Monday, May 4, 2009

Support a Kindle Author, Win a Gift Card

While Amazon's Digital Text Platform has helped level the playing field for indepedent publishing, getting your work noticed in a sea of titles can present its own challenge.

Author Josh McMains has come up with one of the best ideas I've heard of yet for drawing attention to his 99¢ novel "Uncubicled." On Tuesday, May 5th starting at 10 AM (Eastern), the first 200 people to buy "Uncubicled" for the Kindle or iPhone Kindle App and forward McMains a copy of their e-mail receipt will receive a $5 Amazon gift card, making "a tidy $4.01 profit."

McMains is also promising $20 cards for the first ten purchasers. "My goal is to try to get the book on the Kindle Top 25 downloads list, even if only for one brief, shining moment," he writes on his Uncubicled website. If the title happens to crack the Top 10 on May 5 he plans to double the amount of all the gift cards. "I truly do believe that this novel is something people will enjoy, so I'm putting some skin in the game."

I think McMains is right; based on the sample chapter, "Uncubicled" looks like a good read. And with attention at such a premium in the chaotic, dog-eat-dog world of indie Kindle authors on Amazon, this kind of creative self-promotion is a good example of what it takes to stand above the crowd.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the plug! Full contest details here: http://uncubicled.com/tweet.htm

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  2. Interesting... I prefer Berliner Kindl (http://www.berliner-kindl.de/). Also, my local used bookstore has all the classics for 2$- they don't need a recharge and they're fun to give to friends when I'm done. I can drop a book off my roof and it will still work. I can write rude notes in the margins (including flip book drawings!). I can wipe my ass with the forward pages if I'm lost on a hike.I can get sand in it and leave it in 110 degree sun all day.
    !?

    http://www.mountbaldy.org/Distracto%20Lyrics.htm

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