Bragggin

Posted by: Sigrid Macdonald

Bragggin - 03/09/05 09:53 PM

Hey, my Amazon rating is at 20, 258! That's the lowest ever. Wow! :-) Sigrid


Getting Hip
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Authorhouse (October 27, 2004)
ISBN: 1418478377
Product Dimensions: 9.0 x 6.0 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces. (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: based on 13 reviews. (Write a review)
Amazon.com Sales Rank in Books: #20,258
(Publishers and authors: improve your sales)
Posted by: Vicki M. Taylor

Re: Bragggin - 03/09/05 10:58 PM

Sigrid!! That's cause for celebration.. doin' the happy dance for ya!
Posted by: DonnaJ

Re: Bragggin - 03/09/05 11:03 PM

Wow!!! I'm impressed! That's wonderful.
Posted by: TVC15

Re: Bragggin - 03/09/05 11:24 PM

Congrats on that accomplishment!
Posted by: Pam Kimmell

Re: Bragggin - 03/10/05 02:29 AM

Major congratulations Sigrid.....
Posted by: Princess Lenora

Re: Bragggin - 03/10/05 05:47 AM

Sigrid, do you think that the feature on the Authohouse "Voices in Print" has boosted interest in your book? LLL
Posted by: Kristie Leigh Maguire

Re: Bragggin - 03/10/05 06:47 AM

Congratulations on your Amazon ratings, Sigrid. That is wonderful!
Posted by: Sigrid Macdonald

Re: Bragggin - 03/10/05 07:09 AM

Oh, I'm overwhelmed by the encouragement on this message board. [BLUSH!] Everyone is so sweet :-)

Yeah, I was really pleased with that rating on Amazon. Lynn, I'm convinced that it came from the AuthorHouse newsletter - NOT!

Actually, it probably resulted from the large article that was in the Citizen newspaper last week. I would have thought that the Canadians would have gone to Amazon.ca, but estimating people's buying habits is an ongoing mystery to me.

Several days after I appeared on our local TV nightly news, my Amazon.ca rating went down to 2,000! That was something to rave about, however, the American market is much more competitive, so I am thrilled about the current rating on Amazon.com. Those ratings just change too often for my liking!

Thanks for everyone's support. I have mentioned all of you in the acknowledgment section of my next book, which should be rolling down the pike sometime within the next month or two.

Love, Sigrid
Posted by: Princess Lenora

Re: Bragggin - 03/10/05 07:16 AM

Sigrid, how could you mention all of us? I think the latest member is #399. Just kidding. I know you mean us as a collective. Sig, do you have the Voices in Print via Authorhouse email address for the contact if you want to have an acknowledgement in the next Voices in Print? I need the contact so that I can send an email that I will be the featured author at boomerwomenspeak in April. Now, on to check my ratings, too. Sigrid, you are doing such a wonderful job as an author! (despite authorhouse!) Love and Light, Lynn
Posted by: Sigrid Macdonald

Re: Bragggin - 03/13/05 06:18 AM

vip@authorhouse.com

Lynn, Yes, I mentioned all 399 of you! LOL. The e-mail address is above. That's great that you're going to be the featured author at Boomer Women Speak. Way to go!

I'm having a minor nervous breakdown here formatting numbers, headers and footers in my Word document. I had everything exactly right --after endless hours of work and consultation with people on the Lulu forum -- when I realized that Word had added page numbers to pages that I wanted blank. When I erased those numbers, I lost all of the other numbers!@!@

It's enough to make me want to insert my numbers by hand or pay someone on the Lulu forum to do it for me. Seriously. But I'm very stubborn and pride myself on fixing my own computer problems, so I will struggle along with this.

If you have good ratings on Amazon, you must be earning more than that $16 a quarter. Really.

Love, Sigrid
Posted by: Dianne

Re: Bragggin - 03/13/05 07:14 AM

Congrats to you. Proud of you. Keep up the good work!
Posted by: Dotsie

Re: Bragggin - 03/13/05 09:51 PM

Sigrid, I can totally relate to your frustrations with Word. Every now and then I give in and call upon my daughter to get me out of another jam. Formatting drives me C R A Z Y. I don't know what I'm going to do when she leaves home.

Do you have any teens in the neighborhood that could help?
Posted by: Louisa

Re: Bragggin - 03/14/05 07:31 AM

I can pretty much do anything on the pc, especially in Word. But page numbering drives me nuts! I was having a hard time formatting my book because of it and was about to put the number in manually. But my printer said he preferred that I do the cover as a separate document. That saved me. Before that, I was counting the cover as part of the book and no matter what I did, the cover was page one. It's worked out great for me this way, but my self-publishing is a little different so I can format it however I want. That still doesn't mean it won't get screwed up when the printer prints the books. He told me that strange things happen with Microsoft products. I've seen some strange things happen so I know he's right.

Sigrid, remember I told you I couldn't understand some things about Lulu? That's what I meant.

Louisa
Posted by: Sadie

Re: Bragggin - 03/15/05 07:22 AM

Lousia,
When on Word go to "Insert" at the top and then click the curser on it and then it will come up with" page number" then click on that and it will them number your pages for you. I had classes in this and had to go back and find it in word .

Then you can go back and click it off. Hope that this helps . If not e-mail me.
Posted by: Sigrid Macdonald

Re: Bragggin - 03/15/05 11:03 AM

Mancy, If you use the Insert function, you really should be inside the View, Headers & Footers section. And remember to unclick Same as Previous. But why trust what I say when I can't get it right? LOL!!!

Dotsie, a wonderful guy on the Lulu forum TOOK my document and will clean it up for me. Bless him. I had it about 80% right but he'll make it perfect.

Louisa, I totally agree - and I haven't reached the cover art stage yet. OY~~~ Sigrid
Posted by: Dotsie

Re: Bragggin - 03/16/05 08:17 AM

Sigrid, perfect. Aren't perfect strangers amazing?

I met a woman online when I was writing my book proposal. She was a published author with one of the bigger publishing houses. She ever so kindly sent me her proposal so I could see what worked for her. Can you believe that?
Posted by: Louisa

Re: Bragggin - 03/16/05 07:17 AM

I've designed my own cover. I have hundreds and hundreds of photos, I might as well use my own.
Louisa
Posted by: Sigrid Macdonald

Re: Bragggin - 03/17/05 08:34 AM

Hi gals,

Today I'm slightly below 14,000 on Amazon! Isn't that amazing? Soon you can say that you knew me when :-)

However, last night I reviewed the statements that I had received from AuthorHouse, and I realized that they made a huge mistake in my paycheck for the last quarter of 2004. They said that I had sold 14 books on their web site and 48 books on Amazon. In fact, I had sold 28 books on their web site and God knows how many books on Amazon because I cannot trust their accounting system.

I've put in a call for my representative to discuss this irritating problem with him. Lynn, I would urge you to check the sale statements that AuthorHouse provides online and see if that jives with the check that they sent you. Or talk to people you know and see if you can establish a track record of how many people have bought your book. I have not been able to conclude whether AH is deliberately corrupt or just incompetent. In order to error on the side of kindness, I would choose the latter.

Best, Sigrid
GETTING HIP
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Authorhouse (October 27, 2004)
ISBN: 1418478377
Product Dimensions: 9.0 x 6.0 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces. (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: based on 13 reviews. (Write a review)
Amazon.com Sales Rank in Books: #13,929
(Publishers and authors: improve your sales)
Posted by: Princess Lenora

Re: Bragggin - 03/16/05 09:50 PM

Sigrid, I posted this same question to you and Prill (another Authorhouse author) when I got my statement last week. I asked you if you "trusted" their accounting system. Yes, it seems as though more people tell me they got my book than what their system reveals. It's scary: are they ripping us off? Let's keep an eye on this for each other. I'd should keep a track of who orders my book via Amazon and or bn or Authorhouse next month when I am featured author and see if that is reflected correctly on the Authorhouse accounting. Please keep us posted on what your rep says. Oh, and congratulations on the ranking. LLL
Posted by: eappell

Re: Bragggin - 03/16/05 10:45 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Sigrid Macdonald:
Hey, my Amazon rating is at 20, 258! That's the lowest ever. Wow! :-) Sigrid


Getting Hip
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Authorhouse (October 27, 2004)
ISBN: 1418478377
Product Dimensions: 9.0 x 6.0 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces. (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: based on 13 reviews. (Write a review)
Amazon.com Sales Rank in Books: #20,258
(Publishers and authors: improve your sales)

Posted by: eappell

Re: Bragggin - 03/16/05 10:47 PM

Wow! That's so impressive. My book, "Lessons from the Gypsy Camp" sometimes logs in the 300,000's. A sleeper.

Congratulations!
Posted by: eappell

Re: Bragggin - 03/16/05 10:55 PM

Dear Sigrid,
I'm just learning this forum protocol. You may have heard from me several times by now.

Congratulations on your Amazon rating.
Elizabeth
Author, "Lessons from the Gypsy Camp"
Posted by: Sherri

Re: Bragggin - 03/16/05 11:53 PM

Hey you all are lucky you get a statement. My pod publisher has never sent me a statement ever! I have no idea if anyone has gone to my website and ordered a book or CD.
Posted by: Pam Kimmell

Re: Bragggin - 03/17/05 02:40 AM

Sherri check your contract - it SHOULD specify how often royalty payments are to be made. Some are monthly, some quarterly and there are even some yearly royalty payments. I know when I get my royalty checks they include an accounting statement - however it doesn't show which are Amazon, which are B&N, etc. Just total sold PERIOD.
Posted by: eappell

Re: Bragggin - 03/18/05 03:08 AM

Thank you for the Google Print Support clue. I've passed it on to my publisher. We'll see.

Write on!
Elizabeth
Posted by: Louisa

Re: Bragggin - 03/18/05 03:49 AM

I'm so glad I didn't use AH.
Louisa
Posted by: Jersey Girl

Re: Bragggin - 03/18/05 03:54 AM

I'm embarrassed by my ranking. LOL [Embarrassed]
Posted by: Sigrid Macdonald

Re: Bragggin - 03/18/05 03:55 AM

Lynn,

I called my representative yesterday and discovered that we were both right about the invoice statement. I was correct that I had sold 25 books during November and December on the AH web site. HOWEVER, 13 of those books went to libraries and what AH never told me was that they give libraries deep discounts. Consequently, they sold the book to libraries at the retail rate!

I do not remember reading that in my contract. Meanwhile, I spent zillions of hours writing letters to libraries to get them to buy my book. All along, I thought that I would be getting a 50% profit, but instead I received 15%. I really think that AH should have told me about that. But I guess they're not corrupt after all.

Nonetheless, I certainly would question your own statement. I asked my representative how I could verify the number of sales from Amazon and she said that she didn't know. Hmph!@! I hope that I don't have the same frustration dealing with Lulu. Based on the comments by people on the forum, I seriously doubt that I will have any problems with the company itself. Most of the frustration there is in getting the formatting and publishing right.

Best, Sigrid

PS Yes, I would've thought that your sales would have risen after you were featured in the AH magazine.
Posted by: Sigrid Macdonald

Re: Bragggin - 03/18/05 04:05 AM

Hi everyone,

I want to ask advice about my new book, D'Amour Road. I have posted about it in more detail in a thread by that name. It will not be available for one another month or two but I have already established my web blog, and have been doing some advanced marketing.

The book is about a woman in Ottawa, Ontario who goes missing. It is narrated in the first person by her best friend, who launches a search team to go looking for her comrade. The book explores different themes such as female friendships, violence against women, preoccupation with aging, unrequited love and infidelity.

Of course, I have already a established a link to Boomer Women, and I have linked to a number of sites about missing women and children. But many of the sites will not link back to an individual homepage or to a commercial enterprise.

I wondered if you could suggest some general forums and sites for women that might link back to me. Are there sites for women writers or sites that offer general support to women?

I don't want to narrow my audience down to women who are interested in stories about violence against women. My book is really meant for both genders and it is a psychological drama with an element of suspense. It is also based in Ottawa, so it may have special appeal to Canadians.

Any advice about sites or directories that I could contact would be greatly appreciated :-)


Thanks! Sigrid

http://damourroad.blogspot.com/