Confessions of a Slow Writer

[alexp336]

Sales on the novel have dropped to the point that I'm focusing entirely on getting the next book out. Because it's a series book, I don't expect it to sell all that well - readers tend to gravitate toward Book 1 - but having more books out always helps. I'll be curious to see if it boosts things in any way that's noticeable.

Out of curiosity, do you plan to discount book 1 when you release the second in the series?

 

[lizmonster]

Out of curiosity, do you plan to discount book 1 when you release the second in the series?

I can't. I don't control the pricing.

ETA Also this is Book 4.

 

[alexp336]

I can't. I don't control the pricing.

ETA Also this is Book 4.

Ah, my bad, I assumed

 

[lizmonster]

Ah, my bad, I assumed

No, that's fine! I'm in kind of a weird situation, which pretty much means I'll never get rich in self-pub.

 

[lizmonster]

Yanked the book off Google Play, because who needs that headache?

I still want to research going direct to Kobo, rather than relying on IS to distribute to them. Kobo is pretty much the #2 ebook retailer worldwide, and there might be promos I could take advantage of if I went through them directly.

I've been pleased with IS for print books, and for library distribution. And I'm not sure I'd want to go to Apple directly; I've heard (maybe outdated now) stories that they're kind of difficult to deal with. So I'll probably keep IS in the mix.

But Google is out. Never sold much there. Not gonna miss them.

 

[lizmonster]

Some preliminary BookBub results:

The good news: More than 1,000 copies sold!
The bad news: Pretty sure I'm not going to break even this time. Which I knew, but still.

The only numbers I have at the moment are from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Thanks to reporting lags between IngramSpark and retailers, I'll get partial numbers on October 25, and complete ones on November 25. IngramSpark covers Apple, Kobo, and libraries, but based on previous comparisons I don't think I'll move enough in any of those outlets to make up the ~$250 I'm currently short to hit break-even.

It's hard to be terribly upset, though, even so. As of this moment (without updated Kobo and Apple numbers), I'm at 8,819 lifetime sales on this book. I may hit 9,000 before the end of the year. Even with slowdowns, there's a decent chance I'll hit 10K sometime next year.

I know to some of you those are very wee numbers! But I really, truly never ever thought I'd sell that many. Not even close.

Sales rankings during the promo were quite nice. I hit #293 on the general Kindle list, #6 on Kobo's SFF list, #1 on Barnes and Noble's indie book list, #106 overall on Apple, and #8 on their SFF list.

So there's some contradictory data here. My rankings were pretty good, yet I sold dramatically less than I did in last December's identical promo. I can think of a lot of reasons for this, one of which is that the book is older, and even though it got a pop it wasn't sustained as well. (I haven't gone back and compared the exact numbers, but I'll do that once I've got the final figures in.) It might also be the season - maybe the holidays are, indeed, a good time to do a big, expensive promotion. Which is interesting, because in trade, at least, the conventional wisdom is that releases between Thanksgiving and Christmas just get lost. Maybe that's true for new releases, and not for price drops.

Anyway - even if I lose money on this deal, I have no regrets, and would do it again (as long as I was confident I could handle the expense!). None of the other promotional newsletters come close to the kinds of numbers BookBub can get me, at least as they're currently structured.

Trying to convince myself to see what they could do for me if I priced at $2.99 rather than $1.99 - I could keep a 70% royalty from Amazon that way ($1.99 drops you down to 35%, which is part of why I'm losing money in the end), but you just don't move as many books with a higher price. And the promo is a lot more expensive. I may do some calculations and see if it's worth the risk. I have to wait 6 months before I can request another feature anyway - I have time for statistical analysis.

 

[Pacific]

This is one of my favorite threads about publishing info...

 

[lizmonster]

This is one of my favorite threads about publishing info...

I am very glad you're finding it useful. That was my goal!

 

[lizmonster]

Here's what you've all been waiting for:

Final numbers from my September 21st 2024 BookBub Promo!​

Or: How I Lost Money But Maybe Not

Note: Because IngramSpark reporting isn't granular, I'm attributing everything sold in September and October to the promo. Historically speaking, that may mean I've credited the promo with half a dozen copies it doesn't really deserve, but no more than that. For Amazon and B&N, I'm including copies sold between the promo and when the price went back up.

Sales numbers!

Kobo: 42
Barnes & Noble: 101
Amazon: 964
Apple: 104
Midwest Tape: 25

Total: 1236

Income:

Kobo: $60.35
Barnes & Noble: $140.39
Amazon: $676.31
Apple: $127.16
Midwest Tape: $5.70

Total: $1,009.91

Cost of promo: $1,069.00
Total loss: $59.09

I dunno, guys. Gotta say, still feels worth it.

As always, it's Amazon that makes all of this frustrating. At $1.99, the author's share goes down to 35%. Apart from Midwest Tape (which I believe is a library service), no other vendor pays so little. I suppose the idea is one makes it up in volume, and I can't really argue with that, given the numbers.

So, Liz, what's the difference between this time and the last time you did this, when you made $300?​

I have a few ideas on this.

1) The book is older. It came out in March of 2022, and I've released nothing since. I've reached a lot of my audience. Given the total sales of the title (9,057 as of today) I suspect I don't have a whole lot of nuts left to crack.

2) SF has always had a pretty small market share, and I don't think the advent of Romantasy has improved things. It's also not as escapist, in many ways, as general fantasy, and I suspect these days people are needing their escapes.

3) Perhaps as part of 2), I'm not seeing BookBub featuring a lot of recent SF. I see a lot of classics featured - today it was Connie Willis' Doomsday Book, which came out in 1992 (it's $1.99 for those interested - go forth and buy!), and in recent months I've seen books far older than that. I don't know if that's a reflection of the state of SF in general, or if BookBub is starting to lose its mojo. Worth keeping an eye on it either way.

Oh, Hey, Whaddya Mean, "Maybe Not"?

There's a Thing brewing that I don't think would be brewing if this promo hadn't spiked the sales and made the book more visible. (I don't know how much I'm allowed to talk about it at this stage; I've said a bit in my Conquering Challenges thread.) I'm extremely supersitious, and I don't want to say anything on a thread this public until I have some dates to share, but it has the potential to make up that $60 shortfall.

(No, it's not a movie. Oh, wouldn't a movie be nice???)

Anyway. All in all, not a slam-dunk this time, but I'm still pretty happy, considering everything.

 

[ElaineB]

Gotta say, still feels worth it.

Cost of promo: $1,069
1,236 new readers who will love your book and be so damn glad they read it: Priceless!