Lindsay - January 23, 2020On today’s show, Andrea, Jo, and Lindsay pick out some of the predictions that Mark Coker of Smashwords made in his January post 2020 Publishing Predictions: House of Indie on Fire. They agreed with some of what he said, disagreed with other points, and were a little less doom-and-gloom overall.
To set the tone, here’s a bit snipped from the article:
“To my eyes and ears, indies are experiencing increased pain, anxiety, desperation and depression.
Many bestselling authors from four or five years ago have seen their sales plummet. Some have cut back production or quit writing altogether to take on a “real” job that pays…
When I meet an author who’s suffering, they’re often quick to blame themselves for any misfortune. This year I heard each of the following repeatedly:
I need to learn how to do better on Amazon ads.
I need to learn how to do better on Facebook ads.
I need to find more paid marketing opportunities.
The above answers are like a moth saying, “I need to fly faster toward the flame.”
After discussing some of the predictions in the Smashwords article, Lindsay, Andrea, and Jo also answered listener questions on topics such as advertising audiobooks, reviving sales of backlist books, holiday anthologies, and when it makes sense to rework and relaunch an early novel.
Here are specific questions they went over:
- “Could you cover what goes into making and planning a successful holiday themed anthology?”
- “My question has to do with newsletters. One of my worries is that I tend to bounce between series when sharing with my newsletter. So I might share one thing for one series one week, then totally pivot to a different series the next. Do you all focus on one series for a set time, or do you also find yourself bouncing between different series? Do think one or the other is more effective? Do you think bouncing back and forth is confusing or a turn-off for readers?”
- “I would love to know all your thoughts on effective branding. How to achieve that as whimsical story tellers who have to figure out how to best present ourself to the world to sell books when really all we wanna do is hermit and hide.”
- “Have you ever gone back well after publication and reworked/rewritten some of a novel to improve it? When is it worth the time to do so, given that writing a new book is usually the best use of time. I’m talking more than a new proofread. More of an overhaul.”
- “Related question: Have you ever pulled a book from the earlier part of your backlist due to sub-par craft of the book? Or would you let it stand as is as an early work.”
- “My backlist has historically performed very well. In September/October it dropped off quite a bit. None of my books performed the way they had previously. Even newer titles weren’t selling like I would have expected. What tactics work well to keep your backlist lively?”
- “I’m about to start dabbling in audiobooks. Is there a good platform to advertise those?”
That’s it for this week’s show. If you have a question, feel free to leave it in the comments. If you want to join us on Facebook, we have a new group there. Search for “Six Figure Authors” or check the show notes for the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/504063143655523/
Excellent episode. Thank you for the discussing the smashwords post, I wouldn’t have known about it otherwise.
I couldn’t agree more that it’s about hard work and dedication.
If you dig into author success stories, they tend to be 10-year overnight success stories. Time will decide those authors who satisfy their readers best, and those who are a flash in the pan, but the flip side of that is each author can’t judge their own progress until they have years of data.
Another great episode! I’m so grateful you decided to address Mark Coker’s article. I’ll admit that when I first read his piece, it was demoralizing to me (and I’m sure others as well).
The “low-hanging fruit” of the early days of self-publishing seem to have been picked over, and there doesn’t seem to be any likely return to those early gold rush days. As you’ve each said, our industry is maturing and the bar is getting raised; there’s really no difference in quality between indie and trad anymore. That’s a huge win for readers!
I’m not thrilled with how saturated the market is getting and how it’s turned into a game of entrenched advertising. Yet, it’s undeniably pretty great that any of us can persist and get our stories to a whole world of complete strangers. It’s a pretty magical time to be an author!