Also check out my annual Smashwords Year in Review and Preview of 2021.
The purpose of these predictions is to focus our attention on the future.
Some of my predictions will inspire you, and others might surprise or anger you. That’s the point. By imagining potential futures, you can work to shape the future you desire.
Although it’s easy for an individual author to feel powerless against the broader forces of this industry, the opposite is true. Authors hold great power. The collective actions of authors determine the direction of this industry and the exciting opportunities you’ll find within it.
Your future success can be distilled down to four high level factors:
- The foundations you laid for yourself in the past (skills, training, experience, past actions).
- The actions you take today.
- The future actions taken by others in the publishing industry.
- Black Swan events that come out of nowhere to cause abrupt and massive shifts in direction.
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| My friend Jennifer Leggio sports a prophetic dumpster fire costume in 2019. |
You control the first two factors. For the third factor, through your mentorship and conversations with fellow authors, publishers, retailers and service providers, you influence the direction of the industry. You have minimal influence over the fourth category of Black Swan events, though with proper planning and diversification you can make your publishing business more resilient to unexpected shocks.
When I look back at the raging dumpster fire that was 2020, I find it impossible to separate a discussion of publishing futures from a discussion of the unfolding Black Swan event that is COVID-19.
If COVID-19 teaches us anything, it’s that our fates are intertwined. Whether we’re talking viruses or indie authorship, we are all neighbors. We share the same air. Take care of your indie author neighbors and all who support them.
The State of the Indie Nation
COVID-19 was a Black Swan event that continues to have enormous impact on authors, readers and retailers. It created new winners and losers, and it accelerated the progression of several entrenched trends in publishing, while pausing or redirecting other trends.
For most indie authors, 2020 was an up year for ebook sales after several years of decline. I find it difficult to celebrate this achievement when we consider the cost.
2020 started weak for indie authors, with most ebook retailers experiencing year over year sales declines for the first two months of the year. This marked a continuation of a multi-year trend of lackluster ebook sales exacerbated by rampant devaluation pressures in a slow-growth industry. I'll explore some of these pressures later in the post.
COVID-19 reversed that lackluster sales trend in March.
As I discussed back in June for my special edition mid-year predictions post, Post-pandemic publishing for indie authors, indie ebook authors found themselves well-positioned to meet surging ebook demand from readers who were home-bound by choice, unemployment or government mandate. Sales moderated somewhat as the year progressed and people returned to work.
Democratization vs. Authoritarianism
In a democracy, power lies with the people. With authoritarianism, power is consolidated under the control of a single supreme leader. Authoritarians come to power when the people surrender their power.
I founded Smashwords 13 years ago to enable freedom of expression and author self-determination. I wanted to democratize publishing by breaking down the barriers to publication and retail distribution. I wanted to empower any writer anywhere to self-publish at no cost and control their own rights, production, pricing and promotion. And I wanted to give the readers – not gatekeeping publishers – the freedom to choose what was worth reading.
The old world of publishing was somewhat authoritarian by nature. A small group of powerful publishers dictated which writers would become published authors, which books were distributed to retailers, and how much authors would earn for their labor.
Authoritarianism is the opposite of democratization.
In recent years, we’ve witnessed a troubling rise in authoritarian tendencies here in the US. The US isn’t the only country facing this challenge.
When people are hurting and losing hope, they become susceptible to nihilistic thinking. This makes people ripe for exploitation by the siren call of authoritarian leaders. Authoritarians promise overly simplistic solutions to complex problems. Never mind that more often than not, their tainted remedies exacerbate the very reality their supporters seek to escape.
There’s always been a dramatic income inequality gap in publishing, even though few think of it in these explicit terms. It’s time we acknowledge this as an industry. A few authors do really well, and the vast majority live hand to mouth as they struggle to find their next reader.
No, I’m not advocating socialism for my fellow Americans haunted by the ghosts of Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez. There’s nothing wrong with some books selling better than others. Excellence should be rewarded.
As I share in this post and many that preceded it, I’m concerned about greater forces at play working to steal power from indie authors. These forces have been persistent, increasing, and well-documented for many years.
As I discussed in my podcast episode, The Indie Author Manifesto, ever since Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press, there have been forces that seek to control the power of the printed word.
Although indie authors benefited this year from COVID-19 in the form of stronger ebook sales, the pandemic also altered the power structure of the publishing industry in ways that will amplify future inequalities and jeopardize author independence.
Physical bookstores were big losers in the pandemic, while enormous power consolidated around a small number of major online platforms such as Facebook, Amazon and Google. These dominant platforms wield their supreme power to stand between you and your audience.
We've traded one group of authoritarian overlords for another. These platforms are the new gatekeepers for indie authors.
But rather than gatekeeping an author’s books based on editorial quality, author reputation, sales potential, or relevance to the reader, they gatekeep based on the author’s willingness and ability to pay for access to those readers. The payment comes in the form of paid advertising, and in the particular case of Amazon, pressure to accept additional concessions such as reduced royalties, control, and distribution.
I’m concerned that far too many authors have been hurting for far too long, and this hurt is forcing short term thinking that undermines the long term opportunity for all authors.
Here in the US, it’s becoming all too common to turn on the television and witness the modern day equivalent of Depression-era bread lines, with thousands of people lined up in their cars, waiting for food assistance. My mom, who volunteers at a homeless shelter to distribute food here in the San Francisco Bay Area, tells me donations are way down while the need for assistance has skyrocketed.
Although COVID-19 is the immediate trigger for the sudden unemployment and destitution of millions of families, income inequality is more to blame. Too many people here are living too close to the financial edge. This holds true for authors as well.
When someone’s living hand to mouth, uncertain if they'll make their next meal or mortgage payment, they don’t have the luxury to think long term. This further perpetuates the cycle of short term decision-making which leads to greater exploitation and lost independence. Your decisions are your votes for the future.
So ask yourself: Are you okay that a multi-billion dollar publishing industry continues to profit on the backs of starving artists?
Are you okay that Jeff Bezos, the head of Amazon – the company whose business model is predicated upon nickel and diming its suppliers, devaluing your books and forcing you to trample your fellow authors when you advertise – saw his net worth rise by nearly $100 billion during the pandemic?
If you’re okay with that, carry on with business as usual. If not okay, act accordingly if you are able.
Now on with the predictions.
Mark Coker’s Publishing Predictions for 2021
- Nesting will favor digital reading - With eight billion people around the world in need of COVID-19 vaccinations and not enough vaccine supply to go around, many consumers of books will spend more time at home than they did pre-pandemic. The indie author community, which earns the bulk of its income via ebooks, will be a beneficiary.
- Trump effect will lead to more book reading - Regardless of how you feel about Donald Trump, most people would agree that he held a sizable portion of our daily media consumption attention. With each day, his presidency served a tantalizing new episode of must-see reality TV. The episodes got more and more riveting as he broke every imaginable norm and then some. Last month voters cancelled his show due to poor ratings and replaced it with what promises to be a less dramatic presidential show. This means we can now spend less time shouting into our echo chambers on social media about why he’s the worst or greatest president of all time. What are we going to do with our extra hours of free time each week? A portion of that time will shift to reading. Yay for books!
- Consolidation in traditional publishing drives more authors to self-publishing AND vanity presses - The big four publishers are about to become the big three with Penguin Random House’s pending acquisition of Simon & Schuster. In slow growth or overcrowded markets, consolidation yields greater efficiencies, profits and competitive advantages for the surviving entities. The combination will give Penguin Random House about 30% of the US book market. With fewer publishers bidding for the best books, it means fewer opportunities and lower advances for authors interested in a traditional publishing deal. This will drive more authors to self-publishing. For authors that don’t have the desire or the ability to put in the hard work to become a professional self-publisher, many will turn to vanity presses and subsidized presses. These companies earn their income not by selling books to customers, but by selling services to authors.
- Consolidation coming to indie publishing as well - The self-publishing market is overcrowded with too many companies fighting for too few dollars. You want to get your book to Apple Books? Apple lists Smashwords and 20 approved aggregators and conversion houses to help you, or you can upload direct. And there are thousands of other service providers who can help you do the same. This is unsustainable. For the same reasons the big New York publishers are consolidating, consolidation is inevitable for self-publishing as well. Does the world really need hundreds of ebook distributors? The answer is no. In fact, the plethora of all of these companies doing the same thing is confusing and counterproductive for most authors.
- Book discovery continues to shift from organic to inorganic - There was a time when most online book discovery was organic. If a quality read attracted enough readers, their purchases and reviews would cause the online store’s algorithms to elevate the book’s visibility to other readers. Today the ebook market is dominated by a single toll-taking retailer that grants preferential discoverability to authors and publishers that pay tributes in the form of paid advertising and exclusivity. Other retailers will face pressure to do the same. I’ve lost track of the number of times authors have asked Smashwords to create a paid advertising “opportunity” in the Smashwords Store. Sure, we could make a lot of money doing that, but I’d have difficulty sleeping at night. Nor would I want to disadvantage our authors who can't afford to advertise. I’d be the guy to say, “Oh, your ad spend didn’t earn back? Here’s a refund.”
- Subscription consumption grows, single copy sales fall - The two dominant ebook consumption models are single-copy sales and subscription. The three major ebook subscription services for indie authors are Kindle Unlimited, our partner Scribd, and the newer entry, Kobo Plus. Apple doesn’t have such an offering yet, nor do I know if they plan for one, though I expect they’ll feel pressure to introduce a similar service one of these years. Apple has a lot of experience in subscription businesses. Over the long term, subscription will probably win, driven by the extreme value to consumers, the greater profitability to the retailer, and the proven willingness of many indie authors to accept ever-lower royalties in exchange for greater book visibility.
- Subscription services to drive devaluation - For indie authors, two of the three major subscription services (KU, KP) pay via a pool model in which the provider pays less than a 70% royalty from the pool to authors and publishers. This means devaluation – readers can enjoy your book risk-free for less cost than a single copy purchase, and you earn a lower effective royalty rate for the read. This contributes to a double devaluation of your books. Readers become accustomed to consuming books for what feels like free, and the author is paid less per read. Not all authors can make up the difference with higher unit consumption because there are only so many readers to go around. And since when is a $4.99 ebook from a professional indie author too expensive?
- Royalty compression accelerates - Say goodbye to 70% ebook royalties. Yes, every major retailer will continue to offer 70% list (60-80% if you work through Smashwords), yet effective royalty rates will drop. The drop will come in the form of hidden tolls, taxes and so-called “opportunities,” such as the opportunity to raise the visibility of your book by paying the retailer for visibility; or by discounting the book to appear in a feature or special catalog; or discounting the book so that it can appear in a subscription service that can only list lower priced books that don’t break their business model. The net effect on your income is that you’ll be paid less for each sale. Many forms of royalty compression have existed since the start of the indie ebook revolution in the form of delivery fees, generous no-questions-asked product returns on the backs of authors (#Audiblegate anyone?), or royalty rules that drop royalties in half if you price under $2.99 or over $9.99. Every major retailer will face pressure by their customers to enact more royalty compression so customers can read more books for fewer dollars. If stores resist this move, they’ll lose more customers to Amazon. Of course, if authors refused to sell their books anywhere their effective royalty rate dropped below the highest single copy rate of 60-80%, then retailers would be forced to maintain the high royalties. But the cat is already out of the bag. Too many indie authors followed the siren call of KDP-Select, and too many authors have shown themselves too willing to accept more compression if it helps them skip to the front of the line in the short term. Once you surrender your power, it’s difficult to take it back.
- Advertising ROI drops further - Advertising is already ineffective for many authors, yet authors still throw good money after bad hoping to be among the lucky few who can crack the formula. Because ads on Facebook, Amazon and Google utilize an auction model where the highest paid spot earns the best visibility, economic theory would dictate that authors will continue to bid on such ads until the effective ROI of the ad reaches zero, the point at which book sales can’t cover the ad expense. But economic theory doesn’t know indie authors. This mad scramble to the bottom of ad ROI is exacerbated by authors’ willingness to over-invest on loss leaders (such as series starters or a debut book) in the hope that they can make up the difference later with follow-on sales.
- The mad dash to the bottom of advertising ROI undermines non-advertisers - Not all indie authors spend money on advertising, yet those who don’t advertise will continue to see their visibility marginalized by those willing to pay for visibility. As I discussed last year, at Amazon their ad program is constructed to help advertisers leech off the brands of other authors. You can test this for yourself. Type your pen name into the search bar at Amazon and marvel at all the paid ad spots for other authors that appear at the top of your search results and mixed within.
- Self-publishing to receive increased scrutiny - As society comes to grips with the collision between free speech and its ugly cousins misinformation, disinformation and fake news (I’m talking truly fake, not quality journalism erroneously labeled as fake), public pressure will build to demand more curation and accountability for the platforms that enable its publication. Facebook and YouTube, which are two of the largest self-publishing platforms are facing such scrutiny (when you post a video to YouTube or comment on Facebook, you’re self-publishing!). If a self-publishing platform like Smashwords – or a retailer like Amazon – allows the publication and distribution of a harmful conspiracy theory or bad medical advice, should the platform or retailer be held liable when a reader believes it as true and drinks the proverbial bleach? It’s a challenging question we’ve had to grapple with. Our ethos at Smashwords is free expression, but per policy we will ban authors for publishing information we deem harmful to the public. But who are we to decide, and where should the lines be drawn? We don’t employ medical doctors or trained epidemiologists. I didn’t start this business to squelch voices, but I didn’t start it to help authors publish bomb-making manuals either (which we’ve never allowed). If you want to place a long shot bet on the next Black Swan event affecting indie authors, it could very well be that a retailer is found financially liable for what it allowed in its store from a self-published author, and as a result of the costly ordeal, decides it’s not worth the risk to allow such unfettered, freewheeling access to their sales platform.
- Mailing list development again a top priority for indies - The most important platform-building tool is your private author newsletter. When readers subscribe to your newsletter, you own that relationship. You can contact the reader directly on your terms without having to rely on a toll-taking intermediary that may inhibit or even prevent your ability to notify your current and prospective fans about your new release. When we surveyed authors this year who took advantage of our new patent-pending Smashwords Presales feature, one of the top reasons cited for using the feature was mail list development (the most common reason cited was sales channel diversification). Many of these authors are offering their subscribers the opportunity to purchase their new upcoming releases early, before the general public. It gives your most loyal readers a strong incentive to sign up and stay subscribed.
- Books become more important in 2021 - In 2020, millions of readers rediscovered the joys of reading. This trend will continue through 2021 and beyond. The pandemic is not over. It's difficult to emotionally process trauma when we're living it. Even after every last soul is vaccinated and this plague is eradicated from the earth, it will take years to heal from this collective trauma. Books have always provided readers great comfort, pleasure, escapism and understanding. I can't think of any time in the 55 years of my lifetime when books have been more essential to the healing, recovery and progress of humanity. As an indie author, you are the creator of this magic we call books. Your work is important now, and will become more important in the years ahead. It doesn't matter if you write fiction or non-fiction, romance or self-help, you will help heal the world.
That’s it for my 2021 predictions. Feel free to contribute your own predictions in the comments below.
I wish you, your family and our indie community the best of health, happiness and prosperity in the year ahead.
Here are links to my prediction from prior years:
Summary of Prior Publishing Prediction Posts by Mark Coker
2020 Publishing Predictions (Published December 31, 2019)
2019 Publishing Predictions (Published December 31, 2018)
2018 Publishing Predictions (Published December 31, 2017)
2017 Publishing Predictions (Published December 31, 2016)
2016 Publishing Predictions (Published December 31, 2015)
2015 Publishing Predictions (Published December 31, 2014)
2014 Publishing Predictions (Published December 30, 2013)
and Huffington Post (Published January 7, 2014)
2013 Publishing Predictions (Published Dec 21, 2012)
2011 Predictions at GalleyCat (Published Dec 28, 2010)
10-Year Predictions at GalleyCat (Published Jan 4, 2010)
Is there any hope of Scribd relaxing their rules on limiting romance ebooks to below a certain price point?
ReplyDeleteI've been with Smashwords as an indie publisher since 2011. Re your prediction #4, I truly hope in the near future we'll see Smashwords become more competitive again (it isn't at the moment) among districutors by roundly updating the website and the user interface. In comparison with other distributors/aggregators, Smashwords is extremely clunky and time-consuming.
ReplyDeleteI joined Smashwords in 2020.Seeing my 3 Swahili books online gives me joy of going on writing more books.I look forward to the day Swahili will be the Lingua franca in Africa to widen the market for indie writers.
ReplyDeleteYour predictions are spot on, Mark. Sadly, when people are hungry - they are willing to take an 1/8 of a slice of bread rather than thinking the whole loaf. The last straw for me when it came to the big A was when they took a BIG loss on my $12.99 paperback (from Ingram Sparks) and priced it for $4.36 to compete with Walmart. There ‘was’ a part of me that wanted to take all my books off their platform, yet it’s unfair to readers and would open up my eBooks to be exploited thieves. For now, I’m taking a break from writing books, instead I created a dream analysis oracle deck that I sell on Etsy and in the midst of making another.
ReplyDeleteConcerning mailing list development, there are troubling signs of new platforms effectively hijacking this key communication channel.
ReplyDeleteThe new breed of aggregators and reading apps such as Stoop Inbox, Feedly, and Substack allow subscribing to newsletters. But since the platforms generate email addresses in their own domains to subscribe to the newsletters, they capture the relationship between authors and readers. It's gatekeepers all over again.
Does the black swan pandemic result in the ugly ducking that seems to be a long-lasting result -- the division of this and other societies into a seemingly irreconcilable red-blue social and geographic division? The ability by authors to either exacerbate or alleviate this divide becomes a market for better or worse -- both lucrative, no?
ReplyDelete@Alianne, good question. I'll give you a long answer for benefit of authors not familiar with the inside baseball of subscription services. The challenge Scribd faces is that their competitors KU and KP pay out of a pool, which means KU/KP don't care what the author's list price is, which means they can encourage their readers to over-consume at the author's expense. This is why to date we've refused to allow our books into the pools. If the pools paid out 70% of the the pot to authors, I'd be more inclined to support them (though even this could have the effect of stripping authors of the freedom to decide what their book should cost the reader). Scribd's business model from the perspective of Smashwords books (as well as others who've negotiated similar deals) pays based on the author's list price. This means Scribd much manage its costs more closely than the others, and control which books are available to subscribers, otherwise their subscribers could over-consume and break Scribd's profitability. So that means that while romance readers are god's gift to authors thanks to their voracious reading habits, they post challenges to Scribd's model.
ReplyDeleteScribd's business model is much less prone to cause the devaluation pressures of which I speak above, which is why I've been a fan. Scribd's model serves as a gate to prevent devaluation while providing Scribd a fair profit to pursue their business for the author's advantage.
So in answer to your question, this is all a long way of stating that for Scribd to open up the floodgates more, they'd probably need to modify their model. Options: 1. Pay authors a lower percentage. 2. Limit the number of titles an individual subscriber can consume each month. 3. Transition to a pool model. 4. Pay an author a lump sum advance that would give them a license to provide unlimited reading for some span of time. 5. Restrict discoverability of higher priced titles with search algorithms and merchandising so that readers are drawn first to lower-cost titles. 6. Some blended combination of the above.
Note that most of those tweaks would send Scribd down the devaluation path as well, which might be inevitable. In the competitive world of retailing, if one retailer is able to source their product at less cost than their competitors, it means they can provide more of it at less cost to their customers, which means the retailers that don't follow down the devaluation path will lose customers to those who do.
Things would be different if authors universally required that 60-80% of the revenue generated by their books went to the author or publisher, but that's not the case.
I hope that helps!
@webistrator, that's a profoundly deep question, and one that I've pondered for a long time. See my predictions post last year on Cipolla's theories on human stupidity. The bottom line - if too many participants in publishing don't recognize that it's in everyone's selfish best-interest to create value for all of society in addition to themselves, the society will fail. Publishing is a society.
ReplyDeleteRead your newsletter & blog with interest. Here're my thoughts as both author and reader.
ReplyDeleteAs an author - I used to do Amazon ads but quickly became aware of how costly, ineffective and basically 'claw-your-way-above-other-authors' it was. Now I save my money and invest in ads in newsletters that work - i.e. Bargain Booksy, ENT etc. IMO and experience, it's better to have several more costly ads in well-known, wide-reaching newsletters, where you get what you pay for (my ad SEEN). I've had better returns, and it worked for me in 2020, and I plan to continue this way until I find it no longer working for me.
As a reader - I sign up to newsletters while trying ebooks from new authors (so via the newsletter 'drives') and I like the 'welcome' newsletter. However, I find it REALLY annoying to be bombarded with two or three more newsletters within a week of signing up (sometimes within a few days) asking if I've read the book yet, please post a review, offering me more free reads etc. It smacks of desperation and ends with me unsubscribing. Maybe I’m wrong and just a grouch!!
As an author I'm told this is effective, but as a reader I find it annoying. My own newsletter simply gets a welcome - that's it until it's time for the next newsletter. Am I wrong or right? I can only go by my own experiences.
Sales-wise - yes, I’ve seen a big down-turn in my sales over the lat few years. Thank God I kept my day job! The heady days of big royalties seems to have petered out a lot for me. Trying to stay visible above the rising tide of indie authors isn’t easy. However, the Smashwords sales work really well, so thank you for that!!
In regards to KDP Select. Yes, I agree, it devalues writing. My contemporary romances sell fine wide-spread. But sci-fi romances? I have yet to find a good market for them, no matter how I advertise. The only readers for this not-as-popular genre seems to be at KDP Select. I’d like to keep the sci-fi romances wide-spread but I often went for months without them selling. So yes, as much as I don’t like it, my sci-fi romances are KDP Select and at least I’m seeing ‘reads’ and making a bit of money on them. I only keep them on Smashwords for a month as new releases. If anyone can point me in a better direction with great hints on marketing my sci-fi romances, I’m all ears! I prefer wide-spread.
I always love these posts and find them fascinating. I love the idea of indie authors helping people to heal after Covid-19 through their work. Books have always been a comfort and a coping mechanism for me and it's nice to see them helping other people get through Covid as well.
ReplyDeleteI left Smashwords a year ago, and I couldn't be happier. I sell my e-books directly to readers by means of Payhip.com (https://payhip.com/shawnmicheldemontaigne), at the price I want to sell them at, when I want to sell them, from my blog (https://www.thepiertoforever.com/).
ReplyDeleteThe last two books I published at Smashwords didn't appear once on the front page--a front page that, at the time at least, featured more than 80% romance (read: porn for women) covers. I just looked at Smashwords' front page, the first time in months I have done so. It appears middling efforts are being taken by the "administrative team" to bring this number down; or, I could have just popped by when a little more balance and equity just happened to be showing. I don't know. And I don't care.
I made as much money this year selling through Payhip as I did my last year at Smashwords. The problem Mr. Coker refuses to recognize is this: his site is just as much a part of the problem as Amazon, Facebook, and Google. The bottom line with Smashwords is this: if you don't publish romance (read: porn for women), you ain't diddly-squat. And that's how he and his "administrative team" are going to treat you. The proof is in the pudding.
In a fair world, publishing should behave along a bell curve, regardless of genre. It doesn't. Due to people like Coker and those heinous "social" media behemoths, visibility and therefore sales have been transmuted into a vicious power curve that enriches a tiny few and leaves everyone else stranded. These awful sites like Bookbub, etc., prey on authors' desire to be seen and read; they too are part of the problem. Book advertising is a tremendous waste of money for anyone not at the top of that power curve. The data is crystal clear.
So if you're like me and you're ecstatic if you get even four downloads a year, do yourself a favor and bail: bail from the grotesquely immoral Amazon; quit Facebook (just quit it already); start using Ecosia instead of Google; and 86 Smashwords as well. Join Payhip. Become truly independent. Maintain a blog, and post on it regularly. Realize that these platforms don't give a good goddamn about you, especially if you don't publish romance (read: porn for women), and that they are all leeching off your desire to become the next big thing, or some similar dysfunctional dream.
Grow up. Get real. Stop selling out. Grow a spine--and some integrity. You're not going to be the next JK Rowling, and thank God for that! She's ... monstrous. And bitterly unhappy. And uppity, and elitist, and a harmer of communities, many of whom once idolized her.
Instead of chasing fame, instead of chasing cash, how 'bout chasing the notion of becoming the best writer you can be, hmm? Stop chasing market trends, and start a search for any hint of originality in your soul--you know, the thing you've sold over and over and over again to these platforms.
I doubt ol' Coker will publish this, but ... I've said my peace. That's good enough.
~~*~~
I’ve never seen this many Smashwords writers in one place before. Do you only hangout here?
ReplyDeleteI’ve been looking for you to network!
It is my first time to write a book and it is somehow fulfilling, much more when it was published by smashwords. I only hope that I could find some forums, platforms or sites that we could freely discuss our stories and somehow we could encourage some readers to check on our books... I hope that 2021 will bring us to new horizons!
ReplyDeleteAs always, Mark thanks for your words of wisdom and incredible insights.
ReplyDelete@ ME! I totally agree with you about how authors can alienate their subscribers with such overzealous contact. While such tactics may drive short term conversion, it's probably at the expense of long term retention and relationship-building. The reader's contact information and time needs to be respected, and three or four emails in a week doesn't show a lot of respect. No one enjoys being sold to all the time (if ever).
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear our special sales work well for you!
@ Kara.Skinner, thanks! Credit to Jim Azevedo here at Smashwords for reminding me to address the healing power of books!
@Shawn, I'm leaving your comment up so people can judge it for themselves. My personal take: I appears you're underappreciating romance and the intelligent women who write, publish and read it. Their success takes nothing from you. Quite the opposite, actually.
@Chris, there are over 150,000 Smashwords authors around the world. It's fair to say most of them don't spend a lot of time here on the blog. :)
@Ken, all aspiring authors would be smart to maintain their day jobs. It's tough to earn a living writing books. The authors who are most successful are those who excel at implementing the best practices which I've always freely shared here, in my free ebooks, and on the podcast. It's not easy to become a professional indie author.
@paolo, I took a quick look at your book. First thing I'd recommend is to change the price to $2.99. $1.99 is a black hole - readers typically avoid that price point in favor of $2.99+ or $.99. Have you checked out WattPad? Since you're looking for interaction with readers, you could serialize your novel there and get direct feedback from readers about your writing and storytelling. Many successful Smashwords authors have used Wattpad to build readership and gain valuable feedback on their writing.
@Robin, thanks my friend!
Shawn wrote "if you don't publish romance (read: porn for women)"
ReplyDeleteI would respectfully challenge you to learn more about the genre, which ranges from the sweet and chaste (i.e., the opposite of porn) to erotica with many stops in between. There are numerous subgenres, including historical, suspense, paranormal, and sci-fi.
I hope that you will reconsider your opinion ... and how your expression of it may affect potential readers of your own work.
Mark: I've got huge respect for the energy you have brought to independent publishing via Smashwords. Since day 1 you've been true to your beliefs and to your advocacy on behalf of independent authors. As you note, authors have many choices in publishing platforms -- they're lucky that Smashwords is one of them. Best wishes for 2021.
ReplyDelete"Your decisions are your votes for the future."
ReplyDeleteThat's the part of this blog post that resonated most with me. Since publishing ebooks in 2009 and seeing how much has changed in the publishing industry, I have come to appreciate how important it is to build a solid foundation by making decisions that are best for the long term.
I don't know how many authors took hits early on by not entering KDP Select, but I did. In my gut, I felt keeping a wide net for my books would pay off in the long run. It was not easy to stay wide when so many authors were reaping huge rewards by being exclusive. Then when Amazon came out with ads, I didn't do them because I didn't want my business model to be dependent on ads. I figured ads wouldn't be effective long term. I noticed when those ads took off, my income took another hit. But I was determined to focus my efforts on things I could control because I can't control who sees the ads or who will buy the books. (I do like Freebooksy ads, though. They have a good wide readership there, which is why I put my advertising dollars there. They aren't pay-per-click ads. I don't like pay-per-click ads.)
Even with the stuff that is coming, I think a continued focus on making decisions that lead to a solid foundation will be the best course an author can take. I've found slow and steady has worked for me long term. Stay wide. Find a way to connect with readers whether it's social media or blog posts. Have a website so people can find your books easily. An email list is great, and I only send an email out when there's a new release. I don't want to clog up a reader's inbox. If possible, get (or stay) out of debt and build up savings to help bring financial peace of mind. These decisions are all slow and boring. There are no bells and whistles that will amaze the writing community. But I can say firsthand that these decisions work. These decisions are all a vote for indie freedom to write what you want and publish wherever you want.
Thanks for Smashwords, Mark. I had no idea back in 2009 when I first published a book on Smashwords how much it would change my life. I read your predictions posts every year. It's scary how accurate they turn out to be. You point out the things that are coming in the publishing industry, and it helps me to adjust what I'm doing to compensate for what's ahead. So thank you for helping me establish a solid foundation.