Brand Gamblin's Blog, page 13

Episode 1 of The Hidden Institute is up!

I just finished building the first episode of the podiobook for my new novel "The Hidden Institute." You can listen to it here:

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For a direct download, use this link

I've tried to make it Podiobooks.com compliant, but I'm not going to submit it to them until I have at least five episodes in the can. Still, if you just can't wait until it gets up there, we'll be uploading them here as fast as we get them in.

And thanks for listening!

Pre-order The Hidden Institute today

I just finished editing, formatting, and typesetting my new novel "The Hidden Institute".

Cliffy is a child born on the streets of a Neo-Victorian world. When he witnesses a murder, the nobleman presumed to be guilty offers him a very unique bribe. If Cliffy will keep his silence, the nobleman will introduce him to the Malcolm Rutherford Holden Institute of Regentrification. There, Cliffy will learn to walk, talk, and act like a nobleman, so that he may infiltrate high society. But that type of fraud is punishable by death, and when Cliffy uncovers a plot to assassinate a head of state, he's hunted by more than just the aristocracy.

I'm submitting it to Amazon, which could have it available for purchase in the next few weeks. However, if you already know that you want a copy, you can pre-order it now using the links below.

For $4.99 (the price that Amazon will offer the book) you will receive a copy of the e-book e-mailed to you on the day that it becomes available on Amazon.

Inscription

For $9.99, you will receive a signed, numbered version of the e-book, with whatever inscription you choose. If no inscription is selected, I will choose the first spam e-mail in my folder and use it's text for the inscription (cause I'm crazy like that).

My First Paid Ad.

Recently, I took a bold new step in my publishing career. About nine months after I published my first book (Tumbler), I decided to pay real cash money to advertise it. Prior to that time, I had done nothing for promoting my book, outside of podcasting the story, and telling people about it on Facebook and Twitter. This was a huge step for me, and so I did a lot of research and study before taking the plunge.

I decided to go with Kindle Nation Daily, a website that promotes Kindle books to their reading group of thousands. I chose their "eBook of the Day Sponsorship", which included promotion on their "Planet iPad" sister site, a single post on their website with detailed information about the book and author, a FaceBook status post, a Twitter post, and a place on their sidebar for 18 hours. The whole package cost me $59.99 USD.

One of the reasons I went with this blog was the fact that I recognized some of the other authors there, specifically Basil Sands, author of "65 Below". Another reason was that they posted their sales results, including a percentage of how much their authors sales improved after advertising with KND. The spreadsheets are very impressive, with some people seeing a thousand percent improvement or more.

I didn't expect that level of return, but I figured that it was worth it if the ad only covered it's own costs. I make around $2.09/book, so I knew I would need to sell 28 copies to cover the cost. If it could add four sales a day, then it would be worth it. So I gave it a shot.

The day before my ad appeared, a strange thing happened. Nobody bought my book. Please don't think this is hubris talking, but that was a really odd occurance. On average, Tumbler sold about four copies a day. Not a bestseller by any scale, but it was fairly consistent. However, the day before my ad went up, sales stopped completely. Because of this, my Amazon Sales Rank shot up from #15,000 to #30,000. Not the best control case, to be sure, but there was nothing we could do about that.

Then, at around noon on the 5th of February, the ad showed up. Here's a link to it. I didn't write it, and I was kinda surprised to see the direction they took with it. Tumbler has always been a Heinlein-esque story. From the beginning, I wanted it to be a homage to one of my most favorite writers. I use Heinlein names, politics, and the by-your-bootstraps mentality that he so often shared. However the ad had a couple of references to Stieg Larsson. They refer to it as "Stranger in a Strange Land meets The Girl Who Escaped from Earth?" I get that one would want to tie a work to a bestseller, but that still seemed odd. I mean, there's no intentional violence in my story, nor is there any sexuality or revenge. Still, if it would sell books, I guess it was their site. . .

And it did sell books. I don't have sales numbers for the day, but I watched the sales total grow that day, and we definitely did sell at least 28 copies. In the space of one day, we dropped from #30k on Kindle Sales Rank down to #4358. We were listed in three different "Top 100" Amazon lists:

#59 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Space Opera
#65 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction > Adventure
#73 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Adventure

The effect didn't last for long, but the sales did improve. Look at this:

In this graph, you can see the spike that came just before the ad went up, and you can see how the sales rank dropped on the day of the ad. Ever since that day, we have hovered around 10k, which isn't bad, but look at this:

This is a graph of the sales rank for Tumbler over it's entire run. In it, you can see how we started near #30k, and slowly dropped in rank as fans of the podcast began to pick it up. At that point, we were trending around #10k or lower. Then, as everyone knew it would, the trend diminished, sales got more erratic, and started to drop off.

In early January (footnote 1) I took a risky step that made a huge difference. I dropped the price of Tumbler from $4.99 to $2.99. The number of sales increased and (outside of a couple of abberant days) the sales rank dropped to around #15k. The $2.99 sales point made more money, and improved our sales rank. More than that, it fixed that dying trend, and flattened it at the same time. Compared to that, the ad placement (footnote 2) did not make a huge long-term difference.

Now, that doesn't mean I'm unhappy with it. After all, even a slightly higher sales rank means more sales. I can't complain about that. Also, the ad made back it's investment in the first day. This is great news for an advertising client.

In short, it was definitely worth the expense, and I do plan to do it again for other books (I might even do it for Tumbler again in six months or so). But if one is looking for a way to significantly improve flagging sales numbers, a price drop might suit you better.

Update: Mr. Talbot points out that there is a difference between sales numbers and sales rank. This is a valid point, and while I don't want to post specific sales data here, I thought I would share a graph of actual sales. You can see from this that, while the graphs are not identical, they do match fairly closely.

How to get a signed copy of "Tumbler"

I've had copies of "Tumbler" available at my house for months now, ready for signing, but I just realized that I never told anyone how to get their own copy. Well, today we fix that.

If you use the button at the bottom of the page, you can buy a copy for $15. It will be signed and shipped to you for free (within the United States). Also, you can customize your inscription with the text field just above the button.

So, if you've been waiting for that special gift for the sci-fi lover in your life, or if you want a really obscure way to send an enemy threat mail, or if you're just looking for a really inefficient form of firewood, I'm here to help.

Inscription

Career Path for the Modern Writer

Many writers have told the stories about how great self-publishing is. They talk about how much more money and how much more control they have over their titles. The message seems to be, "Get into self-publishing now. You can make crazy money that way."

Successful writers talk about their half-million sales, and the control self-publishig gives them over their empire. Well, in my little writer's circle, I have one of the more successful self-published books, and my success just about covers my car payment. As a writer just starting out, you won't have a half-million sales.

In the beginning, it's not about distribution, it's about visibility. Traditional publishers make sure that your book is in a bookstore, on a shelf, where people have to decide to pass it up. Online, they need a reason to see your book at all. There is a huge difference that is rarely given credit by the self-publishing success stories. If you're going to do well in self-publishing, you must have an audience. And a good route to an audience is to get traditionally published.

So, to have a really successful career self-publishing, you must first get traditionally published. The Big 6 can help you get the audience, and once you have that, you can self-publish and make better royalties with more control.

So, what's the quickest route to getting published with the Big 6? Oddly, the answer may be self-publishing. I know, it sounds like I'm talking in circles, but hear me out. Publishers don't want to buy a book from someone who's never sold a book before. Agents don't want to work with someone who has only got one book. But, if you've written three books in three years, and you've put in the work to self-publish each one, if you have a decent Amazon Sales Rank and good reviews, the publisher will be more likely to read your next query.

By the way, I'm talking about approaching the publisher directly, because I've lost some faith in what agents can do for a writer. From what I've read, there are two kinds of agents. There are the ones who truly do have clout with the publishers, who do have power lunches and who know the publishers by name. These people are not going to hear you if you call them. You need them more than they need you.

The other type of agents I've seen are just starting their careers, and need you as much as you need them. The only problem with that is, because they're just starting, they know as much as you know. They don't have any secret connections, no special knowledge. And what's more, they aren't as interested in selling your book as you are. There's too many books out there now, looking for a publisher, so even new agents get swamped with queries. Stephen King says that you don't need an agent until you have something to steal. In that spirit, I wouldn't get an agent until I had already procured a publishing contract. It would guarantee that I could choose a good agent, and it would let the agent do what they do best, negotiate contracts.

So, first you write a few books, then you go to a publisher, then you get an agent. What next?

You write another book. Yeah, I know, kinda obvious, but here's the thing. You write at least two or three books for traditional publishers. Make them in the same genre or even better, part of a series. Chances are, you'll be offered a multiple-book deal in any case, so it's good to put them all together in one series. This is what readers like, it's what publishers like, and it sets you up for the next step.

Next, leave traditional publishing behind. Self-publish from then on. This is especially good if you're in the middle of a series. Traditional publishers won't worry that they're losing you (they've got too many books to publish as it is), and you will have the audience that's interested in seeing what your hero does next. You will have the traditional publishing audience, with the self-publishing control. And then, my friends, you'll have truly arrived.

Self-publishing is easy. Getting the audience is hard. But if you follow this career path, you should be able to reach that point where you have the best of both worlds.

Write a bunch of books and self publish them.
Get a traditional publisher contract.
Get an agent.
Publish a second book with Big 6.
Switch to self-publishing.

Update: Nathan Lowell pointed out to me that, with some modern contracts, once you sell the book, you could lose control of it forever. If you don't cover the advance in sales, and they decide to stop printing it, you may have to give it up. In that case, I would consider the book a loss leader, created to build your audience rather than to be resold.

Image © Copyright Glyn Baker and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.