I'm actually happy to see one of these scammer companies finally taken down. But in my inbox this week, I got an email from a guy named Adam Houge from FanBaseFormula with the email subject saying "Movie screenplay adaptation opportunity for your story". So, the trigger words to appeal to people's egos and manipulate them is just all through the email. If people really didn't know what to expect, it could work. But then, I'm guessing, that's why they come to this board. To learn about what does work in self-publishing.

Or of course, they can read a book on self-publishing. It can be overwhelming for some. There's always the saying, "Do your research before investing." But then, I can't say I didn't run into areas where I got taken for a few things learning the ropes of self-publishing. I think the most was $250 for someone to write a PR release for my book. Never got it in the end, the person disappeared, and I ended up just researching and writing it myself. But hopefully, people are able to realize it's a scam before they go to far in and give too much money.

You will get the best results by running the first book discounted. But you'll still see sales of the other book if you run the second one at a reduced price. That's been my experience. So 

I never run an advertisement on my blurb for fear that Amazon will consider this a violation. Way back when, I read that there are concerns with Amazon TOS regarding this. But I'm unsure.

Okay here's my latest thoughts. A string of 99 cent promos on the second book and have the first book priced at 99 cents too. Then after a month, run a Freebooksy/Fussy Written Word Media free thing on the first book. Then the next day, up the first book to $2.99 and make the second book $4.99.

I've been reading more and more of what you were saying about advertising the first book in a series. I know that's pretty conventional thinking, but I was hesitant to do that because it just worked well with my first book (making it free after the run of 99 cent promos) that it was hard to shift gears on the Book 2. But I figure, if I want, later, I could run a free day/promo on Book 2 as well.

And I'll run some sponsored product ads for Book 2. And maybe some keyword ads for Book 2 too, but sponsored product ads work better for me (despite having no idea how they work!).

A new one has emerged on Bluesky. 

I feel I got the same results when doing guest blog posts. The posts show up if you search my name online, so in that sense they are static, but the reality is that neither the original moment of posting nor the residual SEO whatever produced sales.

Yes, if the cover is generated as the result of a work-for-hire agreement, then the designer has no rights, unless some kind of exception has been made in that agreement.