What Do Readers Want III

The timing of this post, for me at least, could not be more perfect. More in a bit. While it is always important to know what to do, we often profit greatly by knowing what NOT to do. This is especially true for Indie writers who have to make careful decisions about how best to spend the limited funding available for marketing. This is of crucial importance to those serious about what readers want and how to provide it. So let me try and first sweep away some clutter to see exactly where marketing dollars and pounds are most effective.

1. Forget the distribution channels servicing large scale retailers (Walmart, Trader Joe's, Costco et al), malls, airports, and newsstands. Unless you're a well-established and well-known author you will have to submit extensive marketing plans, sales figures for the prior year, self-finance the print run, offer a steep discount on the unit price, and accept unsold returns shipped back at your expense.

2. It is possible to cost effectively enter the large retailer distribution channels but only through Amazon which provides the service at no cost. The catch? You'll have to go through the Createspace process and make a print version of your book available. I consider it a no-brainer under any circumstances to have a print version available and capture sales which would otherwise be lost. Having gone through the process, it is a technical challenge and I consider myself a technologist par excellence. Do feel free to PM me with any conceptual/technical problems you may need guidance with. Happy to help out.

3.There is no easy answer between deciding whether to go Amazon exclusive (KU) or a wider distribution through Kobo, Apple, B&N, Google Store, Smashwords, etc. In 2016, Amazon-only authors received $180M in royalty payments. All non-Amazon eBook authors *combined* received 50M. However, Amazon-only means forgoing external marketing and promotion for a given title thus reducing the 'virality' word-of-mouth can foster. Also, if a title appeals to Canadian or Australian readers it will be unavailable in the retail channels where half of their eBook sales occur. Therefore, if you want to expand your readership into those markets and have a limited marketing budget, forego Amazon exclusivity.

4. Given the above and a limited marketing budget, a website represents the most cost-effective tool an Indie writer can have to optimize sales. Investing $20-$40/month on ads, consistently committing to monthly site updates, and maintaining internal key word lists and sitemap plans has resulted in a traffic increase on my site over this time last year of 58%, an activity surge of 136%, and a corresponding paid sales growth of 33%. All without free promotions or review gathering. Once properly set up, monthly time investment runs 2 to 3 hours.

So, after ten months blogging on the ups and downs we Indie writers must cope with here are my conclusions.

1. Unless one sits down to plan a marketing budget, the only option remaining is the Amanda Hocking school of lightning strikes. How many free download days have you offered? How high have paid sales increased?

2. I remain convinced accumulating reviews past 25-30 is wasted effort. I presume flat or zero sales precipitated the effort to gather reviews. Have you reached 60, 70, 80 reviews? Are paid sales zooming?

3. Amazon's sheer size strengthens the argument it is a place of purchase not discovery. One can browse for hours and not scratch the surface of its inventory. When was the last time you said, "I've got a few hours to kill. I think I'll browse Amazon."

5. Was your cover a project in and of itself? It's beautiful, title and author displayed prominently. Good visibility at thumbnail size. How high have paid sales increased?

5. Use the sites that promote free download days to their memberships. It's not a bad thing, but if you took seriously #1 above, far better to purchase an ad and give it a month while monitoring your sales. No sales bump? Scratch them off your list and move on. Broke even? Buy another month.

6. Don't direct your ads to places where readers hang out, like Google, Goodreads, Smashwords, et al. Your ad will be lost in the clutter of everyone else doing the same thing. Women buy shoes and cook. Many via recipe. Your book ads will stand out there. How about travel and ticket purchase sites? People like to read while getting to the destination. Or anywhere that has nothing to do with books. Guaranteed a subset of the traffic reads. No sales bump? Move on.

7. Blog interviews, blog promos, and blog ad buys work. All of them? Of course not. So you'll have to stick with it and do your homework.

Our business is a slow and steady one. The turtle wins this race. Writing a book now? Promote the other ones. In a year, when it's finished, you'll have a larger base to market to.

This past Thursday, I finished the final chapter of my current project 'Seraphim'. Sometime this weekend, I will complete its Epilogue and write 'The End'. After a long, too long delay, this blog will finally get back to what I originally intended it to be: a chronicle of my efforts to gain agent representation. Why? I really don't want to do the stuff I detailed above. I will if I must, but I'd rather off load it to an agent.

Moreover, I honestly feel the intervening months have strengthened my ability to find one. After all, with everything I've learned about marketing, finding one in a universe of about 1,200 should be cake. Yeah, right. I'm not delusional.

But in case not, I'll be right there with you trying to break through Amazon's trenches where Indie and Amazon-imprint authors daily sell more eBooks than all traditional publishers combined. Meanwhile, as I make final preparations, any readers of this blog interested in taking a beta-reader spin need only PM me and let me know what format you prefer and where to send it. I'd be honored.

As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments.