[L M May]

I recently published a title on Amazon Kindle and am wondering if it is worthwhile spending gazillions of hours promoting instead of writing the next book.

I work full-time and have a child so I am kind of time poor.

My book has been 'live' for eleven days and has sold 53 copies in the US and 5 in the UK. I haven't done much in the way of promoting yet (I have a few sample chapters on Wattpad)

I listed it for $0.99 to start with in the hopes of getting a few reviews before I put the price up. But at this rate it will take me a year to get enough reviews to help sell it. (I read somewhere that only a very small percent of people review, about a few in a thousand). I only have two so far, and one of them is from a reader who read the story on Wattpad.

I am wondering if putting the price up will affect sales negatively

I am also wondering what sort of sales are 'normal' and about things like pricing. I don't think really expected to sell this many yet. I have a children's title under another name that only sells about 20 copies a month.

Damn there is a lot to think about when you publish - writing the story is the easy part. The selling and promoting side is hard and confusing.

 

[JRTomlin]

I recently published a title on Amazon Kindle and am wondering if it is worthwhile spending gazillions of hours promoting instead of writing the next book.

I work full-time and have a child so I am kind of time poor.

My book has been 'live' for eleven days and has sold 53 copies in the US and 5 in the UK. I haven't done much in the way of promoting yet (I have a few sample chapters on Wattpad)

I listed it for $0.99 to start with in the hopes of getting a few reviews before I put the price up. But at this rate it will take me a year to get enough reviews to help sell it. --am(I read somewhere that only a very small percent of people review, about a few in a thousand). I only have two so far, and one of them is from a reader who read the story on Wattpad.

I am wondering if putting the price up will affect sales negatively

I am also wondering what sort of sales are 'normal' and about things like pricing. I don't think really expected to sell this many yet. I have a children's title under another name that only sells about 20 copies a month.

d*mn there is a lot to think about when you publish - writing the story is the easy part. The selling and promoting side is hard and confusing.

You might try registering as an author at LibraryThing. They allow e-book review giveaways. Too be frank, most people who get it still don't review but I found some always did and it was a big help in getting those first reviews. No, I don't think it is helpful to spend a gazillion hours marketing. A couple of hours a week isn't a bad idea, but the best marketing really is that next book and the one after that. And the one after that.

ETA: I agree with Todd that you've done well as a start, much better than I did my first month as a matter of fact.

 

[Todd Young]

53 copies in 11 days sounds like a great start to me. I'd be happy with that and spend your time writing you next work.

 

[Guest]

Yeah 53 copies in 11 days for a new author, is very high, even if it's at 99 cents. I haven't made a sale outside of people I already know, that wasn't bounced off a select promotion. There's been fuzz that you get way more sales at 99 cents than 2.99, maybe it's true.

 

[TJHudson]

As everyone else has said, those 53 sales are good!

If writing is easier for you then it's obvious, keep writing!

 

[cblewgolf]

Do a search (upper right hand corner) for threads on "February sales" or "January sales".  You'll see 4-5 pages of authors sharing their sales #'s.  As far as raising the price, are you in it for the $$ or readers?  I'd try out the $.99 price for a little bit and see if you can get some positive reviews.

 

[Brad__W]

I recently published a title on Amazon Kindle and am wondering if it is worthwhile spending gazillions of hours promoting instead of writing the next book.

I put my first book up in October last year and it has been selling well (almost along the same lines as yours with an increase every time I release a new book). Sure, I've done no promotion and only focus on writing the next one, and then the next, etc... and at some point I'll take a break and do some selected promotion (perhaps), but for the moment I'm focussed on getting more out to build up the backlist and range of book series/products available. In a sense that's a form of promotion too and it costs nothing but the time to write and publish....

 

[bmcox]

One of your readers already gave you this answer:

"Please don't take too long with the next book I have a love hate relationship with series and hate waiting for the next instalment."

They're hungry. Get to writing!

 

[David Alastair Hayden]

Just write.

When you have at least two, maybe three, books up, start doing a bit of advertising of the effective types. Not Twitter blasting. Bookbub for example. Because the thing about promotion is it works better and advertising is more valuable when you have multiple books.

 

[L M May]

Thanks for the great advice everyone. Seems like the general consensus is to keep writing! And very good advice that is too It is so easy to get distracted by all the things people are saying you 'should do' if you know what I mean. I see authors tweeting and Facebooking their little hearts out, but after a while I tend to just glaze over it, to be honest.

@JRTomlin - thanks, I will have to look into that, though I have had a few reviews come in (all favourable so far which has made me so giddy with happiness it is not funny). And thanks I just hope it keeps up. It is so damn nerve wracking. I almost wish I would get my first bad review now so I can get it over and done with. Gah - probably just jinxed myself.

@Todd Young - thank you. I wasn't at all sure what to expect when I first published it and it was so nice to see people buying my work. I didn't realise that a lot of people are only selling one every other day until I mentioned my sales, so I feel very fortunate.

@ ShaneJeffery - thanks. It will certainly be interesting to see what happens. I nervously raised my price to $1.99 after getting a few reviews, and my sales actually went up believe it or not. I was averaging 4.8 books a day, and now my average is 8.6 with today being my best day (26 copies). Though that is probably more likely because it is starting to show up in the 'what others bought thingy'.

@TJHudson lol, I think I will do that! And just hope those sales keep coming

@cblewgolf - I will do! I am so curious about what is and isn't working for others and how much they are selling. Thank you. I didn't realise there was a thread like that. As to am I in it for the $$$ or the readers, both!! Actually I want to start slowly and build up reviews (assuming good ones keep coming in and I didn't just have a lucky streak). I have had 3 reviews come in on the US site, and one on the UK site. Though one of them was a girl who read my story on Wattpad, and then bought the ebook as soon as I posted that it was published. I didn't even know she had read it until then and it completely blew me away that she did that (it was my first review). Needless to say I have been so giddy I can hardly think straight. It is amazing how many things a review from someone we don't know can make us feel. Best high I have ever experienced.

@Brad__W - it is good to see that there is an increase with every book for you. I only hope the same happens to me Now I just have to finish the next one and stop getting so sidetracked.

@bmcox - that made me laugh seeing a quote from one of the reviews, and you are right!! I should get to writing instead of procrastinating! Nicely said, BTW.

@David Alastair Hayden - that is probably a good idea actually, to get a few books under my belt first. But like many others I am impatient, and just need to make myself slow down a little I think before I lose sight of the bigger picture. I am still on that initial high, and finding it hard to focus.

 

[Lisa Grace]

Just write.

When you have at least two, maybe three, books up, start doing a bit of advertising of the effective types. Not Twitter blasting. Bookbub for example. Because the thing about promotion is it works better and advertising is more valuable when you have multiple books.

This. Write your next book. Don't spend more than an hour a week promoting your book to 99 cent webpage promo places.

 

[scottmarlowe]

This. Write your next book. Don't spend more than an hour a week promoting your book to 99 cent webpage promo places.

Agreed. I spent a bit too much time promo'ing my 2nd book and it really started to eat into writing time. I'm getting close on the third book now, but it should have been done months ago.

Your sales numbers so far sound pretty good. So, congrats.

 

[Guest]

Here's another voice telling you to just keep writing.

My philosophy from the beginning has been that promotion is useless unless I have something to promote.  I started self-publishing two years ago, and I've got thirteen ebooks up now (4 novels, 5 novellas/novelettes, 3 short stories, and 1 nonfiction).  Until now, the only real "promotion" I've done has been that scifi cyber-monday thing we did back in November and some guest posts, mostly because I've been blogging for the last seven years and enjoy doing it.

That said, perma-free works ... IF the story that's permanently free is the first in a series, and a complete story in its own right.  I've been using the perma-free strategy for some time now, and it's definitely led to interest in my other works.

So yeah, focus on writing and don't worry about promotion until you've got ten or twenty books out.  With minimal promotion, I'm earning enough that I have to start worrying about self-employment taxes.  It's a slow build for most of us, but the only way to build anything is to WRITE.

Best of luck.

 

[Colin Taber]

Yep, keep writing.

I also spent too much time promoting (or agonising over sales and sales reports), instead of getting the next book out.

Simply, your readers want more books, so get to it!

 

[Rykymus]

JUST KEEP WRITING! (Especially if it is a series.) Like Joe said, you've got to have product to promote. The only promotion I do is to maintain a mailing list (which is very little effort) and to occasionally post something on the series' facebook page. (Usually, I'm responding to someone.) That's it. I've been at it for about 15 months and have 6 titles and 1 omnibus out and I sell between 200 - 400 books per day, depending on how recently I released a new episode. But I feed the beast every 3-4 months, and that's the key. JUST KEEP WRITING! (Oh yeah, and write well.)

 

[DCBourone]

Rank amateur at this but afraid clever targeted promotion almost essential.

Just writing more books, not sure it is good enough.

Have seen several exceptional authors here whose numbers directly correlate to their last
"promotion" and then rapidly fall.

We all know of authors with massive numbers who write derivative dreck.

Assumed that Kindle Single-hood would produce some measure of steady sales.

Absolutely not.

Key to sales seems to be 1. Book is "good enough" 2. CRITICAL: book is in a searchable, definable
genre, word of mouth not so useful if customers like, but cannot briefly describe 3. Exposure name/title
in as many venues as possible--a total abstraction here, I know more about the temperature of solar
flares. 4. Many notable successes, and certainly not the best writers, have very effectively leveraged
social networking established BEFORE publishing.  Pre-set fan base clearly a huge positive.

Do a search here on Joe Nobody: he has done a hugely successful job of linking genre, name recognition,
promoting.

 

[WG McCabe]

Well, after a month she's sitting at 6889 overall and her sales are beginning to double. She must be doing something right. Write another book and raise the price on the first to $2.99.

 

[Rykymus]

Sorry, but clever targeted promotion is not "essential". However, a good product, and by that I mean one that a lot of people want to read, IS essential. When starting out, even if your promotions are successful in creating sales, you will get little return on your efforts as you do not have multiple "products" to sell. Would you open a store with only one item on the shelf?

If your goal is to make as much money as you can as quickly as you can, then go ahead and promote the living &%$^ out of the book now. Just don't be surprised when your momentum falls off because you run out of buyers. You're not selling burgers. People don't buy the same book over and over again. They need new books to read.

However, if your goals are more long term, then get the products on the shelves first. Let everyone else invade every corner of cyberspace shouting "buy my book."

Most importantly, don't let anyone else dictate what you should or shouldn't do. (Not even me.  ) Figure out what works best for you. It appears that you're doing quite well already. (Much better than I did in the beginning.) If your time is limited, spend it wisely.

 

[Guest]

I've noticed a pattern in the indie writing world: everyone generally agrees that a certain marketing baseline is necessary (good cover, good book description, mailing list, online presence of some kind), but beyond that the successful writers say "just write" while the writers who have yet to see much success say "PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE."

 

[L M May]

@LisaGraceBooks - I am so green - I didn't even know there were $0.99 promotion places. Though I have raised it to $1.99 now and my average sales are still rising. So exciting.

@scottmarlowe thanks for the congrats. I haven't spent any time promoting yet, but sadly I am letting other things eat into my writing time. I've been so distracted ... congratulations on almost finishing your third book!

@ Joe Vasicek I think I am going to follow your philosophy. Actually, I've had an idea for a novella related to my book that I started writing. Maybe I will make that free, and see if it leads more people to my story. I am glad you are earning enough to have to worry about taxes. That of course is my aim! I guess it is everyone's aim at the end of the day That is a good observation, thanks for sharing it with me. I am seeing a lot of "PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE" through FB but it doesn't seem to make a difference to the stories being promoted (I have been checking a few out of curiosity).

@Colin Taber and another voice of reason! It is time for me to get to it and get that next book out. School holidays start soon and I can't wait. All that wonderful writing time. (And I really need to stop checking that sales report - it is so addictive being new to this. I keep waiting for the bottom to fall out )

@Rykymus it is so nice to hear how many books you are selling! I would be very happy to sell that many. Actually that is very much an understatement. I would be floating on air. Congratulations on your success. My time is definitely limited, so I've decided that I really have to just keep writing. Once the high of actually selling my books dies down a little (it is very distracting to me) I will get back to it. Four day long weekend coming up - wahoo - writing time. Followed by school holidays not long after.

@ DCBourone - I wouldn't even know where to start. I will have to look into Joe Nobody - he has built enough of a 'brand' for himself that I recognise his name from Kindle. But first, as @Rykymus said, I better feed the beast and get some more stories out. I have a facebook page for my book but have spent next to no time on it.

@Patrick Szabo Thanks I just hope it continues. I think once I have a few more reviews I might try raising the price. Kind of scared to now with how well it is doing.



Best of luck to everyone with their writing. I hope we all find success and get to live our dream.