{"id":38047,"date":"2026-09-10T05:00:52","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T09:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=38047"},"modified":"2026-09-09T23:37:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T03:37:47","slug":"promos-and-painters-tape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/","title":{"rendered":"Promos and Painter\u2019s Tape"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have to work Thursday but what I\u2019d rather do is check my Amazon dashboard every thirty seconds on day two of the promo.\u00a0 Currently I\u2019m # 286 in the Kindle Free Store.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Sellers Rank: #286 Free in Kindle Store<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>#1 in Military Thrillers (Kindle Store)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>#2 in Technothrillers (Kindle Store)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>#2 in Political Thrillers &amp; Suspense<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Previously the highest I ever got was # 3,692.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, I have to wonder what kind of numbers the top ten are pulling.\u00a0 So as of 11:30 p.m. the dashboard says 700 orders have been processes.\u00a0 Interestingly one (and only one) of those orders was a paperback book bought for $9.99.\u00a0 Kaching!\u00a0 And even more absurd I sold one solitary page on Kindle Unlimited today.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s about $0.005.<\/p>\n<p>Well, this is panning out better than I expected.\u00a0 At this rate I guess I should have a few thousand orders when all is said and done.\u00a0 So, let\u2019s say the first step is on course to be completed successfully.<\/p>\n<p>Now comes the part that is completely unknown.\u00a0 Will having a few thousand copies of my book out in the world improve sales?\u00a0 According to the experts, it should.\u00a0 Of course, assuming the promo readers like it.\u00a0 If they don\u2019t like it then maybe it will actually decrease my sales.\u00a0 But currently I\u2019m sort of in the dark about what to look for and how quickly I should expect any reaction to the promo.\u00a0 But, being an engineer, I will immediately start building a spread sheet and perform a statistical analysis comparing the pre-promo and post-promo sales numbers.\u00a0 I\u2019ll submit the report to the ghosts of the \u201cBig Three\u201d (Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein) and await their comments.\u00a0 But I will say I think I\u2019ve acquitted myself of my responsibilities vis-\u00e0-vis marketing my book.\u00a0 From now on it\u2019s up to the big dumb reading public out there to hear about my book and buy it.\u00a0 The free ride will be over after September 13<sup>th<\/sup> and they\u2019ll have to plunk down ten US simoleons ($9.99) for a paperback or a fin ($4.99) for an imaginary copy.\u00a0 I think I\u2019ve been more than generous with my promos and price reductions and general easy-going attitude about receiving the moolah.\u00a0 So, wake up readers, you\u2019re on notice!<\/p>\n<p>My biggest real problem is that my lawn mowers are both on the side lines.\u00a0 The ride-on mower needs an oil change (since last year) but I\u2019m too lazy and disorganized to do it.\u00a0 So, I\u2019ve been using my 2016-vintage Murray 20\u201d walk-behind mower with Side Discharge, 7\u201d wheels, and Briggs &amp; Stratton 300E series 125 cc OHV engine.\u00a0 But the damn thing is falling apart at the seams.\u00a0 The lower handle is wobbling around and the wheels look like they\u2019re gonna fall off.\u00a0 But being the lazy good for nothing I am, instead of tightening it up, I took some painters tape and tried to hold the lower handle onto the sleeve that it fits into.\u00a0 You know, it didn\u2019t work.\u00a0 So, after work tomorrow I\u2019m going to try and reshape the lower handle so it wants to fit into the sleeves.\u00a0 If that fails, I\u2019ll probably go to Home Depot and buy a new one.\u00a0 After all, this one has been working continuously through the era of Trump and that is not an easy thing to do, I can tell you that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have to work Thursday but what I\u2019d rather do is check my Amazon dashboard every thirty seconds on day two of the promo.\u00a0 Currently<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[241,5,3366,1289,1263,237,4,242],"tags":[5147,3341,1290],"class_list":["post-38047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-current-events","category-life-in-dunwich","category-fiction-by-me","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","category-reviews","category-sff","category-sff-book-reviews","tag-book-marketing","tag-dunwich","tag-my-fiction"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Promos and Painter\u2019s Tape - Orion&#039;s Cold Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Promos and Painter\u2019s Tape - Orion&#039;s Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have to work Thursday but what I\u2019d rather do is check my Amazon dashboard every thirty seconds on day two of the promo.\u00a0 Currently\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orion&#039;s Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-10T09:00:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-10T03:37:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"photog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@orionscoldfire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@orionscoldfire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"photog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"photog\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3\"},\"headline\":\"Promos and Painter\u2019s Tape\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-10T09:00:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-10T03:37:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/\"},\"wordCount\":573,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"book marketing\",\"Dunwich\",\"My Fiction\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Book Reviews\",\"Current Events\",\"Life in Dunwich\",\"My Fiction\",\"photog's Corner\",\"Reviews\",\"Science Fiction \/ Fantasy\",\"SF&amp;F Book Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/\",\"name\":\"Promos and Painter\u2019s Tape - Orion&#039;s Cold Fire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-10T09:00:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-10T03:37:47+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Promos and Painter\u2019s Tape\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\",\"name\":\"Orion&#039;s Cold Fire\",\"description\":\"All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg\",\"width\":4022,\"height\":1419,\"caption\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/orionscoldfire\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3\",\"name\":\"photog\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg\",\"caption\":\"photog\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/author\/photog\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Promos and Painter\u2019s Tape - Orion&#039;s Cold Fire","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Promos and Painter\u2019s Tape - Orion&#039;s Cold Fire","og_description":"I have to work Thursday but what I\u2019d rather do is check my Amazon dashboard every thirty seconds on day two of the promo.\u00a0 Currently","og_url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/","og_site_name":"Orion&#039;s Cold Fire","article_published_time":"2026-09-10T09:00:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-10T03:37:47+00:00","author":"photog","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@orionscoldfire","twitter_site":"@orionscoldfire","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"photog","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/"},"author":{"name":"photog","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3"},"headline":"Promos and Painter\u2019s Tape","datePublished":"2026-09-10T09:00:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-10T03:37:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/"},"wordCount":573,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["book marketing","Dunwich","My Fiction"],"articleSection":["Book Reviews","Current Events","Life in Dunwich","My Fiction","photog's Corner","Reviews","Science Fiction \/ Fantasy","SF&amp;F Book Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/","name":"Promos and Painter\u2019s Tape - Orion&#039;s Cold Fire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-09-10T09:00:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-10T03:37:47+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/promos-and-painters-tape\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Promos and Painter\u2019s Tape"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/","name":"Orion&#039;s Cold Fire","description":"All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization","name":"Orion's Cold Fire","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg","width":4022,"height":1419,"caption":"Orion's Cold Fire"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/orionscoldfire"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3","name":"photog","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg","caption":"photog"},"url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/author\/photog\/"}]}},"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38047"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38053,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38047\/revisions\/38053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}