Edward Robinson And How To Sell Books Using Amazon KDP Select

I love Edward Robertson's blog, Failure Ahoy!, and I recommend it to anyone thinking about publishing their work. Ed is also a wonderful writer, I love his prose.

I first read Ed's blog because of his posts about Amazon KDP Select. The truly great thing about his articles is that Ed shares his experiences in book publishing, including his sales numbers, both good and not so good.

Today I'd like to talk about Ed's latest post, I'm New to Indie Publishing, Part 5: The Long Term, and discuss the various publishing strategies he mentions.

1. Selling Books With Select: When Does Using Amazon Select Make Sense?

a. You have an established series that isn't selling as well as you'd hoped

Let's say you've written and published 3 books in an urban fantasy series. None of these books are enrolled in select.

Case One:

Let's say you're preparing to publish the 4th book in your series. By enrolling your new book in Select you would be guaranteed that a lot of folks would see your book, including some folks who wouldn't have otherwise tried it. Also, you'd probably increase the number of people who visited your website or blog as well as the number of people subscribed to your mailing list. (That's a rough paraphrase of one of Ed's points.)

When I read this my first thought was that if a writer already had a huge fan base that Select wouldn't be of interest. Ed has something especially interesting to say about this objection (see point b, below).

I'd like to sound a cautionary note about putting your book in front of readers who wouldn't normally read it. Of course this can be great. What writer doesn't want more readers? That said, some writers believe that's where most of their one star reviews come from, folks who don't like the book just because, say, they don't like that genre but they read the book because it was free.

Another thing. Some folks think that if something is free then it's worthless. Just the other day a commenter wrote that they'd never read a good book that was free. I suppose one could have had several bad experiences in a row and given up but I've seen plenty of great books that were free, or nearly so. For instance, the publisher of one of my favorite authors, Kim Harrison, offered several of her books for 99 cents.

Okay, enough about Case One. I do agree with Ed that this is an instance where someone with an established series should at least consider releasing their new book with Select. They may decide it's not for them, it just depends on their circumstances.

Case Two:

You've got one book in your series that is under-preforming. One way to boost sales is to enter just this book in select to get a few more eyes on it.

Case Three:

You move all 3 of the books in your series into Select. Now you'll be able to offer one of them free every month. Of course you'd have to be careful to make each book entertaining as a stand-alone, but if you want a lot more eyes on your work this would do it.

b. You have an established series that is selling like gangbusters

In the previous case we looked at a series of books that wasn't selling well, or at least not as well as the writer/publisher wanted. Now let's look at a series that's selling quite well. Ed uses Hugh Howey as an example.

I need to think more about this suggestion before I have an opinion so I'll let Ed explain it in his own words:

I'll put it another way. Let's say Librios, the god of books, strolls down from book-heaven and presents you with a choice. He can make you a bestseller at Kobo, but you have to remove your book from the iBookstore. Mwa ha ha ha! Would you do it?

Unless you're already a bestseller at both places, of course you would. The argument for publishing to every possible outlet is that you never know where a book might take off, so you should buy as many lotto tickets as possible to up your chances of breaking out.

But if you're doing that great with Select and its borrows, you have already won the lotto.

Let me say again that Ed's post is great, terrific, and I agree with most of what he says. I would like to mention, though, that there is another argument for publishing in every possible outlet, one other than that one never knows where a book is going to take off. (Though I am not saying anything against that point of view.)

Let's say I've published one book. I've published it everywhere I can. Let's say that means it's available in 10 different electronic bookstores. I only need to sell 10 copies of my book at each bookstore to sell 100 books a month. 10 copies of a book a month isn't a lot. Now think of it selling 10 copies a month at 20 different bookstores. You get the idea. All the little sales add up. If you sell your book in enough bookstores even if you only sell 10 a month, you'll be selling hundreds of copies a month when you add up all the sales.

At least, that's one argument. There's a lack of data on how often that happens.

Ed has a lot to say about the advantages that the Kindle Owners' Lending Library (KOLL) can provide a writer and it's well worth the read. I know I'm going to be thinking about what he has to say for a long time to come.

Tomorrow I'll look at the second half of Edward Robinson's article and look at strategies for selling books without Amazon KDP Select.

Update: Click here for the second half: How To Sell Books Without Using Amazon KDP Select.

Have you ever used Amazon Select? What was your experience like? Would you recommend it?

Other articles you might like:

- The Magic Of Stephen King: How To Write Compelling Characters & Great Openings
- Should A Writer Let Her Reader's Expectations Influence Her Artistic Judgement?
- Writing in 2013: Bend don't break

Photo credit: "187 Days" by Ian Sane under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

Amazon's KDP Select Program Has A Lot To Offer New Writers, But What About Established Ones?

Amazon's KDP Select program is best for writers who haven't yet cultivated a large readership, but even if you have it can give a boost to a book that's underpreforming as well as broaden your readership. At least, that's what Jeff Bennington says.

Yesterday, thanks to Elizabeth Craig and her marvelous tweets, I discovered Jeff's great post on KDP Select. Jeff has used the program for some time and his article is a must-read for anyone considering enrolling: How to Win in Amazon's KDP Select Program.

Jeff wrote his article on October 25th of this year, before Amazon put an additional $1.5 million into the pot for Select authors, but that just strengthens his argument. (See: Amazon Sweetens the KDP Select Pot For The Holiday Shopping Season)

Amazon's KDP Select: A Great Program For New Writers

Amazon KDP Select is best for writers who haven't yet cultivated a large readership and want to.

Since Amazon's Select program allows you to offer your book, free, for up to 5 days per enrollment period this virtually guarantees thousands of people will download your book (if they don't, take a second look at your cover, your blurb, and so on). (See: What To Do If Your Book Sales Are Low)

At least, if they're anything like Jeff. Jeff writes:

I average about 8,000 (small books) - 15,000 (novels) downloads with every freebie run.

In September of this year he gave away nearly 20,000 books and sold well over 5,000. Not bad!

But lets not even look at book sales. In the beginning what is of critical importance is for readers to find your work. Using Amazon's KDP Select program you can put your book in front of thousands of readers so, at the very least, it's a great way to grow a readership. And, if you include a link back to your blog, you'll get more followers.

As any established writer will tell you, there's no shortcut to success, but it can be very nice to have an initial boost.

Amazon's KDP Select: Can Help Expand Your Readership

Let's say you're an established author, one who already has a large readership, so the benefits of Amazon's KDP Select program aren't as attractive to you. Also, you worry that your readers--those who either don't have access to Amazon or who choose not to buy from it--would be alienated by your choice to publish exclusively through them.

There's still a couple of reasons why you might consider using the program.

1. Books that under-perform

This happens. You've written a book you believe in. You think it's a great book but it's not selling as well as you'd like because it hasn't found its audience. This kind of book is an excellent candidate for the KDP Select program.

What you want is to get your book in front of more people, different people. After getting downloaded thousands of times chances are you'll reach more of the folks who will love it and you'll end up broadening your readership.

2. You change your genre

Established writers sometimes want to start writing in a different genre. For instance, Jim Butcher is currently working on the first book of a new steampunk series. (See: Jim Butcher Begins Another Series, The Cinder Spires: It's Steampunk!)

Mr. Butcher, of course, has enough fans to get the word out that he doesn't need programs like Amazon's KDP Select, but other authors might choose to release the first book of their new series using Select. It might be a good idea to pull the book out of the program at the end of the three month term, but even a one term enrollment could give a new series a nice push.

Jeff Bennington's Amazon Select Success Story

Jeff writes:

[I]n my last six "freebie runs" as I call them, I've hit the Top 20, five out of six times, and the sixth time I hit #58 with Creepy, book 1 in my Creepy series.

Now that's impressive!

Jeff writes more about what he does to achieve these figures at the end of his article. If you're considering using Amazon's KDP Select and wondering if it's right for you, give his article a read.

Other articles you might like:
- Writing Prompts: Defeat Writer's Block And Generate Ideas
- NaNoWriMo Ends. Editing Begins!
- Amazon Sweetens the KDP Select Pot For The Holiday Shopping Season

Photo credit: "Chichicastenango Market, Guatemala" by szeke under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

Amazon Sweetens the KDP Select Pot For The Holiday Shopping Season

If you were thinking of trying out Amazon KDP Select, now's the time.

Today Amazon sweetened the KDP Select pot, adding a total of 1.5 million dollars to be paid out to authors over the next three months. A total of 700,000 dollars of that money will be dispensed in the month of December effectively doubling the amount of money an author can make during the peak buying month.

Here's the relevant section from Amazon's press release:

[A]uthors can earn a share of both the regular monthly fund and the bonus every time their book is borrowed from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de and Amazon.fr (Kindle Direct Publishing Adds $1.5 Million Holiday Bonus for KDP Select Authors)

How much money can an independent author make if they enroll their book in Amazon's KDP Select program? There are no concrete answers, but more than ever before.

- Over the past year Amazon has paid out 7 million dollars to writers who have enrolled their books in the KDP Select program. That's a little less than $600,000 a month.

- Over the month of December Amazon will add a bonus $700,000 into the pot IN ADDITION to the regular $700,000 that goes to KDP Select authors. But that's only for December. The remainder of the 1.5 million will be paid out to authors over January and February of next year.

The upshot: Over the Christmas season, the season you're likely to sell and lend the most, you'll get twice the payoff. But you'll have to put all your eggs in the Amazon KDP Select basket.

Is The Sweetened Pot Worth The Price Of Exclusivity?

First let's give Amazon their say. What are the pros?

1. A massive amount of ereaders = record numbers of sales and borrows

Amazon has obliterated all its previous records for Kindle sales over the last few months. I'd love to have hard numbers regarding exactly how many Kindles there are in the world versus iPads and Nooks, but what really matters is who buys and reads the most ebooks.

According to Bowker "Amazon dominates the world ebook market" and in May of 2012 Digital Book World announced that the Kindle was by far the reading devise most frequently used to read an ebook.

Even more interesting is Bowker's observation that "35% of ebook buyers are power buyers, and they buy 60% of ebooks & spend 48% of the market". I wonder whether power buyers are equally distributed between the platforms, or whether Amazon has more of them. I remember Jeff Bezos said that, on average, after a person buys a Kindle they read 4 times as many ebooks than they did previously. (See: Jeff Bezos: Amazon Makes No Money On Sales Of Kindle Ereaders Or Tablets)

2. Double the money

Depending on the number of books you have for sale and how new those books are, you'll stand to make more than double what you made in KDP Select last year, all things being equal.

But things are never equal. First of all, there will be MANY more Kindles in peoples' hands this year than there were last year and more people enrolled in Amazon Prime (it's only Amazon Prime folks who can borrow books from Amazon's lending library).

3. Access to Amazon's best seller lists around the world

Amazon mentions that 500 Select books have placed in their top 100 lists worldwide. Getting your book in the top 100 is terrific for sales, not only of your current book but for all your other books as well. (See: Amazon Ranks Authors In Terms Of Their Book Sales).

Unfortunately Amazon hasn't mentioned how many KDP titles (versus Amazon KDP Select) made it into the bestseller lists, nor do they mention how many books are enrolled in Amazon Select, so it's difficult to know what to make of that figure.

Mark Coker: Think Twice Before Accepting Amazon's Sweetened Deal

Should authors enroll their books in Amazon's KDP Select program? Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, says NO, hell no! (See: Amazon The Grinch ...)

Mark Coker writes:

I contended, and still contend, that exclusivity is a devil's bargain. When authors go exclusive with any retailer, they increase their dependence upon that single retailer, limit long-term platform building at other retailers, disappoint fans who shop at other stores, and hobble the development of a thriving and competitive ebook retailing ecosystem.

As you can imagine, Mark Coker isn't happy about Amazon's move to monopolize independent book sales over the holiday season.
Let's address each of these points. Mark Coker contends that if an author enrolls their books in Amazon's KDP Select program they:

A. Increase their dependence upon that single retailer

Yes. Absolutely. At least, authors would increase their dependence on Amazon if they kept all their books in the Select program. But what about those authors who employ a mixed strategy? For instance, those authors who only enroll their books in Amazon's Select program when they're first released and then, after the 3 month term has elapsed, remove them from the program and distribute them as widely as possible.

Wouldn't authors employing a mixed strategy enjoy the best of both worlds? Your book would get an initial bump in readership because of the perks Select offers (free days and inclusion in Amazon's library) and then, after its term in the program ended, you could pull your book out and distribute it as widely as you wanted.

B. Disappoint fans who shop at different stores

Certainly if a fan doesn't have access to the Amazon store they would not be able to buy your Amazon Select books, but I haven't seen any data on how many folks are cut off from accessing Amazon's store versus other stores. In North America most people have access to all the estores but I have no data on how it is for the rest of the world.

If (for instance) Smashwords is much more accessible in certain parts of the world, parts of the world where your fans live, then this is a strong objection. If, on the other hand, Amazon can be assessed from all the places Smashwords can, the objection loses some 'oomph'.

True, some folks don't want to buy a book from Amazon, and if your book is in Select there's no other way to get it.

Perhaps knowing your fan base could help you decide. You could put a poll up on your website or send email out to your mailing list. Ask your fans how they would feel if you enrolled your books in Amazon Select.

C. Hobble the development of a thriving and competitive ebook retailing ecosystem.

For me, this objection is the least convincing.

First, would enrolling your book in Amazon's KDP Select program "hobble the development of a thriving and competitive ebook retailing system"? I'm not convinced and here's why. It's difficult for foreigners to get their books into Barnes & Noble, you can't do it directly. The only way is to enroll them in Smashwords and then Smashwords distributes them to Barnes & Noble.

I haven't heard anyone raise a fuss about this. Is Barnes & Noble hobbling the development of a thriving and competitive ebook retailing system?

I think that whether Amazon KDP Select will hobble the ebook retailing system is yet to be determined.

Second, even if publishing exclusively through Amazon DID harm the ebook retailing system it seems as though Mark Coker is asking folks to pass up probable gains in favor of not causing an unspecified harm to something nebulous (what exactly IS the 'ebook retailing system'?) at some point in the future.

Third, Smashwords stands to lose from what Amazon is doing, it stands to lose BIG. Coker isn't arguing as an uninterested party, he has stakes in this game, big states, and he's asking authors to continue to support Smashwords because ... well, because we want the ebook retailing ecosystem to thrive.

I think most indie authors are interested in where they'll make the most money over the month of December. After all, if you're like me, you have rent to pay, groceries to buy, not to mention the extra expenses of the Christmas season.

Against this someone might reply that those are short term reasons and I should be thinking long term but the fact is that we really don't have any statistics which will tell us what the long term is going to be.

Okay, that's my 2 cents! I've been writing impassioned blog posts lately, I wonder if something is in the air.

What do you think? Are you going to put any of your books into Amazon's KDP Select program?

By the way, just before I hit "publish" I noticed that Passive Guy had weighed in on Mark Coker's post. He wrote:

Mark Coker makes a lot of his Silicon Valley background. PG has been involved with many tech companies large and small. The good ones never complained about their competition. Instead they focused on building better products and services than their competition offered.

Other articles you might like:

- Does Amazon KDP Select Drive Away True Fans?
- Amazon's KDP Select: The Best Long-Term Strategy?
- Crowdfunding: Cutting Out The Middleman

Photo credit: "Bengal Tiger / Tigre de Bengala (Panthera Tigris)" by Esparta under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

Using Permanently Free Books To Increase Sales: Part 2

A few days ago I talked about the strategy of making books permanently free to increase sales. (See: Writers: How To Use Permanently Free Books To Increase Sales)

It sounds counter-intuitive, but the idea is that if you, for instance, make the first book of a series free that its value as a marketing devise will far outweigh your lost revenue.

I wasn't sure how that post would be received since there has been some resistance within the indie community to the idea of giving away ones work and was pleasantly surprised by the wonderfully helpful comments the article received.

In this post I want to look, first, at a variation on the idea of using permanently free electronic books to increase sales of your other work: make the ebook version of a book free and use it as advertising for the paper version. Then we'll look at another indie author--Robert J. Crane--who uses the technique of perma-free to sell books AND he has been so kind as to share his sales figures.

(By the way, if you have tried perma-free to increase sales of your work please contact me, I'd like to hear about your experience.)

1) Make The Ebook Version Free, Charge For The Paper Copy

Example: Seth Godin

The first time I heard of this strategy I thought I had to have misheard. But, no, offering the ebook version of his paper books has worked out well for author and entrepreneur Seth Godin.

In 2001 Seth wrote Unleashing The Ideavirus. I'll let him tell you about it:

Seven years ago, I wrote a book called Unleashing the Ideavirus. It's about how ideas spread. In the book, I go on and on about how free ideas spread faster than expensive ones. That's why radio is so important in making music sell.

Anyway, I brought it to my publisher and said, "I'd like you to publish this, but I want to give it away on the net." They passed. They used to think I was crazy, but now they were sure of it. So I decided to just give it away. The first few days, the book was downloaded 3,000 times ... The next day, the number went up. And then up. Soon it was 100,000 and then a million. ... I didn't ask anything in return. ... Here it is. Share it.

A Google search finds more than 200,000 matches for the word 'ideavirus', which I made up. Some will ask, "how much money did you make?" And I think a better question is, "how much did it cost you?" How much did it cost you to write the most popular ebook ever and to reach those millions of people and to do a promotion that drove an expensive hardcover to #5 on Amazon and #4 in Japan and led to translation deals in dozens of countries and plenty of speaking gigs?

It cost nothing. (You should write an ebook)

Unleashing the Ideavirus is still selling strong. Over on Amazon, the paperback version is at #34,038 (excellent!) while the Kindle version is sitting at around rank #152k.

Let's think about that for a moment. The ELECTRONIC copy of Unleashing the Ideavirus, the format Seth is giving away for free (the link is right here), is downloaded more often than The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (#223,261), published in 2003, two years later.

It's true that Seth's book is $7.86 while League is $11.87. That probably has an effect on sales, but my point is that offering the book for free doesn't seem to have hurt sales of even the electronic version!)

That's just one example. Here is a listing of 15 books Seth Godin has made permanently free.

Here is Seth Godin's blog post advocating writing an ebook with the intention of making it permanently free: You should write an ebook.

Example: David Gaughran

David Gaughran released Let's Get Digital, in July of 2011. What caused a lot of commentary at the time was that, like Seth Godin, he gave away a PDF copy of his book on his website (it's still available here: Let's Get Digital). David did one thing differently from Seth, he put up a donation button for anyone who wanted to contribute to his continued financial well-being.

So, did making the PDF perma-free pay off?

On Amazon.com the Kindle version of Let's Get Digital is priced at $4.98 and is at rank #26,388 which is good. In fact, the electronic version is selling the best out of all David's books, at least those on Amazon.com. I'd consider that a success.

Thanks to Leauxra for drawing my attention to these examples.

2) Eric Flint and the Baen Free Library

Baen Free Library was founded in 1999 by writer Eric Flint and publisher Jim Baen "to determine whether the availability of books free of charge on the Internet encourages or discourages the sale of their paper books" (Baen Free Library, Wikipedia).

Eric Flint concluded that making an electronic version of a book available for free enhances the sale of the paper version. Is he guessing? No. Eric shares his sales figures for Mother of Demons, a book he made free for electronic download around 2000 and persuasively argues that giving the electronic version away for free helped  his sales. Eric writes:

Almost eight years ago, I put up my first novel [Mother of Demons] for free online—as a result of which it got most of its sales since then, and is still selling well enough that even after the mass market edition finally runs out, the publisher is going to keep it in print in a hardcover edition.

Nobody knows exactly what percentage of first novels never go out of print for ten years and then get reissued in a hardcover edition. But the percentage is probably somewhere in the top one-tenth of one percent. (NOTE: need sub-title) ["Note: need sub-title" is the subtitle. See the reference section at the end of this post.]

So not only doesn't having your book up as an electronic copy, free of charge, hurt the sales of hte paper version, but it helps it. Sound familiar?

Thanks to Antares for not only telling me about the Baen free library but providing me the links as well.

3) Independent Author Robert J. Crane: Perma-Free Works

Indie author Robert J. Crane left a comment on my first post where he generously shared some of his sales figures. I have Robert's kind his permission to reproduce his comment here:

I have two books set to perma-free, the results are thus:

Released my first book [Defender] in June 2011. Between then and June 2012 I never sold more than low double digits (best month was something like 25 sales across 3 novels and 2 short stories).

Set my first series book free in my high fantasy series in July 2012, my urban fantasy series first book [Alone] permafree in September 2012.

July 2012: 169 sales
Aug 2012: 319 sales
Sep 2012: 1759 sales
Oct 2012: 2727 sales
Nov 1st to 20th: 3008 sales

Most of these are at $4.99 or their foreign equivalent. Hope this helps give a little inspiration or data to make a decision off of, at least.

Needless to say, I highly recommend perma-free. 

Wow! Look at that jump between August and September in terms of sales: 1,590 units more. That's over 5 times better than any of the previous months. And at 70% of $4.99 that's over $5,000.

Here are links to Robert's perma-free books:
- Defender: The Sanctuary Series, Volume One
- Alone: The Girl in the Box, Book 1

Here is an excellent article Robert J. Crane wrote about how he became a self-publisher: Why did I self-publish? He is one of the few writers I know who have a degree in Creative Writing.

Perma-Free: A Strategy Worth Trying?

I think so. The data I've seen so far is compelling: free works as a sales tool.

What do you think?

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NaNoWriMo Update: Well, I'm at 39,034 words. Whew! I tell you, that was not easy, it felt like the words were being pried out of me. (shiver) Hopefully the words will flow (versus wrestle!) tonight. I hope to have 41k done by tomorrow. :)

Other articles you might like:

- Rejection Enhances Creativity
- How Often Should A Writer Blog? Answer: It Depends On Your Goals
- Outlining: Kim Harrison's Character Grid

Reference Links:

- Thirteen Steps to Write and Publish a Free Ebook In Thirteen Hours (from Problogger.com)
- Baen Free Library
- A series of articles by Eric Flint on the topic of piracy and whether it hurts book sales (short answer: No!): Prime Palaver.
- Eric Flint: Salvos Against Big Brother. Towards the end (it's a LONG page) Eric shares his sales figures for Mother of Demons, a book he made free for electronic download around 2000. He shares several years of data and persuasively argues that giving the electronic version away for free helped  his sales.
- Note 1: "NOTE: Need sub-title" is the title. I guess it was a note to someone to get the article a title, but it was never done. Works for me! I also wanted to note that there is no direct link to this article. It is one of several that have been pasted together on a webpage. The only way to go from one to the other is by scrolling or searching on the name of the sub-title.

Photo credit: "Free Daddy and His Little Shadow Girls at The Skate Park Creative Commons" by Pink Sherbet Photography under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

Amazon Lists: The New Slush Pile?

Today I read a provocative article in The Miami Herald: Self-publishing industry explodes, brings rewards, challenges.

According to Chris Kenneally publishers as well as agents are looking at self-published books on Amazon as the new slush pile.

As self-publishing took off, a funny thing happened. The big publishers began watching the sales of self-published work on Amazon, and started offering successful writers traditional contracts.

“Publishers have always had places that they’ve gone to find the next crop of big bestsellers,” Kenneally said. “And frankly I’ve had literary agents tell me that Amazon Lists is the new slush pile. That this is a terrific way to find out if they have an audience, if they work, if people are willing to pick it up and love it.”

The most noteworthy may be fantasy writer Amanda Hocking, who put the first of her 10 novels featuring trolls, vampires and zombies online in 2010, made an estimated $2 million over the next year, and signed a four-book contract with St. Martin’s Press by the summer of 2011 for another $2 million.

Oh how times have changed. It used to be that if a writer self-published no publisher or agent would represent her. Now that's where publishers and agents look for new and upcoming writers.

I don't want to sound like a mother hen, but keep in mind that not all agents are equal and if an agent thinks they can make money off your writing chances are you can too, and all on your own.

That's another thing that's changed. Today, more than ever before, writers can do it all themselves.

It's a weird but wonderful time to be writing in. Cheers!

(Thanks to Passive Guy for posting a link to The Miami Herald articles.)

#  #  #

Okay, NaNoWriMo! My word count is 24,013 words and I'm hoping to pass the midpoint and get to 26,000 today. It's starting to hurt, I'm feeling the grind. But we'll do it, we'll finish! :)

Other articles you might like:
- Serial Fiction: Is It Profitable?
- What's The Difference Between Paranormal Romance And Urban Fantasy?
- How To Earn A Living As A Self-Published Writer

Photo credit: "Fruity Happy Apple Breakfast Cereal" by Pink Sherbet Photography under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

The Random House & Penguin Merger: Good For Indie Authors?

Here's a headline for you: After Penguin and Random House merge into Penguin Random House they will have created "the biggest publisher in the world' [1].

According to The Guardian, the reaction to this news has led some folks to despair for the future of traditional publishing. They point to three trends in the book market:

1) Falling book sales

Book sales are the lowest in living memory. "Print sales are falling--down 11% in 2011, the trend continuing in 2012--while bookshops, both specialist and chain, are closing. Borders has gone, Waterstones is in turmoil, and independent booksellers the length and breadth of the country are vanishing. [1]"

2) Self-publishers & Amazon

Self-publishers bypass traditional publishing. With Amazon becoming a publisher in its own right and encouraging authors to not stray beyond the Amazon fold (Amazon KDP Select; True Fans & Select) they hope to increase market share. The more market share Amazon has the less there is for traditional publishing and their profits will continue to fall.

I think the fear is that Amazon will take over the publishing world and then turn into a frankenmoster that looks like a mash-up of the Big Bad from The Ring and Godzilla.

3) The death of reading

Some fear that declining sales of print books will mean people will read less. [1]

Why Indie Authors Are Not At Risk

Yes, traditional book sales are falling

That is, sales of books from traditional publishers through traditional outlets such as brick-and-mortar (or whatever they're constructed from) bookstores.

Is this a bad thing for writers? Well, first, writers are readers so NO, this isn't a good thing. I think that the overwhelming majority of writers love bookstores and take every opportunity to bask in their dusty glow.

Is this a bad thing for independent writers? Not necessarily. It depends quite a lot on whether (3) is true.

There's no such thing as a frankenmoster

People warned that once Walmart crushed all its competition its prices would skyrocket and, since it had crushed all its competition, we wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

That didn't happen.

People warn that once Amazon crushes all its competition it will raise its prices. After all other bookstores are nothing but splinters and digital mist it'll be the only game in town so we'll have no choice but to pay high prices for books or stop reading.

That won't happen.

Why? First, I don't think Amazon is going to be able to crush all its competition. Google Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Smashwords are just a few of Amazon's competitors and I don't see them going away any time soon. And, even if they did, another company would spring up, phoenix-like, from its ashes.

Second, even in the unlikely event that Amazon does crush all its competition this wouldn't be the end for writers or readers. Walmart hasn't raised it's prices to punishing levels and I don't believe Amazon would either.

People are reading more than ever

Folks are consuming more digital content than ever before. People are reading. They're reading blogs, Reddit, digital books. They're watching movies on their smart phones. And we aren't just consuming content, we're creating it too. We blog, we tweet, we use Tumblr and Reddit and Wattpad. And that's for starters!

Far from people reading less we are going through what Amazon calls a Renaissance of reading.

Yes, I'm talking about digital media such as electronic books as opposed to print books, though I believe that print books will always exist.

My Point

My point is that as long as readers exist, as long as folks want to have stories told to them, there will be writers. And screenwriters and playwrights.

And you know what? Folks will always want to have stories told to them. The day that stops is the day we've joined the Dodo in peaceful extinction.

What do you think of the new Putnam & Random House merger? Do you think this just postpones the inevitable or do you think they'll be able to make a go of it? 

Other articles you might like:
- How To Get Your Readers To Identify With Your Main Character
- More Writing Advice From Jim Butcher
- NaNoWriMo: A Survival Guide

Articles referenced in this article:
1) Penguin merger minuses could be pluses for indies, The Guardian.

Photo credit: "Bambi vs. Godzilla (211/365)" by JD Hancock under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

Amazon Reviews Are Disappearing

I had heard about Amazon reviews mysteriously disappearing before Joe Konrath blogged about it, but Joe laid it out in such a way that there was no mistaking what was happening, especially when writer after writer wrote in confirming their books were losing reviews. But not just that. Reviews they had written were vanishing as well.

[Update Nov 5, 2012: I've included an update at the end of this article. We've figured out at least two things that will cause Amazon to remove a review.]

The Disappearing Reviews

Joe writes:

I've been buried in a book deadline for all of October, and haven't been paying much attention to anything else. When I finally took some time to catch up reading email, I noticed I had many authors (more than twenty) contacting me because their Amazon reviews were disappearing. Some were the ones they wrote. Some were for their books. One author told me that reviews her fans had written--fans that were completely unknown to her--had been deleted.

I took a look at the reviews I'd written, and saw more than fifty of them had been removed, namely reviews I did of my peers. I don't read reviews people give me, but I do keep track of numbers and averages, and I've also lost a fair amount of reviews. (Joe Konrath, Amazon Removes Reviews)

The question is: Why were these reviews deleted?

No one knows.

Amazon's Response

Yes, Amazon customer representatives have sent various replies and these replies have been shared. Here's one, posted by Michelle Gagnon on the Kill Zone blog in the article Et Tu, Amazon?

I'm sorry for any previous concerns regarding your reviews on our site. We do not allow reviews on behalf of a person or company with a financial interest in the product or a directly competing product. This includes authors, artists, publishers, manufacturers, or third-party merchants selling the product.

We have removed your reviews as they are in violation of our guidelines.  We will not be able to go into further detail about our research.

I understand that you are upset, and I regret that we have not been able to address your concerns to your satisfaction. However, we will not be able to offer any additional insight or action on this matter.

One thing I'd like to note, it seems that reviews have been disappearing from traditionally published authors as well as independently published authors.

I don't like writing about the disappearing reviews on Amazon because I like the company. It helps indie authors make a living from their work. That said, this is an issue I think we all need to be aware of.

My feeling is that Amazon needs to tweek whatever software it's using to identify objectionable reviews. Hopefully they'll do this soon and restore the legitimate ones.

I'm interested in hearing from you. Have you lost reviews?

Update Nov 5, 2012: Why Some Amazon Reviews Have Been Removed

I'm not saying this explains the lion's share of the disappearing reviews, but it may help some folks understand what's okay and what isn't when it comes to reviewing.

Amazon Verified Reviews

Amazon verified reviews must be from folks who purchased the books with their own money.

If an author buys an Amazon gift certificate for the price for the price of the book and sends it to someone who then buys their book ... well, that's fine of course. It's a thoughtful gift. The only problem is, if the person likes the book and decides to review it, they can't. Such a review would be against Amazon's guidelines since they were compensated for the review.

In Amazon's eyes it's fine to send a copy of your book to a reviewer (in which case it would NOT be an Amazon verified review) but it's not okay for them to get any sort of gift, monetary or otherwise, for providing the review.

For more on this read: Cheating with supply of review copies - the Amazon Verified Purchase scam.

Reviews From A Competitor

It seems that if you're an author, traditional or indie, who has merged your author's account with your amazon account if you then review the work of another author, your review will likely be removed. It seems that Amazon doesn't want authors reviewing each others work.

I was devastated by this--it seemed very unfair--until someone pointed out that the overwhelming number of reviews didn't come from authors. For more on this see: Amazon Reviewhouhaha.

Further reading on Amazon's disappearing reviews:

- Joe Konrath's article, Amazon Removes Reviews
- Michelle Gagnon's article over at Kill Zone: Et Tu, Amazon?
- (Update [Nov 4]: I just found this article on Salon.com: Authors cannot review authors on Amazon.)
- (Update [Nov 5]: Amazon removes book reviews by fellow authors.)
- (Update [Nov 5]: Amazon Reviewhouhaha.)
- (Update [Nov 5]: Lost some reviews? -- Kindleboard thread.)
I would encourage anyone intersted in researching this matter to read the comments to these articles. Writers have been sharing their experiences as well as links to other resources on the web. - Here's a link to Amazon's General Review Creation Guidelines.

Other articles you might be interested in:

- Does Amazon KDP Select Drive Away True Fans?
- Ian McEwan Believes The Novella Is The Perfect Form Of Prose Fiction
- NaNoWriMo: A Survival Guide

Photo credit: "Three Trees" by PhotoDu.de / CreativeDomainPhotography.com under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

Does Amazon KDP Select Drive Away True Fans?

"Turn into something Beautiful" by Courtney Carmody under CC BY 2.0

For a while now Kris Rusch, among others, has been saying exclusivity is a bad thing. I never doubted Kris had a good reason for her opinion but, honestly, I had a hard time agreeing with her and felt there must be something, some aspect of her argument, I was missing. (See: Amazon's KDP Select: The Best Long-Term Strategy?)

There was. In her latest business column, Kris ties her opposition of exclusivity--for instance, Amazon's KDP Select program--in with the notion of 1,000 true fans. Now I understand. And, you know what? It makes sense.

Exclusivity Alienates True Fans

Here's Kris' argument (as I understand it) in a nutshell:

Exclusivity alienates true fans.

What is a true fan?

Kevin Kelly, in his famous post 1,000 True Fans, writes:

The gist of 1,000 True Fans can be stated simply:

A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

Exclusivity is to true fans what Kryptonite was to Superman

Kris' point is that restricting your readers accessibility to your books will cost you a lot more than sales, it will cost you true fans.

In order to acquire true fans you need to show them you care about them. Having your books only available through certain outlets, outlets they may be cut off from, is NOT a good way of showing your readers--and your potential readers--you care about them.

Kris writes:

Yes, there is occasionally a marketing reason to be exclusive for a month or two. But only for a month or two and only for one project.

Because to do otherwise pisses off readers. Readers don’t avoid a writer because they get angry at the writer. Readers have short attention spans. If a friend recommends a book at midnight, and a reader can’t find that book online or in her favorite bookstore, the reader might not remember the name of the author or the name of the book a week later.

The sale is lost.

And not just a sale. A potential true fan. Kris continues:

As someone who has fought for more than twenty years to get her books to as  many readers as possible, I find it sad to watch newer writers limit their sales from the get-go. These writers are doing to themselves what I railed at my publishers for doing to me against my wishes and those of my fans.

If you’re thinking about short-term numbers, if you’re thinking about reviews and marketing and “online presence,” then you’re thinking the way that traditional publishers do. And traditional publishers have never been reader friendly. ....

Why follow a model that alienates your fan base when you’re trying to grow your writing business? It makes no sense to me.

Of course, new writers haven’t had the sad task of writing back to fans who can’t find books ...

Kris' article (The Business Rusch: No Reader Left Behind) is a must-read for anyone considering whether to enroll their books in Amazon KDP Select--or any other program that restricts an authors ability to sell his or her books in other markets.

What do you think? Are you convinced that exclusivity is inimical to attracting true fans?

Other articles you might like:
- NaNoWriMo: A Survival Guide
- How To Get Honest Book Reviews
- How To Record Your Own Audiobook: Setting Up A Home Studio

Amazon Ranks Authors In Terms Of Their Book Sales

Amazon's Top 100 Authors

It used to be that only books were ranked against one another but now Amazon is doing it to authors. The question is, what does this mean for writers? I'll talk about that in a moment but, first, let's see what exactly Amazon Author Rank is.

Amazon Author Rank

While only 100 of the top selling authors, both overall and in any category, are publicly ranked against each other, all Amazon authors have been given an author rank. From Amazon's Author Rank FAQ:

What is Amazon Author Rank?

Amazon Author Rank is based on sales of all your books relative to the sales of other authors. [...] Like the Billboard charts, lower numbers are better. [...] Amazon author rank is updated hourly.

What's Included in Amazon Author Rank?

[W]e look at paid sales of all of an author's books on Amazon.com. It includes books in Kindle, physical and audio formats.

Where will Amazon Author Rank be seen on Amazon.com?

An Amazon Author Rank will only appear for authors in the top 100 overall or in the top 100 in a browse category. Amazon Author Rank will appear on book detail pages in the More About the Author widget, on an author's Author Page and, on the Amazon Author Rank page.

For instance, this is Debbie Macomber's Author Rank from her book page for The Inn At Rose Harbor: A Novel:

Click to enlarge

What Does Amazon Author Rank Mean For Authors?

While I read many comments on Twitter along the lines of, "Why don't they just put authors in a jar and shake it?" Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, was quoted by Publisher's Weekly as saying, "…It’s a smart feature. It recognizes that the author — not the publisher — is the brand that readers care about. (Amazon Starts Author Ranking Feature)"

Carolyn Kellogg, over at the Los Angeles Times, cautions against taking the ranking too seriously, at least not until Amazon has worked the bugs out:

Wednesday morning, Dr. Seuss appeared to be ranked 56th and 64th simultaneously. Neil Gaiman also held two simultaneous spots, 84th and 88th.

The Author Sales Rank is determined solely by sales of all of an author's books on Amazon. Because this is Amazon, there are some peculiarities. For example, the person holding the first place Amazon Author Rank is not E.L. James (2nd), James Patterson (4th) or J.K. Rowling (11th). It's Sylvia Day.

Sylvia Day is an erotic novelist whose books "Reflected in You" and "Bared to You" have followed E.L. James up the bestseller charts. (Creating more neurotic authors: Amazon's Author Rank)

This isn't a bug, but it surprised me: when I took this screenshot a couple of hours ago, Bill O'Reilly was ranked higher than J.K.Rowling!

Click to enlarge

Author's Rank Could Make Having A Bestseller Less Important

Putting the emphasis on the author rather than the publisher, or the book, means that Author's Rank measures how successful you are as an (Amazon) author overall. In so doing it could make writing a bestseller less important to ones financial success.

For instance, if you get one of your books on the New York Times bestseller list, chances are all your upcoming books are going to be on the list as well. Not invariably, but often. When that happens you can buy a yacht, or take your neighborhood to Disney World. Whichever.

That put the focus on writing a bestseller because, no matter how many midlist books you wrote, you'd never get close to that kind of selling power. And, of course, whether your book was a bestseller had a lot to do with your publishers expectations--how many books they printed and sent to bookstores, how much money they allocated for marketing, and so on.

Perhaps, also, Amazon Author Rank will help mitigate the loss in sales indie authors have experienced since Amazon adjusted their book ranking algorithm in May of this year. Time will tell.

If you've published on Amazon and you're curious what your Author's Rank is, head over to Amazon's Author Central.

What do you think of Amazon Author Rank? Do you think it will help, or hurt, your sales?

Other articles you might like:
- Amazon's KDP Select: The Best Long-Term Strategy?
- How To Design A Great Looking Book Cover
- The Best Way To Build A Writer's Platform Is To Write

Photo credit: Karen Woodward

Aftermath Of The Department of Justice Lawsuit: Amazon Customers Getting Refunds

Some folks have received emails from Amazon informing them they'll be getting money because of the settlement reached between "several major e-book publishers and the Attorneys General of most U.S. states and territories". Specifically:

While we will not know the amount of your credit until the Court approves the settlements, the Attorneys General estimate that it will range from $0.30 to $1.32 for every eligible Kindle book that you purchased between April 2010 and May 2012. (past e-book purchases)

There are conditions of course. To read all about it click here: Customer FAQ for Attorneys General E-book Settlements.

Other articles you might like:
- Amazon's KDP Select Program: The Power Of Free
- Amazon's KDP Select Program: Is Exclusivity Worth The Perks?

Photo credit: 401(K) 2012

Jeff Bezos: Amazon Makes No Money On Sales Of Kindle Ereaders Or Tablets

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, recently confirmed what I'd always assumed, that Amazon doesn't make any money on its ereaders or tablets. Bezos said:

"We want to make money when people use our devices, not when people buy our devices."

This differs markedly from Apple's strategy. My question: Can it work? I've always wondered how much more, on average, a consumer buys through Amazon after purchasing an ereader or tablet.

Well, now I know! Bezos remarked that "users' appetite for media appeared to grow once they owned one of his devices." (Is it just me, or does that sound ominous? Makes me think of alien mind-altering technology. You will buy more. No? Just me? Okay ...)

"What we find is that when people buy a Kindle they read four times as much as they did before they bought the Kindle.

"But they don't stop buying paper books. Kindle owners read four times as much, but they continue to buy both types of books."

People read four times as much! Wow.

Read the entire BBC article here: Kindle Fire HD and Paperwhite sales make Amazon no profit.

Thanks to PG for mentioning it.

Other articles you might like:
- Kristen Lamb: Don't Let Trolls Make You Crazy
- How To Format A Word Document For Amazon's KDP Publishing Program
- Penelope Trunk Discusses Time Management

Photo credit: James Duncan Davidson from Portland, USA

Amazon's KDP Select: The Best Long-Term Strategy?

Last week I discussed how Kris Rusch, in her weekly business column, urged writers to prioritize their writing and only check sales of their books once a month. She also called Amazon's KDP Select program bad for writers and laid out why. She writes:

The million words are under my control. The number of sales, once a book is released, is not under my control. Not when you look at the worldwide market, at all of the distribution channels. I can get the work out there, then I have to trust it to sell.

Write more. Fret less. Stop watching your sales numbers. Beat my million words this year.

As you can imagine, this created a terrific discussion in the comment section. Dean mentioned this on his blog but, since I was on vacation at the time, I didn't read it. I have now, and want to share a few of the comments with you. I don't feel right posting an entire comment without the author's permission, but I'll post enough of it that you can get the gist of what is being said. (Also, I've embedded a direct link to the comment in each subtitle, below.) If you'd like to go directly to the comments section and read them for yourself, click here: Watching The Numbers, Comments.

Two main, and interrelated, discussion threads developed, both centered around questions. First, should writers spend most of their time writing as opposed to, say, marketing? Second, is using Amazon's KDP Select program the best long term strategy? Kris says yes to the first and a resounding no to the second. Here's why:

1) Writing versus Marketing

Kris: Writers should write what they like, not write what they believe will sell.
This was what kicked off one, sometimes heated, conversation:

Writers should write what they want to write even if no one wants it. Because the latest break-out book is always a surprise. We readers never know what we want until we see it. (That was in response to William Ockham.)

Blanche: Writers need to eat

It’s easier not to worry about your sales numbers when you have a day job or when you’re established enough to have enough income saved up that you don’t depend on them for rent.

I went into this year with four months of income saved up, and I’m very good with money. I’ve done the best I could with what I had. I made budgets and I stuck with them, even when it looked like I had more money that I could spend. I saved it. But it doesn’t matter how much you save when your sales dry up and they don’t revive. When they keep getting worse. At some point, there’s just not going to be enough money.

This is just the beginning of Blanche's comment, it is truly excellent. If you are a writer trying to make ends meet, you need to read this. It won't provide any answers, but it'll show you you're not alone.

Kris: We've all been there

Unfortunately, Blanche, what you’re going through happens to all writers at various stages in their careers. Sales drop off for unknown reasons. Read Lawrence Block’s essays. He couldn’t sell a book into traditional publishing for (I believe) two years, after years and years of making a living at writing. I’ve gone through those downtimes. Other writers have too. Back when we taught the Master Class, we had writers participate in a role-playing game that showed them the ups and downs of a freelancer’s career. There are always periods of no money, periods of too much money, and almost no periods of steady money.

I wish I could be more encouraging than that. The key is to get a part time job to go through the lean times and to keep writing. You’re right to have only one career–writing–but sometimes you must support it with supplemental income. If you read back through my blogs, you’ll see that I considered doing the same thing as recently as six or seven years ago. It happens. It’s hard.

Again, this is just the start of Kris' answer and the rest is absolutely worth reading.

That was an interesting exchange but it soon transformed into an, at times, heated debate about the thorny question of whether Amazon KDP Select was worth the price of exclusivity.

2) Is Using Amazon's KDP Select The Best Business Strategy?

Here is what Amazon's KDP Select offers writers:

1. Your ebook is available exclusively on Amazon for 90 days.
2. You have the right to promote your ebook for free for 5 out of the 90 days.
3. Your book is automatically enrolled in the Kindle Owners Lending Library from which Prime members can borrow one book per month.
4. You are paid for each time your book is borrowed from the Kindle Owners Lending Library. The payment varies from month to month, depending upon how many books are borrowed, but typically is a little over $2 per borrow, so it’s pretty close to the royalty generated from selling an ebook for $2.99.
5. The most recent change is that KDP Select enrollment allows you to earn 70% on ebooks sold through Amazon’s new Indian store. (From: KDP Select – Worth the Exclusivity?)

Kris: Bargain hunters don't become loyal readers

[B]argain hunters are rarely long-term clients of anything except the bargain store. Wal-Mart has done hundreds of studies of this. It’s found that customers who shop at Wal-Mart want the lower prices, not the brand names. So if the brand doesn’t show up at Wal-Mart, the discount customer buys something similar.

Good point! Or so I thought ...

Lisa: Amazon KDP Select helps sell books. Period.

My novels priced at $2.99 and $5.99 after a free run have helped me to sell in the one thousand to four thousand dollar range in the months following the free run.

And yes, sales on the rest of the books in my series which have never gone free and are not in Select, pick up dramatically after a free run.

So a free run can positively affect the sales of all books in a series and enable a new self-publlished author a chance to make real money. There is nothing bargain priced about my books. I sell several hundred (and one month broke a thousand) of my titles.

Very impressive! What is the key to success? Lisa offers that it is discoverability. She writes:

Discoverability is key.

Select, if used correctly, can assure your book is in several of those short stacks on the front row. Hot new releases, also boughts, best sellers in your genre, popularity, Koll Lending Library, suggested for you, and emails of the top ten best sellers they send out to genre buyers.
The chances of making these lists goes up when releasing a book through the Select program. Making any of these lists increases sales because suddenly a reader has your book in front of them at full price after the free run.

If my emails are any indication, I’m building up a loyal fan base for both my series. Select does help bonafide buyers “discover” books after a free run because now they’re on the lists.

Kris: Amazon's KDP Select is a way for Amazon to promote its brand
Kris wasn't responding to Lisa when she wrote this, but I thought it was instructive:

Of course we’ve explored Select, and saw it for what it is: a way to promote Amazon’s brand. That a few writers are making money on it is good for them. But Select benefits Amazon more than it benefits anyone else. Not that that’s a problem: Amazon has the right like all of us do to improve their business. But it is something that writers should realize.

Breakaway: KDP Select Works
Breakaway knows a thing or two about marketing and he holds that Select works not because those who download the book for free reading it, love it, and search out your other books but because it gets your book in front of the eyes of people who do buy books. He writes:

Those who claim (in the few comments I did read, as well) that most people won’t read the freebies are 100% correct. Those who do search in the bargain bin will probably always search in the bargain bin, I agree as well. Those who use this as a mark against Select fail to understand the true power of Select. I recently gave away 26k books in 4 days. I don’t expect most who downloaded it for free to ever read it. That is not the goal. I use their bargain bin mindset, to utilize the promotional power of the Amazon algorithms and their calculation of free ebooks, to boost my books in the catalog/store shelves/bestseller lists/popularity lists on Amazon… TO GET MY BOOK IN FRONT OF THE EYES OF THE PEOPLE WHO DO BUY BOOKS, via the bestseller lists. THAT is how I use Select free promotions, to great effect. Not to Konrath or Grisham effect, but to enabling me to make 2x more monthly than I did at my highest-paying job ever, with less than 10 books published total, publishing my first book in March of 2012. That is success in my eyes, even if not compared to a Konrath, a DWS, or others.

 That is just a small part of Breakaway's comment and the rest is well worth reading.

Kris: The flaw in Select

[H]ere’s how it happens. The writer writes a very good book. He puts it up on Select, gets great word of mouth, and gets lots of other readers from Amazon/Select to find/read his book. Then they go to other books by the same author.

Here’s the problem. The book is what’s causing the growth in sales, not Select. If the writer used Select as a tool, and then dropped Select after 90 days and went to other markets, the writer is using Select correctly. But if the writer says the sales are because of Select, and then throwing everything into Select, the writer is making a mistake.

The writer isn’t crediting his good work, and isn’t believing in it, letting it grow over time. Sure, he jumpstarted it, and then he’s driving around the neighborhood and never seeing the world. If readers on Select are buying it in large quantities, then it stands to reason they’re discussing it with readers not on Select. Those readers will want the book and won’t be able to get it causing a loss of sales.

And that’s what I’m arguing against. Essentially writers are crediting Select when, in fact, it’s their own work that continues to bring in the readers–not the platform.

I'm stopping there. This is the best discussion of KDP Select I've seen and it just keeps going! Again, you can join the fun here:  Watching The Numbers, Comments.

If you don't read Kris' weekly business post on the business of writing, you're mission out. And don't forget to read the comments, often the blog post is just the beginning.

Cheers!

Update: PG has a great post about Amazon's KDP Select program over at The Passive Voice Blog: KDP Select – Worth the Exclusivity?. A lot of great comments, too.
PG also recommended: Risks and Rewards of Kindle Select Publishing

Other articles you might like:
- How To Start A Blog
- How To Build A Platform: Why Every Writer Needs A Website
- Writing Rules! Advice from The New York Times

Photo credit: Unknown

A Discovery of Witches: An Oxford Walking Tour

From time to time Amazon sends me book recommendations. When they started doing this, years ago, I used to read their recommendations to friends so we could share a laugh, that's how inaccurate they were. Lately, though, they've been getting better. Much better. For instance, recently I picked up a copy of Deborah Harkness' book, A Discovery of Witches. I haven't finished it yet, but am thoroughly enjoying it.

Just this morning Amazon sent me 10 book recommendations. The second from the top was A Discovery of Witches. Right under that was the sequel, Shadow of Night. I had no idea there was a sequel, so that made me happy, but it felt like cold fingers were trailing up my spine. Gah! Am I really that predictable?

Although I haven't yet finished A Discovery of Witches I am thoroughly enjoying it, so when I came across a link to this this YouTube video (A walking tour of Oxford for A Discovery of Witches) on Deborah Harkness' website I thought I'd share it.



Apparently there is going to be a third book in the series as well as a movie based on A Discovery of Witches.

Warner Brothers Pictures has secured the film rights to the All Souls Trilogy. Work is currently underway to adapt the first book, A Discovery of Witches, for the screen. Denise DiNovi and Alison Greenspan are producing the film. Playwright David Auburn, who has received both a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, has been hired to write the screenplay.

For the latest information about the movie, click here: All Souls Trilogy Movie.

Has anyone else read A Discovery of Witches? What did you think of the book?

Other articles you might like:
- Norway Pays Authors $19,000 Per Year
- Amazon's KDP Select Program: Is Exclusivity Worth The Perks?
- Amazon's India Store Now Offers 70% Royalty Option

Amazon's KDP Select Program: Is Exclusivity Worth The Perks?

A few days ago I mentioned that the Amazon store in India is now offering a 70% royalty option (Amazon's India Store Now Offers 70% Royalty Option) but apparently I didn't read the small print. Kris Rusch writes:

This week came the news that Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing program will offer its content providers a 70% royalty on all sales made in India—provided the content providers go with Kindle Select only. For those of you who don’t know, Kindle Select requires exclusivity from anyone who joins it. You can’t market your work on the iBookstore, for example, or on Kobo if you’re part of Kindle Select. Only on Amazon.

Let me play devils advocate. Many writers I've spoken with say they make upwards of 95% of their sales on Amazon, so selling only through Amazon is not costing them a great deal of money. Further, since Amazon gives them perks like free days and inclusion in the lending library many authors end up selling far more through Amazon than they would have through all the stores combined.

Personally, I thought the above line of reasoning was compelling, but Kris raises an excellent point. She writes:

[M]y own beliefs about maintaining different platforms for my work got reinforced this week after WMG hired someone to input the sales figures for the last six months. We looked at those numbers yesterday. I sell a lot of books on Kindle, but my biggest selling title, a short story called “The Moorhead House,” sold a grand total of one copy on Kindle from January to June.

Every single one of “The Moorhead House”’s rather surprising (to me) sales came on the Nook. For some reason, Nook readers either like or have found or continue to find that one short story. And they buy it more than they buy anything else of mine offered through Barnes & Noble.

If I had joined Kindle Select with that story, I doubt I would have made comparable sales.

I don't think I've read a business post of Kris Rusch's that wasn't well written and well thought out. This one is no exception. If you'd like to read the whole thing here's the the link: The Business Rusch: Content is King.

I'd like to share one more thing with you before I leave. Kris writes:

If you can control the content, then you can control the money.

But here’s the problem with content: it’s not easy to create. If a bunch of monkeys at typewriters could write novels, don’t you think the publishing industry would have conscripted the little buggers decades ago?

I thought that was hilarious! So true.

Other articles you might like:
- How To Format A Word Document For Amazon's KDP Publishing Program
- Lyla Sinclair's 8 Secrets Of Successful Romance Writing
- Indie Books: What Price Is Right?

Photo credit: Karen Woodward