I released the first episode today. And a new episode will be released each Friday.
I'll start filming again in mid-September. Still need more sponsors and advertisers.
Click here for more info about the show.
"TALK, Like Dim Sum" first episode is released!
It's my sixth rez day anniversary. It's a blue moon. And it's the launch of "Talk, Like Dim Sum," a talk show based on the book.
I released the first episode today. And a new episode will be released each Friday.
I'll start filming again in mid-September. Still need more sponsors and advertisers.
Click here for more info about the show.
I released the first episode today. And a new episode will be released each Friday.
I'll start filming again in mid-September. Still need more sponsors and advertisers.
Click here for more info about the show.
Last call
SL9B
The Second Life 9th Birthday celebration is coming to a close tonight. The sims will be closed by 11:59pm. The last of the events ended last Sunday and I also did a book reading at noon on Sunday.
I got very good feedback about the exhibit. And two people asked about purchasing a copy, so I have to pack it in a rezzer this week. Others sent feedback by IM. A blogger sent me a link where it was mentioned.
Last call
Tomorrow June 28 Thursday, the book will be free for the last time. I timed it so that anyone who comes to the SL9B celebration and learns about the book can get a chance to get it free.
Amazon's KDP Select program allows me to offer it free for five days and tomorrow will be the fifth time. The book's enrollment in the program ends in early August (90 days after May 4) and I can choose to renew it for another 90 days. However, the program restricts me from selling the e-book anywhere else, so I don't know if renewing would be a good idea.
My next focus would be on finishing up the back cover and the design of the internal pages so I can set it up for print-on-demand.
So, don't forget tomorrow!
The Second Life 9th Birthday celebration is coming to a close tonight. The sims will be closed by 11:59pm. The last of the events ended last Sunday and I also did a book reading at noon on Sunday.
I got very good feedback about the exhibit. And two people asked about purchasing a copy, so I have to pack it in a rezzer this week. Others sent feedback by IM. A blogger sent me a link where it was mentioned.
Last call
Tomorrow June 28 Thursday, the book will be free for the last time. I timed it so that anyone who comes to the SL9B celebration and learns about the book can get a chance to get it free.
Amazon's KDP Select program allows me to offer it free for five days and tomorrow will be the fifth time. The book's enrollment in the program ends in early August (90 days after May 4) and I can choose to renew it for another 90 days. However, the program restricts me from selling the e-book anywhere else, so I don't know if renewing would be a good idea.
My next focus would be on finishing up the back cover and the design of the internal pages so I can set it up for print-on-demand.
So, don't forget tomorrow!
Free again on June 1
This will be the third day that the book is free. Under the Amazon KDP Select program, I can have up to five days of free promos. So two more days after this -- one will be on Father's Day (June 17) and one more that I have to schedule depending on whether I get a parcel in SL9B or not.
Here's the shortened link: http://buy.LoveLikeDimSum.com
I've been getting very nice reviews in Amazon and very good feedback in IMs and email. And it's very heartwarming that the book is touching people and making a difference.
Soon, I'm going to start to do events to bring the community together. I've already started the weekly email newsletter for people who subscribed to the mailing list on the book website. But that's just the start.
Lots of exciting things I want to set up. :D
Here's the shortened link: http://buy.LoveLikeDimSum.com
I've been getting very nice reviews in Amazon and very good feedback in IMs and email. And it's very heartwarming that the book is touching people and making a difference.
Soon, I'm going to start to do events to bring the community together. I've already started the weekly email newsletter for people who subscribed to the mailing list on the book website. But that's just the start.
Lots of exciting things I want to set up. :D
"Your words are like chocolate"
The first day of the book on Amazon and I'm getting two extremes of feedback.
From friends and colleagues that I notified today, I got very good feedback, even with just the sample pages. Juju said something wonderful that I had to ask her permission if I could quote her. She said, "Your words are like chocolate." She couldn't stop reading until she got to the end of the sample pages.
However, later in the day, I noticed a one-star review. I finally read it and it was very harsh, very mean-spirited, and very uninformed. Right off the bat, the guy(?) accused me of justifying cheating on my spouse. Ermmm, what spouse? One of the earlier chapters talks about my divorce and my choice to remain single afterwards. And that chapter is part of the sample pages, which he obviously didn't read.
Then he ends by equating pricing with being an author. Last I heard, pricing is a business skill, not a writing skill. And even the best pricing experts have difficulty assigning prices with confidence. I took marketing classes from one of those pricing experts, who was well-respected in the industry. Even he would not quote you a specific price. It's not simple math. On top of the math, there's another layer of art and psychology. And if he *did* give you a price range, it would be after a significant amount of market research and testing. How many indie authors could afford that?
Most people think that it's all about getting the lowest price. That philosophy works with commodities, where the quality of the products doesn't matter, nor do the skill and creativity that went into it. Do we now equate e-books with pork bellies? Are we saying that the value of a book is only based on the materials it's published on? So, if a book is published in digital signals of 1's and 0's, is it automatically worth less than another book published on dead trees, regardless of the content?
Yes, there are a lot of $0.99 e-books out there. There are also a lot that are more expensive than my book's price. Pricing is closely related to branding. Do I want to brand myself as just another run-of-the-mill $0.99 e-book author out there? I think I am offering something more valuable in this book. Certainly, I'm biased when I say this is *not* a run-of-the-mill book. But so far, the people who actually read the sample pages gave very good feedback.
So I'll let the book speak for itself.
From friends and colleagues that I notified today, I got very good feedback, even with just the sample pages. Juju said something wonderful that I had to ask her permission if I could quote her. She said, "Your words are like chocolate." She couldn't stop reading until she got to the end of the sample pages.
However, later in the day, I noticed a one-star review. I finally read it and it was very harsh, very mean-spirited, and very uninformed. Right off the bat, the guy(?) accused me of justifying cheating on my spouse. Ermmm, what spouse? One of the earlier chapters talks about my divorce and my choice to remain single afterwards. And that chapter is part of the sample pages, which he obviously didn't read.
Then he ends by equating pricing with being an author. Last I heard, pricing is a business skill, not a writing skill. And even the best pricing experts have difficulty assigning prices with confidence. I took marketing classes from one of those pricing experts, who was well-respected in the industry. Even he would not quote you a specific price. It's not simple math. On top of the math, there's another layer of art and psychology. And if he *did* give you a price range, it would be after a significant amount of market research and testing. How many indie authors could afford that?
Most people think that it's all about getting the lowest price. That philosophy works with commodities, where the quality of the products doesn't matter, nor do the skill and creativity that went into it. Do we now equate e-books with pork bellies? Are we saying that the value of a book is only based on the materials it's published on? So, if a book is published in digital signals of 1's and 0's, is it automatically worth less than another book published on dead trees, regardless of the content?
Yes, there are a lot of $0.99 e-books out there. There are also a lot that are more expensive than my book's price. Pricing is closely related to branding. Do I want to brand myself as just another run-of-the-mill $0.99 e-book author out there? I think I am offering something more valuable in this book. Certainly, I'm biased when I say this is *not* a run-of-the-mill book. But so far, the people who actually read the sample pages gave very good feedback.
So I'll let the book speak for itself.
GO!!! We are live!
The book "Love, Like Dim Sum" is live on Amazon!
And you can find the book trailer here.
More later. Got lots of people to notify. :D
And you can find the book trailer here.
More later. Got lots of people to notify. :D
Ready, set, ...
I'm so nervous, I could cry.
I finished the formatting and reformatting to get the book converted for the Amazon Kindle. The book cover is uploaded, the book text is uploaded and converted, the pricing selected. All I have left to do is press the Submit button. Twelve hours after I do, the book will be live.
O... M... G...
I'm planning to push the Submit button soon after midnight of May 4 Friday. I'll talk about why I chose that date. And also about the pricing.
Usually, "1-4-3" stands for "I love you." But in Tagalog (my native language), "I love you" is "Mahal kita"... 5-4 ... May 4. The price of the book will be US$8.54. "8" for infinity. Okay, okay, so it's kinda cheesy. But I had to pick some numbers! Might as well pick numbers that have some meaning, eh? :D
Anyway, I am enrolling it in KDP Select, which is a program where Amazon will promote my book as free for a total of 5 days within the 90-day period that my book is in that program. At the same time, I cannot sell it as an e-book anywhere else, so I cannot put it in Barnes & Noble until after the 90-day period is over.
I haven't decided yet when those five days will be (they don't have to be consecutive, I think), so if you want to find out, be sure to get on the mailing list in the book website: www.LoveLikeDimSum.com.
I have to finish some marketing tasks and materials. I have to update the website. I cannot create an author page in Amazon until after I press Submit, so I have to do that afterwards. I also have a lot of work to do with the cover and the formatting to prepare it for print-on-demand for those of you who want a paper book.
Okay, back to work for me. Lots and lots to do. I'm just giddy and nervous and all that....
OMG... OMG... OMG...
I finished the formatting and reformatting to get the book converted for the Amazon Kindle. The book cover is uploaded, the book text is uploaded and converted, the pricing selected. All I have left to do is press the Submit button. Twelve hours after I do, the book will be live.
O... M... G...
I'm planning to push the Submit button soon after midnight of May 4 Friday. I'll talk about why I chose that date. And also about the pricing.
Usually, "1-4-3" stands for "I love you." But in Tagalog (my native language), "I love you" is "Mahal kita"... 5-4 ... May 4. The price of the book will be US$8.54. "8" for infinity. Okay, okay, so it's kinda cheesy. But I had to pick some numbers! Might as well pick numbers that have some meaning, eh? :D
Anyway, I am enrolling it in KDP Select, which is a program where Amazon will promote my book as free for a total of 5 days within the 90-day period that my book is in that program. At the same time, I cannot sell it as an e-book anywhere else, so I cannot put it in Barnes & Noble until after the 90-day period is over.
I haven't decided yet when those five days will be (they don't have to be consecutive, I think), so if you want to find out, be sure to get on the mailing list in the book website: www.LoveLikeDimSum.com.
I have to finish some marketing tasks and materials. I have to update the website. I cannot create an author page in Amazon until after I press Submit, so I have to do that afterwards. I also have a lot of work to do with the cover and the formatting to prepare it for print-on-demand for those of you who want a paper book.
Okay, back to work for me. Lots and lots to do. I'm just giddy and nervous and all that....
OMG... OMG... OMG...
Final book cover and other news
The problem with social media is that sometimes you forget to post where you're supposed to. I think I need a social media flowchart. Something that reminds me what to do. Something like "If it's about this topic and it's in this format, post here and here and here."
I've updated the book cover everywhere else (Flickr, Facebook, Google Plus, the book website) and I forgot this blog! Actually, I even forgot Twitter! *sigh*
Anyway, here's the final version of the book cover (linked from Flickr).
The description in Flickr is as follows:
The reason this came to the forefront of my mind again is because of the Poetry Fest in the Milk Wood sim. I'm only allowed 5 prims, so I had to redo the poster so that people could click on "buttons" for the website, the FB page and the G+ page, while using only one prim for the poster. (If you want a copy of the poster, please IM me inworld.)
The book is still in editing. My new target release date is in May 2012. Even after its release, I'm still very open to feedback for the paper version and for reprints.
I've updated the book cover everywhere else (Flickr, Facebook, Google Plus, the book website) and I forgot this blog! Actually, I even forgot Twitter! *sigh*
Anyway, here's the final version of the book cover (linked from Flickr).
The description in Flickr is as follows:
I wasn't quite happy with the concept I originally had. Then when I was at the grocery store, waiting in line for the checkout, I looked over the romance paperback books that were near the cashier. I realized that non-fiction book covers tend to have a simple background; some are just plain white. Meanwhile, the romance novels have pictures of beautiful women (or hunky men) on the covers. And books about Second Life have pictures of avatars on the front cover, of course.So far, I've gotten good feedback about this design.
So I combined all three concepts and came up with this.
The reason this came to the forefront of my mind again is because of the Poetry Fest in the Milk Wood sim. I'm only allowed 5 prims, so I had to redo the poster so that people could click on "buttons" for the website, the FB page and the G+ page, while using only one prim for the poster. (If you want a copy of the poster, please IM me inworld.)
The book is still in editing. My new target release date is in May 2012. Even after its release, I'm still very open to feedback for the paper version and for reprints.
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