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Megazver posted:Guys, for YEARS now I've had no one to talk to about how much I HATE the also boughts disappearing My goon, you are not alone. I can't think of a single author I know who doesn't miss also boughts!
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# ? Sep 9, 2023 02:38 |
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# ? May 28, 2024 14:48 |
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KrunkMcGrunk posted:My goon, you are not alone. I can't think of a single author I know who doesn't miss also boughts! I'm not even an author (yet) I just relied on it to find poo poo to read. Siiiiiighhhhhh.
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# ? Sep 9, 2023 20:32 |
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KrunkMcGrunk posted:My goon, you are not alone. I can't think of a single author I know who doesn't miss also boughts! What!? When!!!! Omg omg.
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# ? Sep 11, 2023 17:11 |
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHZY2QJD (Kobo) Another story! This is also a 35$ GetCovers.com cover. Feedback on the blurb is welcome. I still have time to update it. I know "In a world..." is a cliché, but I feel like it works here. Anyway, this story actually sold to a small market called Penumbric Speculative Fiction for ten dollars, but they only purchase non-exclusive rights, and the editor is fine with me publishing it separately. That means I am only 25$ in the red and need to sell about a dozen copies to break even. Feel free to PM me for a review copy. SimonChris fucked around with this message at 13:55 on Sep 14, 2023 |
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# ? Sep 13, 2023 21:12 |
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Almost finished my book. Is there any aggregator that lets you send coupon codes/free copies of eBooks to friends, family, and reviewers other than Smashwords via Draft2Digital? I know that I can always set the price to zero temporarily and then set it back. But that's hardly convenient. And sending a copy made using an eBook generator probably doesn't have the same feel as being able to download it from the store would.
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# ? Sep 14, 2023 22:00 |
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Bright Bart posted:Is there any aggregator that lets you send coupon codes/free copies of eBooks to friends, family, and reviewers other than Smashwords via Draft2Digital? Short answer: no. Longer answer: set up a Google form to collect email addresses and preferred stores. Manually set up coupon codes on each store and send that to your people. Hope that most of them are on Google Play, because that one will let you input a bunch of email addresses and send them the free book directly. Best answer: just set your book to free for the first X days then put the price up after all your friends and family have downloaded their copies. It's easier than hassling with everything else.
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# ? Sep 15, 2023 08:25 |
What tools do people use to hand out review copies? I tried Booksprout, but they don't seem to care about short fiction; only one person signed up for my campaign, and they didn't even post a review. Now, I am trying out BookRoar.com, which is a review exchange site where you buy and review each other's books. The way it works is that you select a book from the pool, buy it and write a review. When your review has been approved, you receive a credit to submit one of your own books. I haven't received my first credit yet, so I can't speak to the efficacy, but it was recommended on Reddit. Would there be interest in setting up some kind of goon review exchange?
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# ? Sep 15, 2023 08:51 |
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Leng posted:Short answer: no. Thanks! Do you know offhand any other stores that let you either use to send the ebook for free or at least (and actually better yet) generate coupons comes to share? I tried Googling and it seems for certain on KDP you cannot do either (unless something has changed); for the rest I didn't find any info including when it comes to Google Play. Your suggested solution doesn't really work as well for me. Mostly because there are some people I'd like to gift it to or even feel the need to as they appear annonymously in it, with their permission of course, but they don't use social media very often and I'm unlikely to be able to talk to them all in the span of even of a month or two. There are also other reasons. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Sep 16, 2023 |
# ? Sep 15, 2023 09:11 |
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freebooter posted:Hmmm, OK. Well, the book in question is currently sitting at #67,700 in the Kindle store and #73 in vampire horror, so I'll circle back in a couple of weeks and see if it made any bump in ranking. Circling back around on this, two weeks later it's sitting at around 37,000 in the Kindle store overall, and #48 in vampire horror, which is more or less where it's been for most of the past week when I've remembered to check on it. No uptick in earnings (as expected) but also no apparent flow-through to later books in the series.
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# ? Sep 16, 2023 00:40 |
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SimonChris posted:What tools do people use to hand out review copies? I tried Booksprout, but they don't seem to care about short fiction; only one person signed up for my campaign, and they didn't even post a review. SimonChris posted:Would there be interest in setting up some kind of goon review exchange? Personal opinion here but imo review swaps are going to hurt more than help you, in the same way that pushing your book to friends and family who aren't your target audience are going to hurt more than help you. Review swaps on launch is a standard strategy on some platforms like Royal Road and you might get away with it on something like Goodreads, but it's not gonna fly on Amazon. Not only are there restrictions on what accounts can post reviews but review swaps are explicitly against terms and conditions. Besides, readers are smart; they can tell if a review is genuine. Spend your time figuring out where your ideal readers are, finding them, coming up with better pitches to get them to read your work, and basically everything that's involved in building an audience. Reviews are a lag indicator of how well aligned your pitch, your packaging and your book are—they're the result of a reader who made it all the way through your sales funnel and cared enough about how your work made them feel to leave a review. Having a bunch of random 5-stars with generic praise isn't going to magically skyrocket your sales. Bright Bart posted:Do you know offhand any other stores that let you either use to send the ebook for free or at least (and actually better yet) generate components comes to share? I tried Googling and it seems for certain on KDP you cannot do either (unless something has changed); for the rest I didn't find any info including when it comes to Google Play. Not sure what you mean by "generate components comes to share". Your options if you want them to be able to get it from an ebook retailer: KDP: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200652260 - requires recipient email and also it sucks because of geographic restrictions B&N (Nook only): https://help-press.barnesandnoble.com/hc/en-us/articles/5357559215131-Creating-Coupon-Codes-for-eBooks - create a 100% off coupon Smashwords: https://blog.smashwords.com/2019/02/smashwords-introduces-global-coupons.html - create a 100% off private coupon if you don't want it to be available for everyone, or if you've gone to Smashwords via D2D - https://www.draft2digital.com/blog/using-d2ds-coupon-manager-tool-a-guide/ Google Play: https://support.google.com/books/partner/answer/9827742 - promo codes - or set people up as a content reviewer for a free copy - https://support.google.com/books/partner/answer/3156893?hl=en&sjid=14025008160793866615-AP Apple Books: https://itunespartner.apple.com/books/articles/apple-books-promo-codes-2740 - promo codes, note there's a limited number If setting it free doesn't work because you can't guarantee when they might get to it, either just email it to them or put the files in a Google Drive/Dropbox folder and share that, or use Book Funnel (https://bookfunnel.com/) if you don't wanna get stuck helping people troubleshoot how to get the file onto their ereader. Note Book Funnel will cost you $20 for the basic plan. freebooter posted:Circling back around on this, two weeks later it's sitting at around 37,000 in the Kindle store overall, and #48 in vampire horror, which is more or less where it's been for most of the past week when I've remembered to check on it. No uptick in earnings (as expected) but also no apparent flow-through to later books in the series. Huh. I can't remember how Prime Lending works and have only tried it out once on a free Prime trial, but I seem to recall there's no "end date" on when you can have the book borrowed. So I wonder if you're not seeing read-through because people have grabbed it but haven't cracked it open yet?
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# ? Sep 16, 2023 02:07 |
Leng posted:Personal opinion here but imo review swaps are going to hurt more than help you, in the same way that pushing your book to friends and family who aren't your target audience are going to hurt more than help you. I meant swapping review copies for honest reviews, not just writing generic positive reviews. I will much rather have an in-depth 3-4 star reviews than generic praise no one cares about.
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# ? Sep 16, 2023 10:08 |
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Sorry about the typo. It was autocorrect but I could have previewed the post. Thank you for the suggestions Especially Apple and Google. I had forgotten Apple even had a bookstore. And Google I couldn't find information on while searching and still can't using what terms I was using; the key seems to be looking for 'promos' and not 'coupons'. Between Apple and Google I think I'd have most people covered. I knew about Smashwords obviously. And didn't even check B&N for the reason you give. As for KDP that link says you have to buy the books at retain; it totally escaped me that I could set the price to $0.04 and buy 100 then set the price to what I want. Too bad about the restrictions because there's only one person in the US and one in India I need to send it to. Also too bad Lulu and IngramSpark don't offer this for their own stores.
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# ? Sep 16, 2023 10:30 |
KrunkMcGrunk posted:Libbie hawker had a good blurb explainer on YouTube. I haven't seen it in years, but let me find it... Man, I completely missed this great advice because you edited it into post after I had already read it. I recommend making new posts for major updates. SimonChris fucked around with this message at 10:58 on Sep 16, 2023 |
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# ? Sep 16, 2023 10:56 |
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SimonChris posted:I meant swapping review copies for honest reviews, not just writing generic positive reviews. I will much rather have an in-depth 3-4 star reviews than generic praise no one cares about. I would just be a good poster and then post in the relevant TBB threads when you have something out and mention you have goon copies and ask for honest reviews in your back matter and in the post and that'd probably get you the same result.
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# ? Sep 17, 2023 01:29 |
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So I'm just now learning that most countries legally require publishers to deposit a copy or two with a national library or a designated university's library. I don't think there's an exception if you as the author are the publisher. At least I can't find one. Some charge for accepting and holding these copies. One country where I want to sell in it's free (aside from the costs of the copies and shipping them) but there are a lot of libraries to deposit with. Only two are phrased as 'You must send a copy to each of X and Y'; but there are about fifteen others noted as being 'entitled to two copies of any book sold in [country]'. I'm guessing that means if they don't ask for them you don't have to proactively send them anything. Which is nice because even with eBooks you have to register and verify new accounts on their websites. Guessing this isn't really taken all that seriously right?
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# ? Sep 18, 2023 18:24 |
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I'm not a lawyer, but I've personally never done that
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# ? Sep 18, 2023 19:15 |
I know am I required to submit two copies of each book to the Royal Library in Copenhagen - and I have dutifully done so - but I have never heard of that applying to every country where you sell the book. I am pretty sure it goes by the residence of the publisher.
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# ? Sep 18, 2023 19:22 |
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SimonChris posted:I know am I required to submit two copies of each book to the Royal Library in Copenhagen - and I have dutifully done so - but I have never heard of that applying to every country where you sell the book. I am pretty sure it goes by the residence of the publisher. Do you submit two seperate files of an eBook e: I mean actually there could be a benefit to two copies of a file in case one gets corrupted and the Royal Library really needs a working copy of Swordy Tales of Swords and Wizardy Wizards. But they can click 'copy here' themselves. Athough I can also see a national library want to keep a fun tradition, or on the less cool side have set rules and need to follow them regardless how silly. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Sep 19, 2023 |
# ? Sep 19, 2023 00:05 |
Bright Bart posted:Do you submit two seperate files of an eBook https://pro.kb.dk/pligtaflevering/digital-pligtaflevering A single copy is sufficient . I know they have all my games because the games archivist actually got in touch with me about it. Anyway, I checked and it definitely only applies if you are either a Danish publisher or a reseller importing the book into Denmark. Danes being allowed to buy the book on Amazon isn't sufficient. I assume other countries have similar rules. You also have to register your own publisher, of course. If you get a free ISBN from Amazon, presumably they are the publisher and required to fulfill all legal requirements. Just as I was writing the post, this popped up on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NatalieKelda/status/1704035612318118210
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# ? Sep 19, 2023 11:07 |
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Bright Bart posted:So I'm just now learning that most countries legally require publishers to deposit a copy or two with a national library or a designated university's library. I don't think there's an exception if you as the author are the publisher. At least I can't find one. I do legal deposit for my state and country of residence (NSW Australia) which ends up being 3 copies, though I only need to provide print versions for 2 of them. They don't really chase it that hard; I've technically still yet to drop copies to 1 of the locations. The national e-deposit I do at the same time as upload but the physical copies I do whenever convenient.
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# ? Sep 19, 2023 11:59 |
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SimonChris posted:Anyway, I checked and it definitely only applies if you are either a Danish publisher or a reseller importing the book into Denmark. Danes being allowed to buy the book on Amazon isn't sufficient. I assume other countries have similar rules. You also have to register your own publisher, of course. If you get a free ISBN from Amazon, presumably they are the publisher and required to fulfill all legal requirements. Hmmm. I guess even with countries that demand copies for just making a book available in their market... what are they going to do? They can't fine me where I am and I don't think it shows up at passport control if I ever visit lol. Also I don't think a self-publishing service that provides an ISBN becomes the publisher. Unless Amazon is different you're still the publisher and they are just the body that has the number designated to them. For obvious reasons they won't let you use it anywhere else, however. I have seen national ISBN agencies that offer to become the legal publisher. This costs extra and I'm not sure what the benefits would be. Being found on 'search catalogue by [publisher e.g. The Neilson Library or some such]? I was thinking there might be some joint liability for the printed material but that's doubtful since I don't think they read the book beforehand. On that note, I'm a little worried now. I can get free ISBNs from either of the two countries of which I'm a citizen. I did so. But that required verifying my identity and using my legal name as the publisher. Although I chose an imprint I am worried there's a way to look up either the parent publisher of a book or the owner of an ISBN. What I'm putting out isn't smut or libellous or disclosing state secrets but it could still be a massive headache for professional reasons if anyone found out.
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# ? Sep 19, 2023 14:20 |
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Bright Bart posted:I am worried there's a way to look up either the parent publisher of a book or the owner of an ISBN. What I'm putting out isn't smut or libellous or disclosing state secrets but it could still be a massive headache for professional reasons if anyone found out. It is searchable on the global ISBN database as that's the entire point of an ISBN. https://grp.isbn-international.org/ But you can ask for the info to be suppressed for privacy reasons. quote:If your publisher entry includes personal data (e.g. a home address, telephone number or personal email), you have the right to refuse consent for the personal data to be transferred to us and to require your ISBN Registration Agency to suppress that information from the data that they supply to us. You can also request us to remove your personal details by sending an email to info@isbn-international.org.
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# ? Sep 20, 2023 06:46 |
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Leng posted:Huh. I can't remember how Prime Lending works and have only tried it out once on a free Prime trial, but I seem to recall there's no "end date" on when you can have the book borrowed. So I wonder if you're not seeing read-through because people have grabbed it but haven't cracked it open yet? This would track - I pay the bare minimum amount of attention to promos just to figure out if I get an ROI or not, but have generally noticed that I get way less read-through on free promos than discount promos. Lots of people seem to just like snapping up whatever's free and sending it to the bottom of their 100+ book TBR pile. Leng posted:I do legal deposit for my state and country of residence (NSW Australia) which ends up being 3 copies, though I only need to provide print versions for 2 of them. The Australian government can barely even do anything about the billions of dollars of tax fraud that waltzes out the door every year, I'm never going to bother with this outdated practice
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# ? Sep 20, 2023 08:39 |
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freebooter posted:The Australian government can barely even do anything about the billions of dollars of tax fraud that waltzes out the door every year, I'm never going to bother with this outdated practice I've learned that just because the government won't go after the rich for breaking laws doesn't mean it won't go after regular people for breaking rules or just existing. One place where I've lived, in a first world country mind you, the service line for people on unemployment to e.g. schedule appointments or ask about re-application status was a premium number that charged by the minute. I'll send a copy to at least the national Library where it's being published. Bright Bart fucked around with this message at 11:16 on Sep 20, 2023 |
# ? Sep 20, 2023 11:10 |
freebooter posted:The Australian government can barely even do anything about the billions of dollars of tax fraud that waltzes out the door every year, I'm never going to bother with this outdated practice Here in Denmark, at least, submitting your book has the added benefit of having it added to the library system, so people can look it up and potentially ask their local library to order it. One of the two copies will be available to check out. Considering Amazon only charges a few bucks for an author copy, I think of it as a cheap form of promotion.
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# ? Sep 20, 2023 11:57 |
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People have discussed publishing on RoyalRoad a few pages ago. A successful RR author just posted a pretty good guide on the subject: https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgressionFantasy/comments/16mdl4s/how_to_become_successful_on_royalroad_part_1/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgressionFantasy/comments/16mrn0i/how_to_become_successful_on_royalroad_part_2/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgressionFantasy/comments/16nj6ww/how_to_become_successful_on_royalroad_part_3/ And here's a couple more useful guides: https://www.royalroad.com/forums/thread/116847 https://www.webnovel.com/book/book-of-authors_10589139205070105
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# ? Sep 20, 2023 17:38 |
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Megazver posted:People have discussed publishing on RoyalRoad a few pages ago. A successful RR author just posted a pretty good guide on the subject: thank you goon friend!
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# ? Sep 20, 2023 18:23 |
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Bright Bart posted:I've learned that just because the government won't go after the rich for breaking laws doesn't mean it won't go after regular people for breaking rules or just existing. Governments go hard on people claiming unemployment benefits because (in treasury's eyes) it's a form of revenue loss. I can assure you nobody in the public service is getting worked up over people who self-publish books on Amazon failing to comply with an outdated regulation which is of questionable benefit in the first place.
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# ? Sep 20, 2023 21:54 |
https://www.reddit.com/r/selfpublish/comments/138rswh/how_i_made_568699_in_my_first_two_weeks_of_self/ Does anyone here have experience advertising on TikTok, Instagram, etc.? I've been reading the self-publishing reddit and came across this post from a woman who claims to have made nearly 6k in the first two weeks by advertising on TikTok. I particularly like her advice on how to create video blurbs by describing the characters in a way that implicitly sets up the conflict: quote:The TikTok Video Format That Worked: This is romance, so obviously not directly appliable to other genres, but still... Maybe you could do something similar with protagonist and antagonist. I do have 112 TikTok followers from posting juggling videos, so if just some of them could buy my books, that would make a difference.
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# ? Sep 21, 2023 17:10 |
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SimonChris posted:I've been reading the self-publishing reddit and came across this post from a woman who claims to have made nearly 6k in the first two weeks by advertising on TikTok. I particularly like her advice on how to create video blurbs by describing the characters in a way that implicitly sets up the conflict Is that even feasible? Authors with traditional publishers whose books are in hundreds or thousands of bookstores, with an established fanbase, and on bestseller lists in their genre can sell just around 1,000 copies per week on a nice week. When BookTok propelled an author to 4,000 copies per week for a couple of weeks it made the news. So is she selling eBooks for $10 to ~450 people per week or making that much profit on ~300 print copies per week? I may be talking complete rubbish and actually hope I am. I'm phrasing it this way to be easily refutable if it can be refuted.
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# ? Sep 21, 2023 20:25 |
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Bright Bart posted:Is that even feasible? Authors with traditional publishers whose books are in hundreds or thousands of bookstores, with an established fanbase, and on bestseller lists in their genre can sell just around 1,000 copies per week on a nice week. When BookTok propelled an author to 4,000 copies per week for a couple of weeks it made the news. So is she selling eBooks for $10 to ~450 people per week or making that much profit on ~300 print copies per week? Self-pubbed authors can definitely move that many copies in a week. Probably only 1% of authors can do it regularly, but it is certainly more common than one may assume. And somebody moving that many copies in a week as a one-off occurrence happens fairly often. In my experience, the same is also true of Trad authors--there is a small percentage at the top making an absolute killing, but the vast majority of trad authors probably don't earn out their advances. Publishing is a hit-or-miss business.
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# ? Sep 21, 2023 20:37 |
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Bright Bart posted:Is that even feasible? Authors with traditional publishers whose books are in hundreds or thousands of bookstores, with an established fanbase, and on bestseller lists in their genre can sell just around 1,000 copies per week on a nice week. When BookTok propelled an author to 4,000 copies per week for a couple of weeks it made the news. So is she selling eBooks for $10 to ~450 people per week or making that much profit on ~300 print copies per week? I've posted my numbers a few times. An interesting thing that the research bears out - Indie authors make more than trad pub authors. Sure, we don't move as many copies, but indies get 70% of a sale, not 10% of a sale. A book being in a bookstore is NOT a sale - the tldr is bookstores only pay the publisher (and author) once THEY make a sale to the final customer. Unsold books are returned/destroyed. Trad publishing also hasn't caught onto ebooks really. Sure, they'll sell an ebook... for the same price as a paperback. Do you want to spend $19.99 for a digital book, $19.99 for the paperback, or would you like to spend $4.99 on the most critically acclaimed indie ebook? Trad pub's lunch is being eaten in front of them. I'm reminded of the classic Kodak case, where they inventeded digital cameras about a decade before anyone else. They didn't want to cannibalize their 'main' income so they sat on it... and the rest is history. Similarly, trad pub is going to end up being a case study of doing exactly the same thing. They're sitting hard on ebooks, and everyone else is eating their lunch. 99% of my sales (literally) are ebook vs paperbacks. Yeah, the largest indie authors can absolutely pull gigantic numbers. My most recent launch pulled $9,270.03 on launch week (7 days, launch included, all books in the series). It's a bit harder for a debut to hit those types of numbers, but booktok is famous for a reason. I can absolutely believe a strong viral video doing better sales than me in the right niche.
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# ? Sep 22, 2023 11:25 |
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Bright Bart posted:Is that even feasible? Authors with traditional publishers whose books are in hundreds or thousands of bookstores, with an established fanbase, and on bestseller lists in their genre can sell just around 1,000 copies per week on a nice week. Others have already explained the salient points so I'm going to drop stats. Will Wight sells over 1 million books a year. Ryan Cahill has sold over 40,000 copies and regularly signs lots of 1200 tip-ins/copies for The Broken Binding—and so do a bunch more others. M.L. Wang and nobody103 a.k.a. Domagoj Kurmaic and a whole bunch more authors have moved thousands of copies in just special limited editions. Indies can definitely move copies. Doesn't even have to be BookTok. Edit: SimonChris posted:https://www.reddit.com/r/selfpublish/comments/138rswh/how_i_made_568699_in_my_first_two_weeks_of_self/ To answer the original question, I do get sales on my kids books thanks to IG reels. It's a very specific niche but if you can figure out the right content for the format, it will sell books. I need to get back to making reels for these tbh. I haven't done much experimenting with reels for my fantasy novel. My first two absolutely suck so I will try this suggested format at some point and report back when I do. I have had sales through r/Fantasy, Twitter and Discord though, which are very different. Leng fucked around with this message at 12:40 on Sep 22, 2023 |
# ? Sep 22, 2023 12:21 |
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I've never tried IG/TikTok ads, but know people who have used them to great success. My go-to was always some combo of FB and AMS ads, but both of those have been huge duds for me this year, which is part of the reason why I'm thinking about a genre that can monetize through Patreon
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# ? Sep 22, 2023 18:22 |
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Does anyone have any suggestions of good funny popular author TikTok accounts to see what they're doing?
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# ? Sep 22, 2023 19:25 |
Megazver posted:Does anyone have any suggestions of good funny popular author TikTok accounts to see what they're doing? https://www.tiktok.com/@maser.sapphic.writer I found the author I was quoting's channel. This is how to make a viral video for romance, apparently: https://www.tiktok.com/embed/7225683972439739690 A good girl... a bad girl... will they gently caress? It's interesting that a minimalist pictures + text approach can be that successful. And what's up with that second sentence? Is it just me? Edit: I had no idea TikToks embedded...
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# ? Sep 22, 2023 20:32 |
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That is a clunky fuckin' sentence. Also, so that's how you do 230ish ticktocks a month, use whatever Midjourney barfs out and call it a day.
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# ? Sep 22, 2023 20:41 |
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CaptainCrunch posted:That is a clunky fuckin' sentence. MJ is very good at generating an endless stream of hot girls.
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# ? Sep 22, 2023 20:42 |
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Megazver posted:MJ is very good at generating an endless stream of hot girls. "Good" doing a lot of work there, but yeah I know what you mean. It basically ate DeviantArt and Artstation in their entirety and those are basically 90% pinups and pinup wannabe fanarts.
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# ? Sep 22, 2023 20:53 |
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# ? May 28, 2024 14:48 |
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Megazver posted:Does anyone have any suggestions of good funny popular author TikTok accounts to see what they're doing? https://www.tiktok.com/@aparnawrites Her self-pubbed debut got picked up by Orbit and just got re-released as The Phoenix King. Here's Aparna Verma on a panel with Ryan Cahill, Kian Ardalan and Gourav Mohant talking about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nitKhGXG1L8
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# ? Sep 23, 2023 02:33 |