I'm a complete n00b here, still in the investigative state, so bear with me if this is patently obvious to everyone...
I found a blog post by Victorine Lieske that outlines sales numbers for several authors that are not JA Konrath or Amanda Hocking (aka "the dazzlers" because who wouldn't get stars in their eyes from these success stories). The numbers seem to tell an entirely opposite tale than the numbers I've both personally observed (from my own epublishing titles) and seen via Emily Veinglory's wonderful sales tracking for erotic romance).
Sales with a publisher seem to hit hard right out of the gate, then trickle down into a long, yet narrow tail. Indie-published stuff seems to start with a trickle and gather momentum--sometimes slowly, and sometimes with a huge rush that jumps them up and keeps them in elevated numbers.
Granted, this is only a small sampling, across genres, and with divergent authors who may or may not be promoing the living daylights out of their titles (also some numbers are for a single title versus others are aggregated for multiples).
I understand why print publishers will see a sharp drop-off. Returns, moving physical inventory, shelf life of a book, etc. Even epubs have new releases crowding out the older ones. I'm not sure why the reverse is true for self/indie.
So what gives? Are there any sages who might be able to venture a guess as to why velocity of sales for independently-published authors builds over time rather than tapers off?
I found a blog post by Victorine Lieske that outlines sales numbers for several authors that are not JA Konrath or Amanda Hocking (aka "the dazzlers" because who wouldn't get stars in their eyes from these success stories). The numbers seem to tell an entirely opposite tale than the numbers I've both personally observed (from my own epublishing titles) and seen via Emily Veinglory's wonderful sales tracking for erotic romance).
Sales with a publisher seem to hit hard right out of the gate, then trickle down into a long, yet narrow tail. Indie-published stuff seems to start with a trickle and gather momentum--sometimes slowly, and sometimes with a huge rush that jumps them up and keeps them in elevated numbers.
Granted, this is only a small sampling, across genres, and with divergent authors who may or may not be promoing the living daylights out of their titles (also some numbers are for a single title versus others are aggregated for multiples).
I understand why print publishers will see a sharp drop-off. Returns, moving physical inventory, shelf life of a book, etc. Even epubs have new releases crowding out the older ones. I'm not sure why the reverse is true for self/indie.
So what gives? Are there any sages who might be able to venture a guess as to why velocity of sales for independently-published authors builds over time rather than tapers off?
