Hey all, so I feel pretty anxious about self-promotion and putting work out there but last year I figured "fuck it, everything is falling apart, why not" and hit the big PUBLISH button on Amazon. Is it weird/cringe/lib to link it here? I've got some things for the sequel I'm working on I'd like to ask for input/help.
It's free on Kindle Unlimited and I've been throwing out free copies to anyone who asks, honestly I fucking hate that Amazon is the biggest player and if anyone has advice for where/how else to get it out there I'm all ears. Don't care about the money, it was up on Smashwords at first too but I had to pull it to make it free on Amazon, and it wasn't getting any hits on Smashwords anyway.
It's leftist cyberpunk with a heavy dash of lesbian romance. A major character is trans and I'm cis as hell, so I ran everything by a trans friend of mine writing the first one, but they're pretty busy these days. Input I was looking for was basically just sensitivity reading from my trans comrades, I want to do them and the character justice.
(I'm not qualified for sensitivity reading, but I can give a teensy bit of advice about the self-pubbing, though I'm no longer up to date on industry news at all so take with a grain of salt.)
It's been years since I last checked (cuz fuck Amazon), but is price-matching no longer a thing*? Only KU requires exclusivity, the actual KDP platform doesn't afaik. Used to be people would set their stuff free on Smashwords and let Amazon automatically match down. Nowadays Draft2Digital is a lot more convenient for that (they are purely a distributor rather than another storefront), but I also still dump my stuff on Smashwords because why not. Also shouldn't underestimate the other markets -- B&N, Kobo, Google have all done decently for me, though it varies by pen name/genre and I think I was lucky to get into Google's platform directly early on.
* I wouldn't be surprised, cuz fuck Amazon
That said, if the money genuinely doesn't mean anything to you, you might as well just upload to webfic sites/serial apps like Wattpad instead of staying in the narrow confines of Amazon. (Actually, I have my issues with Wattpad, but sites like it are an option that definitely shouldn't be overlooked.) Generally KU is only worth it imo if you're trying to make some quick cash AND you're willing to game the system with keywords, paid promotions, and general SEO bullshit. Right now you're missing out on a whole chunk of readers like me who only use epubs instead of mobi, younger readers who enjoy the interactivity of the apps, and international readers who can't afford US pricing.
Fuck I never even thought of Wattpad for some reason. I'm so bad at this, haha. Book will be up there free later today if I can swing it, thank you.
If price matching is a thing on Amazon I don't know, I don't remember seeing anything about it on the site. Trying to google my way into all this as someone completely new to it is very frustrating, most of what comes up is "HOW TO MAKE A MILLION DOLLARS ON YOUR SELF HELP BOOK" which...is unhelpful, to say the least.
What's your work? If you don't mind me asking, of course.