Joe Konrath published the post I've been hoping for ever since Amazon tinkered with its ranking algorithm. In his post,
Exclusivity and Free, Joe is joined by Blake & Jordan Crouch, authors of
Eerie, who share their experiences with various self-publishing platforms starting with PubIt!
Joe's post is a must-read for anyone who has self-published or is thinking about it. I'll summarize a few things here, but, really, head on over to Joe's site and read the original.
(Also, Black & Jordan Crouch are offering their book,
Eerie, for free today (July 2), so head on over and pick up your copy.)
Here's the scoop:
Publishing platforms covered:
- Barnes & Noble's Nook/PubIt!
- Kobo's publishing program (Kobo is soon launching a self-publishing platform: Writing Life)
- Amazon KDP & KDP Select
Publishing platform that was the most flexible and author friendly: Kobo
What Blake had to say surprised me:
[I]n May, I had the
opportunity to drop my best-selling title RUN into a Kobo promotion involving
email blasts, coupons, and prominent placement on their landing pages. I could
not have been more pleased with the results. RUN reached the top 10 on Kobo's
overall list, stayed there for several weeks, and the rest of my catalog sold
well in response. When you consider the size of Kobo's market share, the fact
that I sold more books on Kobo in May than I did on Pubit! is astounding. It
was only a few hundred dollars shy of beating Amazon for May, and it did beat
Pubit! again in June. Even better, Kobo did not request exclusivity. Their
writer-relations people are some of the friendliest, most proactive, responsive
people in the business. Suggestions and requests I made last year were taken to
heart. It's no secret that Kobo is on the verge of unveiling their own platform
(Writing Life). If there is a company that could one day compete with the
mighty Amazon, it's these guys. They're inventive, have far, far reaching plans
to bring writers what could become the slickest digital publishing platform
ever created, and they get that writers are customers. They listen. Best of
all, my titles continue to sell and rank highly on Kobo's bestseller list, a
month after the promos ended. I cannot say the same for Barnes and Noble. There
is no other platform (aside from Amazon) where I've seen this level of
"stickiness." If someone asked me what's keeping the majority of my
titles out of KDP Select, I would have to say these guys.
That makes me more interested in hearing from authors who are testing out Writing Life before it's rolled out at the end of this month.
Pulbishing platform which sold the most books: Amazon
This was the least surprising thing Blake had to say. Every author I've talked to has admitted to selling more books on Amazon than on any other platform. That Kobo came close to Amazon's sales figures amazed me.
That said, Blake wasn't entirely pleased with his experiences with Amazon's KDP Select. He writes:
KDP Select opinion
pieces are a dime a dozen. Amazon is still, hands down, the most lucrative
platform for me. Even though the transition from free to paid sales appears to
have weakened as of late, success stories like Ann Voss Peterson and Robert
Gregory Browne are convincing enough for my brother and I to roll the dice and
drop EERIE into KDP Select. I say this as someone who has had great success
with free titles: they still make me nervous. I get the excitement of giving
away 70,000 ebooks. The prospect of making new fans. But free, in the long run,
is dangerous. It sets a bad precedent and level of expectation in the minds of
readers. Am I a hypocrite for saying this while EERIE is free? Maybe. But if all
the platforms did away with free, I'd be okay with that. As writers, we cannot
keep going to that well. It will dry up. Kindles may be able to hold a
gazillion ebooks, but readers can't read that many. The key is not being
downloaded. It's being read.
This post is not going
to end with a definitive conclusion on freebies and exclusivity. I'm
uncomfortable with both concepts, even as I play the game. My sense is that the
people who survive and continue to do well selling ebooks will be those who
experiment, take risks, and adapt. We've said it before, but what worked
yesterday, may not work today, and the possibility of a game changer (like KDP
Select) is constantly looming.
Publishing platform that has technical support staff from hell: Barnes & Noble's Nook/PubIt!
Although Blake and Jordan were "pleasantly surprised" by their books performance on PubIt! their sales rank was disappointing. He writes:
It [their book's sales rank] never seemed to correlate to
a corresponding low rank. Even on days where we sold 400 books, our rank never
dropped below 2000. I have no doubt this cost us many, many sales, a good chunk
of money, and kept the book from every appearing on the BN bestseller lists. A
real shame, because the marketing triggers that Pubit! pulled worked in a big
way. The tech just wasn't there to support them, and their tech support staff
just couldn't be bothered to give a damn.
But that aside, Pubit!
clearly has some real marketing power, and the smaller window of exclusivity
(as opposed to KDP Select's 90 day commitment) is a definite plus. When
Pubit!'s tech support decides to follow the model of Kobo and Amazon and treat
writers as customers instead of entities to be ignored, Pubit! could become a
force.
Overall, Blake's experiences are encouraging. The promotions he ran with the various platforms worked and his book, in generally, ranked well.
Blake and Joe go on to discuss book pricing and the pros and cons of offering books for free. Joe just posted the blog, but already many authors have written in to share their experiences with various platforms and programs.
If you'd like to read Joe's post it's here:
Exclusivity and Free
Read the comments here:
Exclusivity and Free (Comments)
Related articles:
-
Amazon Award-Winner Regina Sirois & The Problems Of Indie Distribution
-
Amazon's KDP Select: Another Author Shares Her Experience
-
Writing Life: Kobo's New Platform For Self Publishers
-
Amazon To Acquire Dorchester Publishing
Photo credit:
3D Issue
