In her latest blog post, Amanda Hocking tells us how she feels about signing with a traditional publisher (St. Martin's Press), how her traditionally published books are selling and what her future plans are.
For me, one of the most interesting comments she makes is this:
Some people have been speculating that I'm not doing so well based on my Amazon rankings - which aren't terrible, but none of my books are in the Top 100 right now. They think this means that I'm not selling and the books must be doing poorly.Statistics on how well books sell on Amazon versus Barnes & Noble are difficult to come by, so I appreciate it when authors choose to share their numbers (Joe Konrath is wonderful this way). Amanda Hocking sold about 60% of her books through amazon and, I'm guessing, about 30% through Barnes & Noble.
But one of the biggest reasons I went with a publisher is because I wanted to expand outside of the pool of Amazon readership. I know ebooks are continuing to grow, and I know that right now Amazon controls the largest share of ebook sales (they account for roughly 60% of my self-published ebook sales, with Barnes & Noble covering the vast majority of the other 40%).
And you cannot discount the fact that I sold nearly a million books copies of the Trylle books before I went with a publisher, and a large portion of those were through Amazon. I thought I'd already mostly tapped out the Amazon audience, so the fact that my books are doing as well as they are (Switched is ranked in the #1,000s of the Kindle store at the time of this writing, and Ascend is ranked #325) is impressive to me.
- Amanda Hocking, How Am I Doing Now?
Some might say, "Who cares?"
These numbers are relevant to writers trying to decide whether to enroll their books in KDP Select because that program requires authors to sell their ebooks exclusively through Amazon. I'm not suggesting that Amanda Hocking's numbers are representative, but with so little information about this sort of thing, every little bit helps.
Thanks Amanda!
Related Articles:
Amanda Hocking Joins The Amazon Kindle Million Club
The Secret of Amanda Hocking's Success Amanda Hocking's Story Amanda Hocking, Barry Eisler and Mark Coker: Legacy publishing versus indie publishing
Links:
Amanda Hocking's Books on Amazon
Amanda Hocking at Macmillan Books
The World of Amanda Hocking
How Am I Doing Now?
KDP Select
Photo credit: Thinking About Books
"Amanda Hocking: An Update," copyright© 2012 by Karen Woodward.
Lessee. St. Martin's Press has turned Amanda Hockings's books from top-listers to mid-listers, and she's okay with that?
ReplyDeleteYes, I wish Amanda would have said more about the financial end, though I understand that she probably can't. She sold more digital copies of her books when she self-published but she didn't charge as much. I imagine it all depends what her current royalties are. I wouldn't be surprised if she's making about the same amount of money.
ReplyDeleteI highly doubt she's making the same amount of money if she's a mid-lister. If she was making the same amount or more- she would say so. I think she's making less and is (for the time being) content with that because she no longer has to deal with the editing and marketing herself. She's said in many posts how much she hated the marketing part of self-pubbing.
DeleteYes, I picked that up too (that she hates marketing). I guess, even if she is making less, it's smart to have more than one income stream.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. :)