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If you want to make money (and I don't mean a lot of money, I mean any) then you have to write for an audience. Writing what you want in the hope that you'll break open a new genre and trailblaze a new way of doing things is a gamble. If you win, you get money and freedom. But like any gamble, there's one winner and a million losers. And one of the life experiences that has scared me into taking things seriously was the words of a friend who spent time in a psychiatric ward. She meant it as a compliment in that I wasn't alone in being unpublished, but she said to me: "Those places are full of people like you." People who hold on to the dream. People who are misunderstood geniuses if only people would give them a chance. People who gambled their lives on artistic endeavour and lost. We all chase the dream because we see the winners but the losers at the other end should drive us just as hard. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that you need to decide if you're doing this to write what you want, or if you're doing it to make a living. It's possible eventually to do both if you're lucky and committed, but in the beginning at least you're going to have to decide - commercial or artistic.
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Nov 19, 2014 15:40
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All Else Failed posted:I will have my first title or three up in time. I don't expect I will see anything from it, but that's no reason to be a slouch. How would you recommend maximizing visibility without a pre-existing catalogue and the standard OP stuff like "have good cover, have good blurb, cross fingers"? You've been through a few of these seasons by now, does anything change besides a significant uptick in purchases? Put book in kdp select, run book free for five days, forget about book forever.
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Nov 19, 2014 15:44
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EngineerSean posted:Put book in kdp select, run book free for five days, forget about book forever. Just to clarify, I shouldn't keep it free after five days? Is this to have it pop back up as a $2.99 title or another reason? And IIRC it stays in KDP select for 90 days which disallows me from publishing it elsewhere, yes? Lastly, just for my first book or whatever I can get out before, let's say, late January? I'd PM you these questions but I could see it being useful for others as well. (I am 100% going to follow your advice.)
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Nov 19, 2014 15:48
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All Else Failed posted:Just to clarify, I shouldn't keep it free after five days? Is this to have it pop back up as a $2.99 title or another reason? And IIRC it stays in KDP select for 90 days which disallows me from publishing it elsewhere, yes? Lastly, just for my first book or whatever I can get out before, let's say, late January? I'd PM you these questions but I could see it being useful for others as well. (I am 100% going to follow your advice.) You can only have it free for five days and yes, this makes you exclusive to amazon (you'll never miss the other retailers at this stage of your career). Both 99c and 2.99 are valid prices for your erotica in kdp select. Do this for all books.
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Nov 19, 2014 15:56
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All Else Failed posted:(I feel like we're getting slightly off topic here.) Yeah I feel similarly, would you all do me a solid favour and calm down slightly, or at least enough to stop spewing reports? 
SoundMonkey fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Nov 19, 2014 |
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Nov 19, 2014 17:36
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Haha are people actually reporting poo poo? Never change, goons.
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Nov 19, 2014 20:14
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EngineerSean posted:Haha are people actually reporting poo poo? Never change, goons. Some guy accused me of being a neo-nazi last page  On a different note does anybody know if there's a tool or app that will output a graphical WPM display of your target word count? I.e. if you want X words per 2 hours, and that works to Y WPM, it'll just output Lorem Ipsum at that rate so you can get a feel for how damaging those little breaks are? If not I'll just write it but I want to check if it exists first in some capacity.
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Nov 19, 2014 20:32
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I haven't heard of one. My next novel is due to be done mid-December, but I don't know if I want to release it so close to the holiday, or send out some ARCs, build a little hype, and wait until late January or early February.
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Nov 19, 2014 23:03
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Sulla-Marius 88 posted:On a different note does anybody know if there's a tool or app that will output a graphical WPM display of your target word count? I.e. if you want X words per 2 hours, and that works to Y WPM, it'll just output Lorem Ipsum at that rate so you can get a feel for how damaging those little breaks are? IIRC there used to be a "hey nerds build me a little program that does X" SHSC thread. Might be worth digging around for that, because I'm sure a competent programmer could slap together what you're talking about in like ten minutes.
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Nov 19, 2014 23:19
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Sulla-Marius 88 posted:On a different note does anybody know if there's a tool or app that will output a graphical WPM display of your target word count? I.e. if you want X words per 2 hours, and that works to Y WPM, it'll just output Lorem Ipsum at that rate so you can get a feel for how damaging those little breaks are? Write or Die will do that for you. It's not free any more, but it's not expensive, and it can be quite useful sometimes.
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Nov 19, 2014 23:20
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I'm writing the forbidden stuff these days, but I'm also writing some short stories, on the serious side. I keep getting really close to some great magazines, but never getting in. Hopefully some new stories will break the streak.
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Nov 19, 2014 23:57
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EngineerSean posted:Haha are people actually reporting poo poo? Never change, goons. In fairness there were only two reports and it was the same dude who reported both posts, but that's still like... about as many reports as CC gets in the average month unless Sithsaber is posting.
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Nov 20, 2014 00:00
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Yup, you guys are right. Does seem like self-publishing has the money thing going for it. Ok, I'm convinced. I still won't quit my day jobs, but since I like art might as well get some loose change. It is, at best, an experiment. I started writing a novella a short while back, originally just for the kick of it. It will be ready for an editor in January. Genre is magic realism, so "good loving luck" applies. I have a cover artist and an editor lined up. I'm working on the blurb. I did the painful checklist from the OP. Clearly it will be a great success and I'm the next J. K. Rowling!  It will be a long while off still, but... How much should I charge for this? 20-30k words... 2.99 feels low, but I don't know...? I want to avoid perpetually exclusive deals with any one publisher too, just in case...
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Nov 20, 2014 00:38
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No Gravitas posted:It will be a long while off still, but... How much should I charge for this? 20-30k words... 2.99 feels low, but I don't know...? I want to avoid perpetually exclusive deals with any one publisher too, just in case... Unless you have a clear, research-driven reason for not charging $2.99, the correct answer is probably $2.99.
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Nov 20, 2014 03:07
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No Gravitas posted:Yup, you guys are right. Does seem like self-publishing has the money thing going for it. Ok, I'm convinced. I still won't quit my day jobs, but since I like art might as well get some loose change. It is, at best, an experiment. It feels low because the pricing you're "used to" are via traditional publishing where multiple parties get a cut, with the author getting only a small amount. Per unit 2.99 is probably more than you would make if it were "full price" in a store through trad.
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Nov 20, 2014 22:19
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You have to take off your author hat and put on your publisher hat. When you price, you are trying to maximize profits for your business, not validate your author ego. $2.99 at ten thousand people buying a copy is much more awesome than $9.99 and only 5 people buy a copy. Looking long-term, 99c is a good price point if you're trying to build a fanbase. Free can be even better, as a loss leader of a series. What you need to realize is that your book isn't even visible at a high price point on amazon if you don't already have fans.
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Nov 20, 2014 22:31
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I used to be very against 99 cents as a price point but with the advent of Kindle Unlimited, if I were to start a new pen names today, I'd probably have it at all at 99 cents until the the KU gravy train ground to a halt.
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Nov 20, 2014 22:51
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EngineerSean posted:I used to be very against 99 cents as a price point but with the advent of Kindle Unlimited, if I were to start a new pen names today, I'd probably have it at all at 99 cents until the the KU gravy train ground to a halt. Is there something in particular about 99c and KU? I haven't really be up on my self-pubbing since KU came out properly.
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Nov 20, 2014 23:10
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You get paid for borrows the same no matter what your price is. So you can get a higher rank at 99c which leads to more borrows, which pay out like $1-1.50 depending on how much Amazon wants to pay out that month.
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Nov 20, 2014 23:25
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Personally I'm just disgusted that you guys are treating literature like a business Although I've been reading about how the KU price point has been dropping and dropping each new month and people are getting really antsy about where it's going to head up. Also a lot of talk about 'black hat' publishers who are dumping a lot of low-quality glut on the market to get ahead, which might be in turn precipitating a drop of payout on Amazon's part.. But since KU has only been around for a very short while it's hard to say how it will work out.
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Nov 20, 2014 23:55
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Sulla-Marius 88 posted:Personally I'm just disgusted that you guys are treating literature like a business If I'm paid then I can write more thought provoking and entertaining stories. If I don't get paid, I'm not writing poo poo because I will be slaving away on programming something I don't care about.
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Nov 20, 2014 23:59
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Working on large writing projects with a full-time job is pretty tough you guys. I want to make money and be the writer.
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Nov 21, 2014 00:08
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Sulla-Marius 88 posted:You know sometimes I have nightmares about a world where books are actually read by readers rather than just written by literary geniuses. One time I had a bad acid trip and for a brief few seconds I had the distinct horror of hallucinating a universe in which books were sold for money and the desires of the reader, and the ability of the reader to comprehend the author's intention, were factored into the creation process. Literature that disregards the reader is bad literature, hth 
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Nov 21, 2014 00:08
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Sulla-Marius 88 posted:Personally I'm just disgusted that you guys are treating literature like a business all self published work is the product of scammers anyway, KU just monetizes it
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Nov 21, 2014 00:17
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PoshAlligator posted:Working on large writing projects with a full-time job is pretty tough you guys.
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Nov 21, 2014 00:31
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correct EngineerSean posted:all self published work is the product of scammers anyway, KU just monetizes it the difference between self-pubbed and trad pubbed literature is that self-pubbers thinks they can make themselves money using their work, trad pubbers think they can make themselves money using someone elses work
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Nov 21, 2014 00:31
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The more I read about self-pubbing and this thread, the more I want to give up my day job and just tackle this. But I think a more sensible approach would be for 2 novels next year while working full time.
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Nov 21, 2014 00:54
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moana posted:You have to take off your author hat and put on your publisher hat. When you price, you are trying to maximize profits for your business, not validate your author ego. $2.99 at ten thousand people buying a copy is much more awesome than $9.99 and only 5 people buy a copy. Looking long-term, 99c is a good price point if you're trying to build a fanbase. Free can be even better, as a loss leader of a series. What you need to realize is that your book isn't even visible at a high price point on amazon if you don't already have fans.
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Nov 21, 2014 04:45
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If you pick one price and stick with it forever, you're doing it wrong. One of the advantages we have over trad pubbers is that we can mix it up. Price pulse to keep your rank high. $2.99 is the best since it's the lowest price at 70% royalties, not because lower is "cheaper looking" to readers. I price anywhere from free to $4.99 for a novel, but I don't pick a price forever, that's old timey thinking. edit: to give a sense of strategy, I priced my new pen name's novel at 99c to start for the first week or so. Then when my rank peaked and started to drop, I switched to $2.99. I'm sticking there for a month to be able to do a countdown deal when the second in the series comes out (also at 99c) where I'll be pricing the countdown from 99c up to $3.99 or $4.99 (haven't decided yet, probably $3.99 since my genre seems to support that better), then I'll reevaluate as sales drop quickly or slowly, probably price pulsing down for 99c sales occasionally (I can't price pulse now since you have to stay steady for a month for a Countdown deal). Then at the end of the 90 day Select period I'd like to use up my freebie days for a Bookbub ad (crossing my fingers) when the third in the series comes out. Which means I need to go write the third in the series, like, now. moana fucked around with this message at 06:05 on Nov 21, 2014 |
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Nov 21, 2014 05:43
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I think there still is something to that old wives tale "Customers know that all 99c books are poo poo" but it's obviously not the only thing that they look at. I think they look at the whole package now, and now that indies are using better covers, better blurbs, better everything, it's a lot easier to separate the wheat from the chaff. Deborah Bladon, for instance, is making a loving fortune even though all her stuff is priced at 99c (and not in Kindle Unlimited, either).
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Nov 21, 2014 06:06
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SurreptitiousMuffin posted:Is this true? I heard a rumour that $2.99 was basically the perfect price for Kindle ebooks re sales, because if it's cheaper, people assume it's lower quality and avoid it. $2.99 is apparently the magical "normal" price that most people in the store will accept without looking too deeply into it. I seriously have no experience in this but as a consumer who buys Kindle books a lot, $2.99 is like the exact amount I'd pay for "I think this will be good but I'm not TOTALLY sure." I'm not saying that I assume 99 cent books are poo poo (well, I do, but I try not to, because that's not really a valid reason to think that), but if I see a book with good reviews at $2.99 I just kinda assume the author is "new but good." ...from the perspective of the unwashed masses you're selling your hard work to And yeah I'd think more highly of something that had a good blurb that made me interested in the book as opposed to sort of a vague description of it and an mspaint-looking cover.
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Nov 21, 2014 07:13
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SoundMonkey posted:...from the perspective of the unwashed masses you're selling your hard work to I know I appreciate it, thanks!
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Nov 21, 2014 07:22
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Yeah, I buy a lot of Kindle books too (or at least I did: it was stolen last week  . At least I know what I want for Christmas now.) and that's a good price for "I have no idea who this author is and the blurb is okay I guess but what the hell it's just $2.99". If I know the writer, I'll definitely pay more. And yeah, we're all terrible because we totally do judge a book by its cover. It matters, and it's worth investing in.
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Nov 21, 2014 12:42
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SurreptitiousMuffin posted:And yeah, we're all terrible because we totally do judge a book by its cover. It matters, and it's worth investing in. All ye 160,000-word epic fantasy writers, burn this post into your mind and repeat it every night before you go to bed. Your cover is important. Edit: This might be a new record. I put in a price-change request over 48 hours ago and it's still in review. So much for hitting that Friday promo I wanted.
Sundae fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Nov 21, 2014 |
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Nov 21, 2014 14:38
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Sundae posted:All ye 160,000-word epic fantasy writers, burn this post into your mind and repeat it every night before you go to bed. Your cover is important. I've been waiting 2 weeks for a cover change. There's a ''technical error.''
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Nov 21, 2014 16:47
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I'm compiling a handful of movie essays I want release about the 2014 movie year. It will have a few reviews, but mostly examinations of the current cinema climate. And I've been racking my brain trying to come up with a cover idea. Most of my favorite books on movies are very simple and bland covers with either a close-up of the author, a movie marquee or just faded stills from films. Anybody have any experience or tips for approaching covers on the subject of non-fiction books about movies?
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Nov 21, 2014 18:57
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What does the amazon bestseller list look like in that category? Make your cover look like those.
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Nov 21, 2014 19:14
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moana posted:What does the amazon bestseller list look like in that category? Make your cover look like those. Note: this applies to every type of writing you might want to sell.
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Nov 21, 2014 20:47
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ravenkult posted:I've been waiting 2 weeks for a cover change. There's a ''technical error.''
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Nov 21, 2014 21:49
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Bobby Deluxe posted:I was alerted yesterday that one of mine is $3 instead of $2.99, despite being pretty sure I changed them all a few weeks ago, so maybe it's just a bit buggered. Couldn't you just log into kdp and check?
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Nov 21, 2014 21:56
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