[phildukephd]

I don't think it's controversial to say that the published ebook/author plus reader ratio is getting larger. The statistics I have seen apparently confirm this. The reason is the continuing publication of new ebooks both paid and available free, especially via the Amazon.com Select Program.

The question is, where will it all end? Will everyone have their own ebooks, and give then away, so that paid sales become the exception? If so, how will the giant ebook publishers make money from ebooks?

Please do not criticize me, I am only the messenger, whose paid ebook sales have fallen like most everyone else's. I have been adding new titles, so that I have 24 now, and promoting heavily, but it has not helped paid sales.

 

[Lisa Grace]

I walk into a library and see a million books I would never want to read in the first place. I'm interested in historical, mystery, real life adventure, science fiction and fantasy, and some supernatural more along the lines of Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Ted Dekker, not Stephenie Meyer.

You need to concern yourself only with finding readers who will enjoy your books. You're not competing against all the books that are out there, but looking for the readers who read your genre. What are you doing to find them?

The classics are offered free, but that doesn't stop bookstores from stocking them and selling them for real money. It's perceived value.


I'm building my fan base every day and sales have been consistent over the last year. My new books debut well because I'm building a fan base.

Out of the thousands of books released daily, most will only sell a handful and sink. They're not competition, they're landfill. So who cares?

 

[Terrence OBrien]

"I don't think it's controversial to say that the published ebook/author plus reader ratio is getting larger. "

Agree. It's been increasing since Gutenberg. Limited to more recent times, it was increasing in the era of traditional publishing before the appearance of the eBook.

 

[Quiss]

Could it be your price point?  I do think that eBooks should be priced higher than current popular norms but yours seem a little out of the market and not competitive to what's going on.  Nothing to do with competition from freebies.

 

[vrabinec]

If paid sales are the exception, and my stuff isn't good enough to earn a buck, then I'm right back where I started. I'd just have to find a new daydream to get me through the day. I'll be disappointed, but I'll probably somehow manage to keep my sanity...you know, relatively.

 

[Monique]

There are over an average of 2000 titles added to the Kindle Store every day. It's been a fight to be seen for some time. It always will be.

 

[WG McCabe]

And how many of those are hit it and quit it authors when they realize they aren't going to get rich today?

 

[Mathew Reuther]

And how many of those are hit it and quit it authors when they realize they aren't going to get rich today?

Most of them.

 

[Lisa Grace]

Most of them.

Does anyone have an idea? It would be interesting to see how many publish one book and that's it. Here at KB we have very few of those.

 

[Mathew Reuther]

Does anyone have an idea? It would be interesting to see how many publish one book and that's it. Here at KB we have very few of those.

Repeat engagement levels are going to be higher on a forum like this, obviously.

But the fact is that it's not easy by any stretch to publish, and a lot of people who do end up publishing sell a handful of copies, and that's it.

If we consider "most" to be a number from 50% up who quit in the short term (maybe not one work, but a couple in a year) I think we're safe.

 

[Avis Black]

I doubt a lot of authors will quit just because they're not making sales.  After all, some people only do this as a hobby and don't expect to earn much  from it.  Bad reviews, however, may make them stop.  If hobbyists can't stand getting bad reviews and aren't making any cash of out this, I don't see them sticking around just for the pleasure of having their egos beaten up.

 

[FictionalWriter]

I think it still comes down to writing stories that resonate with readers, marketing them well and setting a fair price for them. For my favourite authors, I will buy and continue to always buy their books until I stop thinking their worth reading (I'm a particularly loyal reader so it takes several "bad" books to make me stop auto-buying you).

Building a loyal reader base has always and will always be about effective brand building. If what you're doing now isn't working, try something else and if that doesn't work, something else etc.

 

[Victoria Champion]

I walk into a library and see a million books I would never want to read in the first place. I'm interested in historical, mystery, real life adventure, science fiction and fantasy, and some supernatural more along the lines of Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Ted Dekker, not Stephenie Meyer.

You need to concern yourself only with finding readers who will enjoy your books. You're not competing against all the books that are out there, but looking for the readers who read your genre. What are you doing to find them?

The classics are offered free, but that doesn't stop bookstores from stocking them and selling them for real money. It's perceived value.

I'm building my fan base every day and sales have been consistent over the last year. My new books debut well because I'm building a fan base.

Out of the thousands of books released daily, most will only sell a handful and sink. They're not competition, they're landfill. So who cares?

This is the gospel truth. Preach on, sister.

 

[KevinMcLaughlin]

There are over 1.8 million ebooks right now.

In ten years, there will be well over ten million ebooks.

The ways in which we get our work noticed will change. But people will still get their work noticed. It's not like you're actually in competition with most of that mess - it's simply too much, too big. Most of it is irrelevant and will never be viewed by readers.

Put it this way: ebook selling companies want to make money. They will find ways to make money from ebooks. We will then adapt our businesses to how they are presently making money, so that we too can make money. How we do so will change. Being able to do so will not.

 

[Terrence OBrien]

" If hobbyists can't stand getting bad reviews and aren't making any cash of out this, I don't see them sticking around just for the pleasure of having their egos beaten up."

I'd suggest the hobbyist is the most resilient of all. Lots of people have hobbies and make very little or no money at it. They stick with it year after year because they like it. They just enjoy the activity. They don't care about the money.

And reviews? I see no reason to presume hobbyists are any more or less sensitive to them than anyone else. If authors who are not hobbyists can't stand getting bad reviews, having their egos beaten up, what do they do? Is there something about a non-hobbyist that confers more strength of character? What?

If someone has a full time job, and writes in their spare time, are they hobbyists? God Bless the amateur.

 

[Joe_Nobody]

I remember when the world wide web was just getting started. Some of the early adapters began to realize what a powerful business tool a good webpage could be - often driving revenue to the company. As facebook, hosting and non-programming site builders began appearing, I heard the same gloom and doom concerns being voiced - pretty soon every Tom, Dick and Harry will have a webpage and we won't be able to make money off of it.

That proved to be a false prophecy.

I believe ebooks and authoring will follow a similar path as the web. You'll have people who put up unprofessional ebooks for whatever personal motivation drives the effort. They won't make money, just like the vast majority of private websites.

You'll have the trad-pub ebooks that will be like corporate websites are today - they'll bring customers into the fold and make the parent company money. Different houses will use the tool in different ways - just like corporations use the web in different ways today. Some will be great - others not so hot.

I strongly believe that there will always be a place for the private, individual ebook author. Again, to follow the analogy of webpages, there are non-corporate sites that are financially successful. Some, like Huffington Post, become quite valuable over time. Thousands of others clearly make money or they wouldn't be there.

The best typically rise to the top and do well. I don't think it matters if there are 10 million ebooks or 200 million, quality will always bring a price.

 

[MommaSaysRead]

I walk into a library and see a million books I would never want to read in the first place. I'm interested in historical, mystery, real life adventure, science fiction and fantasy, and some supernatural more along the lines of Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Ted Dekker, not Stephenie Meyer.

You need to concern yourself only with finding readers who will enjoy your books. You're not competing against all the books that are out there, but looking for the readers who read your genre. What are you doing to find them?

The classics are offered free, but that doesn't stop bookstores from stocking them and selling them for real money. It's perceived value.

I'm building my fan base every day and sales have been consistent over the last year. My new books debut well because I'm building a fan base.

Out of the thousands of books released daily, most will only sell a handful and sink. They're not competition, they're landfill. So who cares?

So So True, Momma has seen a lot of really great books get no notice because of promotional issues.
So for all of the folks here, I'm curious, what is your most effective promotional tool when you were starting out?]

@Joe_Nobody - I remember when everyone thought the internet was some silly fad like the swatch! We couldn't sell a website for $50!

 

[Mathew Reuther]

So for all of the folks here, I'm curious, what is your most effective promotional tool when you were starting out?

Thus far it's been Select and giving away 4.5k books.

I'm not enrolling any more books in Select though.

I plan to (eventually) leverage perma-free and bargain book (99c/$1.99) sale pushes. We'll see how that goes.

 

[Mip7]

Eventually Amazon will be forced to have a 'submit and wait to be accepted or rejected' policy, in order to stem the tide of junk. This will actually be a good thing when it happens, although some authors will be right back where they were before self-publishing.

 

[Lisa Grace]

Eventually Amazon will be forced to have a 'submit and wait to be accepted or rejected' policy, in order to stem the tide of junk. This will actually be a good thing when it happens, although some authors will be right back where they were before self-publishing.

No, they won't. Not with 2k books a day. They already have a system in place that is working just fine. If too many reader complaints are made to Amazon, they contact the author to fix the mistakes and/or they yank the book. They also have a rudimentary program in place that checks for basic grammar, and formatting.