Kelly Schuknecht – Page 49 – Self Publishing Advisor

e-readers, ebooks, ereaders, Kelly Speaks

The Current State of E-Readers | An Author’s Guide : Summary Edition

Well, if there’s anything I’ve learned about e-readers over the last few weeks as I compiled information for this series, it’s that we as self-publishing authors have cause for both great hope and for concern. I don’t think I’m an unbalanced optimist when I say that I think the scales tip towards hope rather than despair, either, even though in all things I advocate both caution and meticulous research.

So, how does someone go about shaping the self-publishing process to suit the current e-reader market and distribution network? Simply put, there is no easy answer. As with any technological gadget, niche (or even mainstream) market, and expensive purchase, you have to consider all of the angles––and as an author and producer of digital content, not just as a reader! Readers have only to consider those aspects of a purchase that lead to user satisfaction; they don’t have to worry about balancing the needs of others when they think about what device to pick up in a store, and which ebook to download from the internet. Authors, particularly self-published authors, do. You as an indie or self-publishing author are probably laying out significant packets of money to make sure your book is as beautiful and well-presented and as effectively marketed as it can be, so you want to make sure you’re actually getting your money’s worth.

The key to a successful relationship with e-readers is, I think, one of establishing healthy boundaries––and knowing when to cut your losses. And while it’s true that the best of all possible situations as an author is to present your readers with as many options as possible, it’s worth keeping in mind that the Kindle, the NOOK, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and the iPad were not all created equal––and they have not all sold in equal numbers. I set out to give you a fair assessment of the current state of e-readers, and by golly, I really hope that’s what I’ve done. It’s useful to you to know, for example, that the iPad has outperformed all of its other rivals as a physical product, but that the Kindle store sees the highest rates of ebook distribution. It’s equally useful to know that readers are turning in droves to their smartphones as reading tools––over and above their dedicated e-readers and even over their tablet computers. The future of the e-reader, ebook, and in some small part, the self-published author rests with digital clearinghouses like the Kindle and iBook store, the Google Play store, and direct downloads. (And someday, I’ll take a good long look at how digital book piracy plays into this equation, too.)

If anything I’ve said sticks with you, I hope it’s not something I’ve said you should not do; I really hope you remember how positively excited I am about the new opportunities that are beginning to emerge. Certain markets and products, like the Barnes and Noble NOOK, might be declining in popularity––but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t make your book available to those who choose to stick with it to the end. First and foremost, you have to decide what your priorities are as an author. Ease of accessibility? Or maximum profits? Or most effective use of time and seed money? (Just remember that the best way to sell your books is to keep writing and publishing new ones!) Ultimately, the state of e-readers has reached a stability and maturity that inspires me to think that, yes, we might have been feeling our way in the dark a bit, but we’ve stumbled across something truly wonderful. We live in a global network rich with innovators, and I truly think we can trust to see ever greater diversification and more specialized opportunities in the digital book market.

Next week, I’m going to start with an in-depth examination of The Bookseller’s key findings in their 2015 Digital Census. Things are changing rapidly––and perhaps not so much for authors and readers as for the ever-evolving relationship between self-publishing and traditional publishing companies. More on that in weeks to come!

Thank you for reading! If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or contributions, please use the comment field below or drop us a line at selfpublishingadvice@gmail.com. And remember to check back each Wednesday for your weekly dose of marketing musings from one indie, hybrid, and self-published author to another. ♠

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.

Elise Speaks, from the archives, Kelly Speaks, Self-Publishing

From the Archives: “How Much Do Self-Published Authors Make Per Year?”

Welcome back to our new Tuesday segment, where we’ll be revisiting some of our most popular posts from the last few years. What’s stayed the same? And what’s changed? We’ll be updating you on the facts, and taking a new (and hopefully refreshing) angle on a few timeless classics of Self Publishing Advisor.

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[ Originally posted: July 13th, 2011 ]

You want to become a self-published author, but you also have bills to pay and a lifestyle to maintain. So you pull up Google (or your search engine of choice), and search for “average income for book authors” or “average income for self-published authors”. You skim the results but can’t find any solid statistics. There’s a good reason why. Ready for it? Authors aren’t paid a salary. They earn royalties based on the sales of their book. These royalties are paid to them on a set schedule – usually provided that they meet the agreed upon “minimum earning threshold”.

So, will I be able to pay my bills if I become a self-published author? That’s an excellent question. Unfortunately, there is no “one size fits all” answer to it. When you publish a book, you are essentially taking a “gamble” on yourself. Many authors keep their day jobs until they are able to earn enough to support themselves on their book sales alone. One dedicated Outskirts Press author made $100,000 in only 180 days (6 months). However, there are some authors who don’t earn anywhere near this amount in a year. Furthermore, there are some authors who may not sell even one book over the course of a year.

How do you know where you fall? Self-publishing is all about investing in yourself. Given that successfully publishing a book involves 20% writing and 80% marketing, you should naturally spend most of your time/money on promoting the book after you write it. If you need help, you may consider enlisting the services of a book marketing consultant.

The income of a self-publishing author is 100% in their own hands. No one can “predict” how much you will earn as that is only a result of two things: the quality of your book and substantial effort in marketing it to the right audience.

Back in 2011, Elise was so perfectly on point that it’s almost a crime to revisit her post and attempt to add a touch of 2015 to it–––but I’d like to deliver some good news. With the expansion and stabilization of the indie, hybrid, and self-publishing markets, greater numbers of authors than ever before are able to make bank at the end of the year. Exceptions like the one Elise mentioned remain exceptions, but now it’s not unheard of to stumble across authors like Mark Dawson, who reportedly put away some $450,000 after selling his book through Amazon Direct. And the very fact that we can now cast a skeptical eye toward Amazon shows just how far we’ve come, I think, in that we now have established parameters for what’s “acceptable practice” and “sound ethical behavior” in our self-publishing platforms. We have options, now, and we can afford to pick fights with industry supergiants if they act like the profit-driven corporations we know they are.

That said, we also have made progress in nailing down some of those “solid statistics” that Elise mentioned––another benefit of participating in a maturing market. In May 2015, AuthorEarnings put out its annual report. AuthorEarnings, a website which has made its purpose to “gather and share information so that writers can make informed decisions” also has a “secondary mission […] to call for change within the publishing community for better pay and fairer terms in all contracts”––which is pretty wonderful for self-publishing authors like you or me, who want to know where we fall on the spectrum of wage-earners in our industry. AuthorEarnings’ report shows, in great detail, how the profits from the sale of ebooks is divided up between authors, publishers, and Amazon. And in their longitudinal study, published in September of this year, they give us a few handy statistics. For example:

“5,643 authors in our longitudinal data set — or roughly 2.8% of the original 200,000 — whose Kindle best-selling ebooks appearing on Amazon best seller lists were consistently earning them $10K/year or better.”

And:

“[A]lmost half of these 5,600 authors — over 2,200 of them — are consistently making $25K/year or more on their Kindle bestsellers, and more than a fifth of them — over 1,200 authors in the data set — are making $50K/year or more on their Kindle best sellers alone.”

Keeping in mind that we’re talking about trends and percentages, not instruction much less guarantees, these numbers present a huge leap forward from what we had at our fingertips even just four years ago. They present lots of opportunity for hope (lots of self-publishing “midlisters” are making good money), but also groundwork for caution (lots of authors are not visible in the data at all). You certainly ought to keep Elise’s admonitions to self-promote carefully, often, and effectively. The best way to sell your books is to make sure that they’re readable, “findable,” and affordable!

In closing, I’m going to ask the same question now that Elise did in 2011: What level of success have you seen as a self-published (or traditionally-published) author? Have you been able to maintain your lifestyle on royalties alone? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below. And even more, we’d love to be on hand to cheer you on. You’re not alone in this endeavor! ♠

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.

Kelly Speaks, NaNoWriMo, news from the self publishing world, self publishing news, Self-Publishing

News From the Self-Publishing World: 11/02/15

This week in the world of self-publishing:

This month write a novel to discover the author in you

The big news this month is, of course, the yearly advent of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), a challenge undertaken by tens of thousands of people the world over––including around four thousand in India. Aditi Maithreya, in a November 1 article for the Times of India, reports on what writers are doing there. According to Maithreya, one Chennai-based blogger, Nandhithaa Hariharan, says that “Many of us have a story at the back of our minds but are lazy to write. The challenge brings in a kind of discipline that pushes you to pen down your thoughts.”

Hariharan, who is based out of Chennai, is undertaking NaNoWriMo for the first time, but many writers in India return year after year to write 50,000 words in the month of November. And because NaNoWriMo operates outside the boundaries of traditional publishing, Maithreya writes, it presents opportunities to writers of regional dialects and fringe interests in a way that intersects nicely with self-publishing. Depending on circumstances and output, participants may be eligible to receive discounts on Scribner, a manuscript-friendly word processing software program, or to receive free e-book editions of their novels. But NaNoWriMo writers must remain cautious, Maithreya warns, especially since the breakneck pace of writing so many words a month can lead to loopholes and continuity errors slipping in under the radar. She quotes Mumbai author Neil D’Silva, who warns participants that “NaNoWriMo writers must remember that after the first draft they need to edit and proofread before publishing.” Luckily, there are plenty of services out there to help move busy authors from first drafts to final ones. For more information, check out both Maithreya’s article and the NaNoWriMo website.

If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo 2015, we’d love to be there to support you! Drop a line in our comments section to let us know, or send us the link to your NaNoWriMo profile and we’ll follow your progress and keep the digital equivalent of coffee and pep talks waiting in the wings.

‘You do not need to be special to be successful’

If you were wondering, India is a phenomenal powerhouse of a market when it comes to the publishing industry, but it’s also rapidly becoming a leader when it comes to self-publishing, as well. In another November 1 piece for the Times of India, Gunjan Verma transcribes an interview with the freelance writer and self-published author, Ganesh V., whose debut book (The Underage CEOs) follows the stories of eleven successful student entrepreneurs. When asked about his thoughts on where readers are at in respect to self-publishing, Ganesh V. replied that “the audience is ready. They want to read different genres, especially something which is off literary fiction. People [have] realized that heavy literary fictions are not for the masses and so the mood of the audience currently is right for the content which resonates with the common man.” By simultaneously providing both a broader appeal and more niche genres, self-publishing simply presents both readers and writers with more options, Verma reports. Before his book, says Ganesh V., “no one wrote about student entrepreneurs who dared to do something different. These are young entrepreneurs, in their 20s, who have just finished college and said a ‘No’ to the conventional path of the corporate world.” Sounds like a fitting entry into the canon of self-publishing masterpieces, doesn’t it? For more of this week’s interview, drop on by Verma’s article.

Digital Census 2015: five key findings

The numbers are in, reports Tom Holman, as of his October 29 report for The Bookseller. The big takeaways are as follows:

1. Mobile overtakes tablets and dedicated e-readers as the device of choice […]

2. Digital sales are still growing, but they are also slowing […]

3. Self-love levels recede as many indie authors report lower satisfaction levels […]

4. Publishing remains very much divided on matters digital […]

5. … And the majority believe publishers remain unprepared for what is coming [….]

And while I’d love to sit here and unpack these points first thing on a Monday, I think you deserve more and better than that. So, as I wrap up my Wednesday series on e-readers, I’ll be turning my eye towards this year’s Digital Census and the other materials that have emerged from The Bookseller’s “FutureBook” conference that have profound implications for the self-publishing author. There’s a lot to take in. In the meantime, check out Holman’s summary of events!

As a self-publishing author, you may find it helpful to stay up-to-date on the trends and news related to the self-publishing industry.This will help you make informed decisions before, during and after the self-publishing process, which will lead to a greater self-publishing experience. To help you stay current on self-publishing topics, simply visit our blog every Monday to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

Advocacy in Self-Publishing, amazon, barnes and noble, bluefire reader, google play, Kelly Speaks, Kindle, kobo, nook, overdrive media console

The Current State of E-Readers | An Author’s Guide (Part V––iPads )

I started off this series by examining the Kindle, and then the NOOK, and then the Samsung Galaxy Tab. This week, I’m going to take a (quick) look at the whole suite of Apple products that have by and large eroded any hold the dedicated e-reader held over the general reading public. I’m talking about the computers you carry around in your pockets and backpacks, the mobile forward operating bases and command centers of your life, the little devices that have had a big impact on how we interpret our lives and arrange our days: the iPhone and the iPad. Apple manufactures laptops, too, though making room for more traditional computers in this conversation might lengthen it to a mere century or two in length. You might say that I could “talk for hours” about the changing role of the home or personal computer in everyday life. I’m just going to allude to the fact that you can use an Apple Air or its predecessors to read e-books, using the same apps you might use on your mobile device.

It’s possible. It’s just that a laptop tends to not be the preferred device for most consumers who own more than one kind of Apple device. And there are a lot of people who own multiple Apple devices. In 2012, USA Today reported that roughly half of American households had at least one Apple product. And the numbers didn’t end there; the article also stated that: “Americans don’t stop with just one device. Homes that own least one Apple, own an average of three. Overall, the average household has 1.6 Apple devices, with almost one-quarter planning to buy at least one more in the next year.” And that was in 2012! And when it comes to the iPad specifically, there’s even more reason to be hopeful: according to a report from the Stamford Advocate (drawing upon a longer piece for the Business Insider) that’s so hot off the press it might smudge if you even look at it, Apple Inc just reported its quarterly earnings and the outlook for iPads remains good, despite a slight decline in total global tablet sales. The Stamford Advocate’s Jay Yarow records Apple’s CEO Tim Cook as saying: “70% of people planning to buy a tablet plan to buy an iPad, per [a] ChangeWave survey.” Seventy percent! And that’s on top of the 200+ million units sold prior to 2014. So, in summary … there are a lot of iPads out there, and there will be plenty more, as Apple continues to dominate the tablet market.

But what does this mean for you as an indie, hybrid, or self-publishing author? Do people really use iPads the way they would use dedicated e-readers like Kindles and NOOKs? As illustrated by this article for PC Magazine, the matter of what constitutes a dedicated e-reader and how it’s different from a tablet like the iPad has grown steadily more confusing. Everyone more or less admits that they like the look and feel of the dedicated devices (which eschew backlighting, making for a more comfortable experience) but they are more likely to purchase a tablet like the iPad because of its versatility. An iPad can simply do more, the general opinion runs, even though many devices like the new Kindle have a whole suite of apps a la tablet, and many tablets (including the iPad) have Kindle apps to sync a person’s reading experience via the Cloud.

In theory, it would be entirely possible to own a Kindle, an iPhone, an iPad, and a Macbook laptop, and move seamlessly from one device to another, picking up on one where you left off on the other––including if you happen to be listening to an audiobook version on your iPhone and use the WhisperSync function. WhisperSync means you no longer have to worry about trying to find your place, even if you’re switching back and forth between reading and listening to a given book. (Have I mentioned that I “nerd out” over technological innovations like this? Ones that actually make life easier? I do. Often.)

So, yes, people really do use their iPads as their primary reading devices, in part because they’re so easily integrated into a larger “reading experience” as designed and made possible by Apple’s entire product line. And because the iPad runs on an app-based (or “application-based”) operating system, you as an author need to know how best to make your books discoverable to the average iPad user. Consider this list by ZDNet of top ebook apps as downloadable through the App Store:

iBooks (Apple’s own signature e-reading app)
Amazon’s Kindle app
Barnes & Noble’s NOOK Library app
The Kobo Books app
The Google Play Books for iPad app
The Bluefire Reader for iPad app

… and it’s worth noting, before even discussing the pros and cons of each app, that all of these apps are downloadable for free through the App Store, even if the content for them must be subscribed to, purchased, or loaned (in the case of both Bluefire and the Overdrive Media Console app, which are favorites of many public libraries which offer downloadable ebooks in addition to their physical lending collections). Books with half a century under their belts are (for the most part) available under Public Domain, and many of these classics are available for free in a variety of formats.

Now, don’t get me wrong, but even while all of this is great news for readers, it doesn’t necessarily make for light work for you, the indie author. Why? Because, with so many reading app options easily available on the iPad, the chances of readers discovering your work diminishes with every app your book is not available through. Not to mention, you probably want to make a profit, so a library’s free ebook loaning system doesn’t benefit your bottom line at all––unless readers run out of time and end up purchasing a copy in order to finish (which does, on occasion, happen). In summary, it’s a good idea to cover all of your bases and not just the “big three” of ebook sales (Amazon, Apple, and B&N). Google Play has been on the uptick ever since its creation as the primary sales conduit to devices running Android operating systems, but now it’s emerging as a contender for iPad owners as well, after the development of an attractive and intuitive app for iPads. The Kobo Books app and the Adobe Reader app should also be kept in mind––many readers enjoy the streamlined experience of opening .PDF files with the Adobe Reader app, so you should not rule out offering a .PDF download of your book through some online retailer or your own personal website. Basically, the more places a reader is likely to see your book, coupled with more ways and editions and formats in which it can be downloaded, the more likely that reader is to spend hard-earned currency on purchasing your book. Balancing expense (of time, energy, and money) against discoverability is, perhaps, one of the trickiest of self-marketing arts that you must master––but you’re not alone. We’re here to help, and to be a sounding board for your own strategic plan!

from the archives, karl schroeder, Kelly Speaks, Self-Publishing

From the Archives: “7 Reasons to Self-Publish, From the Top…”

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[ Originally posted: November 19th, 2009 ]

I’ve helped savvy authors transition their books away from traditional publishing houses, newly publishing authors make informed decisions to pursue other options, and even had personal experience publishing under my own traditional contract. Here are the top 7 or so reasons to re-consider holding out for that traditional contract and self-publish today…

7 – Traditional publishers lose money on over 85% of the books they publish, so they only accept 2% of those that are submitted.

6 – Traditional publishers typically accept manuscripts only from established authors who have already demonstrated a proven platform.

5 – Authors lose all control of their content during the editing process with a Traditional Publisher.

4 – Authors must still invest an enormous amount of time, energy, and money promoting a traditionally-published book.

3- Traditional Publishing: Authors typically receive 5-10% royalty on the wholesale price of the book, and from that have to give 15-25% to their agent. Do the math.

2 – The majority of books published by Traditional publishers go out of print within 3 years. Many books that are stocked on book shelves remain stocked for as little as five weeks before being returned, unsold, to the publisher.

1- Traditional publishers acquire all rights to your book and keep them, even when the book goes out of print or the publisher goes out of business!

– Karl Schroeder

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If you happened to read Karl’s original post six years ago and if you happened also to keep up with current affairs in the self-publishing and traditional publishing industries, you’ll know that very little–if anything–has changed. Many authors turn to indie, hybrid, and self-publishing platforms because they’re driven away from the Big Five, either by the industry professionals themselves (i.e. outright rejections of book proposals) or by ideological differences and a desire to remain at the helm of their own publishing experiences. This is what I call “white space thinking,” in which the predominant motivation is to define our choices by what they are not (“I am not going to publish traditionally because of x, y, or z”) or by what they want to steer clear of (“I don’t want to align myself with x, y, or z trend I see at Hachette, or HarperCollins, or some other Big Five publisher”). What’s left outside of the margins, in the so-called “white space,” can be loosely described as “independent” publishing.

You don’t have to be running from traditional publishing to choose an alternate method, however. There are a lot of reasons to run to self-publishing, without reference to the ills and crimes of a more traditional path. While the reasons Karl states above remain accurate and true, I’d like to thicken out his list with a few additions that illustrate how positivity can actually be one of the foundational motivating factors for indie authors today. And so, without any further ado, here are my additional 7 reasons to self-publish:

You get to create your own timeline, from start to finish. Your book might take two months, or two years, or two decades, but it will ultimately turn out true to your vision if you get to define your own benchmarks, deadlines, and so on.
The process is simple, and not even “simpler than….” It’s just plain streamlined, start to finish, because you are your own middleman, and you are a marketing, design, and decision-making committee of one. There will always be some fine print to wade through, but on the whole it’s not uncommon to panic at the sheer ease with which you can click your way into self-publication.
The time is right. There’s a whole slew of options to choose from in terms of indie, hybrid, and self-publishing platforms–and they’re all pretty good, and they’re all continually pushing themselves to do better, since the competition between developers and software designers is fierce. We’ve crossed a kind of rubicon when it comes to forward momentum in the industry: companies have all the motivation they need to keep improving the user experience. Self-publishing has gained the luster of a successful niche market, and is rapidly leaving stigma behind in the dust, while commercially successful self-published books rake in the film options and substantial net profits. You can now make a name for yourself as an indie author!
You can actually break new ground. Without the checks and balances that tie up any big industry or company, you can quite literally strike out into uncharted waters and be at the forefront of a conversation, putting out timely book after timely book that reaches people where they’re at, while this or that specific issue is at the peak of popular interest. You can write a book that future readers will call “prescient,” simply because you’re on the cutting edge, predicting and creating new paradigms–and perhaps even new genres!
You can revise your book on the fly, at will. You created this book, you own all of the rights to it, and you can re-release it if something about it strikes you as needing a little more work later on down the line. This falls in line with other matters of creative control, as you get to call the shots on every detail that you want to … and you can offload the minutiae to a hybrid publishing company to free up your valuable time to do more of what you really love. Which is, of course, writing.
You can write responsively, because you have at your disposal some of the finest analytics tools ever designed for authors. You can watch, in real time, what readers respond to–and tweak your writing process to deliver more of the same, or, alternatively, to make an unexpected turn and give them something they never knew that they wanted, something that isn’t pandering to popular acclaim. You see everything, and you can make decisions in response to reader interactions that no one in the history of publishing–of any kind, period–has been able to make before!
You’re a believer. You don’t just own the rights to your self-published book, you own the vision for its totality, from the first splash of ink to the last burst of pixels. You don’t need a team to tell you what’s what or how good a writer you are; you already know. You already know that you have something to say that others need to hear, or see, but above all encounter. And with that kind of conviction, you can cut through all the white noise and baffling criticisms and bureaucracy and simply do what you were born to do: write your book, and publish it on your own terms. You believe in yourself and your book, and I do to. All of us here at Self Publishing Advisor do! ♠

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