Server Update - Is your listing missing from eBookLister?

Yesterday, October 14th, the eBookLister Administration team received notice that the company that handles our servers had recently gone through an update/upgrade of our servers.  We either missed the pending notice or we were never notified of this change. 

This change caused the eBookLister to 'lose' some listings that had been submitted, and even approved, between October 12th and October 14th.  We apologize for this problem.

If you submitted your listing between that time frame, there is a good chance that your listing is not currently in our system and will not be part of our promotions on the days that you requested.

We invite you to check the 'Preview' link provided in your confirmation email and if your listing does not show up, please resubmit your listing on our 'Submit' page and we'll do what we can to get your listing included on the days you'd like to promote.

If you have any questions about this update, please feel free to contact us on our Contact' page.

Thank you!

Changes Coming!

COMING SOON!  eBookLister will be making some big changes that authors and readers alike need to know!  So we'll share it here first, then when the changes go into affect, nobody will be surprised!

First, after more than 4 years of being in service, providing promotional support for authors in all stages of eBook promotion, eBookLister will no longer be accepting listings with fewer than 5 reviews.  We have enjoyed providing support for the newer authors and the newer eBooks, but there comes a time when we must make a business decision and that time has come.  Unfortunately, we are no longer in a position to be able to provide promotional opportunities for newer eBooks.  We encourage new eBook authors to take advantage of early readers, ARCs and other options to get early reviews.

Moving forward, we'll be requiring at least 5 reviews and a rating of 3.5 or higher on all submissions.  These numbers are checked at the time of submission and on review of the submission, and again on the day(s) of promotion.  Listings that don't have the required rating/reviews will be auto-declined.  Please note that eBookLister provides our promotional listings in a 'Value' order, using on our own formula, based on ratings and reviews.  It should be clear that higher is better in both categories.

Change #2: We have already begun to crack down on the submission guidelines and will continue to more and more.  Unfortunately, after more than 4 years in service, there are still many authors that can't seem to follow (or perhaps even read) our submission guidelines.  Because of this, we must regularly filter through hundreds of submissions that do not meet our submission guidelines.  To provide the best service possible to those authors who are 'following all the rules', we must clear out those that are not.  We are no longer sending notices to 'problem' listings.  If your listings doesn't meet our guidelines you should already know it and it will be declined without question. 

Common Problem Examples:
Title too long: 
This is a good title:  "Elevator Pitches - Sell Your idea!"
This is a bad title: "Amazon Best Seller!! and New York Times Best Seller!!!!  Elevator Pitches.  Even if you are in the smallest of windows to sell your idea, this best selling book will teach you all the ways to Sell Your Idea!  From simple to complex, this book from America's greatest 'On-The-Spot seller', Joe Hiemsman is the ultimate guide to Elevator Pitches. (elevator pitches, sell your idea, elevator selling, spot selling, spot pitching, selling ideas, sell your ideas, idea pitching, idea selling, elevator moments)

(Don't laugh at this terrible title.  It might shock you that it is scarily accurate to many submissions that we get!)

Insufficient rating/reviews:
eBookLister requires favorable reviews before we'll accept a listing for possible promotion.  This means that at least 5 reviews and at least a 3.5 rating or better.  We provide our listings in a 'Value' order, based on ratings and reviews.

Description Grammar/Content
Simply put - you need to put more effort into your description than you put into writing the book!  Seriously, bad grammar, bad spelling, bad content, multiple and many paragraphs straight from the book, etc.  Your description needs to be clear, precise, and get a 'hook' into the readers.  If it's a bad description, your listing will be declined.

About the Author info:
Authors have a plethora of places to updated and maintain author information.  The title and/or description of your listing on the eBookLister Service is NOT one of those places.  There are very rare circumstances where we feel some kind of author information is allowed/required in a description, but for everyone else - don't even mention it.  If we see that author's name anywhere but in the "Author's Name" field, then there is a Really good chance your listing will be declined.

Promotion Description:
The description is for the book - not the promotion.  Don't describe when the book will be free, don't describe why the book will be a bargain listing, don't describe the promotion.  Describe the Book!

Change #3:  Editorial Preference.  We are taking more liberties on what we choose to promote and what is declined.  We had previously promoted everything that met our submission guidelines, but we are focusing our efforts more to the listings that look the best and sound the best.  We reserve the right to decline any listing for any reason.  To ensure your listing will be included in our promotional opportunities, make sure your cover image is perfect, your Title is exact and your Description perfectly describes your eBook.

Change #4: Focus on our Daily Email.  We have received great feedback from our thousands of readers and authors alike.  More and more, people are no longer interested in visiting a website to get great free and bargain eBooks.  They want the books delivered to them!  Because of this, we are putting a great effort into focusing on our Daily email.  Our listings are getting better, we are limiting how many go out and when and we are working to track those listings even better.  As we transition more to the Daily Email, authors will want to note that there are a very limited number of spots available on any given day. 

With all ventures, changes must happen and adjustments to the current trends and interest continue.  eBookLister continues to focus on helping authors and readers connect and in so doing, must make changes.  We believe these changes will benefit all and look forward to many more years of providing a great service to authors and readers.

Have a question about some of these changes?  Please visit our website and use our Contact form.

 - Johnathan
eBookLister

Email Delays

We are experiencing issues with our email and are working to get it resolved.  In the meantime, we apologize for the delay in responding.  Please be patient as we work to get our email working again and get caught up.

Thank you.

 - Johnathan

Market Research Changes

eBookLister Updates!

The eBookLister Service is always tracking and trending information to enhance it's service to authors and readers.  Our goal is to provide both authors and readers great opportunities to connect.

eBookLister has been providing these great services for over 3 years and during that timeframe, we have identified some needed changes in our systems and processes.

The biggest point we have noted is that the majority of our activity comes through the fantastic free and bargain listings we send out in our daily email.  While we still get great visitor activity on our website, facebook page, and even our twitter account, most of our visitors take advantage of having these eBooks delivered straight to their inbox.

Taking note of this great information creates a need to adjust some of the way our services work, in an effort to provide an even greater value to authors and readers alike.

With that, we now announce our updated services.

• First - (not a change): It's always free for readers to visit our website, facebook page, twitter account, and sign up to our mailing list.  Emails will be going out every day with the best of the best of the submittals.
• Second - (not a change): It's still free to submit a listing to eBookLister; a free priced listing or a bargain priced listing.  Submittals must meet our submission guidelines.  We will continue to list the top 30-40 best value submittals on our website.  These will be listed after the editorial selected listings. Approved listings that don't fall in the top 30-40 will not be promoted.
• Third, Paid Promotions will now only be available for a single day within a 60 day period (instead of up to 4 days). These Paid Promotions guarantee your listing will be included in our daily email on the day scheduled, as well as be included on our website.
• Fourth, the 'Daily Focus eBook' promotion is changing to a 'Web Promo'.  Any Paid Promotion is eligible to take advantage of our Web Promo (when available) where we'll not only include the listing in our Daily Email, but we'll also post the listing to Facebook, Twitter, and display it prominently on our website, as well as other coming web promotional opportunities.  This promo is available to any listing once in a 60 day period.

The second point we have noticed is that many readers are looking for ebooks on more platforms than just the Amazon Kindle.  While we have always planned on moving into providing Nook Books as well as ebooks on other platforms, this gathered information moves that development up higher on our 'to-do' priority list.

We have set ourselves an internal goal to soon provide authors the opportunity to provide links to their eBooks on Kindle, Nook, iTunes, and Kobo.  We're also working to allow authors to link to the print version of their books as well.

With these coming changes, we are excited for the new and better opportunities for both authors and readers.

Are there changes you'd like to see in our service?  Suggestions?  Comments?  Let us know by using the Contact form on our Website.

Submission Process Update

We have recently completed a programming change to our submission process.  This change is to improve the value of our listings, as well as the process. 


While we have tested and tested again, we can not claim to be perfect so if you have any trouble submitting or confirming your listing on our system, please don't hesitate to contact us as soon as you can and we will look into it.


You can best reach us on our contact page found at:
http://www.ebooklister.net/page.php?p=16


Thank you!


 - Johnathan
eBooklister.net

Submission Guidelines Review

Here at the eBookLister Service, we want nothing more than to help authors get their names and books out to the public, and to help people find great free and bargain books.  But we have to follow rules, as do our submitting authors. 

 

Today, I'd like to address our submission guidelines, as a review for ALL authors and submitters, but specifically, direct my comments towards the non-fiction authors regarding rules.  While we love to promote non-fiction books, they must fall under slightly stricter submission guidelines due to the far-greater volume of submissions.  Non-Fiction books fall under the same submission guidelines as all other submissions with a few notes.  I am pulling this information from our 'About Us' page (http://www.ebooklister.net/page.php?p=2)

 

Rule #4 -

• Please allow at least 24 hours to get your book listed on EBL.  

This rule #4 is even more important for Non-Fiction books because of the volume of 'DayOf' Non-Fiction submissions that occur.  Please plan ahead and give us a chance to give your listing a fair review before the promotion begins.

 

Rule #7 -

• We require all listings to have at least a star rating of 3.5 or higher.  The exception to this rule is if your book has no reviews or if the book is Non-Fiction.  ... Non-Fiction books MUST have at least 5 reviews to be eligible.

Non-Fiction submissions that do not have at least 5 stars on the day they are submitted will be declined without further review.  Please ensure your listing has at least 5 reviews (this number is subject to change), on the day you submit to the eBookLister Service
 
Rule #10 -

• Do NOT put pricing information in your description.

No pricing information.  None.  Not "free today", not "limited time bargain promotion", not "get this free on kindle unlimited".  Nothing like that.  The description is the description - describe the book - not the author, not the promotion, not the pricing, not anything other than the description of the book.

  

Rule #12 -

• Do NOT put an 'About The Author' section into the description.

Author's can link to their profiles in the Author URL field.  An 'About the Author' section anywhere else will cause the listing to be declined.


Rule #13 -

• Keep the Title field to just the Title. Keep it short and concise.

Long titles are the fastest way to decline.  This is a horrible title: "Weight Control: How to lose all of the extra pounds you've put on over the last few years, maintain your current goal weight (in connection with your gender and age), and how to maintain a true control of your weight by making smart decisions in eating, activities, and even friends; this shareable, effective, and great methodology is your ticket to maintaining and controlling your weight to give you more confidence, energy, friends and even the love everyone needs to have an enjoyable, fullfilling, and interesting life. By Best-Selling Author and Doctor Jane A Anserden, MD, CEO of Weight Loss and Control Management LLC (WLCM), in Shermin Colorado."

 For Real!  BAD!  Keep your titles short and concise please. 

These notes apply to both Non-Fiction and Fiction alike, but the eBookLister Service has found Non-Fiction submitters break the rules more often.

In summary:  Please - read the rules and Follow them!  We WANT to help you - we WANT you to be successful.  Follow our submission guidelines and we'll be far more likely to do this.

 

Server Change / Technical Difficulties

We have finally resolved the server issue we've been fighting that is the reason that our daily emails have not been being sent out.


Daily emails should resume today or tomorrow.


Sorry about the issue.  You can now enjoy your daily free and bargain deals once again as they kindly arrive in your email.


 - Johnathan

Listing Changes Coming

Growth requires change, so change we must.  Soon, eBookLister will be listing on our website only the top 40-50 eBooks in both the Free and the Bargain listings.  This coming change is due to the continued increase in submissions, as well as requests from our readers.

So with that being said, please be aware:

For Readers:  eBookLister will continue to list the best of the submissions we receive, including certain promotions and focus eBooks.  This cut in numbers will ensure a better selection to you as a reader, so that you can be sure to find the best free and bargain eBooks each day.

For Authors: We are no longer able to guarantee a listing spot on our website if you choose the free submission option.  eBookLister will select the top 40-50 listings of each section, on each day, to promote on our website and include in our daily email.  If you are interested in ensuring your placement at the top of these lists, please read our 'Advertise' page.

Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about this coming change or the services we offer.  Our goal is to help Authors promote their works, and readers to find those great free and bargain eBooks.

Website Failure!

Well - maybe not the whole website - but it's still a failure.  And some of you have probably experienced it too.


Turns out - our contact form had failed us.  And for 'I-don't-know-how-long', it hasn't been working.  I vaguely recall seeing an email about someone using the contact form and only getting a blank white page.  That's not good.


So - consider this our officially apology for our failure -


We apologize for not having been aware of and fixed our contact form issue.


Now that that is over - We have Fixed It!  You can now use our contact form just as it was originally intended.  To Contact Us!  And please do!  Contact us to your heart's content.  Or - at least in an effective way.


Website fixed - now I'll go hunt for more issues.  If you find issues, please feel free to reach out to us on Facebook or twitter as well.  We TRY to stay connected!

Upcoming Listing Changes at eBookLister.net

Due to the exciting increase in traffic and popularity of our free eBookLister Service, we are planning on making some changes to how we provide for our visitors.  Please take note of these changes as they will likely affect authors who are submitting their books for consideration of web & email listings, as well as affect readers who are looking for the best books, at the best prices.

Please note, in the next few weeks:

• We will begin including only a limited number of listings displayed on our website, the exact number to be determined as needed.  The web-posted listings will be selected through both editor choice and value based on our proprietary formula.  Obviously, the better the ratings and number of reviews, the more likely the listing will be included on our website.
• Daily emails will be limited to EBL accepted Paid Promotions and editor selected listings each day.  Some categories may not have listings included each day.
• Submission requirements will become a little stricter to give higher priority to the better 'valued' and editor selected listings.

The purpose of these coming changes are two-fold.

1. We want to provide the best listings to our readers.  In the end, it doesn't matter how many books are written, but rather - how many books are being read, and the quality of those books.  Some of these changes will have the affect of increasing the value of the listings we display to give our readers the 'best' books to read.
2. Improve value for Authors choosing to promote through the eBookLister Service.  Some of these changes will provide better value for the advertising opportunity on our website, and through our Daily Email. 

We are excited for the growth that we see and enjoy reading about the success stories of the authors who choose to advertise through our free service.

As we continue to develop and provide an effective service to both authors and readers, we appreciate all the promotion that our visitors provide to help us grow.  Share us!  When more people know, more people benefit!

 - Johnathan
eBookLister

Administrative Connectivity Issues

Over the past few weeks, we've been fighting some connectivity issues that has caused some delays.  As far as we can tell, this is not affecting our users, neither authors nor readers, but it sure is affecting our administration of the site.  Because of this, we are falling behind in our review process.  Please be patient with us as we work to regain our standing and get all of the submitted listings reviewed and approved for our readers to enjoy every day.

If you have questions about the submittal process or about the Free and Bargain listings that we provide, please use the 'Contact' form on our website.  We strive to respond to email inquiries within 48 business hours.

Thank you.  We appreciate your patience.

Another Script Failure

It's been a lot of months now since our last bot-takeover attempt.  And once again, we have beat down the onslaught and emerged victorious in our battle.

A few days ago, we had a serious server problem that really left us in a lurch.  After some frantic testing and fixing, we were able to get that issue resolved and our site was up again and beautiful, providing free and bargain books to all - world-wide.

But underneath our victory, unseen from our current vantage point was yet another failure that lurked.  This failure involved our server not capturing our updated pricing each day.

This caused several books to be listed incorrectly at the wrong prices, both on our website and in our Daily emails.  Some were listed as free when they were not, and others were listed with prices when they should have been free.

We are very sorry for this mistake and take it upon ourselves to do better in the future.  What we want to do is provide you with great free and bargain books, not trick you (even on accident).  We want you to enjoy your reading of some great author-submitted books.

Please accept our apologies for this bumble and know that we take it seriously and are always looking to improve the service we provide.  If you have any questions about our service or this system failure, please feel free to contact us on our website.

 - Johnathan

Technical Difficulties

Sometimes, things just break.  Other times, the 'bots take over.

That happened to us this morning.  One of our automated scripts went all 'Terminator' on us and wiped clean today's listings.  It's taken a couple of hours to resolve, but we have resolved the issue, rebuilt the terminated potion of the database and have reinstated the listings for today.

We realize our down time may have been in inconvenience to those looking for great Free and Bargain books and we apologize.

Not only have we resolved the issue, but we have identified where our automated system needs to be modified to prevent this issue in the future.  We'll be working hard to get that script updated to avoid another 'Terminator' style robot takeover of our system.

Please let us know if you have any continuing issues or questions about our services.

Major Milestone!

This past weekend, eBookLister hit a major milestone and we just can't wait to share it!

Half a Million Listing Views and Growing Fast!  That's a whole lot of readers downloading eBooks.

Submission Requirement Changes Coming.

Due to the continual increase of submissions to the eBookLister Service, we are re-working our submission guidelines.  As our popularity grows, we are having to become more particular to the eBooks we list and promote.

Watch for additional updates to the submission guidelines soon.

eBook Categories / Genres

We've added a new category to our collection.  The new category is 'Romance -> Mystery'  For those of you who have been submitting your book to the 'Mystery/Thriller' category and have been wishing for a better spot - this is it.

You may have also noted that we have a 'Recipes' category under 'Advice & How-to'.  While most are submitting their recipe books to the correct category, some are still not.  No big deal because they get moved over when they get reviewed, prior to approval.

The point is, though, be sure to watch the submittal process closely and fill in your listing information as correctly as possible to be sure to be included in our service.


Are there other categories you would like to have added?  Let us know.  Use the 'Contact Us' form on our website.  We're always open to new ideas.

New Listing Category!

We have just added a new category to our 'Submit Here' page.  You can now submit to:
Non-Fiction --> Recipe/Cookbooks.

We've decided to split out this category to make it easier for those looking specifically for Recipe Books and Cookbooks.

If you have a recipe/cookbook that you have previously had listed at eBookLister (or one already scheduled for the future), please use our Contact page to let us know the ASIN and Title of the book.  Let us know that you'd like to move your listing into this new category and we'll be happy to help out.

Week of 2013.03.18 - Plans for eBookLister

We have some great updates planned for the eBookLister Service for this week.  In an effort to provide our visitors the best books we can offer, we are working on several updates and enhancements.  Here is a general list of some of the things we are working on this week:

Update RSS Feed / Daily Email Format  

• We are still running on an outdated RSS Feed generator, which feeds our daily email.
• We'll cut the feed down to the highest quality listings.
• Each email will provide the Daily Focus book, some bargain books, and some free books.

Payment Options for Listing Promotion

• With the addition of promotional opportunities for listings, we are working on adding payment methods and options.
• Promoting your listing is inexpensive and effective to get your listing in front of the largest number of readers.

Backend System Updates

• Maintenance of free vs bargain listings
• Maintenance of Paid (promoted) vs free submittals
• Better listing approval processing

It's a big list and we are working hard to continue the development of our eBookLister Service.  We welcome your comments and questions.  

Changes with Free vs Bargain books

As you may have noticed, there have been some changes to the Free vs Bargain listings Setup.

First, Please note the new submission options.  You are required to choose between 'Free' and 'Bargain'.  A Bargain book is defined as anything less than $2.99 and meets our other submission requirements.

With this change comes the freedom for authors to submit their book as free or bargain.  This new submission option does not change the requirement of waiting between submissions.  We currently require at least 30 days between listing days.

Keep your eye on our blog for lots more great changes and improvements coming with the eBookLister Service.

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