Erica Verrillo's Blog, page 101

September 23, 2013

In Britain, 61% of Downloaded Ebooks are Free, Kindle Dominates

The burgeoning ebook market in Great Britain has found a home on Amazon. Kindle dominates the market, which is not surprising. It also isn't surprising that 61 percent of these books are free - meaning, they are self-published through Amazon's KDP Select program.

This is bad news for publishers trying to break into the ebook market. If two-thirds of the ebook reading public expect to read a book for free, how likely is it that they are going to shell out the type of money that publishers charge for ebooks?

It is both good and bad news for self-published writers. The good news is that readers are enthusiastically downloading self-published ebooks. The bad news is that they aren't paying for them.
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79% of UK Consumers Use Kindle

Source: MediaBistro, September 13, 2013 10:34 AM

By Dianna Dilworth

Seventy percent of UK consumers use Amazon to download eBooks, according to a new report Ofcom and Kantar Media. According to the report, which looked at media consumption in the UK March-May 2013, Kindle dominated as the service used to download or access eBooks in the past three months. Apple held a very distant second place with 9 percent of UK consumers using it to download eBooks. A Google Search and eBooks.com tied for 4th and 5th place at 6 percent of consumers using these channels.

The report also examined the digital versus print downloads and revealed that during the three-month period, 58 percent of all books sold in the UK were print and 42 percent downloaded were eBooks. The study found that 61 percent of eBooks were free and only 39 percent cost money.

Eighty-three percent of these free eBooks were consumed legally and 17 percent were consumed illegally. Here is more from the report: “We estimate that 7 million e-books were consumed illegally online in the past three months – equating to 4% of all books (downloaded, accessed online, or bought in physical format)."

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Published on September 23, 2013 09:37

September 19, 2013

Start Typing: Harlequin and Wattpad Host New Adult Writing Contest - And It's FREE

I've never entered a writing contest for the simple reason that I consider writing contests to be scams. The people who run these contests know that unpublished writers will - usually without the active participation of their high faculties - shell out their meager funds for any chance of recognition. In the end, these contests always earn much more money than they award.

But this contest is different. For one thing, it's free. For another, it represents yet another interesting alliance between an amateur writing platform with a huge readership - Wattpad - and a well-known publisher (Harlequin). And for yet another, the prize is publication with the well-known publisher. Finally, the award process is surprisingly democratic, relying on votes from the public.

How did this unusual partnership come about?

Basically, the New Adult genre is terra incognita. It is the publishing world's response to an as yet largely unexploited marketing niche - college students, and those who have recently graduated from college. The themes that publishers imagine this niche will be interested in include "life decisions" and, of course, the mainstay of romance novels, sexual tension. (Hence the active participation of Harlequin.)

If you write for this niche, or think you can write for this niche, start typing. Even if a gazillion other people enter this contest, getting your work up on Wattpad, and getting it widely read, is worth the effort. (Much more rewarding than NANOWRIMO.)

(Plus, have I mentioned this? IT'S FREE!!!)

Here are the details (taken from the Wattpad website)
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Wattpad is partnering with Harlequin to present the New Adult category in this year’s So You Think You Can Write (SYTYCW) contest . Writers from Wattpad are invited to write a first chapter (max 5000 words) for a New Adult story, as well as a 100-word description that details your concept, plot, characters, conflict, and setting. If your story is loved by the public voters and picked by contest judges, you could be signing a publishing deal to write for Harlequin!

So, if you think you can write enter the contest today

About New Adult

Stories submitted for this contest must reflect the Harlequin New Adult themes. This genre focuses on characters between the ages of 18 and 25, who are dealing with a time of choice, independence and risk-taking. The characters face significant change: college, new jobs, falling in love, sexuality, military deployment, moving from depending on family to being self-reliant. It is a time of taking risks and discovery

Overall, New Adult stories contain a level of sexual tension between the protagonists, but whether you write love scenes or prefer to fade to black, the choice is up to you and your characters. Romance is the most important emotional element. As well, the hero and heroine should have strong and important connections to secondary characters who add depth to the story. However, as a writer your most important task is to create characters with whom readers will fall in love

To learn more about the New Adult category, visit the So You Think You Can Write blog on Thursday September 19th at 12pm EDT to listen to hear what Harlequin and Wattpad have to say about this exciting new genre

How To Enter

To enter your work in the contest, upload the first chapter of your story to your Wattpad user profile and tag your work with “SYTYCW”. For more details on how to submit your story, please click here.

Please note that stories should be complete or close to completion before entering the contest as you will need to submit the completed work (of 50,000 words) by November 6, 2013 if you are chosen as part of the top 25 entries.

For entries that are already posted on Wattpad and are longer than one chapter in length, please tag only the first chapter. This will be the only chapter that will be read and judged in the first round.

A book cover is not required to enter the contest but is highly recommended.

For more information, please read the full contest rules.

Key Dates

September 23: The contest opens for submissions. Send in your first chapter and 100-word pitch. All entries will be posted on Wattpad for comments and voting.

October 28: The contest closes for submissions. The top 25 ranking chapters will be shortlisted for the editors who will request the full stories from those writers

October 29–November 6: Editors will request the full stories from those writers in the top 25.

October 29–November 26: The editors will read and evaluate all the full stories.

December 4: The four winners will be notified and their names posted on our website.

Contest Guidelines

The contest is open to both published and unpublished writers residing in the UK, the US, Canada (excluding Quebec), Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. We are looking for fresh, original stories that will fit the New Adult Romance line.

Your story should be finished—or close to completion— in order to be considered by the Harlequin & Wattpad editors. We are accepting only one entry per person, and it should be 50,000 words in length.

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Published on September 19, 2013 09:17

September 16, 2013

Top 5 Sites for Finding Reviewers

Nothing is quite so discouraging to an author as a dearth of reviews. After years of working on a novel, months (if not years) of trying to find an agent, and even more time spent waiting for publication, the release date arrives and poof! Nobody appears to be reading your book! It's enough to make you hang up your keyboard.

Even if you self-publish, you will spend months of preparation for a release day that may go out with a whimper, not a bang. In some respects, a lack of reviews is worse if you have self-published, because those who follow that route have to do all their own marketing and promotion, a task which requires direct involvement with readers.

Why are reviews important?

Like any other product on the market, people rely on the recommendation of others when they choose a book to read. In traditional publishing, endorsements by well-known authors and public figures are a key element in marketing. In the self-publishing world, success rests on the number of readers on Goodreads, on Amazon, and on blogs who will give your book a 5-star review. Without this kind of public endorsement, it may be nearly impossible to promote your book, especially if you have enrolled in KDP Select.

Amazon KDP Select giveaways are still the reigning book promotion tool. There are dozens of sites that will post your free days, but nearly all of them require a minimum number of reviews. It's one of those chicken-and-egg dilemmas. You can't promote your book without reviews, but you can't get reviews without promotion.

Should you pay for reviews?

If you are a new self-published author, don't pay for reviews.

Traditional publishers have long-standing ties with the media which self-publishers don't. This often drives self-publishers to pay for publicity. In my experience, paid reviews don't have nearly the clout of regular reviews posted on Amazon or Goodreads. For one thing, they have limited shelf life. A paid review may get posted on Blogcritics and then picked up briefly by small publications, or it may simply get sent to you for your own use. Very rarely do these reviews make it into larger media outlets, where they will reach the maximum number of people. Of course, you can always shell out $400 for a Kirkus review, but you take your chances. A good review in Kirkus is like an endorsement from God, but a bad review is the kiss of death.

How to get free reviews

Fortunately, there are mechanisms in place for getting reviews without spending a great deal of money. Giving away copies en masse is one route, targeting individual reviewers is another.

Librarything allows authors to give away copies of their books to Librarything members. (Read their policies.) Authors of self-published ebooks can give away up to 100 copies. Reviews are not required of readers, although they are recommended, so don't expect more than a 10% return rate. But even 10 reviews will enable you to post your free days on some of the larger freebie sites if you have enrolled in Amazon KDP Select.

Bookblogs is a great site for finding reviewers and for posting your giveaways. Explore the "groups" section and join the groups that are relevant to your genre. When you give away a book, or are looking for reviews, you can post it on the group site. You also have the option of sending a message to every member of that group.

Step-by-Step Self-Publishing
http://www.stepbystepselfpublishing.net/reviewer-list.html
This is a great resource for book review blogs. It's an alphabetical listing of individual bloggers as well as book reviewer lists. This is your one-stop shopping guide to reviewers.

Book Blogger Directory
http://bookbloggerdirectory.wordpress.com/
Over a thousand book blogs, very nicely organized by subject, and alphabetically.

Best of the Web
http://blogs.botw.org/Arts/Literature/Book_Reviews/0/
Best of the Web book blogs organized alphabetically. Not as easy to navigate as the book blogger directory.

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Published on September 16, 2013 09:11

September 12, 2013

From Zero to Hero, Mike Michalowicz Talks About How He Achieved Publishing Success

Forbes always prints the most interesting articles about authors who manage to overcome precipitous odds and make a success of their books. The reason Forbes' articles are the best is because they ask the question that is on everybody's lips: How did you do it?

In this interview, Mike Michalowiscz tells us how he did it. The information he shares is practical, concrete, and very sound. Do you want to learn how to identify your market, how many books you have to sell to create a loyal fan base, and, most important of all, how to keep your fan base?

Read this article and take Mike's advice.

How Mike Michalowicz Went From Unknown, Self-Published Author To Mainstream Publishing Success

By Dorie Clark, Forbes June 4, 2013

Mike Michalowicz thought he had a great idea – a no-nonsense guide to entrepreneurship he called The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur: The Tell-It-Like-It-Is Guide to Cleaning Up in Business, Even if You Are at the End of Your Roll. But mainstream publishers didn’t bite, so in 2008, he self-published it. “I thought I’d sell a million books, and that means you need to have at least 20,000 in stock,” he recalls. “That was my faux pas. I literally had 20,000 books arrive at the warehouse. When I had zero sales the first day, I was like, ‘I better ship them to my house,’ so my basement was flooded with books. It was the most painful but motivational moment: I’ve got to sell these; I’ve got to move them.”

Today, Michalowicz only has a handful of those 20,000 copies left; in fact, Penguin was so impressed with his sales performance, they picked up the hardcover rights to The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur and published his second book, The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field, last year. So how did he go from a naïve, newbie author to a bona fide publishing success story? Here are some of the lessons Michalowicz shared in a recent interview.

Read the rest of this enlightening article here.

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Published on September 12, 2013 19:08

September 6, 2013

RANDOM HOUSE STILL TRYING TO OUTRUN AMAZON

This fascinating little industry tidbit (below) appeared in Publisher's Weekly a couple of weeks ago. Wattpad, for those of you who are not familiar with the site, features free chapters of self-published books. It boasts a readership in the millions. (Its Alexa ranking in the US is 2,553, which is very good.) This makes Wattpad an excellent platform for new writers, who generally care more about getting noticed than raking in the cash. (That comes later.)

Given Random/Penguin's recent launching of its various e-imprints, Loveswept among them, I was wondering how it was going to compete with the lure of Amazon's KDP Select, a program that has dominated the self-publishing scene for more than a decade. KDP Select allows writers to give away their books during 5 out of every 90 days in exchange for exclusive distributing rights. As a promotional tool. nothing beats giving something away for free, so Amazon, which has an immense reach, drew writers to it in droves.

Random/Penguin's strategy, apparently, is to give books away for free before they are released. Chapters will be published on the Wattpad site in serial form, another tried-and-true method for hooking readers.

The progress of Knox's novel, Truly, is something the industry will no doubt keep a close eye on. If Random/Penguin's strategy works, it will solve the pesky problem of how to build an online readership while undercutting Amazon's most successful marketing scheme.

Random House's Loveswept Partners With Wattpad

Publisher's Weekly, Aug 19, 2013

Thanks to a deal between Random House's digital-only romance imprint, Loveswept, and Wattpad, author Ruthie Knox will have her new series appear in serialized form on the online writing (and reading) community. Through the deal, Knox's novel Truly, which is the first title in a planned series, will debut on Wattpad as a free story in the fall, before being released as an e-book by Loveswept in August 2014.

Chapters from Truly will begin appearing on Wattpad on September 3, and continue to appear until the conclusion to the story is posted on November 4. Throughout the process, RH will invite Wattpad readers to take part in choosing the cover for the e-book. The effort, RH said, will also allow a high level of author access to Knox as readers will be able to use Wattpad's platform, which has mobile engagement, to contact her

Allison Dobson, v-p of business development and digital publishing at RH, said that Wattpad offers an "innovative approach to content creation and distribution," noting that the site already draws "millions of voracious readers" from all over the world.

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Published on September 06, 2013 12:21

August 25, 2013

Who Are the Top-Selling Authors of 2013?

I always like to know who is making millions of dollars writing books. It gives me a grim sense of satisfaction to know that I will never make that kind of money, because 1) I can't churn out a romance every three months, 2) I can't churn out a procedural every three months, and 3) I can't churn. Period.

Before you read this list of top-grossing authors, I want you to close your eyes and answer the question posed in the title of this post. Then read the list to see if you were right. (The list is courtesy of Forbes Magazine.)

#1 E.L. James: $95 million
Somebody once asked Groucho Marx what he thought of sex - probably meaning premarital sex. "I think it's here to stay," he replied. Fifty Shades of Grey is living proof that sex is definitely here to stay, and that people like reading about all sorts of kinky ways to do it.

#2 James Patterson: $91 million
One out of every 17 hardcovers sold in the U.S. is written by James Patterson.

#3 Suzanne Collins: $55 million
Collins may turn out to be a one-hit-wonder with The Hunger Games, but something tells me she will be around for a while.

#4 Bill O'Reilly: $28 million
Killing Kennedy was number 1 and 2 on the New York Times hardcover non-fiction best-sellers list, and O'Reilly's next book, Killing Jesus, could be the biggest of the series. Apparently, we like to read about killing famous people.

#5 Danielle Steel: $26 million
Danielle Steel is a fixture in the romance world. She has published 128 titles in 40 years (which averages more than three a year). She's sold more than 600 million copies.

#6 Jeff Kinney: $24 million
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is yet another example of Scholastic's tried-and-true method of generating a huge amount of revenue from a single author: throw the entire weight of the company behind a series. They used this technique with J.K.Rowling, and look what happened.

#7 Janet Evanovich: $24 million
Evanovich's books are perhaps the clearest demonstration of what makes for a successful popular novel: formulaic plots, product placement, sexual tension, and guns.

#8 Nora Roberts: $23 million
Yet another prolific romance writer (are they all able to churn out 3 books a year?), Roberts sold more than 3.2 million ebooks in 2012.

#9 Dan Brown: $22 million
In spite of a plagiarism lawsuit, Dan Brown is still going strong. Inferno, at 369,000 copies, was the best-selling book of the first half of 2013.

#10 Stephen King: $20 million
Stephen King - who has a remarkable talent for scaring the pants off people - has had the great good fortune of having competent screenwriters turn his stories into memorable movies. Now the popular television series, Under the Dome, is extending his media run.

#11 Dean Koontz: $20 million
Koontz has sold more than 450 million copies of his books. I have not yet read one.

#12 John Grisham: $18 million
Lawyers have to write a lot, and quickly. It's a training that comes in handy when you are churning out bestsellers.

#13 David Baldacci: $15 million
David Baldacci was a lawyer before he began writing novels. He has published 26 best-selling novels, once again proving that writing legal briefs is a great preparation for writing bestsellers.

#14 Rick Riordan: $14 million
Riordan sold more than 5.6 million copies of his Percy Jackson & the Olympians series in 2012. It helps to know your mythology.

#15 J.K. Rowling: $13 million
Rowling has gone back to her first ambition, which was writing adult books. (Years ago, she could not get them published, so she turned to the children's market.) Her book, The Cuckoo's Calling, (published "secretly" under the pen name Robert Galbraith) topped the hardcover best-sellers list.

#16 George R.R. Martin: $12 million
George R.R. Martin is on this list by accident. As a veteran sci-fi writer he should be wallowing in self-righteous poverty. But his adaptation of Game of Thrones made Martin the best-selling paperback writer of 2012, after E.L. James.

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Published on August 25, 2013 07:37

August 18, 2013

Self-Published Book Makes It to #17 on Amazon's Kindle List - How Did Madeline Sheehan Do It?

This fascinating story was a guest post on BookRx. It's one of the better success stories out there, because Madeline Sheehan didn't "rocket" to success, she started off with only 6 sales - and she was thrilled! How did she get to #17 on Amazon’s Kindle Best Seller list (and get an agent)? Read all about it HERE.

Self-Publishing, Blah, Blah, Blah…

By Madeline Sheehan

When I say “blah,” I mean it in the very best way. Because self-publishing, in a nutshell, is a three-ring circus.

But let me start at the very beginning, before I was introduced to the big, bad, kill-or-be-killed, survival-of-the-fittest world of independent authors. Back when I was just a lowly Public Relations Coordinator/Editor at a nonprofit organization with a writing hobby that I indulged in during my downtime, dreaming the dream of most writers to someday see their book on a bookstore shelf.

I’d been writing nearly my entire life but hadn’t completed a full-length novel until 2010 (The Soul Mate, a dystopian paranormal romance centered around modern-day gypsies), spending my evenings working tirelessly on the story line and character development. When I was finished, I didn’t have a clue what to do with it, but I did know right away I wasn’t going to be submitting it to any traditional publishing houses only to get my cherished manuscript tossed into their slush pile. So I opted instead to send it to a few family members for their opinions and amazingly enough, both my father and little sister, who are both avid readers, loved the book.

So then I thought, now what? You see, I didn’t know anything about self-publishing other than I loved Amanda Hocking’s Trylle trilogy and My Blood Approves series. I literally knew nothing about Amazon, Smashwords, or CreateSpace’s self-publishing platforms until one day my husband came home from work with a tip from a friend of his who’d self-published a book of poetry on Smashwords. Of course I looked into it, created a profile, and submitted my manuscript, and within a few weeks my e-book was available through Barnes and Noble, Apple, Sony, Kobo, etc.

And…nothing.

I sold a grand total of six books in six months. Don’t get me wrong; I was thrilled. Someone other than a family member had read my work. Had actually paid the $0.99 I was asking for it and READ it.

It was then that I decided to self-publish on Amazon as well, which, lo and behold, provided me with a lot more sales. A total of thirty in another six-month time frame.

Energized, I continued writing. While I was writing the sequel, My Soul To Take, I set up a Facebook author page to begin promoting my books to, well, my friends and family members. I had a total of a hundred likes, all of which were from people I’d known most of my life and weren’t interested in reading any of my books.

Halfway through writing My Soul To Take, I hit a mental brick wall. In the midst of trying to work through it, I pulled up a fresh Word document and began writing my third book, Undeniable. It was as far removed from the paranormal romance genre I’d been writing in as one could get. Undeniable is a motorcycle club dark romance set in a criminal underground world. It doesn’t hold back, it’s taboo, it’s gritty and ugly, it’s raw, and I make no apologies for it. I poured my heart and soul into that book; I used both real and fictional experiences, real and fictional character traits, and about a month after publishing My Soul To Take, I published Undeniable.

Fast-forward three weeks and the Internet BLEW UP...

Read the rest of this illuminating story HERE.

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Published on August 18, 2013 04:43

August 15, 2013

Random House Publishes Five New Authors

Last November, Random House announced the inauguration of three new digital imprints: Hydra for science fiction, fantasy and horror; Flirt for "new adults"; and Alibi for mystery and suspense. Random House, of course, has many imprints, but what was unusual about these imprints is that they were digital only. Even more unusual was the fact that authors could submit their manuscripts directly to Random House - without an agent. Major publishers have not allowed unchaperoned authors to enter their hallowed halls for decades.

The announcement, though welcomed by potential authors, was received with skepticism by those who knew better; In the publishing industry the deck is always stacked in favor of the house. The House, in this case, was offering "revenue sharing" in place of an advance. Random House was also requiring authors to foot the expenses of production, and, most onerous of all, demanding rights for the term of the copyright. (Why even have a copyright in that case?) John Scalzi called the Random House conditions "a horrendously bad deal" and advised authors to "run away" as fast as their legs could carry them.

Random House eventually bowed to pressure and offered a more traditional deal for writers. Apparently, that deal was sweet enough to attract several new authors. Of the six titles Alibi will release next year, five are by debut authors.

RH Imprint Alibi Announces Debut Titles

Publisher's Weekly, August 14, 2013

Alibi, the digital-original mystery and thriller imprint of the Random House Publishing Group, announced the acquisition of its first six titles. The new publishing program will launch with The Last Clinic by Gary Gusick, the first novel in the Darla Cavanaugh mystery series.

Alibi senior editor Dana Isaacson has also acquired the following titles, scheduled for release in late 2013 and throughout 2014: The Garden Plot, by Marty Wingate; The Final Age, by Pierre Ouellette; Maxwell Street Blues by Marc Krulewitch; The Travel Writer by Jeff Soloway; and A Penny for the Hangman by Tom Savage.

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Published on August 15, 2013 04:53

August 12, 2013

You're an Expert! How to Make Money on Nonfiction Articles

If you are a nonfiction writer, there are seemingly endless resources for publishing articles. I say "seemingly" because numbers are deceptive. Getting a nonfiction article published in a reputable magazine can be just as daunting as publishing a short story in The Atlantic. Unless you are a recognized expert in your field, the competition will be fierce.

But what if you are an unrecognized expert? If you are, let's say, a gardener with years of experience, you are an expert. Having a degree in horticulture doesn't add to your qualifications. The same holds true for numerous areas in which experience counts more than public recognition: raising children, raising chickens, dealing with aging parents, marketing your own crafts, and so on. I am sure you can think of several areas in which you have a body of knowledge that would be beneficial to others.

Internet sites that will pay for your articles

The best way to capitalize on that knowledge is to write articles on highly trafficked sites on the net. How does it work? Some sites offer writers a share of the income generated by ads on their site. Others give you a set payment for a certain number of clicks.

Here are three income-generating sites:

Wikinut

Yahoo Voices (Read Angela La Fon's article on how to get started)

HubPages (Read Can You Make Money Writing for HubPages first)

Writing for the net has its own protocol. The following article by Alexandra Romanov is an excellent primer. If you want to learn how to get published, get views, and get paid - read what she has to say.

How to Build a Residual Income With SEO & Yahoo Voices

By Alexandra Romanov, Freelance Writer

Using SEO to Maximize Your Residual Income on Yahoo Voices

I’ve had articles on Yahoo Voices that averaged 100 views a month and I’ve had articles that, once I mastered SEO, averaged 100,000 views a month. The financial difference is hundreds of dollars per month and thousands of dollars a year.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. What that means, in a nutshell, is a manner of writing that makes it easy for the search engines to read and add your articles to their results list. The better you are at SEO, the higher your article will list on the results page.

Internet Writing

The difference in writing for the Internet as opposed to writing for print media is that in print writing you focus on a catchy title and a compelling article. While both of those factors are still extremely important, people have to find your article before those two aspects come into play. That is why SEO is so important for writers to master quickly: It’s how we get read.

Read the rest of this informative article HERE.

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Published on August 12, 2013 05:02