I've been selling on Bookapy for three years now and I've rarely had more than a day without a single sale. The last month I've averaged $10 about a day then suddenly 4 days ago everything stopped and I haven't had a single sale. Has this been happening to anyone else? Is Bookapy having data issues with their payment system? Sorry, to just throw this out there but I wanted to know if it was only me before I start putting out alarms with Lazeez
Thanks!
Is Bookapy having data issues with their payment system?
Not that I'm aware of. The sales stats are pulled from the live transactions table, and I haven't changed any code in that regard.
One change that I implemented few days ago is segregating the new books by size.
There was a flood of new short stories and those push longer books off the front page, and short stories generally don't sell, so I split the new books section on the home page between novel, novella and short story.
That pushed the best sellers sections and best rated section down a bit.
Did you have anything new or on the top lists?
Hi Lazeez, thanks so much for taking a look at this. I'm not sure what happened but my sales almost completely stopped. My novellas were selling well even though I haven't released a new one in a few weeks. I have an idea though. I think the pagination links in your new sections are off. When I go to the novellas and try to go to the next page of results by clicking the page numbers, I'm instead redirected to the first page of the novels section. What this means is now no one can get to any of the older novellas. That would explain why my sales suddenly dropped off. I didn't check any of the other sections but they may have a similar problem. I'm on my mobile now, but if you need any help troubleshooting let me know, I'm actually a full stack web dev. Thanks again, I really appreciate your site and your efforts to keep everything running smoothly!
Cheers
Charlie
I think the pagination links in your new sections are off.
You're correct. I should have tested more thoroughly.
Fixed.
Thanks for looking into it so quickly! Being a one man show must be tough. If you ever need an extra set of eyes, let me know (gratis).
Cheers,
Charlie
Thanks for looking into it so quickly! Being a one man show must be tough. If you ever need an extra set of eyes, let me know (gratis).
Huzzah!
I appreciate the copious efforts made by Lazeez! I also appreciate the efforts made by others to keep this site going. From those who Pay for Premium Memberships, to Volunteer Editors, and cogent answers in the Forums, and other contributions.
Huzzah!
One change that I implemented few days ago is segregating the new books by size.
Should that change be limited to new releases? Should it also be for clicking on a genre on the left (e.g., "fiction," "action," etc.)?
Also, what are the sizes of novellas and short stories?
Should that change be limited to new releases? Should it also be for clicking on a genre on the left (e.g., "fiction," "action," etc.)?
It's only for new book on the home page. Nothing else changed.
Also, what are the sizes of novellas and short stories?
Less than 10,000 words for short stories and between 10,000 and 40,000 words for Novellas. Anything 40,000 words or over is a Novel.
Perhaps all the World Literature Publishing sites should gradually phase out the use of KB in favour of words.
AJ
should gradually phase out the use of KB in favour of words.
Please don't. For decades, I have been using KB milestones as an incentive/target to write longer stories. My next milestone is to break 1000 KB.
Why not Both?
We are not nearly as limited for data storage, so why not use Words (count) and keep KB too? Because anything that motivates people to provide Content is beneficial.
We are not nearly as limited for data storage, so why not use Words (count) and keep KB too?
It can cause confusion. Advanced Search specifies KB, Category Search doesn't specify but it too uses KB (which caught me out recently).
I think of story lengths in words. I can't remember any writing pundits advising authors to eg write at least 10.5KB per day, they invariably use 'words' as their unit of length.
If you look at dead tree book reviews, book lengths are specified in words or pages.
AJ
If you look at dead tree book reviews, book lengths are specified in words or pages.
Of course traditional printed books don't use KB as a (public; if at all) measure.
I read Pixy's (passionate) comment, and I recall that MS Word, and other writing programs use KB as a unit of measure, at least if you click on certain metrics.
Motivation to continue Writing can often be difficult. If that is what motivate Pixy, and plausibly other writers on SoL, why not continue it. Rather, unless it causes some issue(s) I am not aware of, Please continue to use KB as a metric. Those that don't care may ignore it.
Also, for those who download from SoL KB may still be relevant if they use a "Thumb drive" or similar limited capacity device.
If that is what motivate Pixy, and plausibly other writers on SoL, why not continue it.
How would SOL not using it discourage Pixy?
I recall that MS Word, and other writing programs use KB as a unit of measure, at least if you click on certain metrics.
Open Office has a menu item, under tools, with the title 'word count'. It lists the number of words and the number of characters.
Also, for those who download from SoL KB may still be relevant if they use a "Thumb drive" or similar limited capacity device.
I thought the SOL metric was for KB of text, and that the actual download file could be significantly larger.
According to my understanding, KB is easier to program. But since Lazeez has gone to the trouble of calculating wordcounts, I think they should take precedence as being more intuitive for users, even if KB are retained.
AJ
How would SOL not using it discourage Pixy?
Possibly because I mentioned previously, that I use it as means of progression and as personal goals to reach in my writing. I blame, (obviously) Laz for starting it with the KB limit as to when amateur scribblers get free access to the site (still think that's a devious move). Once reached, subconsciously I moved the goal post to another limit (Write a story over 100KB in length, then it was 300KB, then the biggy was 500, then it jumped to -the current goal of- 1000KB).
Why do I do this? No idea, humans are weird.
(Incidentally, Anya is 500KB, it's hidden in plain sight part of the next chapter is 250KB, and the blog post is about another 200KB, so not far from the big 1000. I should be finishing it off now, but I have decided, instead, to re-write the last published chapter of Marr, because I hate it. Why? Because humans are weird.)
