Indie Publishing and Marketing

I recently wrote another blog for Voices of The Heart about indie (as in independent) publishing versus legacy (or traditional) publishing. It's a hugely popular subject at the moment. Authors struggling to find an audience and make a living at their craft see a handful of authors like J.A. Konrath and Amanda Hocking not only making a living but becoming rich on independently published books. Everyone wants to match their success, or at least be able to pay their bills. Or, even earn enough to pay for their writing-related expenses.

With each passing day, it seems like more and more established authors are hauling out their backlists or even previously unpublished books, blowing off the dust, and squirting them off to Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, and Smashwords to make a few bucks. Which makes it even harder for less well-known authors to find their audience as their books are literally submerged under a tsunami of books all in the same genre.

Answers are wishy-washy at best. All of us are mystified about what makes a reader buy one book over another. Read Konrath's blog if you don't believe me. He's experiemented with pricing, blurbs, covers, etc, and still can't quite decide what makes one of his books sell more than another. As for marketing, the most successful independent author out there, Amanda Hocking, is the first to admit she has no idea why her books took off and sold so well. She did shockingly little marketing (frankly, almost none).

As for me, after five small press/legacy published books that haven't quite paid for my writing expenses yet (dues to various writing organizations, paper, ink, that sort of thing), I went indie with one of my latest mysteries and am just as mystified as the others when I see that book, priced at a lowly $.99 outselling my five other books, combined. In fact, by the end of the year, it will have earned more money than I got for an advance for my mystery that isn't even out yet (due out in hardcover in 2012). That's if it continues to sell at the current rate. I'm not even assuming it may increase in sales, or adding in the second book I have coming out soon.

So what conclusions can we draw?
There has to be something....

• Price. Price is a huge factor and it has nothing to do with any esoteric "artistic value to the reader". Get over that idea right now, it will only cause you to make terrible decisions. A lot more people are willing to buy a book at $.99 than at $7.00. It's the revenue stream that matters, not the individual unit price. Believe me. I know. To tempt readers, you need at least one book for $.99 as an "entry-book". (Think like drug pushers and you'll do just fine.)
• Cover. You need a great cover. Or at least not an appallingly bad cover. Or a cover that looks like your 7-year-old daughter created it as she twirled around in a pink tutu. It should look professional.
• Blurb. You need a great blurb. No errors. One that tempts and teases the reader. One that grabs and won't let a reader rest until they buy the book and find out what it's all about. Present the core of the conflict and make it pithy.
• Marketing. To a large extent, marketing is a waste of your time. There are only a few things you can really do that make a difference. Here they are: get reviews for your book; participate in blogs that are NOT hard sells of your book--you need to provide something of interest that may be related to your book, but stop just talking about your book (for crying out loud); participate in some of the groups out there but not as a poster of excerpts, but as a real human with interesting ideas, opinions, etc; Twitter--but not about your book all the time.
       - You'll notice a theme under marketing: shut up about your book, already. What you're looking for is to build a social network and provide your friends and readers with interesting information. It can be related to your book, but if all you do is squirt excerpts out everywhere and post solely about your book, then people will tune you out. They'll have no reason to listen. As Konrath says: it's all about content. Give them something of value. I've seen a huge change in the success of my marketing strategy--such as it is--when I simply stopped chatting up my books all the time. In fact, I sold more books than ever during the month when I was off the 'net entirely and not doing any marketing whatsoever.
        - Note: My first month of sales beat the last year of sales for all of my five previous small-press books combined. Last month tripled that number. This is for ONE book. If my book remains at the same level of sales, by the end of the year I will have already earned what I got as an advance for my most recent legacy-published book. By the time that legacy-published book comes out in 2012, I'll have already earned TWICE that advance; and that is if the sales of my one book remain flat at the current level.
        - Sadly, success breeds success. If your book starts generating sales, that will generate more interest. More interest will generate more sales. This happens organically, on its own, and there's pretty much nothing you can do about it. Except...
• Write. Your very best tool is writing the next book and publishing it at a reasonable price. No more than $2.99. Every author has reported that when they published a second (or subsequent) book, it created a jump in sales for all previous books. So your very, very BEST MARKETING tool is...the next book.

• Subject Matter. One of the reasons a lot of folks go indie is because they have a book they couldn't sell elsewhere. Here's the really awkward, wince-inducing thing: if an editor mentioned something like --we're not sure who the audience would be and this genre/subject doesn't really sell... then you need to pause. A big reason why otherwise terrific books that have great covers, perfect blurbs, and a low price don't sell is because readers aren't particularly interested in the topic. Sometimes this is simply because the blurb or description of the story is uninteresting (remember to put the characters and their conflict first--readers connect with the characters--not some artistic or thematic concept-in-the-sky). Sometimes, you've really gone "too far out there" with the story, e.g. Praying Mantis - the story of an epileptic cat-man who is destroyed by love...with a woman who eats cats for breakfast. Literally. You know what I mean.
       - If you really intend to write for an audience as opposed to yourself, you have to consider your readers. They come first. They have to, because they're going to pay their money to read your cr*p. Don't make them regret it.

So that sums up much of what I've learned. For me, it's still a tough decision. I like the money I'm earning as an indie author, but I still want the validation and opportunity to work with other industry professionals (like editors I didn't buy) that legacy publishing brings to the table. And although I plan to have a second indie book out by July (A Rose Before Dying) I'm still fiddling with a manuscript that I may send to a legacy publisher. May.

I guess we'll see what happens.

Publishing, ePublishing and Marketing

Publishing
It's not all doom-and-gloom out there for traditional publishers. After all, St. Martins just signed Amanda Hocking for a 4-book deal which will allow her to push her books into other shopping venues like traditional bookstores and mass-market outlets like Target and Wal-Mart.

In addition, revenues at Random House rose 6.1% which ain't bad. Their increased revenues were due in part to a 250% increase in e-book sales, which I consider a very good thing. Random House is one of the publishers who seem to be doing a pretty good job straddling the e-book and print markets, which gets their books into the hands of a lot more readers. For writers who sign with Random House, they have a shifting scale-rate for e-book royalties that range from 25% to 40%.

Other Press is raising it's e-book royalty rate to 50% and the change took place on April 1 (and it's not a joke, either LOL). Authors get that rate once they earn out their advance. Again, not bad.

So things are looking up in both the digital and traditional worlds of publishing and I commend authors like Amanda Hocking who are working in both independent publishing and traditional publishing arenas. Diversification has always been a key factor in success and I personally think this is an astute move on her part.

Marketing
Like publishing, marketing is shifting too and astute authors have already recognized this. While much of the social scene is still "Me, first!" and "Look at ME!", marketing using "Look at ME!" strategies is simply not that effective any longer. The tide is shifting toward building an online community.

Let's think about it. What made authors like Amanda Hocking so popular? Talent? Sure--that's a given. And writing stories that resonated with readers. But beyond that, what she was able to do was to create a community of readers who shared their interest in her books.

The key was building a community.

When you build a community, you're shifting the focus away from, "What can I do to get people to notice my book?" to "What can I offer to the community?" It may seem like a subtle difference, but what is really entails is focusing on what your readers want or need, rather than what you want (i.e. to sell more books).

You need to interact with folks. Find topics to discuss that interest your readers. Tell them what you like and share your own interests. Build a community.

I'll tell you, when I stopped thinking in terms of shoving my book, The Vital Principle, in everyone's face all the time and started thinking about sharing interesting things (like the research other authors do for their books) I doubled my sales. I didn't expect to, but I did.

Talk about your positive reinforcement. Suddenly, altruism and helping other writers seemed like a great idea.

Then I read a book mentioned by Bob Mayer, We are Not Alone, The Writer's Guide to Social Media" by Kristen Lamb, and many of these notions I was starting to have fell into place.

If you haven't read that book, get it. Read it.

Do it.

Guest: Rebecca Dahlke

As a mystery writer, I was interested in Rebecca's newsletter, "All Mystery e-Newsletter" so I asked her to return and talk to us about her journey as a writer and the newsletter.

I'm glad she agreed because she also included some interesting tidbits that will be of interest to other authors trying to make a name for themselves in this increasingly competitive market.

R.P. Dahlke

You asked about my writing journey; Between work and raising a family, I’ve been writing off and on since I was a child. And then in 2004 I was thrilled to have my first mystery novel published. This first book based on my experiences running my family’s crop-dusting business south of Modesto, California in the ‘70’s was all I needed to spur me on to dig in and write!

Six months later, I was finishing my second in the Lalla Bains mystery series, when my forty year-old son died in a tragic accident flying a crop-duster. I thought I’d always write, but, as many of you who’ve also lost children already know, there is a season of purgatory for which there is no going around. It has to be dealt with. And so I did my time, stuffing my world with busy things, putting on a happy face for friends and family, but I could no longer write.

Then, five years to the day of my son’s death, I started writing again. Getting back in touch with my writing friends was wonderful, exhilarating, and a huge surprise. The magnitude of change in the publishing industry and how authors were promoting their work five, six years ago as opposed to today was like going from covered wagons to space ships. Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, and that newest, if somewhat puzzling buzzword—branding. (Sort of smacks of burning flesh from a red hot poker, doesn’t it?)

Still, I found all of it fascinating. I got a personal FACEBOOK page, gathering old friends and writers as I went. Most of my contemporaries were already miles ahead of me in this department, having a few thousand FB “friends” and writing their sixth or seventh books. Boy, how’s an author supposed to juggle all this new stuff and find the time to write books?

Then, because I needed to educate myself on Social Media for an art league I belong to, I attended a college workshop that included an introduction to Constant Contact which specializes in e-newsletter templates. I used this knowledge to wean the art association off the huge bucks we’d been spending a year for local newspaper ads, and instead, for a fraction of the cost, set them up with an e-newsletter. The organization now boasts a couple of spiffy new websites, a FACEBOOK page and, God help them… Twitter.

Because I knew I had to develop a platform and get myself some of that branding stuff, it was a natural progression to go from art league e-newsletter to what has become All Mystery! e-newsletter.

Like writing a book, I started with a premise: By now, I knew that websites can sit and gather dust in this fast-paced new world. Blog? Well, maybe. I didn’t want to review or sell books, or review or discuss books, either. I wanted to engage readers with a colorful and interactive page that came to their e-mail in-box offering them new books and new authors and a buy link to the author’s Amazon page where the reader could buy the hardcover or immediately down-load the e-book.

Out of these ideas I developed a fan based, free monthly e-newsletter that has grown from a few authors a month to ten-twelve mystery/suspense authors. I’m pleased to say that the readership is steadily growing and it’s less than a year old.

Now, although All Mystery e-newsletter is free to the authors, I do request that they forward their issue to ten or so of their fans, who can either sign up—or not. If not, they will never get another issue; so there are no worries about spamming. And, yes, this e-newsletter is also my platform developing a readership for my books, which answers the question as to whether my efforts are entirely altruistic.

Setting up All Mystery e-newsletter a year in advance of the publication of my first book has meant that I get a shot at increasing new readership of my books … just as all of the participating authors get to share in the readers that I brought to the newsletter.

A DEAD RED CADILLAC is now up on kindle and should be up on Amazon in trade paperback with that nifty “look inside” feature by the end of April. This book will be one of the featured books in the June issue of All Mystery e-newsletter Murder @ Work… and yes, it was a challenge to squeeze my books into an issue!

A DEAD RED HEART is the second in the Lalla Bains series, and it should be out on Kindle/Amazon by mid-April, then in trade paper back on Amazon with the “look inside” feature by end of May. This book will be one of the featured books in the October issue of All Mystery e-newsletter Murder @ Work

You asked where I got my idea for A DEAD RED HEART. I get my ideas from newspaper stores, and this one was a doozy: A prisoner who got a heart transplant… which led me to the question: What would you do if your loved one lost their chance at a heart transplant because the donor heart went to a convicted felon in a California prison?

There are first chapters on the website: http://www.rpdahlke.com/
And:
You can see samples of All Mystery! e-newsletter and sign up to get more at: http://www.allmysteryenewsletter.com/ or contact me: rp@rpdahlke.com

---Thanks!

Would you buy this book?

Book covers and cover art are so important! When I walk into a bookstore or even browse online, the first thing that catches my eye is the bookcover. It's what makes me pick up a book and read the blurb. And then read the first paragraph. And then buy the book.

Without a good cover, chances are that most readers will never bother to read the blurb unless it's an author they know and love already.

So I'm very, very interested in what draws in a reader. I've got a historical mystery coming out in the next couple of months, so I'm particularly interested in covers at the moment.

What do you think of this cover?
It's for a historical mystery set in 1815 and features a spiritualist accused of murder.



In 1815, an inquiry agent, Mr. Knighton Gaunt, is asked by Lord Crowley to attend a seance with the express purpose of revealing the spiritualist as a fraud. The seance ends abruptly, however, and during the turmoil, Lord Crowley dies. Gaunt is left to investigate not only fraud, but murder. Suspicion turns first to the spiritualist, Miss Prudence Barnard, but as Gaunt digs deeper into the twisted history of the guests at Rosecrest, he discovers more deadly secrets.  Inevitably, long-time friends turn against one another as the tension mounts and Gaunt is challenged time and time again to separate fact from fiction.

What do you think of the cover?

What kinds of covers attract you? I'd love to read your comments and suggestions, so be sure to let me know!