Another Plan Gone Bust

So much for my plan to get cracking with THE DEVIL’S TRINITY. I upgraded from Windows Vista to Window 7 only to find that my HP scanner/printer needed a driver download to function on this system. Having duly downloaded the driver from HP, I discovered that it does not work in the same way as it did on Vista. I tried contacting HP but it’s all about FAQ’s now. Once upon a time you could get hold of a technician (I did that when I first bought my HP Photosmart), so the result is that I have had to abandon the project until I can come up with an alternative. I have an idea what I will do, but something else has turned up to thwart me too: my Kindle conversion software, mobi-pocket will not work on Windows 7.  It appears that Amazon have bought mobi-pocket and substituted it with their own ‘Kindlegen’ version. All this is progress designed, I believe, to capture the market and make it difficult, if not impossible to keep up without spending more money. I must admit that it never occurred to me that an upgrade to the next version of Windows would result in the loss of two software functions (scanner and mobi) that I have been using happily and with complete confidence.

One thing the upgrade will not prevent is my intended promotion of HELL’S GATE. I have a free run beginning on October 25^th. for three days on Amazon. This is for all Amazon customers of course, and also those Amazon prime members will be able to loan it from the Amazon library. Like all promotions, I need to spend time on this and if I do it right, it will give my name a lift and hopefully help to sell not just HELL’S GATE, but my other titles as well.

There are signs that Amazon’s Kindle Select programme is running into the buffers, which means less sales for authors like me, unless I can establish myself as a reliable writer. It has been said on the Kindle forum that Amazon are using their algorithms on the higher priced books in order to generate sales of those books. I have stated earlier in my blog posts that I believed that publishers would eventually restore the status quo and turn the book pyramid back up the right way. This would mean the so-called slush pile would be back at the bottom. Seems like Amazon are edging that way. Not that there’s anything wrong with their business plan; it’s just means I have to sell more books and then I can edge my prices up. Would I do that? Probably not: if I’m selling lots of books, why should I?