Publishing Gripes and Grrrs!

[Anita]

Ted-- I sure agree. I'm running an ENT ad today for A u 7 9. Of all my advertising over the last two years for three books, ENT was the only one that had any significant sales. I am hopeful today will be a good day.

[Theodore]

Anita wrote: "Ted-- I sure agree. I'm running an ENT ad today for A u 7 9. Of all my advertising over the last two years for three books, ENT was the only one that had any significant sales. I am hopeful today w..."

Good luck, Anita. I always kept my discount price available for a week after the date of ENT ad because the sales usually kept coming in the days after the ad ran. Hope you did the same.

[Anita]

Theodore wrote: "Anita wrote: "Ted-- I sure agree. I'm running an ENT ad today for A u 7 9. Of all my advertising over the last two years for three books, ENT was the only one that had any significant sales. I am h..."

Thanks, Ted--good advice. I thought I'd hold it at the discount price for at least a couple of days, before changing back. I'll let it run for a few days longer.

[Carole]

They actually refused to do some of my son's books. I will try them again.

[Anita]

Alex wrote: "ENT is good, but I don't use them much because they require books to be discounted, and I believe my prices are already very reasonable, without discounting them further.

BargainBooksy, isn't qui..."
I haven't tried them, yet. Thanks for info.

[D.J.]

I can’t use ENT because they didn’t want my Sci-Fi. I don’t get it. I was offering them money and my book isn’t rubbish. I think you need a certain ranking or number of books out or a certain number of reviews. Whatever their criteria I don’t qualify.

[Carole]

Yup

[Anna]

Not sure if this is the best thread for this news:

In my newspaper today was an article about novels going out of fashion. In the new year year the paper tends to look at trends and it stated that TV box sets, for instance, were taking over and especially those that could match the intellectual satisfaction of novels.

No wonder we are all thinking that our sales are a bit down.

[D.J.]

Not surprised. Technology has a lot to answer for. Rather than read a book on a train, these days people work or watch something. When I commuted into London, there was no choice other than a newspaper or a novel.

[Carole]

I agree with you, Alex. While it makes everything easier in some ways, it creates other issues.

[Evelyn]

The National Literacy Trust estimates that 5.1 million adults in England are functionally illiterate, meaning that they have a reading age of 11 or below and can understand only the most straightforward, short texts on familiar topics.

If you ever wondered how idiots get elected to councils and parliaments this might be part of the answer.

[Theodore]

And then you have the State of New York, on this side of the Pond, where 10% of elected officials either are in jail or are indicted!

[Anna]

You have me laughing when I should be crying.

On a serious note, I really, really - nope, I'd better shut up.

[Theodore]

Anna Faversham wrote: "You have me laughing when I should be crying.

On a serious note, I really, really - nope, I'd better shut up."

And then we have our current insane situation in the US...and here, I'll exit, stage left, as well, make some popcorn, and take my seat in the peanut gallery.

[Judy]

Theodore wrote: "And then you have the State of New York, on this side of the Pond, where 10% of elected officials either are in jail or are indicted!"

Ha, ha! I can believe that!

[D.J.]

This sounds like it could be a pain.

[D.J.]

There is a pattern here. As soon as you find something that gives you traction, something comes along and casually throws a spanner into the works. Throw it back. Maybe it’ll brain an organisation into submission and provide some stability. (I doubt it but I can fantasise.)

[Dale]

Hmm . . . I've been wondering why my books distributed through Ingram don't show up on Google Play. I wonder if that's the reason?

Personally, I think that's a ridiculous requirement. I'll bet books published through a mainstream publisher won't require "direct relationships" with the authors. What's the purpose of it? Since they allow other distributors to continue to handle distribution and payments, it's not like they are gaining exclusive rights to distribute a work (as Amazon does with its KDP Select program). Aside from maybe tricking indie authors into distributing directly through them, it doesn't seem to have any purpose.

[Dale]

Alex wrote: "I think if D2D is going to have to deal with the same issue I might just abandon Google Play as a sales site. I don't want the hassle. I know it has good potential but I just can't deal with this kind of thing. "

Yeah, if it becomes too much trouble for the likely sales volume, then it's probably not worth it. I found this question and response at IngramSpark from about a year ago:

https://help.ingramspark.com/hc/en-us...-

[D.J.]

I'm trying to get up to date with everything following my latest eye injection and other health stuff. And I come across this:

Have I really got to fill in 9 sodding tax forms for IngramSpark? Nine? That seems excessive. I do not need this level of paperwork to complete when my vision is swimming at random times.

[Carole]

Ugh.

[D.J.]

I don't even understand some of the questions.

Department of Revenue for Illinois:
Tick one of the following

-The purchaser is registered as a retailer with the Illinois Department of Revenue enter account number (Don't think I've got one of them)

- The purchaser is registered as a reseller with the Illinois Department of Revenue enter resale number (Don't think I've got one of them either.)

- The purchaser is authorized to do business out-of-state and will resell and deliver properly only to purchasers located outside the state of Illinois. See Line 5 instructions. (What does that mean?)

Line 5: just doesn't help.

[D.J.]

Well, I wasn't expecting to have to do that on my Friday afternoon. My front room is covered with bits of paper.

I hope I haven't missed similar requests from Amazon. I only had to fill in one form for them.

[Dale]

D.J. wrote: "Have I really got to fill in 9 sodding tax forms for IngramSpark? Nin..."

The whole problem is that until just recently, U.S. states were not collecting sales tax in internet sales, except (usually) for sales made by companies to customers in their own state. For example, since I live in Maryland, my little publishing company would only collect sales tax on sales to Maryland customers.

Recent court decisions now allow states to collect sales tax on all internet sales, which has created a nightmare for online retailers. Ingram's forms are all about dealing with that, and they have to do it that way because the states don't have a standardized way of filing the required information. Different states have different requirements.

Basically, you need to fill out all the required forms to state that you are exempt from sales tax when you order books from Ingram and have them delivered to a U.S. address. If you don't fill them out, Ingram would be required (in most cases) to charge you sales tax if your order is being shipped to a U.S. address. I assume--and please note that I am NOT an expert in the law!--that if you have them deliver books to a U.K. address, no sales tax would be charged.

So really, you need to fill out the forms to be exempt from sales tax for the specific states where you might have your books delivered. And this only applies to YOUR orders. If someone orders your books from, say, Amazon, Amazon will charge the customer the appropriate sales tax.

[Anna]

Oh, oh, now I know why I stick with Amazon.

So very sorry to know you're having eye troubles as well as everything else. I hope the injection soon works and things will be better, clearer.

[Nat]

So, I don't have many reviews, but I put my new book out through a promotion site and got 4 reviews! Yay... but amazon removed one. I've no idea why, or even remember which one. I think it was my 5 star review. And So, I"m wondering... is there anything I can do? All of those reviews were 'I give you a book for an honest review' situation, but the 5 star was taken away. I only had 4 reviews! So, this hurts me.

I'm venting, but also wondering is there anything I can do?

[Carole]

They do it all the time. I have books that are out for over eight years, and they take away reviews that are verified purchases. Somehow, the one stars are never taken away.

[Nat]

It's so weird... after looking more, I saw they removed this reviewers reviews on all of my books. I don't know her. She was part of a 'give a book away for an honest review' promo. It sucks, because I have so few reviews. I'm kinda in hating on amazon mode right now.

[Karen]

Did that reviewer review your book anywhere else (like here on Goodreads, or their own blog)? You could copy the text and add it as an "editorial review" on Amazon, through your author page.

[S.A.]

I apologize if this question has already been asked: has amazon updated their review policy of something? I've had ~40 verified-purchaser reviews removed since my book was released on June 6. I've been following an author who published back in 2015, and he had 218 reviews in the first 60 days. I can barely hold onto 30 in the first 90 days. I tried reaching out to book reviewers, but after 120 emails and only 2 reviews, I gave up. Any advice?

[Carole]

Welcoming to indie publishing. Getting reviews is hard enough, and then Amazon either won't publish them or deletes them. You just have to keep trying. I am constantly asking bloggers to review the book.

[Dale]

Not about publishing per se, but definitely a writing-related GRRR!

Early this summer, a member of my creative writing workshop convinced me to enter the NYC Midnight flash fiction competition. This is an annual contest that consists of four rounds spaced a few months apart. Writers are assigned to groups of about 15 entrants. Each group is then assigned a genre, a location, and an object. Assignments are posted at midnight on the Friday the round begins, and writers have 48 hours to write, polish, and submit their entries. Everyone participates in rounds 1 and 2, gaining points for how they place in their groups. The scores from those rounds are added together and used to determine who advances to round 3. Top writers from round 3 advance to round 4 for the final competition.

I placed 5th in my group in round 1, which I figured put me in good standing to make it to round 3. Unfortunately, round 2 was scheduled for the same weekend we ended up moving to our new home! So the time was not spent writing, but loading and unloading furniture and boxes, assembling beds, running to the store to get essentials that we couldn't find in all those boxes, etc. I probably had 4 hours at most for writing.

I finished a first draft very late on Saturday. Very late on Sunday, I started revising it. When I finished and looked at the clock, it was 12:02 AM, three minutes past the deadline, and my story was 120 words over the 1,000 word limit.

GRRRRRR!

Oh, well . . .

[Alexis]

Dale wrote: "Not about publishing per se, but definitely a writing-related GRRR!

Early this summer, a member of my creative writing workshop convinced me to enter the NYC Midnight flash fiction competition. Th..."


Oh no, that sucks!

[Anna]

Grrr indeed, Dale. But you'll be an old hand at it by next year...

[Dale]

Alexis wrote: "Oh no, that sucks!"

I was definitely annoyed 10 minutes, then I managed to shrug it off. It was just one of those things. What else can one do?

[Dale]

Anna Faversham wrote: "Grrr indeed, Dale. But you'll be an old hand at it by next year..."

Yeah, I'll probably take another shot at it next year.

By the by, I misspoke on a couple of counts. The contest is in 4 rounds, but round 1 is in two parts, so I scored well on round 1 part 1 and missed out on round 1 part 2. There is probably an outside chance I'll still qualify for round 2, but only if a lot of people who scored well in round 1 part 1 flop in round 1 part 2. Not likely. The other mistake is that groups were composed of 30 writers, not 15. The top 15 in each group receive non-zero scores.

[Carole]

Next year....

[Dale]

The NYC Midnight round 1 part 2 results are in, and taking both stories into account, I tied for 10th/11th out of 30, which is pretty darn good since my second story was a no-show. If I had submitted it and scored 8 points (which would have been 8th place for that story), I would have made it into the top 5 and earned a place in round 2.

As Carole said: next year!

[Carole]

Congrats, Dale. Nice work.

[Dale]

Thank you both!

[Carmel]

Do any of you know how related to AMS advertising KU reads are? If I stop doing AMS ads, will my visibility and reads in KU decrease?

[Anna]

I'm experimenting with that in the run up to Christmas. Results so far are that during this time, fewer people buy books but those who have KU carry on reading.

I have reduced the number of active authors/genres to almost nil and kept the KU one running. It's too soon to be certain of the strategy. However, this is fraught with difficulties in that the KU bid in the US can sometimes be suggested as high as $7 and that would rule out any profit for most of us. If you can keep your bid to a more manageable 80c your visibility and chances of being chosen are not altogether ruled out.

I hope you can follow what I'm saying! Also - if everyone does this then the bid needed will rise even higher so sshhh...

[Carmel]

Anna Faversham wrote: "I'm experimenting with that in the run up to Christmas. Results so far are that during this time, fewer people buy books but those who have KU carry on reading.

I have reduced the number of active..."

Thanks, Anna. I'll be interested in hearing the results of your experiment. The cost of advertising seems to have increased even in the last year to a point it seems impossible to get a ROI. So I'm trying to sort out options. One question...can one do an AMS ad that targets visibility in KU alone? I've not seen that as an option.

[Anna]

Carmel, yes you can do that. Just select it as your keyword and make sure everything else is turned off. I've been doing that too.

Results are that the ROI is abysmal. I have limited my spending to $1 or £1 for each book per day because it was racking up an awful lot of money. Even restricting the keyword to K...U... has cost more than I'd like to pay. I'd say that the .com sponsored ad market is not viable to run all the time. The UK market is only slightly better and going the same way.

It's not really Amazon's fault - the demand for ads means that we are all having to bid higher to get any kind of visibility. Amazon have increased the number of ads on many of the book pages but still the prices are going up. Only when loads of authors drop out can it return to being worthwhile.

However, if you are lucky enough to have a large advertising budget then it's a good way to be seen. Some trad publishers are still able to spend a lot on some of their authors and that's one more thing that makes it difficult for Indies.

[Carmel]

Anna Faversham wrote: "Carmel, yes you can do that. Just select it as your keyword and make sure everything else is turned off. I've been doing that too.

Results are that the ROI is abysmal. I have limited my spending t..."

Ah, OK, thanks. I was doing pretty well the first year and was building towards actually getting out of the hole, but since about April, things have really tanked. And I won't keep putting good money after bad. So I'm considering all options. I appreciate your sharing your expertise. I am getting visibility somehow in KU, and also sell both ebooks and paperbacks, despite only doing one ad that is connected to the ebook. So I've been uncertain about the reach because I've gone about this in a pretty minimal way. I understand what you are saying about the competition. With so many being published every day, it's hard to stay ahead of that game in any meaningful way. :) It also doesn't help when Amazon keeps changing things up. Such a learning curve, and it never quits!

[Carole]

Our Kindle sales have gone very flat, and I can't seem to manipulate the rank of the books the way I used to. The only times they get into double or single digits is when we put them on KU for free and for a few days they bob around the lower ranks after the free part is finished.
It's getting very hard. I spend most of my budget on the books that sell more and target those groups who buy them. For me, it's my kid's culture books. I advertise with a lot of the mommy bloggers with wide reaches. It's becoming harder and harder to promote the adult stuff. Right now, we are trying to place Facebook posts three times a week and see if that stirs up sales. Brittney makes ads with Canva or we've been using photographs I've taken around the area and making a post with those. We've noticed a slight uptick in Kindle sales, so it may be having an impact.

[Anita]

Same with mine. I tried a couple of Ads but I don't like their new algorithms for calculating the bids. When something gets that complicated you can bet it's not in the favor of the author. I finally pulled my ads down.

[Carole]

I couldn't agree more.

[Carole]

Why don't we find a place to post ads communally and put them on each other's social media.
Erica, can we make a Goodreads thread FB page where people could put up curated ads and we could all share on our social media. One spot where everyone would look daily and promote the ad on their social media?

[Anna]

I read something in my newspaper today which says:

"Total consumer e-books sales were down 2 per cent to £251 million in 2018, representing a slow decline."

I've also noticed that in the run-up to Christmas sales decline, presumably because people are so busy buying presents for other people, and that's not usually an e-book. I view this as another reason not to overspend on our advertising at this time of year.