Self-published = Salesperson, That’s Crazy Talk!

Hi All,

I’ve been in deep lurk mode as I work on the sequel to THE HALO CHRONICLES: THE KEEPER (sequel to THE GUARDIAN). But as indie-related business articles or posts catch my eye, I’ll try to pass them on.

Back in March, Courtney Milan did an interesting blog post about review ethics and specifically The Ask.

 

“But I have seen a handful of self-published books, where at the end of the book, there is a brief note that says something like this: If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon.com.” Read post here. (Be sure to peruse the comments.)

As I started to comment, I realized I had a post worthy of sharing. So here are my thoughts:

My indie books do have a gentle ask at the end. Honest reviews are critical to an indie's credibility, brand building, and self-owned business. As self-published authors, we are entrepreneurs/small-business owners. And we have to act accordingly. In this brave, new publishing world, not only do authors have to think and act like marketers, they have to be savvy salespeople.

If you think about it from a sales perspective, books = products, readers = consumers. So what do we know about the average consumer and their product experiences?

Sales: Studies show that dissatisfied customers will tell more people (8-10) about their experience with a product than happy customers (2-3 people). Read more here and here (or just Google “dissatisfied customers”).

“About13 percent of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people.” (White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC) eCommerce is a game of statistics and the global potential for disgruntled readers to rant is exponential. The first place they go—you guessed it—on line. Here’s a great article from MediaSpace to illustrate the point.

Even more compelling, perhaps, is the data that comes from science:

Science: Psychologically and physiologically, human beings are hardwired to focus on the negative (NY Times article: Praise is Fleeting, but Brick Bats We Recall). "Bad is Stronger than Good."

 

This data has 2 primary implications: 1) readers are more likely to review books that have made some sort of negative impact on them, and 2) prospective readers are likely to weigh negative reviews stronger than positive ones.

That brings us to The Ask:

“If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon.com.” 

The Ask helps level the playing field. It equates a positive reader/consumer experience with a call to action in a very non-threatening way. Genuine, positive reviews build product confidence for potential readers. Think about it for a second…Have you ever looked at the reviews for a product you were considering on Amazon prior to purchasing? Have the rating/reviews ever swayed your decision to buy or not buy? Have you ever looked at reviews for a book that you were considering? What are people saying about this? is a question most consumers are curious to answer, and the greater the risk, the more we want reassurance before a purchase commitment. So why wouldn’t you, as an indie author, do everything within the boundaries of your principles and ethics to get the reviews needed to grow your business?*

It is my theory that so many authors are uncomfortable with The Ask for the same reason they would never consider a career in sales. They lack the constitution/principles/desire needed to succeed as a salesperson. I get that (really, I do). But just about every successful business on the planet has a sales department—even the big six publishers. So who is the sales force behind the self-published author?  * pause for dramatic emphasis* That’s right. I am/you are. So don’t neglect your sales plan. 

It’s like I always tell my kids: “How am I supposed to know if you don't (respectfully) tell me what you need? After all, I’m not a mind reader”—and neither are my potential consumers. 

Happy sales!

Carey

(Who may, or may not, work in the Marketing & Sales division of a global, publicly traded Fortune 500 company which happens to be the largest consumer packaged goods company in the world.) www.careycorp.com

*To clarify, I’m not suggesting that if you have sketchy ethics that it’s okay to solicit false or overly positive reviews from friends and family. Reviews do need to be authentic and honest.  I am merely suggesting there are a broad spectrum of principles and ethics in the field of sales that may govern what you are, or are not, willing to do. Don’t confuse this with comfort level. Think of how uncomfortable marketing can be—but we all agree it has value and needs to be done.

 Difference between ethics and comfort zone: 

Example 1: Is asking for reviews from readers at the end of my book out of my comfort zone? Yes. But is it unethical? No. Does is make sense from a sales perspective? Yes.

Example 2: Is asking Aunt Nancy and her friends to go online anonymously and give glowing, 5–star reviews of my book outside my comfort zone? Maybe not… Everybody does it. Is it unethical? Abso-FREAKIN’-lutely! Does is make sense from a sales perspective? No way!!! If Aunt Nancy and friends are discovered, my credibility will suffer. And the amount of negative comments produced by public outrage will tank my career (as it should).

Example 3: Is my cousin’s unsolicited review, with acquaintance disclaimer, of my book that she purchased with her own money out of my comfort zone? Perhaps… (Family and friends are always tricky business.) But is it unethical? No. Does is make sense from a sales perspective? Perhaps… It’s an honest review from a paying customer. However, widely publicized relationship abuse between authors and their friends/family to promote books dishonestly tends to make this a risky practice. Although it’s not wrong, the more strategic choice might be to ask my cousin to use word of mouth power and remove the review.  

(Hey wait, is this an example where the negative connotations are more prevalent in society than the positive? For every author that engages in sketch reviews practices, there are probably a thousand or more that don’t.)

Bottom Line: This is your career and your business. Don’t lie to your consumers; don’t devalue them. Be honest. Apply discipline and operate with integrity. Which sounds suspiciously like The Golden Rule.

YOUR TURN: Have you ever noticed **If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon.com** at the end of a book? How often have you noticed The Ask? How did you feel when you saw it?

In Case You Missed it

Kristen Lamb's INSIGHTFUL post:

The Five Mistakes Killing Self-Published Authors

It's well worth reading.

Who should see your book before you self-publish?

Hi All,

I know I've been a little absent lately. I'm working on my indie sequel to THE HALO CHRONICLES: THE GUARDIAN. And I've been in revisions for a traditional pub. project.

This morning I came across a question on the yahoo indie loop (Indie Romance Ink) about who should see a book before you self publish. This question was posed by a new author finishing up her first manuscript. Despite needing to make coffee and pack to go out of town, I felt compelled to answer.

The short answer: Several people and at least one professional!

Here's what I shared:

Congratulations that you are almost done with your book. That is huge! You should definitely stop and celebrate your achievement. But after you pop the champagne, you should think about the revision process as another critical step to being a professional author. One of the biggest mistakes newer authors make is to release material before it crafted to a professional level. It’s soooo tempting, and we’ve all been there. Don’t do it! Usually the revision process, if done right, will take several months of intensive work.

I don’t mean to sound discouraging, by this manuscript is your baby. You wouldn’t take your baby out in public with torn clothes and a dirty face, right? The baby needs cleaning up first. This is what separates the professionals from the amateurs in a deluged eBook market. And it’s worth it, I promise.

In looking for a critique partner, you want to find someone slightly ahead of where you are in your journey, whose experience can help identify the opportunities to strengthen your manuscript. The critique relationship is about building trust – after all, you’re trusting this person to point out flaws in your baby. J Loops, organizations you belong to, local writing groups are all great place to look for a critique partner. In googling “critique groups”, I came  across a fun site: (http://www.ladieswhocritique.com/) *disclaimer* I have never used this group, but their approach is cool.

 As to your question on editing, most newer authors don’t know what type of editing they need. There are 3 standard types of editing in fiction writing and as an indie, you have a fourth. Knowing what type of editing you need is something a crit partner can help you with. At minimum, you will need #s 2, 3, & 4. Chances are, being newer, you will need #1 as well. And unless you have an amazing line editor, you might need a couple proofreaders. I’ve found readers, friends, or family with an eye for mistakes make great proofreaders.

 Here are the types of editing:

1.       Substantive Editing – structural (pacing, plot, characterization)

2.       Copy Editing – (Grammar, spelling, syntax, word usage, punctuation, writer tics, etc.)

3.       Line Editing – proofreading (typos)

4.       Format editing – (finished eBook forms and print pdf look as they should)*

*I would also extend this to any copy (blurbs, bios, etc.) you put on the web.

You might not need to hire a professional for all of them. #1 - Most of us that have been doing this awhile need less substantive editing than we used to (often our crit partner can point out issues and we can fit). #2 Get a professional. #3 and #4 – can be people we know with a meticulous eye for details. Have multiple proofreaders.

This might sound overwhelming, but consider the alternative. Bad reviews, bad ratings, damage to your author brand. And the internet is FOR-EVERRRRR. I’m going to go all cliché, but you only get one chance to make a first impression with a reader. Make it count!

Amanda Brice, my fellow indie YA sister and co-contibutor/driving force behind to the  Eternal Spring YA Anthology *free here* had this to say about when to release your baby into the world:

Congrats on getting close to THE END. Anytime you type that is a momentous occasion, but never moreso than your first time.

 

However, because this is your first book (and you wrote it without feedback), I'm inclined to agree with Maureen. You're probably not ready for either an editor or a beta reader yet. The first thing you need to do is find yourself a critique partner or critique group (are you a member of your local RWA chapter? Also, Romance Divas is a good place to learn the craft).

Then once you have the ms as sparkling as you can, I'd enter some contests for unbiased feedback. Then you might be ready for an editor. But even still, maybe not. I venture to guess that most of us did not publish our first ms and never will. The stereotype of the "book under the bed" is because first manuscripts tend to be learning books.

Is that the case with everyone? Of course not. some authors do publish their first book and do wonderfully. But most of us were not ready for publication on the first book, and you won't know this for sure until you get unbiased feedback. Hiring an editor will probably be a very expensive way to find out whether you're ready (and some books are unsalvagable), so I encourage you to run it through crit groups and the contest circuit first. This will take several months, but worth it.

Then once you're satisfied this book is potentially publishable (and you don't want to go the trad route), you'll need to find an editor. Since this is your first book, I highly encourage you to get both content editing and line editing, although some authors prefer to skip the content editing stage once they have a few books under their belt (and instead rely upon their critique partners and beta readers for developmental suggestions).

Good luck! I hope this wasn't discouraging, but the worst thing you can do is publish before you're ready.

 

Carey says: Thanks Amanda!

Now your turn: If you are an author, how many early books do you have buried under your bed?

I have books 1, 2, & 3 under the bed. #4 is my indie, 5 & 6 are with agents exploring traditional options.

The Experimental Girl, part 2: More Experimentation

Thanks to everyone who chimed in on promoted prices vs. every day available price. I am taking THE HALO CHRONICLES THE GUARDIAN off sale and back to $2.99.

I decided to let the .99¢ sale go through MLK Day, so I requested the pricing change ($2.99 , 70% royalty) for  on Tuesday. As usual Amazon is taking their sweet time to make the change.

It will be interesting to compare velocity at the higher price with THE WAY LIFE WAS FOREVER continuing as a free promo vehicle.

As of this morning, here are my January 2012 sales results:

THE HALO CHRONICLES: THE GUARDIAN ($.99): 123 128 (as of 1/19 8:30pm)

THE WAY LIFE WAS FOREVER (FREE): 4903 5056 (as of 1/19 8:30pm)

1/30 Results:

THE HALO CHRONICLES: THE GUARDIAN ($.99): 203 (and back up to $2.99)

THE WAY LIFE WAS FOREVER (FREE): 8007 (in 1 month!)

Left Field Inspiration

When I work up this morning, I didn't know that I was about to be inspired, and validated, and encouraged, and changed...But that's kind of the whole point behind blessings. Tonya Kappes's post changed my course.

For her inspiring post HOW BAD DO YOU WANT SELF PUBLISHING SUCCESS, click here.

I have a new short story out!!! THE WAY LIFE WAS FOREVER
It's  $.99 at Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords. I'll talk more about the business rationale in a few weeks.

Today I want to know HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT?

50 Things Under $50 to Promote Your Book

As a result of some exciting developments, the blogs been a bit quiet recently. Soon I hope to be able to share details.

In the meantime, check out Penny C. Sansevieri's great report:

Fifty Things Under $50 Bucks To Promote Your Book 

Going Indie - Is it worth it?

Time to talk results.

I take this giant leap of faith - so necessary to gain forward momentum in my career - and three months have passed. Some authors are selling tens of thousands, some authors are making thousands a month, and a very lucky few are doing both.

And me?

My results have exceeded my expectations. I have recouped my initial expenses. And most importantly, I have taken the next step in my career. No regrets.

So lets talk Dollars and Cents:

THE HALO CHRONICLES: THE GUARDIAN sells for $2.99 eBook and $14.99 print (discounted at B&N but with very little margin for me).

	Sales	Earned
MAY 24th
Amazon	36	$36
B&N	24	$46
JUNE
Amazon	19	$32
B&N	27	$52
JULY
Amazon	24	$45
B&N	20	$38
Print	6	$35
AUGUST
Amazon	19	$35	est.
B&N	5	$9
Print	2	$7
Smashwords (3mo. total)	10	$23
TOTAL	192	$358

A good friend of mine, who published about the same time, has sold in the thousands. While ecstatic for her, for like a second I was jealous of her sales. (LOL Tonya).

Keep in Mind at my Pricing structure: 100 = 700

I considered dropping my book to $.99. While $.99 price point does tend to explode sales, the margin is very low.

$2.99 (70% is $2.093) x100sales = $209.30

$.99 (30% is $.297) x100sales= $29.70;  700sales= $207.90

My choice, earnings at $2.99 or sales at $.99? The authors who are really doing well have a tiered approach (that I plan to model). When their subsequent book releases for $2.99 or $3.99, their current title drops to $.99. That way they are accomplishing both sales and earning. So I'm hard at work on the sequel THE HALO CHRONICLES: THE KEEPER. :)

Here are some other AMAZING indie authors who have transparently shared results:

Norah Wilson

Debra Holland

* Debra also has a great post on price point

Debra's August sales information

Theresa Ragan

Gemma Halliday's results (1 year 600k and counting)

D.D. Scott (on Right side of page)

Cate Rowan on The Ruby Slippered Sisterhood site

Julianne MacLean's promotion experiment (How important are cover and price?)

Know of any other indies disclosing sales? Post a link in comments and I will update this post. :)

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

IT'S BACK-TO-SCHOOL WEEK!
Did I say wonderful?...I meant painfully chaotic.

So rather than post for the sake of posting, let me tell you what's coming up next week.

MONDAY 8/22 I will be launching a new multi-author blog venture where we  talk YA not the business of writing YA. The title of my inaugural post: "What about prom, Blaine? What about prom?"

Swing by Monday morning for a link to the new site. :)

Then on THURSDAY 8/25 I'll be divulging my sales-to-date here: Going Indie - Is it worth it?

For anyone in the Cincinnati area, on FRIDAY 8/26 I'll be headed to the Carrico-Fort Thomas Branch of my local library for the Girls Taking Over the World Young Adult Author Event including NYTimes bestselling author and 2011 RWA RITA winner Julie Kagawa sponsored by the awesome Blue Marble Bookstore.

See you next week!

Got it Covered? I thought I did…

I really like my cover. I designed it myself with a Shutter stock image on PowerPoint. It worked great for digital. For print, it did not. (Read about my cover design, here.)

Being an ambitious DIYer, I determined I could handle the print cover. Just like my digital to print manuscript experience, my digital to print cover experience was plagued with issues. It was complete trial and error and error and error.

Like any good indie, I did my research. I got a cover template. I did my best to absorb info about spines (so Greek to the mathematically impaired girl). I spent a couple of hours laying out my cover and I uploaded to Createspace.

I thought I did a pretty good job until CS kicked it back to me:

Files for THE HALO CHRONICLES: T..., require your attention

The cover file does not meet our submission requirements for the reason(s) listed below.

The cover file contains live elements that may be trimmed during the production process. Please make sure that all text appears .375" away from the outer edges. Additionally, all elements you wish to appear on the cover, such as text and graphics, need to appear within the live graphics area. Only background that can be cut off should extend through the bleed area.

The spine text is too large for the page count. We recommend reducing the font size and centering the spine text so there is at least .0625" of room on either side. Otherwise, the spine text may wrap to the front or back cover.

Additionally, we have noted the concerns listed below. You may choose to move forward with the below issues as-is; however, we wanted to bring them to your attention.

The cover file contains transparency  which will be manually flattened during our processing and may cause a color shift.

The cover file contains images that range from 70 to 93 DPI, which may appear blurry and pixelated in print. For optimal printing, we recommend all images be at least 300 DPI.

So I tried again. I Googled how to flatten the file. I downloaded higher res images. I tweaked my layout, said a prayer, and uploaded.

Files for THE HALO CHRONICLES: T..., require your attention

The cover file contains images at 92 DPI, which may appear blurry and pixelated in print. For optimal printing, we recommend all images be at least 300 DPI.

Better but I still had image issues. It was one of those moments where I grudgingly admitted, “This is why people don’t do cover design on PowerPoint.” I’d spent a lot of time on my cover and still wasn’t getting the results I needed. I was behind schedule, out of my design depth and knew that I needed a professional. Problematic, since I had no budget.

One of my chapter mates, Jennette Marie Powell, is going indie in August with Time’s Enemy, a time travel romance. When she showed me her great cover, she’d mentioned her design background.

So, I approached her for help. I might have begged and pleaded a bit. Now’s the part where I give Jennette my UNDYING THANKS! She quickly fixed my resolution issues and I finally had a cover that CS accepted.

Here’s the digital eBook (my) version:

Here’s the professional print version (Jennette had to make some minor tweaks, mostly in font):

Again a HUGE THANKS to Jennette for rescuing my cover!

Jennette Marie Powell

Author of Time's Enemy, American time-travel romance, coming in August, 2011
http://www.jenpowell.com/ | Twitter |  Facebook

Conclusion: My most important take-away is even if I want to design my own cover, I need to collaborate with a design expert for set up. For the next book, I will not hesitate to work with a professional.

Also, I appreciated CreateSpace rejecting what would be a substandard cover with very specific feedback –for free. J

Mood: Grateful

Related topics: A Cover is a Promise

Next steps: Working on revisions for DOON

Your turn: Do you like to design your own covers?

My Self-Pub Journey to Date - My blog version of a clip show

Next week I'll be wrapping up my journey to publication with my final post on process. Then we'll get into the results. Sales, royalties, and such...

Indie Curious? Self Publishing Made Easy: step by step from manuscript to eBook

Edward Cullen has nothing to do with my cover: Designing my digital cover

Digital to Print - Do the math or suffer the consequences: from eBook formatted to Print

POD Part 1 - The Screwup: Why print formatting was harder than I thought.

Got it Covered? I thought I did... How my cover held up my print process

Coming soon: Numbers don't lie

And for fun (in case you didn't see) Lucas-schmookas! I wrote Star Wars: The first book I wrote

Digital to Print - Do the math or suffer the consequences!

If you have been following my journey, you may have picked up that Print on Demand formatting is giving me FITS. L I expected this process to be simpler than digital formatting. It so wasn’t. It didn’t help that I neglected my due diligence in thoroughly researching the POD process. I spent a lot of time comparing Print on Demand providers (see here), but not the formatting and cover processes.

Here’s my digital manuscript to POD print ready manuscript step by step process:

Step 1 Make a Create Space account

            Create Space give you step by step tasks to follow. Easy Peasy—mostly…

Step 2 Choose a Trim Size

·         Standard sizes range from 5 x 8 to 6 x 9. Most of the YAs and POD books I have are either 5.06 x 7.81 or 5.25 x 8. If you have a book or two you like around the house, measure their sizes.

·         Also choose white or cream paper.

Step 3 Do the math or suffer the consequences

·         I am sooo not a math girl. So figuring out gutter and outside margins made my brain bleed. You see, they are off center, and right side pages have opposite gutters than left.

·         So, I opted to use a preformatted template. Here’s where my lack of math hurt me. I tried many templates and no matter what I tried (Create Space; Lulu; or other) the results were wonky. Crazy headers and footers; ghost lines impossible to remove; and other strange formatting junk. I worried that it was my manuscript, but I tried other manuscripts and even format stripped wordpad documents with the same results. My best results were with these particular CS templates, but even then I had to do some ghetto formatting to make it work (i.e. stripping page breaks and hitting the return like 20 times to create faux page breaks to remedy inconsistent headers.

·         Here’s what I did. I took my Smashwords perfected digital manuscript and deleted “Smashwords” copyright. I mirrored the copyrights of printed books I have.

·         Then I cut and pasted into the CS template for the size book I wanted. I chose 6x9 and although I considered downsizing, the amount of template trauma I experienced dissuaded me from making changes once I had a print ready PDF.

·         Then I “fixed” wonky formatting, crazy header spacing. I added odd/even headers with book title on one side and my name on the other. I added page numbers at the bottom. (You have to format both odd and even page numbers and select “link to previous” EXCEPT on page one.

·         Once your manuscript looks right (keep in mind you may have to ghetto format to get spacing and other thing) save it as a PDF.

·         Review your PDF to ensure continuity of formatting, headers, and footers.

      ·         Mine the Create Space community for answers and general problem solving.

You now have an Internal PDF - half of what you need for POD print copies of your book. The other half is a cover PDF. Next week I will dissect the flaws of my digital to print cover.

Conclusion: POD formatting is harder than it ought to be. If only there were a perfect template out there. *sigh*

Mood: Perseverant

Related topics: To read my POD provider posting click here.

Next steps: Waiting for cover fix… In deep revision on another project.

Your turn: Have you had better success with POD formatting templates? Please share! Also ask any questions you might have. J