Amazon's eBook Sales Surpass Paperback

Check this out: Amazon announced on Friday that it is selling more eBooks than paperback books for the first time!!  Here's what they reported: 

"Amazon.com is now selling more Kindle books than paperback books. Since the beginning of the year, for every 100 paperback books Amazon has sold, the company has sold 115 Kindle books. Additionally, during this same time period the company has sold three times as many Kindle books as hardcover books.

"This is across Amazon.com's entire US book business and includes sales of books where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the numbers even higher."

With the info provided, if you do the math and add hardcover and paperback together it indicates that Amazon is still selling more paper-based books that eBooks (120:100). And it is possible that this after-Christmas rush to load up newly gifted Kindles with eBooks will subside, but it is nonetheless huge news. And highly motivating. It is also true that eBook pricing is generally a lot lower than paper, so top line sales are surely higher for paper, still. But this is super encouraging for us book entrepreneurs who mostly need to make it work in eBooks. (I've noticed over and over in all of the indie success stories it isn't about print -- it's all about ebooks.) Exciting stuff!!

Building a Book

To get my book ready for an April 4 publication date, I'm using the simplest marketing framework I know of: the four Ps -- Product, Price, Placement (or distribution), and Promotion.

Starting with Product: this is everything about the nature and quality of the book you're writing. In all of the most helpful blogs on self publishing I'm picking up on a theme -- without the third-party arbiters of quality that can be found in agents and editors and traditional publishing houses (whether large commercial or small press), it's up to us as self publishers to ensure we meet the quality standards of our category. Knowing what the standards are is relatively straightforward (one word: read!), but judging our own work against them can be difficult. We're often too close to the writing, biased, impatient.

I remember when I first showed my manuscript to an agent friend years ago, when I thought it was close to ready, nearly done. She told me candidly that she thought I had three or four rounds of revision more to do, and my heart sank. I was so ready to be finished! But, this will come as absolutely no surprise, she was right. So, I highly recommend getting an informed, independent opinion about the state of your work. It can come from a pro in the business, other writers, as in a writers group, a writing class with a knowledgeable teacher, or a professional paid consultation. It's great if you have a network of friends and resources who can provide unbiased services for free, but if you don't, I'd seriously save my pennies as this is a really important part of getting a good product out there. 

After a few additional rounds of revision that addressed that early helpful feedback (including writing out a beloved character -- now that was hard to do! But again, the right choice), I hired a manuscript consultant through Grub Street Writers to read and critique my manuscript in its entirety, and got the green light that I was far closer to ready, in fact nearly so. I incorporated the latest feedback, then hired a copyeditor.  (Full disclosure: I'm a board member of the non-profit Grub Street, so I know them well and believe they have an extremely high quality service, but please judge for yourself!)

After making final edits, I hired a proofreader to ensure the entire manuscript was cleaned up. She's working on it now, and I get the document back on Thursday. Thursday!! My humble opinion: I would definitely utilize professional freelancers for copyediting and proofreading. (What's the difference? My freelancer describes it this way: Copyediting includes addressing awkward writing, suggesting organizational changes, commenting on repetitiveness, and generally improving the writing at whatever level it is needed/desired. And, in nonfiction particularly, raising questions about things that aren't clear. Proofreading is checking for typos, dropped words, punctuation errors, and grammar problems. Proofreading wouldn't be criticizing the writing, unless there was something extremely troubling.) Sidebar: I tried a number of potential sources to find freelancers that were the right fit for my project. Grub Street has been by far the most valuable source on the core writing, and I find Joe Konrath to be an invaluable and generous source of suggestions and leads to vetted freelance and independent professionals for things like ebook formatting and interior design. I also used LinkedIn, which was ultimately how I found my proofreader. Love LinkedIn! I was able to find someone with the skills I needed who was connected on LinkedIn to a good friend (also a writer) who could vouch for her.

Similarly, ensuring high quality formatting for Print On Demand and eBooks is another element necessary to match the standards of traditional publishing. I'm hoping I can do it myself, but if I cannot get it perfect, I'll hire a pro for that, too. I'd probably start with Joe Konrath's people and I also like the services provided by April Hamilton - her book, the Indie Author's Guide, is excellent. 

The last thing I'll mention on building the book is the all-important cover. I have much to share here but I will summarize for now: The Do It Yourself path seems fraught to me -- there are a lot of really bad covers out there! I say that with total empathy -- it is hard to be a book cover designer on top of everything else we self publishers are responsible for.  There are many decent templates available through author solutions companies and hybrid services (if you're using CreateSpace, their services for layout and design look pretty useful) and lots of freelance cover designers, but it is often very expensive.  I briefly considered overinvesting in a cover (the quote from one amazing boutique design house was for $2500-3500, and surely worth it given the quality work this shop does) because I think they're so important, but ultimately decided to go with a package deal targeted to self publishers at a fraction of the cost. It allows minimal customization but will hopefully be sufficient -- I will know on Thursday, when I get the first draft images back from the designer. Wish me luck! I'll gladly share my lessons learned on the topic of figuring out cover art in a future post. But for now, for summarizing the critical elements of building a great product, I would absolutely ensure a great cover -- one that fits the genre or category you're writing, is eye-catching, and that looks good small, since the virtual bookstores generally are utilizing thumbnail images.  If anyone has other suggestions for building the best book possible, please leave them in the comments. Next up: Pricing! 

Strategy is Choice

I've been thinking all wrong about this post on "strategy" -- I've been focusing on having a business strategy for (sixoneseven) books, conceiving of an approach to independent publishing that takes advantage of the changes in the industry, developments in technology, etc. All important, but what I really need and want is a strategy for my whole creative life -- all of it, not just the business side of it.

My general approach:
1) Keep my day job. This is the most consistent and important piece of advice for writers I've ever heard.
2) Replicate the usefulness of traditional publishers as best I can by assembling a team of freelance experts to perform the most important and differentiating services -- editing, proofreading, book design, publicity and promotion -- in the publishing process. Hire people to do the things I'm not good at, whenever possible.
3) Take advantage of the flexibility and freedom of being independent to do things cost effectively and quickly, and mostly online.
4) Invest disproportionately in developing insight about the market for my books and exploring creative approaches to reaching potential readers.

In addition to an overall strategy for my (sixoneseven) books publishing efforts, I also need a marketing strategy for Annie Begins, the book. The most critical aspect of this for me is focusing on the right audience, and to start I know that is women (though men are so very welcome to read AB, and the few who have so far have enjoyed it!) who read for enjoyment and connection (to characters, ideas) and who either own an E-Reader or who shop online for books. Simple as that, for now. As I get more insight about this group of people, I will refine my understanding of my target market. But an implicit part of my strategy, especially given how fast everything is changing, is to just do it: experiment and learn, experiment and learn.

Onward!