First thing to tell you guys: I’ll be keeping my novels in Kindle Unlimited for now. That was really up in the air until six weeks ago.

Can you see the scratches and bruises I’m carrying from my first six months in Kindle Unlimited? Some of them are from a few customers unhappy I’ve limited their options to one place to buy my ebooks—most have been very understanding, though—but the lion’s share of the wounds coming from learning with a capital L.

Phew!

Recap: For several years, my sales had been in  a free fall. Six-months into KU, I’m projecting to be back in 6-figure online sales this year. How did I make the transition back to a living wage (after hefty expenses, especially advertising/promo), and what lessons did I learn to arrive at something that works, and what 6 pro tips am I offering you as a result?

What I tried

I moved my books into Kindle Unlimited around August 1st of 2019. I then started experimenting with Kindle Countdowns on my mystery trilogies (all 3 novels at 99 cents for 7 days for some trilogies; first novel free and 2nd and 3rd at 99 cents with others) with brute force ad and promo spending of about $2k per promo to try to generate maximum page reads. I did the same with some of the box sets.

Two of my protagonists failed spectacularly: the two with the highest ratings on Amazon!

Katie (Saving Grace, Leaving Annalise, Finding Harmony, Box Set): break even. The failure of my Facebook and Amazon ads to generate the type of sales I have enjoyed with email subscription promos signaled that something was really wrong.

Emily (Heaven to Betsy, Earth to Emily, Hell to Pay, Box Set): almost breakeven. Verdict: She’s a great read through asset for Katie, if I can get her covers in line. I don’t think I need to promote her.

Michele (Going for Kona, Fighting for Anna, Searching for Dime Box): loss (I had an international Bookbub on this box set; I am glad I said yes to it even though I never make money on those, because it’s hard to get a US BookBub on a KU book, and I truly believe that this one was the loss leader for the one BookBub said yes in the US to six weeks later; more below; humans curate the picks for BookBub, and if you say no once to one you don’t want . . . well, did I mention they’re humans?). Anyway, I don’t think Michele’s promotable for me at this time.

Ava (Bombshell, Stunner, Knockout, Box Set): big loss. I don’t think Ava’s promotable for me at this time.

Maggie (Live Wire, Sick Puppy, Dead Pile, Box Set, prequels Buckle Bunny & Shock Jock): I didn’t promote Maggie during this time because I’m fighting with Audible about Findaway audiobooks. I wanted to wait until all the formats of all her books were fully loaded until promoting her, and the timeline on that has stretched out 9 months and counting now. Grr. More on audiobooks next month. But my consultant and I do think Maggie is promotable, especially because of her relation to the very successful new Patrick Flint series. She’s a good feeder to him, and he’s a good feeder to her. In fact, her sales have doubled since Switchback came out.

Patrick Flint (Switchback, Snake Oil, Sawbones): I didn’t promote until January, more below.

Note: I was working with a very good consultant on these strategies. But they only work if the the funnel between discovery and reading through to The End is frictionless. These below-expected results across the board pointed out issues at every point in my funnels. I had to fix them.

When I reached rock bottom

Since 2015, I’d gone from dizzying heights of financial success to implementation of a new business model where I trained employees to take over functions for me, then spiraling down to being nothing more than a healthy tax write-off against my husband’s income. I realized that unless I had a positive return, my poor husband could never retire, plus I *hated* where things were at.

I like to “win.” And to me, success was defined as being a career writer.

My first four months in KU didn’t inspire me to think I could make a turnaround without major changes, so…I studied my results and I followed my gut and my aching heart.

I made big changes . . .

I let my employees go. I let my expensive editor go and hired one that cost 75% less (and added a 750-person (not a typo) proofreading team of advance readers, see below). I took courses on ads and threw myself into doing them for myself on Amazon and Facebook for the first time. I eliminated every bloated expense I’d accumulated in the last 4.5 years as I’d handed over all the reins to other people, who, while caring and good at their jobs, weren’t me—I’m the only one I can expect to be 110% invested in my success and completely attuned to all my books, readers, and the junk in my brain.

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INDIE PUBLISHING RETREAT WITH PAMELA NEAR AUSTIN, TEXAS, APRIL 14-16, 2020, ONE SPOT AVAILABLE

FICTION WRITING INTENSIVE WITH PAMELA NEAR SHERIDAN, WYOMING, JUNE 23-27, 2020, TWO SPOTS AVAILABLE

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And I returned to my pre-2015 roots. I can do my own bookkeeping. I can create and run my own ads. I can format and mange my own assets.  I’ve started recording my own audiobooks, and I have also learned to write much, much faster. I’m writing better books now in less than time than I did in 2016-2018 with 3 employees.

When the lightbulb went off (and the tide turned, and other yummy cliches)

But just because I had reduced costs and taken things over, didn’t mean I was back on the gravy train yet. However, I expected a long slog, while things actually improved dramatically within six weeks.

After I released my first Patrick Flint thriller, SWITCHBACK, on November 15th of 2019, it was fizzling along (with no promotion). I had and have it priced at $4.99. It was a standalone at the time (although book #2 SNAKE OIL came out January 15th and book #3 SAWBONES comes out in April). I gathered my courage and ran my first “from scratch by Pamela” Facebook ad using a photograph of my husband that I filtered in Canva.com (based on lots of advice I had been getting about not using stock photos in ads). Heck, I even made a SWITCHBACK video trailer with my personal pictures!

Here’s the ad that launched a thousand ships. I have a better version now, but it doesn’t have all this lovely engagement:

The ad rocked. I mean, it really rocked. It has 140 shares and nearly 600 likes at the time I’m writing this (it’s 3 weeks old). Even better, it sold books and “reads” in KU. I added more ads (including one with the trailer!) and started some on Amazon. Amazon was slower to convert for me, but it’s chugging along nicely now.

Here’s the cool video trailer version:

Note: I’d been working off and on with a number of different consultants and ad managers. (Punchline: Nicholas Erik is wonderful (!!!!), Adwerks is too expensive for mere mortals such as myself, and Reedsy was too expensive for me, too, and also didn’t work on my books, but that may be timing/me too early in my journey.

Bonus pro tip: I can’t make money on ads if someone else is doing it for me, because that eats up all my profits. It may be the same for you unless your revenue is Mark-Dawson-like enormous.

At the same time, I invited all 18,500 of my newsletter opt-in subscribers to join a special “all my books free for life” advance reader proofing and reviewing team. I need reviews and proofreading! I didn’t arrive at this decision lightly. I evaluated my newsletter data and sales and realized I WASN’T SELLING ANY BOOKS TO MY LIST, EVEN THOUGH I WAS SPENDING $80 A MONTH ON THEM (and they weren’t reviewing my books either). At the same time, I’d been finding that KU readers leave fewer reviews than buyers, and more and more of my income is generated by those KU readers.

I was terrified, but I did it, and 750 people signed up for my advance review team. Gulp. I immediately shot up to 120 reviews (great ones) on SWITCHBACK, and I learned that several of my subscribers were Amazon Top Reviewers and Vine Voice reviewers. That was a nice surprise. The reviews helped the book perform, no doubt, which all in turn led to a CHIRP (BookBub) audio promotion deal for March 31st, my first ever, and on a book I narrated. I even did a 2-day price drop on my newest release and told my advance reviewers to post their reviews on those days, and to buy it if they were so inclined to get a “verified purchase” by their review, or to download it on KU and read it there.

Y’all, I made more money on those discount sales to 750 people whom I’d already given the books to than I had been making on my dang 18k list. Plus I got tons of super nice emails and some great error-catches 🙂

Also at the same time, to be ready to capitalize on new subscribers around these new releases, I put together a new subscriber onboarding sequence that lasts 70 days and leads subscribers through a four-volume free library and into opportunities (one email per protagonist) to purchase each of my first-in-trilogy books and nonfiction for half-price, and finally on to a survey where they have a chance to win some box sets and I get their valuable input.

As of now, if they remain a subscriber after four months, I’m thinking of inviting them to join the advance reads/proofing team. HOWEVER, I will make that decision after I see how my next release goes and whether my mega list subscribers buy any books then. If they don’t, there’s no reason not to offer them the chance to work on reviewing and proofing which I hope eases them into becoming super fans who buy what I’ve already given them, like I’d seen happen with my review team already (and otherwise to cull them from my list because they cost me a lot of money).

Side note: I culled my 18.5k subscribers down to 13.5k and downgraded my “level” on Mailerlite for a savings of $360 a year. This should help my open rates and overall spam rating considerably. And I can plow that money back into ads. I’m open to getting rid of the rest of them (subscribers who don’t engage) if financials point me in that direction. Or at least archiving them somewhere for now so I don’t have to pay for them every month!!!

Once I started doing my own ads, my website traffic did this:

And my Amazon affiliate income tripled from December to January.

What was clear from my SWITCHBACK ads was that my Wyoming novel/cover and my ad image had a strong regional appeal. I was selling to people that like C.J. Box’s Joe Pickett—whose covers I had used as inspiration—and similar fiction. (It was a good surprise and also clear that those readers then circled back to my Maggie Killian books, also set in Wyoming, and with covers inspired by Craig Johnson’s Longmire covers.) According to Nicholas Erik, he has found that readers do read by region in Kindle Unlimited, especially in my genre (crime fiction). I’ve been targeting my successful Facebook ads to readers of Box and Johnson OR readers of crime fiction who like Westerns. My Amazon ads targeted toward Box and Johnson do great, but the other big surprise is how well category ads are doing for me there, as well as ads targeted at major thriller writers.

In the wake of this (giddy) success, I added ads for my What Doesn’t Kill You series lead, SAVING GRACE. It has nearly 3000 reviews and a 4.5-star rating, yet those ads didn’t do nearly as well. (However, the read through historically is insanely good and I have 15 books in that series, so the ads are still worth it, just far underperforming my hopes.)

Then I added ads for my first box set, Katie Connell. Those did well. In the meantime, I had put together paperbacks and audiobooks for each of the box sets (I have five) as well as an Amazon series and corresponding series page for just the box sets. That helped readers who like box sets to read through them. And then I got a 99 cent BookBub featured deal on the box set, which did fantastically well.

I relied heavily on ad performance metrics utilizing my historical read through data to calculate life time value of sales and KU reads, so that I’d know when to spend and when not to spend (see below). For my first month doing all my own advertising, I’m solidly in the black day-to-day on ad expenses versus revenue (so much so that I’m solidly in the black overall), and, even better, my LTV projections on these ads are through-the-roof.

But there was a fly in the ointment, and that was that the series lead SAVING GRACE was still underperforming. And, with input from Nicholas Erik, and with what I learned from SWITCHBACK, I finally understood why. I didn’t have a cover that made it easy for my niche readers to know it was their book. And Facebook and Amazon ads are dependent on a cover that converts with YOUR audience. I’ve redone my covers before, but that process only showed me that we’d gone the wrong direction again. This time, I have a clear vision and understanding of what to change, and I’m optimistic and excited. I’ll share the results with you when we have sufficient data.

BOTTOM LINE RESULTS IN JANUARY:

I released SNAKE OIL on January 15th after offering it for free to my list of 750 advance readers/proofers. I did nothing to promote it other than send out an announcement newsletter to my 18.5k subscriber list (which generated NOTHING). I did promote SWITCHBACK and my first box set, but only starting January 1st. Consider this a “from the bottom of the barrel” cold start (but I did have a good backlist to sell with a lot of reviews and good ratings).

In the final two weeks of January:

I got 86 reviews on SNAKE OIL

I got 85 organic subscribers to my newsletter (who are going through my new on boarding sequence now)

For the month, including my Facebook & Amazon ads on SWITCHBACK, my Amazon ads on SAVING GRACE, and my BookBub promotion of my first box set (I did Bargain Booksy, ENT, Facebook, and Amazon ads along with it), I cleared nearly $4350 from online sales after paying for all the ads and promo. If you’re into ROI, that’s a 69.93% return on promotional investment in January. In comparison, I LOST $50K IN 2019 even though I had doubled my revenue over 2018.  (Those are not typos)

(I had other expenses, of course, but not bank breakers, and they’re getting smaller all the time.)

I can live with this result. And I have 2 more novels and 1 box set to release this year, and plenty of time to fine tune what I’m doing in the meantime. (My notes-to-self here : middle column—promos is spend for the month on subscription newsletter promotions (like BookBub, Bargain Booksy, and ENT), am is Amazon ads, fb is Facebook ads, and bb is BookBub ads—and the right column tells me what I was spending it on: my KBS box set, SAVING GRACE, SWITCHBACK, subscriber lead generation, or ad testing)

My ads are performing far better than when other people were doing them (for example, Adwerks averaged 650% ACOS on their Amazon ads for me; I’m averaging less than 250%, and since that is about cost as a percentage of sales price of books, it’s important to keep that number low–there’s a lot more to how KU reads and the LTV of each book plays into profitability vis a vis ACOS, but it’s beyond the scope of this post), plus I understand them so I can be quick/lean/responsive. I’ve eliminated a lot of overhead so I can reinvest that money without fear in promoting my books.

I hit #64 overall with a box set, my author rank climbed to its second highest level in my entire career while staying steadily around 2000 overall in January, and I had four books in the top 15,000. SWITCHBACK has stayed in the top 5k for the entire month. My page reads have climbed to over 40k daily (and up to 50k for the first time for me — heck 30k and 40k were firsts for me this month, too), and I know I can keep building on that.

My analysis: I can do this. I even think I can keep improving on these numbers. It’s modest, still, but it’s a humongous turnaround, and I’m proud of where I’m headed.

Six Pro-Tips I’ve learned/earned

 Get clean numbers and trust them

Positive ROI advertising and overall financial success are almost impossible with only one book for most of us. But once you’re past one book, in order for ads to work, you have to know what a sale means to you in terms of all other possible income it will generate.  (If you want to learn how to do this with your books, lookup Mal Cooper, an author who specializes in this, or wait for me to blog on it later. Or come to one of my retreats in Wyoming–2020 dates TBA soon—and learn allllll of this stuff!).

If you don’t know how much you will make, you don’t know how much you should spend. (These are my January numbers through the 30th, and if you click the image, it will take you to a “view only” look at my actual spreadsheet.)

Ads for full price books work on Facebook and Amazon, if your funnel works

I have a $3.99 mystery with nearly 3000 reviews and 4.5-star rating—the lead to a 15-mystery deep series with good read through—that I cannot sell on Facebook for the life of me. I have a $4.99 book with only 120 reviews and a 4.7-star rating that sells like mad (and profitably) from Facebook, with only 1 other book in its series. The difference for me is covers that cause the behavior of BUYING in the niche market for one book , and the failure to find that market/cover match for the other. (I’ve also really tweaked the first three lines of my descriptions, because that’s all people see when your book page pops up).

If it’s not working, then dig to figure out why. Need more books for read through? Need reviews? Need to improve your book for better ratings? Need a better description? Need a better “Inside the book”? Need to figure out your market-to audience? Need a cover to match that audience? Need to know your also-bought and categories better? Need a better ad image? Need better ad copy?

If any of those things aren’t optimized, you may not find advertising profitable. But if they are, you can advertise full price books.

Note: the only forum I am unable to advertise full price books profitably on is BookBub since it caters to deal-seekers.

Nothing good happens without testing

Don’t guess what your market-to niche will respond to. Generate different images and test the ads on them. Let them vote with their engagement. Do the same for copy. Then pick the winning combos. And keeping testing and picking, since Facebook ads need creative refresh. Test different audiences, too. (Again, if you want to learn more, pick a good consultant, wait for me to blog more on it or update my book Loser, or come to one of my retreats)

Find your market-to niche

Everybody thinks that everyone should buy and read their book. But, honestly, folks, when it comes to advertising, you can’t advertise to everyone or a) the cost will be too high and b) you won’t be able to optimize your funnel to create buying behavior for your best audience. See above. Scour your also boughts. Survey your readers. Test different audiences. Only then will you find that sweet spot where you can have positive ROI ads.

You won’t make money without advertising

By now you’re saying, ye gads, this is too much. I can’t do it. Unfortunately, if you want to make money as an indie on your books, you don’t have a choice (If you don’t want to make money, that’s cool; you do you!).

I’m sorry. There’s just no other way to create and sustain discoverability in the world of online buying and sales site algorithms. Believe me, I tried that method for a few years, LOL.

Spend until your ads won’t scale

I’ve been really struggling on deciding how much to spend. Do I spend until my ROI drops to some minimum-but-still-positive level? Do I set a budget and stick to spending no more than that? It kills me that I can’t just say, “Oh, I’ll spend X amount per click with a set budget of Y” and have that be all the analysis that is required. But that’s impossible because each author (and each book an author has) will have a different LTV, plus you also have to factor in how well clicks convert to sales or KU reads (which can be tricky), and it is only then that you know what you should pay per click for that ad on that book. Much less what to budget overall.

Bonus pro tip: spending the least amount possible per result is good, but it’s not enough—what you’re looking for is highest possible ROI.

The answers for you will depend on your goals and resources, of course, but, assuming they are not limiting you, then I recommend you spend until your ads won’t scale. Which you won’t know until you generate YOUR numbers.

(What do I mean by scaling? Scaling is when you can increase ad spend and your ad cost and ad results/ROI stay steady.)

Facebook scales pretty okay, but you’ll find that the cost per result climbs as you increase your spend. (Other things affect cost, lots of them, but those are topics for another day.) But if the cost per result is climbing too much, then you need to find more profitable ways to spend that money. If you don’t have them, then you face the hard question of whether at the increased price of your results, you’re making more money than if you didn’t spend those incremental dollars. The best way to figure this out is to increase spend on your ads slowly and watch the numbers and trends. Then you’ll “know when to say when.”

Here’s an example of me overspending the scaling of my SWITCHBACK ads, then pulling back on spend to achieve more profitability and better ROI. My ROI & Margin are on the left and the corresponding ad spends on Facebook & Amazon are on the right. If I hadn’t decreased my ad spend, I wouldn’t have made more money 🙂

 

That’s what’s working for me, and why. What’s working for you????

Next month: I’ll be talking to you about my similar rock bottom, a-ha, and springboard moments in audio. I have my first Chirp promotion via BookBub scheduled for SWITCHBACK for the month of April and I CAN’T WAIT!!!

I also feel like maybe I need to break all this into micro topics, so stay tuned for me to go in-depth on all this scary confusing stuff I ran through at breakneck speed today.

Good luck out there! Let me hear from you.

Pamela

Pamela Fagan Hutchins, USA Today bestseller and winner of the 2017 Silver Falchion Best Mystery winner for her mysteries, including thrilling new release SWITCHBACK, writes hilarious nonfiction (What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?), too. She teaches writing, publishing, and promotion at the SkipJack Publishing Online School (where you can take How to Sell a Ton of Books, FREE) and in her writing and publishing retreats in Wyoming and writes about these things and more on the SkipJack Publishing blog.

Pamela resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. She has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes and trail rides with her hunky husband, giant horses, and pack of rescue dogs, donkeys, and goats. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).

Hello out there, this is Pamela. Below I’m going to tell you about a special offer for me to promote your book or business on my podcast. You can skip to it by scrolling down.

But first, an update. I’ve been on something of a blogging hiatus as my personal life intruded these last few months. In the wake of a grim cancer diagnosis/prognosis for my dad, I have been writing some novels inspired by him, and on a very tight schedule. You can get your copies of SWITCHBACK and SNAKE OIL, as well as pre-order SAWBONES now. The reviews have blown me away (4.9-stars!), especially since this was a change of pace for me. Thrillers. High octane suspense. Multi-POV. Quasi-historical.

The good news, besides the reviews, is that my dad—ever the curve-buster—has already smashed through his original prognosis with every sign that he is going to turn 2-3 months into multiple years. In the meantime, my husband and I moved into my parents’ barn (literally, although it is a little barndominium or apartment, if you will) and have enjoyed spending a lot more time with my awesome parents. Walking. Riding our giant horses. Watching football. Collaborating on the books. Eating his “cancer fighting diet.” LIVING.

That has meant I have not kept you up to date on what is and is not working for me in publishing, and that I have cancelled writers retreats and workshops. I am sorry. I will definitely plan a comprehensive update for you on my Kindle Unlimited experience in late January and lessons learned the hard way in narrating and producing audiobooks in late February. I think I need one more month to see how things shape up in the wake of the holidays for the post on KU.

But I do have something for you now. First the intro, then the special offer.

I’ve posted in the past about my Wine Women & Writing podcast and video cast and podcasting in general. It’s not for everyone. Face it, authors are usually introverts. But it’s been just right for me: a social introvert. Since I live in the sticks, podcasting has given me the chance to continue to network with other authors, contribute to my community, and stay relevant without being sales-y on social media. It gives me something to offer readers between my books as well: other authors and titles. I’ve made dear friends, gained top notch blurbs, and discovered books and authors that have mattered to me as a reader.

I’ve found something to do at book-ish conventions that rescues me from my own awkwardness and facilitates the type of quality relationship building I’m there for. At Bouchercon, I did five interviews a day. You can see the fruits of those labors here (damn, I got some great guests): https://pamelafaganhutchins.com/wine-women-writing-radio-show/.

I’ve recorded weekly shows for a year and a half. That’s a lot of shows! And it’s a lot of authors, books, and reviews.

And I struggled my way through learning how to make my podcast available in both audio and video formats, to grow the audience, and to make the shows accessible via free RSS feed of choice to the most people possible. (Let me know if you’d like me to blog on any or all of the foregoing.)

I’ve also learned that as my platform has grown (and grown and grown and grown), that I have more and more to offer others in this business.

• Guest spots: I focus on authors of fiction with preference for strong female characterization (although I host occasional “Mescal Men & Mystery” spinoffs to my normal “Wine Women & Writing” format). If I’m provided with a digital (ebook or audio) copy in advance, I review online at Amazon, BookBub (where I recommend the book, if I can give it 3 stars or higher), and Goodreads (where I share the review on social media). The time slots are for up to half an hour, and when the shows are done, I promote them via my website, my blog following on my reader site, my 20k newsletter, and my social media reach. They are easy and fun, and they are evergreen, in the sense that authors can embed an interview (video or audio or both) on a website and send traffic there any time they want, or simply link to it if they prefer. I don’t charge authors for being on the show, unless they want it to be sponsor-free. (See below)

 

• Content: Subscription is free for automatic delivery of the podcast to a device, so that listeners never miss an episode as I talk craft, business, fiction, and more with top authors on every show. Some of the best readers and listeners are other authors.

 

• Low-cost Mentions: For authors that would like a mention of new releases (or backlist titles), I now provide low-$ mentions. Pick the upcoming author/title that you’d like associated with your book, and I’ll make sure it happens. More info here https://pamelafaganhutchins.com/publicists-publishers-and-authors-wine-women-writing-mescal-men-mystery/.

 

• Sponsorships: Great for authors, publishers, publicists, reviewers/book bloggers, literary publications, editors, and other author service providers. Pick the upcoming author/title that you’d like associated with your book, and I’ll hook you up.Sole sponsorship: includes branding in all promotions and postings as well as a minimum of three mentions during the showMulti-sponsors: includes co-branding with other sponsors in all promotions and postings as well as a minimum of two mentions during the showSponsor- and mention-free show: a chance for a show free of other sponsors or mentions.

  Get details on all sponsorship options at https://pamelafaganhutchins.com/publicists-publishers-and-authors-wine-women-writing-mescal-men-mystery/

So here’s my special offer for you.

From January 1-14, 2020 ONLY, if you pledge at the $1 a month level or higher on my Patreon account, I’ll promote your book or business during the intro of one my shows this year. This is a $5 value. So you get a 500% return on investment if you pay for just one month. And of course, you could cancel then. I can’t stop you.

But it is my sincere hope that you’ll stick around.

In order to make that worth your while, every six months, I will draw from the pool of Special Offer patrons and make them a Sole Sponsor of an entire episode. That’s a $100 value.

Don’t know what Patreon is? Patreon is a site where supporters of my books and show are able to make monthly pledges for as little as $1 a month. You can check mine out with no obligation here.

All right. So check out the special offer and watch for my upcoming posts on what is and isn’t working in KU right now and the good, the bad, and the ugly in producing and narrating your own audiobooks.

Happy New Year,

Pamela

 

Hey y’all!

I have good news/bad news to impart today from Snowheresville (where we just had a June snowstorm—what a crazy weather year!).

Let’s get the bad news over first.

For those of you that are devotees of ebook vendors other than Amazon Kindle, I am sorry to announce that financial pressures are making it impossible for me to continue wide distribution of my ebooks. {What a huge bummer!!!} And for those that have followed my Herculean efforts to stay “wide distribution” with my ebooks, you’ll know I mean that times a million.

Starting in early July, ebooks will be available only through Amazon Kindle, with the exception of Saving Grace and my upcoming Series Guide. During a time period of a few short years when author income has fallen by more than 50% due to changes in the industry, I am no exception. It seems the more books I sell, the more it costs.

So, the good news is that if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, my fiction will be available there soon. For those unfamiliar with it, it’s an “all you can read” ebook subscription service on Amazon, like a Netflix for books. And, if you don’t subscribe, my fiction will all still be available to purchase and read via free Kindle apps that can be loaded on just about any device under the sun, moon, and stars. {And the other good news, I think, is that I’m going to keep writing.}

Those of you that were waiting to get my novels on Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble Nook, or Google Play, I advise you not to wait any longer. Same goes for anyone who was considering a direct purchase of the MEGA Box Set from me to catch up on your backlist, which you can do HERE (https://pamelafaganhutchins.com/thank-you/)  (readable on any devices/apps). We will be transitioning the fiction soon.

And for those of you that want to have a more direct impact on making sure I can continue to write my What Doesn’t Kill You series and other fiction—and who love getting exclusive extra stuff—please consider becoming a Patron for as little as $1 per month, HERE (https://www.patreon.com/pamelafaganhutchins).

Here’s the dirt, for those of you that want it:

Last year, I spent a lot more than I earned. Why was it such a bad year? I underspent on promo. My covers fizzled. My protagonist was risky (she’s doing better this year, with a new cover). I had too many assets to manage in wide distribution. I had ebooks on KDP, Nook, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play (constantly causing headaches with circular price matches with Amazon), Smashwords, Draft2Digital, Overdrive, and Bookfunnel, and I needed to spend a good deal of money just on help with my thirty-headed beast.

This year, after a great protagonist trilogy release (and releasing new books every month for nearly two years), re-tooled covers, and spending a ton on ads and promo while cutting other costs, break even is looking possible. If I stay wide distribution, next year’s budget shows the possibility of a very modest net income, if the stars align. As in so modest that I’m not sure you can call it income.

While my husband appreciates the tax reduction due to my losses, it’s not sustainable. My choice has become simple: quit writing/publishing or try a different method. Isn’t it crazy to hear that from a USA Today bestseller whose writing/publishing success enabled her to quit her job as a lawyer (Before the advent of Kindle Unlimited and ruthless and rapid increase of the cost of advertising coupled with author-unfriendly algorithms–unless you are an Amazon author—amongst other issues like people valuing a cup of coffee over ten hours of reading. Oops, I wasn’t going to go off on that tangent, but, yeah, I guess I did.)? But it’s the reality for me, and for many.

And I’m sorry, because I hate surrendering, and I feel like I am letting readers and other authors down. I think I could still make a go in wide distribution if I could do my own graphics and I didn’t have an assistant, but a) I suck at graphics and b) I don’t mind working full time, but I love my life and don’t want to give up the rest of it to make minimum wage. Seriously, I’m even okay with the idea of capital investment, which is how I view the less good of my years as a published author. (Some were spectacular, too, I’ll admit) But I’m looking for a return on that investment, and I think the only way I can get it is to make a change.

I promise to blog on the transition and progress. This post is step one, as is moving my series lead back to permafree and leaving it wide distribution, along with a new series guide (a lot more fun and sexy than it sounds). The next step is to crank up on the ads on my permafree book to stimulate page reads, then move all the novels except one trilogy to KDP/KU. In order to further stimulate page reads, we’ll run a “last hurrah” wide distribution BookBub Featured Deal for the trilogy lead, then move the trilogy over quick-like to KDP/KU. After that, we’ll be rotating Facebook, Amazon, and BookBub ads on the permafree novel, and making one major promotional push of 5 days each month on one of my trilogy leads or box sets. We’ll keep applying for BookBub Featured Deals, but at 99 cents instead of free (99 cent deals are terrible if you’re wide distribution but work better if you’re in KDP/KU because you get a 70% royalty plus page reads as opposed to the 35% royalty you get if you’re not exclusive) and maybe even try some 1.99 box set deals. Like I said, I’ll keep you posted.

Thanks for subscribing and weathering the bumps and storms with me.

Pamela

Pamela Fagan Hutchins, USA Today bestseller and winner of the 2017 Silver Falchion Best Mystery winner for her What Doesn’t Kill You series, writes hilarious nonfiction (What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?), too. She teaches writing, publishing, and promotion at the SkipJack Publishing Online School (where you can take How to Sell a Ton of Books, FREE) and writes about it on the SkipJack Publishing blog.

Pamela resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. She has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes and trail rides with her hunky husband, giant horses, and pack of rescue dogs, donkeys, and goats. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).

When you run ads on BookBub, Amazon, and Facebook, you aren’t paying for people to buy your book. You’re paying for them to click an ad link (CPC) or to be served an impression (CPM). As the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”

Only you really, really need him to drink, or YOU are going to starve to death. You need to sell some books!

So here’s something distressingly hard for most authors to wrap their heads around: if people make it to your book page or view your ad image, then the advertiser has done their part of the job. If no sale occurs, then the one who has failed to convert people to buyers is you.

Sure, we can make excuses. Cluttered Amazon sales pages, with ads to every book in the world but yours on your own damn book page. Trolls who leave reviews that Amazon won’t remove, while they seem to rip legitimate readers down willy nilly (and with no recourse). But the truth is that if you served up your enticing ad to the right reader, that was your golden opportunity to close the deal. You may never get another.

Why do potential readers view ads and book pages and not convert to buyers? (This assumes the ad gets to them and they click it–in other words, that your ad was good enough)

1. Covers that don’t work. It could be quality. It could be a failure to match genre expectations. But if you don’t think people judge a book by its cover, think again.
2. Descriptions that don’t work. It could be errors. Boring formatting. A failure to appeal to the needs and emotions of the intended reader. A failure to showcase your story in a way that speaks to your ideal reader.
3. Price isn’t right. Doesn’t match the ad. Is too high for the author/book in question (if you are J.K. Rowling, charge full price. If you’re an indie, you’d better stick with $2.99-4.99).

You can maybe think of others. Cool. These are just the three biggest ones I see over and over.

I have made two of three of these mistakes. Let’s take things in reverse first and examine how I screwed up.

Descriptions That Don’t Sell

Descriptions are dang hard to write. And potential readers have expectations that must be met about characters, plot, setting, and genre, conveyed in a format that allows them to decide quickly whether to spend more time on the book. Not only that, but descriptions must be congruent with the voice of the book, error-free (preferably edited by the same person who edited the book), and appeal to the needs/emotions of the readers, even if the reader can’t articulate them clearly to herself.

And, bonus, they should contain the social proof—best served in the form of blurbs from major authors and bestseller designations—needed to validate the book. All of this with cleverly embedded SEO terms and formatted to compete for attention with all the ads on the page planted by the retailer. Yes, this means use HTML (I know, terrifying, right?).

My books were losing ground against the competition in 2017-2018. As the numbers of Kindle books racked up by the millions on Amazon, my books were getting buried. Once upon a time, I made over $150,000 a year on my writing. Then, I didn’t make enough to run a tab in Starbuck’s (I will say I got very ill for several years and took my eyes off the road and hands off the wheel for a very long time, so I understand why I was losing visibility, but that didn’t fix the problem).

So I was looking for ads and promos, and ways to make sure that when I paid my money for impressions and clicks that I closed the deal.

I looked at my sales pages and other bestsellers in my genre, similarly situated to me. My descriptions had fallen behind the times. Everyone was upping their game, and I was standing still. But standing still while others improve is falling behind.

I updated my descriptions.

This:

A pulse-pounding mystery—the second in the Emily series—from the best-selling and award-winning author of the Katie & Annalise novels.

Paralegal and former rodeo queen Emily only wants two little things. The first is to adopt Betsy—the girl who has stolen her heart but could be deported to Mexico at any time. The other is a second chance with her boss Jack, a smolderingly hot and mysterious criminal defense attorney in Amarillo who runs his family’s horse ranch in New Mexico on the side.

But before Emily can dare to hope for either (or both), the obstacles between them and her mount: two runaway teenagers, an aging exotic dancer, and a dead trucker torpedo a dinner with Jack. She and Jack catch their client—who’s charged with assaulting an officer—selling stolen goods. And to top it all off, Betsy’s zealously religious and overly protective foster parents sic some questionable cops on Emily to destroy her reputation.

Emily just wants to silence all the noise and focus on her priorities: Betsy and Jack. But then the phone rings. It’s the two runaways, with an enormous secret and a desperate plea for help. They convince Emily that she’s the only one they can trust, forcing her into a horrible choice: risking the lives of these two teens, or jeopardizing her own chance at a life with the two people she cares about most.

Became this:

A shocking murder. A high-speed robbery. Can one ex-cowgirl stand up to a criminal convoy?

Emily Bernal may have traded the fast-paced rodeo world for paralegal work but the change hasn’t made her life any simpler. Between romancing her sexy attorney boss Jack and fighting for custody of her foster child, she wonders if riding a bucking bronco would be easier. But when two runaway teens beg for her help after witnessing a truck-stop murder, the former rodeo queen springs into action.

As she follows the clues along the Texas interstate, she can’t help but notice her boyfriend is hiding something from her. When the investigation turns deadly, Emily’s only chance to keep the runaways alive is to stand toe-to-toe with a criminal conspiracy that could make her the next victim.

Earth to Emily is the second standalone novel in an adrenaline-pumping romantic mystery trilogy. If you like gutsy Texans, rollicking twists and turns, and a dash of humor, then you’ll love Pamela Fagan Hutchins’ wild thrill ride.

 

Thank you, Bryan Cohen. I now use his three-act, cliffhanger structure (and clever word play) in writing my own descriptions, but his rewrites for me in mid-2018 set the stage for what was promising to be the resurgence of my novels. I had a spectacular BookBub Featured Deal in October, and, armed with his new descriptions, my sales doubled and hung in there.

But we had many miles of catching up left to go, over roads where I encountered more barriers to sales.

Covers That Don’t Sell

In 2019, I was looking for a way to sustain my increased sales volume between BookBub Featured Deals. I’d never mastered the “big three” ad platforms: Amazon, Facebook, and BookBub. As a wide distribution author, I knew I needed a steady, daily, drip, drip, drip of sales, too, not just the explosive, one-day bursts from huge promos, if I wanted to stay visible, especially on Amazon. So I hired an ad consultant to work with me for a few months, and hopefully leave me with a shelf of ads I could easily recycle whenever I needed them. (This is not a post on ads; I’ll write about how that went, at a later time)

But what we quickly discovered is that he had no idea what I wrote from looking at most of my covers. And if he had no idea, how would a reader in a split second figure it out and decide the book was right for him? If the alternative for that reader was to take advantage of a straightforward yes decision on a great deal by another author, the reader was going to do that. To prove his point, he tried to advertise my BOMBSHELL (Ava 1) and my GOING FOR KONA (Michele 1), both of them trilogy leads within my super series, and priced at $2.99. And they had really great read through from book 1 to 3 in each trilogy: 73% for Ava, 82% for Michele.

Both ad campaigns fizzled. Bombed. Tanked.

Ricardo explained I was just not closing the deal on the impression; I wasn’t even getting the clicks I should have, and certainly not the buys from the clicks. And he reiterated that as a writer of mysteries with female protagonists, I was hiding that pretty well with my covers, even if they were attractive. (Meanwhile, he took my Saving Grace and rocked ads on it; that cover is fantastic)

I went back to the drawing board with a new cover artist, Alayah Frazier, and my virtual assistant, Bobbye Marrs.

For my Michele trilogy, we were aiming for suspense/mystery, female protagonist, and a gritty, literal world seen through a haze of pain and grief, without being maudlin.

Before was heavily on symbolism and stark color:

 

After:

I am really happy with the new covers, even if I do miss the butterfly (it may be added back in some day–we were working against a major deadline). Below I’ll show you how they work with the other trilogy covers within the super series.

 

For my Ava trilogy, we were aiming for sexy, quirky, exotic, suspense/mystery, and female protagonist.

Before had a kind of Carl Hiassen thing going on:

After:

 

These covers scream Ava. I am totally in love with them.

And what they all look like when you put them up against my bestselling Katie books and my brash, bold new Maggie books is continuity. You know what you get when you are buying a novel by Pamela Fagan Hutchins. At least I think so/hope so. That’s very important.

Before (Amazon author page):

After (Amazon author page):

And what do you know. The right readers and only the right readers clicked my ads (because I don’t want to pay for the wrong ones–quality clicks, higher conversions, that’s a better result), and they resulted in sales at positive ROI. When I run my ad series, I’ll report out on how that all went down.

For now, ask yourself: do your covers and descriptions convert readers to buyers?

p.s. Here are my new Emily, covers, too. Compare to above. Initial Heaven to Betsy Amazon ads for the full price ebook are ROCKIN’!

Pamela Fagan Hutchins, USA Today bestseller and winner of the 2017 Silver Falchion

Best Mystery winner for her What Doesn’t Kill You series, writes hilarious nonfiction (What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?), too. She teaches writing, publishing, and promotion at the SkipJack Publishing Online School (where you can take How to Sell a Ton of Books, FREE) and writes about it on the SkipJack Publishing blog.

Pamela resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. She has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes and trail rides with her hunky husband, giant horses, and pack of rescue dogs, donkeys, and goats. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).

I am hosting four—count ’em, four—retreats this year, and I’m offering a 10% discount for our SkipJack subscribers! Three of the retreats are for writers, and the other is for readers (and that one is free). And what are writers anyway but readers armed with fast fingers or a thick number two pencil?

First, who am I and why would you come to one of my retreats? Besides that I am an experienced writing coach and believe in a healthy mix of hard work and fun, I’m a USA Today bestseller and Silver Falchion Best Mystery winner and have a whole lot of happy past attendees.

I have some great retreats planned this year:

1. Indie Publishing Success Retreat (April, TX)
2. Enter to win! READER APPRECIATION WEEK (CONTEST), Free for WINNERS (June, WY)
3. JUMPSTART THAT NOVEL (July, WY)
4. CRIME FICTION INTENSIVE (October, TX)

In addition to instruction and structured time, all of my retreats include invaluable, informal discussions, home cooked meals, serene settings, and a chance for breaks to enjoy local activities. More information on each retreat can be found at http://pamelafaganhutchins.com/writing-retreats/.

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1. WINNING IN 2019 INTENSIVE: Publishing Success

April 12-14, Hill Country of TX

Rocket launch your publishing career at a weekend retreat focusing on publishing and promotion strategy.

Includes:

• Comprehensive workshops on publishing and promotion strategies by Pamela and her uber-assistant, author Bobbye Marrs
• 1-1 sessions with Pamela to brainstorm your strategies
• Dedicated time to work on your own publishing/promotion plan/budget
• Feedback and discussion about your strategies with other retreat participants
• Post-retreat feedback on your publishing/promotion plan/budget from Pamela

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2. READER APPRECIATION RETREAT WEEK CONTEST WINNERS

JUNE 17-22, Bighorn Mountains of WY

ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO ATTEND!

A soul-cleansing week of fun and all things bookish hosted by Pamela on the eastern face of the Bighorn Mountains.

• Enjoy Pamela’s Snowheresville lifestyle with her
• Talk books, books, and more books!
• Attend a live Wine Women & Writing podcast with a bestselling author
• Participate in excursions into the mountains, nearby Western towns, or attractions, as featured in Pamela’s novels

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3. JUMPSTART THAT NOVEL

July 8-12, Bighorn Mountains of WY

A five-day retreat to help you take your manuscript from woe to wow (or at least “the end!”).

• A critique of the first 50 pages of your novel by Pamela
• Mini-workshops on giving and receiving feedback, finishing your novel, deep novel revision, and more
• Dedicated writing/revision time
• Valuable critique feedback from participants
• Close-out feedback from Pamela on the revised first 10 pages of your novel

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4. CRIME FICTION INTENSIVE

October 25-27, Hill Country of TX

A weekend writer’s retreat focusing on the craft and art of crime fiction writing.

• Comprehensive workshops on creating tension, character development, atmosphere and setting, red herrings, story structure and elements, creating a “villain,” series writing, and more
• 1-1 critique session with Pamela on your 1^st50-pages
• Dedicated time to write
• Feedback and discussion about your work with other retreat participants

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For more information, reader contest details, contest entry, or to register for one of the retreats, visit my website, http://bit.ly/PamelaRetreats.

Don’t forget to let me know you’re a SkipJack subscriber for your 10% discount when you contact me to register. Can’t wait to see you at one of these great sessions.

Pamela

p.s. For unfacilitated retreat space, email pamela at pamelafaganhutchins dot com.

Pamela Fagan Hutchins, USA Today bestseller andwinner of the 2017 Silver Falchion award for
Best Mystery, writes hilarious nonfiction (What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?), and mystery trilogies in her What Doesn’t Kill You world. She teaches writing, publishing, and promotion at the SkipJack Publishing Online School (where you can take How to Sell a Ton of Books, FREE) and writes about it on the SkipJack Publishing blog.

Pamela resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. She has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes and trail rides with her hunky husband, giant horses, and pack of rescue dogs, donkeys, and goats. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).