Kindle - good idea for self-publishing?

[Devil's Advocate]

Well, depending on how seriously you want to promote this (and any future) novels, you would do well to research and read up as much as you can on tips and tricks for promotion.

Smashwords has a marketing guide (available for free) that has some tips. I haven't read it myself, so can't comment on the practicality or effectiveness of it; however, the book does seem to have had a lot of favourable reviews.

Almost too favourable, actually. I'm always skeptical whenever I see a product that seems to have universal praise and near-perfect ratings. Even excellent products aren't perfect, so when I see a whole bunch of 5-star reviews, it makes me wonder how seriously the reviewers took the rating. Generally, from what I've observed, a lot of people seem to prefer the two extremes - if they like something, they'll give it a perfect 10, or they'll give it a one and say it sucks. Not many people bother giving a well-thought out rating.

I think I tend to take this more seriously than some. Even in the rating system of my own personal collection of books in Calibre or music in iTunes, I fret over the rating and wonder if Book X really deserves 4 stars or not. There are a couple of books/albums here and there that I gave 5 stars, but only because they were my favourites and I use them as a 'benchmark' to compare others. And this is just for my own personal collection that no one else will see, and certainly no one cares about.

I guess I'm just anal that way...

[DaveWallace]

I agree Templar, that it's far preferable to letting it gather dust in your drawer or on your flash drive. In fact, that's mostly my thinking. That, and like you, I want to recoup my investment and see what the public at large thinks of it. And maybe, just maybe, get enough interest that somewhere down the line a publisher might be interested in something I write.

[Templar]

DA, you take ratings waaaaay too seriously! I mean, most of the music on my laptop isn't even labeled correctly, let alone rated! But then I'm using Ubuntu, and the rating system on their music payer is not any good really.

It's funny you should mention the perfect 5 star thing. The friend that is trying to convince me to let him review my book even suggested he create a few 4 star reviews as well, to give it credibility. It just feels like cheating to me, but it's nice to know he's thought out the cheating properly!

I have downloaded that book from Smashwords already, but I find it hard to read on a screen for any length of time. That and I have a million-and-one things going on right now (writing the second book, grievance procedure at work, checking Kindle every 8 minutes to see if I sold another book yet...), but when I have a quiet day - probably this Saturday - I plan to go through it thoroughly. I scanned through some of it already, and have started sending the book out to reviewers, nervy process though that is.

On a slight side note, I know I can't publish links yet, but when I can would people object to me publishing a Smashwords "Free book" coupon for my novel in the Press Release section for you guys? Obviously for me it is a way to get some feedback on everything and hopefully get word out a little, and I don't think it is fair to spam the site and expect you guys to buy it. Would people bother going for that do you think?

[psychotick]

Hi,

I'm kindle published and enjoying it a whole lot. I knowwhat you mean about the checking your sales every eight minutes. I don't want to but I still check my sales multiple times a day. I can't speak for the other epublishing sites since I'm not on them, but I imagine that they will mostly follow kindle since Amazon seems to have the marketing share.

I would recommend checking the terms of the contract you signed with Amazon to see if they are happy with you epublishing elsewhere.

As far as sales and reviews go I would say its been a wild ride for me these last few months. I published Maverick on April 25 this year and am closing in on my first thousand sales of it now, which is small potatoes for trad published authors but awesome for me. Two others of my books are selling in the hundreds per month as well. But along with the good comes the bad, and I've had to watch sales rise and fall substantially, and also had probably one of the worst reviews ever written by someone who didn't even read the book. That one felt like a bit of a body blow.

So one thing I would recomend strongly for you as a kindle published author, try to keep your distance from all the buzz part. The highs are too high at first, the lows too low.

Best of luck.

[Templar]

Are you published with Amazon as the official publisher, or are you self-published with Amazon as one of the distribution channels? If you signed a deal with Amazon that had them doing your marketing etc then you'd be right, you wouldn't be allowed to epub with anyone else. I certainly haven't - the only thing they stipulate from me is that my price with them must be equal to or lower than my price anywhere else. If you are using Amazon as a distributor then I would certainly recommend Smashwords very highly - I've actually had almost as many sales on their site (excluding the free copies I've been handing out) as on Amazon, and I haven't yet got feedback from Sony, B&N, Apple etc yet (It's only been a week, and you don't hear your sales from those places for a few months).

I haven't got any reviews yet, as it's only been a week, but that's one reason I'm handing out free copies (feel free to look in the "press releases" section on here for the coupon code), in the hope that it can generate a couple of reviews, and maybe a recommendation or two. I'e been sending it out to book review blogs too, but none have replied as yet. I suspect they are more likely to take a book from a trad publisher than little ole me, particularly as it's a first book. I'm working hard on the second one (when I'm not reading this site...) in the hope of generating a multiplier effect.

1K sales in 4 months isn't bad at all. In fact I wish I was on track for that! Have you been pushing it pretty hard, or letting it power itself? Still, it's handy second income at 250 sales per month average, plus any other books. I know what you mean about the buzz part, and the highs and lows. I've experienced similar effects working as a TV producer, but at least this time it is all under my control.

[psychotick]

Hi,

No I'm published on the kindle thingie, not using them as a distributer. And no, I haven't really been pushing the books very hard. I created an author's page on Amazon, and a blog on Goodreads. My strategy such as it is, is only to write more books and hope that they market themselves and each other. I did try to get some reviews by handing out free copies, but out of the ten or so I gave away only got two reviews. Still its something I suppose.

As for the income side, the funny thing is that if you sell your ebooks at say $2.99 to get the 70% royalty option, and sell on average 200 books of each novel per month, then fifteen books for sale, give you three thousand sales, or six grand in money per month. Seventy two thousand per year is a living wage. You don't have to have a best seller to make a reasonable living as a writer. Just keep writing.

Cheers.

[Vargev]

My strategy tends to be, write the book, go through between 3 and 5 edits to make sure i'm absolutely happy with it, then get it out on E-book first.
If its successful and warrants it, then I bring out a paperback version. I used to go with bringing out the paperback first but due to the success of Kindle and rise of E-books it makes more sense to release the E-book first.
Then I go on a marketing spree to coincide with the new release, I trawl through every medium to large reading group and kindle follower group on facebook, putting on links to my novel. Its labourious work, but pays off with sales.
I have a few interviews pending on other writers blogs too.

My next plan of action when I get back to england is to contact local bookstores asking if they would like to stock the book, and go to local libraries to do book signings.

I tried going down the review site path, but almost all ask for a review copy in advance, and that it is no guarantee of a review anyway. To me this is poor business sense, why would I spend the money to get the book printed, pay the postage to get it sent in the vain hope that I *might* get the book reviewed.
For example in the shows fifith gear and top gear, the car manufacturers don't simply gift them the car, its a loan, those shows have to return the cars back to the manufacturer afterwards.

[Templar]

I've emailed out a few review copies, but only ebooks. Getting 2 reviews per 10 review copies sent out is not bad at all, particularly if those are good reviews. You'd more than recoup the investment if that was the case.

I'm very very wary about spamming other sites with stuff about the book. I had a wee peek at Facebook, but most of the reading groups seem to be very tiny. Unless I'm looking in the wrong area. I'll keep up the search tonight.

Psychotick, the figures you quoted aren't a "Living wage", they're very good! But just think about it: If you picked your best book and pushed that one (and only that one) you'd probably see an uptick in sales of all 15 of your books. You wouldn't need to push them all, just the best one, and new readers that like your work would gravitate to the rest on their own. Worth trying I'd say.

The other thing I've been doing that has lead to a few sales has been reviewing other people's work on Smashwords. Only free shorts at this stage (not enough time/money for anything else yet!) and I don't bother reviewing stuff I think is rubbish (as I don't want spiteful reviews of my work. I read it, comment in my head and don't put it on paper), but of those that I have reviewed I've seen pick up my book (as far as I can tell) and I'm hoping for good reviews as a result.

A final thing Vargev: a friend of mine is a Top Gear cameraman, and you should hear the things Ferrari try to get away with when they "loan" their cars.

Oh, and he took this picture, which I thought you might enjoy:

[chongjasmine]

I think the danger of self-publishing is with readers who give you bad 1 star review, without even having read your work. I have one reviewer doing that to my work. He never bothers to read my work and he gives me one star review. He claimed that I had ripped off my work off some author I had never in the first place heard of.

[TL Rese]

Originally Posted by Devil's Advocate

An author by the name of Barry Eisler -- whose books have apparently made it on The New York Times Bestseller lists, though I confess I had not heard of him until prior to this -- turned down a whopping $500,000 contract to go the self-publishing route. Konrath even interviewed him for his blog subsequent to the decision.

He had his reasons, and certainly the fact that he is already a bestselling author with an established fan-base who will buy his self-published books makes it a little easier.

Still. Gutsy move.

well, mite be a practical move, actually. you get a larger percentage from self-publishing w/o having the middlemen siphoning off most of your money. if he already has a fan base (who most likely won't care who his publisher is), then what's the point of giving away all that money to the traditional publishers?

anyways, i'm also thinking about the self-publishing route, after many many years of taking a beating trying to make headway w/ traditional publishing - and would also be very curious to hear more about what marketing strategies have worked for people? vargev mentioned book signings, but how would you even do a book signing w/ a virtual e-book?

[Moonbat]

Read this article in the Guardian today

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012...elf-publishing

Sounds like this lady had done very well through Kindle self publishing, I think (by the sounds of what her books are about) that she captured the Zeitgeist

[Rosemary Fryth]

Short answer, yes Kindle is a good idea for self-publishing.

Long answer:

I'm a new, unknown author and I first published on Kindle a new and unknown epic fantasy trilogy on Dec 17th.

December sales - 372 (195 freebies, 177 actual sales), so far January sales - 110 actual sales. I'm averaging 7-9 sales a day, and today had 4 sales overnight.

So 287 actual sales since the trilogy went live mid-Dec. Each book of the trilogy sells for $3.99

However I must state that promotion and marketing is the key. Your book won't sell itself, you must become a salesman and promote it as much as you are able. For reclusive authors that means stepping way outside our comfort zone and seriously interacting with others on the net.

Also you must continue to write. The most successful eBook authors seem to be the ones who are putting new books up on a regular basis - especially if they have garnered a fanbase.

[Montero]

Asking as someone who is eyeing up eBook publishing


"Putting books up on regular basis"


Just wondered what you'd observed

How regular?
Is that parts of a series or unrelated one offs?
How are you measuring the success?

[Rosemary Fryth]

Originally Posted by Montero

Asking as someone who is eyeing up eBook publishing


"Putting books up on regular basis"


Just wondered what you'd observed

How regular?
Is that parts of a series or unrelated one offs?
How are you measuring the success?

I'm only a newcomer to eBook publishing, however the general opinion amongst successful eBook authors is that you need to keep a presence on Amazon and that means new books published regularly - either one offs or part of a series.

I've heard 2-3 books a year, others seem to churn out one (novelette?) a month however I think quality would in many cases take a back seat to quantity. I was lucky in that I had a fully fledged fantasy trilogy to publish all at once, plus I republished an old out-of-print poetry book from back in 1999. I'm currently working on another book (Dark Fantasy genre) and hope to have it out midyear. If I can ePublish two quality books every year I'll be happy.

How am I measuring success? By asking other authors how many books they sold on their first and second months. By keeping a daily tally on sales and graphing the sales in Excel. By trialing different prices on the books and also by having promotional free days. Marketing/promoting is a big thing because as I said before, your book will not sell itself and will easily get lost amongst the many eBooks up for sale on Amazon.

I hope that I've managed to answer your question.

[Montero]

Thank you for your generosity in sharing this with a potential competitor