A New Twist on Marketing

JA Konrath has discovered a wonderful way to reach the elusive top 100 at Amazon.  He offered to donate $500 to the charity First Book if his novel Origin made it into the Amazon top 100.  Guess what?  It worked and now he has a top 100 book and that lucky charity is $500 richer.


He's doing it again, this time with his Jack Kilborn novel Trapped.  If it reaches the top 100, he'll donate $500.  A new twist is that if his book hits the top 20, he'll donate another $500.  This could mean $1000 for the First Book charity.

So, while some may say that this is self promotion that takes advantage of our desire to help others, others will say that since both sides are benefiting, who does it hurt?  What's your opinion?

Check out JA Konrath's blog Newbie's Guide to Publishing.

An Interesting Note About NYT

I was just reading one of my favorite publishing blogs, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing.  This is a great blog from author JA Konrath and it should be required reading for every writer.  Anyway, he notes that one of his books is outselling the New York Times, but yet he never hits the New York Bestseller List.  You won't find Amanda Hocking on there either.  Why?  The New York Times doesn't list Indie authors on their bestseller list.

Now if that is their policy, fine, but it is still amusing that Indie authors are outselling the paper itself.  Take a few moments to read the blog.