Tag Archives: Kindle

The Wicked—99 Cents!

Posted on April 6, 2013 by K. Allen Wood

Attention Kindle owners: Through Sunday, the Kindle edition of The Wicked, by James Newman, is on sale for 99 cents!

It’s currently enjoying a spell in the #1 slot under Horror/Occult on Amazon. It’s #2 under Horror, in the shadow of World War Z. Think we can oust it from the #1 slot? You can help!

Newman is considered by many to be one of the unsung greats of the horror genre. We agree, and the reviews for The Wicked, his ode to 1980s small-town horror novels, reflect this as well.

And now you can see what all the hype is about for next to nothing!


[ click for full image ]

To download, click here.

(Amazon has given the print version a slight discount as well, at $13.49.)

As previously noted, The Wicked has been revised by the author, expanded with a new foreword by Mark Allan Gunnells, a new afterword by the author, and brilliant new artwork and illustrations by Jesse David Young (with additional cover layout by Yannick Bouchard). Also included is a brand new, exclusive tie-in short story written specifically for this release.

So what are you waiting for? Please download this great novel and help us spread the word by sharing the link!

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Kindle Users: Free Shock Totem

Posted on April 1, 2013 by K. Allen Wood

This week only we’re running promos on the first five issues of Shock Totem (not including the special holiday issue). Starting today, Kindle users will be able to download issue #1 for free. Tomorrow, issue #2 will be free, Wednesday, issue #3, and so on.


Click the links below to download!

Monday/Tuesday: Shock Totem 1: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted
Tuesday/Wednesday: Shock Totem 2: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted
Wednesday/Thursday: Shock Totem 3: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted
Thursday/Friday: Shock Totem 4: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted
Friday/Saturday: Shock Totem 5: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted

We ran a similar promo a little over a year ago, and it generated 10,000 downloads. We hope to once again reach thousands of new readers. If you haven’t read all—or any—of our issues, now is the perfect time. If you have, please encourage others to give us a shot.

Thanks!

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Enter the Gate—Free Admission!

Posted on April 4, 2012 by K. Allen Wood

T.R.O. Publishing recently released the second installment of The Gate series, The Gate 2: 13 Tales of Isolation and Despair, an anthology featuring work from two of Shock Totem’s own—Mercedes M. Yardley (“Black Mary”) and me, K. Allen Wood (“The Candle Eaters”).

You can get the print version for $8.59 or, if you’re a Kindle owner, download it for free. It’ll be available at no cost today and throughout tomorrow.


[ Copyright © 2012 by Jesse David Young ]

In addition, you’ll find work by Daniel Pyle, Steven Pirie, David Dalglish, Robert J. Duperre, and seven others.

So if you’re looking for some great fiction at no cost, check out The Gate 2.

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It’s a Long Way Down

Posted on December 13, 2011 by K. Allen Wood

Doing a free promo was a great high, watching the numbers go up and up and up. But the higher you go…

Expected, but the visual is depressing.

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Only Time Will Tell…

Posted on December 12, 2011 by K. Allen Wood

As noted in my previous update, we opted to make our digital issues exclusive to the Kindle and lowered the price on a few of them so that they’re all priced at 99 cents. A lot of people dislike the 99-cent price point, suggesting it cheapens the product and conditions buyers to expect that price for all e-books. A valid argument, but it’s something that doesn’t work for us. Not now, at least.

So all digital issues are priced at $0.99. Future issues will likely be priced higher, but not much. For now, though, sales are good. Of course, selling a hundred copies nets $35, so “good” isn’t necessarily monetarily good. But this is about readers, and more readers is what we desperately need.

The digital issues have helped with that. And in an attempt to boost our readership, on Sunday, December 10, we made available for free through Amazon the digital version of our fourth issue. On the surface, it was a great success.

In the span of 24 hours, issue #4 was downloaded 408 times. Sounds fantastic, right? Well, only time will tell. I learned long ago that people love free stuff, but not necessarily for any other reason than it’s free. At conventions, you’ll sell more, in my opinion, if you don’t have a table loaded with free bookmarks, stickers, pins, candy, etc. Just have your product visible and you’ll make more sales.

So the question is, how many of those 408 people will read Shock Totem #4? I am not crazy enough to think they all will, but I’m hopeful enough to think a lot of them will. (Hopefully we see some positive reviews in the future.) If even a dozen read it, enjoy it, and eventually check out more work from our authors or pick up our other issues, then it will have been worth it. But again, time will tell…

We peaked at 587, I believe, on the Free in Kindle Store list. It would have been great to hit the top 100, but we stayed in the top 1,000 nearly the entire 24 hours. Can’t complain about that. But the funniest thing of all, was this:

A once in a lifetime achievement, I’d say. And a fitting one at that.

Thanks to everyone who downloaded issue #4. If you read it, please let us know what you think. I’ll post again on this subject in the future…

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WE ARE 99 CENTS!!

Posted on December 10, 2011 by K. Allen Wood

As many of you know, all issues of Shock Totem recently were made available in digital format. As of today, all issues are now just $0.99.

However, I’ve made the decision to make them exclusive to the Kindle. For the time being, at least.

Here’s why…

Amazon recently introduced a program called KDP Select, and it piqued my interest. It made other writers scoff. Essentially, it allows Amazon Prime members one free e-book download per month through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. And those authors/publishers who make their work available exclusively through the Kindle—which we have done—can participate.

So if you have an Amazon Prime account, you now have the option to read any Shock Totem issue for free.

My reasons for doing this are very simple. No, I do not expect us to make a lot of money. Though Amazon entices people with big numbers, that’s simply Marketing 101. What this new program can do for us, is get our issues in front of new readers. And at this point, for Shock Totem, exposure is very important. More important than money, because without new readers we will never be a self-sustaining business.

My budget includes the costs of running Shock Totem Publications. I’d love to use less out-of-pocket money and more money from profits for the cost of our issues, but if that is ever going to change, we need new readers. We need to be seen by people outside of the small press, and this KDP Select will, hopefully, help with that.

We’ll see…

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Screaming in Digital

Posted on November 21, 2011 by K. Allen Wood

It’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally happened. All four issues of Shock Totem plus our brand-new holiday e-book are now available for the Kindle (other formats coming soon). The first two issues and the holiday issue are $0.99, while issues 3 and 4 are $1.99 (because they’re nearly double in size).


[ from one of my all-time favorite albums ]

I originally paid to have issue #1 done by a “professional.” I wasn’t too impressed. So I decided to attempt to teach myself. Easier said that done when you’re as busy as me. But when we decided to do this new holiday issue, which was to be an e-book release, I had no choice but to buckle down and learn the formatting. I wasn’t paying anyone $150 for a two-month turnaround on a rather unimpressive-for-the-cost product.

So this past Monday, after Anthocon, I sat down and began teaching myself how to rock this formatting. A week later, and all our issues are done, including a redesign of issue #1 so that it matches the others.

If you’ve been waiting to check us out, now is the perfect time. All four main issues and the holiday issue for LESS THAN $7! That’s a wicked deal.

Click here to purchase them from Amazon.com, or click the DIGITAL link at the top of our site for additional options.

And please, if you see any issues with the layout, let me know. As I mentioned, I’m a total noob at this e-design stuff. Thanks!

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Screaming in Digital

Posted on June 25, 2011 by K. Allen Wood

Shock Totem has finally entered the digital realm!

Our debut issue is now available on the Kindle through Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de. You can also download the .mobi and .epub versions from Drive-Thru Horror. If you have a Nook, Barnes & Noble is your ticket.

Other online digital retailers will follow, as well as the other issues, including our upcoming issue #4.

The digital version is available for $1.99. Visit our Shock Totem Digital page for more details.

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