Alexis’s Comments (group member since Jan 04, 2017)

Alexis’s comments from the Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie group.

Alex wrote: "I had 2 promotions going yesterday

https://princessofthelight.wordpress.... and
https://www.bargainbooksy.com/

Since I had 2 going alongside each other I can't be sure which was responsible for ..."

I will probbaly tell you something that you figured out yourself but come on! Lol! Next time one at a time so that I can learn from you

Justin wrote: "I actually just fixed up my website a big tonight. I'll make sure to check out the article and your site Alexis."

Thanks Justin!!

Everyone else, while you're there, check out my interview with Aislinn Kearns! It's the first one I've ever conducted.

http://alexiswills.com/?p=337

:)

Interesting little nugget:

Peter Hildick-Smith, CEO of the research firm, The Codex Group, shared that readers need to come across a book on average at least two times before thinking about whether to buy it.


Readers are not likely to go for instant buys apparently which means we can't grow compliant with the marketing!

Last week, more than 650 publishing professionals and authors gathered in New York to learn about the latest trends in publishing and book marketing at Digital Book World. The Goodreads team was there typing furiously to capture as many interesting notes as possible. Here’s a taste of what was covered:

https://www.goodreads.com/authors-adv...
Good read!

Alex wrote: "While this is great information, for a lot of indies it isn't possible to do these things months ahead of release because the book simply isn't available.
Indies can't afford to have a book sittin..."

Hmm I have to disagree with you on that. Most indies have some sort of income coming in while their working to publish a book. It's a choice between a hurried release that might not yield result and planning a more structured launch that could lead to more success. You can put it out as early as you can, but if it still takes months to just begin selling than you might as well have taken those months and organized a more lengthy promotional campaign.

Now I won't be doing this either because, well, I'm impatient lol, but I defnitely thinks that it pays off to wait for that Kirkus review, or until you build that social media presence.

Read another great article that I thought I'd share:

1) 1) If you want mainstream reviews, make “the package” (industry speak for “the book”) as professional looking as possible. One rule of thumb is to use cream colored “stock” (industry speak for “paper”) because bright white stock signals short-run digital printing, in other words: self-published.

2) Make sure you begin your publicity and review outreach at least four months before your chosen on sale date. Pamela Paul, the editor of The New York Times Book Review, says that one way she chooses titles for review is by reading the starred reviews in the trades like PW, Kirkus, and Library Journal. Those trades will only consider books for review if they are received some four months in advance of the on sale date.

4) Do lots of early reader giveaways. You can run them for free on Goodreads and LibraryThing and lots of bloggers are open to covering your book in exchange for a few free copies to run contests for their readers. Start this at least 3 months prior to on sale.

5) Treat your book like a business. No one else is going to care about your book more than you are. Put your best foot forward and invest in your own success!

:)
http://februarymedia.net/what-it-take...

Carole wrote: "It's never too late. Once people read your book, you will get a following and they will spread the word about you. And we will all help!!!!

This part is a about a hypothetical book.
I love going t..."

Exactly Carole! Blurb and representation. For example if I bought your book, chances are that after I finished reading it I will look up your book, I might visit your website. Now if I go there and it's a mess? Well that's a complete turn off for me as a buyer.

We're not only selling books, we're selling ourselves at the same time.

R.L. wrote: "Hmmm now this has me thinking.... I have my book set to preorder at 2.99, Amazon suggested price and I've already gotten a few sales (wink to some on this thread) and wondering if I should change t..."

Yes, if someone has pre ordered something and you lower the price at launch, they'll pay the lower price.

C.L. wrote: "Mark Dawson, who's featured in Forbes for his ability to move his books, believes that you should give your first book away - but sell it for an email address. Say you managed to get 10,000 people ..."

That's not a bad idea! If I had known this before, I probably would have made my first book a novella and given it away for free in exchange for emails. Its too late now =/

There is one catch though: People can look at a book priced at 0.99 and think it has to be shit, otherwise the author wouldn't be selling it at that price. Which is why I'm working really hard to present a book that has a good cover, a good blurb and also, that my website and Facebook look professional so that even if readers think "0.99? It will probably suck!" their next thought is: "but damn that's a great cover/blurb".

Alex, you're so right! I didn't even think about that. Yes, another argument in favor of starting low.

Plus you know.. It might be a foolish thought.. but I'd better build my way up then have to lower my price later.

It's basic economics right? This works on a supply and demand basis. I will start low and then increase my price if the demand for the book increases as well until I reach that equilibrium point.

Carole wrote: "Yep, the ego thing. Michael felt sometimes like we were cheapening his books, especially after a couple of producers called and he won so many awards. But none of those things actually added to the..."

Yes, that's how I feel too.
I've bought Romance novels all my life.
I know what I pay attention to when buying: "Good cover, interesting blurb".
After that it's: how much is it?
I can't remember how many times I've said to myself, "Oh it's only a dollar, let me get this."

I want to write a book that is worth 9.99 yet offer it at 0.99 so that after people are done reading, they're like: "This book was such a bargain! I would have paid so much more than a dollar."

Then I'll bump prices to 2.99 :D

Alex wrote: "It's basically how I'm working, so I think you have a good plan, and I reckon your betas will love the book."

They better. If they're not into it, then I just won't publish.

You've lowered your book price? Has it made a difference or is it too soon to tell?

Since you're all in here...
I'm planning to send my book to my editor on Feb 15. Exciting, :)
I'll be sending it to four betareaders around that time as well.
Then promo will start. The amount that I'll invest will depend on the feedback that I get.

If my betas tell me: OMG, I LOVED IT
Then:

I will target romance blogs and maybe do 1 blog tour.
But I'm considering selling the book for (gulp) 0.99 for a while.

I'm thinking long term here.
It's not about having 1 succesful book, it's about having a succesful writing career.

If I don't make a lot of money on Book 1, but manage to build a solid fanbase, that means I could have a more succesful launch for Book 2.

And if it does really well at 0.99, I could even forget about buildung a fanbase and the effect on book 2 and bump the price of book 1 up.

What do you all think?

Alex wrote: "This is very interesting information, it certainly encourages me because when I was published years ago I had one book at hit the 5,000-10,000 sales in a year and another that did 20,000 plus in 2 ..."

Wow. Those are really good numbers. You would fall under "Solid seller" and "high midlister"!

Yes. Well if we want to be bestsellers (and who doesn't?) atleast now we have an idea of what sort of numbers we would need to move, right?

Hi, everyone. I'm Alexis. I figured it was time for a new thread for random chit chat, jokes and other things we might want to talk about that doesn't fit or require their own thread.

I'll get us started with my find of the day: this reddit thread regarding book sales

https://www.reddit.com/r/writing/comm...

Copied and pasted the comment from a Bestselling author and contirbutor in the thread above, below

There is, actually. It's called bookscan, and is generally only available to insiders. (But if you can find someone with access, you can track books back for two decades of sales info.)
Problem is, it doesn't track ebooks. (Because Amazon doesn't release them.) I wish this info were more public too, personally. But I can try to guess a kind of rough estimate, based on what I've seen. (This is for first year ebook/hardcover combined, and only applies to fiction books, and not those by a celebrity.)

On the chopping block: 5k (This is a book that did modestly well, but is probably overall losing money for the publisher. Some would keep publishing an author at this level, depending on expectations of growth, award recognition, or niche interest.)

Solid seller: 5k-10k (This is a book most publishers will always be pleased with, and will continue to pay a decent advance for. This author may not make a healthy living on their book unless they can do more than one a year, but will probably always have a writing career.)

High midlister:10k-20k (This is an author who is well known in their genre, is a dependable seller, and has a dedicated--but small-fanbase. If you can find a writer with a number of books on the shelf, but they don't chart often on the NYT list with new books, they are probably in this category.)

Genre Bestseller: 20k-50k (This is a book that charts on the bestseller lists without hitting the #1 spot. Authors who hit this consistently set trends in the industry, are well known in their genres, and are pulling low six figure advances. Breaking out of this level and into the next takes serious luck, even in a field which already requires a lot of luck.)

Dominant Genre Bestseller: 50k-300k (These are the books that hit #1 on the bestseller list. Authors who do this consistently with each new book are generally at the top of their field, and are probably what you consider "super popular" in your post. But they--we, as this is where I am--are small potatoes compared to the next levels.)

Breakout Bestseller: 300k-1mil (These are books that "break out" of their genre, or are the top of larger genres, like thrillers. Teen books with a lot of momentum can hit here too. Books in this category sell in airports or walmarts to the general public for months, as opposed to those in the category below, which sell really, really well for one week--but only because fans buy their books week one, rather than waiting. I've outsold Dan Brown and John Grisham...for one week. The next week, they trounced me.)

Movie Books: 1-5mil (These are books from one of the other categories that have a film come out recently. Also, the tail end of the breakout bestsellers and the beginnings of phenomenon books. It gets really blurry in here as we're dealing with such large swaths of numbers. Game of Thrones books are in here, I believe. Note that they basically jumped over the category between, which often happens in sf/f when you get a film or tv show.)

Phenomenon books: 5-20+mil (These are books that somehow SUPER break the mold, for reasons nobody really understands. DaVinci Code. Harry Potter. Twilight.)


--

Personally, I'd be GLORIOUSLY HAPPY if I manage to reach "Chopping block" status. I'll even add it to my author name. "CHOPPING BLOCK BESTSELLING AUTHOR ALEXIS WILLS"

Lol

Carole wrote: "I have told Michael to start a book like he's mid chapter and work from there. It actually worked.
In one case, he ditched his beginning and started the book on the second chapter- it really worke..."

Hey, that's a good tip.
I'm cheating and adding the slow build chapter as a prologue.

I too love books that drop you right in the middle of the action.
Sadly, I can't seem to be able to write that type of book, lol. I keep going for a slow build up and it's mucht trickier to pull off. =/

C.L. wrote: "I just found out that Foreword Reviews is featuring my book in their March/April edition under YA Spotlight! Can't believe it - I mailed them that ARC months and months ago so I figured it had long..."

WOW that is fantastic! Congrats!!