Author Topic: Are you an author? Add yourself to our KB AUTHORS PAGE! (Read 399800 times) Tweet

swolf · « **Reply #25 on:** June 28, 2013, 06:00:32 pm »

Would we have to list pen names separately, or combine them under one name?

My vote is for combining. All of my pen names are a sum total of my efforts.

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JRTomlin · « **Reply #26 on:** June 28, 2013, 06:06:50 pm »

Quote from: Harvey on June 28, 2013, 05:50:31 pm

Thank you all for the helpful responses!

Sounds like honor system is the only way to go. I would like to dissuade that very small minority of authors who might try to game the list by overstating their sales... but don't know how to do that. Perhaps the suggestion about having them provide their story about how they got to that milestone might be enough.

I think we have a consensus that it should be total sales from all outlets.
And, the milestones would pertain to *all* books from that author; e.g. combined sales.
The milestone would be lifetime milestones (i.e not yearly sales totals)

Most people seem to prefer it be indie-only. My own preference is that it include any author who is a registered KB member. Probably more discussion is needed on this point.

The milestone number should *not* include freebies.

- Add to the number of milestone levels - I think this could be done although if the number is low, like 10, I think it would be administratively onerous to keep the list current. But maybe we could add a few levels, like:

1,000
10,000
50,000
100,000
250,000
500,000
750,000
1,000,000

- Badges - I like that idea! I can play with a few designs and post them here for your review.

- As authors move from one milestone to the next, they would be deleted from the lower level list and added to the higher.

- Need to think about how to make it efficient for authors to report their milestones. Maybe a reply to this thread is all that is needed, for starters, with:
  * author name (and include pen names) * total ebooks sold
  * date first ebook was sold
* number of distinct titles
  * approx breakdown by outlet (Amazon, BN, Kobo, Apple, etc) if available
  * your story - a few words about how you reached that milestone

Thanks for the great ideas; please keep them coming and we'll get this implemented.

Some of us are WAY lazy, Harvey, so I suggest not forcing me to give a breakdown. I would have to go back to dig that up and simply wouldn't do it. I doubt I'm the only one.

I'm doing well to know my total; in fact at the moment, I don't.

KBoards Admin · « **Reply #27 on:** June 28, 2013, 06:11:37 pm »

Quote from: swolf on June 28, 2013, 06:00:32 pm

Would we have to list pen names separately, or combine them under one name?

My vote is for combining. All of my pen names are a sum total of my efforts.

I agree; one author could combine results from multiple pen names into one total.

KBoards Admin · « **Reply #28 on:** June 28, 2013, 06:12:32 pm »

Quote from: JRTomlin on June 28, 2013, 06:06:50 pm

Some of us are WAY lazy, Harvey, so I suggest not forcing me to give a breakdown. I would have to go back to dig that up and simply wouldn't do it. I doubt I'm the only one.

I'm doing well to know my total; in fact at the moment, I don't.

I agree.

Another interesting piece of info might be genre(s).

But I think this needs to be very administratively easy for authors to submit, so we shouldn't ask for much info.

Sam Winterwood · « **Reply #29 on:** June 28, 2013, 06:31:53 pm »

I like the idea of a larger spread of numbers, starting at 1,000. (So its an achievable goal. Mainly because I still haven't published anything yet. Soon! I swear!)

Honour system: Yes.

Also agree with the breakdown of how many titles. Purely out of interest to see a relationship to number of titles sold against number of books for sale. I may be wrong (still early into the self publishing thing) but I imagine there would a more books = high sales correlation (not as a rule, but generally speaking)

KBoards Admin · « **Reply #30 on:** June 28, 2013, 06:35:19 pm »

Quote from: h.m. ward on June 28, 2013, 05:53:58 pm

Do it! And put a little cake or something next to the user name at certain milestones. it'd b cool to see it at a glance in the forum.

Hmm.... neat idea, Holly. Maybe for version 1.1...!

scribblr · « **Reply #31 on:** June 28, 2013, 06:40:41 pm »

Quote from: Harvey on June 28, 2013, 05:53:39 pm

(I do agree it's meaningful economically!)

IMHO, it's far more important than that. It speaks of author ability to establish a viable fanbase and develop credibility as a real author. Anyone can sell ten thousand copies of thirty-page poke and stroke books at 99 cents. Selling ten thousand full length novels at $9.99 is major accomplishment. If you ignore the size of the books, and the cost per, the sales numbers are virtually meaningless.

CJArcher · « **Reply #32 on:** June 28, 2013, 06:44:12 pm »

Love this idea! I agree with those who suggested the honour system. Screen shots of all the different dashboards will be a pain. I think putting in the number of titles and genres would be great too.

I can't wait to see the list!

Betsy the Quilter · « **Reply #33 on:** June 28, 2013, 06:46:28 pm »

Reader/long time member here...

Is this something for authors to look at? In other words, just to celebrate growth and progress?

Or is it something for readers to consider? Or both?

If it's something readers might be interested in, as one of those readers, I'd vote for KB authors whether trad or indie or hybrid. (Which would Hugh fall under? Bella Andre?) To me, the qualifier should be KB author.

And again, if it's something for readers to consider when looking for authors, I'd vote for not so many divisions and to not start too low. Harvey, you first described it as "KB Best Selling Authors" not "KB Authors by sales rank." As for badges, JRT, you wouldn't HAVE to use them.

I think the honor system would work pretty well. Based on what I've seen here the last five years, anyone inflating their sales would probably be called out pretty quickly. The members here seem to be able to tell pretty well based on sales rank what the sales probably are. (Granted, authors who have a lot of pen names and a lot of books would be harder to judge, but it seems to me their peers know who they are.)

Just some random thoughts. I do like the idea of celebrating our members who have success...as we try to do when announcing the Kindle Daily Deals...

Betsy

Joe_Nobody · « **Reply #34 on:** June 28, 2013, 06:51:29 pm »

While I'm always happy to participate in the "sales" threads, I always feel like part of my accomplishment is left out of the equation.

For example, my 11,000 books in May ranked on 55th on Soph's list, yet I was the only person on the list selling books at $9.99.

I'm not saying it's "bad" or less of an accomplishment to sell 100,000 at .99 versus my 10K at 9.99 - I don't think the "bias" should go either direction.

Kay Bratt · « **Reply #35 on:** June 28, 2013, 06:56:22 pm »

*Big reminder that we are almost into July and I have no idea of my sales for the year.

Even so, it sounds like another great idea, Harvey.

Monique · « **Reply #36 on:** June 28, 2013, 07:07:49 pm »

Very good questions, Betsy.

gonedark · « **Reply #37 on:** June 28, 2013, 11:20:30 pm »

Content removed due to TOS Change of 2018. I do not agree to the terms.

jenminkman · « **Reply #38 on:** June 29, 2013, 02:34:28 am »

Great idea! I recently hit the 1,000 milestone when I published my second book (it's true; somehow it really helps with sales if you have more out there than just one title!). Question: do we count borrowed books (KOLL) on Kindle as sales too?

Jan Hurst-Nicholson · « **Reply #39 on:** June 29, 2013, 03:04:21 am »

Great idea

.
I think it's a long stretch between 10 000 and 50 000 and agree that a 25 000 milestone should be included (nothing to do with me having just passed that post

)
The number of books is also important.
Although the price point is important for income, I think the number of readers is equally important. Personally, I'd rather have more readers

.

KellyHarper · « **Reply #40 on:** June 29, 2013, 04:35:16 am »

Where will this list be maintained? I think that will help you answer who the intended audience is. (I view the "Writer's Cafe" to be for writers... not readers...)

I think that any authors with publishing deals should, essentially, have an asterisk denoting such. Nothing too specific, just something that indicates to the other writers that "Hey, this guy has some sort of publishing deal."

I'd also angle for a bit more of a breakdown...

1k, 5k, 10k, 25k, 50k, 100k, 250k, 500k, 1M

I'd even be a fan of 500, but it may not hold up to a cost/benefit discussion.

Zelah Meyer · « **Reply #41 on:** June 29, 2013, 05:13:42 am »

When it comes to whether to include trad sales as well as indie - personally I vote for KB members. If you do decide to make it indie/small pub based - then it's worth speaking to Julie, because she's already gone through the deliberations on what does/doesn't count as indie for her ebook awards.

One way to handle the sales/revenue issue - is to make the bands dual purpose - e.g. "1,000 sales or $2,000 in royalties" (that royalty figure is pulled out of the air - but I'm sure that someone could figure out a fair equivalent for each sales milestone.)

I'd suggest covering all the other stuff, like how long someone has been publishing, number of titles/pen-names, etc. under a text field where the author can add the details that they are happy to share. You could give a list of suggested things to mention - but leave it up to them whether they want to give that info.

Joseph Turkot · « **Reply #42 on:** June 29, 2013, 07:31:48 am »

If this goes the way of badges, I produced some concept ideas in Photoshop this morning. Of course, these would be a lot smaller.

Caddy · « **Reply #43 on:** June 29, 2013, 07:59:01 am »

More categories at lower numbers as notes
Indies only
PAID only
I would like to see it divided by book price, too. I agree that it is a lot easier to achieve some milestones at .99 but that doesn't necessarily mean you are earning a living. For instance, I would have to sell 11 at .99 to make the same money I make for one $4.99 sale. So, if I sell 20,000 at $4.99 that's a lot bigger accomplishment. In fact, 11 times bigger. $6,600 in royalies at .99 but $70,00 at $4.99. A huge difference. One you can live on, the other you can't.

Or, it it's too complicated to divide by bookprice, at least indicate what price the books were sold at the majority of the time. That gives us some valuable information. Maybe so and so sold 10 times more...but isn't making as much money, etc. For some of us we won't care about the money. Some of us, though, do want to make a living and it helps to see how many actually do.

Pnjw · « **Reply #44 on:** June 29, 2013, 07:59:41 am »

Quote from: h.m. ward on June 28, 2013, 05:53:58 pm

Do it! And put a little cake or something next to the user name at certain milestones. it'd b cool to see it at a glance in the forum.

I love this idea!

Pnjw · « **Reply #45 on:** June 29, 2013, 08:03:58 am »

I think it's important to keep the list manageable for the KB admins. I suspect a breakdown by price would make it somewhat messy and hard to keep track of.

And if we're talking lifetime sales, I suspect there is going to be a huge number at the 1000 books mark. And that's a great thing, just something to think about for how much effort will be needed to maintain the lists.

Marti talbott · « **Reply #46 on:** June 29, 2013, 08:22:21 am »

I can see how this could turn into a massive undertaking. I love the idea, but it is going to be hard to include all the requested information. I think if people want to see price and genre, they can check for themselves.

However, when everyone has had a say, perhaps a poll asking for the top five things each would like to see included. Maybe simplicity is better in the long run.

54706 · « **Reply #47 on:** June 29, 2013, 09:02:00 am »

I just want to suggest something to help you manage the data....

Google docs. You can make a form for people to fill in and it will dynamically add the data to a spreadsheet that you can work with online or download to Excel. I know you have assistants in your business here, so it might be helpful to have something that can be group-accessed. It's great because it can be manipulated like an Excel sheet, with sorting, averaging, graphs, charts, blah, blah, awesomeness, blah.

Here's an example of the type of form you can make. Recently sophrosyne did one as well to track monthly indie sales too. I use this resource for doing my massive indie book giveaways too.

http://ellecasey.com/book-bloggers/

Rykymus · « **Reply #48 on:** June 29, 2013, 09:02:28 am »

I vote digital self-pub sales only. Although we discuss all aspects of self publishing, this is "kboards" (the focus is on the "k").

I also vote nothing more than the lifetime sales. Your name and your lifetime sales when you hit a mark on the salesometer.

The name of the thread is the "Sales Milestones", not the "Complete Statistical Representation of Self-Published Authors by Price, Genre, Pen Names, and Vendor." (Or the CSRSPAPGPNV)

The purpose is to combine milestones into one inspirational thread. Anything more will make it an administrative nightmare, and will contribute to comparisons with one another, which is never healthy.

Just my 2 cents.

KevinH · « **Reply #49 on:** June 29, 2013, 09:13:38 am »

I like this idea, but I don't think it needs to be complicated. I would be in favor of listing the lifetime sales milestones (probably starting at 1000) for paid sales of indie and hybrid authors. I think other factors like prices, genres, etc. will distort the meaning behind the accomplishment.

Selling books is hard in any genre, so I'd rather focus more on celebrating the successes rather than finding reasons to put an asterisk by someone's name (eg, the-book-was-only-99-cents, anyone-can-sell-in-that-genre, etc.).

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