Matthew Culberson's Blog - Posts Tagged "afterlife"

Available for FREE August 8th and 9th:



a novel that is free, gratis, libre, frei, Бесплатные, 免費, 無料, wolna, bure, leitha. Need I say more? Well, of course I do. It’s a good read. But there’s no reason to take my word for it. It’s free to try. No obligation. No hidden shipping costs.

Also, I am donating a smile for every FREE download so you can feel like you are giving back as well. Smiles are contagious, so who knows what this will do. We could start a smile epidemic. Fancy that.

Seriously, though, please check out my book. It’s about death, family, life, and is a unique take on the world beyond. I am proud of it and would love for as many people to enjoy it that would wish to devote their valuable time.

Thanks and have a wonderful day. And don’t forget, admission to the afterlife is FREE for the next two days.

Thanks,

Matthew Culberson

Okay, so I know it's not that big of a deal, and it is FREE after all, but I woke up and my book was #46 on the Literary Fiction best seller's list for FREE downloads.

Really cool to see and I am excited for the reviews to start pouring in. Thank you for all the support!

I've decided to use up all 5 of my KDP promotion days and have extended the FREE promotion through the rest of the week. Hopefully I can ride this momentum. The more readers the better.

See you on the other side,

Matthew Culberson

The first three days of my free promotion have certainly been a roller coaster. The first day was slow going. Then overnight the downloads came in like gangbusters (I'm guessing UK customers). The downloads kept coming in the next day, so much so that I made it all the way up to #39 in the Literary Fiction (Free) category by the end of Tuesday.

I had initially planned on only having two free days, with the idea that I would use the other three promotion days KDP gives you for another time. But after Tuesday's success, I wanted to keep the momentum going and extend it out for the next three days.

Today has been a little slow going, but still getting a download here and there. Maybe it will be like before and tomorrow will pick up. Perhaps it has something to do with how Amazon promotes each title, I don't know.

All I know is, I am happy overall with the success of the promotion. The more eyes on my book the better, and if just a small percentage actually take the time to read it, then all the better still.

The entire self-publishing process is a marathon, not a sprint, and I just have to keep telling myself that. I am proud of my novel and my hope is that more people will get to enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Until next time,

Matt

Like anything else worth having, finding an agent and eventually getting published through a traditional publisher is tough work. Writing and editing the book is only half the battle. First you have to write the query letter and convince a literary agent to read your book. If you beat the odds (1 in a 100 is the number I’ve heard) and make that happen, the next step is said agent feeling like they can sell it. And even if they take you on, there’s no guarantee they will find a publisher for your work.

It’s a long, drawn out process that can take several months or even years. And then, if you’re lucky enough to find a publisher, you’ve got up to a year before your book hits the shelves. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m willing to wait for all this, and I have. I’ve gotten an agent to read my work. I’ve gotten the positive feedback only to be told it wasn’t for them. And I still have query letters wandering around in the great abyss (i.e. sitting in a stack of some agent’s slush pile/email inbox).

But as a writer, I simply want people to read my book! Is that too much to ask?

So in steps Kindle Direct Publishing. And by direct, they really mean direct. You write the book, design your cover, and upload your book for all to see. Seems simple enough. And it is. But that’s just the first step. The next challenge is actually getting someone to read it.

And that’s where the self-promotion comes in, the hard job of finding readers, raising your hand and getting noticed in a crowd of people, trying to be the stand out needle in the haystack. The internet is filled with, “Read me! Read me!” billboards everywhere. The competition is tough.

I never wanted to self-publish, because I always felt that, in a way, it was giving up. There’s a stigma about the quality of the self-published book, which in some cases is deserved. But that’s not to say there aren’t the diamonds in the rough, the rare success stories of quality novels making it into the hands of readers. And I’m hoping my novel is one such success story.

So that’s where I am today. On July 5th, I released AFTER LIFE to the world, and although I was excited to do so, my hope is that it's not just a tree that falls alone in the forest for no one to hear. Anything worth having is worth working for, and I’ve done the work, I’ve made the sacrifices, and now I just want someone to sit down, perhaps with a nice glass of wine, and enjoy my book. Nothing more, nothing less.

Is that too much to ask?

Until next time.

Here is another trailer for After Life. I enjoyed making it and hopefully it will attract readers to my book!

Have a great night!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SYMp...