Kindle - good idea for self-publishing?

[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]

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/jan/12/amanda-hocking-self-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]

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

 

[Montero]

Kindle question I thought I'd post here rather than start a new thread.

On Amazon, I sometimes see advance announcement of paperbacks, that you can also pre-order sometimes at a slightly discounted price.

With Kindle self-publishing the discussions here on SFF often mention that you need a presence, so having up multiple books helps with that and also with encouraging a reader to start your series.

So is it possible to do a pre-announcement with a self-published Kindle book on Amazon - or indeed any eBook on any bookseller?

Just thinking of the scenario where you say have book one polished and ready to release; book 2 is finished but needs another polish/is off with the editor and so on. So you could put up book 1 and announce that book 2 release date is in say three months.
Can it be done?
Is it a good idea if it can be done?