Okay, I set a personal New Years resolution to be positive.  I'm trying. But I just read this article and had to share it with you cause it's pretty big. It's Hidden Gems' most recent blog. In a nutshell, it claims Amazon is now posting sponsored ads in the also bought section which totally disrupts organic growth sales. Have you seen this? I actually haven't. Your thoughts? I highly recommend you guys read this blog:

https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/amzs-latest-ad-change-goes-too-far/

I think this is pretty big stuff. You know, being wide, I see every retailer has its methods of discovery. For me, Apple has been pretty abysmal over the past year. Barnes and Noble has been down over the past month, but I've done okay. But I see huge differences in things like reviews. On B&N, I've sold thousands of books only to end up with a handful of reviews. Because the B&N culture of readers really doesn't do reviews like the Amazon . At least for me. My point is, every retailer works differently. But...

Amazon is an Indie writer's bread and butter. I know some have successfully left it and are independent selling direct, but the majority of us, me included, still rely on the retailer to earn sales over any other retailer. Thing is, this appears to be more and more in jeopardy. I don't think direct sales is the answer, because, how do you get enough visibility?--unless you already a large audience garnered.

I'm responding by churning out more books and grouping books into series. Series books, and boxed sets, have been selling better for my romance fantasy genre. I'm also producing audiobooks-- a pricey endeavor. And I carry on. Because I'm happy to know people are reading my stuff. That's huge for me. But I agree with the writer of the blog that these new changes, including changes with the Amazon carousel, hurt organic sales for Indie writers.

I uploaded some videos from the wedding: https://vijayabodach.blogspot.com/2025/01/videos-from-wedding.html
Some of them didn't load, not sure why, and I tried multiple times so if anybody has some tips, I'd appreciate them.

Thing is, BookBub's featured promo is exepensive, Jan, but it is becoming the only promo in town that might help get your money back. It's expensive, but well worth ranking and visibility. The majority of the Bookbub promos I've run have made all my $ back.

For less expensive promos for a sale, take a look at WrittenWord Media--which now has most of the others. Also, Bookdoggy, I use now regularly; others to consider are JustKindleBooks (cheapest) & Many Books. Also Bookspry is brand new and very good with results.

Thanks. I'm looking at Bookdoggy and will check out the others. 

Thing is, BookBub's featured promo is exepensive, Jan, but it is becoming the only promo in town that might help get your money back. It's expensive, but well worth ranking and visibility. The majority of the Bookbub promos I've run have made all my $ back.

For less expensive promos for a sale, take a look at WrittenWord Media--which now has most of the others. Also, Bookdoggy, I use now regularly; others to consider are JustKindleBooks (cheapest) & Many Books. Also Bookspry is brand new and very good with results.

I've had good success with BookDoggy, Jan. Hardly too much more. $21/free $24/discounted

https://bookdoggy.com/for-authors/