Derek Blass's Blog, page 3

Thinking About Adding Some Song Lyrics To Your Novel? Think Again.

Okay, gotta admit that I almost made this mistake.  In fact, I DID make the mistake, but thanks to a small group of amazing authors I associate with on Facebook, I caught it before publishing my second book.  The mistake–using the lyrics of another person's song in the book.

In the back of my mind, I thought two things.  First, I'm no mega-bestseller, so who the hell cares?  Second, fair use, right?  Wrong.  Starting with the second point, there is no fair use for songs because they are too short.  Apparently, it is acceptable to use thetitleof the song, but none of the words.  Not even a couple.  As to the second point, even if you're not a bestseller, you can get nabbed for using what amounts to copyrighted material from another artist.  And, removing the reference won't necessarily help you avoid a lawsuit.  Finally, citation to the song is not sufficient to cover your butt either.

In short, get permission to use the lyrics, just avoid using another artist's lyrics at all, or write your own damn song!  Good luck writing Stairway to Heaven though…

Here is a very good article I found online by Lori Lake on the topic (it spells out the legalities in more detail).  http://www.justaboutwrite.com/A_Archive_IntellectProp3.html

Should You Stay With Kindle Direct Publishing Select?

Is there a more prominent question to be asked and resolved right now for indie authors?  There certainly isn't a more pressing time, as many of us are coming up on our first renewal window.  And, as that window approaches, I'm seeing more and more authors take a stance on this issue.  Question is, what areyou going to do?

In case you're new to the game, or you've lived under a rock for the last three months, Kindle Direct Publishing is the means by which you can publish your ebook on Amazon.  About three months ago, KDP announced the select program, whereby an author could take advantage of a huge promotional tool in exchange for your ebook being listed exclusively on Amazon.  The huge promotional tool is the ability to list your book for free for five (5) days during your three month KDPS agreement with Amazon.  Going free, in and of itself, is just the first of a one-two punch.  The second punch is that your free downloads "transfer" over to your paid ranking when you come off of free.  Thus, you do not get any royalty credit for the free downloads (obviously), but you do get credit in terms of where you rank when your free period is over.  To be clear, this can be HUGE (which is why I put it in caps, okay?)

PROVEN RESULTS

Let's start with this–I have experienced and witnessed some amazing results in the KDPS program.  First, as to my own book Enemy in Blue, I have gone from being in the 20,000-30,000 ranking range to the 1,000-2,500 range.  That's going from maybe a couple books sold a day to around 50.  Second, I was part of an event where one of the authors (Nina Bruhns, Catch Me If You Can) experienced an almost unimaginable jump.  Her book reached the top 10 in all free books, came out onto free and reached the top 30 in all of paid, and her backlog of books is now completely kicking ass.  She is selling tons of books.  Would that have happened without KDPS?  Maybe, but it certainly didn't happen before KDPS.

If the results were a one-off, I'd let you know that and probably counsel against KDPS.  However, the results are not anomalies, which leads me to my conclusion that KDPS is the most significant marketing tool that we indie authors have at the moment.

CHANGING LANDSCAPE?

I ended the last second with the caveat "at the moment" because things can change on a moment's notice with Amazon.  From my own personal experience, I seemed to get a bigger "transfer" based upon the number of downloads in my first free giveaway than my second.  There are rumblings that Amazon is not giving as much credit for free downloads in KDPS now as they were at the beginning of the program.  Essentially, they are making it more difficult to climb the rankings based solely upon your downloads. This could make the value of the primary benefit of KDPS less attractive.

Adding to the changing landscape is saturation in our target markets.  This is purely speculation, but I think there's an upper limit to what people are willing to throw onto their devices.  If they have 50 books that they have downloaded for free, are they really going to add the 51st, 52nd, etc.?  Even if they do, will they ever read them?  This also begs the question, are people going to become accustomed to getting books for free?  Will they still pay $2.99 for a book when they know that it may go free in the next several months?  Is that the world we (as indie authors) want to create…and do we have any say in it to begin with?

I think a very interesting indicator of where readers are headed is the report generated by Kindle Nation Daily with respect to the successes of their sponsors.  Here's the link to the results: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AlfzLsx6vYzodHZaUWJ6QS0tdC1Rb1pFay1sNW5pSHc&gid=18  If you take the time to analyze the results over the last few months compared to the last year, for instance, you'll see two things.  First, many more authors listing their books for free and paying for advertising space to do so.  Second, the numerical jump in ranking for books that are free versus those that are paid is significantly different.  To me, this means that readers are becoming accustomed to free rather than paid.  (Now, this may largely be a result of the shift in who advertises on Kindle Nation Daily, i.e. more free books, but it is the only empirical data we have as to results from advertising).

STILL THE BEST GAME IN TOWN

Things can change on a dime.  Just look at what KDPS did to our world.  As things currently stand, it is a must to use the KDPS system as an indie author.  Nowhere else are you going to get 5,000, 10,000, or 20,000 downloads of your book.  Even if 1-2% of those people actually read the book, you're still better off.  Further, no other distribution system (i.e. Apple, B&N, Smashwords) provides usany marketing tools of anysignificance.  Will all your ebook eggs be in one basket for 3 month periods?  Yes.  But, is there really only one basket that's going to lift you to success as an indie author?  Eh, kinda.  At least right now.  I don't see many authors gloating about how they sold 1,000,000 books on Smashwords or B&N.

In sum, I simply don't think there's a better way to expose your book right now, and I don't think there's a better way to climb the bestselling ranks.  Could that change in a year?  Sure.  Could that change in a month?  Absolutely.  Until it does, I've got to stick with KDPS.

Is What You’re Doing Really Marketing Your Book?

Interesting article referred to me by another author, entitled “The Uncommon Truth About Marketing Your Books.”  It poses a valid question–are we marketing our books, or just networking?  I really had to take a step back and consider my approach to getting exposure for my book.  Read the article and let us know what you think.  Specifically, are you marketing on Twitter or networking?  Or both?

http://www.passiveincomeauthor.com/the-uncommon-truth-about-marketing-your-books/#comment-150

Is What You're Doing Really Marketing Your Book?

Interesting article referred to me by another author, entitled "The Uncommon Truth About Marketing Your Books."  It poses a valid question–are we marketing our books, or just networking?  I really had to take a step back and consider my approach to getting exposure for my book.  Read the article and let us know what you think.  Specifically, are you marketing on Twitter or networking?  Or both?

http://www.passiveincomeauthor.com/the-uncommon-truth-about-marketing-your-books/#comment-150

Indie Author Report–Advertising with Kindle Nation Daily

Goodreads.  Facebook.  Bing.  Twitter.  Countless websites that have varying degrees of dedication to indie authors.  All of these are options for your precious advertising dollars.  And, all of them can be money pits.  Over the course of the next few months, I'm going to try to relay to you which ones work, which ones don't, and why they have worked or not for me.  The first one on the list is Kindle Nation Daily ("KND").

KND seems to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, website dedicated solely to books on the Kindle.  They have over 48,000 likes/followers on Facebook, and state the following with respect to their traffic:

"One way or another, we connect with over 84,200 readers every day.

In the past 30 days there have been 158,200 unique visits to our website, totaling over 349,800 page views. Over the past three months Kindle Nation Daily's website traffic places it among the top 40,400 websites in the world, and among the top 8,200 websites in the U.S.

48,200 of you connect with us through Facebook, 26,700 though our email newsletter, and 2,025 through Twitter.  Between eInk Kindle  subscribers and subscribers to our free Kindle Fire app, over 9,100 of you are subscribers to the Kindle edition of our blog.

In the past 30 days you have visited 646,000 Amazon pages and purchased over 14,500 Amazon items directly from our website — and that's just the paid items."

Those are some big numbers.  That's why I decided to take out an "Option A," Special Sponsored Post with Facebook Triple Play (SSP-TP) advertisement with them.

When I say "them," I am really referring to Stephen Windwalker, the founder/CEO and "chief bottle washer" at KND.  He was my primary contact, and from a customer service perspective, he was very good.  He responded relatively timely to emails (would give him an A-/B+ there, but I know he is inundated with correspondence).  From a customer accommodation standpoint, I give him an A+ for two reasons.  First, when I purchased the SSP-TP package, KND sent me three days when my ad would run.  I wanted to change those days a bit due to another event I was in, and Steve was happy to make that change.  Second, there was an issue with my ad not running on one of my days.  I emailed Steve about this and he immediately took ownership, and extended me the benefit of three more days of advertising due to the error.  THAT, my friends, is excellent customer service.

Another aspect of KND which I found to be of superior quality is the sponsorship tracking data provided on their website.  Steve has provided the results of advertisements taken out by authors for approximately the last year in a handy spreadsheet (click here to see).  That level of transparency is ridiculous, and almost unheard of.  You can take those results and do two things.  First, see what authors are using KND, and what their results are.  You'll find that top selling indie authors such as Richard Bard use KND.  Second, look at the results, and the corresponding pricing during the events, to calculate what type of advertising may work best for you.  This is much better than the Google Adwords trial and error money pit.

For my advertisement, I priced my book at $0.99.  That decision was based on several factors, including the fact that my book would be part of a $0.99 single day event during the ad, Steve's own recommendation, and my gut.  I made the $179.99 cost of the ad back and then some.  In full disclosure, I don't think the advertisement was wildly profitable from a purely monetary perspective.  But, you know that profit isn't everything, especially early in a career (or, you SHOULD know that).

Perhaps one concern I have with KND is that with the mix of free Kindle books they advertise, do those advertisements cannibalize purchases of paid books?  I saw one comment from a reader on KND's Facebook page, and she essentially wrote, "Thank you KND for these great free Kindle books.  Since I bought my Kindle, I haven't had to pay for a single book I've read."  Yowch.  I'm sensitive to the fact that readers may start expecting their Kindle books to be free, and wonder how much of KND's target market expects that as well.  Promotion of increased prices would be ideal.  However, I'm certainly not going to blame KND entirely or even in large part for what may be attributed to market forces.  It is something to watch, and I'm not sure you would have much success advertising on KND at price points above $2.99.

In short, I was very happy with KND's customer service, very happy with the data available to me before I paid a chunk of money to advertise, and content with the results.  Enemy in Blue has held onto a low 1,000s rank since the KND ad (and the Indie Book Collective event referenced in my last post), and is now a top 10 seller in Legal Thrillers on Amazon.  Will I use KND again?  Absolutely–I intend to with my second book, the release of which is imminent!

The Power of Numbers

Writing can be extremely solitary.  In fact, many authors would argue that solitude is a necessary part of the writing process.  However, there's no doubt that once you exit the writing phase and enter the marketing/promotion/sales phase, solitude is the last thing you need.

Point in case?  A couple months back, I wrote a blog entitled, "How to Get your Book Downloaded 5,141 Times in Two Days."  I thought that number was pretty damn snazzy, especially since I went it alone on those two KDP Select free days.  Fast forward the calendar to February 2, 3, 4, and I'm involved in a free event with the Indie Book Collective.  The mastermind behind the IBC is Carolyn McCray, author of several books including 30 Pieces of Silver.  (I almost called her a criminal mastermind, because her level of intelligence and insight is freakin' criminal, but that's another story).  She organized an event where approximately twenty-five authors cross-promoted, linked their arms together, and lifted each other to the tops of their respective genres.

My personal outcome?  12,600 books downloaded in just over two days (about 2.3 days).  The outcome of some of the other authors?  Nina Bruhns and Catch Me If You Can reached #1 out of ALL free books.  Ann Charles and her Deadwood  series had tens of thousands of downloads, and the series is now doing extremely well since coming off of free.  The moral of this story?  There is power in numbers, especially for indie authors.

HOW TO BECOME A PART OF THE "NUMBERS"–AND HOW TO MAINTAIN YOUR WORK/PROMO BALANCE

Perhaps the most important thing for an author starting out on this journey is to link up with other authors.  Traditionally, I believe the writing group fulfilled this need.  At least for me, the writing group is nice, but not on a large enough scale.  I want to bounce ideas off of 50, 100, 500 authors, and social media is the best place to do that.  So, to become a part of the numbers, start with a few things.  First, join a group like the Indie Book Collective, which not only has an amazing core group of authors, but provides educational online classes and seminars to help you hone your marketing and promoting skills.  Second, go onto Goodreads and join a couple of the writing groups on there.  You can join liking and tagging groups, marketing for authors groups, etc.  I would suggest starting with two, as following more than that can get overwhelming.  Finally, once you get to know other authors, see if any of them will invite you to Facebook groups.  Right now, I'm in three that all serve different purposes, and that all include amazing authors.  (If you're interested in being invited, send me a message).

A word of caution.  You will need to strike a balance between how many groups you get involved with, and how much time you are able to dedicate to your writing.  These groups can quickly suck several hours out of your day…hours you could have spent writing.  Another potential concern–joining multiple groups and not contributing to them is almost worse than not joining them at all.  Only join as many groups as you can contribute to on an every other day basis.  If you break this rule, I promise you'll only stress yourself out, and possibly lower your credibility with the people in the groups.

In sum, can you do this writing and sales thing without really getting involved with other people?  Eh…you can, but you aren't likely to have success.  Team up with people, truly help other people, and your success(es) will be amplified–I promise.

“The Bookstore’s Last Stand” from CNBC

Is this a eulogy?  Some hope dashed with a ton of pessimism.  Don’t know, but bookstores seem to be going the way of the dinosaur–as do electronics stores.

Read and let’s hear what you think.  http://www.cnbc.com/id/46176893

By Julie Bosman of The New York Times

"The Bookstore's Last Stand" from CNBC

Is this a eulogy?  Some hope dashed with a ton of pessimism.  Don't know, but bookstores seem to be going the way of the dinosaur–as do electronics stores.

Read and let's hear what you think.  http://www.cnbc.com/id/46176893

By Julie Bosman of The New York Times

"Confessions of a Publisher: 'We're in Amazon's Sights and They're Going to Kill Us'" by Sarah Lacy

Really, REALLY interesting article here by Sarah Lacy of the Pandodaily.  In short, pretty much what we as indie authors have sensed, and why we look skeptically at people that want to submit to traditional publishers anymore.  I think a follow up question is this.  Do you think indie authors will get crushed under Amazon's thumb someday?  (Think getting 30% of your sales price rather than 70% because there is no other game in town).

http://pandodaily.com/2012/01/17/confessions-of-a-publisher-were-in-amazons-sights-and-theyre-going-to-kill-us/

"Why Authors Tweet," NY Times Article

Why do you tweet?  It's pretty established that Tweeting does not necessarily increase sales in a substantial fashion.  H0wever, there's no doubt that it keeps you and your work at the shiny front (rather than the cobwebbed rear) of minds.  Read this NY Times article entitled "Why Authors Tweet," and then let me know why you tweet.  Very interested to hear!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/books/review/why-authors-tweet.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1