News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #113…
Amazon “bookstores”? The company just announced that they will expand their number beyond that unique one in Seattle. Wondering what the business model is? If you’re thinking Create Space paperbacks will be featured, you might be in for a big surprise. From what I’ve been able to glean from all the BS, these stores will reflect what you can find on Amazon’s site: all sorts of crap will be for sale and, as an afterthought, books. For a retailer that started out selling books, they have come a long way in shedding that mantle, so far that neither they nor their customers worry much about books anymore. Authors shouldn’t think that Amazon is going to be featuring their books, that’s for sure.
Smashwords. If you want a retailer that only sales books and does it well, complement your Amazon catalog with one on Smashwords. Worried about formats? Smashwords features them all, including mobis. Moreover, Smashwords is a distributor too; they distribute to many other retailers (Apple, Kobo, B&N, and so forth), as well as selling to libraries. It would be in your best interests to end Amazon exclusivity and add Smashwords. I’ll be doing this slowly but surely (see below). Think of it like this: it’s like the stock market in that you’re better off having a diversified portfolio. I don’t own a lot of stock, but I’ve written a lot of books. I want to reach out to as many readers as possible. Amazon limits that.
I’m even considering a more revolutionary strategy. There are four basic book distribution strategies for an indie writer now: (a) ebook on Amazon, (b) ebook on Smashwords, (c) paper version on Amazon (Create Space), and/or (d) any combo of the previous strategies. Because Smashwords also sells mobi files (Kindle compatible), and because it’s a retailer AND distributor, (b) + (c) might be the most cost-effective strategy for the indie writer because it covers all possibilities, with the exception of audiobooks. Of course, one has to factor in where the buying readers are mostly found, but right now I’m selling more ebooks on Smashwords than Amazon, and not all of my books are there!
Readers and writers, what are your thoughts on this? Readers, do you only buy books on Amazon? Have you tried other retailers? Writers, what have your experiences been? Do you think it’s a smart strategy to minimize book production costs and dedicate more money to PR and marketing? Drop me an email at steve@stevenmmoore.com, or comment on this blog post.
Meredith Wild. She writes erotica, so her stories are…well, a little bit wild, or so they tell me. Whatever your predilections as a reader might be, you won’t find that in my books because I can’t write it. The last books I read in that genre were Fanny Hill and Tom Jones as a pubescent teen; they were more along the lines of conservation starters in my nerd herd (yes, there were girls in that group!). Meredith’s novels are wildly popular, so they tell me, so she started her own small press to get more of her books in bookstores. OK, plenty of authors do this, thinking it eliminates the stigma of being indie that they find in the little, snooty mom & pop bookstores. What I object to is that the NY Times wrote an article that hints that this is the only way an indie writer can be validated so s/he can play with the big girls and boys. Maybe Meredith gave The Times that idea, but I doubt it. The Times is a traditional publisher, and they will do anything to put down indies as a consequence.
The Midas Bomb, Second Edition. This is #1 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series.” While folks at Infinity Publishing have always treated me well, their prices are no longer competitive. My goal is to bring you interesting and exciting entertainment at reasonable prices, hence this second edition. I also took this opportunity to completely rewrite and edit the novel to better match other books in the series. You’ll find the new ebook edition at Amazon and Smashwords and its associated retailers, for $2.99, a bargain price compared to Infinity’s. You’ll also find a Create Space version of this second edition at $9.99 (if you have trouble locating this—Amazon confuses the editions—look for the cover that “shows leg.”)
Other books in the detective series. I will begin to end Amazon exclusivity for some of my ebooks by adding other books in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” to my Smashwords catalog. So far Amazon exclusivity hasn’t been a positive for me. In 2015, I sold more ebooks with Smashwords and its associated retailers. As long as this crazy business of having different ebook formats continues, I’ll continue this policy until all my ebooks are available on BOTH Amazon and Smashwords-or maybe just Smashwords for new ones (see above).
And, as budget permits, I’ll continue to add print versions. Bear with me. This is a slow process. It takes time and money. The first, of course, is just me setting my priorities, but bear in mind I also prefer writing a new book. The second depends on book sales—I finance my book business by spending my royalties on this website, new books, and generalizing the availability of the old books; and I always run in the red as a consequence.
Review policy. I have to keep repeating it here, so, if you’ve already read it, skip this item–or consider it a gentale reminder. Once upon a time, I reviewed almost anything I read. Stupid me: Amazon sold me a book; a few weeks later, they asked me to review it; and I generally did. But Amazon has turned the book reviewing process into a product evaluation process, and they do very little for indie authors. So, I owe Amazon nothing. But those old reviews are still out there, authors see them, and query me for a book review.
I get it. Finding reviewers for one’s books is a real slog. I’ve pretty much given up on it. While I might review a book I read for R&R and like enough, I don’t accept queries now. Sorry. You can query me indirectly at Bookpleasures.com where I do my “official reviewing.” The site has a team of reviewers; one of us might choose your book to review, but there are no guarantees. Moreover, it should be understood for any review we write that the review will be completely honest. We’ll say what we like and dislike and why. We’ll probably take more words to say it too. That’s more than you’ll usually get from any Amazon review.
In libris libertas….
February 21st, 2016 at 6:18 am
Steven, I agree with the authors not limiting their books on Amazon. I sell more books through Smashwords with their distributors and Google Play than Amazon. Many readers are now reading on their phones (my 80 year old Father being one of them) which is why my sales are rising in iBooks and Google Play. I never felt good about doing an Amazon Select program and having my eBooks there only, which is being validated with their constant policy changes. Amazon started to really devalue eBooks in their Kindle Unlimited program by paying the author half a penny for each page read. As an author I know how much work goes into each page and it’s certainly worth more than a half a cent! Authors can stop giving so much power to Amazon before they dominate books and become dictators of the publishing industry.
February 21st, 2016 at 7:07 am
Hi Pamela,
Thanks for your comment. It’s always nice to receive comments on a post.
Your information might explain why I’ve seen an uptick in sales among the retailers Smashwords distributes to (your father sounds incredible, by the way!). It turns out that Smashwords has a competitor now, Draft2Digital, but I see no advantage for them over Smashwords.
On the other hand, Kindle users tend to think of Amazon before Smashwords, even though the latter sells mobi formatted books too, so an author probably can’t forego the big A. I just don’t think exclusivity there buys the author anything these days. Not too long idea, the idea of give-aways and countdowns seemed like an advantage, but my ebooks are already reasonably priced. I only give them away in exchange for an honest review these days.
Best of luck with your books in 2016,
r/Steve
February 22nd, 2016 at 9:42 am
Good morning, Steve,
I can’t see any reason to stay exclusive with Amazon if it hasn’t worked for you. When I first put all my books into Select (granted, they’re mostly short stories and collections, with only two novellas), I saw a bump in the money from the KU pages read. (Anything over a couple bucks a month was a ‘bump’ in my case.) But I do not see additional downloads or even KU reads now. Every once in a while I get 200 or so KU pages read, which amounts to about a buck (actually more than I get if I sell a copy). If I had time and a catalog like yours, I would probably go wide and try to find where the SF/mystery/thriller readers are, and make sure I was there. Maybe it’s Smashwords.
As far as selling .mobis through Smashwords, I would probably not do so. do they distribute to Amazon? Or do you have to buy your mobis from the Smashwords site? If you have to get them via SW, I would make the effort to stay on Amazon. I know for me, I often buy books direct from my Kindle Fire. They make it easy to do so. I’ve always heard that being exclusive to AZ gives those writers more visibility on AZ than being wide did. But if that isn’t true, or if that is rendered meaningless, then it makes sense to go wide.
February 22nd, 2016 at 9:44 am
PS. One more thing. What I’ve heard about D2D is that their process for creating an ebook from the files you send them is much smoother and delivers a much better file to the reader, with less formatting problems (that readers will blame on the author, not on the distributor). But I don’t know much about it otherwise, except that they pay about the same and their customer service is excellent according to those using it.
February 22nd, 2016 at 9:53 am
Hi Scott,
Smashwords says they distribute to Amazon, but I see no evidence for that. They certainly offer mobis. The second paragraph in my response to Pamela is probably a good enough reason to stick with Amazon. But if they’re pulling the shenanigans you’ve suggested, that they give exclusive more visibility, that would make me terminate all dealings with Amazon.
Have you tried D2D? I looked at their meager list of testimonials and wasn’t impressed. My formatter gives me a wonderful personal attention. I’m reluctant to change without further evidence.
r/Steve
February 22nd, 2016 at 12:11 pm
While I’ve heard that KDP Select and KU participation give one a leg up on visibility on AZ, I see no evidence of it myself. THE INN is sitting at just over 1 million in the Kindle store. So maybe it’s just people who are doing well with it speculating that it’s part of the reason they’re doing well.
I have not used D2D because I haven’t had the time, energy, or inclination to go wide at the moment. I’m lucky I can get any writing done at all. (Spent the whole weekend on the phone with Apple Support (who were great, btw) trying to get our iMac backed up — nothing was working. I suspect we’re going to need a new computer but I need to get files copied and at the rate they’re copying to the external hard drive at the moment, it might be a week before I have them all backed up.)
February 22nd, 2016 at 12:11 pm
I meant to say that everything I’ve heard about D2D has been on The Passive Voice, from comments from authors who have used them.
February 22nd, 2016 at 12:38 pm
Scott,
You might appreciate the post about Apple I have scheduled for Thursday. I’ve been resisting the migration to Win 10. I had all kinds of problems with Win 8. (What happened to Win 9?)
The Passive Voice? I’ll check them out. (I don’t like the name. It should be active, not passive, and, in writing, the latter is used too much.)
r/Steve
February 22nd, 2016 at 5:04 pm
He’s an attorney who has done some work with publishing contracts, and mostly he posts articles from around the web. He occasionally comments on them himself. Most of the “action” is in the comments, for certain topics. There are a group of regular posters, including Konrath (on occasion), Hugh Howey (depending on the topic) and his partner in Author Earnings Data Guy, Steve Zacharius from Kensington, and others. Occasionally Lee Child has chimed in. It can be somewhat infuriating at times, because there are a few regular commenters who are pretty didactic, in that they are usually right and everyone else is looking at things the wrong way, but most of the time it’s interesting. (Oh, the attorney/host goes by Passive Guy on the blog, and rarely steps in unless the comments get very heated or something. It’s an interesting community.)
February 23rd, 2016 at 7:37 am
Scott,
I visited the site. It shares a problem I see at other sites, including mine. At least I’ll admit to it: stats are mostly anecdotal or from questionable sources (the big stat studies come from trad pubbers or their sycophant book barns and are completely biased). So all these posts are really op-eds. The players you mention tell me that the comments are too.
I stopped commenting on Konrath’s site, for example, because it’s always the SOS. Yeah, we know trad pubbers want to destroy us, Amazon sucks (or doesn’t), agents are pariahs, etc, etc. None of the vitriol makes a bit of difference. If I succumb to it myself, it’s just venting–non-productive whining.
The bottom line is that publishing, whether indie or otherwise, is too much like winning the lottery. Ignoring the potential for graft and corruption in both, it’s just a gauntlet (in the old Native American sense) that an author has to run through if s/he wants to tell a good story. In that sense, we’re dinosaurs, and streaming video and video games represent the asteroid falling on us to complete our extinction.
r/Steve