54- Hitting the USA Today Bestseller List!

Listen to the companion podcast episode 

Great list and analysis of recommended promo sites (by Nicholas Erik)

I am beyond excited to announce that I have finally hit the USA Today bestseller list! My book,
LOCH, came in at #114 for the week ending 4/22. (Good thing they don't cut it off at 100, huh?) When my friend Joanna Penn hit the USAT list, she did a helpful writeup of the strategies she used to get there so I thought I'd do the same.

I started by lining up a Bookbub ad. I was fortunate to get one on a Wednesday, early enough in the week to have the long tail sales count toward the USAT list, but not so early as to be overwhelmed by the Big 5 new releases that come out on Tuesdays.

USA Today's rankings cover a Monday-Sunday period, so my promo efforts ran throughout the week, beginning on Monday 4/16.

In order to be considered for the USAT list, a book must have at least 500 US sales with a store other than Amazon, so I targeted iBooks with one dedicated ad and one tweet.

The book I promoted was discounted (from $3.99) to $0.99. I had never done a promo on this particular title, so it was the first time that subscribers to the various lists were seeing it on sale.

I didn't really expect to hit the list. My intent was simply to stack a few promos and have a nice week of sales. I threw in the iBooks-specific ad simply because it's a good practice. Once I saw how well my Bookbub promo performed, I knew I had a chance. I could have done more/better things had I planned ahead and believed I had a chance.

THE CAMPAIGN

Sunday:
Lowered the price to 99 cents on all ebook platforms. I really should have done this on Saturday since certain distributors (*cough* Nook *cough) can be slow about updating prices, but I had a brain cramp.

Monday:
EReader News Today promo: $40
Bookbub CPC ad (iBooks US only) $99.99
AMS Ad (ran throughout the week) $13.77
Shared on Twitter

Tuesday:
Bargain Booksy Promo: $55
Book Adrenaline Promo: $10
Emailed a segment of my mailing list.

Wednesday:
Bookbub Sponsored Ad: $740
Manybooks Promo $29

Thursday:
Emailed the bulk of my mailing list
iBooks-specific tweet
Posted on my Facebook author page

Friday:
Kindle Nation Daily "Fire eBook Of The Day" Promo $99.99

Saturday: 
Booksends Promo: $40
Bookbub CPC ad (all major US vendors targeted) $200.93
Facebook Ad $99.84
Posted in a Kindle discount group on Facebook

Sunday:
Facebook Ad continued
"Last chance" tweet
"Last chance" post on my personal FB page
Posted in a readers' group on Facebook

SALES

Monday
Kindle: 201
D2D:  8

Tuesday
Kindle: 152
D2D:  18
Wednesday
Kindle: 3,606
D2D: 1,069

Thursday
Kindle:  475
D2D: 301

Friday
Kindle: 172
D2D: 95

Saturday
Kindle: 194
D2D: 71

Sunday
Kindle: 140
D2D: 60


Week: 
Kindle: 4,940 (US 4,206)
D2D: 1,622

INVESTMENT/RETURN
Ads: 1428.52
Revenue: 2330.58
(Excluding Google Play and increased sales on other titles in the series.)

48- The State of Indie Publishing

Listen to the podcast episode

As the year winds to a close I polled a variety of indie authors to get their thoughts on the current

state of indie publishing from their perspective. I got feedback from a wide range of authors, from those who are just starting out all the way up to authors earning six and even seven figures. Here are some quotes and common themes:

-KDP 50 % royalty?

-Concern about obvious book stuffers and other scammers sucking up a large part of the KU pool and clogging the bestseller charts in certain genres.

-Concern about Amazon's tendency to unjustly punish legitimate authors for suspected TOS violations while turning a blind eye to obvious scammers.

-Some authors feel that permafree first book in series isn't as effective as it once was. Others still find them effective, but usually find it necessary to advertise those free books on a regular basis.

-Discovery continues to be a challenge. Being productive is no longer enough.

-With Amazon deleting reviews and Facebook suppressing so many posts, how effective are street teams these days?

-Cross-promotion is still effective. Work together with other authors. Multi-author boxed sets are great!

-Posts in Facebook groups seem to get better visibility than posts on author pages.

-The quality of the product being put out by some of the top indies is virtually indistinguishable from that of top publishing houses.

-Urban Fantasy is becoming a tough, tough nut to crack.

-There's a glut of books in the romance genre. Lots of authors trying their hands, lots of miscategorized books, lots of stuffed books and scam boxed sets.

-Miscategorization in general is a concern. Authors are putting books in categories where they don't belong just to try and get some visibility.

-Marketing is essential, but in some ways more challenging than ever. Every time something works, lots of other authors copy the technique and it soon becomes ineffective.

-Facebook Ads are no longer of much value. AMS ads are better. Not great, but better.

-Barriers to print sales make it difficult for indies to do well in that format.

-For authors with a lot of titles, it's important to regularly promote back-list titles. The books are "old" to you, but to a reader who has never read them, they are "new" books.

-Blog tours can be fun but aren't particularly effective for selling books.

-Bookbub is getting harder and harder to get into and the results have diminished, but it's still worthwhile. Keep trying to get one!

"It seems to me that indie fantasy is stronger than ever. Great new talents are on the rise and the veteran indies continue to put out wonderful material. With new and increasingly better resources, it's getting more difficult to tell the difference between indie and traditional publishing as it pertains to quality."

"I'm rowing twice as hard to go half the distance in the thriller genre." 

" I think authors who got in 2012-2014 and established a core readership with a good-selling series are still doing well. However, I think it's harder to build a new series if it's a different genre than what you're already known for."

"Those who have paid attention, and have embraced marketing and other realities of the market have done far better than those who just did the same thing over and over. For example, KU has become virtually mandatory for space opera or mil sci fi. There are times when literally every book, or 95 books, of the top 100 are in KU. Without KU, you simply can't rank unless it's a book with a movie or a real classic getting a resurgence."

"Main obstacle as I see it is discoverability. I have yet to draw any real attention to my works."

"There seem to be quite a few authors out there making a good living off of self publishing, but it is hard to stand out among the huge amount of other books out there."

"Too many indie authors think they’re competing with other indie authors, so instead of networking and cross-promoting, it’s a shouting contest."

"It doesn't help that many people still consider independently published works to be sub-standard."

 "My single biggest gripe is with physical books. There is still a huge barrier to entry, there, and it's stacked against the smallest players."
 
"There are things I still haven't worked out. My mailing list has 1 (yes, one) person on it, and that took a while. I've only been at this fiction publishing lark for 3 months, so I'm not too worried, right now."

"My one novel is making enough to buy coffee now and again. I expect when I keep putting out books I can buy more coffee. Then when I have more coffee I will be able to write more books. Eventually, I will buy enough coffee that I will own the coffee shop. I'm not SURE if it works that way, but that's what my hat told me last Thursday."  

 

39- How Many Boots Should a Bootstrapper Strap?

Listen to the podcast episode

Taking a break from the indie author interview series. This week I discuss the concept of
"bootstrapping" (essentially, publishing when you have no budget.)

This episode was inspired by a forum post in which an author advocated basically doing everything on your own for free. Because I have, at times, mentioned free or cheap publishing options, I wanted to re-examine and clarify my thoughts on the subject.

From the post in question:

You don't need fancy software to write your book.
Agreed. If you're operating on a shoestring budget and you already have a program like Microsoft Word at your disposal, don't spend money on Scrivener or other writing software. At this stage in your career, your limited funds are better spent elsewhere.

Create a free website and learn to manage it.
Mostly agree. Well after I was earning a full-time living as an author, I was still using a Blogger site as my website. Heck, that's what I'm using for Wood on Words. You might also consider a site like Wix. Free sites aren't ideal, mostly because they tend to come with banners, ads, or popups that call attention to the fact that it's free. Typically, readers don't visit your site until they've already read your work and want to know more about you or your catalog, so a slick website is a great thing, but probably not your top priority.

You don't need to pay for formatting.
Agreed, IF you are willing to learn how to do it and do it well. You can format both ebook and paperback in Microsoft Word. It's not difficult to do once you've learned it, but there is a learning curve.

Don't pay someone else to set up your KDP/D2D/Kobo accounts and upload your books.
Agreed. It's not difficult to do this, and if you don't learn how to manage the dashboards, you'll find yourself in a position in which you have to pay someone every time you want to update price, keywords, product description, etc...

Search for free cover art, download it, and use Paint to add text
No. Just no. It's not 2005 anymore, and Paint wasn't a good option even then. And you can't just snag any picture off of Google and legally use it for your cover. If you want to try your hand at cover design, I recommend a free program called GIMP, which is essentially Photoshop. Download watermarked comp images from stock photo sites to practice on, and see if you develop a knack for it. Odds are you'll be better off paying for cover art. Browse premade cover sites in your spare time, look for good covers, watch for special sales. You can find affordable, professional cover art at very reasonable prices. This is something that's worth setting aside money for.

Editing/proofreading
This was not discussed in the post but it's the other biggie. I don't recommend hiring an editor from the top price tier right off the bat, but do set aside money for quality editing. Also line up as many beta readers and volunteer proofreaders as you can. Whatever you do, don't try to do it all on your own.



What if I literally have no money?
Take your time writing and start saving in the meantime. Look for corners to cut. For my "super secret project" I decided not to use money from my other publishing endeavors, but instead to lok for ways to set money aside.

A few things I did:
Save all my loose change.
Save dollar bills when possible.
Skipped the occasional Starbucks coffee or fast food meal and set aside the money I would have spent.
Cut back my cable plan.
Cut back my cell phone plan.
Cancelled a couple of small subscriptions I wasn't making full use of.

These might not all apply to you, but start setting aside what you can. In the meantime, work on your books, work on your craft, practice your webmaster skills, practice formatting. Don't get in such a hurry that you blow your first launch. You only get one chance (per pen name) to make a first impression.

Don't Be "That Guy"

Listen to the companion podcast episode.

I've seen a few things very recently that are definitely on the "don't" list for authors. I thought I'd share a few along with some discussion.

Lets start with this email to an editor after the editor politely declined the opportunity to edit the author's work for free:

So much wrong here:

• It's not the fault of other professionals that you didn't set aside money to do what you need to do in terms of preparing your book for publication.
• A "publishing professional" would know that people like editors, cover artists, book designers get paid for their services when those services are provided.
• Exposure won't pay anyone's rent or mortgage, especially from work done for a beginning author who clearly has no clue.
• Presumably, the author intends to charge for his book and earn money from his writing. Why shouldn't the others involved in the process expect the same?
• Don't waste time trying to talk people into splitting future proceeds for your book which is going to be Yuge! (I mean, huge.) It makes you look foolish. 
• The choice to indie publish is a risk, but it's a risk you choose to take. Others are under no obligation to take that risk with you.
• Just because someone is foolish enough to work for free doesn't mean everyone else should, too.
• This author is very lucky the editor chose not to share his name. The internet never forgets.
•  If your budget is tight, start right away setting aside change, looking for corners to cut, or opportunities to make a little extra money. 

Here's something posted in a Facebook group:

Once again, we have the issue of someone looking to get something for nothing, but there's another problem here: the "trust" issue. Some authors are paranoid about people stealing their amazing book or idea, so much so that they include threats of lawsuits in cover letters to potential agents, editors, and other industry professionals. If someone is dishonest enough to steal your work, a threatening paragraph won't deter them . The only thing you'll accomplish is making yourself look like someone with whom no others would like to work.


And then there's this, which apparently transpired on Facebook, but I saw on Twitter:

I'm a believer in authors acting like adults and making their own informed decisions. If an author takes a look at this publication and thinks, "Sure, a photograph of the back cover is plenty of payment for my work," that's her or his prerogative. I would urge you however, to value your work more than that. I've been there. My first sale was a poem for $1. The next was a piece of flash fiction for $10. I wanted to "feel" like a writer. I wanted to be able to say I'd sold something, anything. But the good feeling didn't last long, and afterward I felt like a tool for making a big deal out of those sales. Some thoughts to consider:

• Don't start at the bottom with "For the Love" or "Token Payment" markets. There's no harm in starting with markets that actually pay. Worst case, you get rejected. It's not the end of the world.
• If you don't think your work is good enough for anything better than a publication that pays in photos of the back cover, then maybe don't put it out there. Perhaps you can come back to it later, after you've honed your skills, and improve it.
• You won't build an audience by appearing in these sorts of publications.
• Professional editors don't care that you've been published in this sort of market.
• Readers definitely don't care that you've been published in some collection of which they've never heard.

Don't flog your one book over and over to the same group of people.

A few months back I joined a group dedicated to a specific subgenre. This group welcomes self-promotion, but I didn't do that right away. I noticed that this group is heavy with authors, which isn't exactly fertile ground for book sales, but I thought I might make some connections. I liked and replied to some posts, shared things I thought would be of interest, shared freebies or sales of books (other than mine) that I thought would be of interest to the group. It was a long time before I shared anything of my own, and I've only made two self-promo posts in the entire time I've been a member.

Let's contrast that with another group member. We'll call him "Bob."

• Bob has one book. 
• Bob's cover isn't terrible, but it definitely isn't good. 
• Bob's product description literally tells us nothing about the plot. The first paragraph is a discussion of the classic niche into which this book fits. The second paragraph gives a sketch of the main character. It concludes with a ine from the author, praising his own work. I'm not even kidding.
• The book itself has some issues. The formatting of the ebook is messed up. The writing is okay, but with beginner mistakes front and center.
• Despite these issues, Bob's book is terribly overpriced.
• Bob's book is, unsurprisingly, ranked in the millions. He hasn't sold a copy in months.

How does Bob promote his book? By coming almost every single day to this small group, a group heavy with writers, and posting a link to this same damn book, always citing (in all caps) some Amazon customer review. Bob, if no one in this book has bought your book yet (and they obviously haven't based on your ranking) they're not going to.

If you feel you positively must flog your book to other authors (not a great idea) make sure they've at least opted into your mailing list.

This is the story of a well-known, bestselling, traditionally-published author. We'll call her "Jane." Jane recently got an awesome book deal from her publisher. (Awesome for Jane! I mean that.) Apparently feeling the pressure of the healthy advance she received, Jane decided it would be a good idea to create a newsletter and add all of her professional contacts to it without their consent. Because Jane has long been an officer in a professional authors organization, she had loads of contacts with whom she had corresponded.. As you can expect, things got ugly when Jane spammed everyone in her professional network prior to the book's release.

Let's hit a few high points:

• When Jane created her newsletter, her particular provider required that she check a box saying that all her contacts opted in to her newsletter, and were not being added without their consent. Jane lied.
• Jane's newsletter service provider apparently gave her the boot for violation of Terms of Service, because on release day, Jane spammed us all again using a different newsletter provider.
• Setting the spam issue aside, there were other flaws in Jane's plan.
• Jane made no effort to make her newsletter engaging or attractive, or to even have an obvious "buy button." Instead, she wrote a lengthy letter (several paragraphs) with a hyperlink buried in the middle. 
• Jane used the wrong strategy with her fellow authors. We generally know our genres and know who we like. We aren't going to respond to a sales pitch from our colleagues. What we might do, if we have a good relationship, is help you spread the word. If you don't mistreat us.
• Jane could have reached out personally, preferably individually, to people within her professional network and asked for help. That would have been a lot more work, but it probably would have been more effective, and Jane would not have a reputation as a clueless spammer.

Those are just a few incidents from recent weeks. I'll do a "Stupid Author Tricks" episode some time in the future. Feel free to share things you've seen that are on the "Don't do" list.

2016 Earnings Breakdown

Listen to the companion podcast episode.

It might be a little late in the year for this, but I thought I'd take a look back at my 2016 earnings and break down how much each vendor contributes.

As expected, Kindle was, by far, my most lucrative channel, accounting for more than three times what I earned from all other formats and platforms combined. It breaks down like this:

Kindle: 77.7%
Nook:     6.2%
Kobo:     5.4%
Audible: 4.4%
iBooks:  3.7%
Print:     2.0%
Google: 0.4%
Other e: 0.1%
Translations: 0.1%

Observations:

-Though my non-Kindle earnings seem small by comparison, I still earned a great deal more on my non-Kindle sales than I did in my previous day job.

-Nook earnings slightly declined over the course of the year.

-Kobo earnings generally held steady.

-iBooks earnings were up and down, but ended the year on an upward trajectory.

-Paperback earnings include both Createspace and Ingram (LSI and Ingram Spark).

-Since print-on-demand paperbacks are high-priced compared to their mass market counterparts, I generally price my paperbacks as low as possible. It might be worth experimenting with higher price points.

-I didn't join Google Play until the beginning of the year, and at first, I found their interface confusing, so I was lazy about listing my books. I think I finally have it down. That said, even the best months at Google Play barely surpassed 20% of the other, non-Amazon, ebook retailers.

-I sell almost nothing through small etailers such as Scribd and Smashwords. (When I say I sell almost nothing at Smashwords, I'm referring to direct sales to Smashwords customers via their site. SW remains a valid service to distribute to/sell on iBooks, Nook, etc...)

-I have been using Bablecube to sell translations of my books. Unless I can develop some effective marketing strategies, it might be wiser to hold on to rights and wait for translation offers.)

Looking Ahead
-Several of my author friends tell me they are doing very well on iBooks. I'd like to increase my sales and visibility in that store
 
-I'm curious to see whether or not the lending program Kobo is beta testing will have an impact on sales.

-Rumors are circulating that Audible plans to roll out an audiobook lending service, which will also be interesting to watch.

-With the launch of the Dane Maddock Kindle World, I expect Kindle income to continue to rise in proportion to the other vendors.

-I am strongly considering going exclusive with Createspace, as the paltry sales through Ingram mean the annual listing fees for all books in my catalog aren't worthwhile.

Overall
 On the whole, 2016 was a solid year. I was disappointed that, for the first time in many years, my units sold decreased, as did my income. I can attribute this to a lack of new releases in 2016, especially no new Dane Maddock main series book, which is my bestselling series. (Xibalba almost made it in at the end of the year, but I wound up publishing it the first week of 2016 instead.) 
 I also had to wait for Cohesion Press to publish Primordial. Had it been an indie book, it would have been out in early 2016.

I expect this year to  be better. I've been more productive, my co-authors are working hard, and the Kindle World has done very well. Fingers crossed!

Reaching New Readers Part 2- Paid Advertising

Listen to the Companion Podcast

Newsletters

Bookbub

• Biggest and Best
  
• Good for free or discount
• Probably the only one that will directly pay for itself
• Usually get a boost in other titles, especially if it's not book 1 of a series. 
• Expensive. Cheaper for free, price goes up depending on genre and price point.
• Difficult to get selected

 Getting selected:

• The more reviews the better
• Bundles better than single titles
• Wide is better than KU
• Free easier than discount?
• Keep trying. Selections are seemingly arbitrary.
•  Don't do it until you have 2-3 books in your catalog, otherwise you're wasting your visibility with no other books for the reader to buy. 

Bookbub Sponsored Ad

• Works like Facebook ads- choose your target and pay for clicks
• Seems best for free. 
• Some results for 99 cents.
• Not effective for full-price.
• Good part of a launch strategy if launching at a discount.
• Set a budget, know what you can afford to spend.

Other Newsletters

• Lots of options
• Most are not effective for anything other than free.
• Can have some effectiveness if you stack them or if you just want to reach a few new readers.
• Some only advertise Kindle books.
• Easier to get accepted, especially if you're in KU.
• Some have restrictions like: minimum number of reviews, only first book in series or standalone, only certain genres.

Newsletters to consider:

Freebooksy (great for free)
Robin Reads (also great for free)
Bknights (operates through Fiverr. Minimal results, but okay for the price.)
Booksends (some results for 99 cent books, good for free)
Kindle Nation Daily/Book Gorilla (not as effective as they once were, but okay)
Book Barbarian (SFF only, some restrictions. Okay results for the price.)

I know there are some effective Romance-only newsletters out there, but it's not my genre.
Lots of other bargain newsletters, but most are ineffective. Check the forums in places like Kboards, ask other authors about their experiences before spending your money.

AMS Ads
Only for books you've published through your own KDP dashboard. Can't do it for books published by someone else.
Can have a sponsored ad, can have Amazon auto-select keywords, or you can choose your own keywords.
I prefer custom keywords, loaded down with titles and authors from the genres I'm targeting.
Can refine keywords and bid amounts on keywords based on their effectiveness.
Can have up to 1,000 keywords.
Pay for clicks.
Results are not huge put tend to pay for themselves.
Very much worthwhile, especially at launch.

Facebook Ads
Diminishing results
Targeting specific authors and vendors.
Pay by click.
I use them sparingly as a part of my overall strategy.
Mark Dawson is the expert.

On a budget?
If your budget is limited, AMS ads are great, as well as in inexpensive newsletter like Bknights.

Reaching New Readers Part 1-Strategies and Practices

Listen to the companion podcast episode

You’ve published your book (maybe two or three). You’ve used best practices. You’ve done everything you can to get off to a good start. Now your sales have stalled. How do you go about reaching beyond your existing audience and reaching new readers? 

Visibility is the key.

• A reader can’t buy your books if (s)he doesn’t know it exists.
• Even with Amazon, which is better than its competitors in terms of providing visibility, you won’t get much attention if your books aren’t selling.

How to get visible?

• Write multiple books in the same genre (readers don’t tend to cross over), preferably in the same series. The more titles you have, the greater the chance someone will discover your work.
• Make sure each book links to the next in your series.
• Offer your first book at a discount or free.
• Price pulsing- strategic, short-term price changes as a way of gaining visibility on bestseller lists or moving up on also-bought lists.
• Be sure to spread the word when you do this.
• Write a prequel and give that away for free (a short story could work in this case.)
• Put a “call to action” right after “The End.” (Try my next book, join my mailing list.)
• Write Kindle World stories for other authors in your genre.
• Don’t need permission
• Gets your name in front of readers in your genre
• You can make a little money.

Social media

• Facebook
• Images perform better than just text.
• Posts with hyperlinks are suppressed.
• The more engagements (likes and comments) the more likely it will appear in others' feeds.
• Twitter
• Use an image.
• Search out appropriate hashtags. 
• Separate links for different stores, use their handle and hashtag.

Cross-promotion with other authors in your genre.

• Announce one another’s new releases or special sales/giveaways.
• Newsletter "swaps."
• Boxed sets of your own books
• Good for short-term promos.
• Always have something at full price- don’t put everything in the set.
• Boxed sets with other authors (not short story collections.)
• Mutual promotional efforts
• If you curate it, have a plan in place before you approach other authors.
• Bundle Rabbit

Giveaways

• Insta-Freebie- give away free ebooks, bring in new subscribers to newsletter, gain new readers. Free or paid options.
• Goodreads giveaway- don’t give away more than a copy or two. Limited effectiveness.
• Amazon giveaways- jury is out.
• Wattpad- probably not much potential here, but some authors have had modest success, especially in YA/NA.

Next time- Paid Advertising

To Indie Press, or Not to Indie Press?

Listen to the companion podcast episode.

Yesterday, I was reading another of Chuck Wendig's fantastic "rambles" about the publishing industry. One of his topics was "Beware the Small Press." He isn't entirely opposed to small press, but he advises the author to proceed with caution. Given that many indies go the small press route, I thought it a topic worth exploring.

What is an indie/small press? 
They come in all shapes and sizes. For the purpose of this article, I'm going to say it's almost any press not associated with the "Big 5" and not any of the top-notch houses like Angry  Robot.

Why do some authors choose to publish with a small/indie press?
There are many reasons. Some good, some bad. A few common ones are:

-The author has failed (or chosen not) to secure a literary agent, and most small presses will accept submissions directly from authors.
-The author doesn't have the money to hire a cover artist, editor, book formatter...
-The author doesn't have the requisite entrepreneurial spirit or aptitude to independently publish.
-The author just wants to write.
-The author is independently published, but also works with small press in order to reach new readers, or to grow as an author by working with a different set of professionals.
-The author doesn't know the difference between a Big 5 publisher and any other publishing house (this happens more often than you'd think.)
-The author just wants the validation of "being a published author."
-The author has been taken in by a vanity press masquerading as a legitimate company.
-The author is in a hurry to see her or his book published by somebody, anybody.
-The author has done her/his research, found a reputable small press that does a good job, and is enjoying a positive working relationship with that press.

What can go right?
In an ideal situation, there can be many positive aspects to working with a small press.
-The small press bears the entire financial burden.
-Handles all the aspects of the publishing process.
-Highly responsive to the needs of the author. You don't have to wait days or weeks for a reply.
-The author has greater involvement in the creative process.
-Faster publishing schedule.
-Has cultivated relationships with capable professionals who will make your book as good as it can be.
-Has access to channels to which you might not easily gain access, or might not be able to access at all.
-Has a brand identity and an established audience.
-Will put time money into marketing your book.
-Flexible, willing and able to try new things.


What can go wrong?
Lots of things.
-The publisher has good intentions but doesn't know what it's doing.
-The publisher lacks the resources to do a quality job.
-The publisher ends up doing nothing for you that you couldn't have done for yourself.
-The publisher goes out of business (this happens all the time), or mismanages its money and can't pay you (also happens all the time) and sometimes won't release rights to your book even when it hasn't fulfilled its contract.
-The author's book wasn't very good, but (s)he stumbled upon a publisher that would publish just about anything.
-The publisher does a poor job on your book.
-The publisher sets the price of your book very high, counting on making money from sales to your friends and family. Perhaps it even pushes you to buy author copies at a ridiculous price, or tries to sell you "publishing packages."

What to look out for.
There's no complete answer to this question, but I'll hit a few high points:
-How long has the press been in existence?
-What is its reputation? A simple internet search should turn up problems if there have been any. And if there are problems, please don't ignore them. Don't tell yourself, "I'll be the exception."
-How well are its books selling? Know what the sales ranking mean and check to see how their books are doing.
-Assess the quality of their product. Good cover? Good editing? Is the price in line with other indie books?
-What does this press actually have to offer me? Am I certain that I want to give them up to half of my royalties for a job I can do myself?
-Has this press ever asked me for money?
-Has this press ever said, "We normally charge X but we'll publish you for free because we believe in you."

In summary
Overall, I think that the right independent press can benefit an author. If you've been following this blog and podcast, I suspect you have the indie publishing spirit, and are probably leaning toward doing it on your own. That's my preference, but I believe the right small press situation can be a good supplement to your indie publishing career.

Finally, examine your goals and your reasons for publishing. If, deep down, you want the validation of "being published" or you want to see your books on shelves, don't go with the average indie press. Keep aiming for traditional publishing.

Indie Publishing Success- Pre- and Post-Launch Checklist

Listen to the companion podcast episode

What are the steps you take when preparing for a book launch, and then launching your new book? Here is an overview of some of the things I and other authors do.

Well in Advance

Know your genre/subgenre and know what’s selling, particularly among indie authors. Pay close attention to: book cover, product description, and pricing. (Many authors with big publishing houses sell books on their name and publisher’s marketing clout and not as a result of their book cover, etc. No harm in looking at those too, but definitely pay attention to the indies.)

 

Get a good book cover. This will be a great promotional tool. If your budget is limited, check out some of the great sites that offer pre-made covers. If even those seem to expensive, save your pocket change, skip the coffee and fast food, look for ways to cut corners. Your cover is worth the investment.

Familiarize yourself with the categories and subcategories that will be the best fit for your book. Look for those where you’re likely to get visibility. Don’t go for crowded categories that are dominated by the bestsellers.

Preorder or not? There are valid arguments on both sides of the discussion. I won’t rehash them here, but if you go with a preorder, take the time to understand how preorders work on the various sites, and definitely don’t miss your deadline, especially with Kindle. In fact, it’s probably best if you don’t even get close to your deadline before you upload your final manuscript.

Send out ARCs to review sites. I don’t believe these lead to many sales, but it doesn’t hurt. It can also provide you with promotional material (quotes that you can use on the product page, teasers…)

 

Solicit blurbs/endorsements from other authors. These aren’t crucial, but, like reviews, they can provide promotional materials, and can also be a source of keywords if you include them with your product description.         

Sparking Interest

Send book to street team/ARC group

Set up an ARC giveaway on Goodreads.

Post teasers on Facebook author page

•             Cover reveal
•             Announce release date
•             Post cover image and synopsis
•             Preorder link if appropriate
•             Author blurbs/endorsements
•             Snippets from the book

 Post a preview of the first chapter on website

Shortly before release, give away a few ebook copies of the previous book in the series. If the new book is not part of a series, you can give away something else, though that’s not nearly as likely to spark excitement in the new book. Don’t give away copies of the new book (except for your street team/ARC group.)

Create a custom header for your Facebook author page, using the book’s cover art. Include the title and the date it’s scheduled for release.

Depending on timing and your relationships with other authors in your genre, you might be able to plan a “newsletter swap” in which each promotes the other’s new book. This isn’t something I’d recommend unless you have a close working relationship with the author, and your books are in the same subgenre.

“Housekeeping”

Your new book should include: an invitation to sign up for your newsletter, an invitation to buy another of your books, and a hyperlinked list of your available books. Invitations to buy book/join mailing list should be immediately after The End and on the same page- not after a page break, otherwise the reader is unlikely to see them. Some authors also like to put a newsletter invite in the front matter. There’s no harm in that, but due to the way reading apps work, there’s a good chance it won’t be seen.

If your book is Kindle-exclusive, use “SmartUrl” to create hyperlinks. If your book is “wide,” use Books2Read. That way you can use the same set of hyperlinks for every vendor (or you can use SmartURL for Kindle and Books2Read for everything else.)

 Make good use of your keywords on Kindle. Utilize them to get your book into as many (appropriate) categories as possible. You don’t have to limit yourself to the two you select.

Remember that your product description can be used to generate keywords. If you have a blurb/endorsement/review snippet that compares your work to that of a popular author, you may include that in your product description as “Praise for…” and that author’s name becomes a keyword attached to your book.

Add the new book to:

• Website
• “Books by” lists in other books
•  Claim the book in Author Central
• Catalog list on Amazon author page
• If you use other Author Central Features, such as “From the Inside Flap” or “From the Back Cover” to list your books, add the book there, too. 

If book is part of a series, go to the previous book in the series and, immediately after The End, add an invitation (with hyperlink) to buy the new book.

If book is published “wide,” consider using a service like Books2Read to set up a single landing page with links to all the different vendors.

If book is Kindle-only, create a SmartUrl to create a single hyperlink that will automatically redirect customers to the Amazon store for the country in which they reside.

When Kindle and paperback versions have appeared on Amazon, you might have to contact KDP and request that the two versions be linked. It’s supposed to happen automatically, but it often doesn’t.

Launch Prep

Choose your price. Some authors like to launch at a reduced price as an added incentive. If your regular price is $4.99, consider launching at $2.99 and advertise it as 40% off the regular price (or go $3.99 and advertise it as 20% off.) Emphasize it’s a limited time offer.

Set up a newsletter announcement

• Snappy bit of copy about the book.
• Include cover image
• Synopsis
• Endorsements
• “Buy” links
• Make sure to have something else of interest in your newsletter; not just “buy my book.” I like to include a giveaway of some sort, “Coming soon” info on books in-progress, and maybe something else interesting (anecdotes, autobiographical bits…)

 Update the appropriate part of your website/blog with appropriate info.

Schedule Facebook post(s.)

I like to post the cover and synopsis as the main post, and then post links as replies. Facebook seems to suppress posts with links unless you pay to boost the post.

I restrict almost all of my publishing-related posts to my author page, but I make an exception for new releases and special sales.

Plan/Schedule Tweets

            Twitter isn’t particularly effective for book sales, but there’s no harm as long as you don’t overdo it. Consider separate tweets for various vendors and use the appropriate hashtags for the vendor and genre. You never know- you might get some retweets.

            Spread the tweets out so you don’t overdo it.

            Include the cover image or other visual with your tweet- not just the link.

Plan/Create/Schedule Ads

            I’ve been experimenting with AMS ads with enough results to feel like they’re worthwhile. I like to use custom keywords, with author names and book titles in my genre, and titles of popular new and upcoming releases.

            If the book is part of a series, it might be worthwhile to also run ads for previous books in the series.

            Facebook ads- I’m seeing less and less ROI, but I still work a FB ad into my launch strategy.

            If you publish through Kobo, check your dashboard for advertising options.

           

Launch Day and After

Post the announcement to your social media, website, etc…

Newsletter blast(s)- I prefer to split my list into segments and send out announcements either on three-four consecutive days, or every-other day. Having several consecutive days of good sales helps your rankings more than one very good day and then nothing.

Ads- I like to run AMS ads from the start and save the Facebook ad until the book has been out for a few days.  Monitor the results of your AMS ads and increase the “bid” amounts for keywords that seem to be performing well.

Bookbub new release announcement- If you have a Bookbub author profile with followers, you can “claim” your new book and Bookbub will send out a new release announcement shortly thereafter. I like to wait until all of my newsletter blasts have gone out, and then claim the book in Bookbub a few days after that.

If your book is part of a series, run a special promotion on a previous book in the series. I recommend waiting until post-launch sales have slowed down. If you can’t schedule a Bookbub ad, look at sites like Freebooksy, Robin Reads, Book Barbarian, or a Bookbub sponsored ad (if you’ve been approved.)

That's the basic overview. If you have other suggestions, please share them!