tonyoneill
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Post by tonyoneill on Jun 2, 2014 9:28:58 GMT -8
Hi all This is my first post, so apologies if I have posted in the wrong place. I am a traditionally-published author who decided to go down the self pub route as a way of making my back catalogue available to readers. My first self pub book was an odds and ends collection of shot stories that I did via Amazon's KDP program. Here it is: www.amazon.com/Dirty-Hits-2003-2013-Tony-ONeill-ebook/dp/B00GM0QGSM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401730001&sr=8-1&keywords=dirty+hits It was a really good experience, and I felt encouraged to do more. I decided to work with Smashwords on the next book, lured in by the multiple format availability. This book is my debut novel which has been out of print in English for years and now fetches silly prices on Amazon used. I worked really hard on it, adding bonus material, formatting, and collecting together exclusive stuff like a cover gallery and other fun stuff for the e-edition. Plus I added an intro by James Frey which was originally only on the French edition. www.smashwords.com/books/view/426961It went live on Friday. It is up on iTunes as well, but so far I don't see it on Amazon. Is it common to experience a delay in getting your book up on Amazon as opposed to other sites? Also, could anyone chip in on their experiences using Smashwords vs KDP? I do like that on KDP payments are processed quickly, and I've heard that things move a little slower on Smashwords. However, Im willing to overlook that for the opportunity to get on multiple markets at once. However the short story collection - which is to my mind is the least commercial of the two books - easily sold more out of the gate than my novel. Im wondering if this is because more people shop on Amazon, and things will balance out once the book is available there? Anyway thanks for reading and I look forward to your responses.... Tony O'Neill www.tonyoneill.net |
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serbanvcenache
SWF Writers
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Post by serbanvcenache on Jun 2, 2014 9:43:17 GMT -8
Smashwords doesn't have an agreement with Amazon vis-a-vis automatic shipping; that's not the fault of SW, but Amazon. You have to have at least 1000 sales via SW and its retail partners, in order for the SW crew to manually upload it to Amazon.
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tonyoneill
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Post by tonyoneill on Jun 2, 2014 14:29:09 GMT -8
Ah, thank you for that. Does that mean the book WONT appear on Amazon until it makes that many sales, or might it appear before then?
Im wondering whether I should release a separate Kindle version...
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Ria Stone
SWF Writers
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Post by Ria Stone on Jun 2, 2014 15:29:55 GMT -8
Welcome Tony, my novelette is not on Amazon but my cookbook (for free) is and it got lots of takers. But, I changed the price from free to 2.99 on Amazon and SW, and interest plummeted, so I have little experience with the SW or Amazon payment systems etc.
I am a slow writer, so I do not have a catalog of books yet.
Good luck
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Post by Ted on Jun 2, 2014 16:32:56 GMT -8
Tony, most authors with Smashwords upload directly to Amazon KDP. When you upload your work to Amazon be sure to NOT enroll the ebook in the KDP Select program as it restricts your book to Amazon only.
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tonyoneill
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Post by tonyoneill on Jun 2, 2014 17:15:42 GMT -8
Thanks for the responses everyone. I guess it's time to get to work on a kindle edition. My last kdp book is in the select program, still not sure if it's worth it or not... Just a side note... Are there any other traditionally published authors on the forum who have used smashwords to republish backlist titles. If so I would love to hear your experiences, good and bad.
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Post by Ted on Jun 3, 2014 6:53:07 GMT -8
Tony, KDP Select was good for authors about 4 or 5 years ago. Since then it has lost favor due to lots of downloads on free days but very few sales resulting. Kindle device owners now wait until an ebook becomes free before downloading it, which doesn't mean they will actually read it and talk to others about it.
From reading posts on other forums and social networking sites it seems KDP Select continues to draw new authors. This is good for Smashwords authors as it keeps Amazon KDP crowded with new and often free ebooks, leaving Smashwords authors less worried about new entrants squeezing their sales margins.
I always encourage new authors to use Amazon KDP when first starting out, as it does have about 50% of the North American market. If after one year they find their sales are adequate to their needs then I suggest they use their existing marketing and brand name awareness to spread out sales through Smashwords. After all, if their ebook fails to generate any interest in 50% of the North American market then it very likely won't succeed no matter where else you publish it.
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Post by jaydax on Jun 3, 2014 15:20:19 GMT -8
My wife and I have 10 books available on Smashwords and Amazon. We write in MS Word and send that to Calibre to make an epub file. We produce two versions, one for Amazon with their links to our other books and one for Smashwords which links to our website rather than Amazon. The copyright notice is different also. Both Smashwords and Amazon are happy to accept an epub file.
Kindle Select was brilliant when it first started but changed in April 2012 and became much less effective. Now to get the same popularity ranking you'll need to 'sell' ten free books for every paid book. For a new author Select is worth doing only for a first book in a series of at least three books. Far better to stay out of Select, publish on Smashwords and set your first book of the series as free. Eventually Amazon will price match.
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tonyoneill
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Post by tonyoneill on Jun 4, 2014 7:25:21 GMT -8
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Post by Ted on Jun 4, 2014 9:21:31 GMT -8
I will hold off joining KDP with this release. I have another book enrolled, which I'll keep signed up as a kind of guinea pig.... You should add this release to KDP, just don't enroll it in their KDP Select option. |
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tonyoneill
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Post by tonyoneill on Jun 4, 2014 15:46:40 GMT -8
ah yes, thats what i meant....
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chelsfield
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Post by chelsfield on Jun 5, 2014 0:23:25 GMT -8
Welcome Tony, my novelette is not on Amazon but my cookbook (for free) is and it got lots of takers. But, I changed the price from free to 2.99 on Amazon and SW, and interest plummeted, so I have little experience with the SW or Amazon payment systems etc. I am a slow writer, so I do not have a catalog of books yet. Good luck I haven't loaded my free title onto amazon yet. I figured I would use it to lure people into the fee-based titles (once I had published them). Perhaps you should keep your cookbook free and then publish something that is related for a price? Kind of use the free one as a springboard.... Anyway, your experience is really instructive. |
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Ria Stone
SWF Writers
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Post by Ria Stone on Jun 6, 2014 8:36:50 GMT -8
Welcome Tony, my novelette is not on Amazon but my cookbook (for free) is and it got lots of takers. But, I changed the price from free to 2.99 on Amazon and SW, and interest plummeted, so I have little experience with the SW or Amazon payment systems etc. I am a slow writer, so I do not have a catalog of books yet. Good luck I haven't loaded my free title onto amazon yet. I figured I would use it to lure people into the fee-based titles (once I had published them). Perhaps you should keep your cookbook free and then publish something that is related for a price? Kind of use the free one as a springboard.... Anyway, your experience is really instructive. Hi Chelsfield: I am thinking through my promotions. My take so far is that unless I wrote a blockbuster single novel, I need to develop a "catalog" of novels. Being a slow writer, that is going to be hard. I am working on the spanish version of my novelette and another cookbook but it will many months before they are ready. I think that once I am about to release my spanish version of Gina's Dream, I will develop a more thorough marketing plan. I really had no marketing plan for Gina's Dream, so part of my next marketing plan may include a short-time promotional where I offer the cookbook for free and a discount on my spanish Gina's Dream. I learned so much at Balticon, I have to absorb what I learned and work out how to include some of the ideas in my marketing plan. |
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chelsfield
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Post by chelsfield on Jun 9, 2014 0:22:48 GMT -8
My approach exactly. I, too, am a slow writer. This coupled with the fact that I want to take a 'slow burn' approach to marketing means I am way behind others on the forum in terms of distribution on other channels outside of SW.
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