Lots of Noise Over Kindle Unlimited

Before I get to this week’s topic, just a friendly reminder that Imajin Book’s Summer Sizzles party is Sunday July 12, from 4 to 8 pm. The event starts with their 'Share the Imajin Books Buzz' contest...no purchase necessary to enter. You can find it at Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/imajinbooks/app_228910107186452, or at Imajin’s site,

www.imajinbooks.com/contests-events

Now onto this week’s topic. A lot of ink and noise has cropped up from Amazon’s decision to pay authors enrolled in Kindle Unlimited (KU) by the number of pages read rather than by the number of book titles. As mentioned last week, there’d been a lot of complaints about authors “gaming the system” which was to write quick 50-page books, for example, list them in KU, then collect a portion of the pot at the same rate that authors with full-length books received. Needless to say, those who were writing shorter works stood more to gain than others. Thus, Amazon’s change.

The brouhaha this has created is fascinating. Some bemoan the fact that those who write romance and erotica specialize in shorter works and will now lose much-needed incomes. According to one article, some of these writers are disabled or stay-at-home-mums or veterans. There is much banter about how authors are leaving KU in droves, crying tears, crying foul, and well, just crying. On the other side of the fence, authors who write full-length novels only applaud the change. Of course, this doesn't mean that readers will actually finish the book or read more pages than they would in a shorter work. Maybe it won't effect full-length novelists' income that much at all. Who knows?

And then there are those who say, wait a sec, let’s just take a look at the numbers before we wring our hands and shout ‘the sky is falling’. One of those is Chris McMullen, who takes a commonsense approach to the situation. He says look at the numbers, and shows you how to do this.

Hugh Howey has also written a good piece which also states that it’s too early to tell anything. KU’s changes have only been in effect since July 1^st for heaven sake, so why freak out so soon? And here’s another excellent point: KU is voluntary. No one’s forcing authors to join or stay. If they don’t like it, there are other options. No kidding.

Debra

How Much Are You Willing To Invest?

This week, a statement in Hugh Howey’s blog, Renting vs. Owning, hit home for me. Howey states that many writers still believe that traditional publishers do most of the promotion and marketing. I realized how right he was when I gave a workshop (mentioned in last week’s blog) on landing a book contract.

I explained to attendees how authors are expected to do a variety of tasks that include everything from arranging book signings, to creating their own website, to paying for conferences, and buying copies of their own book at a discount. This was an eye-opener to most of them and unwelcome news for some who later told me they had no desire to do all that promotion and marketing.

In his blog, Howey claimed that, although both traditional and self-published authors work hard, the traditionally published do it because they have to while self-publishers do it because they want to. Huh? That’s not what I’ve heard.

I’ve spoken with many self-publishers who work hard because they have to, because they know no one else will do it for them. Trust me, like traditional authors, indie authors would much rather be writing the next book. If they work harder than traditionally published authors, it's because they are eager to recoup money spent on production costs. Others are hoping for at least a little profit. Most have become realistic enough to understand that they won’t  make a living at this right away. Sure, some indie writers do, but they are still in the minority.

Aside from asking yourself what you want to write in the first place, the next most important question is how much time, energy, and money you’re willing to invest in promoting and marketing, regardless of how your book will be published? If you don’t know the answer, do some soul searching. Ask yourself, if you’d be happy selling just fifty copies? Do you want to sell five hundred? Five thousand? Five million? You’ll need to tailor your plan according to your goals and your lifestyle. Certainly, an author with young kids at home and/or a demanding full-time day job simply won’t have time for all-out seven-day-a-week promoting. Realistic expectation is as important to success as talent, tenacity, and marketing skill.

Regardless of how busy your life is, though, there is always something you can do to move your plan forward. The most counter-productive thing you can do is to publish your book, then have no idea what to do next. Based on some of the forums I belong to, there is still far too much of that happening.

Debra

Good News for Self-Publishers

This month, author Hugh Howey posted another Author Earnings report and the data is really interesting. Howey started this project to identify emerging trends in digital publishing and therefore help writers make more informed choices about publishing their manuscripts. To acquire the data, he looked at four things on Amazon: number of ranked titles, number of unit sales, gross earnings, and author earnings. He also has a link describing his methodology and, although I haven’t read that link, his stats are intriguing. Of course, there are always skeptics and critics, which is good. Questions should always be asked.

I won’t go into all the numbers and stats Howey came up with as you can read the report and see the graphs yourself, however a couple of things did strike me. The numbers show that self-publishers (also known as indie publishers) and small-to-mid-sized publishers are outselling the big five publishers on the bestseller list. They are also doing better in daily unit sales, (a combined 51% of sales to the big five’s 38%,) however, the big five publishers are making more money. Book pricing appears the big difference here, although there could well be other factors.

Howey also notes that self-published authors have been steadily earning more income (although disgruntled indie writers on Kindleboard forums would dispute this) while big five authors are earning less. Howey states that indie authors now earn more royalties than all big five authors combined. Based on his last two reports, indie author royalties are definitely creeping up the ladder. In fact, self-published authors are earning 40% of all royalties paid on the Kindle store. One possible reason for this, Howey says, is that big five publishers do seasonal promotion rather than year-round events like indie publishers tend to do.

One of the biggest myths out there, and something I’ve been wondering myself, is whether romance/erotica and sci-fi/fantasy novels are grabbing the lion’s share of indie sales. According to Howey, the answer is that while romance/erotica does sell more than other genres, nonfiction and mysteries are right behind them, with sci-fi/fantasy a little down on the list. Take a look at his findings  at http://authorearnings.com/july-2014-author-earnings-report/

 Debra

A Grim Picture for U.K. Writers

The only true thing about publishing these days is that nothing ever stays the same. I’m not sure that it should. Some changes are for the better, but based on a study by the Authors’ Licensing & Collection Society (ALCS), income for U.K. writers has dropped significantly over recent years.

2,454 authors took part in the study, 56% men, and 44% women. By the way, 17% of respondents were age 44 or under, 54% were 45 to 64, and 29% were over 65. Whether age has any bearings on findings, I don’t know. Based on the three articles I’ve read about the study, it seems that a significant portion of the writers who took part were writing literary or mainstream novels, however science fiction and children’s writers were also quoted.

The study showed that many full-time, professional writers are earning less money than they were eight years ago. For the study’s purpose, a professional writer is someone who spends the majority of their time writing and whose primary income comes from writing. The typical income was about £11,000, yet in 2005 it was £12,330; a significant drop if you’re depending on every penny to feed and house yourself. One development and research foundation states that an individual needs about £16,850 to maintain a socially acceptable standard of living in the U.K.

It’s no surprise, therefore, that the study also showed that the majority of writers who made their living from writing dropped about 40% from 2005 to only 11.5% .in 2013. In others words, many more writers are supplementing their incomes through other means.

There are many more comments and stats which you can read about through the links below. Discussion also refers to the 25% of self-published respondents. Hugh Howey’s name and his AuthorsEarnings report was also mentioned in one of the pieces. What was missing for me was detailed discussion about why this was happening. Certainly, there were references to the worsening contracts for writers, and how the literary novel is apparently dying. But any detailed analysis about changes in buying and reading habits was lacking. What do book buyers have to say about all this? Incidentally, the ALCS,  will release a more detailed report in the fall and hopefully that will generate more discussion as to why incomes have declined so much.

You know, In the 30+ plus years I’ve been writing and reading about these issues, a writer’s income has always been significantly lower than the national average. That they are dropping even lower at a time when publishing options have never been better for writers is perplexing on one hand, but not so much on the other.

Given the many articles, blogs, and forums discussing the rise in income for a growing number of independent authors, lots of us believe that there’s hope for the future. But the highest money earners these days seem to be writing romance, erotica, and fantasy. Will that change? Is the reason for dropped incomes really as simple as genre writers increasingly outselling their literary counterparts? On the other hand, there are more books being released than ever, more competition than ever, and more free books being given away than ever. It’s a complicated issue. Anyway, read the articles. I’d like to hear your take on all this.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/08/authors-incomes-collapse-alcs-survey

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/typical-author-earnings-dropped-%C2%A311000-2013.html

http://www.futurebook.net/content/uk-author-income-survey-another-publishing-bombshell

Debra 

More Revealing Stats!

About three weeks ago, I posted a blog called “A Financial Reality Check for Writers” which discussed a survey about the poor earnings many authors receive for their work. The survey prompted a fair bit of discussion about whether the authors questioned were a true reflection of the whole writing community. Some claimed that most of those surveyed were beginning writers, therefore the meager earnings was expected.

This week I found that bestselling indie author Hugh Howey has launched a brand new site called Author Earnings, for the purpose of gathering and sharing information about earnings and bookselling so that writers can make informed decisions. Howey will be taking regular snapshots of sales in the industry, using not only Amazon’s stats, but information from BookScan. BookScan gathers stats from traditional book publishers brick-and-mortar stores. A piece in The Bookseller provides a good overview of what Howey’s done so far and what he hopes to accomplish. Also, Howey provides some detailed findings called What Writers Leave on the Table.

What’s exciting about this new site is that Howey’s is not just looking at e-books, but at print, audio, and other platforms. He’ll also be conducting regular surveys and looking at a much broader spectrum of authors and publishers than in previous studies. He’s even provided a way for authors to take part through the petition button on the Author Earnings website.

Some of the findings that have stood out for him so far is that 90% of Amazon’s book sales come from e-books. Also, in the mystery/thriller, fantasy/sci fi, and romance categories, indie authors are now outselling the Big Five publishers. Who would have thought that five years ago? Anyhow, I signed up today to receive Author Earnings newsletters. I can’t wait to see what else this interesting site turns up.