A year of self publishing (Sept '11 - Aug '12)

[thaddeus6th]

You should've stayed an extra week and watched the Grand Prix.

Cheers for the update; this thread's very interesting and useful.

 

[Scarfy]

Afternoon, all.

I sold 1,086 ebooks in March, bringing the total up to 9,546. I hope to hit 10,000 by the end of April. Sales are slowing now (as they will do), but overall I'm pleased with the numbers.

 

[Scarfy]

May: 995
Total: 10,541

Thought I'd keep this one brief

 

[Gary Compton]

How many free books are in that figure Steve?

Had a look round your website the other day. It's looking really good and the 3 book in one download should be a best-seller.

 

[Scarfy]

I don't count the free downloads at all. The free edition of HOTK has been downloaded well over 100,000 times from all the various places its available. I maintained a separate count for that, but I stopped doing it last year when I passed the 100k mark.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Blimey.

Hopefully that strategy will prove cunning. Your sales certainly look impressive.

 

[Gary Compton]

As you can see with my own thread. I'm planning to publish at back end of the year, unless I get a traditional deal.

What strategy would you advise - free download to start with or paid for?

Interested to hear your comments Scarfy

 

[thaddeus6th]

On that point: I'll be releasing my first book shortlyish (not for free).

I do like the idea of a free sample or abridged version (or even a free first book in a trilogy), but I'd want to make that decision before writing, I think.

 

[Scarfy]

What strategy would you advise - free download to start with or paid for?

The free download is basically a marketing campaign that a lot of authors do. I think that it's only really worth doing if you have a lot of books out or give away the first book in a series. It helps to get you noticed. However, if that book isn't any good, then people won't take much notice of the rest of what you've got an offer. First impressions and all that.

I do like the idea of a free sample or abridged version (or even a free first book in a trilogy), but I'd want to make that decision before writing, I think.

Free samples for ebooks is now a staple of the format. Most e-retailers will offer the first 10% of your book or so.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Bah, I expressed myself rather badly. I know samples are commonplace, I download them myself all the time, I meant a larger offering (a whole or abridged book, for instance, or the first third or suchlike).

 

[Scarfy]

Hmm, that's difficult to judge. You'll have readers who will download it because they genuinely want to read it, those that download it with the intention of reading it (and may or may not do so), and finally those that will certainly never read it, but download it anyway because it's free..! I know of people who have thousand and thousands of ebooks (legal and illegal), and have probably only ever read 4 or 5 of them.

Offering an entire free book from the start of a series definitely raises awareness and eliminates the dangers of obscurity. And if you can also get a steady stream of good reviews then that will also help.

 

[TL Rese]

i've just released a short story on the kindle! - and am kinda freaking out. =P

i'm doing kdp select and have scheduled a free giveaway day for may 18th. what other promos have you done? i'm racking my brain for ideas.

 

[Scarfy]

Other than giving away the first edition of the first book and putting the website together... er... nothing! :|

 

[TL Rese]

wow, i see! that's amazing! congrats on ur great word-of-mouth sales =)

 

[HareBrain]

Other than giving away the first edition of the first book and putting the website together... er... nothing! :|

I can't remember his name now or his book, but I read an interview in Writers' Forum magazine with a recent Kindle bestseller who'd done absolutely nothing in terms of publicity, social media etc (well, he tweeted the book's existence once, as he had some followers from his role as a sports journalist). I do wonder how effective all the stuff you're advised to do really is.

 

[Coragem]

Other than giving away the first edition of the first book and putting the website together... er... nothing! :|

I'm just utterly baffled. How on earth did buyers even find your book if all you did was list it for Kindle (and other e-book selling formats) and create a website?

I wrote a book on exercise and nutrition, somewhat specialist in nature but desirable for various reasons. I spent about £1500 on a website, hoping to sell the book using that. No luck at all, and all my efforts to advertise the website (posting on forums, google+, facebook) were useless. I listed the book on kindle, and if I'm lucky it earns me £10-15 per week.

Everyone who reads my book rates it very, very highly, but the fact remains that the internet is vast, the Amazon Kindle store is vast, so hardly anyone finds it. So again, I'm baffled, how on earth did over 10,000 people find your novel, never mind find it and buy it? How on earth does anyone find your website?

Note: however baffled I am, I'm also impressed! You must write very well.

Coragem.

 

[Scarfy]

I'm just utterly baffled. How on earth did buyers even find your book if all you did was list it for Kindle (and other e-book selling formats) and create a website?

I have absolutely no idea. I must be that people are simply downloading the first book, finding it enjoyable and are then paying the read the rest of the trilogy. The first book has been downloaded from Amazon over 100,000 times, so I guess that 10% read and enjoyed it and want to know what happened next. Other than that, I have zero idea :|

I've tried doing a few other things, such as creating an Android quiz app that tests people's knowledge on the books, but I know that no one actually plays it..! So... er... no real idea :|

 

[TL Rese]

I do wonder how effective all the stuff you're advised to do really is.

i kno what you mean. - i sell my photography online and i do absolutely zero marketing, yet the website still manages to sell it pretty well via its marketplace, where shoppers just browse. but my writing matters a lot more to me, and just sitting around twiddling my thumbs when it comes to promotion is killing me. i just feel like i should be more proactive in marketing it.

Everyone who reads my book rates it very, very highly, but the fact remains that the internet is vast, the Amazon Kindle store is vast, so hardly anyone finds it. So again, I'm baffled.

this is kind of what i'm thinking/worried about rite now - the internet is literally endless!! i'm afraid my book'll just sink to the bottom of the slush and disappear into a void if i don't do anything. but to help you, Coragem, i heard that free giveaways are really popular and great for promotion, so maybe try listing your book for free every now and then. i've also heard that if you have a series, like scarfy's, then it's best to list the first book for free to encourage people to read and buy the others.

scarfy, did you list your first book as perpetually free, or was it just free for a limited time? i'd like to eventually list one of my titles for free permanently, on amazon, but i'm not sure if that's possible. i'm still pretty new to all this. =T

 

[Gareth Lewis]

i'd like to eventually list one of my titles for free permanently, on amazon, but i'm not sure if that's possible.

You can get it free if you have it free elsewhere and use the 'tell us about a lower price' link in the Product Details section.

I publish eBooks on both Smashwords and Amazon KDP. Smashwords allows you to set the price as free, so I use the link from there (or B&N when it reaches them) to report it as free. It can take a few weeks, and it may at some point slip back to being priced on Amazon, but you can just report it again.

The few weeks is just for Amazon.com, though, as Amazon.co.uk haven't responded to this process since last year. Most other Amazon sites seem to follow Amazon.com's pricing, so it's only the two it needs reporting on (and only one if you don't want to waste your time).

 

[TL Rese]

You can get it free if you have it free elsewhere and use the 'tell us about a lower price' link in the Product Details section.

ah ha! i see, thanks!