BLOG
News, Fiction Updates & General MusingsDraft2Digital: Why I’m Leaving Smashwords
Note: since the publication of this post, a lot has changed in the publishing landscape. I still use Draft2Digital to get my books into Apple and Barnes & Noble, but I also use Smashwords for the other channels. So yes — Smashwords has improved. Lots.
*
I love Smashwords and I’ve got nothing but respect for the service. Enabling authors to upload our books to the likes of Apple’s iBookstore and Barnes & Noble all from the comfort of one portal is very handy, particularly to those of us based in the UK who can’t upload directly through those stores.
However, Smashwords is also a bit of a nightmare.
The user interface isn’t the most attractive, the epub creator leaves much to be desired, and although the best of intentions are in place with the ‘meatgrinder’, it often causes more headaches than it’s worth.
And after the majority of those headaches, it can still take weeks before your book is distributed to another store.
Enter Draft2Digital: a new platform for creating and publishing eBooks.
What is Draft2Digital?
Draft2Digital acts in a very similar way to Smashwords: it enables you to upload your books for publication in four of the biggest eRetailers (Amazon, Apple, Kobo and B&N). It’s designed by self-published authors for self-published authors, and it’s my new favourite publishing website, to the point that I’m pulling my short stories from Smashwords and going all in with Draft2Digital.
Why is it so different to Smashwords?
1. Better user interface
The user interface is gorgeous and easy to use. The uploading process was an absolute breeze and I was all up and ready to publish in a matter of moments. After publication, you can easily keep tabs on your books and which platforms they’ve sold any copies via. There’s plenty of white-space and the place simply looks pretty professional.
Part of the professionalism is probably down to the fact that Draft2Digital is not a ‘store’ like Smashwords but a tool for conversion and uploading. That said, I don’t see much of a problem (personally) there — I barely sell any copies on Smashwords, so I’m hardly missing out.
2. Effective epub creator
One of the major downsides with Smashwords is its reliance on the .doc format. I know, I know — they accept epub now — but it’s still a frustrating process that results in hundreds of rejections even though you’re absolutely certain your epub file is as perfect as it can be.
Draft2Digital is .doc uploading done right.
I was a little underwhelmed initially when I saw that the recommended format was .doc. However, I decided to go down that route, and the options and ease-of-upload is fantastic.
Firstly, there’s no style guide. You simply put your chapter headings in bold, make sure everything is as you want it, and upload.
Even more impressively, there’s no need whatsoever to format the table of contents of your book. If you put your chapter headings in bold, Draft2Digital does the hard work for you.
You don’t even need to create your own copyright page, title page or ‘about’ page if you don’t want to. I prefer to format my own ‘about’ pages, but with a simple click of a button, Draft2Digital does all that for you too if you want it to. Afterwards, they send you a nice, well-formatted ePub/mobi copy of the book (which you can use elsewhere). Not only a great, easy publishing process but a great book formatting tool all in one.
Smashwords: I love you, but it’s time to up your game on the ease-of-use front.
3. Faster publication
Little anecdote: I withdrew my short stories from KDP Select back in February.
Through Smashwords, Silhouette became available on Apple’s iBookstore a few weeks later. Something in the Cellar, on the other hand, was never shipped.
The formatting was fine. In fact, everything was fine, but for some reason it was just never sent out to Apple. I waited for months and resubmitted several times but to no avail.
Ten hours after uploading Something in the Cellar via Draft2Digital, the book is now available in Apple’s notoriously difficult to break iBookstore.
Frankly, I’m stunned. I don’t know why this is the case, and I’m well aware that Apple can vary the length of time it takes to publish, but the fact is, the book’s there now. I can finally, FINALLY forget about having to publish it and just let it do its thing (hopefully sell!) whilst focusing on future projects.
4. Real-time reports
I’ve obviously not seen this first hand but apparently, Draft2Digital offer close-to-real-time sales reporting, which is something Smashwords also lack.
Any fellow obsessive indie author will be well aware of what a big deal this is. We don’t want to have to wait for weeks to see if we’ve sold any — we want it now! Draft2Digital offers this through its sleek, clean interface.
5. CreateSpace options
Finally, I should mention a lesser-noticed feature in the form of a CreateSpace option. That’s right: Draft2Digital will take your book and turn it into a paperback without any of the formatting hassle (I can vouch for it being a real hassle) found if you do it yourself.
I’ve yet to experiment but I’m sorely tempted to do so with my next novel. I know it means slightly reduced royalties, but if it’s that vs. paying hundreds for professional print formatting, then it’s worth it, right?
Competition is healthy
On a whole, I can’t see the rise of Draft2Digital being anything but good news for Smashwords. Ideally, Barnes & Noble and Apple would enable easy distribution from the UK, but until that point, it’s nice to have a stress-free way to get our books out to the remaining major stores.
And for US-based citizens, sometimes it’s nice to just have everything under one dashboard. Right now, I believe that Draft2Digital offer the best dashboard, and I’m certainly not alone in that sentiment.
What do you make of Draft2Digital? Do you use Smashwords? How is it for you? Direct upload vs. one dashboard?
PS: I know I promised a summary of my writing diary today but I’ve been kinda busy (read: eating) so I’ll be sure to post one either tomorrow or Friday. I also need to do part 2 of my eBook marketing summary. Ah, blogging — I wait weeks for inspiration to creep along and before I know it…
The Secret to Becoming a Prolific Writer
A lot of people ask me how I manage to write so much.
‘You wrote a novel while studying at university?! That’s crazy! I couldn’t write a novel in my life.’
I hear those words a lot. Of course, I take it as a compliment; a friendly way of saying ‘well done!’ but it does kind of frustrate me, particularly the second part, ‘I couldn’t write a novel.’ As a writer, I feel it’s partly my responsibility to encourage all budding storytellers to get something written, but 9.9 times out of ten, people just ‘don’t have the time’.
Well, I’ve got a great bit of news for you: you do have the time, not only to write a novel but to write several. No — I’m not voluntarily paying your bills so you can afford a luxury writing lifestyle of beans on toast and lots of cups of coffee. Instead, I just want to you to reframe your relationship with time. That way, you can become a prolific writer.
‘Reframe my relationship with time?! Steady on, Dr. Who!’
Unfortunately, I don’t have a TARDIS. If I did, I certainly wouldn’t be sat writing this blog post. But anyway — reframing your relationship with time and thus becoming a prolific writer is a lot less science-fiction than it sounds. It simply comes down to this one simple and effective sentence written by David Farland:
“To be prolific, just string one productive day after another for an entire lifetime. It adds up!”
So simple and yet so true. Think about it: the prospect of writing an 80,000 word novel seems absolutely unattainable. The prospect of writing a few in a year seems impossible.
However, 7,000 words in a week? Still difficult — we’re accustomed to struggling with 2,000 word studies and critical reports.
How about 1,000 words per day? That’s possible, right? Sure — but nobody could ever become a truly prolific writer that way, could they? Well I’ve got some news for you. If you write 1,000 words per day, taking weekends off, you’ll have a finished 80,000 word manuscript in front of you four months later.
Bear in mind that’s with weekends OFF. Just imagine what you could do if you wrote, say, an extra thousand on a Saturday? Or, God forbid, 1,500 words per day?! You’ll finish the year with a few novels under your belt and have the right to label yourself a prolific writer.
Finding thirty minutes
I realise that life’s tough and has its pressures. Sometimes, the last thing we want to do when we get in from a busy day at work is write, a cuppa on the sofa much more appealing. But how about writing for thirty minutes after work? Or thirty minutes before work? OR your lunch break?
Using my writing speed as an example, I could probably get around 750 words written in thirty minutes. I’m a fast writer though, so round that down to 500 and you’ll finish a novel in six months by finding thirty minutes. You can do that, right? Maybe after trying those thirty minutes, you’ll find yourself in the flow and write for an extra fifteen.
Go on: take a look at your schedule tomorrow. Where could you squeeze thirty minutes of writing time in? Make a note of it in your diary and commit to it. Remember, you only need to write 500 words in that time to finish a novel in six months. Even if you only manage 250, that’s a novel in a year.
And for what? Thirty minutes of work.
This isn’t a post for writers who already have their working methods. It’s a post for writers who struggle to find the time and question how it’s possible for so many part-time writers to be prolific writers.
For a bit of real-life context, I’ve just sent off Killing Freedom to Brenda for edits, have a first draft of a third novel completed, and have just started work on another top-secret project which I’ve been raring to go on for a long time. Today, I managed to pen over 2,000 words. Not a bad day at the office, huh? At that rate, I’ll be finished in under a fortnight.
The secret to becoming a prolific writer? Break your goals down into daily wordcounts and go with the flow. You’ll be surprised just how quickly you work.
Do you struggle to find the time to write? How often do you write and how long do you spend doing so? What tips can you offer on becoming a more prolific and productive writer?
Image courtesy of avrdreamer via Flickr.
Ebook Marketing: What Works and What Doesn’t? Part 1
Despite blogging on at least a weekly basis, one of the most common questions I’m asked by new and experienced authors alike is ‘how the [expletive] do I sell my [expletive] book?’ Ebook marketing is an absolute minefield. Do authors need to blog? Do we need to tweet, Facebook and Google+, while at the same time committing to a healthy amount of writing time?
If you’re short on time, here’s the simple answer to which ebook marketing methods work and which don’t: it’s impossible to say. Okay, that’s not such a simple answer, I realise, but it’s completely accurate. All levels of ebook marketing consist of three stages: implementation, commitment, analysis. All ebook marketing almost certainly consists of willingness to experiment, too.
But anyway, why am I blabbering on about all these hypothetical situations when I could be giving you a breakdown of what works and what doesn’t? Firstly, it’s important to understand that the idea of one ebook marketing method ‘working’ and others ‘not working’ is completely subjective. What might work for Edward W. Robertson might not work for Jeff Bennington. If there were one true ‘works for all’ ebook marketing method then everybody would be rich off independent publishing. As it stands, there isn’t, so if you aren’t willing to try things for yourself then you probably won’t get very far.
What I will offer you is a rundown of what works/doesn’t work for me. Please bear in mind that these are my personal results and might not align with your particular philosophies or approaches. If they work for you then fantastic — that’s a success. I just want to give you a little glimpse into a few of the most common methods and assess their effectiveness based on results of my own. The focus is ebook marketing in 2013 but I suppose it could apply for any year in that things are pretty much changing all the time. But anyway, without further ado, my personal guide to ebook marketing.
Adverts
Adverts are hit and miss, however there’s a major ‘hit’ out there in the advertising world at the moment and it’s called BookBub. When you book an ad with BookBub, they send your offer out to their one-million+ subscribers, specifically targeting readers who are interested in your particular genre. When coupled with a KDP Select promotion or discount, BookBub delivers very strong results — I gave away 40,000 copies of my debut novel What We Saw back in March and have sold around 500 since. Not only have the costs been covered but I’ve actually made profit.
Otherwise, I’ve not had much success with adverts aside from the big free book notification sites such as AuthorMarketingClub. I tried a Kindle Nation Daily package once but I don’t think it had much of an impact on post-free sales (as great a resource as their website is) and I’ve taken out another few paid ad spots but with no real results. BookGorilla are a new site that are worth keeping an eye on, so anyone willing to experiment, please leave a comment with your personal results.
If you’re going to advertise, I’d go with BookBub. Right now, it’s the most effective way to reach your target audience, make some profit, and most importantly, gain some new fans. It’s ebook marketing done right. Other advertising — be sure to research before handing over your money.
Blogging
Every author should have a blog. Or so many authors argue, anyway. How effective an ebook marketing tool is a blog? Well, it kind of is and isn’t effective. Personally, I don’t sell many books through my blog, despite the hundreds of hits per day I get. But that said, the goal of my blog is not to sell my books (well, perhaps it is indirectly but I’d never outright tell you that, muahaha). Instead, I aim to offer my thoughts on the writing, marketing and publishing process for fellow authors with the occasional sneak-peek of my own work, all in a pretty chilled out and laid back manner.
If you’re going to blog, ask yourself whether you’re willing to severely commit to doing something that in the short-term, probably won’t gain you many sales. If the answer is no then maybe blogging is something you can think about a few years down the line. I know, I know — sinful words! But the truth is, loads of authors are selling books and making profit without ever having blogged in their lives. Having a solid author platform might help, but I don’t believe it’s an effective ebook marketing tool.
Shove your links in the sidebar and you’ll get the occasional clickthrough. Just don’t hold your breath.
Word of mouth
I actually find good old word-of-mouth to be one of my favourite ebook marketing techniques. It’s all fine being able to publish a book but if you don’t have the courage to tell anybody about it in ‘real life’ then when will you ever truly believe in your author status?
Next time you’re on a train or a bus or whatever, break the ice and wait for the ‘what do you do for a living?’ question. Be sneaky and pretend you don’t have a day job and, right there and then, tell that person you’re an author. At that point, the stereotypically disinterested member of public will be completely compelled that you aren’t just another ‘run of the mill’ train buddy and will probably dig a little deeper.
Before you know it, they’ll be on your website and checking out your books. There you go — free book marketing with a confidence boost on top!
Don’t shove your ‘author status’ down the lovely innocent person’s eardrums though. Be humble, keep the conversation both ways, and… yeah, you know how to keep a conversation going.
KDP Select
Contrary to popular belief, KDP Select is a.) not dead, b.) still works and c.) isn’t evil. I wholeheartedly believe that when used correctly, KDP Select is the most effective ebook marketing tool for new authors.
I emphasise the ‘correctly’ because I genuinely don’t think that a lot of people really get it. KDP Select is about giving away free copies, sure, but the main focus is on what happens after you’ve given those free books away. Right — giving away 100 copies is nice, but that’s hardly enough to boost your Amazon ranking and score some cash sales afterwards. How much does that require? I’ve discussed KDP Select on three previous occasions (the latest post here) but really we’re talking about the 5,000+ mark to really move the needle.
To make the most of KDP Select, you need to think about after the promotion as much as the promotion itself. As I say, I’ve discussed that many times in the past, but yes, it works, especially when combined with other promotional methods.
Also, short-term exclusivity is not evil. The next person I see trying to claim that Amazon is ‘destroying’ the ebook market is getting a firm slap to the face. Typically, the very same individuals tend to be people who have jumped into KDP Select with no research and haven’t really seen the same sort of results as those who have enjoyed success, so are just feeling bitter.
Do your research and if it sounds good to you, give it a try. If not, leave those who are enjoying success with it to enjoy increased sales, visibility and borrows.
Twitter is not the place to incessantly market your books.
It’s a place to be social and connect with like-minded authors and readers. It isn’t a place to tweet quotes from your novel every half-hour in hope that somebody might, just might, click on it.
Sure — you might get a sale or two this way. You might get a few sales. But are you really comfortable whoring your book out in such a shameless way? Do you really want to risk your entire reputation just because of a silly little Tweet?
Here’s what the reader inside me thinks when I see somebody marketing their book constantly on Twitter: I’m going to ignore that person because they aren’t interested in connecting with others. They are here to sell, sell, and sell some more. The only thing they’ve sold is their souls, or their eSouls. eSouls — I like that one.
But seriously, just don’t be a dick on Twitter. It’s fine to tell people when you’ve got a new book out or tweet about a promotion you’re running once or twice, just use some common sense. The more crap you spout, the less people will pay attention to you. As Oscar Wilde once put it, ‘the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about’. Don’t be another robotic arsehole — stand out from the crowd by actually being human.
Note — sharing links directed at your target audience is fine, I believe, as long as they are mixed up with real-life stuff too. I gained a lot of followers because I used to tweet links to fellow ebook marketing/publishing blogs. I don’t do that so much anymore but it does help you gather a following.
As for sales — Twitter won’t bring you much. That’s why it’s even more absurd to keep on nattering about your latest release. Focus your ebook marketing efforts elsewhere and you’ll witness better results.
*
So we’re at 1,500 words and I’ve still got a list of around ten things to cover. Looks like, ladies and gents, we’ve got a new series of blog posts on our hands/I’m too busy to type the rest right now.
Next time, I’ll be talking about Facebook, Google+, Author Central and whatever else I can condense into >2,000 words.
As for how things are going — very well, thanks for asking. I submitted my Creative Writing dissertation on Monday so I’m still buzzing from the adrenaline of that, and I just sent out a copy of my new novel Killing Freedom to Brenda (my editor). Speaking of Brenda, she has just launched a fantastic redesigned website — be sure to check it out at eclecticeditor.com
Anyway, enjoy the rest of your week. I’ll have more ebook marketing stuff for you on Friday.
Ryan.
Five Writing Myths that Lead to Eternal Dissatisfaction
I’ve been writing professionally for a while now, and writing unprofessionally for a lot longer.
What’s the difference? Of course, being published helps. Having work out there for people to praise/destroy is part of what it is to be a ‘professional writer’, but there’s much more to it than simply having a book out there. In fact, the most successful of writers become professional writers long before that first release.
Professional writing is about attitude. It’s about grafting and persevering through the hard times, focusing on getting those words on the page, and making a commitment to ourselves (and to others) to get quality material out there. As well as reading books on craft, it’s about reading the works of peers and adding their techniques to our ever-growing palette. It’s about creating worlds and making people think/scared/heave.
As with all professions, there is a lot of fantastic advice out there. There’s also a lot of bad advice. In this post, I want to identify a few of the most common writing myths I’ve encountered in my writing career so far, and why if followed, they will bring you nothing but eternal dissatisfaction. I don’t mean to inadvertently criticise anybody who may have supported these myths in the past — we all learn the hard way — rather suggest an alternate way of thinking that will ultimately lead to a more productive professional writing lifestyle.
1. The first draft should be perfect.
I still encounter this writing myth every day and it completely baffles me. The first draft is exactly what it says on the tin — a first draft. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a writer who throws the kitchen sink at it and blasts out 80,000 words in two weeks or someone who edits sentence by sentence as they progress: the first draft will likely be a structural and characterisation nightmare. That’s just the way it goes.
Personally, I wouldn’t quite call myself a ‘kitchen sink’ writer but I don’t edit when I’m writing my first draft. I have a clear idea of where I want to go, and although I may deviate from the path, thus surprising myself, usually the destination is always very clear. That way, I have the freedom to enjoy the journey without getting bogged down in editing or cleaning up.
Allow yourself to write absolute drivel. If you come out of a 1,000 word writing session thinking, ‘shit, I didn’t get anywhere today’ then take that as a sign of victory over your evil inner critic. Not only have you shut your inner critic up and written through it, you’ve actually accepted what you’ve written and moved on.
Tomorrow, you can write 1,000 brilliant words, or even more drivel. You have the rewriting process to sort it all out. Banish this writing myth and your productivity will increase massively.
2. You should write every day.
Yeah, this one drove me mad for a while too. I think it’s a writing myth that all us professional writers are guilty of, simply because it seems so logical. If an office-worker is expected to put in a weekly shift then so should us writers, right?
Not necessarily. Some days, we’re simply too caught up in other commitments to write. Family, friends — what burdens, eh? But no, it’s important to take time out every now and then. Although writing every day is a nice idea in practice, for the obsessive like myself, it’s also a recipe for disaster.
Why? Well, say I miss a day, I spend the whole day feeling bad for doing something perfectly social and acceptable at the expense of writing. I spend the following day trying to catch up, which just leads to burnout.
Stressing over writing every day is an unnecessary burden. Instead, I find it more productive to aim to write for five days per week, with a day or two off at the weekend depending on how productive I’m feeling. I’d advise always taking a day off though. You’ve spent a hard week writing, you deserve a bit of time to catch up on a novel or watch the latest episode of your favourite TV show, or whatever.
3. You should rewrite your novel until it is perfect.
Another common writing myth that almost always ends in tears is the idea that the novel should be ‘perfect’ after the rewrites.
I’ve got some bad news for you, sunshine — no novel is perfect. Jane Austen? Pah. Graham Greene? Nah, England Made Me dragged on waaay too much. Although you should strive to make your novel as clean and consistent as possible, aiming for perfection is dangerous because you simply won’t get there.
Instead of aiming for perfection — an unachievable writing myth — take a look at the three-act structure. Test your characters — do they work? Are their goals clear? Send the thing out to a few beta readers and get some honest feedback. Most importantly, when everything’s tight, send it out to an editor.
The fact is, you’ll find infinite ways to fix your novel, even when it’s out there and published. There are some sentences in my fiction that I’d work differently were I to write them again, but letting go is important. Correcting typos and fixing inconsistencies — that’s fine, but no major rewrites once the thing is published (unless, of course, it’s a mess, in which case it shouldn’t be published). Strive for tightness and consistency, not perfection.
4. If you hate your novel, it probably means it isn’t very good.
I’ll tell you a secret: I hate What We Saw.
Does that mean it’s a bad novel? This common writing myth would have me believe so but I don’t like to think it is. Although every novel gets the occasional negative review (oh the joys of free speech), the amount of praise it receives makes me think I must have done something right.
That said, I couldn’t read it again. I simply couldn’t.
Why not? Because I’ve read the damned thing hundreds of times already. It’s one thing reading a book multiple times, but stressing over every single line and sentence and paragraph and chapter — ugh.
So go on — I give you permission to hate your novel. If you do, then you’re probably doing something right.
5. You should write in the genre you primarily read in.
This one’s a tricky little writing myth to deal with.
Although I agree that increased exposure to a particular genre leads to a better understanding of the codes, conventions and clichés, I don’t think any writer should limit themselves simply because they prefer to read in that genre.
I like reading literary novels. I also like horror — particularly psychological stuff — as well as thrillers and crime fiction. I’m partial to a well-written romance. As for my writing, I’ve tended to lean towards the thriller genre because it’s the genre I enjoy writing in the most.
Does that mean I won’t write a romance in the future? In the days of traditional publishing, perhaps so. My creative impulses would have been curtailed in favour of financial gain. With the rise of self-publishing, writers don’t have to limit themselves anymore.
Whilst I might not be hanging up my thriller-writing gloves just yet, there’s nothing to stop me doing so in future. Write in the genre you want to write in and screw what anybody else says. Except me. Please.
***
As a reward for getting this far, I leave you with a teaser of the Killing Freedom cover, courtesy of the ever-fantastic Lloyd Lelina. To be notified as soon as the book is available, click here.
Cheers,
Ryan.
Have you struggled with any of these common writing myths? Would you add any others to the list?
Image courtesy of matryosha via Flickr.
Waterstones Spotify for Books: Is This Really the Future of Reading?
If you’re a long-term follower of this blog, you’ll remember I posted a hypothesis last summer about how a ‘Spotify for Books’ style platform would likely emerge in the coming months and years, offering readers a means to pay a flat fee and gain access to an on-demand library of digital books.
Yesterday evening, I stumbled upon a Telegraph article with the news that Tim Waterstone, founder of the UK’s biggest book retailer Waterstones, is gearing up for the launch of a platform called Read Petite. Read Petite is essentially a Spotify for books in philosophy, charging readers a flat fee for access to a digital library. However, Read Petite’s key feature is that it specialises in short stories and serialised novels, as the ‘petite’ of the title suggests.
Before I start, I’d like to congratulate Tim Waterstone and his team on coming up with this idea. There’s a serious gap in the market for a Spotify for books style service, so well done for getting in there first with a unique proposal.
However, there are some serious flaws with the pitch that make me question whether Read Petite can realistically succeed.
Firstly, Mr Waterstone argued in an interview with the Daily Telegraph that ‘if you are going to read on a laptop, or a smartphone or a tablet, a short story is about as much as you want.’ While I do agree that the tablet/smartphone are fantastic devices for the medium of short stories, the argument that ‘a short story is about as much as you want’ is way off the mark.
Think of the many hundreds of thousands of readers who download and read full novels on their Kindle Fire and iPad devices. Sure — there might have been initial resistance to tablet reading (the screen and its attitudes towards your eyes, for example), but I hear less of that melodrama and more about people embracing their tablet devices as their primary reading tool. While short stories are perfect digital reads, I think Mr Waterstone may have underestimated the attention span of the digital reader in his proposal.
Secondly, the news article also reports that ‘This is not slush pile publishing. There is an absolutely staggering treasure trove of material available.’ In other words, the focus is on the works of traditionally published authors. While I’m just as excited as a reader to check out some unpublished Graham Greene, the focus on not only past works but limiting to traditionally published authors stinks of modern technological advances stuck in a time bubble.
There is a huge market for short stories and novellas out there as it is. I can’t help but feel that Read Petite has missed a trick in this respect, although of course, there will be room to make changes on that front in the future.
What should a real Spotify for Books look like?
In the coming months and years, a true Spotify for books contender will emerge. Perhaps it will be Read Petite, but as it stands, it does not appear a legitimate way for all authors — independent and traditional — to succeed.
Also, the focus solely on short stories might be a clever marketing tactic, but in charging between £5 and £12 per month for the service, the reading habits of many seem slightly underestimated. Why pay £15 per month for just short stories when you can pick up a single short on Kindle for 99c, as well as dipping in and out of full novels at the $3.99 mark?
In addition, the article itself is slightly off the mark because it assumes that people aren’t already finding success with shorter fiction forms. It acts as if Read Petite’s focus on smaller novels is revolutionary when in fact the rise of the novella has been one of the major areas of growth since the eBook boom (eBoom?) started.
The truth is, readers have been reading short fiction on their eDevices for years, and writers have duly tapped into this expanding market. Once again, it seems, somebody forgot to tell the mainstream media.
What a real Spotify for books contender would look like, in my eyes, is this: a flat fee of £10 per month to take your unlimited collection of books everywhere — mobile, tablet, etc. Sort the audience attraction out first and the royalties later (because visibility is ultimately more important, right?). Allow for independent publishing but with quality checks on the level of formatting and basic proofreading. Offer an ad-only free option for laptop/computer reading.
So, basically Spotify then. If you’re a budding entrepreneur and fancy battling the minefield that is setting up a successful streaming company, the ideas are on the house. I wish you luck — the future needs you.
What are your views on the future of reading? Do you read full novels on your tablet or smartphone? Would a service like Read Petite interest you? Why?
KDP Select Part 3: BookBub & How to Top the Amazon Charts
This post is a spiritual successor of sorts to KDP Select: The Secret to Hitting the Top 100 and KDP Select: Is it Still Worth it? Thoughts for 2013. You might want to read those first, you might not — it’s your call.
Yes, another KDP Select post.
A couple of weeks back, I told you I’d be sampling a BookBub advertisement to coincide with my latest free promotion for What We Saw. I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about BookBub lately, mainly from J.A. Konrath, who took a u-turn on his ‘no advertising’ approach to eBooks to sing the praises of the website.
What is BookBub?
If you aren’t already aware, BookBub is an absolutely enormous mailing list with over one million subscribers. The premise is this: you sign up, select the genres of fiction/non-fiction that most interest you, and BookBub send you an email of three or four ‘Daily Deals’ generally ranging from free books to $2.99.
What sets BookBub aside from the other mailing lists? Well, I believe it is this targeted genre tactic. It tailors to your own interests as a reader, not to mention offers a focused number of books. Sometimes, these ‘book deal’ mailing lists are so sprawling and messy that it just isn’t worth trawling through them. BookBub, therefore, is a refreshing change.
But anyway, I digress. We’re only here for one reason, and one question.
How can BookBub help my KDP Select free promotion?
Short answer? More than you could ever imagine.
Slightly longer answer? Okay, but a bit of context first.
On Wednesday 27th March, What We Saw began its second big free promotion with KDP Select. I scheduled the free promotion to run for three days, coinciding with the Easter weekend. I took my usual steps that have brought me success in the past (I won’t go over them in detail again, so check the links at the top for info) — checked my eBook files, notified the major free promotional websites, and updated the info on my website. The BookBub ad was set to go live on Friday 29th, so I expected the promotion to go out with a bang and bring in a healthy amount of weekend sales.
By Thursday evening, I was a little underwhelmed.
Very few of the big free promotional sites had mentioned me, apart from one in Germany, which really boosted downloads over on Amazon.de (thank you!). Instead of the 11,000 in two days of my previous KDP Select free promotion, I’d given away around 1,000, which is nowhere near enough downloads to catalyse a post-free sales boost. All my hopes were with BookBub.
By Friday evening, I was in awe.
What We Saw sat at the top of the overall Amazon.com charts. The moment the BookBub emails went out, copies were being downloaded in the thousands. So many, in fact, that I decided to extend my promotion to Sunday evening. My hunch was that the new found exposure guaranteed me a spot in the top rankings for another couple of days at the very least, and this proved correct, staying in the top four for the remainder of the weekend.
How many books did I give away?
20,000? Pah. 30,000? Nah.
How about 40,775 on Amazon.com alone?
I went into the BookBub promotion a sceptic and came out a believer. A quick glance at today’s free charts on Amazon.com reveal, unsurprisingly, a list of the books recently advertised on BookBub. If KDP Select was the big shortcut to indie nirvana in 2012, then BookBub is the best way to boost sales and visibility in 2013, and used in conjunction with KDP Select, it’s heaven.
But BookBub costs a lot, right?
Right. I think I paid something around the £150 mark for my advertisement, which was a major risk. However, I’ve made that back already with my post-free sales boost, and am beginning to see profit. At the moment, if you’ve got a quality book with a nice cover, I think it’s worth taking that financial investment. If everything breaks right, you’ll make the money back in no time.
So, I’ll be submitting What We Saw again next month, then?
Unfortunately not. Not only have I used my five free KDP Select days at once, but BookBub runs a (rather wise) 90 day policy, whereby it refuses to feature the same book more than once every 90 days. They also run a 30 day policy for authors too, so no shortcutting there.
However, with websites like BookBub, it is clear to see how a writing career can be forged without much fuss. If you have three books, that’s one BookBub promotion every thirty days (if you’re lucky) whether with KDP Select or simply a discount. With six books, the path becomes even clearer.
Main lessons learned
My second major KDP Select free promotion has taught me a few things.
Firstly, it’s much harder to be mentioned by the major free websites since the Amazon affiliate changes. With the focus turning to discount books over free books, it really is hit and miss with a lot of those sites now.
Secondly, if you aren’t mentioned by any of those major free websites, then your KDP Select free promotion will probably struggle. I was lingering around the 1,000 mark and my free promotion was fizzing out until BookBub came along, so again, my argument a couple of months back of the importance of these websites stands. It might be harder to get a mention, but you should still absolutely give it a shot if you aren’t planning a BookBub ad.
And finally, BookBub really does work. It shot me to the top of the Amazon charts and has boosted sales since. Sure, it’s costly on the surface, but I see that as more of an investment than anything else. If everything breaks right, you’ll make that money back in a day.
In independent publishing, we spend far too much time searching for the next big thing, when in fact what we should be doing is using the best tools available to us right now. Sure, Amazon KDP Select might not be as easy to break as it once was, and BookBub’s bound to decrease in influence as membership numbers increase, but right now? They work, and until they don’t, I’ll continue to use them.
Have you tried a BookBub promotion? Do you have any reservations about doing so? How has KDP Select worked for you in 2013 so far?