What I notice about a lot of articles/blog posts lately about e-book statistics is this: They seem to regard e-books as the sole domain of self-publishing (which many are now calling ‘Indie Publishing’, a term that used to just mean small press), when in fact, lots of represented writers (writers with an agent) who have contracts with publishing houses are publishing their books as e-books as well as bound books.
I get it that many self-publish to e-books only, because of the expense in producing a bound book, but it seems to me that e-books are really just the 21st century’s version of the drugstore paperback, i.e. ‘an inexpensive book’, (although God knows the price of the device to read these ‘cheap books’ on is exorbitant, IMO), and being represented and publishing e-books are not mutually exclusive, except in the minds of some self-published folks.
Aren’t most traditionally published novels by represented authors also available as e-books? And if so, why don’t the people writing these self-publishing e-books stat articles and blog posts cull those numbers out of their statistics?
A member of my writing workshop recently sent around this link. (You should take a moment and read it, it’s interesting, and you won’t have much of a clue what the rest of this post is about if you don’t.) After reading the post the workshop member raised the question: If 10,000 readers download your novel for free, who’s left to buy it?
A valid question. If the average first novel by a new author usually only sells between 1000 – 5000 copies, who is left to buy your novel if you give it away to so many?
One answer I typically come across while meandering through the many posts and articles on the subject is this:
A self published author must publish as often as possible.
And ideally they should have several books available right from the get go.
Now, of course we all wish we were hugely prolific, with many many wonderful, amazing stories just clamoring to be written, and that we were supported by a benignly wealthy patron, whose sole delight—aside from paying our bills—was to see us at our keyboard, tapping away like demented woodpeckers. But the truth is most of us have day jobs, and families. And in my experience, most of us need six months to a year to turn out just a good first draft to work with—and then the sweaty work begins.
So, writing several novels a year that are actually worth reading seems unrealistic. Unless, as I said, you happen to be an extremely prolific, independently wealthy genius.
And seriously, if that’s the case, you probably stopped reading this post when I winced at giving away 10,000 copies—muttering something beneath your breath like: Frankly Scarlet, who gives a damn?
Thoughts?
June 21st, 2012 at 12:51 pm
Fascinating topic, Cynthia. Enjoyed the link as well. The business side of me absolutely understands the marketing model behind the freebies/KDP Select program, the name recognition, and the importance of making it to a top Amazon “list.” But … I’ve also spoken with several authors who have done KDP Select and admit to dismal sales, DESPITE making the top 50 lists. We’re talking about not enough money to live on for a month kind of sales… So your group member’s question is valid, I think. But then again, maybe these authors haven’t had their work out for ‘years’ and might not have ‘enough’ of it out there. (I’m sure you also saw the recent NY Times article about traditional publishers expecting authors to crank out 2 books per year, PLUS short stories, novellas….)
I find it interesting that so many authors who promote the virtues of e-book publishing ALREADY have traditionally published books out there (i.e. they have the followers and name recognition already — the woman in the link admits this as well). Does it work the same for a new writer, I wonder, when she’s starting from scratch?
June 21st, 2012 at 1:13 pm
The marketing side of me understands it too, Melissa, and I really wish I had a drawer of unpublished novels I’d been writing for the past decade. (I know some writers who do.) And I have heard that about traditional publishers as well. It makes sense: They want the maximum profit out of any investment, just like everyone else. I almost think it might be wise to just write like crazy for years and not publish anything, then take off the writing hat and put on the promoting hat and go to it.
“I find it interesting that so many authors who promote the virtues of e-book publishing ALREADY have traditionally published books out there (i.e. they have the followers and name recognition already — the woman in the link admits this as well). Does it work the same for a new writer, I wonder, when she’s starting from scratch?”
Yes, I think it’s a good choice for those authors who have already established a following, and it’s easy to see why they do it. That’s the ideal scenario.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!
June 21st, 2012 at 3:28 pm
This is so interesting — as was the blog post you linked to. I’ve been reading a lot about self publishing recently (I’m seriously considering self publishing my current WIP, a mystery) and have been trying to figure out just how realistic it is. I’ve read the self publishing story in many flavors: only self-pubbed, self pubbed after traditional, traditional after self pubbed. It’s crazy (and exciting) wild west times right now… That said, I am in the process of also querying a women’s fiction novel and I have three middle grade novels “in the drawer.” If I thought I could self publish all of them and be like the authors mentioned in the other post who “regularly take in a net of five figures a month on their ebook sales”…. of course I’d do it. I am skeptical, no matter how much marketing I do (for one thing I have such a variety of genres….that’s another subject) that this would ever happen, BUT I just read a book that was self published (after about 50 agents turned it down) and because it was on the USA Today (and other) bestseller lists a big publishing house just offered the author a seven-figure advance (and it’s being made into a movie). This was the author’s first novel. I do believe these kinds of stories happen (as rarities, I think), but I also think she heavily marketed her book until it went viral. This goes against the argument that a self-published author must publish as often as possible to make their name known.
Still, I agree that it seems it may be necessary to get name recognition… so as to whether I’d need to turn my dining room into my own personal sweat shop and turn out a “good book” every 6 months — just to keep my name out there and money rolling in — I don’t know. For one thing, does it always matter if a self-pubbed book is quote-unquote good? To me (and I know I’m opening the door to criticism here with this potentially controversial part of my comment) the answer to that from my POV is often these days it doesn’t seem to matter even if a traditionally published book is “good.” Lately I’ve read both indie and traditional books that are bad enough I can’t read past the first chapter! But they sometimes seem to sell like crazy! So I think “worth reading” is definitely subjective. That said, “could” I turn out a book in 6 months, good or bad? I’d have to get a lotttt faster, no question. But if I thought I could regularly net five figures a month? You bet I’d try. Just call me a demented woodpecker!
June 21st, 2012 at 3:41 pm
p.s. sorry for the novel-length comment…. do you think that will count toward my name recognition?
June 21st, 2012 at 8:24 pm
Are you kidding? I LOVE long thoughtful comments!
Absolutely!!
June 21st, 2012 at 8:22 pm
The whole phenom of crappy novels selling like they do has most of us shaking our heads in wonder, doesn’t it? And if we’re honest there’s more than a little envy, too. I agree with you, Julia, the temptation to crank out something craptastic is a strong pull when we hear about those who have financial success at it.
When I joke around with other writers the consensus seems to be that if a novel is going to be crappy good, it’s gotta have loads of steamy, preferably weird, sex. Or monsters.
The penultimate is, of course, monsters having weird sex. Can your kitchen table handle that kind of thing?
June 22nd, 2012 at 3:21 am
Envy? Are you kidding? Downright green eyed here! And we shall soon find out how much my kitchen table CAN handle because I’ve come to the exact same conclusion you have about what sells
June 21st, 2012 at 4:19 pm
These are baffling times. Too much is in flux right now with publishing. Last year, two of my writer friends got fed up with the agent-publisher runaround and e-published. Then they shot themselves in the other foot and gave their books away for free. How sad is that? So many years of work and they are both excellent writers. After an initial splash or two they’ve sunk into anonymity. You need staying power in this game and lot’s of caffeine, friends and good cheer to keep you buoyed. Great post Cynthia!
June 21st, 2012 at 8:03 pm
Baffling, yes. But exciting too, in some ways.
There are so many conflicting stories out there. I watch my writer friends try and figure out what the best route for their writing is, and it’s such a crap shoot. They see the success stories, and don’t really hear the sad tales like the fate of your two friends, Shona. Everywhere we look we see posts about how great it can be to self-publish, and it’s plain it is for some. But we rarely hear about the books that languish.
Ultimately staying power, the ability and willingness to persevere, is what is needed, you are so right, my friend. And lots of caffeine!
June 21st, 2012 at 6:33 pm
Free downloads is not equivalent to potential sales. The majority of the people who download an average free e-book don’t read it and would not have bought it anyway. They only contribute to helping your book climb the charts, become noticed, and be featured in the “also bought” on Amazon. After the free period, those who are interested will buy it and “word of mouth” will also promote it. Amazon is a vast marketplace of millions of readers. You can give away tens of thousands of copies of your book and still increase sales significantly.
As to being prolific, that is the single best marketing tool there is. If you have 10 books, any promotion you do for one will have synergistic effects with the others. If novels take too long to write then write short stories. The point is to have several books on your shelf. In terms of marketing that is the best strategy at least for the beginning writer.
June 21st, 2012 at 7:53 pm
I think there are too many other great works to read, than anything written by a beginning writer (with very few exceptions). Beginners would be wise to just learn all they can about the craft, before concerning themselves about aspects of publishing.
Your recommendation about writing short stories is an interesting one, but it doesn’t address the fact that short stories are a completely different art form, and it can actually be time consuming to write a really good one. And not everyone who can write a good novel can write a good short story. Some writers excel at it, others suck.
But I totally agree that anyone e-publishing should get anything good that they’ve written up there and try to hawk it. If it’s interesting it’ll only help, overall.
June 24th, 2012 at 8:46 am
“I think there are too many other great works to read, than anything written by a beginning writer (with very few exceptions). Beginners would be wise to just learn all they can about the craft, before concerning themselves about aspects of publishing.”
Oh I so agree! Why would I want to read beginner writers when I can learn from the masters. There are only so many hours in my day!
June 24th, 2012 at 9:08 am
Agreed: so many great books, and so little time!
June 24th, 2012 at 10:05 am
The masters all started as beginning writers. They turned into masters because someone read what they wrote when they were beginners. If you read what beginning writers write today you are helping create the masters of tomorrow.
June 25th, 2012 at 7:05 am
I think the difference is not everyone was spitting out novels back then. It took a certain level of dedication and seriousness to get you novel into print to begin with – the process was so much more painstaking. It was survival of the fittest, so the cream naturally rose to the top. It’s too easy come easy go now. My job as a writer is to learn from the best and give the world my best. “Support” does not make a good writer. Inspiration does.
June 22nd, 2012 at 10:05 am
As the person who provided the link Cynthia refers to, I feel compelled to comment. I’ve decided to take a leap of faith and self-publish. I won’t know whether that’s a good decision until my books have been out there for 9-18 months, which is about the same amount of time it takes for a book to come out once it’s sold to a publisher. If I only had one book to promote, I might look at it diifferently, but I have four, and rough ideas for another four. Part of my decision is based on research and part of it’s based on what feels like the right thing for me to do. I haven’t been a huge fan of the big six traditional publishers for quite awhile (well before e-readers gained popularity) but that’s me. Self-publishing isn’t for everyone. Neither is traditional publishing. Some authors are finding success in doing both.
We need to get past the idea that self-publishing is only for those who aren’t good enough to find a traditional publisher. There’s a ton of crappy writing out there in both forms of publishing. I have to admit that part of my problem with tradition publishing is what the major publishers are willing to publish. But they’re in the business to make money–and rightly so. Even if a book is poorly written, if there’s enough sex in it, there’s a good chance it will make money.
That said, I definitely agree with Cynthia that new authors need to hone their skills before they worry about what type of publishing works for them.
It’s incredibly exciting that authors and readers now have a choice. Just do your research before you make that decision.
June 22nd, 2012 at 11:43 am
I have a correction to make. My 58 year old, non-multi-tasking brain experiences the occasional brain fart and because I had seen and tweeted the referenced article before it was brought to our writer’s group’s attention… well, my brain farted. It wasn’t me who provided the link. I really believe that if an author learns to write well and doesn’t quit, they’ll eventually find success, no matter how they publish.
June 22nd, 2012 at 11:56 am
It was Liz that sent around that link. I think she got it from her old writing instructor.
I think there will always be the perception that most of what is self-published is crap. Simply because there is no gate-keeper at the gates of e-publishing, and anyone who decides in January that they are going to be a writer can be uploading their novel to Amazon by March.
I doubt that is going to change. Especially with the success of some of the novels we joke about. And it’s helped along by the notion—admittedly one with probably more than a grain of truth—that cranking out novels as rapidly as one can is the way to maximum sales.
What a good writer needs to focus on is how to separate yourself from this stampeding herd. You are doing that by building your platform, as am I. It’s my hope that good writing and a willingness to put in the time is enough.
June 22nd, 2012 at 1:17 pm
A great post Cynthia – and one that is close to my own heart.
I have one ebook out for Kindle (a collection of short stories) and am on the point of self-publishing my novel via KDP. Like the first book I will be making the novel available for free from time to time. My reason being, my belief that indie or self-publishers need to spread their name about in whatever way they can. We don’t have a publisher (big or small) to raise our profile.
I agree that we should have as much material on sale as possible – if a reader enjoys a free copy of one book they may be tempted to buy your other works.
On the subject of being prolific, it’s taken me eight months to write, edit and prepare my novel. The process has been very time intensive and I’m pretty exhausted. I couldn’t turn my hand to another novel straight away – I need time to recharge my batteries – as well as devote time to my long suffering family (and the day job).
June 22nd, 2012 at 8:26 pm
Whew! A novel in eight months, no wonder you need a break, Chris. That’s gotta be like training for a marathon.
June 22nd, 2012 at 5:00 pm
What a great conversation you’ve sparked here, Cynthia. Oh, my, where to start? Well, I ain’t touching the self-publish vs. publisher publish debate threatening to break out in your comments; everyone has the best path for them, and they may switch back and forth (or do both, as I know many authors who took books back from publishers after awhile and self-published them to keep them “on the shelves”).
I’m struck by the example of giving away 10,000 free copies (I’m with Rolando above, I can’t believe those downloaders are actually reading the book) to shoot into the top 50. Does she call herself a best-seller? Probably, even though she didn’t SELL anything. Annie Neugebauer guest-blogged on The Artist’s Road the other day and noted how diluted that term has come to be.
Schumpter wrote about creative destruction, how innovation wipes out industries (like buggy whips). People throw his phrase around as if the disruption flattens the status quo to the ground, but it doesn’t; you have legacy elements survive as the new order is constructed. Eventually a harmony exists between old and new, but while the innovation can spring up in no time, the transition to stability can take decades. We are in the middle of the disruption, and so everything looks a wreck. I just shrug my shoulders and remember none of us know what this will all look like ten years from now, five years, or even one, so to anyone who says “this is the way to do it” or “this is the future of publishing,” I say, “Whatever works for you.”
June 22nd, 2012 at 8:20 pm
Any topic having anything to do with self-publishing threatens to start a brawl, doesn’t it, Patrick? It’s kind of like religion and politics. Best to steer clear.
But the thing I question here in this post is not really whether or not to self-publish, but whether or not giving books away free does anything positive for the author; it’s just a difficult thing to contemplate, given how hard we work on our novels.
It’ll be interesting to see how it all falls out. I sure do hope it doesn’t take a decade, though.
June 23rd, 2012 at 12:58 pm
I think one way of doing the “giveaway” that I would think works is what I call the “Bourbon Chicken” model, which I name after the woman stands outside her Chinese food counter in a busy food court and gives you a piece of chicken on a toothpick. It’s free, so you taste it, and then maybe you buy it. Give away a chapter, or have a contest to give away a handful. Entice, then sell.
June 24th, 2012 at 8:48 am
“Bourbon chicken” model is an excellent idea. I believe it works.
June 24th, 2012 at 9:03 am
Yes, I believe giving readers a little taste of a novel is a pretty good idea. And it’s yet another good reason to make sure the writing is stellar.
June 22nd, 2012 at 7:19 pm
I was reminded of a post Kristen Lamb wrote about giving away free books. She makes a great case for why free isn’t a good thing. Like other commenters have mentioned, free tends to inflate the statistics but it doesn’t necessarily mean that people are reading the book, which is the real goal of course.
http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/whats-the-problem-with-free/
I think giving our work away for free tends to devalue it in the long haul. A promotional period seems fine, but when a work is always free the reader / consumer don’t place as much importance on it. For example, we place more value in clothes made by Valentino versus Old Navy.
Also, if any rich patrons of the arts are reading this, please give me a call.
June 22nd, 2012 at 8:23 pm
Hmmm, Kristen makes a good point. It does set a terrible precedent. You have to ask yourself, do we really want readers getting used to not paying for novels? Eek!
Thanks for the link, Jackie, I’ll check it out.
June 22nd, 2012 at 9:44 pm
I wrote about my free promotion here: http://phantomimic.weebly.com/2/post/2012/05/my-free-promotion-experience-and-some-questions-about-free.html
In a nutshell, after publishing my book of short stories I sold 27 copies in 20 weeks. I was really frustrated with this slow pace of sales. But with a single free promotion where I gave away 19,000 plus copies during 3 days, I sold 170 books with 46 borrows (equivalent to around 80 books pricewise) in 3 weeks. So narrow that to 27 copies in 20 weeks (no free promotion) vs. about 250 copies in 3 weeks (KDP promotion). Needless to say I am a believer in free promotions. Now that my sales have abated I am planning another one.
June 23rd, 2012 at 6:01 am
I’m curious how much money you made selling 170 books, Rolando. Plus the borrows. Were they priced at 99 cents each? And if the little flush of sales only lasts three weeks, what happens after three weeks? Do sales then drop right back to one a week?
June 23rd, 2012 at 8:20 am
This clearly was transitory. In my post it says that I won’t be quitting my day job anytime soon, LOL! I was just comparing my results to what I had before. If your book gains traction in the overall Kindle store sales take a long time to decline. Short stories is not a very popular category so the decline is faster. My book was priced at $1.99, and sales are down now to about 5 copies per week (which is still better than 1.35 copies per week before the promotion). By the time I get to my next promotion I will have made $300. I am working on my second book of short stories, which I hope to publish in a month or two. My goal is to make at least $500 in my first year (the average a self-published author makes).
Authors who write novels in the more popular categories have had more rewarding successes with the free promotions. My book is now oscillating between a ranking of 200,000 and 50,000. The novel “Riversong” by Tess Hardwick, which had a free promotion at the same time as my book is ranked 2,861 on Amazon. This means she is still selling about 140 copies per week. This is two months after the promotion (her book is priced at $4.99).
June 23rd, 2012 at 8:41 am
Those numbers are very promising, Roland. I would be happy to be selling even five copies of a novel a week, especially a story collection. (I don’t know why people don’t like shorts more – I love them.) Thanks for being so forthcoming with the nitty gritty of your experience. And thanks too, for not turning your comments into a debate about whether to self-publish, or not self-publish. You actually replied to the question I was playing around with as I wrote this post, namely: should we give away our works, and how much is too much to expect a writer to reasonably produce. So kudos to you, my friend.
June 23rd, 2012 at 9:12 am
Thank you Cynthia. I should also add that Amazon has changed the algorithms that assign the “visibility” awarded to free books. Now your book has to climb much higher up the ranks to get the same promotional value as you got before. Many top authors have left the KDP Select program because it is no longer the best option in terms of profits. However, for no-name authors like me it still holds significant value.
June 24th, 2012 at 9:18 am
Hmmm, interesting development. I had read something like that on another blog recently. It’s fascinating to watch all this develop. Hopefully soon I’ll be wading into the fray, in one way or another. But I honestly hope things will be more settled by then.
June 23rd, 2012 at 12:12 pm
Thanks for posting on this subject, Cynthia, and thanks to the many knowledgeable commenters. The discussion has been very informative and helpful.
June 24th, 2012 at 9:13 am
Oh, yes, It’s wonderful when something sparks a great discussion. All these writers/readers are awesome!
Thanks for stopping by and reading, David. (I love our group email discussions too!)
June 24th, 2012 at 12:16 pm
Whew! This topic’s like a very active beehive! Great, thought-provoking comments. Does anyone have any experience with giving away just the first chapter of an e-book?
June 25th, 2012 at 11:30 am
In this day and age, it seems you cannot expect to get your financial feet off the ground until you have about four or five books out there along with your name. It’s kind of like starting a business: after the first year, just breaking even is considered profit. The key is, to make sure that you have enough to hold you over until the next year when you are fully in the black. Perhaps we should all just acquire hefty nest eggs through day jobs and continue writing at night?
July 6th, 2012 at 11:26 am
I really soaked this conversation up, Cynthia. It’s very timely for me. I’ve continued to waver over whether or not I should go the KDP route. I haven’t yet for a few reasons, not the least of which is that it smacks of monopolizing to me, and I’m very much against that. (I hope I don’t end up eating those words.) I too question the point of giving away free books. I’m not sure it nets you readers. I have a foggy sense of everybody trying to get rich quick, jump the line, and manipulate technology to reach their ends. On the other hand, improving your ranking with Amazon, even artificially if that is the case, does gain you more exposure or free advertising if you will. It very much continues to be a rat race out here. I think there is one thing we can rely on: more is better and good books matter. That’s actually two things, but who’s counting?
August 7th, 2012 at 8:22 pm
First, loved that last paragraph.
Second, no idea on the answers here, but thought it would be interesting to note that I have several free books on my Kindle. I have not read one of them.
September 5th, 2012 at 10:27 am
I don’t have any answers, but I love the questions you’re raising. Something about giving your book away as a clever way of getting it to the top of Amazon’s lists just…rubs me the wrong way.
September 5th, 2012 at 10:52 am
Me too, Adam. I’m all for posting a sample read, to entice readers in, but giving the entire novel away for free? What does that say about our own worth as writers? Not to mention the devaluing precedent it sets in readers’ minds.
September 5th, 2012 at 11:03 am
Exactly.
And, honestly, I got a bunch of free books when I first got my Kindle. I started one of them, discovered about 15 pages in that it was free for a reason and haven’t read any of the others I paid nothing for. I don’t really want my book to be in that mix…
September 5th, 2012 at 11:10 am
I hear that same story often; free = unread. No thanks.
September 5th, 2012 at 11:11 am
Agreed, Cynthia!