[Matthew Stott]

Hey!

Quick question (it's prob been covered loads, but I'm still new!). I had planned to publish two books at the same time as my first entry into indie publishing, then a third book two months later. There would probably be no fourth book after that for several months. I hear about the 30 day cliff, and all of that business, and now wonder if it's better to publish one at a time, spaced out, rather than drop two at the same time, or is it better to have two things availble right away, so new readers have another thing to buy? Hopefully that made some sort of sense!

I imagine the answer might well be 'both are good ways to go', but just thought I'd seek an opinion or two.

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Obviously putting the two books out at once is a good thing.

What is a bad thing, is that it will take you 2 whole months to get book 3 out.

What is a really bad thing is you're going to take and indefinite amount of time to get out book 4.

If you don't care about success, then disregard my criticism. There are many who are lucky enough to hit it out of the gate and publish at their own pace. But just in case you or anyone reading this is after advice for improving their chances, then setting up a structured and speedy publishing schedule is preferable to taking ones time.

 

[Taitrina]

I haven't published yet so I did some research into this myself. There are a few threads on Kboards about this sort of thing. These are the two I found plus a blog post by Hugh Howey:

If you had multiple books written in a series, how would you publish?
To publish all at once or not
The Liliana Nirvana Technique

I have made a tentative plan based on these threads, plus general advice I've read across many others. I've no idea if it'll work or not, I guess when I finally hit publish I'll find out.

Hopefully you'll get lots of replies from people with experience. I'm interested in the answers too

 

[Joe_Nobody]

I wouldn't do that personally. I would go with one book every 30 days, and here's why:

I find Amazon's new release lists very effective selling tools. You're on the list for 30 days. If you do a search on this forum, you'll find dozens of threads discussing the "30 day cliff." Many of us believe this is because your titles falls off of the new release list.

Also, you may get feedback in the reviews of the first book that you want to implement in the 2nd, before it's released. Perhaps readers don't think it's in the right category, or misunderstand certain plot/character elements. While you can always correct and upload, it might be best if the 2nd/3rd books had the benefit of the pioneering release's feedback. Just saying....

Best of luck with the new tomes. I hope you sell a million of'em. 

 

[Matthew Stott]

I haven't published yet so I did some research into this myself. There are a few threads on Kboards about this sort of thing. These are the two I found plus a blog post by Hugh Howey:

If you had multiple books written in a series, how would you publish?
To publish all at once or not
The Liliana Nirvana Technique

I have made a tentative plan based on these threads, plus general advice I've read across many others. I've no idea if it'll work or not, I guess when I finally hit publish I'll find out.

Hopefully you'll get lots of replies from people with experience. I'm interested in the answers too

Ooh, thanks, will take a look!

 

[alawston]

Also, you may get feedback in the reviews of the first book that you want to implement in the 2nd, before it's released. Perhaps readers don't think it's in the right category, or misunderstand certain plot/character elements. While you can always correct and upload, it might be best if the 2nd/3rd books had the benefit of the pioneering release's feedback. Just saying....

That's a very good point. If these are your first titles, you might want to benefit from reader feedback on the first release before bringing out book 2. Also, by delaying book 2 for a month, you can then get a monthly schedule for the first three.

 

[Matthew Stott]

So basically, there's merit to both ways..!

As for publishing monthly rather than having gaps of several months, of course I can see why that would be a positive thing to be able to do, but I don't see that being a possibility for me this year as a regular thing. Too many other things that take up my time! (Novels aren't even the only thing I need to carve out writing time for) But sure, ideally that's going to be the best way to go. Maybe in a year or two.

Thanks, much to ponder on.

 

[Matthew Stott]

Also, by delaying book 2 for a month, you can then get a monthly schedule for the first three.

Good point. I may not be able to do that long term, but for this first initial burst it could be helpful.

 

[Usedtoposthere]

I'll quote my post on that "To publish all at once or not" thread:

I released all three at once, and I'm pretty sure that was a big factor in my early visibility and success. You can see my whole reasoning under a post on my blog called "What worked for me." http://www.rosalindjames.com/what-i-did-that-worked-i-think/
You don't have visibility anyway when you're brand new and/or not selling well, so the 30 days is really a non-issue.

I released three at once, fourth book three months later. Month 5 was when my sales exploded, but I sold 2,000 books the first month. (20,000 the fifth month.) This was late 2012/early 2013, so not that long ago; think the example is still relevant. Since then, it's been 3-4 months between books.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

 

[Matthew Stott]

I'll quote my post on that "To publish all at once or not" thread:

I released all three at once, and I'm pretty sure that was a big factor in my early visibility and success. You can see my whole reasoning under a post on my blog called "What worked for me." http://www.rosalindjames.com/what-i-did-that-worked-i-think/
You don't have visibility anyway when you're brand new and/or not selling well, so the 30 days is really a non-issue.

I released three at once, fourth book three months later. Month 5 was when my sales exploded, but I sold 2,000 books the first month. (20,000 the fifth month.) This was late 2012/early 2013, so not that long ago; think the example is still relevant. Since then, it's been 3-4 months between books.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

Ooh, thanks. And there was me swaying the other way... Will have a read!

 

[Jim Johnson]

Interesting. I have the first five books in a series in the hopper and I had planned to release them a month apart, slow but steady, but now I'm wondering if I should just blitz them all into the market and then stick with the release per month after the initial glut.

 

[darkline]

I'll quote my post on that "To publish all at once or not" thread:

I released all three at once, and I'm pretty sure that was a big factor in my early visibility and success. You can see my whole reasoning under a post on my blog called "What worked for me." http://www.rosalindjames.com/what-i-did-that-worked-i-think/
You don't have visibility anyway when you're brand new and/or not selling well, so the 30 days is really a non-issue.

I released three at once, fourth book three months later. Month 5 was when my sales exploded, but I sold 2,000 books the first month. (20,000 the fifth month.) This was late 2012/early 2013, so not that long ago; think the example is still relevant. Since then, it's been 3-4 months between books.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

I did something similar to Rosalind, and it was very successful too. As for the "30-day cliff," it wasn't very noticeable to me. My second month was as good as the first, and even three months later, with no new releases, my books are still ranked in 3000-4000s.

 

[nonbreaking space]

when people do it one way, they have no proof that they could have done it the other and still been successful. publish in a way that makes you comfortable/happy regardless of how anyone else has done it. you'll find people that have found success in every way possible: releasing n books at once, n per month, or one at a time whenever. i've released one book at a time as it was finished since day one (i've been doing this for over 2 years), and i've done well that way.

 

[Usedtoposthere]

when people do it one way, they have no proof that they could have done it the other and still been successful. publish in a way that makes you comfortable/happy regardless of how anyone else has done it. you'll find people that have found success in every way possible: releasing n books at once, n per month, or one at a time whenever. i've released one book at a time as it was finished since day one (i've been doing this for over 2 years), and i've done well that way.

If somebody takes a look at the thread mentioned above
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,198283.0.html
I explained my reasoning more fully in response to people's questions--why I think releasing several at once can lead to more success. But here, quoted again, was my first response:

But this isn't your favorite author releasing books. This is a brand-new author trying to get visibility. If somebody reads a book by an author and enjoys it, they think, "What else has she written?" Nothing? Umm...yeah. A month down the road when she releases Book 2? Mmmm....MAYBE that person is still looking for her book. (Or has pre-ordered it.) And more likely not.

That was what influenced my own decision--that customer behavior. And interestingly, I had a discussion with my agent along similar lines recently. She said, "a couple months is a long time in the book-buying world. You've moved on to another author and another book."

"But wait!" I hear you say. "What if I have a mailing list that they can sign up for after they read Book 1?" I finally got a mailing list a few months ago. It's got about 800 people on it. It's a good thing, I'm sure. But that's 800 people. And that's me, and I sell really well. So I'm just saying, YMMV on that mailing list. And when you're just starting out, with one book? That mailing list isn't going to be nearly as effective as having another book for them to read right away. It's all about traction.

The real x factor, of course, is how much they want to read your other books after reading that first one. That's the one that's really hard to predict. But if they DO--if they think it's awesome and they're excited to read another one--it's way easier if there that other one is, right there for them to pick up. So I'd release at least two at once, if I were starting out now. Then do your novellas once a month or something thereafter.

But, of course, everyone gets to do what they want, and I'm also sure that any strategy CAN work. My 2 cents, that's all.

*****

Of course, it would only be possible to test it with, well, a great big test, where a whoooooole bunch of authors in the same genre did it each way and somebody tabulated the results. But I think you just read the reasoning either way, and see what resonates with you--see what seems to make the most sense to you personally.

 

[PearlEarringLady]

I imagine the answer might well be 'both are good ways to go', but just thought I'd seek an opinion or two.

I think you may be right. Both strategies can work fine. Both strategies can produce less than stellar results.

Bear in mind that genre makes a big difference. It's perhaps easier to be noticed early in a genre like romance, where a lot of readers are avidly looking for new material. It's also easier if you write to genre expectations. In my genre, for instance (fantasy), debut books that make it big tend to fit the mold of traditional formats and tropes.

One other point that I haven't yet seen. Publishing your first book is a high-stress event. There's a huge amount to learn, and it's difficult to get every detail right at the first attempt. There's a lot to be said for taking it slowly: release one book, learn from that, release another... I'm regarding the entire first *year* as my learning curve.

 

[Crystal_]

I've been trying to figure this out and it seems there are merits to spacing it out and to doing it all at once. Do whatever excites you the most.

 

[Amy Corwin]

If I had several books ready to go, here is what I'd do:

• Try to find a few people willing to be early readers and send them a copy with the request that they write a review (if they are willing).
• Line up some promotions
• Publish the first one and do that "one day at 99 cents) thing the first day or so (you may need to leave it for 48 hours) and make sure this is part of the promotions lined up.
• Wait from two weeks to 4 weeks (the first 30 days the book gets good visibility as a new book, so you want to take advantage of that)
• Repeat for the second book
• Repeat for the third book

My thought is to maximize your exposure. If you clump the books all together, you only get 30 days of the honeymoon/new-book-exposure period and then you have to struggle to keep in view (unless your book takes off spectacularly, which it could, of course, but I never plan on anything like that.)

If you "dribble them out" with at least 2 weeks between them (3-4 weeks might be better) then you'll be able to extend your honeymoon period for up to three months (you'll have 3 months if you do one per month).

The longer you can maintain your visibility, the higher your chances of success.

Take advantage of the system. Let it work for you.

(Gosh, I wish I had that many books I could release in a row like that--it might really improve my sales. Sigh. But I'm a 1-2 books per year person, unfortunately.)

 

[sela]

My advice would be to release two at once, then release the third in 30 days (if you can) then release the 4th in at least 3 months. Why? If you are brand new, you are pretty much invisible. If you can get someone to read book 1 and they like it, they will have something to pick up next and you will get sales on book 2. If you release book 3 in 30 days, you will stay in the new release category on Amazon and will keep any visibility you had from your first two releases. In other words, you may avoid the 30-day cliff. You can then watch your sell through, do a permafree on book 1 if you are brave, do promotions on book 1 and you will have something for new readers to read. You can put book 4 up for pre-order and keep your name in the new releases etc.

If you wait too long between releases, your existing readers may forget you have a new book coming up. So my other advice would be to get your readers to sign up for your mailing list. Get that mailing list started ASAP, put links to the signup page in your books and social media.

But as with all advice, YMMV.

 

[J.A. Cipriano]

If I had to do it all over again? First I'd have better branded covers (for me).

I'd drop book 1 and 2 at the same time. Book 1 at $0.99 and book 2 at $2.99 or whatever really. Then I'd put your third book out when you finish it in 2 months for $3.99. Actually, I'd delay my entire schedule a month and publish the third a month later. Either way, I'd put it up for preorder and put links to it in my back matter.

When I released that third book, I'd drop the first one to free for a few days and drop the second one to 99 cents. I'd promote the hell out of them together.

I'd write a fourth one and when it releases 2 or 3 months later, I'd box the first three and make the first one permafree. (This is the step I'm on now)

At this point I'd start another series and drop back releases on my main one a little bit.

Everyone talks about mailing lists... and I have exactly 6 people in my mailing list. I've had it since I started my blog back in March of last year, almost 6 months before my first book released, because everyone said you needed a blog and a mailing list. I offer a free short story to people who sign up, and I have it in my back matter. For me as a tool, it's less than worthless.

I've sold about 500 books, which isn't a lot, but more than I expected, and have given away another 200 books(since yesterday when book 1 went free). Anyway, this got sort of rambling. Good luck.

 

[Matthew Stott]

Thanks everyone, all super helpful! After reading all this, I may try and combine what people have said. So release 2 at the same time, then a third a month later, and a fourth a month/two months after that. This will probably mean delaying launch a little while longer, but that's fine.

Of course I may change my mind tomorrow..!

Thanks again.