On today’s show, the guys answered listener questions about pre-orders, rapid releases, how they found their editors, whether it make sense to keep series in Kindle Unlimited while publishing stand-alone novels wide, and lots of other stuff. Here’s a list of the questions they got to in the show (the second half of the batch will be answered next week):
For rapid release for a 5 book series, would you recommend the time-gap between releases be 2, 3, or 4 weeks? And for somebody using it to rebuild their readership, would you recommend Amazon Marketing Ads on the first book to help train amazon algorithms?
People always ask about rapid release, but never about what happens BETWEEN series release cycles. As they’re stockpiling new titles, I assume there are months where nothing new is up depending on how long it takes for them to write. Algorithm cliff chaos? Discuss.
Since everyone is asking about rapid release. How long should you advertise or pre-launch the series before you rapid release the books? Also where does most of your traffic for book buying come from? Is it the mailing list?
On one of the shows, someone mentioned that a short preorder lead has less impact on the “spike and decline” than a long one. Can you guys talk about that?
I’ve decided to try using some boosted posts from my FB page instead of running ads. I’ve turned off my ads and will instead run the same amount of money per day over a week and see what happens. Have any of you tried using boosted posts only for adverts?
I’m planning to write both standalones and series books, is it better to take your standalones wide to help establish yourself in those markets? Or am I better off leaving my standalones in KU?
How do you guys handle health care without an employer?
How did you find a good editor and what did you do to try them out to decide they were “the one?” (The guys mentioned the Reedsy Marketplace as a possible place to look.)
Also wondering about best ways to find an editor for SF (space opera).
Thoughts about the new service, Reedsy Discovery?
If your book has reviews in non-US amazon stores, is there a way to merge all of them to US store since it’s the exact same book?
What are the most surprising/unlikely income streams you’ve developed in your writing career?
I’d like to hear your thoughts on the building and usefulness of FaceBook pages and reader groups.
This week, we chatted with sea-adventure author and current president of Novelists, Inc. (NINC), Wayne Stinnett. He’s been a full-time independent author for years, has written a non-fiction title (From Blue Collar to No Collar), and has been a frequent poster at Kboards where he shares a lot of wisdom with the writing community. We asked him about his niche on Amazon, how he keeps his books selling when he does about three releases a year, and what NINC can do for authors.
Here are some of the specifics that we covered:
Getting started in a less competitive category (on Amazon).
How to keeps book selling when that category gets more crowded.
When it makes sense to keep writing in one long series (Wayne is about to publish his 14th novel in his Caribbean Adventure series) versus starting a new one.
Wayne’s plans to shift from a solo writer to running a publishing company and taking on other authors.
The changes that Wayne has seen in the 5+ years since he published his first novel on Amazon.
Why he’s stuck with KDP Select (Amazon exclusivity) during that time (and why he’s thinking of going wide soon).
Whether Amazon advertising is as effective for him as it used to be.
Running ads on local TV and radio stations since he lives in the area where his stories are set.
How important budgeting is when you’re publishing two or three books a year — having great months around releases but then watching things wane until the next release.
How he keeps newsletter subscribers interested in between releases.
How he often launches into the Top 100 on Amazon with a new novel.
What Novelists, Inc. (NINC) is and why authors might want to join the organization.
The annual NINC conference and why it’s more advanced than the majority of publishing conferences.
Lindsay got to meet lots of cool authors at the 20Books conference in Las Vegas this fall, and today’s guest was one of those people. Urban fantasy author Ramy Vance was involved in the traditional publishing world for years, but when it came time to publish his fiction, he decided to go indie. He’s written a number of novels and started a new series this past summer, Mortality Bites, where he’s had some of his best success yet. We asked him about it and what he did right and wrong to start selling a significant number of books in the urban fantasy genre.
Here are a few of the specifics that we talked about:
How Ramy was first involved in the traditional publishing world and what it taught him about the business.
The logistics of getting into libraries and how subsidiary rights trading works.
Tools you can use to do your own public relations if you’re hoping for attention from the traditional world (he mentioned SimilarWeb as a resource for analyzing those business’s websites but also said it’s expensive and that our time, as indie authors, may be better invested in writing the next book).
Whether it’s worth jumping into urban fantasy as a newer author or if it’s tough to gain traction since it’s so competitive.
Making use of some of the popular tropes to attract regular genre readers but then doing fun and creative stuff on the side.
Ramy’s experience with going exclusive with Amazon for this series and how advertising and tactics can be different whether one is only selling books or whether selling is secondary to getting borrows and page reads in Kindle Unlimited.
How he experimented with adding a sample chapter at the end of his books and found that sales/borrows of the subsequent books were better when he took that out.
How different advertising platforms sent different types of traffic (i.e. he got more sales from Facebook and more Kindle Unlimited borrows from AMS ads).
His mailing list versus his Facebook group and what he’s prioritizing right now.
Experimenting with Instagram.
How writing six books before releasing the first one helped him to rapid release and get a leg up.
How he approached more than a dozen big-name authors in the genre and found many willing to support him at launch time.
Plans for audiobooks through Podium Publishing.
Whether to invest in advertising to direct people to your back-list books or to focus on selling the new stuff.
Jo and Lindsay recorded early this week, since Lindsay is off to the 20Booksto50K conference (inspired by Michael Anderle, as Lindsay said in the show, but put together by Craig Martelle, which Lindsay should have said!). While Jeff was busy packing up his house to make his move to Phoenix permanent, Jo and Lindsay offered some tips on how to do well if you choose to go exclusive with Amazon to enroll in Kindle Unlimited. They also answered some great listener questions related to the topic.
Here’s what we discussed, swiped straight from Lindsay’s notes (they aren’t too tidy; you should definitely listen to the show!):
Is KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited right for you?
Personal considerations (supporting Amazon and possibly hurting other retailers, bowing to their demands for exclusivity, having all your eggs in one basket) + can you do better exclusive and in KU than wide = your unique answer!
Lindsay’s strategy and why?
Staying wide with the back catalogue and launching new series into KU, then eventually moving them out when sales/borrows slow down. How this has resulted in a nice boost in income for her without having to have all of her eggs in one basket.
Launch strategies –
Rapid release and advantages – momentum, less reader attrition, possibly more visibility, something in the hot new releases every month, possible to get the All-star bonuses by focusing your efforts into a couple of months.
Slow and steady – maybe releasing two-four books a year on a regular schedule – we’ve had people who have kept things rolling with promos and sales and just consistently releasing new books. KU can still be useful if you’re able to keep your books selling… these folks often invest more time and money into advertising to keep from falling off the face of the planet
Pricing considerations –
99 cents vs. full price – More non-KU people may pick up a 99-center, which helps with rankings, but at that price you’re making less on a novel if people buy instead of borrow.
$4-$5 – People get away with this and are more likely to get a book to stick in KU because of the borrows buoying things up. BUT if your book isn’t to market or really going to appeal to a lot of people, this can make you sink more quickly than a 99-cent Book 1.
Launching with your 5 free days – I haven’t tried this but I’ve heard from several people now who had some good momentum by trying this right out of the gate.
Remember, if you’re doing a series, it’s about what you can earn over the course of the series, not just from one book.
Focusing on one genre and releasingfrequently or at least consistently –
This is an area where I fail a bit, and I would struggle more if I wasn’t fairly prolific. It’s also why I’ve started focusing on one series to completion – drop three quickly and then one more a month or as close as possible. This gives you some of the “sticking to one genre” advantage even if you fully plan to write in another genre next year.
Writing to a hungrymarket –
Look in the Top 100s you’re interested (Chris Fox style) and see what’s selling. What sells steadily year in and year out? What’s come on strong in the past year? Think less about trends and more why is something working – because trad publishing isn’t fulfilling a demand? There’s a possible market.
When examining potential niches, also consider looking at the Amazon AUS/CA store, etc. to get a feel for what’s selling without AMS ads, since that can really obfuscate things – you have no idea how much the publisher of that perennial bestseller is paying to stay in their Top 100.
Can niche stuff work?
Depends on the niche – is there a hungry market that isn’t being served by trad pub or is it just kind of out there? Something that’s only going to appeal to a small audience like a steampunk fantasy lesbian romance? KU isn’t going to be great for something that a large portion of people just won’t pick up because they’re not into X thing. This is the kind of case where I like going wide with a series because you can do a permafree book 1 and reach a global market (sometimes things that are hangups in one country are less of a big deal in others!), so you just have much more potential to find the people who DO want X.
However, if there’s a hungry market, it can do super well in KU even if it’s niche. You need it to be niche in a way that it’s not off-putting to the majority of readers. That’s when KU is useful. “Well, I’m not sure LitRPG is my thing, or even what it is exactly, but huh, it’s about gamers, and I gamed as a kid… enh, let’s try it.” That’s where KU is ideal because the readers can check out the books for free with their subscription, so they might pick up things they wouldn’t have bought because they’re a little outside their wheelhouse.
Making more money from page reads
Everyone wants this, but Amazon is watching for people gaming the system, so be careful not to do anything wonky with formatting or bonus material. Be safe with that stuff so you won’t be penalized, because you don’t want your attempt to earn a couple hundred extra month to suddenly result in you earning nothing.
Probably okay to add the first chapter of the next book (less than 10% bonus material) and a Q&A or afterword, something the reader will genuinely want to read. But remember the litmus test: ask yourself if you would be adding this bonus material if this book weren’t in KU.
Legitimate ways (craft stuff):
Write a page turner!
Write a sprawling epic (it still has to turn pages).
Teaser/cliffhanger endings to get them to move on to the next book.
Listener Questions:
Dale: I’m currently wide, but I’m considering KU for my next series. So, my question: What are some approaches/tactics etc for succeeding in KU when you are *not* rapid releasing?
Greg: (1) Is there a “sweet spot” for how many books to have in a series before profits/page reads start falling off? (2) Better to offer a “standalone” freebie or a more “sequel-lite” novella for funnel, list-building, etc.?
MJ: Would you lean more towards FB or AMS ads if you wanted to focus on drivin up page reads and brand building?
Tara: Pricing strategies, especially for romance, especially for books that can be read as a stand-alone. I don’t like pricing at 99c, but it seems to be the popular way to rank well.
Tara: Oh, any insight into sweet spots for word count, though I do understand that it varies by genre.
Jammie: Thoughts on current “glitches” reflecting zero or low page reads and instances of book disappearance. Seems some (usually successful) authors launch to silence or messed up promos. How do you handle Amazon’s glitches and recover from a bad launch as a result? Wait it out?
Jammie: Watching fb groups and feeling skittish as a newcomer. Investing in marketing and promos with Amazon sort of feels like playing the stock market.
Vale: If you’re exclusive to KU on a pen name but want to release a reader magnet standalone novel set in the same world as the main series, would you make it 99 cents and exclusive for the page reads or go the wide route for just that book to get Amazon to price match it to permafree?
Jon: Since KU subscribers can’t preorder, what’s a good way to get KU subscribers interested pre-launch?
Beth: How do you determine that a series has run its course for page reads and should be removed from KU to go wide?
Today, the guys took on a batch of listener questions that ran the gamut from what’s the best schedule for a rapid release of a trilogy to what kind of markets we’ve targeted with Facebook advertising to what to do (and not to do) when choosing a book title.
And in case you missed it last week, we have a 30% off coupon code for Brian Meek’s Amazon Ads course. For those interested in signing up, you can use the code of SFFMP30: Mastering Amazon Ads: An Author’s Course
Here’s a look at the questions the guys answered:
What’s the best lag time between books in a trilogy rapid release? Is it best to dump all at once? 1/week, 1/2-weeks, or longer in between.
In your ideal rapid release schedule, how many days/weeks/months apart would you release each new novel in a science fiction series?
Any tips for marketing epic fantasy novellas/novella serials?
How do you decide when a series and it’s spin-offs should end?
How does (Lindsay) keep romance from overtaking an adventure story?
For Facebook marketing, do you find one demographic marker more useful than it’s counter-parts? Ie: is it effective to target age, income, etc, or are your best results from targeting by interest? Do you still boost posts?
Are you planning your calendar for 2019? will you be at any conferences this year? I missed you at the Sell More Books Show summit this year, but I can go next year. 🙂 Do Jo and Jeff attend anything?
Promos: is there a deeper marketing reason to choose to run them only on selected markets, or does a world-wide one mean a world-wide bucket of headaches? (See: yours and Jo’s Bookbub books being at the same time discounted on .com and full price on .it)
Lindsay, I’d love to hear about how the blog-novel went. Did it impact the launch much? How about blog traffic? Was there a bump in your other books via affiliate blog links?
Which writing craft books help/have helped you?
What does your outlining process look like?
What’s your best advice for picking a novel’s title?
How do you decide what genre to list as if it’s a bit of everything?
How do you guys get a universal link for one of your Amazon books (Amazon only), or did you not bother? Specifically a link that will send UK readers to the UK store, US readers to the US store, etc. Or did you provide links for all the separate countries?
I would love to hear an updated list of which promo sites you use.
A lot of Book Funnel/Instafreebie group promos I see all have the same group of books, even if there is a “theme” to the promo. Have you seen anyone having success doing a more targeted and small group promo?
I’d like to hear how Patreon is going. Any tips or anything you’d do differently? (I’ve just set up Patreon with early release books + other rewards like personalized copies via Ingram.)
This week, fantasy author NM Howell (AKA Nikko) joined the guys to talk about her journey from semi-pro cosplayer (yes, that’s a thing!) and magazine creator to full-time fantasy author.
Here are some of the details that we covered:
Cosplaying and starting a magazine.
Getting into publishing fantasy under multiple names (NM Howell also writes as Nicole Marie).
Genre hopping with witch cozies, YA fantasy with dragons, and reverse harem fantasy mysteries.
The challenges of starting and maintaining multiple pen names.
Are there too many dragon fantasy novels out there now to jump in?
Starting out with Amazon exclusivity (KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited) and gradually making some series available everywhere.
How some advertising venues (Facebook, Amazon AMS, Bookbub, etc.) work better than others for different genres. Nikko likes Facebook for her fantasy romance and Bookbub for her cozies.
How she’s found success with rapid releasing the first two books in a new series.
Experimenting with permafree Book 1s.
Does marketing later books in a series work?
Whether big multi-author bundles are still worth it as far as getting readers to try more of your stuff.
Fantasy author Alex Lidell joined us on the show this week. She started her publishing journey with YA fantasy when her first novel, The Cadet of Tildor, was picked up by Penguin after being a finalist in Amazon’s Breakout Novel contest. After that, she turned to self-publishing with her YA fantasy TIDES series, and she recently jumped into reverse harem fantasy with her Power of Five series, where she’s had a lot of success on Amazon.
Here are some of the specifics we discussed and links to books and resources mentioned in the show:
Alex’s experience with the now-defunct Amazon Breakout Novel contest.
How she got picked up by Penguin for her first book and what the editing process was like.
Why she decided to switch to self-publishing and how you have to be willing to learn to think and act like a small-business owner when you do.
The states of YA fantasy and reverse harem and if there’s room for newcomers hoping to sell well.
Whether there are expected tropes in YA fantasy and what the ones are for reverse harem.
3D-character rendering as an alternative to illustrations for cover art.
Marketing in the traditional publishing world (and being an “ambassador for your brand”) versus marketing as an indie author.
Why Alex is in Kindle Unlimited and her brief flirtation with wide for a Bookbub ad.
What time of the month she launches her books to have a better shot at earning an All-Star Bonus in KU.
Getting the paperback version of a book up before the ebook so people can post reviews ahead of launch day.
Using ACX for audiobooks and her experiences with paying up front per finished hour versus doing a royalty split with a narrator.
Getting more exposure and reviews for audiobooks through Audiobook Boom.
You can find Alex on her website and on Facebook, and her novels are available on Amazon, including Air and Ash (Book 1 of her TIDES series for YA fantasy lovers) and The Power of Five (Book 1 of her reverse harem series).
On this week’s show, Jeff, Jo, and Lindsay discussed the information on Data Guy’s slides from his 2018 SFWA presentation in May. The slides are up here if you want to take a look. They also discussed some of the news in the indie world this summer and how the Amazon hammer has been coming down on those partaking in Kindle Unlimited shenanigans. Here are Lindsay’s notes (but you’ll get more out of just looking at the slides!). Also, the tool Jo mentions partway through the episode is KDP Rocket.
Notes from the SFWA 2018 slides:
Adult SF/F sales peaked around 2009 and then, according to Nielson/NPD Bookscan, have been on the decline since.
Result? The SF/F sections in bookstores shrank and author advances did too.
It’s true that after 2009, print sales dropped twice as far as in most other book genres, but digital sales have taken up the slack. While only 25% of overall sales for traditional publishers are ebooks, it’s different with SF/F. Ebooks make up 37% of traditionally published purchases. Add in SF/F audiobook sales, and things seem to be even or even slightly on the rise.
And on the indie/small press side…
SF&F sales by traditional publishers have become the minority. Big Five takes 21% of the pie, Amazon publishing imprints 7%, other small/med/large publishers 9%, and then indie self-pub w/o imprint, with their own imprints, or in indie self-pub collectives make up more 52% (the rest uncategorized stuff).
This is units sold. He looks at dollars earned too.
The average purchase price for a trad published SF/F ebook was $8.04 (May 2017 – April 2018)
For self-pub and Amazon imprints: $3.20 (sweet spot of $4 the highest with $5 right behind it).
Put them together and the average purchase price is $4.43.
How does KU factor in?
$30 million a year in US subscription revenue is from KU which accounts for 25% of non-traditional SF/F ebook dollar sales.
When it comes to money, self-pub SF/F authors are now earning a much larger share of the royalty dollars generated by SF&F books than traditionally published SF&F authors. SF/F sales are disproportionately ebook and audio now – digital. This may explain why incomes of traditionally published and self-published authors appear to be moving in opposite directions.
Most traditionally published SF/F ebooks purchased in the last 12 months were deep backlist titles published prior to 2015. Nontraditional SF/F ebook purchases were mostly frontlist and recent backlist (since 2015).
“What happens when the non-trad “deep backlist” fills in?”
Science Fiction Top subgenres by ebook sales:
Military SF – over 4 million
Adventure SF – just shy of 4 million
Post-Apocalyptic – about 3.5 million
Dystopian – about 3 million
Space Opera – shy of 3 million
Toward the bottom: steampunk, alternative history, LGBT, Humorous
“Traditional publishers outperform in some SF categories but underperform in many of the highest selling ones.”
Fantasy Top subgenres by ebook sales:
Paranormal & urban – over 11 million (PNR/romancy in there but top selling by almost a factor of 2)
Epic fantasy – close to 6.5 million
Sword & sorcery – 4 million
Coming of Age – 3.5 million
Romantic fantasy – 3 million
Toward the bottom: Alternate history, dragons & mythological creatures, humorous, Christian fantasy, Gaslamp
End stuff:
This means SF/F sales (print, ebook, audiobook) are actually significantly up overall from that supposed high point in 2009. A lot. They’ve doubled since 2010 with the majority of sales just going unreported right now and thus understating SF&F true popularity with readers.
Why? Speculation: new SF/F readers, old readers reading more, former used book readers now buying ebooks instead, or former library users brought in because ebooks are more affordably priced?
We had a great chat with David Gaughran this week. He’s a historical fiction author who dabbles in science fiction now and then, and when he’s not writing fiction, he’s keeping an eye on the publishing scene and analyzing what’s working for authors who are going wide and selling well on Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, etc. and also what’s working for those who are sticking with Amazon exclusivity and Kindle Unlimited.
We chatted about all that and also about the tactics he outlines in his new book, Strangers To Superfans and some of the mistakes authors are making.
Here are a few specifics of what we discussed:
Using “Audience Insights” on Facebook to figure out who your Ideal Reader is.
Realizing that you can choose to sell your books all over the world or to be exclusive with Amazon but that whether you’re in Kindle Unlimited or not, you’re affected by it.
Why David prefers a lower spend over time rather than blowing a bunch of money on Facebook advertising in a couple of days.
He’s open to doing boosted posts to get more followers but says you shouldn’t advertise for likes.
Making sure to mention your Facebook page at the end of your books, so you can get your readers to like and follow (and you’re later able to get more complete demographic information on your fans).
Understanding that “most digital advertising platforms actively reward good targeting through delivering cheaper clicks or free exposure for well targeted ads.”
Realizing that if you’re not in KU, you’re competing with people who are earning more (70% on 99 cent books during Countdown Deals) and can afford to spend more on advertising.
How Kindle Unlimited has a separate recommendation engine for subscribers.
Taking advantage of places where fewer people are being advertised to, such as countries and platforms where Amazon KU isn’t a thing.
Advertising something written for mass appeal versus something written for a smaller niche audience.
What David calls the Discoverability Myth and why we shouldn’t get caught up in it.
Being careful not to confuse the Amazon algorithms or mess up your also-boughts when you launch a book, especially if you’re switching genres.
The different types of advertising that work for Kindle Unlimited books versus books on all the platforms, a steady drip versus a big blast.
Some mistakes David sees “wide” authors making (those who are marketing books on Apple, B&N, Kobo, etc.).
Best practices for mailing list building and emailing subscribers.
Visit David’s blog to stay up to date on Amazon, scammers, and nefarious entities taking advantage of authors, as well as other important topics that he feels compelled to write about. If you sign up for his mailing list, you can get his book, Amazon Decoded: A Marketing Guide to the Kindle Store.
On this week’s show, YA fantasy author Sarah K.L. Wilson joined us to talk about the successful Dragon School serial she’s publishing on Amazon (and in Kindle Unlimited). She’s put out nine installments since the beginning of the year, publishing a new one every 18 days, and she’s kept them selling with Amazon ads and sheer momentum.
Here’s a little more of what we covered:
Going from writing novels to publishing a (planned) 20-installment fantasy serial.
How complete each story is and whether Sarah employs cliffhangers.
Whether she’s got it all outlined or she’s pantsing it.
The challenges of finding your readership on Amazon (or any online store) when you’re targeting a teen audience.
Handling cover art for serial installments that you’re publishing frequently.
Sarah’s pricing strategy of 99 cents for the first installment and 2.99 for the others and whether there’s been any pushback from readers.
Finding success with Amazon ads by monitoring them daily and tweaking whenever necessary, including adding new ads to the rotation regularly.
Sarah’s less than stellar results with Facebook ads.
How her income breaks down, sales versus KU.
What a typical launch looks like for her now that she’s almost 10 installments into her serial.
You can visit Sarah on her website and also check out her books on Amazon. The first installment in her serial is Dragon School: First Flight and is currently 99 cents or free to read with a KU subscription.