This week at The Millions, we're attempting to gather some of our thoughts about the transformation of book coverage in the digital age. Yesterday, Garth looked at the death of the newspaper book review section. Today, Max considers the revenue problems facing literary websites... and the vices and virtues of one of the solutions. On Friday, Max will hazard some early guesses about the next possible upheaval in the economy of literary journalism: the e-book reader.I.There's been no bigger story on the book pages in recent weeks than #Amazonfail. The furor itself hardly needs to be rehashed here (briefly: a supposed classification "glitch" caused thousands of books with gay themes to be removed from Amazon's bestseller lists and search results, making the books very difficult for readers to find), but the episode has entered into our evolving thinking about book coverage in the digital age. As Edan touched on in her
#Amazonfail roundup, some might experience cognitive dissonance reading about the Amazon "glitch" on sites like
The Millions.To understand this dissonance, you have to first know something about Amazon's stakeholders. Yesterday, in considering the fate of newspaper book sections we tried to conduct a similar stakeholder analysis of
The New York Times Book Review. We argued that readers, writers, publishers, and critics all have a stake in the
NYTBR. Depending on whether you agree with our analysis, you may feel that the
NYTBR is overserving or underserving one or more of those parties. Luckily for those who find the
NYTBR falling short of their needs, there are plenty of easily accessible alternatives.Like the
Times, Amazon occupies a unique niche in the literary ecology (though its footprint is more massive than the
NYTBR's ever was). Also like the
Times, Amazon can serve as a sort of proxy for a larger set of players - in this case, for the New Economy businesses that increasingly mediate book coverage. And Amazon shares some of the
Times' stakeholders: readers (shoppers), writers, and publishers. Critics wouldn't seem to play a role, except that Amazon has an important "hidden" stakeholder: the thousands of websites across a spectrum of topics and categories that participate in Amazon's Associates Program. This program pays site owners referral fees when they send readers to Amazon and those readers then make a purchase. As many of our readers know,
The Millions is a participant; readers support our site when they start here before shopping at Amazon. Thus the peculiar sense of a feedback loop generated by our coverage of the #Amazonfail story.
II.So, how did small, eclectic sites like
The Millions become the "hidden stakeholders" in "the world's largest bookstore?" It's all part of a now 15-year-old story: Internet content providers looking for a business model. Particularly for smaller sites without an easily classifiable or marketable focus, Amazon's Associates Program has proven to be a good (and sometimes the only) alternative to an advertising model that simply doesn't pay off. (And that, lest we forget, is increasingly not paying off for the print analogs to these sites.) Book coverage has become decreasingly viable in print, and it may be that online book coverage can only avoid the same fate via "alternative" revenue sources like Amazon's program and others like it. For a website that has a tight focus and occupies a lucrative niche, revenue opportunities are comparatively plentiful. A visitor to a photography site probably likes cameras, and cameras are expensive enough that camera companies will be willing to pay good money to advertise to those readers. In a less lucrative niche (like, say, books), there may be far fewer advertising dollars to go around. Meanwhile, for sites with a broader focus, advertisers are often worried about not getting enough bang for their buck. (Why advertise cameras on a general interest site, when you can advertise to photographers?)The advantages that accrue to the hypothetical photography site in the search for advertising dollars extends to programs like Amazon's. Plenty of enterprising website owners have made a small fortune writing about lucrative niches and earning commissions when their readers click through to Amazon to buy those big ticket items. But an interesting consequence of the Amazon program is that it has also provided a meaningful revenue stream for a diverse array of sites that might otherwise struggle to pay the bills.To take one example: For the eclectic mega-blog
Boing Boing, covering diverse subject matter and appealing to readers from all over the map, there is no obvious target demographic.
Boing Boing likely can't command the ad rates that a more focused site of similar size could. But when
Boing Boing has occasion to cover books, it links to Amazon, and it picks up some revenue whenever people click through the links and shop.
Boing Boing gets enough traffic that Amazon affiliation is merely one of a number of different revenue opportunities open to it. For smaller sites, the opportunities available are few. (Read
Levi Asher's "
Modest Success Story" on
Litkicks and the ensuing comments for a taste of what the advertising landscape is like for small culture-focused sites.) And so Amazon can provide a business model, or at least an element of one. At its simplest, the model is as follows: get a lot of traffic by writing compelling content and then throw in the occasional Amazon link when applicable. In this way, Amazon's Associates Program has helped breathe life into thousands of websites. Eclectic, mom-and-pop publications get a shot at making some money in a fairly unobtrusive fashion. And those publications, adapting to the altered terrain, allow Amazon to expand its presence across the Internet.In theory, a variation of this model could be pursued by all manner of sites. With their broad focus and high traffic, newspaper websites are decent but not ideal venues for advertisers. Were it not so likely to give their omsbudsmen coronaries, newspapers might be willing to augment their advertising revenues with "affiliation," and dire economic times may yet force their hands. Indeed,
The Times (UK) includes a link to "buy the book" with every review, and operates its
very own online bookstore.
III.Despite all of the above, our partnership with Amazon is an
ad hoc one, and the interests of Amazon and its Associates aren't always aligned. We've been doing this long enough to know that Amazon isn't the only game in town. We've been asked more than a few times why we don't link instead to big independent bookstore Powell's or to the smaller independents now collectively represented by IndieBound - those sites having been deemed more palatable by some.There's no reason to dismiss those options out of hand, but right now an Amazon affiliation makes the most sense for many sites offering book coverage. There are several reasons for this, and we share them here - maybe to some small degree to justify our choice, but also to offer a roadmap that current or future players might follow in order to compete with the Amazon juggernaut.
For starters, viewed purely as a database, Amazon is a remarkable resource. It has innovated tremendously in this area over the years and currently offers by far the best book pages out there. To borrow an example from the previous post in this series, take a look at
Amazon's page for
2666 and find "search inside the book," outside reviews, book recommendations, all manner of meta-data, and vibrant discussion among and opinions from readers.
Powell's offers some of these features (including, in some cases, book scans from Google Books), but not quite all. IndieBound has
not much at all in the way of book information. When it is suggested that we link to an "indie" when we link to books, the implication is that
The Millions is a shopping site and that we can by our linking policy direct people where to shop. But the reality is that
The Millions, like many sites that affiliate with Amazon, has an editorial rather than an "advertorial" mission, and one reason we link to Amazon is because it offers the most information about the books we write about, whether we recommend them or deplore them. As long-time blogger
Matthew Cheney put it recently, "I want a link to give you the most information and options with the fewest clicks."There are several more practical factors.
Amazon's tools, reports, and ease of linking are superior to those offered by other stores, and Amazon has a long enough track record that affiliates have little concern that those links may one day stop working properly. Without delving into the boring details, let's just say that creating the book links for
The Millions is not an effortless task, and that the ecosystem of tools that has grown up around the Amazon program lets us spend more time on the stuff our readers care about - namely writing about books. More importantly, other outfits simply don't have Amazon's track record in providing an affiliate program. Site owners participating in such programs have to feel comfortable knowing that their links are tracking properly, that the accounting is occurring properly, and that the program won't change or even disappear. While Amazon isn't perfect in this regard, it is the affiliation many sites are right now most comfortable using.
While indie bookstores are typically seen as being at odds with Amazon, many do business with it. In fact, your favorite used bookstore is almost guaranteed to be selling books using Amazon's platform. Amazon's platform, particularly since its
purchase of abebooks.com last year, is an essential tool for used booksellers. Authors and publishers may not like how easy it is for Amazon shoppers to click and buy a used copy over a new one, but from the standpoint of bookstores, Amazon gives thousands of local shops a global reach. Money-conscious readers, meanwhile, nearly always have cheaper, used copies to chose from. I don't buy books all that often from Amazon, but sometimes when I do, I'll opt for a used copy, and it can be startling to see the book arrive with a bookmark or a card bearing the info of the far flung shop that sold me the book. It's a tiny personal connection facilitated by the giant Amazon.Both Amazon's affiliates and used book vendors share the customer conviction that has given Amazon its formidable market share. Over the years, for
The Millions and other website projects, I've done a great deal of research about different online business models, and, as far as affiliate programs go,
the general consensus is that Amazon "converts" at the highest rate - that is, thanks to Amazon's brand recognition and widespread familiarity with how to use and navigate the site, readers are more likely to buy from it than from other sites. This point is a purely monetary consideration, sure, but it also addresses something else that concerns purveyors of online book coverage. We want to get more books into more peoples' hands - wherever they buy them from - and linking to Amazon seems likely to do that.
While indie bookstores might someday soon surpass Amazon on many of the above points, there is a final element of the Amazon program that will be difficult for the indies to match.
When you click from an affiliate site to Amazon and buy something, the affiliate gets a commission (with a few exceptions) no matter what it is. If someone clicks on a link to
2666 and in wending his way through Amazon, ends up buying a
$1,700 grill,
The Millions gets a commission on that grill. As you can imagine, this doesn't happen very often. However, the open secret of literature and culture sites that get a modest amount of traffic is that the commissions earned on books alone are not all that impressive (though for sites that earn commissions on a lot of book sales, they can add up). Instead it is the big ticket items that sometimes get bought that help make Amazon's program more worthwhile than others from a financial standpoint. The grills pay the bills. This is another gray area in an a revenue discussion that is sometimes portrayed in black and white. Amazon sells books at prices that undercut many small players in order to draw people in who will buy big-ticket items with bigger profit margins. For many people, the discussion ends there, but the truth is that the commissions on those big ticket items help subsidize the very same literary and cultural coverage that is having so much trouble finding a workable business model in newspapers and other traditional media. Amazon in some small way, and likely not intentionally, is helping to fund small online publications like
The Millions. And there are other
well-respected book sites that seem to have come to the same conclusions that we have.
IV.In the end, the Amazon question is not one of pricing or sourcing, but one of financial viability. If the future of book coverage is truly online, profit expectations will have to be low (were they ever anything else?), but a world in which writers and editors can be compensated for their labor is a better one for readers. There aren't many meaningful revenue options for book sites, and some do without entirely, but Amazon offers a model that can go a long way toward supporting a small publication.That said, affiliation raises two problems. One is the potential editorial conflict inherent in affiliate programs in the first place, the notion that the presence of these links will tempt writers and editors into becoming shills rather than dispassionate critics. Despite this, participation in affiliate programs hasn't been met with much concern. And though these programs are sometimes described as a threat to readers, in an online marketplace with thousands of places to read about books, it's unlikely that disingenuously positive book reviews written just to sell books would garner much of a following, nor would the effort make anyone very rich.The other, bigger problem with Amazon is one of size and control. Is it a good thing for us to give more power to this behemoth link by link, post by post? This will be the focus of the final installment of this series, as we examine Amazon's heft and how it has been able to make its own rules in an emerging market - rules that could have big implications for publishing and the future of book coverage online.
Part 1: Garth looks at the death of the newspaper book review section.Part 3: Max hazards some early guesses about the next possible upheaval in the economy of literary journalism.[Image credits: Rachel Kramer Bussel, spcbrass, mccun934]
Last week, I created a Kindle version of my indie crime thriller novel, Felonious Jazz, using the tools at Amazon’s Digital Text Platform. It took about nine minutes, a “why-not” side project alongside my trade paperback, which I published using Amazon’s print-on-demand company, CreateSpace.
Can i ask you exactly how many copies the 17th best-selling title in Mysteries & Thrillers actually sells on Kindle?
The low hundreds per day.
It would be helpful to everyone for you to reveal the firm stats. This is of interest to everyone out there who writes professionally.
And "low hundreds per day" still sounds better than the daily sales of many other print books.
However, with the confiscatory/upside-down money split, it's not very appealing.
Well, I'm not going to get any more specific on my sales numbers. I will say that as an independent, the Kindle DTP deal of 35% of list price seems okay by me. To get a selling price of $1.99, I set a list price of $2.49 and earned 87 cents a copy. At 6.24 list, I get my current selling price of $4.99 and earn about $1.75. More than I'd earn per copy on a print contract. If I was selling a Kindle book for $9.99, I'd earn $4.37. As both the author and publisher, I don't have to share with anyone.
Math correction: 4.99 selling price yields $2.18 for me, sted $1.75
Well, I'm not sure that the price is what's important, that the price will determine whether I purchase your book. I think my TIME is more important. I don't have the TIME to read a $1.99 or a $4.99 unknown Amazon-generated mystery when I already don't have the time to read some of my favorite authors. I realize that "time" is somewhat self-determined, but I know I will be more likely to spend $14.57 for Road Dogs for my Kindle and feel like my time was well spent. Yes, I take the risk of missing your potentially even better book, but I am pretty much willing to let the critics spend their time on your book first. As a bookseller I am anxious for new, bright talent and am willing to invest in it, but my investment won't be based simply on the cost.
I am, however, impressed at what you've done, that you came up with the idea. I'm also impressed that it is possible to DO what you've done, apparently so easily.
Don Muller
Old Harbor Books
Sitka, Alaska
Don, I'm sure it helped my effort that my other job is freelance PR. I blocked out a little strategy, (though a simple and free one) and it worked very nicely. And I would love to believe that the title, cover art, blurb and free Kindle sample sealed the deal for more readers than the price. The truth is, I just don't know. Maybe the price's main function was to get it into consideration, and if people likes what they sampled, they were happy to go for it.
I'll say that I'm in the same situation as you: Stacks of books, many written by friends of mine, that I just haven't had the time to read yet. So I was surprised to learn how many of the people who spend $359 on an electronic reader are super frugal when it comes time to buy the fiction to read on it. What portion of Kindle owners that is, I can't say. But they are quite vocal on Kindle discussion boards.
You're sure right about the frugal (stingy?) issue! And I can't figure out the thinking behind that.
I'm still learning how to best use my Kindle (the wireless part doesn't even work here; no Sprint), but I like it a lot more than I thought I would. It won't replace my books, or future books, but I will use it. For a long time, I was quite worried about where all this (e-books, etc.)might lead (and still am, to some degree, as a bookseller), but now I'm kinda excited about being on the journey. Very interesting.
Don
Don makes an excellent point about time. I recently issued my YA novel Mortal Ghost at Amazon for the lowest possible price ($0.99) only to make it simple for Kindle owners in the U.S. to access it, since it's already freely available in multiple e-formats online, including Kindle-compatible ones. Frankly, I couldn't care less how many people buy my books, since that's not how I judge my work, but I've learned how very difficult it is to be taken seriously as an online writer – even by most lit bloggers, who hardly ever bother to review net fiction. Their claim – with of course some justification: who has the time to read through all the crap in order to find something worthwhile?
I'm very curious what your PR involved for this. Being unpublished and considering alternative avenues, I am always looking to learn what might make venues like this workable.
I can attest to the power of Bryan's model. I priced two of my books (The Ark and The Palmyra Impact) at $1.99 and the other (The Adamas Blueprint) at $0.99. In the two months they've been available for the Kindle, I've sold over 4,300 copies total, and The Ark is currently ranked at #160 (#14 in the Thriller section). I have not raised my prices because I think that it's a great way for people who would otherwise be wary of indie authors like me to take a chance on reading my books.
Quite an interesting and informative article. If you wouldn't mind, I'd love some links to the said Kindle discussion boards.
Any idea on how long those types of sales figures will run? Low hundreds per day * $2.18 per sale * 365 days adds up to quite a bit of change. Just curious if you think it's sustainable.
~jon
Kindleboards.com is a great resource for those interested in the Kindle.
Sales figures drop off dramatically as the rankings fall. I'd say sales are around 10-20 copies per day at an overall ranking of 1000. Of course, that will change as more people become Kindle users. It's hard for anyone except name authors to stay in the top 500 rankings with books priced at $4.99 or above because readers want to know that they'll get value for the money they spend.
First of all, what a great blog post! This is why the Millions is the best literary blog on the web.
I commend Bryan for trying something bold and for being savvy about how he did it (and as no one has yet pointed it out yet, said savviness continues with this well-timed blog post). I've said for a while now that self-published authors need to find a way to promote themselves, as clearly the barriers to publication have never been lower. It's the barrier between an author and his/her readership that remains quite high (possibly higher than ever). I think this is what Don and Lee are getting at with their comments. Even though you can put your material out there, getting people to read it remains the big obstacle. So again, kudos to Bryan for at least getting his book into people's readers. That's a big first step.
I am a bit worried about the implications of this, though. I'm not sure how I feel about turning the bookstore of the future into the .99 cent store. As the cost of content continues to approach zero, we are going to see some fallout. What if the author of the book is a lousy graphic designer? How would he afford to pay a designer to make a cool jacket (or thumbnail, as the case may be)? With what part of their $.70 a copy? What about hiring a publicist (admittedly not a problem for Bryan)?
This is a model that seems sustainable for self-published authors only. Not all self-published authors will be able to handle the rigors of self-promotion. I'd wager it's every bit as hard as writing a book. I deal with authors every day, and most of them are not good at selling themselves. That will have to change, but I think book publicists and marketing people actually do earn their money. If you think all a publishing company does is print the books, you are wrong. Do publishers need to change certain aspects of their business model? Definitely. But they still serve a valuable role.
Is self-publishing and self-distributing a great thing for some authors? Undeniably. But I don't think it can serve all authors. It would be a shame to miss out on those authors' books because they couldn't afford to hire a publicist from their meager pay.
Like it or not, higher ebook prices will come, and they will benefit everybody, authors included. Bryan found a way to game the system, and it's one that worked for him, but I'm not sure it will work for all.
I don't have a problem buying from an unknown author, providing they have good reviews on Amazon. So the low initial price is to get enough readers to have at least several reviews. A price of 0.00 gets even more downloads, but probably not many more readers. Raising the price later seems reasonable to me.
Perhaps ebooks will be offered at discounts to start and a price increase after a week or two. Retail stores do this all the time. Maybe time for booksellers to do things differently.
I came here from Twitter. I find this story very revealing. I own a Kindle, and I have bought books for $1 that I would not have bought had they been $5. One advantage of the Kindle store is that you can almost always request a free sample of a book before buying it. I always do that with new authors, except when the book is so cheap that I figure "why not"? And to answer one commenter, one reason why we plunk down our $359 is so we don't have to pay $25 and up to read new releases. If you read enough books, it actually makes economic sense over time. That's not the most important reason; the most important reason is it makes it easier to read more because I carry my Kindle all the time.
As a writer, I would also point out that I would much rather get a 25 cent profit per book and sell 2,000 copies than get a $3 profit and only sell 100 copies. It's not just the money, it's the number of readers.
Love the title of this book, BTW.
Karen, this is very interesting to me. You would buy a $1.99 title rather than bothering to sample because it's so cheap. That generates the burst of immediate sales I saw. But not at $4.99 Where's the threshold? Would you buy immediately at $2.99? $3.99?
I also appreciate the cultural insight that many Kindle owners are extremely heavy readers and didn't splurge but made an investment they believed would lower their book spending. I caught a whiff of this on Kindle boards, as well, and I think it accounts for the rage at any title above $9.99. People felt they'd been given an assurance that Kindle books would cost $9.99 or less, offering savings over hardcovers and most trade paper that would pay back the cost of the device over time. Probably a decision-maker for many buyers. So they don't like to see a bestseller Kindle title break that pact with them.
This is a great discussion. Let's keep it going.
–Bryan
Great post – this is exactly what I suggested we might see AGAIN when content becomes available at a lower price point (remember paperbacks in the '50's?). This is how the author can build a following, enlist fans to become advocates and give them the tools to spread their enthusiasm. Authors own the relationship with the reader – and those who take charge of that are the most successful. Bravo!
I published on Kindle a while ago. The publishing portion works well and you do get posted. I did adjust my price and got a small sales pop from it. The one thing that Amazon doesn't help you with is advertising (like google adwords). You don't really have a choice where (and if) your book pops up as a suggestion and they do not give you any stats on how many times hits/views you have gotten et cetera. But all in all it is the way things are going….I'm really looking forward to the DX this summer.
It's not that difficult to figure out why publishers have higher costs to recoup: Advances, editors, production editors, promotional costs, overhead. Need I say more?
As a self publisher, you took advantage of a great opportunity. Congrats on your good sales! That said, it isn't that difficult to figure out why conventional publishers are charging more: Advances, royalties, editorial costs, promotion, and so on. Printing, warehousing, and fulfillment are not the only costs a publisher faces.
This post pushes the discussion to another level. My sense is that some reasonable blend of legacy and self publishing will emerge. In fact, I was wondering if you, Boyd, are open to the possibility of being picked up by a publisher, as was (I think) The Shack. Will this be a different process — or an impossibility — for those who go straight to Kindle as opposed to hard copy books?
Yes, I would certainly be interested in working with a publisher. Publishing print books myself is a hassle that I don't want to take on, while publishing on the Kindle is very easy because my books were already in electronic form. All I had to do was pay someone to design nice covers for me.
I think anyone who gets enough sales on their own, like the author of The Shack, will eventually attract the attention of mainstream publishers. It just hasn't happened yet for someone who only published electronically. But it will.
My novels are published by big NY houses, under the names JA Konrath and Jack Kilborn. But before I landed my first publishing contract, my agent struck out with several other books.
For years I've made these unpublished books available as free downloads on my website, http://www.jakonrath.com. They've been downloaded over 20,000 times.
On April 8, I uploaded these titles to the Kindle, selling them for $1.59 each.
In six weeks I've sold almost 2000 ebooks.
Also, I've been working with my publisher to get a horror novella I wrote with Blake Crouch, titled SERIAL, on Kindle for free. It's currently the #1 download.
I just blogged about the experience this morning, and someone sent me a link to this post. This is the gist of what I've learned:
1. Ebooks are good, because they help get your name and words out there.
2. More people are reading ebooks. Walmart now sells the Sony Reader. The Amazon DX will be out this summer, and Kindle has an iPhone app. And everyone with a new ereader wants content for that ereader.
3. The cheaper you are, the more you'll sell. You can even outsell major bestselling authors.
4. Free is better than cheap. Many more people will download free than cheap, so you'll reach many more people.
5. Distribution still matters. If you want big numbers, you get more downloads on Amazon than you will on your homepage.
6. There is money to be made. Like the POD industry, Kindle is getting diluted with overpriced self-pubbed crap. Don't be overpriced self-pubbed crap, because that doesn't sell. But if you're a good writer, a smart marketer, and can live with selling your book for $1.59, you can make some cash.
7. This is the future. Don't get left behind.
The perception of value that has been leading people to consider Kindle books priced at the same level as printed books seems to me to be both a judgement of the relative production cost (the up-front costs associated with writing, editing, and formatting are essentially the same, but the incremental cost of a single copy is virtually nil for an e-book, as you describe, compared to printing, shipping, and storage costs for printed editions, so more of the purchase price can go back to the author even at a lower price) and of the end utility.
While the storage requirement if I buy ten paperback novels for me to read than if I buy ten e-book novels for me to read, when I buy an e-book the emphasis is on the pronoun. If I buy ten paperback novels, I and nine of my friends can read all the novels at once, passing them around in a round-robin as we finish them (and give them away or sell them to a second-hand bookstore when I am tired of reading them), buying ten e-books acquires them for _me_ to read — no one else can read them without having the reader in their possession, which deprives me of its use for the other books stored on the reader, and I am unable to pass the copy onto anyone else. An e-book is therefore of much lesser utility as part of a library of books than printed editions of those books are, so being expected to pay the same (or, in some cases, higher) price for the e-book is perceived as price gouging.
Unfortunately, the same aspect of e-books that lower their incremental production cost (a copy of an electronic document is fast and cheap) also effectively destroys the characteristic of a printed book (tedious and expensive to copy) that has made them reasonably secure against unauthorized copying for centuries, which is a problem that still has no good solution.
I am wondering if anyone has thoughts about self-publishing in genre fiction versus self-publishing in literary fiction. Most of the self-publishing discussions I've seen originate from genre writers and readers. I wonder if genre readers have different book-browsing habits? Different book-buying habits? For example, did Bryan target genre readers on Amazon (does Amazon have these targeting functions?)? Do genre readers tend to read MORE books in a shorter amount of time (they do call them page-turners, after all) and thus download lots of free and $1.99 books at once?
It seems to me that genre writers have a headstart on self-publishing skills/strategies, but that literary writers will need to follow suit soon enough. The literary mid-list seems to be shrinking alarmingly fast: no more building up of a writer over time; if it doesn't make the publisher money NOW, then they're unlikely to publish any more of your books.
Bryan– the break point is somewhere between $1 and $2. I almost always get the Orbit books that are $1 (they offer one title a month that way) unless I can tell it's just not a genre I would read. Another thing is, it has to be a book available through the Kindle store so I can use the wireless and not have to download first (I am very lazy). The exception is Fictionwise, where they added a "Send to your Kindle" function.
Above $2 I don't buy it without getting a free sample first.
Good luck with this project. Publishing is changing. It's exciting!
Bryan, thanks for the great post. I'm a fellow journalist and writer. My previous books have come out with traditional publishers, so when I decided to create a Kindle edition for my latest novel, Finding Juliet, I was hungry for advice from others who've tried it and found success. Your pricing information has been priceless, and helped me get off to a good start. Also, posting a couple free chapters in the discussion section of my product page should help.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002BNKOPK
Wishing you continued success and am interested in reading more about your Kindle success strategies.
I have only used kindle on the iPhone. I am an avid reader and do not consider a dollar or two less than print acceptable. With one exception, if I am stuck in an airport with no bookstore I will consider it. Incidentally, this was the entire reason I got the kindle app in the first place…..
Excellent post. I had results similar to those described by Bryan after posting my first book to Kindle and lowering the price to 99 cents (Unbroken Hearts).
Just 3 days ago I uploaded the sequel (Untamed Hearts), available at a somewhat higher price.
This is the best way for a new author to gain exposure.
Mr. Gilmer.
Thank you for starting this informative thread, and thanks to all the posters for expanding on it. I have always had dreams of becoming published author, but the process of becoming published is a little intimidating. The uprising in e-books seems to be the perfect answer for people like me.
I am a professional in a field completely unrelated to writing, so the money doesn’t really concern me, but it would be nice feel that if I pour my time and energy into producing work, that there is a reasonable chance that someone may actually get to read it. it is amazing to me think that these stories and ideas that I have been nursing in my mind for so many years may actually find someone. The only hurdle left to leap is my own laziness! My only conern now is that I will be, as Mr. Konrath puts it, “self-pubbed crap,” but I guess that wouldn’t be the end of the world.
Many thanks to everyone.
On Monday morning (tomorrow) I am going to decide whether or not to contract for services from a self-publishing firm for my “Sophie and Sam Mystery” series. I’ve chosen the one, but having just reread this thoughtful conversation am left wondering if I need those services — or perhaps some others not in packages. I have spent 40 years making a living as a marketing writer. I think I’ve passed the test on readability, etc., and of course got encouragement for my storytelling from the assigned reader from the press I am considering (cost only $35). None of the participants in this discussion have discussed hiring a designer. I want a good cover. I can get an illustrator to do that. One person wrote about the ongoing promotional challenge and that’s where I think there’s a lack of continuing help from most self-publishing organizations. Yes, I can get on Facebook and promote myself but where, for example, does a self-publisher get help to find a reviewer? I just opened my Kindle two days ago and am halfway through a Donna Leon — love the Kindle, and am convinced other people my age will, too, once they try it. I’m targeting the over-65s.
Any thoughts?
This post is very informative and has renewed my enthusiasm for trying the e-publishing route, despite disappointing financial returns from the musical equivalent, which I have been involved with since its inception. I fear literary publishing may go the same way as music, i.e. simply a surfeit of content (good and bad).
However, as a European I am frustrated by Amazon’s insistence on a US bank account. This appears to bar me from the Kindle-based system, and hence from the iPhone audience. Has anyone found a way round this, e.g. does a Paypal account qualify?
Great thread!
I’m an unpublished author of a short novel for young teenagers. I’m also a very busy person, and finding the time to pursue conventional publishers is an intimidating prospect. I understand that for a new author, finding a publisher is a matter of weeding through many rejections to find a publisher who is interested. I accept that fact… but I simply don’t have time right now to go out there and start getting rejected.
However, I do hold out hope that at some point, I will be able to search out a conventional publisher. Does anyone have any thoughts on what impact Kindle publishing would/could have on my ability, later on, to establish a relationship with a conventional publisher? (Assume, if you don’t mind, that my work is not to be classified as the aforementioned “self-pubbed crap”)
Also, does anyone have any insight into the size distribution of the Kindle market for different age groups?
Finding this site and reading all the comments has inspired me to publish my novel (Bad Girl No More) on Kindle. I have been writing for years, but had no luck in finding an agent or a publisher. Since time marches on, I decided to stop banging my head against the wall and do this. I love the whole idea and am waiting to see what happens. Even if I don’t make much money, I love the idea of my writing being “out there”…visible to whoever chooses to read it. Thanks so much and good luck to us all!
You mentioned that reviews would act as a sort of screen for much of the self-published drivel, that hasn’t been edited well. (My words)
But I’m not sure that reviews will really tip readers off to the very bad. What I’d like to see Amazon do is change the Kindle review ratings from stars to stars with equivalents in dollars.
For example, five stars might mean a reader recommends that this title is a good read for five dollars. 4 stars recommends a price of 4 dollars, and so on.
Of course, that does assume that the best fiction for self-published kindle books would have a maximum price point of five dollars. I think it’s a good compromise, since this is still half of the $10 max price that Amazon has instituted against the publishing houses.
Also, I’m a little dismayed with 35%. True, it’s more than the 10% in many normal contracts, but think of the money this generates for Amazon. And for doing what? Setting all of this in motion? Thankfully the Kindle won’t be the monopoly in digital self-publishing for long. If ever there was a wonderful argument for the Iphone. I hope everyone who can afford to buys one, and then another savvy business man decides to cut authors a 50-50 split.
Following your advice and moving my price down from $4 to $1.99. We’ll see how it goes. I’m from Raleigh NC orginally and went to UNC for a semester. I’m a huge Heels fan! Ended up transferring to Belmont University in Nashville, however as they are one of the few schools with a Music Business major. I’ll put your book on my “to read” list.
Hi,
as a software developer I’m shocked at the terms of the Amazon kindle deal. If Apple is making an enormous amount of money giving the developers 70%, so should Amazon. Letting the authors do with half is NOT ok. I do hope the iBook-store will have better terms. At least that should force Amazon to shape up…
Does self-publishing on Kindle stigmatize or blackball you with traditional print publishers? If you publish on Kindle, will the traditional publishing houses then not touch your work?
Thank you so much for such an in-depth article. I must say as a Kindle reader (and soon to be owner of the Kindle 3), I haven’t even received my first Kindle yet, but thanks to the Kindle for Android app, I have already been a busy little bee reading several novels. Some are from the big publishing companies, books that I just could not do without. I even purchased some books for the Kindle that I already have in paperback or hardback. I just wanted to be able to read them anywhere, because I love them dearly. But I have also bought several novels from folks on there that are doing what I am about to venture into… self publishing.
To answer the price issue… yes, I do feel I have spent some mega bucks on this little electronic device, and with that being said, I shouldn’t have to pay more than a paperback’s price for a popular novel. Unfortunately thanks to Steve Jobs, the prices went up after his little holdout, and so they now price books like Twilight, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and all other bestsellers between paperback price and hardcover. Seeing as we don’t receive a hard copy of this book, why should we have to pay like we are?
To answer the issue of unknown authors… I’ve run across some really wonderful authors in the under $1.99 category. I’ve also read some really horrible novels in that too, and that was a fairly popular novel that was just absolute garbage. If you want, you can read my critiques of novels that I’ve read thus far, on my kindle blog that I put in the website link. The best way to find out about a novel is to do two things. Kindle allows you to preview the book, do that. Trust me, I didn’t do that on two books and I completely regretted it. The second, read the comments. You have to learn to pilfer through some of the inane comments, and some of the ones that are just five starring for the heck of it. I suggest click on the one and two starred comments first.
I look forward to reading my Kindle for years to come, and yes, I look for the inexpensive novels first, because the way I figure it, at least they know what it’s like to be poor. Unfortunately, HarperCollins just doesn’t get that, and that’s why I’ve for the most part just added their books to my wish list as I wait for the price to come down.
I’m just about to self publish something on Amazon, and although there have been some formatting hassles, it’s really only taken a few days, so I can’t complain. I’ll be updating my progress at http://kerkhoven.wordpress.com/
I was wondering, if anyone knows, now that the 70% royalty has been around for several months, if there has been an exponential increase in the number of self-published novels, and therefore lower sales individual authors. The change from 35%, I would imagine, would have had a profound effect on the number of submissions.
I dont own a kindle because of the dilemas that some of the comments above have faced me with. A kindle i can carry with me anywhere, its easier to hold while doing other things and it gives me access to almost any book i want almost instantly. My problem is i love books. So for authors i follow and read everything by it seems odd to me to by both (because i would) so for me a very cheap e book is a way for me to read the book anywhere while still having the actual book at home to keep and share etc. to by two of the same book.. for about the same prices just doesnt help me.. so i refuse to buy a kindle and i miss out on new and upcoming authors.
Excellent post. I’d love a little more detail or information on the kind of PR strategy you outlined. The price point information is useful, but to a non PR person, I’m afraid I have no idea how to create interest.
Cheers.
The traditional publishers have had it their own way long enough. All aspects of media eventually have to fend off healthy competition. Now, the writers have a little power in their hands – and some control over their work. Ebooks may open the sluiceway for some trashy writing, but I feel many gems are about to be discovered that would likely languish in some huge slush pile for all eternity.
I was a doubter like many, but ebooks are here to stay.
Just an add on after reading some of the posts. I understand authors feeling fearful of being ‘marked’ by traditional publishers if they have gone down the ebook route. Believe me, if you have attained thousands of downloads over a period of time – I tend to think they might sit up and listen . . .
I actually had the opposite experience of many who’ve commented.
I put my mystery novel, DEAD IN THE WATER, on Kindle for 99 cents and sold 0 copies. Then I raised the price to 2.99 and it started selling. Granted it hasn’t been up that long and it’s not selling in huge numbers – but the numbers are growing every week.
I’m thinking the 99 cent market is becoming over saturated and it’s harder for people to find your books at that price. Just a theory
I think that it’s fair to say that the Paretto principle will sort out the majority of writers who decide to self-publish digitally. It’s great to hear a success story and here we get two for the price of one – Brian and Joe. It clears up a few things for me especially when it comes to pricing.
I expect to self publish myself within the next six months, first digitally and then perhaps a year or so later using POD. I have set out a model for myself where I can produce between four and six short digital novellas yearly which will form a series. Upon completion of the series I intend to publish each of the digital editions in one paperback novel perhaps with some extended chapters/features.
It is nice to hear that other writers are already working on similar models and using pricing structures that effectively attracts the attention of readers. (Always the most important thing) At least now I have a better idea of what pricing structure I should use.
Anyway Brian, well done and keep up the good work.