Pages Turning: Reinventing the Self-Published Novel

[A.A.]

I was going to post this originally in ‘What do you write and why?’ but as I wrote this it became a beast of it’s own so I opted to make another thread.

A few people asked for me to share my experience in this process so here it goes. As I mentioned in the ‘Who are you?’ thread I had a chance to self-publish my debut novel Q-16 and the Eye to All Worlds as part of my thesis project at school. The thesis was meant to be a large comprehensive project which would take us the entire year to complete, plus we were meant to have some idea of what we want to accomplish upon coming back to school day one of that year. The program I’m taking in Contemporary Media Production at Durham College (now called Interactive Media Design… they keep changing the name). As you might have guessed from the title, nothing to do with self-publishing and originally my thesis project was to be an interactive documentary about the Solidarity movement in Poland. So how did the change happen?

Teacher: “What did you do over the summer?”
Me: “Oh you know, just editing my book.”
Teacher: “Is that part of your thesis project?”
Me: “…no…but it can be.”

I had been working on my novel for many years now (around 13 to 14 or so in terms of research, plot, what will happen in consecutive books in the series ect.). After endless edits and polishes, I finally deemed it ready and was going to be self-publishing on my own until that short exchange of words happened. I dived head in to working on the book as being part of my project. Now, because of the nature of the program I couldn’t just self-publish the book, put my feet up and say I was done. In fact I’m still working on some stuff right now and the whole project won’t be complete till the end of this month. I had to encompass it as a whole under a name and a theme so the working title of my project became ‘Pages Turning: Reinventing the Self-Published Novel’. Yes I did get to self-publish my novel as part of it but I’m doing much more than that, I’m showcasing how other self-published authors can use technology to their advantage in order to promote their work.

First off, I had to design my entire cover from scratch. You can view it on www.lulu.com/spotlight/aajankiewicz or if you go onto Amazon search for Q-16 and the Eye to All Worlds you can see a bigger image there. That flag on there… I designed it in illustrator and then built it, then took the photos and finally brought it into Photoshop for postproduction as well as all the imagery.

Next off, I designed and built my own author website which you can see here www.aajankiewicz.agnesjankiewicz.com . It is a subdomain of my portfolio website for now but hey, broke college student and it’s the best I can do for now.

In addition to this I also created an ebook version of the novel to be viewed through the iBooks app across a wide range of devices. This ebook is distributed for free to anyone who purchases a physical copy of the book by going onto the website to the Download page and clicking the link to a page with instructions on how to do so. I realize there are tons of formats and devices out there so I could not accommodate all of them but it’s a start. I don’t like how people are forced to pay double of they want both formats of the book. It’s not fair to the readers and from what I’ve been reading, ePub may be the format of the future.

Currently, I’m working on business cards that use augmented reality to bring the user to my author page as well as another webpage that has an excerpt of the book on it with animations and music.

I’ve actually been so inspired by the whole process that in the future I would like to start a blog (when I am not swamped with homework) where I can talk about more technologies and how self-published authors can use them. I'd love to share what I know and help others.

[R.F.G.]

A nice author spotlight on Lulu, you'd be surprised how many people leave those blanks only to wonder why their book(s) won't sell.

[Micah]

A.A. wrote: " I realize there are tons of formats and devices out there so I could not accommodate all of them but it’s a start..."

Why not go through a site like Smashwords, then? One eBook submission, it gets converted ePub, Sony eReader, Kindle and a few other formats (that I wouldn't recommend), and then distributed to Apple, B&N, Kobo, Sony...and a bunch of others. And why not an eBook through Amazon if you've got the paperback there? Most self published authors sell the vast majority of their works through eBooks and Kindle has like 65% of that market.

[A.A.]

I do have an eBook version listed on lulu, which is available on other external sites. The free eBook was more so an experiment for school purposes.

[Christopher]

I agree with the Smashwords idea. Took me a day to fully go through their step-by-step guide, but I was pleased with the result. Creating different ways for the book to be read is also helping with beta readers. Now I am getting ready to take the changes and redo the ebook. Hopefully, it will only take me half a day this time.

[R.F.G.]

The Lulu route actually makes it possible to do the one-stop but multiple venues possible as well. Lulu allows the initial epub with ISBN to get pushed to Amazon's Kindle, Kobo, the Istore, and bookseller websites like B&N, Books A Million, Angus & Robertson, and so on.

[A.A.]

I've noticed my paperback and hardcover have shown up on Amazon in the last week and the eBook is on iTunes and the Kobo bookstore. It says on the Lulu that it should show up on Kindle as well so I assume it just takes a bit of time. I read something like 6 to 8 weeks and the book has been out for a month as of today.

[R.F.G.]

On a Lulu epub hitting the Amazon it will be more of the 8 than 6 weeks as they have the epub converted to mobi format, but they do get it done as quickly as possible.

[[deleted user]]

My hardcover appeared on Amazon in less than two weeks, so I guess with Lulu it depends on the waiting list.

[R.F.G.]

Ken wrote: "My hardcover appeared on Amazon in less than two weeks, so I guess with Lulu it depends on the waiting list."

Wait time on Lulu books hitting the Amazon fluctuates on how many books get published and submitted, how many get flagged and the author / publisher notified of problems needing resolution that were spotted by Amazon QC, the average humidity divided by the speed of light as a ratio of entropy, and other arcane criteria nobody outside Lulu and Amazon know about.

Usually the cover image and basic info on a book appear on Amazon within two weeks with the message "Out of Print" or "Unavailable" until all the checks are done.

[Richard]

Not sure of the business relationships, but with Amazon having a finger in every part of publishing, their relationships with other companies may be a bit strained. Amazon may not feel a strong incentive to list books distributed by Lulu, because it owns Createspace, which is a competitor to Lulu. Az has a general "we'll sell anything" policy, but it may not be equally applied.

[[deleted user]]

My hardcover from Lulu is on both Barnes & Noble and Amazon, but who's going to buy it when I had to price it at $39.99 to make just a token profit?--and the ebook sits next to it for $4.99.

[R.F.G.]

My print books are on Amazon, though less expensive from the Lulu bookstore.

[[deleted user]]

I was under the impression that the price on Lulu had to be the same as the price set for Amazon and others. Otherwise, you would be underselling the others and they wouldn't carry your book. Has anyone had experience in offering a discount on Lulu while pricing the book higher for wider distribution?

[[deleted user]]

I am seeking to cement relationships with others to help me get further word out concerning my work and how people can get their hands on it. But I also cannot see the current manner in which books are published and marketed sustaining itself indefinitely. Something has got to give.

Either there is going to be a burst bubble, and people who self-publish are going to lose the ability to do so, or Amazon et al are going to have to end up with strict regulations concerning how they do business. It is probable, based on historical experience, that both will happen. When retailers perform malarkey about the price of a product who their "absolute, sole right" to market the producer's product, it is never the producer who benefits.

Yes, I am opposed to Amazon having a monopoly and dictating the standard used in publication. What of it?

[R.F.G.]

Ken wrote: "I was under the impression that the price on Lulu had to be the same as the price set for Amazon and others. Otherwise, you would be underselling the others and they wouldn't carry your book. Has..."

My print versions haven't moved on either Lulu or Amazon as I don't actively market. However, depending on the day Amazon does offer prints similar to mine at what appears to be a loss since they have their own printers.

There are self-publishers offering their work on both Lulu and Amazon who do fairly well, and they have the Lulu discount and 'normal' retail price on Amazon.

One thing to remember, if you've self-published most brick and mortar stores won't stock your POD print books because they don't get the same deals they can get from the big Trad Publishers. The stores that will stock your book usually do so after you've done a lot of leg work.

There is a thread on the Lulu user fora specifically devoted to different market9ing strategies that include convincing retailers how to stock your work.

[[deleted user]]

I actively marketed my hardcover online by discounting the price 50% until the hardcover reached the other distributors. Didn't sell any, but I wasn't too surprised. I don't sell paperbacks, either, even though they're cheaper than the discounted hardcover. If it weren't for ebooks, I think Indies would have no market at all.

[Richard]

I've managed to get my novella down to $4.99 in paperback, which seems pretty competitive to me. I only get $0.84 royalty, but it's a short book. I generally aim for a price that gets me a $ / 100 pages. If anyone were to buy direct from CreateSpace, I'd get an extra dollar, but that's never happened. I'm using similar prices on Lulu, so price-matching probably isn't an issue.

[[deleted user]]

I did a little research on Lulu's forum and they indicated that you can discount your book on Lulu and it won't be reflected on Amazon and other retailers. I also found that as I decreased the retail price of my book in one dollar increments, the royalty decrease didn't match dollar for dollar. I found I could sell my hardcover retail at $32.99 instead of $39.99 and still get a profit (less than a dollar, but I don't expect to sell any). Then I discounted on Lulu by 50%, to $16.50. My royalty there is less than 50 cents, but, again, not likely to sell many.

[R.F.G.]

You might be pleasantly surprised, as many readers are off put at the high prices of hardcovers not found in bargain bins.

[[deleted user]]

R.F.G. wrote: "You might be pleasantly surprised, as many readers are off put at the high prices of hardcovers not found in bargain bins."

I certainly hope so, but even the cheaper paperbacks don't sell. It's all ebooks.

[R.F.G.]

Ken wrote: "I certainly hope so, but even the cheaper paperbacks don't sell. It's all ebooks. "

I do ebooks somewhat, but I still prefer paper -- paper doesn't quit functioning after EMP.

[Micah]

Dean wrote: "I also cannot see the current manner in which books are published and marketed sustaining itself indefinitely. Something has got to give..."

I'm not sure what the "current manner" you're referring to is or what you think the bubble is. I don't see any bubble to burst (a glut possibly but that's not a bubble.)

You weren't very specific either about what you think Amazon's business practices are that would cause them to be legislated.

Not trying to be contrary, just looking for clarification on that.

[Owen]

Dean wrote: "Yes, I am opposed to Amazon having a monopoly and dictating the standard used in publication..."

I'm not fond of monopolies either, but this statement confuses me. Amazon has about 65% of the eBook market. But the eBook market is not the majority of the overall market for books. It's significant, but maybe 25%-30% depending on what you count (titles sold, revenues, earnings?). The numbers I last saw were something like ~$10 billion for print and ~2+ billion for eBooks?

I don't know what Amazon’s share of the print market is, but they are a reseller there -- the Big 5 publishers still pretty much determine what we see in the print market. As a publisher, Amazon has just over half of 25-30% of the overall market for books. That gives Amazon about 15% of the total market? Maybe about the size of S&S, or smaller?

Not sure how that qualifies Amazon as a monopoly or puts them in position to dictate to the industry?

I'd be opposed to Amazon becoming a monopoly, but you said "having" which sounds like you believe they already are one, hence my confusion.

[Owen]

Ken wrote: "I certainly hope so, but even the cheaper paperbacks don't sell. It's all ebooks."

Yes and no -- maybe. I was curious about this, so I did a little checking (nothing comprehensive, but just a quick look). We sell next to no paperbacks, but I wanted to know if popular indie authors were in the same boat. Going by indie authors in the Top 100 in major categories that have both eBooks and print out there, what I saw was they do sell print books (based on Amazon rankings) roughly comparable to well-established trad authors on Amazon.

So I’m guessing it’s a threshold thing -- once your eBooks get popular enough, print sales tend to follow. Now, I doubt very much our books will ever get close to that threshold, so practically speaking (for us and people in the same boat) you are correct: its all ebooks. But if your work takes off, the print market does seem to be there.

[[deleted user]]

Owen wrote: "So I’m guessing it’s a threshold thing -- once your eBooks get popular enough, print sales tend to follow. Now, I doubt very much our books will ever get close to that threshold, so practically speaking (for us and people in the same boat) you are correct: its all ebooks. But if your work takes off, the print market does seem to be there..."

I guess it basically the idea of, "is this author good enough for me to put his/her actual books on my shelf?" Until I find out, it's just throwaway stuff, like last week's TV episode of "Backstrom."

[R.F.G.]

Ken wrote: "I guess it basically the idea of, "is this author good enough for me to put his/her actual books on my shelf?" Until I find out, it's just throwaway stuff, like last week's TV episode of "Backstrom." "

The two factors to consider would be marketability and demand. If an indie writes like, or better than the best-selling authors, but has little or no following, the work would be marketable but without a demand for it. It doesn't matter how good the author's work is if there's no demand, stocking a print copy that won't sell isn't going to happen as vendors don't want to take a loss under normal circumstances.