#book funnel

[littlegrrl7]

All of this.

Up goes the cry “but I’m too poor to buy books”.

Here’s how to help indie authors instead of hurting them:

Join their ARC team and leave great reviews for stories you loved. This gets you a free advanced copy of their book.

Become a book reviewer for services like Book Sirens, Story Origin, Net Galley, or Book Funnel. AND LEAVE A GREAT REVIEW IF YOU LOVED THE BOOK. Using these services you can get more books then you’ll ever be able to read for free, and help the author out by reviewing them on Book bub, Amazon, or Goodreads. Or leave a review on all three, no need to be stingy.

Use a local library--really.

If you want books to exist, stop pirating them.

This sounds like drama, but it's not.

Not only is it well documented that pirating contributes to publishers not buying more manuscripts from an author (Maggie Stiefvater's experiment being the most famous), now we have evidence that Amazon's Kindle Unlimited algorithm is registering pirated copies of books online as the book being "offered" somewhere else, and punishing the authors for it.

And I don't know how much you know about Kindle Unlimited, but the thing is, if your book is in KU, you have to check a little box that says you're not offering the book anywhere else for sale. At all. So when the algorithm is finding the pirated copies, it's pinging it as, Oh! The author lied! The author misrepresented their sales strategy! ACCOUNT DELETION FOR AUTHOR. NO ROYALTIES FOR ONE THOUSAND YEARS.

Miette jokes aside, that's actually what's happening to very popular self-pub authors. Ruby Dixon just had her account deleted, her 15+ volume popular KU series taken down, and Amazon fighting her over the KU Pages royalties she'd already earned on those books. Now, Ruby's got her account back because she's popular enough that people shouted at Kindle executives very, very loudly, but what about other authors? This could ruin someone's career.

Well, why not publish wide, I hear you saying. Why stick to Kindle Unlimited? After all, Amazon sucks.

Here's the thing. Whether we like it or not, Amazon has a massive corner market on books, and for authors who are self-publishing, it is by far the most accessible and cost-effective method, PLUS, it's a great way to be discovered by new readers.

Because readers don't have to pay for individual titles under KU (they pay for a subscription, and then Amazon pays out authors based on how many pages of the book someone read), they can give new authors a try. They can take a chance on a book they're not sure they'll like. And Amazon tends to promote KU titles more aggressively because it's good for their business.

My little $0.99 short story, Swelter, is on Kindle Unlimited, and I can tell you that a good 85% of my royalties from it come from KU pages, not from people buying it. And that's for a story that costs less than a dollar and is not a big investment and has pretty good word-of-mouth in the f/f reading community.

Self-publishing is expensive, and time consuming. I'm getting away with it pretty cheaply right now because I am also a professional editor, and I have friends in the business who are willing to trade in kind rather than be paid. I have a really wonderful friend who is doing my ebook formatting for free because I beta read and do proofing for her. But if I were paying for all the services that I'm trading for, as most authors have to do? I'd be well over $1500 sunk into this little ebook coming out in a week that is going to cost $3.99 and be free to read on Kindle Unlimited. And that's not counting marketing. Because yeah, you have to pay for marketing. Hell, I had to pay $35 upfront to a popular site to be considered for their marketing campaign, and would've paid another $65 if they'd accepted me. (They did not, so I'm out that $35 without even a marketing campaign to show for it.)

And the thing is, I'm currently gainfully employed. I'm salaried. My spouse is also salaried, so I have enough disposable income to spend what I've spent on this ebook (which is still about $600, even with all the things I'm trading for). Most authors? Especially most self-publishing authors? Don't have that.

So Kindle Unlimited, for all its flaws, is a way to get more diverse voices in the business because you don't even have to buy an ISBN. Amazon assigns you an Amazon Sales Index Number (ASIN) and you're good to go, as long as you're not listing it on any other sites. Hell, they even have tools for you to make your own cover art if you don't want to pay someone to make it for you. They do a lot of their own internal promotion on Kindle. Readers can try you out for little-to-no personal investment on their part and maybe discover that they love your writing, and you've gained a whole audience. It's a great return-on-investment for self-published authors.

So that's why a lot of self-pub authors choose Kindle Unlimited. And a lot of authors will do a limited run on KU in order to get some early word-of-mouth and discovery readers, and then publish wide later. (That's my current strategy with Welcome to the Show, if it does well. If it's not doing well, I probably won't sink the money and time into expanding its availability.) But if this happens, if Amazon shuts down their account over "KU membership misrepresentation," then even if the book has been published wide and is available on other platforms by then, Amazon is going to dispute their KU Pages royalties and try to take them back.

So by pirating books, not only are authors losing "potential" sales (I know, there's a whole argument there), they could be losing real, actual sales that they've already sold.

In conclusion:

1. Don't pirate books.

2. If you see someone requesting where they can read a book "for free", speak up.

3. If you see someone providing links where people can read a book "for free" (if it is not provided by the author for free), speak up.

Thanks, and have a good day.

[meleighm]

Sale Extended!

I know. I’m a pushover, but I’ve decided to extend the offer on Jareth, First Lord through Monday. So now you don’t have an excuse! Go on over to Book Funnel and find the link to your favorite retailer. Set on a rustic world lost to Earth centuries before, Esperance has developed a clan system, each clan ruled by a First Lord with psychic abilities. Jareth is the current ruler of Clan…

[kannemeinelauthor]

FREE books

There are over 30 lesbian/sapphic/women-loving-women books available over at Book Funnel including TWO of mine! Take a look here: https://books.bookfunnel.com/bfsfr_salespromos/u4fy9brunp

[erickaclay]

Saved from ourselves.

I had a lady tell me she couldn’t connect with me on LinkedIn because she can’t connect with any “Jesus people” since they’re too toxic and cruel. I just told her there wasn’t any need for an explanation and that I prayed she’d find peace and to have a great rest of her week. The old me would have said, “And I can’t commiserate with bigots so thanks for letting me know!” But the new me? I’m…

[p0rchc0ll4ps3]

There is nothing anymore. The ships are gone. There is no way through. No route. No passage.

When Tuunbaq's domain was finally invaded by the pale people — the kabloona — it would be the beginning of the End of Times. Poisoned by the kabloonas' pale souls, the Tuunbaq would sicken and die. When the Tunnbaq dies because of the kabloona sickness, its cold, white domain will begin to heat and melt and thaw. The white bears will have no ice for a home. The whales and walruses will have nowhere to feed. The birds will wheel in circles and cry for help, their breeding grounds gone.

This is the future they saw.

Once, we did see a ship, cutting through the ice, flying a white flag with a red cross. Blood on her sails like the blood on their hands. But she is gone now. A ghost.

This is the future they saw.

One way or another, the world turns its face again towards corruption and darkness. White men take their control, and we are slaughtered at the hands of their hubris and their lust for imperium.

The ice will melt. The water will run red. Power has corrupted us all, and our world is lost.

[headdaze]

it seems like my book obsession tendencies have transcended even into the realm of my kpop obsession 😂 like from what I gather most fans are after physical albums to get the photocards (like the goodies).. on the other hand there's me going "oh I want the pHOTOBOOK!!! it feels so amazing in my hands and I love flipping through it--" and before you ask it's not because I enjoy the beautiful pictures within (although it is a nice bonus, always makes me appreciate the art of photography more ✨): "I like the weight of the pages and the scent of a new book no matter the type 😃"

my art obsession has also highkey snuck its way into the kpop obsession like half of my decision when I decide what albums to get is "OK, but can I use the outfits the group is wearing in the phonebook for ARTISTIC REFERENCE??? 😀" (after first briefly skimming through unboxing videos) (this is real thought I have had. multiple times.)

[brightwoods]

Ty years after the fact when he finds out that Kit's "I love you" was meant romantically and that Kit left because he thought Ty rejected him when Ty had assumed those words had been said as platonically as when any of his family members had said the same thing to him:

[gideonisms]

I bet whoever started the church doctrine of never loving anything in the world more than god just had god as a special interest

[envydean]

My parents have left the house...

Me: pulls up a balloon animal omegaverse book on my kindle...

[erickaclay]

The cusp of something different.

Putting my dog down felt like excising a good portion of my past. For the longest time, it was my daughter and me and my two pups around the kitchen table, homeschooling and living and laughing and crying and wishing this moment in time would get over itself already and move on. And then it did. And now I’m thirty-eight, my dogs are dead, and my daughter is at school. And Jesus is saying, “It’s…

[cruelsister-moved2]

this is so humiliating 30 years old and you still cant read a book that isn't abt sexy fairies going into heat

[vividxp]

If you are looking for more Black reactors/podcasts about AMC's IWTV, i've posted a few tagged as 'iwtv reactions'

[inky-evergreen]

A redraw of a redraw I did when Fgteev into the game was the only Fgteev book

[vanessaroades-author]

SOS still looking for the entry point to Instagram or TikTok fantasy author communities that are not romance at all

[mariautistic]

I do understand the importance of talking about terfs in how far their bigoted views extend but it does make me feel crazy when people sideline the fact they're. Trans exclusive radical feminists specifically like their whole identity revolves around hating trans women and trying to take the focus away from that is like. Lol

[justahumblememefarmer]

Putting some positivity out there about the election

Harris has raised a record amount of money from small donors after Biden dropped out, in addition to being able to access all the funds from their campaign they already had

Trump is deeply unpopular and people have already seen the chaos that 4 years of his presidency would bring. A lot of people have been energized to vote against him, even if they're not fond of Dems

Polling showed a red wave for Republicans in the 2022 midterms, and yet they only barely had control of the House, and couldn't even agree on a Speaker for a historic amount of time. Dems also increased their lead in the Senate. Historically, midterms favor the opposition party and have lower turnout, so this is a good sign for the House in 2024

Dems are fighting back in swing states. PA and GA both put in Democratic senators in the midterms

In my home state of PA, I am from Bucks County, which is a swing county for the state. Moms for Libery took over the school board and used it to attack queer students, enact book bans, and funnel money to themselves and the superintendent. At the most recent election, Dems turned out and took back every single open seat, ousting the board and superintendent. Worry about similar takeovers in surrounding school boards also increased turnout

Abortion rights are on the ballot in many states, which has been a winning issue for Dems and increased turnout

Republicans were prepared to attack a feeble old Biden who isn't the strongest speaker. I don't think they expected him to actually drop out, and they now have to put an 78 year old convicted felon up against a prosecutor

Awareness of Project 2025 and it's contents has entered the public sphere and is being much more openly discussed on the news. While Trump has insisted he has nothing to do with it, most of the authors worked in his administration and Trump has worked closely with the Heritage foundation

Feel free to add more things on this thread, but the most important thing is to get out there and VOTE

Vote for President

Vote for Senators

Vote for Congresspeople

Vote in your local elections

Vote Blue down ballot