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Post by Ted on Dec 12, 2015 18:38:59 GMT -8
Just had some conflab with Fussy Librarian.Always a favourite. Suggested she poked Mark Coker with a sharp stick to offer us a serious alternative to K U. Chill. It won't happen. It's far to radical. Mark is in the ebook distribution method and while he does operate an online ebook store the Smashwords company isn't powerful or rich enough at this time to alienate the retailers and subscription services with whom he has made alliances. Amazon doesn't have to deal with distribution as Smashwords has to for the simple fact Amazon is its own ecosystem. Amazon can do what it wants without worrying about what some distributors, retailers, authors, or publishers may do. Amazon has 50% of the US market and that is enough to give it some clout. Like you say, Mark isn't about to offer a KU alternative. But who knows what may happen in the years ahead. |
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Post by garyweston on Dec 13, 2015 2:50:55 GMT -8
Why alienate? The way I see it they are all being hit by K U and we all know authors who are jumping ship.
My point has always been that they should use what they already have to produce a K U alternative. Apple isn't a tiddler. If they all offered a non exclusive subscription model under one umbrella, fed by Smash / D2D ** but using their own ereading aps and devices, like the Ipad, nook, etc, that would be an alternative. Readers would be able to use the provider they like the most and use the devices they prefer. Also, some writers don't go through Smash or D2D preferring to publish directly to the retailers. This gives books on one outlet not found on another. By being non exclusive, this would give authors more choice including being on non K U Amazon. Some readers will always prefer their Nook or Ipad or Kindle etc, so they would be happy. Amazon would also have to become more attractive to writers and readers to compete.
Where is the cost of doing something like this? Sure there will be some cost, but the infrastructure is already there as are the books etc. The cost wouldn't be mega. You say who knows what will happen in years to come. Agreed. But Zon's competition don't have years. I could add a list of affiliates no longer running. Expect it to become bigger next year.
**(why not include D2D? A damn sight easier to publish through them than with smash)
PS. Another 881 KU pages read so far today
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Post by Ted on Dec 13, 2015 10:53:57 GMT -8
In all truthfulness I'd love to see many more authors on K U. The more the merrier as far as I'm concerned. The reason is with less ebook sales competition from authors now on K U the better it is for me. I'm not competing with sci-fi authors or most other fiction authors, so I'm in a very small pool of potential readers. Most of my ebooks are best when printed out, not read on a screen, adding to my limited audience. Information Today posted an article in January this year about ebook subscriptions. I'm waiting to see if they update the information in the new year. Here is their sentiments: Ebook Subscription Services AriseYouTube brought video viewing to users anytime, anywhere just 10 years ago, and 2 years later Netflix began to offer streaming video. Given the market dynamics, it was only a matter of time before ebook subscription ventures would also arise. Oyster and Scribd launched their services in 2013. In July 2014, Amazon introduced Kindle Unlimited with a 600,000-plus-title catalog heavy on classics, best-sellers, and books from authors who self-publish on Amazon. Each of these services offers unlimited access to its catalog for $9–$10 per month. There is no limit to the number of books you can read online or download for offline reading (without due dates)—unless you decide to cancel your subscription, when you can no longer access any saved titles. This model is a bit pricey for all but the voracious reader, perhaps. Amazon’s service has attracted severe criticism from its own self-published authors who clearly see adding their titles to the Unlimited collection as bringing them far less revenue for their efforts than when titles are offered individually. Prolific indie romance author H.M. Ward notes, “I had my serials in it for 60 days and lost approx 75% of my income. That’s counting borrows and bonuses. My sales dropped like a stone. The number of borrows was higher than sales. They didn’t complement each other, as expected. … This model needs to be changed for it to work. Authors shouldn’t be paid lottery style. For this system to work we need a flat rate for borrows, borrowed or not borrowed (not this 10% crap), and it needs to be win win for the reader AND the writer. <-- That is the crux of the matter. I’d like to see Amazon create something new, something better instead of falling in step with Scribd and Oyster.” Amazon has a reputation for strong-arming publishers (which was recently apparent in its negotiation with Hachette Book Group). However, Amazon’s efforts to shortchange its own authors are creating significant frustration in its carefully cultivated indie author community. Scribd is clearly a company to watch in 2015. On Jan. 5, 2015, it announced “that it has closed a $22 million financing led by Khosla Ventures with reinvestment from existing backers including Redpoint Ventures, Charles River Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank. … This brings Scribd’s total funding to date up to $48M,” with a currently estimated 80 million customers—a number that has been increasing by an average of 31% each month. “We had a fantastic 2014 at Scribd,” co-founder and CEO Trip Adler explained in the same announcement. “We launched audiobooks with 30,000 titles from publishers like Blackstone and Scholastic. We also doubled our e-Book titles, adding content from 1,000+ publishers—including Big 5 publishers HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster—along with industry leaders like Harlequin, Houghton Mifflin, Lonely Planet, Perseus and Wiley. This new funding round will enable us to work towards achieving our goal of creating the most comprehensive library of the future for our millions of users around the world.” newsbreaks.infotoday.com/NewsBreaks/Ebooks-in-2015-Trends-and-Forecasts-Part-2-101587.aspProject Gutenberg. The first site to offer ebooks to the public now offers indie authors the ability to upload free ebooks.
I'm going to upload my free ebooks to PG next year, now that the self-pub system has been up and running for a bit. PG has a long history and wide recognition across a wide range of people from professional and non-professional backgrounds. I'm hoping PG will increase sales across the board next year. Time will tell. NOTE: PG information has been posted on Project Gutenberg thread at: smashwords-forum.proboards.com/thread/1607/project-gutenberg-indie-authors#ixzz3uEFqJrXZPlease post replies/comments on PG in the PG thread and not in this thread. This will avoid thread contamination of Gary's original topic. |
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Post by garyweston on Dec 13, 2015 11:37:10 GMT -8
Good Grief Ted!!! I've written shorter books than your reply.  I'll try to read it all when I'm recuperating. I see it mentioned Scrib'd. Hmm. Have I sold book with them??? Nope. I just like the way that K U blue graph keeps going up. |
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Post by Ted on Dec 13, 2015 12:14:08 GMT -8
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Ria Stone
SWF Writers
Posts: 1,055 
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Post by Ria Stone on Dec 13, 2015 13:38:30 GMT -8
Good Grief Ted!!! I've written shorter books than your reply. I'll try to read it all when I'm recuperating. I see it mentioned Scrib'd. Hmm. Have I sold book with them??? Nope. I just like the way that K U blue graph keeps going up.Get well, soon! |
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Ria Stone
SWF Writers
Posts: 1,055
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Post by Ria Stone on Dec 13, 2015 13:40:43 GMT -8
Just had some conflab with Fussy Librarian.Always a favourite. Suggested she poked Mark Coker with a sharp stick to offer us a serious alternative to K U. Chill. It won't happen. It's far to radical. I have made a similar suggestion to SW re:PODs, reply implied it's too complicated. |
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Post by garyweston on Dec 13, 2015 14:00:07 GMT -8
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Post by garyweston on Dec 18, 2015 22:00:23 GMT -8
Latest K U update. The last 14 straight days have seen K U pages read. From over 1000 to under 100. Giving me an average of about 600 per day. I'm guessing 600 pages = about 4 books per day being read. K U is taking over from cash sales, but I still have a few of those. I realize these numbers are tiny compared to some, but still puts my earnings above average for an Indie. ($500 per year has been considered the average). My own figures suggest the fight back from my pre K U days is on track. This doesn't make me complacent. Due to health issues I am not writing so much, although I have made a start on a couple of projects. Instead I am tweaking. Revamping covers to the Dusty series. Also I intend to K U the Ferret detective books and the Davron novella series. Standing still is going backwards. If you are not writing, look over what you have written. Improvements can always be made.
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chelsfield
SWF Writers
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Joined: Mar 28, 2012 3:07:24 GMT -8
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Post by chelsfield on Dec 18, 2015 23:19:54 GMT -8
Interesting news from Project Gutenberg, the real pioneer in the field....
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Post by garyweston on Dec 30, 2015 2:07:29 GMT -8
Hope your seasonal fun is going well.
I decided to do the free K U five day promo deals on some of my books. I figured this holiday period was a good time to do this. Of course it means no $$ for the selected books during this promo, but I have been selective of which books to put in. Craggy 1, of course and Dusty Miller 1 and 2 are in. But all the other craggy / dusty books are out of the promo as are the boxes which aren't in K U anyway. Also most of the non craggy / dusty books are in the promo. Already a good response on the first morning of the promo so I'm hoping the sprats to catch mackerels concept works for me. I've a feeling I'll make more money rather than lose so I'll let you know if these tactics have worked for me so you can see if it is good for you.
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Post by garyweston on Dec 30, 2015 2:13:08 GMT -8
Just had a quick look as to where the freebies are going, U S A / UK of course but 3 are in Zon Germany. Haven't done any business there before. Goes to show...
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serbanvcenache
SWF Writers
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Post by serbanvcenache on Dec 30, 2015 7:42:06 GMT -8
Did you use any promo services, Gary?
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Post by garyweston on Dec 30, 2015 9:13:14 GMT -8
Hi, Serbs. No. But I am very pleased with the results half way through the first day. Up to 195 freebies taken up so far, 84 of them Craggy 1. What I like about it is that many of my sleepers are being picked up. Stuff that hasn't had an outing on Zon for years, even my romantic stuff. I was thinking 70 - 80 freebie hits would be ok so I'm pleased. A surprising number are in Zon Germany. If this is the trend for a few days it should do sales a good turn. I need one more review on Zon.com for Craggy 1 to hit triple figures and another 2 x five stars to hit the fifty mark. I was told this triggers some odd thing in Zon's computers so it will be nice to find out. Being blessed with a wide selection of stuff to choose at obviously isn't a bad thing. I'll update daily so folk can follow progress particularly on sales / reviews.
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serbanvcenache
SWF Writers
Posts: 712
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Post by serbanvcenache on Dec 30, 2015 10:13:24 GMT -8
That's great news, Gary, people snatching your stuff organically without promos. I'm not as fortunate as you. So far, KU hasn't really proved anything to me personally - my well is dry, with the exception of a few odd drops here and there. But I'm trying to focus on putting more flesh & knitting more bones into my next book. As for the reviews department, look up these two services. (Haven't tried them myself, but I looked them up on SimilarWeb & Google. They seem to be more or less legit.) storycartel.com/publishersreadingdeals.com/reviews |
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I'll try to read it all when I'm recuperating.
