Yeah, I know. Jim never posts twice in one day. But I had a lot to babble about, and I’m going to be gone this weekend for Constellation, so figured I’d get the latest e-book data up now.
It looks like I'm down for three readings, actually. Friday at 9, Saturday at 1, and another one Saturday at 5. I don't know if this is 100% finalized yet though, so don't hold me to that.
Yeah, I've been trying to plan my hours there - I work all three days so I'll be showing up in the evening - and I've been a little worried that no scheduling info has gone up. I'll try to make the Saturday at 5 reading!
That's said only partly in jest. There are an awful lot of people sharing advice on e-books, some of it with religious fervor. It's a very good idea to read up on what people are doing and where the successes are, but also keep in mind that individual anecdotes aren't reliable predictors.
I have a very talented wife... this isn't just me saying this, she has several friends who are professional published writers who can't figure out why she can't get published. (Frankly I think it's because she submitted one book, and when they told her it was "predictable" (on top of having it turned down by about 20 other agents) it broke her heart and she decided not to keep submitting.
She's really talented but I think she's going to have to come to understand that having a book rejected doesn't mean she's not a good enough writer to do this for a living, and might in fact have nothing to do with the quality of the work so much as the difficulty of breaking into the market. I mean almost nobody puts in their first book and gets accepted right?
Someone suggested she look into the Ebook direction with an eye towards eventually catching the eye of an agent or publisher.
Well, I've got more than 500 rejection letters for various books and stories, and it was my fourth book that finally sold to DAW.
Rejection is hard, and it hurts, especially in the beginning. But we've all been there.
If you really want more info, check out http://www.jimchines.com/2010/03/survey-results/ which has data from 246 authors and their first professionally published books. About a quarter of them did sell the first book they wrote, but they're the minority, and it takes time to get there.
Interestingly, I gave you a sales bump for the Goblin books in PRINT for that time period, even though I have a Kindle. I still just love my paper for things I plan to read more than once.
If my own experience selling eBooks is any indicator, you're right that there's an initial spike, followed by a slower long-term rate. First month is hardcore for the books we publish, and then things tail off...
Glad to hear you're getting royalties and earning out! I shall withhold my grumbles about earning out and especially about reserve against returns, though...
The reserve against returns, and the whole returns process, is a mixed bag. On the one hand, the returns process allows bookstores to order a lot more of my books, and to take risks they probably wouldn't take otherwise. At the same time, I *know* from Bookscan that Red Hood's Revenge has sold a minimum of X copies... I dunno.
The money shows up eventually, so it works out in the end.
I've seen some authors arguing that e-book sales don't have to have that dropoff, that there's no reason sales can't continue at that same initial rate. But I think those examples tend to be the books that have reached a certain critical mass ... I suspect you see a similar phenomenon with print books, once they get popular enough. (I'm thinking about annual sales of something like Ender's Game.)
I don't know. And even if I did know, I'm sure it will continue to change over the next few years anyway :-)
I have a problem with the returns process because it's become seriously abused. It's an excuse for a lot of stores to buy books on consignment, and then not actually try to move them...they can just ship them back for a full refund, so why try to actually SELL them actively?
In theory, it's great for small bookstores to be able to take stuff on spec, and take risks. In practice, it's become a real burden on the industry. What other industry sells nearly all its inventory as consignment, after all?
The money does show up eventually, but...eh. I remain cranky.
You can argue that eBooks don't HAVE to have that dropoff, but in my experience, they still do. Once the initial marketing push and the "need this book NAO" rush wears off, sales tail off. Hopefully they don't flatline, but they tail off.
If one of these authors can tell me how you can avoid the dropoff for a new title/author, well, then I'll start believing them a little more. ;-)
Just helped your sales numbers for Kobo and bought a copy there. I will load it onto my Sony Reader as soon as tech support fixes the error message I'm getting when I'm trying to download...
I'm glad your error fixed itself. I gave Kobobooks money a week ago and still haven't been able to access the file; their tech support is useless ('just do the thing that didn't work') and they're utterly refusing to talk about a refund even though it's obvious that I can't access the file.
I know it's just one company, but at least with a paper book you either have it or you don't, and the failure modes and need for tech support are considerably smaller.
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That's said only partly in jest. There are an awful lot of people sharing advice on e-books, some of it with religious fervor. It's a very good idea to read up on what people are doing and where the successes are, but also keep in mind that individual anecdotes aren't reliable predictors.
What are you hoping to get out of e-publishing?
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She's really talented but I think she's going to have to come to understand that having a book rejected doesn't mean she's not a good enough writer to do this for a living, and might in fact have nothing to do with the quality of the work so much as the difficulty of breaking into the market. I mean almost nobody puts in their first book and gets accepted right?
Someone suggested she look into the Ebook direction with an eye towards eventually catching the eye of an agent or publisher.
Reply
Rejection is hard, and it hurts, especially in the beginning. But we've all been there.
If you really want more info, check out http://www.jimchines.com/2010/03/survey-results/ which has data from 246 authors and their first professionally published books. About a quarter of them did sell the first book they wrote, but they're the minority, and it takes time to get there.
Reply
If my own experience selling eBooks is any indicator, you're right that there's an initial spike, followed by a slower long-term rate. First month is hardcore for the books we publish, and then things tail off...
Glad to hear you're getting royalties and earning out! I shall withhold my grumbles about earning out and especially about reserve against returns, though...
Reply
The money shows up eventually, so it works out in the end.
I've seen some authors arguing that e-book sales don't have to have that dropoff, that there's no reason sales can't continue at that same initial rate. But I think those examples tend to be the books that have reached a certain critical mass ... I suspect you see a similar phenomenon with print books, once they get popular enough. (I'm thinking about annual sales of something like Ender's Game.)
I don't know. And even if I did know, I'm sure it will continue to change over the next few years anyway :-)
Reply
In theory, it's great for small bookstores to be able to take stuff on spec, and take risks. In practice, it's become a real burden on the industry. What other industry sells nearly all its inventory as consignment, after all?
The money does show up eventually, but...eh. I remain cranky.
You can argue that eBooks don't HAVE to have that dropoff, but in my experience, they still do. Once the initial marketing push and the "need this book NAO" rush wears off, sales tail off. Hopefully they don't flatline, but they tail off.
If one of these authors can tell me how you can avoid the dropoff for a new title/author, well, then I'll start believing them a little more. ;-)
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And grumble... (But please tell me this is a problem with Sony or Kobo, and not with the file itself?)
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I know it's just one company, but at least with a paper book you either have it or you don't, and the failure modes and need for tech support are considerably smaller.
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