[GeneDoucette]

...I'm not coming CLOSE to making up the KU numbers.

I may panic and pull soon.

 

[GeneDoucette]

And considering I just published a new Immortal Chronicles book (book 5) six days ago and it's the only book on my Amazon dash that's selling anything, I think all my sales are down in part because I'm out of Select at this point.

 

[GoneToWriterSanctum]

I do not accept VerticalScope's Terms Of Service on Kboards, and have asked for my account to be deleted, along with all of my posts.

If you are here as a result of a Google search, leave now. The owners of this site are interested only in your possible ad revenue.

 

[ArchangelEST]

...I'm not coming CLOSE to making up the KU numbers.

I may panic and pull soon.

I have heard that it takes several months before you are likely to reach and surpass the numbers you get from Amazon. And those months have to include plenty of promotional work to get the message out there that your book is available in numerous stores.

BUT, it is likely to be worth it in the end.

It's probably best to gradually move your books out to keep your financial income as stable as possible. Consider it a long term investment.

 

[Saul Tanpepper]

I pulled some 30 titles out and my income dropped by 3K. Still crickets on iTunes, B&N, and Kobo, but after 4 months, my GooglePlay income is twice what I was pulling in from Select. Patience. Give it 6 months. I know it's hard seeing the numbers go down and never knowing if they'll ever recover, but panicked decisions seldom work out for the best.

 

[Elizabeth Ann West]

I too planned a good six months for things to take off. The hard part is remembering what it was like when we started on Amazon. It took a couple of months and releases to get the ball rolling. Readers are not stupid. When they see an author doing things like "Amazon gets it for 90 days before the other vendors" they get frustrated and don't feel good. The ereader or app people use is a personal decision for them. When we take actions that make it appear we don't like one vendor over another, we are inadvertently insulting their choice of reader.

I think how fast sales rebound on Amazon has a lot to do with what your sales to borrows ratio was before you pulled out. IF your borrows were MORE than your sales, then your previous sales ranking was heavily inflated by the borrow clicks. You may or may not recover that right away. If you borrows were less (like mine had fallen to less than a 1/3 of my sales when I pulled out), it's much easier to bounce back because my ranking was primarily my sales, and a few new sales that could no longer be borrows made up for the revenue.

I will say that where we see Amazon as Mount Everest, it is becoming clearer and clearer to me that Amazon is more Mt. McKinley (tallest mountain in the United States) and the true world's tallest mountain is Apple and Google combined because their apps/devices/brands have been international ones for much longer than Amazon. Yesterday, I received a comment from a reader asking for the next book's release date on Google Play. It's anecdotal, but it's the first time a reader from another venue has said "Hey, I follow you over here . . . " and that's really neat. I've only been wide since end of January, really end of February for all books.

 

[HAGrant]

Hi Elizabeth. Just a quick note to say your new haircut/photo looks really cute. /thread derail

It's interesting to read all these comments, especially from people who waited several months.

 

[Lq6H1aGWSWa495]

I have been wide about 5 weeks. Initially it all dropped to hell, then slowly rebounded and whilst the Wide aspect of sales was negligible ( 4 sales then) this month (5 weeks later) I have already done 17 books on the D2D platform and its looking good for a small commission check at the end of the month. (or whenever they pay me).

The really good news is that I permafree'd a book and that has galvanised me to pole position in my genre (SF) and I'm getting a good rate of through-sells to turn the rankings around and push them up again across the board.

A good decision, I feel and I'm so much happier knowing that I'm going to have more opportunities to sell books from now on. So, don't lose heart, just market your books and develop your other platforms and it will come good for you I'm certain.

 

[anniejocoby]

I'm gonna echo everyone else who says to take a deep breath and try to figure things out before you put your books back into Select. Permafree + promotions that cover all different platforms is one way to get things moving on these other platforms. Google Play is a slow burner for most of us, but they start to pick up about 4-6 months after you upload there.

And I just crunched my numbers for this month. So far, this month, I've made around $6700. All the Amazons together make up 25% of that. Yes, 25% of this. iBooks is 60% of my income so far this month. I only write this to show you the potential of other sites, especially iBooks, which is picking up something like a million new readers a month. But, like everyone else, I made very little on iBooks for around the first six months or so. But, I got on their radar, so they've helped promote me. I even have my own rep over there. And, believe me, I'm not a big dog by any means.

Just please consider uploading direct everywhere, and only using D2D to get into Scribd. You'll thank me later.

 

[LoriP]

I starting pulling mine on January 1, and the last two (of 6 novellas and 2 bundles) were out at the end of February. Sales are picking up, but there is a noticeable drop from what I was making in Select.

I am in the midst of trying to get one of the books permafree and hope that helps. *fingers crossed* So I've decided to leave these wide for the foreseeable future and see if they continue to improve. It is hard, though, to see the sharp decline in revenue.

But, for my next series, I plan to start the books in Select again.

 

[GeneDoucette]

Thanks, everyone.  I'm taking a deep breath now.  I see a little more life in Apple.  I'll wait it out a little longer.

One thing: I am still debuting books on Select and giving it the 90 days before going wide.  Am I hurting myself by doing this?

 

[Lq6H1aGWSWa495]

One thing: I am still debuting books on Select and giving it the 90 days before going wide. Am I hurting myself by doing this?

I don't think so, traction is everything and if you're happy to let borrows happen, then it will raise your rankings. I tried launching a book wide without KDP and it surprised me by tanking. So, don't lose that little extra help you get from Amazon in the first 30 days.

 

[GeneDoucette]

I too planned a good six months for things to take off. The hard part is remembering what it was like when we started on Amazon. It took a couple of months and releases to get the ball rolling. Readers are not stupid. When they see an author doing things like "Amazon gets it for 90 days before the other vendors" they get frustrated and don't feel good. The ereader or app people use is a personal decision for them. When we take actions that make it appear we don't like one vendor over another, we are inadvertently insulting their choice of reader.

I think how fast sales rebound on Amazon has a lot to do with what your sales to borrows ratio was before you pulled out. IF your borrows were MORE than your sales, then your previous sales ranking was heavily inflated by the borrow clicks. You may or may not recover that right away. If you borrows were less (like mine had fallen to less than a 1/3 of my sales when I pulled out), it's much easier to bounce back because my ranking was primarily my sales, and a few new sales that could no longer be borrows made up for the revenue.

I will say that where we see Amazon as Mount Everest, it is becoming clearer and clearer to me that Amazon is more Mt. McKinley (tallest mountain in the United States) and the true world's tallest mountain is Apple and Google combined because their apps/devices/brands have been international ones for much longer than Amazon. Yesterday, I received a comment from a reader asking for the next book's release date on Google Play. It's anecdotal, but it's the first time a reader from another venue has said "Hey, I follow you over here . . . " and that's really neat. I've only been wide since end of January, really end of February for all books.

My sales have always been more than my borrows, so, I have that in my favor...

And I'm not on google. I cannot for whatever reason figure out how to use their interface.

 

[GeneDoucette]

Have you read the gigantic thread on here that tells you how to do all things google? It's very useful.

No I haven't! but let me amend that remark. I went to google play and did the stuff it said and then nothing appeared to happen. they have a rather annoying interface. But, it looks like the book went live after all. Now I better get the other ones up.

 

[anniejocoby]

My sales have always been more than my borrows, so, I have that in my favor...

And I'm not on google. I cannot for whatever reason figure out how to use their interface.

That interface is soooo hard to figure out. Here is the major land mine - you upload your cover EXACTLY the same way you upload your book. The same button is used for both. So, you upload your book with that button, and then upload the cover. Other than that, just be extremely careful to fill out all metadata. It takes awhile to figure out that you've done everything right.

Google Play is definitely worth being on. As I said before, though, it's a sloooowwww burner. I sold nothing there for months, then, little by little, it started to pick up. Like a snowball going down the hill. Last month I finally broke $1,000 there.

 

[GeneDoucette]

That interface is soooo hard to figure out. Here is the major land mine - you upload your cover EXACTLY the same way you upload your book. The same button is used for both. So, you upload your book with that button, and then upload the cover. Other than that, just be extremely careful to fill out all metadata. It takes awhile to figure out that you've done everything right.

Google Play is definitely worth being on. As I said before, though, it's a sloooowwww burner. I sold nothing there for months, then, little by little, it started to pick up. Like a snowball going down the hill. Last month I finally broke $1,000 there.

Everything's a slow burn right now. Having 3 books seems to help where having only 1 did nothing.

I'm also going wide under a pen name for erotica, and discovering traction is terribly slow, but improving with each new installment.

 

[cinisajoy]

Here are some hugs and jelly beans.   

 

[Sophrosyne]

Is Google Play still a pain in the a** with the pricing?

When I was wide, I found I only sold during active promotions. That's why I'm not going wide until I'm ready to make the first book in my series permafree.

And definitely go direct everywhere you can.

 

[anniejocoby]

Is Google Play still a pain in the a** with the pricing?

When I was wide, I found I only sold during active promotions. That's why I'm not going wide until I'm ready to make the first book in my series permafree.

And definitely go direct everywhere you can.

Yup. You still have to use that formula to get the right pricing. It's on that big Google Play thread. I'm kinda lazy, though - I make the price $1.50 more than what I want to charge and call it good. That works too.

 

[Sophrosyne]

Thanks!