Reedsy Discovery?

[Paul Whybrow]

As part of my campaign to make myself and my self-published books irresistible, I’ve been looking at ways of getting book reviews. After all, it’s how I choose what to read next if I’m unfamiliar with an author.

By chance, an email from Reedsy appeared this evening. They are well known for their book marketing services, training courses and their online book editor, but they also offer something called Discovery.

This is aimed at getting reviews for unknown authors from avid readers and writers:

Discover weekly, the best new books

First impressions are that there are some very nice reviewers who like lots of the books they read, giving them 4 or 5 stars, which looks a bit too nice to me! Grumpy old sod!

Having a written appraisal of a book is useful, though, for most readers can’t be bothered. Last night, trawling around various sites where my books appear I noticed two titles had been given star ratings—one 3* the other 5*—no comments.

I went to sign up to Reedsy Discovery, only to find that I’d already done so 18 months ago! Too busy recording audiobooks to use the service.

Have any of you used Discovery?

What do you think of it?

 

[CageSage]

Have you considered having the opening book of the series made super-cheap or free?
When I look at 'Who Kills a Nudist' on Amazon.com.au, it's $9.25, but book 2 is $5.25, book 3 is $7.15, and book 4 is $8.82.
Most series books are consistent in price, and often have the first book considerably cheaper (the lure). This makes it easier for readers/buyers to consider when they want the next one -- they already know what it will cost. There is a place in the 'zon where you can set prices for other countries.
(I also noticed one of the stories has double spacing.)

I looked at the Reedsy thing, but decided to wait and see what happened. I also considered being paid by the same service, but I don't think they'd appreciate my numbers (stars, that is).

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Have you considered having the opening book of the series made super-cheap or free?
When I look at 'Who Kills a Nudist' on Amazon.com.au, it's $9.25, but book 2 is $5.25, book 3 is $7.15, and book 4 is $8.82.
Most series books are consistent in price, and often have the first book considerably cheaper (the lure). This makes it easier for readers/buyers to consider when they want the next one -- they already know what it will cost. There is a place in the 'zon where you can set prices for other countries.
(I also noticed one of the stories has double spacing.)

I looked at the Reedsy thing, but decided to wait and see what happened. I also considered being paid by the same service, but I don't think they'd appreciate my numbers (stars, that is).

Thanks for the feedback. I'll check pricing in different countries. I tried Smashwords and D2D before committing to Amazon. I made the first book free on those two sites, but, for some reason, I couldn't do so on Amazon. Double spacing? I'll have a look at that too, though it passed Amazon's quality control test.

 

[Steve C]

Had a quick look but couldn't figure out how it works. Started to submit a book and it asked which reviewer I wanted to look at it with payment as the last stop. Is this a paid-for service with 1 reviewer at a time?
I am due to publish on amazon soon and am having a professional copy edit and proofread done. As part of the deal, I get one month on NetGalley who have 3 or 400k members, maybe more
If you are looking for reviews it's where the big publishers look to get theirs and there are co-ops who can get reasonable rates.

 

[CageSage]

Had a quick look but couldn't figure out how it works. Started to submit a book and it asked which reviewer I wanted to look at it with payment as the last stop. Is this a paid-for service with 1 reviewer at a time?
I am due to publish on amazon soon and am having a professional copy edit and proofread done. As part of the deal, I get one month on NetGalley who have 3 or 400k members, maybe more
If you are looking for reviews it's where the big publishers look to get theirs and there are co-ops who can get reasonable rates.

Yes, it's a paid service, but they usually get offers from the readers for who wants to do the job, so more than one (I didn't go further than that).

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Have you considered having the opening book of the series made super-cheap or free?
When I look at 'Who Kills a Nudist' on Amazon.com.au, it's $9.25, but book 2 is $5.25, book 3 is $7.15, and book 4 is $8.82.
Most series books are consistent in price, and often have the first book considerably cheaper (the lure). This makes it easier for readers/buyers to consider when they want the next one -- they already know what it will cost. There is a place in the 'zon where you can set prices for other countries.
(I also noticed one of the stories has double spacing.)

I looked at the Reedsy thing, but decided to wait and see what happened. I also considered being paid by the same service, but I don't think they'd appreciate my numbers (stars, that is).

I've been buried by so much information recently, that I'd forgotten about Kindle Select's rules on making books free. They limit how long you can do this to five days out of ninety. I'll be trying that out soon. I'll also adjust the pricing of my eBooks to make them the same, though the price of POD Paperbacks is set by Kindle taking in the length of them which alters the cost of printing.

How to Make your Book Free on Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) - Written Word Media

 

[CageSage]

I've been buried by so much information recently, that I'd forgotten about Kindle Select's rules on making books free. They limit how long you can do this to five days out of ninety. I'll be trying that out soon. I'll also adjust the pricing of my eBooks to make them the same, though the price of POD Paperbacks is set by Kindle taking in the length of them which alters the cost of printing.

How to Make your Book Free on Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) - Written Word Media

That info doesn't apply anymore (the original date of the post is 2016 (see the comments)), so it might be worth reading up on KDP site to ensure what can and can't be done after the eBook is out of Select status.

 

[Steve C]

A little off-topic but just been watching this video re Twitter and its role in book promotion which you may find interesting.

Twitter: Could Indie Publishing Exist Without It? Laurence O'Bryan and Ian Sutherland

Twitter: Could Indie Publishing Exist Without It? Laurence O'Bryan and Ian Sutherland talk about Twitter for Autors. Indie Author Fringe.

selfpublishingadvice.org

 

[Paul Whybrow]

A little off-topic but just been watching this video re Twitter and its role in book promotion which you may find interesting.

Twitter: Could Indie Publishing Exist Without It? Laurence O'Bryan and Ian Sutherland

Twitter: Could Indie Publishing Exist Without It? Laurence O'Bryan and Ian Sutherland talk about Twitter for Autors. Indie Author Fringe.

selfpublishingadvice.org

Thanks for posting this video, Steve. It's very useful...I've just bought Ian H Sutherland's book on Advanced Twitter Strategies.