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

[Ursa major]

Amazon, as a book distributor, is registered in Luxembourg (where the VAT rate on ebooks is 3%), so HMRC doesn't see any of that money.

How this might apply to authors based in the UK, but selling through Amazon, I wouldn't know.

 

[thaddeus6th]

This thread on the KDP forum explains it:
http://forums.kindledirectpublishing.com/kdpforums/thread.jspa?messageID=265831&#265831

 

[Scarfy]

Morning all.

Wow, I can't believe it's been a year already! My sales numbers for September were 1,553.

The total for the 12 month period was 15,830. I'm quite stunned by this number, as I was actually aiming for 10,000 in the year.

Things I've noticed - around 90% of the sales came from Amazon. iTunes and Barnes and Nobles made up about 3% of the sales each, with retailers such as Kobo and Sony's eBookstore making up the remainder.

I'm still unsure / undecided whether this trilogy would have been better off waiting for a publisher to pick it up. They would have given it a bigger marketing push, for sure, and it would have been reviewed in magazines and been available as paperbacks in book stores.

On the other hand, ebook sales are growing and growing and growing. I think that people are reading more, because they have the means to do so with them all the time - mobile phones, tablets, etc. I'm not which is better any more.

If you're going to self publish your work, then there are two big things to keep in mind -

1. You must approach it professionally. That means hiring an editor, getting a good cover created (or doing it yourself, if you have the skills), putting together a decent blurb and ensuring you have done the very best you can for the book (in other words, everything a publisher does).

2. Marketing is key. You need to make sure your book is visible and build a platform for it, so to speak. I've read of how some people recommend starting to market a book well over a year before it is released..! The thing to keep in mind is that no one will buy a book that they don't know exists.

Anyways, I hope you've found this thread helpful. If you've got any questions, fire away and I'll do what I can to answer them.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Congratulations.

Your sales certainly put mine in the shade! [That said, I intend to cunningly sort-of copy your free first edition, by releasing half of the first book of the trilogy I'll write for free. It's about a civil war, so I'll release just one side's perspective for free to hopefully entice people to buy the book].

When you say marketing what measures do you mean precisely?

 

[Dozmonic]

He means constructing his subliminal broadcasting system that transmits a message on loop: "buy the book, feed the Scarfy"

Fantastic set of sales figures. Well maintained throughout the 12 months as well dude. Especially for the genre!

 

[Scarfy]

I'll release just one side's perspective for free to hopefully entice people to buy the book. When you say marketing what measures do you mean precisely?

I think that's actually a good idea! I think readers often like to see both sides of a conflict.

When I say marketing, I guess I mean blogging a lot, talking to readers, and looking for ways to promote. Giving away free stories, even short ones on your blog, has been proven to work quite well.

Personally, I think I suck at marketing, but I've done something right. Maybe it's people stumbling on my website, or maybe it's people reading the first free book and wanting to know what will happen next

 

[thaddeus6th]

Haha, you sound amazed and astonished I came up with a good idea

Giving away short stories is an interesting idea. I think that might even be easier to do via ye olde blog rather than 'official' (retail/distributor) channels. Thanks for that idea.

My sales in the first month and a half were extremely low, but they hit a couple of hundred in August. Not sure why the sudden increase happened. I hope it continues though (for those curious, it's Bane of Souls, by Thaddeus White).

 

[Scarfy]

A writer called Hugh Howey started writing a novel called Wool on his website, and people who read it kept on asking him for a novel. He eventually wrote one and it became a best seller..!

 

[Montero]

This may be a dumb question as I don't know much about Kindle. The Kindle versions you sold - was that with DRM so locked, or unlocked so it can be converted to other formats?

 

[Ursa major]

My sales numbers for September were 1,553.

The total for the 12 month period was 15,830. I'm quite stunned by this number, as I was actually aiming for 10,000 in the year.

First of all: well done and congratulations.

I don't know whether this is typical of ebooks, but not only are this month's sales above average, your monthly sales have been increasing every month since April. It seems that this month's figures are the second best of your 'Year of self publishing'. I find that very impressive (whether or not this is in any way typical).

I'm still unsure / undecided whether this trilogy would have been better off waiting for a publisher to pick it up. They would have given it a bigger marketing push, for sure, and it would have been reviewed in magazines and been available as paperbacks in book stores.

It's hard to know, if only because my perception is that the major marketing/publicising effort seems to go into books by already well-known authors. But the good news must be that you have made sales - and you continue to do so - which must put you in good stead if you want to go the traditional route with your next book/series.

Obviously the next book will still need to be good in itself, but that's probably true for most published authors, let alone the merely aspiring ones (who have no ebook sales to wave at the agent/editor).

And all the while, your writing is providing you with income.

 

[Scarfy]

This may be a dumb question as I don't know much about Kindle. The Kindle versions you sold - was that with DRM so locked, or unlocked so it can be converted to other formats?

They're all DRM-free. I even sell the epubs direct from the trilogy's own website -

http://www.battleforthesolarsystem.com/purchase/

I only sell about 1 or 2 directly from there each month, but I thought I would give the readers the choice.

 

[Scarfy]

It seems that this month's figures are the second best of your 'Year of self publishing'. I find that very impressive (whether or not this is in any way typical).

Thank you! Yes, I noticed that too. Something else I meant to mention - I've heard talk that Amazon has reduced the sales rank of $0.99 novels. What used to happen is that if a $0.99 novel sold 100 copies, and a more expensive novel sold 99 copies, the $0.99 novel would be placed highly (as expected). Now, the new ranking system will require the $0.99 novel to sell more to reach equal sales rank placing (I'm not sure what the exact amount is, though).

So, the entire Amazon sales chart has shifted, with tons of the books falling out of the best sellers list. It's meant that other novels became more visible and therefore saw a sales boost.

Or something like that, anyway. Beware of pricing your work too cheaply on Amazon..!

It's hard to know, if only because my perception is that the major marketing/publicising effort seems to go into books by already well-known authors. But the good news must be that you have made sales - and you continue to do so - which must put you in good stead if you want to go the traditional route with your next book/series.

I'm going to definitely pitch my next books at agents and editors. We'll see how that goes, though. At least I know I have other options in case that doesn't pan out.

 

[Dante DiBenedetto]

Thanks for sharing your data, Scarfy.

I have a few books I haven't even attempted to shop around to lit agents. They were mostly pleasure pieces, and they're heavy on the genre hybrid slant. They don't fit neatly in SF, Fantasy, or Horror. I might consider taking them to the eBook self-pub market. Not really expecting much of a profit, but at least they would get more coverage than my beta readers/editor

After this year-long experience, are you more encouraged to stay with self-pubbing, or do you feel confident enough to shop your latest wares to lit agents? They seem to never want to hear that you're self published, but the fact that you've been selling a solid 1k a month seems that you at the very least have a group of readers.

I've always been interested in Kickstarter projects funding new books. I'm pretty sure I saw an American author ask for 10k, and ended up getting ~70k from his fans, and he wasn't even major name. Is that something you've considered?

 

[Scarfy]

After this year-long experience, are you more encouraged to stay with self-pubbing, or do you feel confident enough to shop your latest wares to lit agents?

I'm currently shopping around a 90s boys boarding school thriller to some agencies. The book isn't SF, but I've still mentioned the sales and reviews of the BFTSS trilogy in the pitch. Even so, I've received 4 rejections so far from the 10 agents I've currently sent it to. I started this about 6 weeks ago, so there's still time for some to respond. I have a list of 35 agents in total, so we'll see if any of them want to read the fall thing at all. However, if they all pass on the book, then I'll simply do it myself. I've actually already created a cover and just need to hire a proofreader. So, at least I have a fall back option.

I've also got a zombie novel and another sci-fi book on the go, that I'm hoping to complete sometime next year. I'll pitch those out, too. But again, if everyone passes, I'll do them myself. Again with those, I've already created the covers.

(I do my covers myself, which saves a few £££)

I've always been interested in Kickstarter projects funding new books. I'm pretty sure I saw an American author ask for 10k, and ended up getting ~70k from his fans, and he wasn't even major name. Is that something you've considered?

I've heard of people doing it, but not sure it would be for me, really. You would need to offer people paperbacks and hardbacks and other incentives for the various tiers, and then you have to consider that you would be spending a lot of time in post offices mailing books out to your supporters and that. It could turn into a bit of a logistical nightmare

That's not to say that it wouldn't work for you. I just don't see it as working out for me

 

[Dante DiBenedetto]

If I recall correctly, the Kickstarter project I was reviewing didn't actually have much in the way of physical rewards for contributions. There were things like character names and cameos, as well as digital editions of the book, and commentary. I think for 10k you could name one of the main characters.

The author wasn't even that widely well-known. He only had one book that had been published the traditional way (it's not even out yet, if I recall), rarely used Twitter/FB, and wrote less books than you have. It might have been one of those things where novelty really captured the Kickstarter crowd.

Anyway, just something to consider. Wish I could remember the damn guy's name.

I'd say, if your web presence is strong enough through social networks/blogging, it couldn't hurt to try if you're going to continue down the self-pubbing path. If 100 people drop five quid to donate to your book's funding to score a free digital edition, that's no skin off your back.

 

[Montero]

I've seen your own name being given to a minor character used as a raffle prize. Some authors then like to find out about the person for real, others seem to just use the name.

 

[Dante DiBenedetto]

I've seen your own name being given to a minor character used as a raffle prize. Some authors then like to find out about the person for real, others seem to just use the name.

Yeah -- it seems like a no-lose situation, unless you set the bar too high, I guess. Some might argue artist's integrity, but I've gone back and changed a character's name throughout a book series just because my editor thought it would reduce confusion between two characters. It's certainly not the end of the world.

I'm tempted to do this, but I'd really like to have at least one formally published novel under my belt first.