If You Think the Book Industry Has It Tough...

Nearly three weeks ago, I read a Digital Music News article about increasingly dismal sales for artists in the music industry. As I don’t know much about the music business, the article shocked me enough to still be thinking about it. The similarity with some of the problems in the book industry was disconcerting, to say the least.

The article maintains that the music industry is failing because artists are having more difficulty making money from audio releases. In fact, every new platform earns less money for the musician. Streaming earns less than downloads and downloads earn less than CDs. The article goes on to say, (and this is really disheartening) that music buyers place less value on music now more than ever. YouTube and piracy, for instance, don’t cost the listener anything which also means no income for the musician. People can now listen to music their entire lives without ever paying a cent for it. This is why the article also states that 99.9% of musicians survive on day jobs.

Here’s another point. The sheer volume of artists is so vast that it is become harder for an artist to get noticed. Music fans are flooded with music and videos and games and all sorts of things to keep them busy and distracted from sticking with an artist.

The article goes onto say that that traditional record stores have all but imploded and that major labels, who were once the source of  income and innovation for musicians, are but a fraction of their former selves. Is any of this sounding familiar to you book folks yet?

There are many more important points in the article, but my question is, are we in the book business doomed to suffer the same fate? Is it possible to avoid some of the mess that the music industry is in? Although books aren’t streamed the way music is, there are so many similar challenges that it feels like we’re falling into a twin rabbit hole. Who knows what will appear on the other side? As mentioned, I don’t know much about the music industry, so I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Debra

Hard Times for Harlequin

Anyone who’s read or written romance knows that Harlequin has been the most recognized brand name for decades. For years, they ruled the roost when it came to publishing and selling romances. But the tide has turned. In fact, over the past five years, Harlequin reports a loss of nearly $100 million in sales. This is important for all traditional publishers and authors to know, because the reasons speak to the e-book and self-publishing revolution in every genre.

Digitalbookworld’s article quotes the reasons for the downfall directly from Harlequin’s findings and they probably won’t surprise you. Harlequin cites increased competition from e-books, self-publishers, and Amazon. Harlequin also used to dominate direct-to-consumer marketing through catalogues and mail-order options. Well, online sites like BookBub have adopted the direct-to-consumer angle big time by offering thousands of free and $.99 romances, making Harlequin’s $4.99 prices seem expensive. Adding to Harlequin’s woes is the reduction of physical shelf space and the increased availability of movies.

Digitalbookworld offers a link to Harlequin’s report on their financial troubles, but there might be more to the story. There have been a number of blogs and articles written by former Harlequin authors complaining about the publisher’s unfair contracts and small royalty payments. It does appear that a number of Harlequin authors have jumped ship to self-publish their work. I don’t know what Harlequin contracts say, but I do know that rights and royalties are an increasingly contentious issue between publishers and authors elsewhere. It looks like Harlequin will have to make big changes to survive either in their contracts, their pricing, their marketing, or all three. Will they survive? We’ll have to wait and see.

Debra

Authors, beware of a company called eBookSmarts!

There is a company called eBookSmarts (.com) run by a fellow named Hassan Shah, and I am appalled at his expectations--and you should be too.

They claim to be able to give you free stats on your books. Sounds okay. I was interested, even though I have other ways of viewing stats. But I have always been open to new ideas, so I thought I'd give them a try.

After finally getting into the site, I went to set up my book info and what did I discover? They actually wanted me to give them my Amazon login info, INCLUDING PASSWORD. WTF???

And you only discover this AFTER you have signed up for their free beta.

When I asked him what "idiot in their right mind" would give him such access, he said "Apparently a couple hundred idiots think our service is worth trying..."

Wow...

Then he mentioned KDP. So he's asking for either my KDP login info which gives him access to all my personal info like bank account info, including the ability to mess with our publications, pricing and more; or he was asking for my personal Amazon account login info, which gives him access to my personal info and credit card. Really??

ANY COMPANY WHO ASKS YOU TO GIVE YOUR AMAZON ACCOUNT INFO IS UNPROFESSIONAL AND BORDERS ON "SCAM"!

Ok, today's rant--over! Maybe...

Interview with NovelRank creator Mario Lurig

Many author I know have used various Amazon sales rank tracking systems online so they can see how their books are selling on Amazon, so today I'm interviewing Mario Lurig, the creator of NovelRank. Mario, welcome to The Write Type! ~Cheryl Kaye Tardif

CKT: As the creator of NovelRank, please tell us what led to the creation of such a program.

ML: I'm a self-publishing author myself, and that means marketing my book is a one-man team. The problem was that Amazon sales info is delayed about 6 months from my publisher, Lulu. Therefore, it's hard to know what is working and what is not as not every purchase happens where you want it to happen. I tried other sales rank tracking websites, and was not satisfied with any of them.

I then remembered, "Oh wait, I can write code." So I started tracking sales rank on my own, then realized that other authors probably could use the same thing; I'm not the only author selling less than 15 copies a month. So, I've put in 200+ hours of work and NovelRank was released to the public.

CKT: Who uses NovelRank, and why?

ML: A few publishers, definitely a large collection of self-promoting authors, and I suppose for the same reasons I do: To get some feedback on how well your book is selling on Amazon without having to obsessively visit Amazon.com, trying to figure out if the book's sales rank has gone up or down, and what that means. Authors are busy enough!

CKT: How does NovelRank work? And why is it important to authors like me?

ML: It's a pretty simple concept: Every hour, get the sales rank of your book on all Amazon domains that carry the book that you choose to track. Then, based on trends and changes, estimate the number of sales that occur. Is it important to know the sales at any one moment? No, unless you are actively promoting it. The key to good marketing is good feedback, and that is what NovelRank provides for authors like you.

CKT: Can I only track my sales rank from Amazon.com?

ML: Other sites only track Amazon.com and some track Amazon.co.uk. NovelRank tracks all Amazon domains, including US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, and Japan.

CKT: I've used TitleZ in the past to track my sales ranks and at one time could track my Kindle sales rank too, but then TitleZ removed this feature. Can I use NovelRank to track Kindle editions of my work?

ML: Yes! It's a bit of a long story, but the quick version is that every site that exists to track sales rank uses Amazon's API (efficient way to get information from a service or site). Months ago, Amazon removed the ability to get any information about Kindle Edition books, and after some persistence from myself and a few others in their forums, they finally stated that this was deliberate and permanent. Everyone's source of information was lost, including NovelRank.

I wasn't satisfied with that option, so I found another way to get the information from Amazon that was 20% of the API's efficiency. Without this new method, it would have been only 4%, which just isn't a feasible amount to get the data in a timely manner. Now NovelRank allows you to add Kindle Edition books for tracking, and still get hourly results, including sales estimates, exclusively.

CKT: On TitleZ I could track a list of items and see them on one page. This was great for comparing ranks for my 3 novels. It was also useful if I wanted to track a comparative title and compare to one of mine. Can I track more than one item and compare their stats easily using NovelRank?

ML: You can definitely track more than one item, and you can even share the book's page with others without them needing to create an account, just share the URL of the page. However, this is the one place NovelRank lags behind others, the ability to have an account and track everything on one page. It's coming, let me be clear, but I opted to reduce the barrier to entry, because I really dislike having to login or make an account everywhere.

So, I made it really simple to add a book, track it, and share that with others or integrate it with your regular life with things like RSS feeds. I'll be keeping the spirit the same however, because you won't be creating an account, but simply logging in through one of 6 services you already have an account with, such as Google, LiveJournal, Facebook, and Twitter. Just like the current book details page, you will have an 'account' page accessible by URL so you won't need to login to see everything on one page, only to make changes to your settings or lists.

CKT: Are there any features (current or future) that really make NovelRank stand out?

ML: Kindle tracking is the standout feature right now, as nobody else supports it. Nobody.

CKT: Do you charge for this tracking service?

ML: I like to think that the second best thing about NovelRank is that there are no advertisements, never will be, and it has the best price: Free.

CKT: On the home page of NovelRank, you feature 3 lists? Tell us about them. Are there any others, and what do they track?

ML: It actually features about 10 lists, because every hour the 3 featured on the home page change, as they are randomly selected from all of the Top 10 lists available. It always shows Recent Additions on either Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk, as the most popular Amazon domains, and then 2 other lists.

Most lists are obvious, showing books that were recently added, top sellers, top Lulu sellers, etc. However, my favorite lists are called Diamonds in the Rough, which represent books that have sold a copy recently, but have been on a dry streak in the last couple of days. In other words, books that are valuable enough to garner your attention and your dollars, but probably not top sellers.

CKT: Do you have anything else to add?

ML: Being an author is hard, even for those of us doing it part-time, but it's incredibly rewarding. If NovelRank can bring value to an author who is taking their book's sales and marketing into their own hands, it has succeeded. Like my book, NovelRank suffers from the same fate: I'm its biggest fan, and everything else is gravy.

Authors: you can now promote your book on NovelRank. Just send Mario a copy for his once a month book giveaway. http://www.novelrank.com/blog/donate-novel-authors-monthly-promotion-and-giveaway/

Thank you for dropping by The Write Type, Mario, and for sharing this valuable service. I've tried NovelRank and it's simple and easy. All the best in success with NovelRank.