How to Publish a Book Readers,

I've been somewhat quiet lately. The reasons for this are multi-faceted, but aside from being extremely busy, I've also been watching my Kindle e-book sales and have been waiting to reserve judgment. Today, I am publishing my sales #s from the last 4 months.

Since June 2009, I have sold exactly 2,500 copies of my novel The Colorado Sequence.

Since June 2009, I have sold exactly 1,465 copies of my novel CLAWS.

That's a total of 3,965 books sold in a little over 4 months, which qualifies as the biggest breakthrough of my career.

Yesterday, Amazon Kindle released their e-reader to 100 countries around the world. Until now, Kindles have only been available in the U.S. No doubt, the new availability of Kindle in 100 nations worldwide will increase and sustain the sales trend I've seen with my own books these past few months.

This is not a flash-in-the-pan trend that is going to go away anytime soon. I think e-books are here to stay, and we will only see them continue to increase in sales #s over the next 3-5 years.

Yesterday, I launched a new novel on Amazon Kindle, AMBER PAGE (available for $1.99). In less than 24 hours, it has shot up inside the top 0.5% of all books sold on Kindle. 

Here are my thoughts on how/why I've managed to breakthrough with my books on Kindle.

1. Price Point is Key. Independent authors who price their books at more than 2 dollars do poorly on Kindle. The lower the price the better, and Amazon's DTP has a low ceiling of 99 cents (i.e., you can't price your book lower than 99 cents on DTP).
2. Book Cover Design. I have watched sales #s closely these past 4-5 months, and books with professional looking covers consistently do better than those with unflattering covers.
3. Reviews Lead to Sales. I've found that it doesn't entirely matter whether your reviews are all positive. I've had a lot of negative reviews, some mixed reviews, and a good number of positive reviews. When compared to other indie authors with mostly positive reviews, my sales #s are competitive, which leads me to believe that as long as the majority of your reviews aren't 1-star and negative, you'll do fine. A mix of reviews is actually good for piquing interest.
4. Kindle Bestseller Lists. Amazon has many different bestseller lists for a variety of genres. I've found that getting onto their bestseller lists (and staying there) increases visibility for potential readers to find your books, and it leads to 3rd-party discussion on websites outside of Amazon.
5. Kindle Discussion Boards. Amazon has forum discussion boards, and I've seen a direct correlation with a presence on these forums and positive sales #s. Amazon encourages authors to link to products (i.e., books) in the forums. This can lead to negative reviews, however, if you're overbearing and irritating. The key is to create a topic that benefits Kindle Readers. I also post regularly at kindleboards.com
6. Friday Talk Show. About two months ago, I started a weekly Call-In Show that features guest authors every week. I've had a lot of Kindle authors on the show, and this has led to good will and buzz about me and my books. Helping others is a good way to make friends, and I've also learned a hell of a lot by talking to authors and hearing their perspectives.
7. Discussion on Blogs. I've frequented a handful of Kindle authors' blogs and usually find something constructive to add to the conversation. Often, I'll use a signature in my posts that links to my books on Kindle. By making friends with other Kindle authors and contributing to their blogs (again without being annoying), I've sold a bunch of books.

Where all this is going is anybody's guess, but the realization that I've come to after 4-5 months is that these sales #s are sustainable and very likely repeatable. Without a doubt, the new digital explosion of e-books and e-readers is the single biggest change in how to publish a book that I have seen in more than thirty years.

At the SIBA trade show a few weeks ago, e-books were the elephant in the room that booksellers were talking about with mixed feelings of fear, skepticism, and outright anger. Book publisher Harper-Collins has developed a way that indie bookstores can sell books as e-books in their stores. Essentially, a patron buys a "postcard" from an in-store rack with the book cover and description and can use a code to download the novel onto their computer or e-reading device. The advantage is that the cost in-store can be less to consumers than buying solely from Amazon, and the business model that book publisher Harper-Collins is establishing revolutionizes how books have been bought, distributed, and sold.

These "postcards" are purchased by the stores at a flat fee (e.g., a dollar) and are non-returnable. The store can then set their price at whatever they like. If they want to undersell Barnes and Noble or Amazon, they can do so. The weight of a postcard is significantly less than a hardcover and so the mass shipping costs of books is cut dramatically. Also, by selling these cards as non-returnable Harper-Collins reduces additional shipping and pulping expenses associated with traditional books.

It's a brave new world, and I'm afraid it's here to stay. I've seen a lot of folks on blogs who have voiced skepticism and caution, but from my perspective the tidal change is here.

I'm going to embrace it and (hopefully) continue to thrive.

As always, thanks so much for visiting us here at How to Publish a Book. Feel free to send me any questions or comments that you have.

Stacey