Testing the waters - Karen Bush

It Only Happens In Stories

  A short story that is growing into a long one ...

          Last year I wrote a longish short story and published it on Amazon as a free giveaway over the Christmas period. The idea was to try and use it as a way of introducing myself to potential new readers and hopefully regenerating interest in my (paid for) collection of short pony stories.

          I meant to take it off again after the five days free promo, but being busy with other stuff, I forgot until a couple of weeks later. When I remembered, I checked - as one does - to see if any had been sold, and was pleasantly surprised to see that far from sales plummeting after 400 odd freebies had been downloaded, it was actually doing quite nicely, thank you. And what was more, it had garnered more reviews than any of my other books, whether digital or paper. All of them nice: the only negative comments were from those who hadn't spotted in the blurb that it was a short story rather than a full length novel.

          So, dear reader, what else could I do? The reviews and sales have been positive enough that I am currently developing it into a full length book, expanding the original story a little, and then taking it on from the point where it stopped.

          It strikes me that this has been a useful lesson. As much as an advertising tool, it has been a valuable way of testing the market for my book. If, after devoting much time and effort to writing something, your book then languishes unloved and unread, it is not only depressing but also means you are financially losing out. It's also a way of getting an honest opinion - and possibly a sounder one than from agents and publishers who don't seem to have any better idea than the rest of us about what is or isn't going to sell. The opinions are, after all, coming from your target audience.

          Hopefully there will now also be a ready made audience of readers who will want to buy it to find out what happens next. And hopefully, they will like it just as much!

Haunting Hounds

LIVING THE DREAM - Coming soon to a Kindle near you ...

The Great Rosette Robbery

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