#book funnel

[jrhartauthor]

Naughty or Nice, these Christmas stories are sure to pique even Santa's interest.

Check out the list (and fill your eReader) here.

[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…

[karen-carlisle-off-the-artboard]

Doctor Jack & Other Tales eBook out 1st Feb, 2023

https://karenjcarlisle.com/2023/01/21/doctor-jack-other-tales-ebook-out-1st-feb-2023/

The compilation eBooks are formatted and uploaded. You may have seen them available for pre-order on some online bookshops.

First up is Doctor Jack & Other Tales – book one in The Adventures of Viola Stewart – with new cover to match the published 3rd edition paperback. The eBook compiles the original (and now delisted) eBooks: Three Short Stories and Doctor Jack.

Official publication day is 1st Feb, 2023.

  I’ve madly trying to get things in order before my surgery on Thursday.

So far I’ve set up:

Bookfunnel page to deliver eBook reward to Patrons (Conspirator+ tiers) later this week (Link post scheduled for Thursday, 19th Jan)

direct from author book sales page on my website at: karenjcarlisle.com/product/doctor-jack-other-tales-journal-1-ebook/ (NOTE: link goes live next week)

eBook delivery page finalised via Bookfunnel (as epub. mobi, and pdf)

links for other online bookstores added to book sales page on my website (via Books2Read – books2read.com/Doctor-Jack-Other-Tales 

The above link to buy direct from me will go live next week – depending on surgery recovery (effectively pre-order and get one week before publishing date: 1st Feb, 2023.)

You can also find pre-orders online at: books2read.com/Doctor-Jack-Other-Tales (delivered by other stores on/after official publishing date: 1st Feb, 2023)

[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.

[jrhartauthor]

Christmas may be over, but that doesn't mean you have to put away your Christmas reads for the season. Go ahead, you know you still want one... or five... or twenty-nine of them... (Pssst... get into the spirit of NYE with This Christmas, which has a great New Year's party!)

[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:

[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…

[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

[claredugmorewrites]

To build up excitement for the forthcoming Hexes and Heiresses Collection (coming summer 2023), some of the collection participants have written short stories connected to the world in their main collection story.

I have written one myself, called the Setting of the Sun, which features a young Princess Celestia, whose death in the main story is the catalyst for my forthcoming novella The Dark Side of the Moon.

To grab your copy of Twilight of the Witch Queen, and a host of other fabulous fantasy books, check out Free Fantasy December on BookFunnel.

[envydean]

My parents have left the house...

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

[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

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

hi!! you recommended vonnegut a while ago, and i just read slaughterhouse five and it was incredible and i was wondering which one of his books is your favorite/which one you would recommend next?? thank you!!

oh my GOD yes yes yes I am not a normal person about kurt vonnegut. I have three options for you with pitches as to why.

Mother Night is one of my favorites out of everything he ever wrote, and it’s definitely an excellent second book. He wrote in his foreword that it’s the only book he ever wrote that he knew what the meaning of it was. Whether that’s actually true and remained true, I don’t know, but the point he makes in it is one that’s pretty profound and I’ve heard shockingly little of in media.

The book follows a former high-ranking member of the Nazi party, who was a very successful propagandist for them, which distracted from the fact that he was also the most successful wartime spy for Allied forces. It’s also one of the less weird books he’s ever written? Kurt Vonnegut really leans into absurdism, and it’s more evident in some books than others. This sort of helps with the learning curve.

That being said, Cat’s Cradle is my favorite out of all of his books, and it’s also the second I ever read, after slaughterhouse five. It’s like, 20% more weird than slaughterhouse five? So if you vibed with some of the weirder aspects of it (think like, the alien zoo subplot) then I highly recommend Cat’s Cradle. I honestly can’t figure out how to give a synopsis of this one without revealing information best revealed in the book, but it’s a commentary on the post-WWII arms race and religion. It’s insanely good.

The thing about Kurt Vonnegut is that he has a lot of different recurring themes, and I feel like everyone takes away some kind of core message from his works. That being said, I feel like The Sirens of Titan most clearly and compellingly states Vonnegut’s core message in his works, and it’s definitely a must-read out of his books. It’s not my favorite but it’s definitely fighting it out for a place at the very top of the list. It follows the richest man in the world, who has the least purpose in it, at the center of an interplanetary war between Mars and Earth.

I will say that there’s only one book that I would say you probably shouldn’t read as your second book and that’s Breakfast of Champions. There’s two reasons for this.

First, Kurt Vonnegut’s books exist in a loosely interconnected universe. He’s somewhere between Marvel and Shakespeare in how he does it. It’s not like Marvel where it’s feeding into an overarching narrative, and you don’t need to read them in some kind of particular order to understand, but he’s not like Shakespeare just alluding to his own works in different plays in the sense that these books are explicitly existing within the same universe. You have specific places (Ilium, which you saw in Slaughterhouse Five, shows up a lot) and characters that recur throughout. The protagonist of Mother Night, for example, is briefly referenced in Slaughterhouse Five, etc. They’re used primarily as a vehicle for meta commentary and it’s honestly so well executed.

Kilgore Trout makes the most appearances across the disparate novels. He’s widely regarded as a character meant to be a stand-in for Vonnegut himself, and he plays his largest role in Breakfast of Champions. You also have characters in Breakfast of Champions that are taken directly from his other books, like with the minor role the protagonist of Bluebeard plays in BoC (Bluebeard is also a banger of a book worth reading but personally my least favorite of all his books). Again, you don’t need to read Vonnegut’s books in any official order to understand them, but Breakfast of Champions has the most cameos and greatest use of meta fiction in it, so the reading experience is just overall enhanced by having a little more grounding in his other works.

The second reason is it’s really fucking weird.

In a brilliant kind of way. It’s regarded to be one of his best works, and it deserves the reputation. But the techniques he uses in this are by far the most experimental, and while those experiments absolutely pay off, I usually recommend that people get used to his particular approach to absurdism before tackling Breakfast of Champions. I highly recommend this book if you like Vonnegut, but really spend time with him as an author before reading it and you’ll get so much more out of it.