5 things you want to know about your fellow authors
Have your say in the Taleist 2012 Self-Publishing Survey
In January 2012 we're going to be surveying over 1,000 self-published authors for the Taleist 2012 Self-Publishing Survey and we need your help!
We all know there are highly successful self-publishing authors who are making fortunes and selling hundreds of thousands of copies of their books, if not millions. Some of them, like Joe Konrath, are generous enough to publish detailed information about their sales and finances. But we know they're the outliers, that's why they're getting the media attention and the publishing deals.
Do you ever feel you're flying blind as a self-publisher?
Much of the information available is from those who've had extraordinary success, authors like John Locke, Amanda Hocking and Joe. But what does self-publishing look like for everyone else?
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Joanna Penn is another of the authors doing well and generously sharing information. She told us when her novel, Pentecost (published January 2011) reached 10,000 sales and that they're now over 13,000.
But where does that put Joanna in the spectrum of self-publishers? Is she an outlier, too, or is her success a sales level more generally enjoyed?
Does 13,000 sales or so in 10 months put Joanna in the top 20 per cent of authors? The top five per cent? Is everyone doing more than you're doing?!?
I can think of so many things that it would be useful to know about our growing industry. Of course I'd love to know about the spectrum of sales:
What puts you in the top five per cent?
What's "normal"?
What shows you're doing worse than than the average self-published author?
What about:
How many self-publishers have been able to start working full time or part time on their writing?
How many books have those authors self-published so you have an idea of how many you might need?
How many are starting to build teams around them — cover designers, editors — and how many are managing without?
How many had books out before last year or was 2011 really a turning point for indie authors?
What would you like to know?
The Taleist 2012 Self-Publishing Survey is a collaboration between me and Dave Cornford, who wrote a guest post here about How to survey your readers. Dave is an experienced consumer researcher, which is why I'm excited to be working with him on this. We met to discuss it over coffee yesterday and it's clear Dave is going to be bringing a lot more rigour and credibility to the Taleist 2012 Self-Publishing Survey than I could with Survey Monkey and a few multiple choice questions.
We're now at the survey design stage, which is where we work out what it would be useful to find out then write questions that would get at those answers.
This is where you come in: What five things would you really like to know about the experiences of your fellow self-publishing authors?
Your answers in the comments section below would be much appreciated.
Sign up to have your say
We'd also love it if you would agree to participate in the survey, yourself. 1,000 respondents is an ambitious target and we need all the help we can get.
Read more here. or sign up in the box below…
Help spread the word
You can help us hit that 1,000 respondent target by spreading the word on your own blogs and through your social networks. You can click the buttons below now to start spreading the word and thanks in advance if you do!
