New Post: Stats Raise Questions

(Fried Steak. Recipe Self Evident.)


by Louis Bertrand Shalako

c2011

All Rights Reserved


After taking a belated interest in my stats, they seem to raise as many questions as they answer.

One of the neat things on a Google blog is 'traffic source' data, which startled me.

I had no idea that my French-language blog, 'Les Shalako,' was getting so much traffic. That blog started off as a place to experiment with the online translation technology that is available to writers today. This kind of data used to be the exclusive province of the really big players.

So now we know what 'metrics' are! By using the translator, and then spelling and grammar check, the translated poems and stories, few as they are, are of some interest to some person or persons out there in Canada.

***

It's nice to know that some of my traffic comes from India, some from Iran, and Iraq, and Russia, and Eastern Europe.

Some of it comes from South America, including Peru, and Brazil as well as Canada, the US, Eire, etc. Somebody in Germany hit on my blog--why did that happen? How are they getting here from there? When and where did they stumble across me?

Exactly which post or promo, posted exactly where and when, resulted in this specific book sale?

Why did they pick this book, as opposed to another of my titles, or any other title?

What is it that they are specifically reading, and why are they reading it? A certain post might bring a certain number of hits from a certain place. We want new readers, and new friends. We also want to know why.

***

During the course of our E-Book Week promotion, back on Mar 5-12; we observed that it took approximately 13.9 page views to give away one copy of our e-book, 'Heaven Is Too Far Away,' and that same book takes a little over a hundred page-hits (on average) to sell one copy of the book. As anyone can see, the price is competitive.

So the goal for the next while is to drive up page hits, and take some steps, (I have no idea what,) to lower the page-hits/sales ratio.

The interesting thing is that I have never said that before in my life. I have never asked the question, 'Just exactly how is that done?" before.

Disruption brings fresh insights, and new questions will reveal new questions again.

He Earned It Honestly.

by Louis Bertrand Shalako

c2010

All Rights Reserved


After dropping out of school in grade ten, I held a number of menial positions. I was a weekend watchman at the local grain elevators, I mopped floors in a local pub, and even delivered tombstones with my uncle. The funny thing was that I tried to go back three or four times, changed schools, the usual thing. On unemployment, there was the chance to go back for 'retraining,' to become a 'retread,' and I eventually got my grade twelve, the 'Level IV Equivalency Certificate' so demanded by the forward-looking employers of the day.

I was twenty the first time I ever injured my back, or felt any real pain. By the time I was about twenty-five, I knew that construction work was not a long term option, although it pays pretty well.

I wasn't a bad carpenter, or a bad welder, or a bad roofer, or a bad drywaller, or a bad high-pressure water blaster.

I went back to college and studied journalism. That was in September of 1983. Journalism is okay, and I did the job for a short while, nothing to brag about or put on a resume. But what I really wanted was for someone to teach me how to write.

Unlike some, I cannot claim that I was three and a half years old, dreaming of better days ahead as I underwent potty training...yearning for my eventual adult liberty and total creative freedom without restraint.

I've been writing for about twenty-six and a half years now. When I sell an e-book, it is such a wonderful feeling, to know that this is a privilege that many seek, and few shall attain.

When I see that thirty-seven cents accruing one sale at a time in my account, no one can take that away from me. I earned that thirty-seven cents.

It was honestly earned. No one is going to take that away from me.

New Post: A Day Late and a Dollar Short.

Shalakoc2011



The big news is 'The hyper media Daily,' which is a paper.li paperless newspaper.

This is a system of link following and reposting in a format that somewhat resembles the old newspaper, but which more closely mimics what our local paper has online. By setting up another Twitter account, and then following selected twitterers we get a very personalized newspaper, or 'world-class newsletter' delivered to our inbox at six a.m. 'daily.'

By using my hyper-media account to follow my own @louisbshalako account, I can put my own stuff in my own paper alongside sources whose credibility scintillates with the glister of hundred-carat cubic zirconiums under a dental surgeon's worklight. The funny thing is that there are moral considerations, in spite of the fact that I could post eighty links on facebook in a day and no one would remark upon it.

On #wjcht Wednesday night, @girljournalist noted, 'I know someone who had their entire twitterfeed plagiarized,' and while it's an interesting discussion point, there was this one time when I posted my credit card and pin number on www.legitimatenigerianbusinessenterprises.com and some asshole bought himself a whole truckload of A.K.'s.

So; I don't feel sorry for you at all, and you're not on the feed anyway! If you would like to be included, please follow @hyperlouis and then DM and in twenty-five words or less indicate exactly what it is that you are bringing to the table.

So far 'The hyper media Daily' has three subscribers, and @hyperlouis has eleven followers on Twitter.

Another consideration was 'attribution' and 'link rot,' also concerning attribution.

If you're in there, your name is on there.

The paper.li paper is automatically updated every 24 hours, and if a source does not repost in that time, the same story might appear twice.

(The paper is of course archived by the Library of Congress and a number of foreign and domestic intelligence agencies...right?)

As far as I'm concerned, it is an interesting experiment, especially in terms of what sort of reaction one might receive.

By adding and removing links, which takes a few minutes per day, we've invented a pretty good little personal news service--which is all it really amounts to.

It is the creative, aggressive, and disruptive use of the thing, and the potential political impact of the proper use of it, by someone who actually knows what he is doing, that is most disturbing to the bourgeoisie.

I could create ten or twenty targeted papers in a day, if I chose--that's disturbing to the pulp and paper industry. I have no doubts about that, ladies and gentlemen.

Most invalid criticisms stem from unaddressed social tensions, often working from the mid-strata down. It's largely a matter of misperceived social status.

New Post: Promo Insights from E-Book Week

by Louis Bertrand Shalako

c2010

All Rights Reserved


The nice thing about Smashwords is that the author gets some data, which is easily understandable and accessible from your dashboard.

Over the course of E-Book Week Shalako Publishing gave free e-books to anyone who was willing to sign up for Smashwords. This is comparable to sign-up at any other electronic bookseller; and for the purposes of promotion even simpler because customers didn't have to provide credit or debit data.

Early on, I was promoting on Twitter to some degree, but over the last two days I let that rest, although naturally I still monitored the stream. Every day I put out at least one or two links to my pages on LinkedIn and Stumbleupon, and that sort of thing.

For the last couple of days it was mostly reminders; bearing in mind that Facebook is my biggest 'audience' or group of friends. On Goodreads, I gave a general update once a day in the morning.

Here are the peak numbers: Heaven Is Too Far Away, up to 80 hits a day.
Paranoid Cat and other tales,about 70/day.
Core Values (up to) 50/day.
Case of the Curious Killers, a nice 125/day.
The Handbag's Tale, about 100 a day.

Over the course of the promotion we gave away 130 e-books, with Handbag's Tale taking the checkered flag, followed by Heaven, Case, Paranoid Cat and then Core Values. The first three had over thirty each, Paranoid a couple of dozen and Core Values was the one that brought in a small donation. We also gave away six copies.

One thing I would like to know is the formats of each download--it would be nice to know exactly how many people took what format.

While this is a small sampling, it is at least as accurate as inteviewing rich people as they come out of Nieman-Marcus and asking them if they are hopeful about the economy.

By five o'clock on the last day I was getting incredibly tired, and perhaps a little slap-happy with the buttons. It is really something to put out a link and then watch page views climb...then the number changes up with another couple of book-freebies.

With little or no marketing experience, the week provided experience, and some new questions, which is always good.

A big thumbs-up to all of our new friends.

Marketing Notes for E-Book Week

by Louis Bertrand Shalako

c2011

All Rights Reserved


Without going too nuts for promotion, I have been using Tweetdeck to schedule about four tweets per night. Last night I gave away one book, which seems worth the effort. I posted one link on Facebook this afternoon and gave away ten books in the space of five minutes.

On the bottom of each Smashwords book page, down in the right-hand corner, there is a list of social media links. These include the usual Fb and Twitter, but also Google Buzz, Reddit, Delicious, Stumble, etc. When I post something to Google Buzz, I have no idea where that goes or who sees it. On Stumbleupon, I have maybe twenty followers. Yet by clicking on things and trying things, including MySpace, and a couple of others, I have given away almost eighty e-books in six days.

Honestly, I can't even remember stuff I did Monday or Tuesday, except talk it up all over the place. I posted a blog entry on Wednesday, (I think.) Someone made a donation, which must have been a copy of 'Core Values.' For some reason that book is marked as, 'Set your own price,' and it was worth a buck and a half to someone! Thank you.

I would have been delighted to give away a thousand books. It's important to set a goal, after all. As to how this will translate into eventual sales down the road, or if it will result in any positive reviews, is something only time will tell.

On Twitter, I lost at least one follower...and gained about five more for whatever reason. (Free stuff? Marketing savvy? My boyish good looks?)

On LinkedIn, I posted a link and only later noticed the statement, 'No ads please in discussions!" The funny thing is that someone took a book or two...I'm almost sure of it. Anyway, I hope you like them.

I need a shave and I lost a couple of pounds. But the marketing data is priceless, and I have no regrets about that. Simply put, jam out a link and the books move out the door. Stop promoting, and page views drop to zero.

It can't be that simple...can it?