Thursday 22 March 2012

What are we doing wrong?


I read a blog this week by an author who has 3 books on Amazon, two self-published in April 2011, and one in January 2012. She said she doesn't spend much time on promotrion, apart from writing a few blogs and guests blogs, and sending the book out to a few reviewers.

I checked the reviews:

For the first book, she has 49 reviews: 33 five star, 7 four star, 3 three star and 6 two star. The two star reviews criticise the book as being slow, and the heroine maudlin; one criticised lack of depth and bad punctuation, two said the book was shallow and poorly written, one criticised the ‘historical’ content, and the final one said it was probably aimed at 13 year olds! Okay, she has 33 ‘good’ reviews to balance out these criticisms, several of which compared it to Little House on the Prairie.

Her second book (released the same date, remember?) got 14 reviews, 13 of which were 5 star. Her third book, released last January, has 5 five star reviews so far. 

What made me gasp, however, was her statement that she’s sold 8,686 books in just the first half of this month!

While I was pondering all this, I opened my writers' magazine today, and found an article about a ‘Kindle bestseller’. His first book, self-published in January 2011, became a Number 1 bestseller on Amazon. His second book was published 3 days later, and his third book in November 2011.

There were 9 reviews for the first book (4 of which were 5 star), only 1 review for the second (5 stars), and none yet for the third. I mention, in passing, the one-star review for the first book- “It struck me as something that might have been produced in a creative writing class by a well-meaning but not highly talented amateur.”

Again it was this author’s comment about marketing which caught my eye. He simply said he did very little, apart from linking it to his Twitter account, but he’s actually sold 300,000 copies, and has had an agent contacting him, talking about foreign rights and film rights!

All this leaves me totally baffled. Two huge success stories, despite some very poor reviews, and, allegedly, very little promotion by the authors. Makes me wonder what the rest of us are doing wrong!


20 comments:

  1. Paula--I'm a IndieRomanceInk, a yahoo group for self-pubbed authors on Amazon. I've learned a lot, including enormous numbers of sales right off the bat. One author reported she'd just sold her 1 millionth book--she does have numberous books on there. There is a gigantic network of Indie authors and readers who look for the Indie authors? Why? Their books are almost always up Free at first, and people download those by the tens of thousands. Then when the price is added, people continue to buy it because it now has a very high ranking and all those great reviews. So...you and I? We're fighting for some of that, but we do not have the same network. Sad, but true. More later.

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  2. It's true that pricing can have a huge influence - but surely 'free' downloads cannot be counted as 'sales'?
    Maybe I should have mentioned the prices these authors are charging for their books. The first author charges 0.99 for her first book, 2.99 for her second and 3.99 for her third.
    Likewise, the Kindle bestseller guy charges 0.99 for his first, $2.79 for his second, and $3.49 for his third.
    I just saw a quote about him from one of the national morning papers here: 'The Hottest new author in Britain' - so how does that compare with the comment that caused him a 'well-meaning but not very talented amateur'? LOL.

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  3. Just seen something to confirm what you said, Celia - someone had 7,953 downloads of her book last Sunday/Monday - because it was free! It seems wrong, though, that free downloads should bump a book up the Amazon rankings.

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  4. Maybe buyers are distrusting of reviews, rightly guessing a lot come from friends/family. A lot of us would like to know about the lack of marketing. Well twitter is a great marketing tool.

    Denise

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  5. Buying into the 'free' books being counted. To Amazon, I guess a sale is a sale even if it's getting nothing for the author except a lot of exposure.

    Denise

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  6. It does look like it's the free book approach which works. And I must say, I will download any book that looks reasonable if it's free and I only pay full price for tried and trusted authors. Disappointed about the reviews, though, when I've worked so hard to get them.

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  7. It's a very good question, Paula, to which there seems to be no one answer. Even when our ranking does peak on Amazon, it doesn't stay there for long unless the book continues to sell at the same volume.

    And, as Jenny says, it's very hard work promoting ourselves!

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  8. Being published rather than self-published, I don't have the option of offering my books for free, so I can't compete on that score.
    Must admit I do tend to look at any 1 or 2 star reviews (on the basis that these won't be from family or friends!)
    What beats me though is how people 'find' the books by these authors if they don't do any promotion! Are the rest of us wasting our time somehow by trying to promote ourselves?

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  9. I know a popular author who admits to doing very little promo.

    Except for a blog or two here and there, she said the trick to selling her books is to keep writing them.

    The more books she has, the more exposure she gets. And as we all know, promo can take a lot of time away from our writing!

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  10. Interesting blog. Promo does take writing time. The free download gets them exposure. If people read and like a book by an author,and it was free, then they are more apt to buy their next ones. I have reviews on my two novels that aren't from friends or family in the four and five-star ratings, so you can't always judge the ratings that way. I have some reviews posted that I don't know the people, how they found my book, and didn't know there was a review until I discovered it. I've heard three and four star reviews mean a book is good. I think our problem is it's impossible to compete with people who can give away free books when we can't, for one. Blessings, BJ Robinson

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  11. I'm as baffled, Paula. If indeed free downloads are contributing factors in sales ranking then it isn't fair, is it?
    There should be separate criteria for sales methods.

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  12. Paula--I need to add a little more to this conversation. I have realized--I think--that Free books do not mix in with the Amazon ranking for paid books. There are countless Free lists, and the big one the Indie authors want to get their book on is the Top 100 Free Reads list--Because???? This list is on the right side of the page when you open it, and the Top 100 Paid books are on a separate list right beside it. So anyone looking at the top sellers in the paid category--thats' All Kindle books--they will also see the Free list beside it
    So, when an Indie author puts her/his book Free, it will be on separate lists--I'm watching a friend's book right now--overnight results:
    #35 Free in Kindle Store
    # 3 Free Romance/Humor
    #9 Free Contemporary Romance

    When she puts a price on it--these should go away, then she's in the mix with everybody else.
    Now...I believe I have this correct this time.
    Still, the Indie author gets this big extra push that we do not get. Tens of thousand of readers will have already seen the free book, and when they see the author on a paid list--most likely they will be interested.
    Very complicated, isn't it?

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  13. Toni - I've heard it said that the more books you write, the more 'fans' you get, but I'm wondering how those 'fans' find your book(s) on amazon in the first place, if you're not doing any promo!

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  14. Agree with everything you've said, BJ. Of course not all 'good' reviews are from family or friends (although I have seen examples of this!). Personally, I prefer to see reviews of my books from people I don't know, since then I know they're genuinely judging the book itself.

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  15. Yes, I've seen the separate Free and Paid rankings, Celia - but I still wonder whether these are merged to create the 'overall' ranking? And of course the Amazon ranking isn't the 'be all and end all', as our books are being sold on other sites. I shall be interested to see what sales result from my publisher putting one of my books in the 99cent sale this month!

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  16. Wow. That is interesting...I always wonder how people get all of those reviews up there. I'm always so jealous. I do what I can promotion-wise, but I don't always have the time.

    Intersting comments as follow up, too. Definitely food for thought.

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  17. I just wonder how some people with completely dire reviews (okay, on Amazon!) can get into the NYT best-seller lists, Debra!

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  18. Paula,

    It's worthwhile to write something expressly to offer it for free. It doesn't have to be a full-length novel, but it should reflect what a reader can expect from your stories. I have a short story that I put up for free that's had more than 10k downloads. (Not everyone who downloads will read it or like it, of course, but some will and those who do generally buy.) It's the best promo decision I could have ever made. It highlights the humor and heat level I write with and has been a wonderful way of introducing readers to my books. I have no intention of ever charging a dime for it. There are also dozens of websites out there that keep readers apprised of new freebies. So even though your books are released through a publisher, I don't think this promo route is closed to you.

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  19. That's a really good point, Suzie, thanks so much for sharing this side of freebie publishing. I shall definitely near this in mind!

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  20. LOL! That's very interesting. Much food for thought and a very useful post.

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