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This is why it's almost impossible for new authors!

29K views 195 replies 77 participants last post by  Used To Be BH 
#1 ·
I did an experiment this week.

I launched a new book (first in a new series) with total radio silence.

I didn't tell anyone.

And you know what happened? NOTHING!

No sales, no reads, and straight down the charts it fell.

Now, usually when I put a new book out I can expect a few hundred sales in the first day or two (from my mailing list), which kicks in my also-boughts, which tickle the amazon algo's. Then I announce it to the wider world (twitter/facebook) and a few ads start running to keep numbers up.

This time I think I might have put it on my facebook page.... Yes, I did. But no boosted post.

And it occurred to me that this is exactly how a new author would start. With an announcement on facebook and no list to get them going.

So, how do they get visible? I guess you need to spend some money and give away a ton of free copies so you can build up your list. And then, maybe next time it will be better?


 
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#2 ·
I started a new pen name at the end of last year, no mailing list nothing but AMS ads and enrolled in KU. Those two things are the only way for a brand new author to get visibility. That and choosing the right subcats!

It was a test book. It did better than expected and after book 2 was out, I did small ads (Fussy Librarian and a few others) to keep it visible.

It's much harder than it was a few years ago.

ETA:
I'v never set the books to free but I have done KCDs @ $0.99

I currently have 3 subscribers on my mailing list YAY!!!
I'm growing this one slowly but surely :)
 
#6 ·
Does a falling tree make a sound if no one is present to hear it?

Back in 2012, I launched my first book and had $24 in sales. Over the next couple of years, I managed to consistently sell $100-200 a month as I published a 5-book series. Then I didn't publish anything for almost two years, but I did start promoting my books at least once a month. I still remember my first $500 dollar month, and then nine months later my first $1,000 month.

When I finally published a new book, I spent $300 on a cover (about what I spent total on the first 5) and $700 on ads and promos for a big launch. I sold $1,700 that month, and $6,000 the next month. The old series sold more in that time than it ever had.

Publishing is either a hobby or a business. If you're happy with $200 months, don't worry about promotion or ads or newsletters.
 
#7 ·
I have been in this business for less than a year and though I never discuss numbers for various reasons, I am paying my bills by writing. I mostly lurk here on this forum, but one question I never see people ask or talk about is  "Who is my customer?"  That is one of the most important questions you need to ask.  Once you figure that out, your sales will increase with your next book. Until then, it will be a matter of throwing more money at ads to sell a book to customers you don't know.
 
#8 ·
This is a complete guess, but how likely is it that Amazon's system rewards individual books based on how fast the total number of titles for a given author are published?

For example, let's suppose an author writes a book a month. The first four books don't get any significant visibility, but all of a sudden, book five trips the system and all five books are suddenly more visible than they would otherwise be via also-boughts or what have you. That would explain the sudden spike in sales some authors see when they are early in a series release: sales spikes that are otherwise inexplicable given what we know about the release cycle for any individual new title.

This would do two things. One, it would reward authors who are taking their writing seriously from a commercial standpoint and two, it would keep the tops of the lists clear of the one-offs that aren't likely to generate sustained sales because they don't have any follow-ons.

We all know series do well. It's rather likely Amazon does too, so what if they set up their system to reward the publishing format that sells best?
For that matter, what's stopping them from applying these automatic incentives to certain top-selling genres? They have all the numbers. Perhaps they simply base their incentives on what works. The authors that are now writing three titles at a time and then doing a superfast release of all three might find they have an advantage this way.

So then from an author standpoint the contest is just like my fictional space fleet's motto: Whoever gets there firstest with the mostest wins. ;)
 
#9 ·
To be fair, yes, it took years for my books to take off, but things were still easier back then.

In 2009, when I first started publishing, you could legit make $$ with a crappy cover. It took ages for me to get good enough with my cover-making skills, and that was fine. I had time to fail and dust myself off and keep trying, and eventually, tweaking one series, it finally caught. Amazon algos were also different, and things could build slowly over months. Also, there was just way less noise. No one else was self-publishing in 2009. It was pre-Amanda Hocking. So, I mean, you were a bigger percentage of the pie. Plus, there was no KU, and B&N was more robust, and permafree was just a thing that just worked. Make a book free, make $2K. Cha-ching. Like that. And the best places to advertise your books? They took you for FREE and made all their money off affiliate sales from Amazon. It was tres easier. Just was. Life isn't fair. If that discourages you, stop trying to be a writer. It will break you.

Now, all that said, I have been publishing for, wow, NINE years? And, um, I have amassed no real audience in this time, due to my very amazing ability to switch genres like a mofo, and some other general bad luck, like my UF name just, like, dying for no reason I can figure. But I just launched a book into the top 10,000 with a mailing list of 200, only 11 of which even opened the damned email. I'm in the hole, of course, ;).

Anyway, so having gotten a head start has only helped me, I think, in the way that I have more knowledge and skills. And having a backlist that I can sometimes exploit. I feel like I am starting from scratch with practically every book. And that can still work.
 
#11 ·
There's no perfectly reliable formula for a book or series taking off. Each one is a roll of the dice. The odds get better as you release more books, as you improve covers and writing and metadata and all that--but it's all just odds.

Even if the odds are ever in your favor, you still might get killed before you even grab a weapon, so to speak.

My experiences mirror sela and brK. First book, almost nothing. By book 5, earnings were consistently in the three figures per month. By book 7, four figures. By book 10, 5 figures. All the time I was doing everything I could, plowing every dime I made, back into promos, better covers, re-edits, keyword improvement, ads, everything we all try before we find what works for us.

If you genuinely want to make this a career, or at least a part-time job, writing more books increases your odds enormously, but you never know if sales will take off at book 1, book 3, book 5 or book 10--or never.
 
#12 ·
Thanks for the valuable thread!  There is a lot of good info here that answered a lot of my questions.  I've gone through slogs for years trying to figure out my own drawbacks, and it's nice to know we're not alone.  I just recently tried a non-fiction release and will be doing something more crime noir/pulp/Lovecraftian here soon, that I, ironically, found was the most damn fun I ever had writing.  It was the easiest for me too, and I found I could easily write in that genre for several books.  Of course the category might be questionable, but at least my backlist is growing.  Best of luck to everyone and their sales!     
 
#13 ·
There are lots of ways to promote that don't cost money - from your email signature to building a free website. I use a free Google site and have for years. I even use a free Google doc to let people sign up for my mailing list. Then post a free chapter on your website, serial post a chapter on Facebook, and look for sites that let you post a free chapter or even the whole book. Just be sure you have a website set up that they can visit, and if not, the site you post to lets you include a link to your sales page(s). If you learn to build a site yourself, it's easy to update. Don't forget that Amazon lets you share the sample of your work on your website, which is easier than posting the chapters yourself.

In case you didn't know about it, on the Amazon sales page where you book is listed, on the right hand sidebar, is Click on that, copy and past the link, and embed it in your website. It's really very cool.

Public Bookshelf is a great place for romance authors to post their work for free. I'm sure there are more, but I can't remember the names.
 
#14 ·
Literally THOUSANDS of books are self-pubbed every day.  Anyone who expects to publish a book and see it start to sell on it's own is living in a dream world.

A friend of mine published a book, but would only give me a hint about the topic and one word that was in the title.  I knew it had been published one of two days... I did an advanced search on Amazon specifically for books published on those two days with this one word in the title.

I went through 1204 books published on those days... and never found it.

If you aren't planning to market your books, they'll sit on the pile with all the other books.  Some real, some mass-produced junk... there's no way for readers to find one random book they know nothing about.
 
#15 ·
I liken it to building sites to rank in Google.

Back in 2000, you could build a five-page site with crap content, manufacture a few "powered" (high pagerank) links, and rank for competitive keywords within days. Cost: less than $50.

By 2006, you needed to build a bigger site with higher-quality content, and develop a broad, relevant backlink profile to rank. And even then, establishing a persistent footing at the top could take weeks. Cost: more than $500.

Today, you need to build an authority site with deep content that attracts tons of links. Establishing a persistent footing can take more than a year. Cost: $5,000+

Indie publishing is similar. Building a fanbase takes a lot of time and/or money. Authors who lack a stable fanbase will find it increasingly hard to compete for visibility.
 
#16 ·
I had the same thing... people quivering over making their site live on a specific date and time... and being incredibly disappointed that people didn't instantly flock to it.

I guess people think that because a thing exists... other people will know it's there and want it.

The big trend for a while (and possibly still is ) is finding "hungry categories" where there aren't enough books.  In those cases, you might be able to just put it out there and have the people who rake those categories for new titles snap it up... but with the flood of ebooks, I don't think there are many of those left.
 
#17 ·
It's true, there are many ways to do it better than I did this time. I've forgotten them all because I've been an author now for (gasp at self realization) five years!

Five years... and I have a lot of books to show for it. So when I launch I kind of take that experience for granted. I know what to do, and I do it without thinking. Except this time... this time I didn't.

And it SUCKED!

now, I've put myself in a position where I'm going to have to scramble to recover. Which is kinda fun. I'm going to try some list swaps which I haven't done a lot of before. (So, if you're looking for a YA list swap then hit me with a pm). And I'm going to have to work hard at motivating my Review Crew to be quick.

It's a really good lesson actually. It shows me how far I've come but also to take nothing for granted. It's tough out there without back up!
 
#18 ·
I launched a new book this week, too. It wasn't an experiment to see how things work, though. I always set up my preorder first and I have like two die hard fans who purchase my preorders immediately (I have no idea who these people are).

I emailed like... 1/10th of my email list, but I didn't get anymore preorders. I did, however, get a handful of purchases day-of. I screwed up my AMS ads, so they didn't kick in as normal. I screwed up scheduling the book so it wasn't distributed wide as normal (I am direct everywhere except iBooks.. but I actually get a fair amount of sales on iBooks).

I'm a new fiction author. I did short stories for a few months before taking time to write something full length. I don't know how a person would get any visibility if they don't at least build an email list beforehand. For the record, I built my list to 300 subscribers using Instafreebie's free month trial (I feel so cheap right now). I'm only saying it because I assume a lot of new authors start out with zero money to spend on advertising.
 
G
#19 ·
Wow! Another timely thread just for me. I can't thank you all enough. I must admit that I'm more than overwhelmed right now with all that has to be done with the launch of my first YA. I don't have the best health so I only do what I like doing or have to do. For my previous books, I've done little to no marketing and they're all in print.

But this is my first YA. I don't want it to tank. Should I enroll in KDP Select? I'm a slow writer, and it's not like I'll be able to have another YA out in 3 months. And I'm worried that if I give away the book for free, Amazon will not count it as a sale. I'm not planning on releasing it on other platforms, not right now anyway, because there's so much to learn just with the kindle. So I think, I should enroll in KDPS. Thoughts? What is the one thing I should do? One thing I shouldn't?

Things in my favor: I'm already established as a children's writer and have a children's writing community I've been a part of for 14 yrs (Blueboards, now the SCBWI message board). Been blogging for 10. My plan is to release the ebook next week--let my family and friends know and go from there. Formatting the print book is a bear. Just when I think I've figured out one thing, there's another thing I need to fix. Gah. But I know too many people who will not read ebooks, so I have to have the print. Besides, it's my first novel and I want to hold my bookbaby too. I know, I know, vanity.

Thanks for posting your experiment Evenstar. I hope you are able to climb back up to the top. Vijaya
 
#20 ·
. . . one question I never see people ask or talk about is "Who is my customer?" That is one of the most important questions you need to ask.
This is most often covered as "write to market", so no, you won't specifically see people talking about "customer". I think it's important to know where your customers hang out when it comes to buying ads. If your readers are a niche of Romance, promoting in a children's book email list won't get you very far.
 
#22 ·
Wowers. I am certainly getting an education reading Kboards. As a noobie coming from scriptwriting sniffing the eBook airs...one more time, WOWERS. I can't even imagine spending the money or energy quoted here to cast my little buffalo chip of an ebook into the fire hose of new issues gushing forth daily over at Amazon, et al. For those of you who have cracked the code and made a buck in this arena, I salute you.
 
#24 ·
MyraScott said:
Anyone who expects to publish a book and see it start to sell on it's own is living in a dream world.
This simply isn't true. I've had a book go to a rank of 7,000 by merely pressing "publish." It happened within 2 days. The only reason it died was a bad review came in :) In my experiments, I've had a few other books go to 30,000 with no ads, no email list, no pre-existing audience, no nothing. Brand new pen names. I'm sure many others have gone even higher.

It all depends on genre, cover, and blurb.
 
#25 ·
Over the past year or so, I have seen (personal observation) fewer people have out of the gate successes with algorithm-driven sales and far more people wondering why their sales (and more importantly, their incomes) have vanished.

IMO, the connecting issue here is: audience.

If you're a purely algorithm-driven seller, your tools are KU, 99c sales and lots of ads. It's very crowded there and those things don't actually make a lot of money unless your sales are really good.

Some people manage to build up a loyal audience in this way because their books strike a long-term chord with a good-sized audience. Those are the ones we see continuing to do well in KU. For most, however, it's a short term ride. Not having built a huge audience, and having ceded the way to reach that audience to Amazon, these writers struggle to recapture their success.

IMO the answer to selling well lies not in: how did writer A trick the algorithms to make $20,000 in the first month of starting with a new pen name. It is: how did writer B manage to continue paying the mortgage even though he published no new books in three years?

Audience.

Finding it. Continuing to expand it. Retaining it for your own use, and re-use.

When you start a pen name you throw away the audience you've built. And since purely algorithm-driven successes seem to be a lot rarer these days, you'll probably sink without a trace.
 
#26 ·
Evenstar said:
I did an experiment this week.

I launched a new book (first in a new series) with total radio silence.

I didn't tell anyone.

And you know what happened? NOTHING!

No sales, no reads, and straight down the charts it fell.
I launched my first book in 2015, no promotion - got a few full reads a couple sales in the first day or two. Another first in series in 2016, and that had reads before I promoted it. I just launched a new first in series a few days ago, and, exactly like you said - nothing. For the record, I have some promotions lined up, but nothing in the first few days.

So yeah, I'm really glad you started this thread, because I was beginning to think there was something wrong with my new book... now I can at least leave the panicking until after I see how the promotions go.
 
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