Why are my sales coming only from Kindle and Kobo?

[DaveWallace]

I've got a book up on Amazon obviously, and on Smashwords, and looking at the breakdowns, I ONLY sell to Kobo off the various Smashwords outlets. None of the other platforms, just Kobo, and a fair amount of that. Also, I note that most of those sales seem to come from Canada and Australia, with fewer from the US, and fewer still from the UK, (and a couple from Germany and a few other non English speaking countries).

I've racked my brain about this, but just can't figure it out. Anyone have any theories? The book BTW is an epic fantasy.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I can't answer your question, just share my own experience. On Smashwords I sold a few books each quarter in the e-pub format, but nothing like my sales for Kindle. Maybe if people have a variety of devices and you offer the book in all formats, those who have a choice will go for Kobo.

 

[ralphkern]

Search optimization in Amazon is a bit of a game.

From a brief look, I think you must have put yourself in Epic Fantasy (There are 17685 books in that heading) and Sword and Sorcery (There are 10706 books in that one)

In other words they are saturated and your books may well be lost in the masses

Also one of your books doesn't have a cover, just a pattern and a title... Most people wouldn't even look at that book. I don't know if its right to name names, but I do know that someone who may have a mild obsession with ticking and boos creates covers for a reasonable price.

Is one of the other headings that has less books in it appropriate? You can't lie and put your book in a section it doesn't belong in as that is not ethical and besides, you would just garner bad reviews, but if it fits in one of those as an alternative, even a slightly weaker one than those two, try that.

Also, try refining your search terms. You can have up to seven of them. Don't bother with author name and book title. They are given anyway.

Your three primary sources of marketing on Amazon are:

1. Sales Rank. That gets you higher on the genre heading.
2. Customers also bought. I've come to the conclusion this is probably the most powerful.
3. The Amazon gimmicks which you won't be eligible for (lending, free giveaways and kindle countdown). You need to be exclusive.

You can try buying your own book, and then buying other peers books in your genre. That may make you appear somewhere on your peers page...albeit pretty far down the listings but at least you will appear.

 

[Dennis E. Taylor]

I agree with the cover comment. I know it's shallow, but when I'm browsing through amazon, the cover makes a difference. Amateurish covers, obviously done by the author with Bryce and/or Maya, don't even get a second glance.

Cost to get a cover done can vary from less than $200 to upwards of $5000. I've gotten quotes at both ends. The lower end stuff tends to be photo-manipulation, which honestly looks pretty damned good, although you can't get exactly the scene you want. The higher end is usually drawn/painted from scratch, so you can specify the scene.

sigh. I tried to post a link to the author who did my cover, but I'm still too newbie. Sorry.

 

[DaveWallace]

I agree with the cover comment. I know it's shallow, but when I'm browsing through amazon, the cover makes a difference. Amateurish covers, obviously done by the author with Bryce and/or Maya, don't even get a second glance.

Cost to get a cover done can vary from less than $200 to upwards of $5000. I've gotten quotes at both ends. The lower end stuff tends to be photo-manipulation, which honestly looks pretty damned good, although you can't get exactly the scene you want. The higher end is usually drawn/painted from scratch, so you can specify the scene.

sigh. I tried to post a link to the author who did my cover, but I'm still too newbie. Sorry.

Yeah, the cover. I tried going the custom route, and lets just say I had a bad experience with that and went with a guy I just knew who delivered, and on time, but not a very...well, I won't say it since I am indebted to him for that. Just that I didn't want to go with that.

Which was when I discovered pre-mades, which were more in my budget for something I could reasonably expect to return less than I put into it. I'm still looking for a good pre-made, but most in the fantasy category seem to be either some guy without a shirt embracing a woman, or a woman in a solo pose, which really doesn't fit my book, though I'm looking at some of them for my second novel, which I may try shopping out to agents first, (it's not related to the first book).

A simple photo manipulation of a guy in Arabian type dress with a sword would be fine, but I can't find one on any of the pre-mades, at least not yet.

 

[DaveWallace]

Search optimization in Amazon is a bit of a game.

From a brief look, I think you must have put yourself in Epic Fantasy (There are 17685 books in that heading) and Sword and Sorcery (There are 10706 books in that one)

In other words they are saturated and your books may well be lost in the masses

Also one of your books doesn't have a cover, just a pattern and a title... Most people wouldn't even look at that book. I don't know if its right to name names, but I do know that someone who may have a mild obsession with ticking and boos creates covers for a reasonable price.

Is one of the other headings that has less books in it appropriate? You can't lie and put your book in a section it doesn't belong in as that is not ethical and besides, you would just garner bad reviews, but if it fits in one of those as an alternative, even a slightly weaker one than those two, try that.

Also, try refining your search terms. You can have up to seven of them. Don't bother with author name and book title. They are given anyway.

Your three primary sources of marketing on Amazon are:

1. Sales Rank. That gets you higher on the genre heading.
2. Customers also bought. I've come to the conclusion this is probably the most powerful.
3. The Amazon gimmicks which you won't be eligible for (lending, free giveaways and kindle countdown). You need to be exclusive.

You can try buying your own book, and then buying other peers books in your genre. That may make you appear somewhere on your peers page...albeit pretty far down the listings but at least you will appear.

Thanks for the information! I did try the free giveaway with a short story/novella from the same series, and got a fair amount of traffic while it was free, but then very little thereafter. I suppose people don't want to pay for under a hundred pages, but Amazon doesn't let me keep it free, which I'd happily do just to drive traffic to the novel.

 

[Dennis E. Taylor]

A simple photo manipulation of a guy in Arabian type dress with a sword would be fine, but I can't find one on any of the pre-mades, at least not yet.

http://stormowlart.deviantart.com/gallery/

Looks like I just graduated to the big-boy pants. I can post links! It's a miracle!

Erm, anyway... Have a look at the above. Got a cover made for under $200. She does photomanipulation, so the more custom graphics you want, the more expensive, of course.

 

[DaveWallace]

http://stormowlart.deviantart.com/gallery/

Looks like I just graduated to the big-boy pants. I can post links! It's a miracle!

Erm, anyway... Have a look at the above. Got a cover made for under $200. She does photomanipulation, so the more custom graphics you want, the more expensive, of course.

Thanks! I've tried deviant before of course, but haven't had any luck. When I get a bit more time I'll have a look at her stuff and maybe see what she can do for me. And...you're way ahead of me with the link stuff. That's part of my problem, I suppose. I'm hopeless at any tech stuff that doesn't involve my specific job, and even worse at promos.

 

[Parson]

???? Links are dead easy on this forum. Just click the icon that looks like a link of chain in the reply space and paste the URL you want, then click on insert. Even I can do that, and I am no computer geek!

 

[jastius]

I made a cover for nanowrimo because they asked for one as a condition of creating a novel.

Maybe its okay enough for me to go along with, but I am working on it.
Its easy enough to try.
I am rejiggering it to show the watch.

i was going to use a neutral sort of thing with a vector overlaid.
like a shadow.
But my kaleidescope was too dark that I made.

Dave?
Kobo has its own store for you to purchase from over here, with selected titles. If you want to read stuff outside of the store selection, then you have to download it onto your computer using their app then upload to the reader. But the reader uplink only accesses their store. Not amazon.
Kobo is a Canadian product so there is a fair amount of brand loyalty. Its actually the only e-reader product I have. And that was simply a purchase to support Canadian writers publishers and industry.
So people here buy the kobo stores products. Because its a tiny store, you actually get more exposure, as per viewers. And they often show you everything in a related genre as a recommend.
As for covers upon the thing, most if not all kobo covers are the general issue. Though the ads are the production covers.

 

[DaveWallace]

I made a cover for nanowrimo because they asked for one as a condition of creating a novel.View attachment 22329
Maybe its okay enough for me to go along with, but I am working on it.
Its easy enough to try.
I am rejiggering it to show the watch.View attachment 22330

i was going to use a neutral sort of thing with a vector overlaid.
like a shadow.View attachment 22332
But my kaleidescope was too dark that I made.

Dave?
Kobo has its own store for you to purchase from over here, with selected titles. If you want to read stuff outside of the store selection, then you have to download it onto your computer using their app then upload to the reader. But the reader uplink only accesses their store. Not amazon.
Kobo is a Canadian product so there is a fair amount of brand loyalty. Its actually the only e-reader product I have. And that was simply a purchase to support Canadian writers publishers and industry.
So people here buy the kobo stores products. Because its a tiny store, you actually get more exposure, as per viewers. And they often show you everything in a related genre as a recommend.
As for covers upon the thing, most if not all kobo covers are the general issue. Though the ads are the production covers.

Thanks, I didn't know that about Kobo. Makes sense though, now that I know.

 

[jastius]

its actually a very good small market vehicle to showcase a work in. as i have said, its easy to scan through all the books in their store in a couple of minutes. there are gift cards for them everywhere as well... but they can only be used inthe kobo store.
so if your work sounds interesting, despite cover or lack there of, you can get a better response rate.. there aren't that many bookstores about any more, around here. even the librarys have shut down in the little towns to centralize from the big cities. but everyone just about has internet. not that much else to do since they took the TV broadcasts off air and started shutting down the stations.
cable tv is way too expensive, as well as being centrallized again in the big towns and cities... satelite is tricky because of the weather fronts all the time.

so you are left with what you can get at, for entertainment.

 

[tinkerdan]

If your reference is to the smashwords:

Most of my sales through Smashwords have been heaviest in Smashwords and then with Barnes and Noble then apple then sony.
I've tried tweaking the genre a bit to no effect.

What I did notice in your listing is that you have the primary genre but don't seem to make use of the secondary and that might open the field a bit.

Mine is SFF so maybe kobo users are less inclined to that direction and more to fantasy.

My normal price is higher than yours which might make a difference, but even when I've given them away for long periods of time they do best on those three and nothing at all so far on kobo.

A lot seems to depends on the amount of self promotion that you do especially when self publishing.

 

[FibonacciEddie]

just my few cents...

I released my book in mid-October (eBook), albeit I have not yet got the hang of marketing... in 2 months
I did not use Smashwords (I used a combination of IngramSpark and Amazon KDP)

iTunes - 0 units
Nook - 1 units
Kobo - 1 units
Kindle - ~115 units

That said, most of the little marketing I did pointed to Amazon.

I did try Toby's advice of "People also bought", not sure if it made a difference, but I got to read some good books... I have yet to get up the Kindle charts (even in sub-sub-genres) ... but during one particularly great 1 hour Sales Rank period I found myself at No.75 on Kindle SciFi ... which put me on the same page (No.65) as Neal Stephenson's Anathem - that was a good moment... but very brief...

as per TinkerDan comment, I think you need to self promote, and then hope to get onto a "Top 10" (of a sub-genre) from where Toby's world kicks in and people see you on lists.

 

[Overread]

Few thoughts:

1) I agree with the cover comments - go lurk Deviant Art there are loads of artists out there and you should be able to find premade or hire someone to make a cover art. Yep its going to cost - sadly a lot of good things cost, but generally its worth it. From my observations you've got to be a long time classic novel before people will trust a book without cover (they tend to also be copyright expired - ergo free or very low cost). Basically the classics aren't advertising directly and rely upon market interest in itself (which is possible if you're a long time classic).

2) Advertising - yep push yourself out there. If you don't you won't get any attention at all and will get lost in the sea of thousands of other books. Hit up Goodreads and do some of their author affiliations and such (Question and Answer (QA) - getting yourself listed as a Goodreads Author - promotional events)..

3) Free - you've already found that free stuff sells, problem is it won't pay the bills. Also consider that free work which is your first or which is going into a pool of work that has very low sales is basically saying that you the author value your work at £0. If you value it that low others will assume its low grade. You'll also get lots of "Was good for the price" reviews - which is again saying "not really that good, but eh its free so you don't lose out if you give it a try". Which isn't the kind that is going to generate you lots of interest.
Free works short term when tied to a promotional event (eg big QA on Goodreads or Chrons or another major blog/networking site this Saturday with a free copy of the book on Amazon for the weekend only!) Now sure its free (or discounted), but its short term and tied to a promotional event - creates interest - advertises - and the limited offer encourages more to jump in.

Long term free can work, but its generally reserved for a later stage approach. First book of a released series (or nearly fully released - at least good few books out) up for free to entice people in - but you've got to couple it with good solid reviews already on display. That way people see that the current and latter books are doing well and the free/cheap first one gets them to dip their toes in - get hooked and then read on with the rest right after. You can't do it without other books out and without good reviews otherwise you're falling into the free trap pointed out above.

4) Network - network with social sites - network with bloggers/reviewers - network with other authors. All are great ways to gain exposure and promote your work. Heck look at how you'll oft see the same top authors recommending each others work - how many times have you see "Great book - fantastic read" on the back by an author you respect/like and gone "well if he/she liked it then heck chances are I will".
Be mindful though to pick your allies with care. Overexposure on low grade or poor quality sites or those with lots of background drama or negative associations or just a tiny user base are not going to help you. And if you hit a larger number of them you're again risking that devaluing element - sure such groups will be easier to get into, but they won't carry you forward as easily if at all. So research your allies and pick them with care - also if doing any QA affair remember to keep to the focus and tyr not to get distracted into things like politics, religion, etc... Such things can end up with you hot on the coals for viewpoints that have no effect on your writing or its content/focus.



Selling books isn't just about making a solid product - you've got to have the marketing to promote yourself. If you're confident in your skill then investing into advertising is not a daft move. Otherwise you're waiting on the market to do it for you - this can happen, but its very unlikely and often very slow (and might not happen ever!).
I'd always say present yourself well - if you're publishing a book then you've got to have a front cover and you've got to have a good decent price as a value of your skill. "its my first" is not an excuse for under charging and often devalues rather than helps.

 

[DaveWallace]

All good advice. I'll try to follow as much of it as I can, but I'm afraid self promotion isn't my strong point. And covers...well I had a bad experience with one pro back when I had the money to afford that sort of cover, and now I'm in a tighter patch; so I'll have to wait to get even a good ready made that fits my book. The frustrating thing is there are lots of ready mades that fit my second novel, and I can afford them. But I want to run that one by some agents first, as I think it potentially has some commercial potential. But first I need to get my readers to give me a reality check, and it's the sort of thing that starts a bit slow, but picks up steam steadily throughout, so they can't just read the first chapter and judge the whole book.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Hmmmmmm, but why would they keep reading until it gets good enough to judge?

And, more importantly, how will you present the second book to agents? Without reference to the first? Or, if it needs the first for context, as a sequel to a self-published book? In which case you'll need to sell thousands to interest them and, frankly, without a cover to pull people in you'll struggle to do that. (Any local art colleges you could approach for something quirky and original and cheap...?)

If the second book is a standalone/separate then it could be subbed separately but your first book will show up in agents' google searches (which they will do if interested) so it is still in your interest to make it as professional as possible.

 

[jastius]

All good advice. I'll try to follow as much of it as I can, but I'm afraid self promotion isn't my strong point. And covers...well I had a bad experience with one pro back when I had the money to afford that sort of cover, and now I'm in a tighter patch; so I'll have to wait to get even a good ready made that fits my book. The frustrating thing is there are lots of ready mades that fit my second novel, and I can afford them. But I want to run that one by some agents first, as I think it potentially has some commercial potential. But first I need to get my readers to give me a reality check, and it's the sort of thing that starts a bit slow, but picks up steam steadily throughout, so they can't just read the first chapter and judge the whole book.

i'll trade you a cover for a beta read later if you want.. but mine are silly things really.. arab with sword you said?
(i need to know the name of your book, to print it on the cover.. will a nice crisp gothic print be good?)

ive also a pink blue sunset background one.. with the same figure ..

 

[tinkerdan]

Personally I don't think the cover is that much of an issue.
I know when I look at it I look at the blurb and that could be a problem. It is short and concise but it also is not very appealing. The next thing I would do is look at the sample and I think that is pretty good so really the problem is enticing the to reader to at least sample.

I am not a fan of the large text stacked-up covering the page and the generic pattern used for the cover but I think it's not as much a problem as creating an enticing blurb.

I do think that either a unique pattern or no pattern at all would be better because I recognize that pattern as a common pattern.

If you do create a new cover I would try to get the title tall but all on one line and the author name fairly prominent. The Xlibris marketers tried that huge stack of words on mine the first run through and I nixed it because it lacks a certain aesthetic value.

 

[DaveWallace]

Hmmmmmm, but why would they keep reading until it gets good enough to judge?

And, more importantly, how will you present the second book to agents? Without reference to the first? Or, if it needs the first for context, as a sequel to a self-published book? In which case you'll need to sell thousands to interest them and, frankly, without a cover to pull people in you'll struggle to do that. (Any local art colleges you could approach for something quirky and original and cheap...?)

If the second book is a standalone/separate then it could be subbed separately but your first book will show up in agents' google searches (which they will do if interested) so it is still in your interest to make it as professional as possible.

My second book is unrelated to the first, and I intend to simply shop it around to agents...a bit more than the couple I did for the first. But yeah, I agree with fixing the cover on the first and correcting the typos---and whole sections which I saw got mysteriously deleted from the published version, before shopping it out. I might even try to get a short story or two published in one of the mags like Analog first.