I am up early this morning to celebrate the completion of my August sales. (And considering how much I dislike mornings--as a general rule--that really is something.)
I do want to provide a bit of background. In March, I released my first book through Kindle Direct Publishing. Unsure of an appropriate avenue for advertising, I scoured the internet and examined various writers' blogs. I then began my own blog in hopes of assisting other future indie writers. I created my own website, Facebook account, and Twitter account. I posted excerpts and promos.
By the beginning of May, I had released my second book and had discovered Laura Gordon (my cover designer) and Goodreads. I found almost immediately that Goodreads is a vastly superior social networking site for the marketing of indie authors. You also have the ability to network with other authors. Every day, I check my book sales, my email, and my Goodreads account. I only use Facebook to announce new releases and Twitter to promote free book promotions through Kindle Select. On Goodreads, I belong to groups where I can announce new releases and free promos to thousands of people. And since the Goodreads members are all readers and writers, your audience is much better suited than the wide world of Twitter and Facebook.
For a couple of months, I published my second book on both Amazon and Smashwords. Although I did get some sales on Smashwords, they only started coming in after I ran a 4-day free promo. And even once the sales came in, they were still only a fraction of the sales I was experiencing on Kindle with my books that were enrolled in the Kindle Select program. After four months, I pulled this book off of Smashwords and enrolled in Kindle Select.
It was around this same time that I began crunching numbers and came to the conclusion that the $0.99 book simply does not pay. It's great for new indie authors. Between the low price and the free promos, I was able to release nearly 5,000 copies of my first book. But most of the downloads were free and I was making almost nothing. After much consideration, I decided to price all of my books at $2.99. This allowed me to collect a greater percentage of profits, as well (70% on Amazon compared to the 35%.)
In June, I released my first book in my first trilogy. Given that it was my third book, I do believe that I had a bit of a readers' base built in. It also, however, was my first paranormal romantic suspense. These days, it seems the popularity of the paranormal and fantasy genres almost guarantee an increase in sales. In July, I saw my best month in royalties, doubling my record month.
In the middle of August, I released my second book in my trilogy. This was huge! For the first time, I could see directly that the free promos were paying off. I actually outsold my first book in the trilogy, which seemed to suggest that some of the people who had picked up a free download then paid for the second book. I tripled the volume of my best month and saw my royalties multiplied five times the amount I made in July (my record month)!
So after six months, I've drawn the following conclusions:
1. Keep all books enrolled exclusively in Kindle Select.
2. Price books at $2.99. (I may increase these to $3.99 after the first year. It depends largely on the cost of ebooks overall, which do seem to be on the rise.)
3. Use Goodreads for primary marketing and networking purposes. (For free promos, there are a number of other websites that advertise. You should contact them two weeks before your promo. And for a list of sites, you can check out the Author Marketing Club.)
4. Trilogies pay off. (Just make sure that you are actually writing three complete books rather than splitting a single book into three parts that requires your readers purchase all three to get the complete story. This seems to be an emerging trend among indie writers, and I can't help but think that if a traditional publisher pulled this stunt, they would face severe criticism.)
5. And lastly, be patient but continue writing, editing, and releasing. Clearly, the more books you have under your name, the more you build your reader base and your sales.
Happy writing!
Carrigan
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