For Authors

What is Stuff With Fantasy / Stuff Your Kindle Event?

It's an opportunity for authors to collaborate and give readers FREE or discounted books! And for authors to expand their readership. It's a win win for both readers and authors.

During this event, authors band together to promote each other's books. With everyone's books on this site, and thousands of reader eyes on them, authors often come away with thousands of downloads, additional sales on their sequels, newsletter sign ups, and reviews! None of this is guaranteed. To increase chances of success, we recommend doing market research for titles, professional covers, and catchy blurbs.

When do authors begin promoting this event?

Author joining this event are REQUIRED to promote it! However, the requirement doesn't come until the day of the event.

Promotions can come in the form of social media posts, newsletter mentions, or both. Preferrably both. The main method of promotion you choose will be requested in the signup form so we can ensure you're doing your part as a contributor to this event. Mention the website URL, that there are free books, including yours, and you could also mention other books similar in vein. Such as "witch books" or "vampire books."

Example of a good promo:

If you'd like to promote before the day of the event, please use verbage such as "mark your calendars" with the date so it's clear to readers that the books will be free, but aren't free yet.

Example of before day of the event promo:

How to Join

To join the Stuff With Fantasy Author Group, click here.
PLEASE read the rules, fill out the group questions, and agree to the terms before joining the group. If you don't, you will be rejected.
To join this group, you must be an author with a published book, you must be able to promote your book for FREE (not behind an email subscription form), and you must be willing to promote this event.
If you're a reader looking for a Stuff With Fantasy reader group, try searching for one on Facebook. If you own an associated Facebook Group, email brooke@brookeclonts.com and I'll add it to this page.

How To Set Your Book To FREE

If you've published through D2D, you can view the steps here. We recommend setting the dates a couple days before the event, just in case.

D2D Promotional Price Tool Step by Step:
Select Book Title you wish to use → Takes you to the view book page, scroll down slightly to "Ebook Details" section and click in your "new price" box to change the price → On the drop down check the bubble that says "I want to run this price for a specific period of time." and click "Switch to promotional price tool" → This will pull up a calendar and allow you to change your ebooks price to FREE for a specific amount of time. We recommend setting it to FREE a few days in advance to be safe and give yourself time for it to reflect on Amazon because you WILL have to ask Amazon to price match once it shows as free elsewhere. Don't forget to CLICK on Promotional Territorial Prices and set your ebook to free by checking all the territory boxes as well. Your readers outside the US will thank you.

To set your book to FREE through KDP, you have to set your book to free on all available vendors first, and then email Amazon with several links. Email Amazon through their customer service portal here. Select "Pricing" and then "Price Matching" in the dropdown. Request a price match and be sure to add links to your other vendors to prove that the book is available free elsewhere. We recommend doing this several days in advance as Amazon isn't obligated to change the price. If they don't do it, try again with more links.

To set your book to FREE through KDP Select, follow Amazon's directions here. Amazon limits the number of free days (5 days out of the 90 day enrollment period), so be sure you have slots available.

Using a "clean" link

Use a clean link when submitting to this event. AND a direct link to the book. NO SERIES PAGES! Otherwise, your submission will be deleted. We're busy and we don't have time to reach out and rectify submimissions. If you submit a link that doesn't comply with what we expect, we'll simply remove the submission and you'll have to submit again.

❌ These are NOT clean links:
• https://www.amazon.com/Soulless-Witch-J-S-Hart-ebook/dp/BOCJ5LPM8D/
• https://a.co/d/OallhXTz
• https://amzn.eu/d/OhQ6ylXz
• https://bit.ly/soulless-witch (or any forwarding sites)
• https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088
• https://www.amazon.com/Curse-Mekori-Brooke-Clonts/dp/B0C129VJPC/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7JTrGLUV2Cirr

✅ These are clean links:
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/BOCTHR219Z
• https://books2read.com/u/bp9ZEE
• You can also use booklinker to generate a clean book link.

Which platforms can I use?

• ✅ Draft to Digital
• ✅ Bookfunnel with optional signup form.
• ✅ Amazon
• ✅ Universal Link
• ✅ Kobo
• ✅ Apple
• ✅ Google
• ❌ Personal Website
• ❌ Series Pages
• ❌ Book behind email signup form on BookFunnel (email signup mandatory)
• ❌ Book offered only on a distribor that requires mandatory email signups (ex: Smashwords)

To be clear, an ❌ means this option is NOT allowed.

Creating Marketing Materials For This Event

We recommend using the free version of Canva. There are templates you can use. Authors will also share materials they've created that you're welcome to use as well. We will do our best to contribute.

We've chosen to use the font Yana for our branding (Adobe Fonts). You may use this font if you'd like for your own creatives, or you can use something else. We don't care. If you do use Yana, play around with the glyphs! They're a lot of fun!

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is a Universal Link?
  Universal Links enable readers in different locations to find your book on the appropriate marketplace. We recommend using Universal Links where possible.
• Can another author submit a book I have co-authored without it voiding my submission?
  Yes, if they submit it as their single submission.
• Can I use BookFunnel or a personal website?
  No to a personal website. Yes to BookFunnel, as long as the email signup is OPTIONAL. If we find submissions where authors try to wiggle out of this, the author will be blocked from participating in future events. There may be events in the future where we allow authors to capture emails, but this is not currently an option.
• Is everything free?
  Yes, as long as you help build the excitement with your own. In the future, we may have paid packages to build email lists but we have no immediate plans for this.
• Why do the hosts get to feature their books on this page?
  Because the hosts are spending a lot of time, marketing power promoting your books, and money on this event. Yes, money. The hosts are paying out of pocket for hosting and dino fees. Unfortunately, if there were no pros to running this event, no one would ever do it. If you'd like to lodge a complaint, you can do that here.
• Are there other Stuff Your Kindle Events?
  Yes! You can find them on the official Stuff Your Kindle webpage.

Marketing Ideas Beyond This Event

Yes, we want you to be successful and sometimes that means doing more than just Stuff Your Kindle events. We're here to help, and here are our recommendations——quick and dirty.

• Book Signings
  Try doing some book signings. Call the Barnes and Nobles in your state. Not all of them are willing to invite indie authors to do book signings, but some are. If you get rejected, don't be discouraged. Keep calling. Once you get into one Barnes and Noble, sell as many books as you can. With a sales record, it's easier to get into the other stores. You can also try indie book stores. After that, look into festivals and comicons. You'd be surprised how many books you can sell at a local farmer's market! This is also a great opportunity to test and practice your pitch.
• Anthologies
  Submitting to an anthology is a great way to expose your writing style to potential new readers. Try to find an anthology that's similar to your niche.
• Schedule A Book Tour
  These cost money, but you can find affordable options. Try a few and see which ones, if any, generate results. Sapphire Ink Press being one. Ask around for more recommendations.
• Ads
  Yes, the good old Facebook, Amazon, Kobo, etc ads. They do work, but oftentimes you need a little cash to start playing around with them. Here are some resources: Matthew J. Holmes & David Gaughran & Dave Chesson
• Social Media
  Post about books related to yours, what you're working on, milestones you're excited about, what gets you passionate about your stories, book recs, and booktok drama 😅 (but be mindful of the type of followers you'll generate from this). Research where your readers are and join that platform.
• Promo Stacking
  Amazon's algorithm wants to see incremental increases in about seven day spreads. If the algo notices your book's sales increasing over so many days, it'll start selling your book for you. You can create a gradual increase in sales by utilizing your mailing list, social feeds, and promo stacking with sites like Freebooksy, Robin Reads, etc. Read David Gaughran's article here.
• Utilizing Your Metadata Efficiently
  Check out David Chesson's Keywords and Categories articles to learn about this (he's the book metadata guru). You don't have to buy his tool (there are ways to research and accomplish everything it does), but it's very helpful.