a new Kindle Fire HD, or a new Kindle Paperwhite, your choice. I know, most people would prefer the Fire HD, but there are people like me, who only want to read on our Kindles, so I'll give you your choice if you win.
To enter, all you have to do is fill out the info just above and to the right of this, where it says "Contact Shawn."
Fill out your email address, name, and say "enter me" or something in the body of the email. I will put you on the list, you'll be eligible to win the new Kindle, and you'll only hear from me when I have something important to tell you. How easy is that?
I am hoping this will make it easier for us to keep in touch with each other, no matter what policy changes Amazon implements, or algorithms Facebook or Twitter change.There have been so many good things that have happened to Dawn and I since we published Feels Like the First Time. Giving this Kindle away is also our way of saying "Thank you."
They make money by being an Amazon Affiliate. What that means is that they attach a code to every free link that you click on. If you click that link, it takes you to Amazon, where you can download your free book. But, it also puts a cookie in your browser that stays there for 24 hours. If you buy anything else at Amazon during those next 24 hours, that Affiliate gets a small percentage of whatever you buy. If enough people click on a free book link and then buy something else over the next day, that can add up to some serious change for those websites.
On Friday, Amazon put the brakes on that program by sending an email to all their Affiliates stating that if they primarily promote free ebooks on their site and meet certain parameters, Amazon will not pay them any of the Affiliate money they've earned over a particular month. As I mentioned, that can be some serious money, so those sites are taking it pretty seriously. The fallout from all this is just starting, but we are already seeing that a number of the sites that promoted free Kindle books will not be doing so any more. That means, of course, that it will be more difficult for independent writers to get the word out when they run a free promotion.
This change, coupled with the Facebook algorithm change (where FB decides who and how many will actually see any post you make) has led me to want to find a way to reach out to people who enjoy reading my stories in a more direct way. I've done this by establishing a New Book Release Newsletter. This will basically just be an email mailing list that I will use to send you a notification when I have a new book or story available. I also have plans to occasionally send out unique content, like a new short story or flash fiction to the people on the list.
Here's the deal: I know and appreciate how much email shows up in our Inboxes every day. I have no intention of adding to that very much. If you sign up for my newsletter, you will hear from me somewhere between 3 and 6 times a year. No more. It should go without saying that I will never sell your name to anyone and I will protect your privacy completely. But, in case it doesn't, let me say it: I will never sell your email address to anyone and I will protect your privacy completely.
Now, here's the fun part. I will randomly select one person who joins the mailing list between now and the end of March to win a new Kindle Fire HD, or a new Kindle Paperwhite, your choice. I know, most people would prefer the Fire HD, but there are people like me, who only want to read on our Kindles, so I'll give you your choice if you win.
To enter, all you have to do is fill out the info just above and to the right of this, where it says "Contact Shawn."
Fill out your email address, name, and say "enter me" or something in the body of the email. I will put you on the list, you'll be eligible to win the new Kindle, and you'll only hear from me when I have something important to tell you. How easy is that?
I am hoping this will make it easier for us to keep in touch with each other, no matter what policy changes Amazon implements, or algorithms Facebook or Twitter change.There have been so many good things that have happened to Dawn and I since we published Feels Like the First Time. Giving this Kindle away is also our way of saying "Thank you."
RSS Feed