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Epic CreateSpace Fail

I’m a big fan of CreateSpace for many reasons. Print on demand sales on Amazon rock, as does the ability to buy one’s POD book at a reasonable price. CS’s phone customer service is fantastic, too. I love that they don’t charge change fees, so I can upload corrections to my books anytime I please.

What I don’t love is their shoddy, unpredictable printing quality. Two years ago, CS replaced a large order of multiple titles for us because of print issues that rendered the books unreadable. They explained that their books are printed at many different locations, and that some are better than others. That didn’t give us a lot of comfort. However, we soldiered on since print sales on Amazon are a trifle compared to our Kindle sales. (Most of our print book sales go through Lightning Source/Ingram, straight to the bookstores.)

Well, CS quality reared its ugly head again last week. I had submitted a 9×6 book, my new release Finding Harmony, and the proofs came back great. Not as good as the LSI/Ingram copies, but still perfectly fine. We approved the proof and my husband placed an order for one book, just to test quality.

Here’s what we got, side by side with the good quality proof on your right:

First, notice that the book on the left is not 9×6. It was cut to 8-3/4 x 6. That caused it to cut off the lower half of the G in Fagan in my name.

Net, notice that the colors aren’t true. The colors are much hotter in the book on the left. Distractingly so.

Now, here’s the inside:

While on the cover the bottom was truncated due to the decreased physical size to which the book was cut, on the inside it was the top. Notice the insufficient, crowded top margin? We all know that’s now how a book should look, and it isn’t how the book we submitted and proofed looked.

The really disturbing thing here is that we received this book as a pre-release order, something only placed by our biggest fans, and CS/Amazon didn’t know who we were. Anyone could have gotten –and probably did get– this crappy quality.

If, like us, they cared enough to call and ask for a replacement, they probably got one. Probably. I assume Amazon’s customer service didn’t/wouldn’t try to blame it on us, but I don’t know that for certain.

I do believe that it is highly likely most customers would chalk it up to indie publishing and decide we had submitted crap.

Well, we didn’t. We don’t. We will never.

So we talked to the great CS phone customer service staff. They offered to replace our book, we accepted, but explained that wasn’t the problem. The problem was how many other people received books produced at that same facility in the same shoddy manner? Could all of those people be sent new books?

No, there was no way to know who received bad books and who didn’t, they said.

Could we figure out who printed them and they get a do-better talk?

Probably. They’d pass along the information.

Meh. Not very satisfactory.

Has this ever happened to you? What were you able to do about it?

Pamela

Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an employment attorney and workplace investigator by day who writes award-winning and bestselling mysterious women’s fiction (Saving Grace) and humorous nonfiction (How to Screw Up Your Kids) by night. She is passionate about great writing and smart author-preneurship. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound, if she gets a good running start.

 

What’s Working and What’s Not in Indie Publishing: The 2013-2014 List of Five

In our continuing SkipJack experiment in indie publishing, we try to keep you up to date on what’s working and what’s not. Here’s what we learned in 2013:

1. BookBub Works Best, Some Others Work Well, and Most Don’t Work at All

Want to read the skinny on BookBub? Check out the details here. In a nutshell, BookBub is THE way to move discounted ebooks, across many different sales platforms, with (if you write a quality book) lasting impact. They’re pricey and selective (you need sales, reviews, ratings, and awards help too), but worth it. Biggest surprise from them? The sales traction they’ve given my follow-up novel on Barnes and Noble Nook and Apple iTunes.

Others that are worth their cost: Author Marketing Club (read my thoughts on AMC here), eReader News Today, Kindle Books and Tips, and Bargain Book Hunter.

Declining impact for me lately: Digital Books Today, Kindle Nation Daily (except for Kindle Daily Deal), and everybody else.

What’s working and not working for you?

2. 99 Cents Was the New Free

In 2012, indie authors had great success with KDP Select free days. Amazon has changed its algorithms up and it just doesn’t pop like it used to. In 2013, 99 cent promotions worked better than free, especially when paired with BookBub. However, traditional publishers have had success with this strategy too which may mean more competition for indies in this space, and potential price decreases in traditionally-published ebooks.

What do you think will work in 2014?

3. Don’t Bother With Barnes and Noble

I did 60 book signings at Barnes and Nobles in 2013, as well as 40 other events (yes, I’m tired). My resolution for 2014? No more B&Ns. With some lovely exceptions, most of their stores’ managers make it far too hard for indies to hold events, and at the corporate level, the effort required to get indie books on B&N shelves eats up most of the possibility for a return on investment. The downside of sales outside the chains is that they rarely get logged so they don’t impact your Nielsen Bookscan numbers, but if you’re looking for readers and long term sales instead of just a potential future publishing deal, who the heck cares?

Thoughts?

4. Consolidate with Facebook and Goodreads

Promotion will take up 50% of your “book time,” so consolidate your efforts in the two places most online buyers go to source their next book: Facebook and Goodreads. Use autodelivery tools to feed your blog posts to these sites and others. Don’t forget to let readers connect with the real you, and don’t (just) be a shill: spice up your feed with real life and with promotion of others. AND NEVER ARGUE WITH PEOPLE ABOUT THEIR PERCEPTION OF THE QUALITY OF YOUR BOOKS!!!

What have I left out here?

5. KDP Select for Debut Only, Then Widen Your Availability

KDP Select works fabulously for debut books. Really, it does, especially  with Kindle Matchbook. But there are other sales platforms out there with significant market segment whose devotees don’t care if they can put a Kindle App on their phone or iPad: they want to shop on Nook or iTunes. Go broad, and don’t leave out these options: audio through ACX and Smashwords to plug you into some harder to crack platforms, like Kobo, Sony, and the all you can eat services like Oyster and Scribd. Then use BookBub to launch you outside Amazon.

Do you have great results with any other sales sites?

Here’s to a happy new year full of success for you!

Pamela

Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an employment attorney and workplace investigator by day who writes award-winning and bestselling mysterious women’s fiction (Saving Grace) and humorous nonfiction (How to Screw Up Your Kids) by night. She is passionate about great writing and smart author-preneurship. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound, if she gets a good running start.

How to Sell a Ton of Books with BookBub: A Tale of Two Authors

This post is a follow-up to Holy Crapoly: You’re Going to Want to Hear This!

Recently two Amazon bestselling authors set out to promote their second novels. A lot had changed in the world of ebook promotion since each of their debuts, however. When Rodney Walther first released Broken Laces, he had great success with Amazon “tags.” When Pamela Fagan Hutchins released Saving Grace, she found free days with KDP Select on Amazon to be a boon to paid rankings (https://skipjackpublishing.com/10-tips-to-take-your-book-to-1-in-a-free-kdp-select-promo-beyond/)and thus to overall book sales. However, Amazon did away with tags a year ago and it has decreased the impact of free ebooks on paid book rankings (https://skipjackpublishing.com/holy-crapoly-youre-going-to-want-to-hear-about-this/). They needed to come up with something new.

In the last few months, BookBub (http://BookBub.com) has emerged as the “it” method for ebook promotion. BookBub has been known to generate very large sales for some authors, for free or sale-priced ebooks.  The benefits of BookBub are their exceptionally large and loyal subscription to their book recommendation emails, by genre, and that they have large numbers of readers favoring Kindle, Nook, and Apple, with readers loyal to other web sales channels as well, like Kobo and Smashwords. Rodney was able to promote to a women’s fiction list over 390,000 subscribers strong and Pamela to a mystery list of over 740,000 (plus the added reach of social media and favorable web page placement), with their BookBub days.

The downsides of BookBub are that it is a little pricey, very selective, and will only feature an author every 30 days. For a complete pricing breakdown, visit their pricing page (http://www.BookBub.com/advertise/pricing). Rodney paid $320.00 to promote his women’s fiction book and Pamela paid $500 to promote her mystery. Both of them were selected, but it was clear that the selection had to do with past strong sales of the books, awards they had won, and a large number of favorable reviews (Rodney had 78 5-star reviews on Amazon, and Pamela had 86 5-star reviews). BookBub is looking for books their readers will enjoy, and books that will succeed with the promotion. They actively promote the bestseller rankings, awards, and reviews in the email blast to their subscribership. BookBub will reject books it doesn’t feel are right for a particular list, or for their readership in general. They know their readers well. And they reject 75-90% of the submissions they receive. (No, that was not a typo.)

So, how did Rodney and Pamela do? Well, first it’s important to know that Rodney decided to remain in KDP Select with Amazon for his promotion, meaning his ebook was exclusive to Amazon. He benefited from a nifty new Amazon feature for KDP Select called Kindle Countdown. It allows the author to retain his 70% royalty on a 99 cent promotion, for up to one week, only after the book has been in KDP Select for 30+ days at a price higher than the promotion. Otherwise, 99 cent sales net only a 35% royalty on Amazon.

Pamela elected to go as broad as possible for sales channels for her books. That meant she was not in KDP Select and offered her ebooks on Barnes and Noble’s Nook, Apple’s iBooks (and iTunes), Smashwords, Sony, and many other locations. Thus, her 99 cent promotion netted only a 35% royalty on Amazon, but she was able to recoup 40% for sales on Nook and 60% for sales on iBooks.

 

First, here’s what Pamela had to say:

“If at first you don’t succeed with BookBub, try-try again. I’d don tons of research on BookBub when writing USA Best Book Award Winner What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too? (http://www.amazon.com/What-Loser-Indie-Publishes-ebook/dp/B00EGF69PA/). I knew I wanted to try BookBub when the time was right.

When BookBub didn’t selectSaving Grace (Book 1 in the Katie & Annalise romantic mystery series) (http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Grace-Annalise-Series-ebook/dp/B009FZPMFO/) on my first submission (https://skipjackpublishing.com/holy-crapoly-youre-going-to-want-to-hear-about-this/), we emailed them and reiterated my three literary awards and 85 5-star and 31 4-star ratings on Amazon, with bestseller status in women sleuth mysteries and women’s fiction in 2012. They immediately slotted me for one week later, which was fantastic! I wanted to promote Saving Grace at 99 cents not only for its sales and paid rankings but to help launch Leaving Annalise, Book 2 in the Katie & Annalise series (http://www.amazon.com/Leaving-Annalise-Katie-Pamela-Hutchins-ebook/dp/B00DPBNP2Q/).

I was SO NERVOUS for my BookBub day. Unfortunately, I did not have adequate advance notice to book additional promotion to help sustain or increase any bump I got from my BookBub day for the next four days of my five-day promo. If I had, I would have used eReader News Today (http://ereadernewstoday.com/), Pixel of Ink (http://pixelofink.com/), Kindle Nation Daily (http://kindlenationdaily.com/), and World Literary Cafe (http://worldliterarycafe.com), at a minimum.

Here are my first 24-hours:

 Book Sold:

Money Generated:

Note that my numbers only include the 1st 12 hours for Apple, and do not include sites to which I am aggregated by Smashwords. They also do not include sales of audiobooks generated by BookBub, which I learned occurred, after the fact. Saving Grace has a $1.99 audiobook add-on with Audible through ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange, http://acx.com), and sales of the audiobook shot up during BookBub.

Also note I break out sales of Saving Grace (SG) at $0.99 and its follow-up Leaving Annalise (LA) at $3.99. Watch how the BookBub promo impacts LA sales over the promotion period.

So, day one: over 3000 SG ebooks sold. 28 LA sold. The big surprise, besides how many I sold? Nook! 1034 on Nook versus 1750 on Kindle. I expected Nook to be only half that number. I grossed $1245.69, and, after payment of my BookBub fee, I profited $745.70 on day one. SG peaked at #34 on Kindle and my author rank went up to #127. Even more surprising? SG peaked at #7 overall on Nook! Of course, that means it did great in its categories on both sites: 1st or 2nd in mystery and romance on both sites and on iBooks, where SG peaked at #49.

Whoa.

The average number of mystery books sold over a BookBub promotion is 1,510 with a range of 200 to 4,240 (http://www.BookBub.com/advertise/pricing). SG did over 3000 in one day. I was so excited!

Let’s look at additional days (where no promotion was done except for a small not-very-effective ad on day three) and the final totals:

Day two:

 Books:

Money:

Day three:

Books:

Money:

 Day four:

Books:

Money:

 Day five:

Books:

 Money:

Five-day totals:

Number of books sold, with ACX added in (other = Smashword aggregates like Sony; I won’t know their sales totals for months):

Money:

 4,312 SG sold, y’all! By my calculations, that means I beat the range 😉

And, 157 LA in five days!!

Total $ profit on the five-day promo: $1562.99!

I never dreamed I would make $1569.99 in five days with a BookBub promo. Never. I worried whether I would cover my $500 BookBub fee!!

Sales and rankings, by the way, remain up for SG and LA 10 days post-promotion, and I have three new 5-star reviews and one 4-star review on SG on Amazon, with three new 5-star reviews on LA. How cool is that?? And I finally, FINALLY have traction on Nook, something I never had before. BookBub made no Smashwords impact for me, that I can tell, but I am very pleased with Kindle and Nook.

Here are numbers for the seven days after the five-day BookBub promo:

Books:

Money:

Just as a point of comparison, here are my numbers for the 7 days prior to BookBub, when I was in a sales slump partly of my own making through some strategic errors (https://skipjackpublishing.com/interesting-and-not-in-a-good-way/ and https://skipjackpublishing.com/holy-crapoly-youre-going-to-want-to-hear-about-this/):

Books:

Money:

Takeaway: I made nearly four times as much money in my week post BookBub promo as in the week prior. That’s pretty telling.

My BookBub verdict: A huge success overall and shockingly good on Nook. I will be running LA on BookBub in February 2014 to promote the release of the third book in the series, and I can’t wait.

Interesting and important side note:While the monetary impact of the 99 cent BookBub promotion of SG was not quite as spectacular for Kindle as its KDP Select free days were in the 4th quarter 2012, I  believe that I lost some potential Kindle readers of SG for my BookBub promo because of the 33,000+ downloads of SG during its 2012 KDP Select free days period, and the associated sales and KOLL lends generated in its wake. And, KDP Select free days do not have the same paid ranking and post-promo sales/lends impacts  that they did then, either. So I don’t believe I could replicate the run SG had in 2012 with KDP Select, were I releasing the book now and following all the same steps I did then. For a comparison of “then” versus “now,” read https://skipjackpublishing.com/10-tips-to-take-your-book-to-1-in-a-free-kdp-select-promo-beyond/.”

 

Next, here’s what Rodney had to say:

“With the November launch of my second novel (the emotional family drama Space in the Heart (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G1JLNDC)), I decided to use my first novel as a way to reach more readers. Broken Laces (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004DNWIEG) has certainly had good “legs” since its debut three years ago, but now that I’ve included preview chapters of Space in the Heart in its Kindle version, I wanted to give it a bump before Christmas season.

First thing I did is contact BookBub and lay out the reasons why they should feature Broken Laces: 140+ 4-star and 5-star reviews, past bestseller rankings (Amazon Top-150), and my six literary awards. They only accept 10-25% of submissions, so I was thrilled to get the nod.

Since my books are in the KDP Select program, I took advantage of a new Amazon program feature called “Kindle Countdown Deals”. It allowed me to temporarily lower the price from $3.99 to $0.99 — and I was still able to earn a 70% royalty! I also scrambled to adjust my categories, knowing that if BookBub worked like I hoped, I’d get a chance to hit the Top-100 list in some big categories.

On November 11th, BookBub blasted my promotion to 390,000 folks who had previously signed up to be notified of bargains in Women’s Fiction. It was a nerve-wracking day, as I tracked the Kindle sales (refresh.. refresh). Twelve hours later, I had great news: Broken Laces was now in the Amazon Kindle Top-100 (that’s all Kindle e-books, not just a specific category). I topped out at #83 on the Amazon Kindle store! Of course, I took screenshots of my book being in the Top-50 of *all* Literature & Fiction and being ranked higher than Fifty Shades of Grey #3, Dan Brown’s Inferno, etc.

What did I learn? Promoting your book needs to be intentional, with a specific audience that is open to your message. In my case, the $320 cost paid off, as I not only earned back my advertising fee but also earned Top-100 status on Amazon and sold a heckuva lot of books. Now I’m hopeful to see how many of those readers will translate into new buyers of Space in the Heart. And yes, I

 

Conclusion:

So, is 99 cents on BookBub the new “free?” Pamela and Rodney would say yes. Again and again. Their advice? Write your best book, enter contests, and work hard to get great reviews. These things (and a great cover and editor) will help you sell books and position your book for BookBub selection and success, success which can be game-changing for your book.

And now we ask you: Have you done BookBub? How were your sales? What else has worked for you in ebook promotion?

Note: both Rodney and Pamela still believe KDP Select free days are great for generating reviews and readership (just not paid book sales rankings), and thus are quite effective for debut authors.

 

Pamela

 Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an employment attorney and workplace investigator by day who writes award-winning and bestselling romantic mysteries (Saving Grace) and humorous nonfiction (What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?) by night. She is passionate about great writing and smart author-preneurship. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound, if she gets a good running start.

SkipJack Publishing Announces New Author, Debut Novel

SkipJack Publishing is thrilled to announce the release of our newest author’s debut suspenseful middle grade historical fiction/fantasy novel.

by Rebecca Nolen

West Virginia, 1895.

A deadly dry spell has left the earth parched and souls desperate. Crops are failing. Cities are starving. A missing newspaper man doesn’t account for much in times so terrible, except to the twelve-year-old son he left behind. When Elliot Sweeney discovers the search for his father has been called off, he boards a train alone to find him.

His quest leads Elliot into the depths of an abandoned mine, with a peculiar pocket watch, a blind burro, and a gutsy girl at his side. He discovers a world he never dreamed of, even in his worst nightmares, and lands smack in the middle of a war between two kingdoms. Monstrous insects, smiling villains, and dark riddles are everywhere. Deciding who to trust may prove to be his greatest challenge, while the fate of the world above hangs on Elliot’s choice.

Rebecca (R.L.) Nolen lives with her family, a large dog, and two cats in a hundred-year-old cottage in Houston, TX. She writes under the name R.L. Nolen for her adult novels (the upcoming psychological suspense novel Deadly Thyme, set in England) and Rebecca Nolen for her children’s books (The Dry, a suspenseful middle grade historical fantasy).

Rebecca is a longtime member of SCBWI, Houston Writers Guild, Sister in Crime, and the Mystery Writers of America. She is a master gardener, and at one time worked writing ads for an insurance company.

Rebecca’s idea for The Dry began in her back yard as she observed the daily war between the wasps and the caterpillars, or the wasps and the spiders. Her observation led to a study of insects in general and an extensive bug collection. Then, on a visit to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, she was moved by photos of the children who worked in the coal mines in the last century. The coal mines in the U.S. might not use children now, but in other parts of the world children are being exploited.

She was born loving all things British. Her January 2014 release is a psychological suspense novel called Deadly Thyme, set in England. She will release it under the name R.L. Nolen. Part of this phenomenon occurred because of family tales of Kings and castles in the family ancestry. Alas, it was a lie. But that did not deter her pursuit of loving Britain. Beginning at age twelve, she read every British murder mystery, cozy, suspense, and thriller that she could get her grubby hands on. And thanks to Netflix all the best Masterpiece theater shows, and BBC productions are available for viewing, which makes for nice long weekends with a cup of hot tea and a dog to keep her feet warm.

For more information about Rebecca (R.L.) Nolen and her books, please contact SkipJack Publishing at [email protected].

Holy Crapoly! You’re Going to Want to Hear About This.

Well, give us 10 days to collect all the data and we’ll have quite an indie publishing story to share with you.

What, you ask? What story? What happened?

Well, I finally, after six applications and five rejections, got a BookBub day. I got it for the book I wanted, too: Saving Grace, the lead novel in my Katie & Annalise romantic mystery series. I had just released Book 2, Leaving Annalise, it is almost time for holiday buying, and Book 3, Finding Harmony (pre-order Nook, Apple, or paperback), comes out February 1st. Plus Saving Grace had 125 reviews and a 4.5-star rating on Amazon/Kindle, 12 ratings for a 4.9 on Barnes and Noble/Nook, 11 for a 4.9 on Apple/iBooks, and 2 reviews for a 5-rating on Smashwords (I used to have a ton of reviews on Smashwords, but I unpublished while I was on KDP and lost them all; sigh. Whether to ever unpublish — the topic of a future blog; short answer, “NO.”). Coupled with the three contest wins for the series it seemed like Saving Grace had a good shot at a successful BookBub mystery run across those four platforms.

Even though BookBub costs $500 for a mystery, I wanted access to those 740,000 mystery readers.

Unfortunately, I had, two weeks before, separately run promos for Saving Grace on most of the other sites I was interested in using and could get on with short notice. And I had very short notice with BookBub, less than a week. I would be running a November 19th-23rd promo, relying only on BookBub on day one. Optimally I could have backed that up on days 2-5 with eReader News Today, Pixel of Ink, Kindle Nation Daily, and a few other possibilities.

Still, it was BookBub, and I had heard so many raves about BookBub and 99 cent deals being “the new KDP Select Free.” Yes was the only answer to give, and I did.

Note: I did KDP Select Free for Saving Grace in October 2012, and that was the start of a great year for it. I don’t believe in KDP Select for my novels anymore (read What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?) although I do believe in it big time for my specialty books, like the planned April release of the Katie & Annalise mystery series bundle, and the planned March release of the How to Screw Up Everyone in Your Life humor bundle.

A writer colleague of mine did BookBub in November, too, for his first novel in the wake of the release of his second, like me. However, he was in KDP Select during his BookBub day. That allowed him to drop his price to 99 cents as a limited-time promotion and keep 70% in royalties. I, on the other hand, would get 35% on Kindle, 40% on Nook, 60% on Apple, and 85% on Smashwords (60% on any of the sites to which they had aggregated the book).

In my next post, after Thanksgiving, I’m going to give you details on how it went for both of us: our strategies, what we learned, how we ranked, how we rated, how we were reviewed, and what we sold/made. Day by day, dollar by dollar, site by site.

You aren’t going to want to miss this.

Pamela

 Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an employment attorney and workplace investigator by day who writes award-winning and bestselling mysterious women’s fiction (Saving Grace) and humorous nonfiction (How to Screw Up Your Kids) by night. She is passionate about great writing and smart author-preneurship. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound, if she gets a good running start.

 

How to Leave a Review on Goodreads

Did you love a book? Hate it and think it was a total waste of your time? Then leave a review. One of the most valuable tools for discovering great books is the reviews left by other readers. Reviews also help a writer tremendously.

There are many options for leaving a review on a book. Consider the site you bought it from, if you bought it online. Next, consider Amazon. They comprise 27% of the total book market (all forms), so it’s the mostly likely place other readers will visit. Next to Amazon, the most useful site to leave reviews on is Goodreads. Note: you can copy and paste your review to avoid re-typing it at each site.

Goodreads (http://goodreads.com) is a social media site all about books. It is frequented by readers, authors, reviewers, book bloggers, publicists, and even agents, editors, and publishers. It’s a fantastic book discovery venue. You have to sign up for an account to leave a review, but other than that, there are no requirements.

And now, for a demonstration, click on the link below:

https://hwg.adobeconnect.com/p8fgrfroxk8/

Happy reviewing!

Pamela

Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an employment attorney and workplace investigator by day who writes award-winning and bestselling mysterious women’s fiction (Saving Grace) and humorous nonfiction (How to Screw Up Your Kids) by night. She is passionate about great writing and smart author-preneurship. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound, if she gets a good running start.

What’s good for the goose is NOT good for the gander, on Amazon.

I LOVE Amazon. Please understand, as an indie author, I make the bulk of my $$$$$ on Amazon. In many ways, they single-handedly caused the leveling of the traditional publishing playing field so that indies have a chance to publish on their terms.

I don’t love EVERYTHING about Amazon, however, because I’m not a robot. I don’t love their e-book gifting policy, for example, as I’ve written about before. I also do not love the whole pre-order favoritism BS they still perpetuate.

Case in point: I cannot put my ebooks on Amazon for pre-order. Traditionally published authors can. Note: I can pre-sell my ebooks on Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Kobo, and Smashwords. Hmmm.

Add to this that my ebook sales only count when a customer pays for them (as with the gifting policy), and then take a gander at what happened to me this week:

I had an extremely successful 99 cent ebook sale this week of Saving Grace, the 1st book in my Katie & Annalise romantic mystery series. The bulk of my sales, of course, were on Amazon. This sale was important to me because I had re-categorized the series as romantic mysteries/cozy mysteries from women’s sleuth mysteries/women’s fiction, and that, amongst other missteps, had a temporarily catastrophic impact in my Amazon sales.

My peak ranking was #3 in romantic mysteries, and #692 overall. Since I got turned down by BookBub (six times, even though this book has a 124 review 4.5-star rating and three major awards! But they’ve accepted the next novel in the series for Nov. 19th!), I went with eReader News Today, Kindle Books and Tips, and Bargain Book Hunter instead. Well, them and my beloved Author Marketing Club, who partnered with World Literary Cafe on a Friday announcement that I think did wonders for my sales.

In spots #1 and #2 ahead of me was Janet Evanovich, the writer I am most-often compared to. Not unexpected. And had I not noticed one tiny little detail about her book in the #1 spot, I would have been completely satisfied with this showing.

The book in the #1 spot was an e-book for pre-order.

Not only that, but you and I both know that pre-orders are not paid sales. Credit cards aren’t charged until the book is sent. This is a critical point, as one of the primary benefits of pre-orders is that all pre-orders land as sales on the date of release/shipment of the ebooks, causing a huge spike in first day rankings for the lucky author.

But this is having your cake and eating it too, isn’t it? If Janet is going to get credit for all those pre-orders on November 19th when they ship, why is she getting credit for them now as paid sales when they haven’t been paid for yet?

This is a double whammy for an self-pubbed or small press author, both indie in my book, and a group which includes me. On Amazon, I can’t offer Kindle pre-orders, and only my paid sales count. Janet will thus always win. And she (and others) wins, one might surmise, b/c of the money changing hands and the deals made between the seller, Amazon, and the publisher(s). That’s just business. It’s also unfair.

If this unfairness hadn’t been part of the system on the day I hit #692 overall and #3 in romantic mystery, how many places higher in the rankings would my book have landed? If we tossed all the pre-order ebooks out, at a minimum I would have been #2 in my category. At a minimum.

Rankings mean sales, people. Any unfairness in the ranking system decreases the sales to those treated unfairly.

What about you? Have you been impacted by how Amazon handles pre-orders, paid sales, and rankings?

Now, all that being said, I am HAPPY I hit 692/3. I won’t be ditching the Amazon ship any time soon. But I won’t sail along with it with a gag in my mouth either.

Pamela

Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an employment attorney and workplace investigator by day who writes award-winning and bestselling mysterious women’s fiction (Saving Grace) and humorous nonfiction (How to Screw Up Your Kids) by night. She is passionate about great writing and smart author-preneurship. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound, if she gets a good running start.

 

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WEBINAR: What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?

Indie Publishing Webinar: What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too? —

$50 for 2 hours and 15 minutes from the bestselling author of What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?





NOTE: You will receive an email with access/login information to the webinar and be able to take it after that time. Please email [email protected] if you have not received this information within 24 hours of payment. Access the webinar at:
https://hwg.adobeconnect.com/p59bqil7r4c/

 

Bonus: download How to Help An Author article and the Author Army spreadsheet, free.

 

About the class: Who knew indie publishing could be this much fun? Pamela Fagan Hutchins makes an overwhelming field manageable by presenting tried and true how-tos and a myriad of resources, including the marketing plan that got her debut novel national distribution – all with her tongue firmly planted in her cheek. Click here to download or read an excerpt from the book on which the class is based.

 

Don’t forget to leave a review for What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too? after you take the class!

 

What people are saying about What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?

“Sharp, practical, and a pleasure to read, this is an indispensable tool for indie writers. Hutchins maps the shortest distance between you and your readers. You need this book!” – Mark Moore, writer and editor

“Sassy, brassy, can-do voice. It’s very inspiring.” – Martin Turnbull, author of The Garden of Allah novels

“Fabulous! Dozens and dozens of great suggestions and resources. Indie writers are going to LOVE this book, not only for its insights, but for Pamela’s witty personality.” – Jennifer Meils, writer, editor, and journalism teacher

“Loser is so packed full of useful, important information, it will become the Bible of indie publishing. As always, Pamela’s wit and humor shines throughout. Definitely a must-have for any author.” – Rhonda Erb, writer and editor

“Awesome information; very well written.” – Fernanda Brady, writer and English teacher

Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an employment attorney and workplace investigator by day who writes award-winning and bestselling mysterious women’s fiction (Saving Grace) and humorous nonfiction (How to Screw Up Your Kids) by night. She is passionate about great writing and smart author-preneurship. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound, if she gets a good running start.

 

How do I work with hackin’ frackin’ Facebook events???

Yes, I know it can be challenging to post your events through Facebook. Yet who better to network with about your upcoming appearances than your online community? While I can’t make it painless, I can make it easier. Here’s a video demonstration suitable for sharing with your contacts, to help them understand how to join and share your events, too. Because that’s what you want — an expanded social reach from the shares of your contacts.

Pamela

Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an employment attorney and workplace investigator by day who writes award-winning and bestselling mysterious women’s fiction (Saving Grace) and humorous nonfiction (How to Screw Up Your Kids) by night. She is passionate about great writing and smart author-preneurship. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound, if she gets a good running start.

 

 

How to Leave a Review for Your Favorite Author on Amazon

Maybe you want to help your favorite author but don’t know how. If so, this video is for you. With a staggering 27% of the book market, Amazon is where the largest number of readers source and buy their books. Many of them rely heavily on reader reviews. Leaving a review is not difficult, but it can be intimidating for a first timer. Author Pamela Fagan Hutchins leads readers through it in this easy-to-follow video demonstration.

Authors, be sure and sure this with your fans.

Pamela

Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an employment attorney and workplace investigator by day who writes award-winning and bestselling mysterious women’s fiction (Saving Grace) and humorous nonfiction (How to Screw Up Your Kids) by night. She is passionate about great writing and smart author-preneurship. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound, if she gets a good running start.