I’ve been watching the progress of Princelings and the Pirates closely. It’s getting a lot of Smashwords samples, which suggests something is right. It could be the marketing, it could be the follow-on from readers of the first book, it could be the other blogging and tweeting. But those samples aren’t turning into sales.
I’ve already checked the sample and added a percent to it to get to the end of the chapter where the pirates abduct our heroes. But that told me something. The reader has a long way to get into the story before they get to the real pirate action. Yes, we have the smelly pirates in the prologue, but then we have too much settling in: re-introducing Fred and George and establishing their life at Buckmore and the problem to be solved, followed by the journey to Dimerie. The samples:sales ratio hasnt changed since I made that change in length. So I’m rewriting the start and republishing the book as a second edition.
From what I have read, people who have already bought the first book from Amazon will have a priceless gem on their hands! Anyone who buys it now from Smashwords will be able to download the second edition free of charge as far as I understand the T&Cs. If they are Nook, Kobo or IPad readers, then I don’t know when the stores will have it on their shelves, but whichever retailer you use, you will have a nice ebook to read. Just a bit less padding at the start of the second edition!
