Business End

Articles about the business aspects of publishing and self-publishing.

LendInk: A Post Mortem

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The totally legitimate, legal ebook lend exchange site, LendInk, is dead, and the cause of death was murder. Yet the mob still isn’t satisfied; LendInk’s owner has reported he, members of his family, and his former web host have all received numerous threats, even AFTER his site was taken down.

No matter how many times, nor how clearly anyone tries to explain how Amazon’s and B&N’s lending programs work, the ill-informed hysterics continue to insist LendInk was doing something illegal, and it was justifiably destroyed. These authors obviously have not read, or else don’t understand, the Terms and Conditions to which they agreed when they opted their books in for lending. Some are now saying it’s unreasonable for Amazon and B&N to expect them to have read those terms, or to make sure they understood the terms before agreeing to them. They are wrong.

Many of the others who are on the wrong side of this argument are attempting damage control, rather than simply owning up and apologizing. They’re fixating on some small detail that they feel still entitles them to feel righteous in their actions, instead of acknowledging that they’ve done a terrible thing.

Some say it’s LendInk’s own fault authors didn’t understand the LendInk business model, because LendInk didn’t make any effort beyond its FAQ to explain its service to authors, like placing a detailed explanation on its home page. This is a bad argument for two reasons. First, since LendInk was a site geared to readers, not authors, it had no obligation to plaster its home page with legalese intended to inform and pacify authors. Second, those who make this argument obviously haven’t read the FAQ; if they had, they would see the site’s business model and legality were very clearly explained there.

Some say that since not every book listed on LendInk was actually available to lend, that some were listed as Amazon affiliate ‘buy’ links, the site was pulling a Bait-and-Switch and deserved to be shut down for that reason. It is for site users, not authors, to decide whether or not they had a problem with this. Considering that the site had 15k+ registered users at the time it was shut down, it would appear they did not. Also, any author who objects to affiliate links for his book being placed on heavily-trafficked websites targeted to avid readers is arguing against his own interests.

Some say that since not every lend on LendInk generated a commission or royalty for authors, the site wasn’t really helping authors at all. Setting aside for the moment that LendInk had no obligation to help authors, the fact that some person or company isn’t helping authors is not a valid justification for destroying it. Besides, regardless of the commission/royalty issue, every listing of a book on LendInk was free advertising and exposure for authors, built entirely on a totally legal and totally pre-existing lend mechanism created by Amazon/B&N, to which authors and publishers voluntarily opted in.

Here are some follow-ups from around the web.

LendInk owner Dale Porter is interviewed on Digital Media Machine.

On Lynch Mobs, Social Media and LendInk.

A.B. Dada Offers T-Shirt Fundraiser, and Hosts a Boycott List of Authors Who Falsely Accused LendInk. Even if the thought of such a boycott list seems wrong to you, it’s important to know this kind of backlash is happening.

LendInk – How Can We Put Things Right? In which one blogger suggests those who falsely accused LendInk make amends via public apologies and retractions.

And finally, Publetariat founder and Editor in Chief April L. Hamilton offers this tongue-in-cheek YouTube video, How To Maintain Control of Your Work and Beat the Ebook Pirates, which is based on actual statements made, and objections levelled, by real indie authors who weighed in on the LendInk debacle.

 

And The Silver Bullet Of Book Marketing Is…

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This post, by Steve (Stephanie) Nilles, of Booknook.biz, originally appeared on the Crime Fiction Collective blog.

Kimberly Hitchens is the founder and owner of Booknook.biz, an ebook production company that has produced books for over 750 authors and imprints.

This week’s entry is from our Social Networking Genius  extraordinaire, Steve (Stephanie) Nilles, who holds down the fort on Tweeting and Facebooking, Pinteresting and other "stuff" over at Booknook.biz, and has taught me all I know about Twitter, et al.  She will be guest blogging for me while I recover from a shoulder problem, and to provide a different perspective than I usually have. Take it away, Steve:

I’m not an agent, publisher, or aspiring novelist. I’m a working musician. About a year and a half ago, while taking a month-long break from the road, I happened upon part-time work for a well-established and traditionally published mystery writer who was just starting her own e-pub company. I have since edited manuscripts and provided marketing assistance for an ebook producer, as well as for mystery, science fiction, romance, children’s books, and nonfiction authors, ranging from the seasoned and well-known to the obscure writer pushing his very first novel. Predictably, my work in publishing has drawn enlightening parallels to my work in the music business. In short, publishing seems to be about 20 years behind the music industry, at least in terms of adjusting to a preference for digital. And as an outsider temporarily peering into a world of energetic bordering on frantic writers and publishers, I’ve found the clamoring for the magical marketing plan that will give birth to the next Amanda Hocking, H.P. Mallory, or John Locke to be … amusing.

The obvious explanation for what now makes being a musician or author nearly impossible is that “everyone can do it.” Perhaps screenwriter Aaron Sorkin put it best in a particularly wry interview: Interviewer: "Look, I don’t want to step on your toes, you don’t want to step on mine. We’re both writers."  Sorkin: "Yes, I suppose, if we broaden the definition to those who can spell."

As technology provides limitless tools for distribution, self-promotion, and even production of the artform itself, the internet has, as Mark Bowden puts it, "replaced everyman with every man." From art of every medium to the once revered science of journalism, press critic A.J. Liebling’s 1960s fear of a dystopia with only one newspaper, "a city with one eye," has been replaced by a city with a million eyes.

Much like a writer, when I tell a stranger that I am a "musician," I’m painfully aware that my self-proclaimed title conjures up images of a dramatic and self-medicated kid, sulking in her bedroom and writing break up ballads in her diary. I am a 28-year-old that has spent 23 years playing music, 15 of those years nearly 5-10 hours a day. I’m on the road 8 months out of the year. I play 150 gigs a year. So imagine my displeasure at sharing the semantics of a vocation with an overnight YouTube sensation who recorded a 4 song EP in a basement with a Fisher Price tape recorder.

My 28 years notwithstanding, I think I’ve amassed an interesting cross section of experience witnessing the worlds of music-making as well as book publishing, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that what works in music works in publishing–whether you’re writing what one of my clients calls The Great American Novel or the next paranormal romance Kindle millionaire-maker. If we define "success" as "consistently selling books" (and I have yet to find a better definition), the most successful authors I’ve worked for have one and only one thing in common: they spend all of their time writing more books. And each book is better than the one that came before it.

 

Read the rest of the post on the Crime Fiction Collective blog.

Can You Afford To Be Fashionably Late To The Digital Party?

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This post, by Bob Mayer, originally appeared on his Write It Forward blog.

In general it’s always a good thing to be the “first” at something. Being part of something on the ground floor tends to give you an advantage. This is why Bob and I are always trying new things and open to new innovative technology. But there is an inherent flaw in being “first”.

What was the first eReader? A Sony. They were first, but they aren’t really a big player anymore now are they? What was the first “smartphone?” Most people would probably say the Blackberry. Nope. It was a phone designed in 1992 by IBM called Simon. And well, we all know that IBM used to be synonymous with Personal Computer, except they have made a PC in years.

Anyone ever hear of Kodak? Did you know Kodak actually developed the technology for the digital camera? In 1995 they were pushing the Kodak DC40. They had pulled in Kinko’s and Microsoft to help develop digital making software and put kiosks inside Kinko’s stores. Even IBM collaborated with Kodak to make an internet-based network image exchange. These campaigns helped launch digital cameras to the consumers and now everyone uses them, but what has happened to Kodak?

It’s not that being first is the flaw. The flaw is the inability to adapt to continued change. Kodak made some ground breaking advances, but they never adapted to their own creation. The danger in being first and successful at something is the standard thinking that it can be re-created in identical format. Also, we have to remember that usually being first means it’s only the beginning. Too many people sit back and relax because they feel as though they’ve already achieved it. Whatever it is.

So, what does this brief little history lesson bring us to? Last week I visited the Corporate Offices of Kobo. During a tour of the offices with Mark we discussed various technologies, and how it has impacted the business of publishing, the writers, and the readers. I sort of joked that Kobo was a little late to the digital party and Mark responded with, “perhaps a little late, but with a solid plan.” One of the things that impressed me with Kobo is their ability to see what is going on around them and then act instead of react. They took their time launching the new Writing Life Portal. It’s been in the works for about a year, but they were busy watching, listening and learning. They are very aware of what is going on with other on-line stores and they welcome the competition. Mark constantly repeats how Kobo feels that the author should be able to get their book on as many platforms as possible.

 

Read the rest of the post on Bob Mayer’s Write It Forward.

Are You a Good Writer?

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This post, by Porter Anderson, originally appeared on Jane Friedman’s site.

What does the online writing community hand off to good writers?

 Good writers figure it out on their own.

No, this isn’t another hand-wringer about “Can Writing Be Taught?” But when I tweeted that “figure it out on their own” line the other day? The RTs went on and on.

A chord had been struck.

Or was that a starter pistol?

Since we’re all beginning to feel like volunteers at the London Olympics, I’m going to fashion this post as something of a relay. The baton of our shared thoughts here will pass from one writer to another. A quick 4×100. Ready…set…beep.

Off the Starting Blocks

Good writers figure it out on their own. Good writers develop a style that works for them. They write, they fail, and they write again.

This “self-immolating preamble,” as he calls it, is from Micah Nathan, author of this summer’s Jack the Bastard, as well as Losing Graceland, and Gods of Aberdeen.

The trick is prying apart the words, the sentences, the paragraphs, and seeing how it all works.

Nathan is telling us what we don’t always remember, but we do know: those good writers aren’t dependent on finding the Magic Blog Post or the Holy Inspirational Devotion that can transform the third vampire author on the left into Michael Cunningham.

Good writers intuitively know this. They certainly don’t need me getting in the way.

Nathan’s short essay is at Glimmer Train. Maybe it’s an anti-essay. (“I find these sorts of essays difficult.”) It’s called Selectively Stubborn. It’s been pointed out by Jane Friedman, host of the Ether and hashtag unto herself.

And it arrives at a time when we need gently to consider a kind of reckoning. No, a recognition. Well, maybe a recognition of what we’re not recognizing. A reckoning unreckoned. About this writing community business we engage in.

 

Read the rest of the post on Jane Friedman’s site.

Mistakes Writers Make On Twitter

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This post, by Rob Kroese, originally appeared on the New Wave Authors blog.

Let me say first of all that I’m not a Twitter expert. However, I have had some success using Twitter over the past two years to promote my books, and I thought I’d take a moment to share with you some of what I’ve learned about the do’s and don’t’s of Twitter.

Twitter is an especially difficult medium for many writers to adapt to. Writers tend to be verbose, and 140 characters just isn’t enough to say very much. There are sites that will allow you to post longer tweets (like Deck.ly), but overusing these sites defeats the purpose of Twitter and will probably cost you followers, as will using Twitter solely as a means to promote your latest blog post. If readers want to keep up with your blog, they will subscribe to your rss feed. There’s no need to constantly spam them with blog post-related tweets. Also, resist the urge to post anecdotes or diatribes that span four or five tweets. If you have something to say that requires more than a tweet or two, do a blog post. The most popular tweeters are those who use Twitter the way it was intended: for short, pithy remarks or updates.

And as with all social media, remember that people don’t enjoy constantly being bombarded with advertising. Your primary activities should be to socialize, entertain and/or enlighten. If more than a third of your tweets/posts/updates are self-promotion, people are going to get irritated and lose interest. Treat your followers with respect.

To that end, here are a few Twitter don’ts that I’ve picked up over the past two years:

  • Don’t follow people at random. If you’re going to start following large numbers of Tweeters in the hopes that they will follow you back, at least pick people based on some kind of relevant interest. For example, if you write romance novels, try following people who follow other romance authors. Otherwise, you’re just going to annoy and confuse people.
     
  • Don’t spam people. By this I mean don’t Tweet self-promotional message directly at individual users. In fact, don’t Tweet directly at someone (you do this by typing their Twitter handle followed by your message) unless you have something specific to say to someone. Recently I got a Tweet from one of my followers whose name I didn’t recognize, saying, “robkroese, Hey there! Been a while. How are you?” I looked up the user’s account and saw that this person had been Tweeting a long string of these sorts of messages, apparently in an attempt to “engage” his followers. His whole Twitter stream was filled with “@someusername Hey, how’s it going?” and “@someotheruser What are you up to these days?” That sort of insincerity is transparent and will probably get you unfollowed a good amount of the time.

 

Read the rest of the post on the New Wave Authors blog.

Congratulations: You Killed LendInk And Denied Your Fellow Authors Their Lend Royalties

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April L. Hamilton here. This post provides a cautionary tale about what happens when paranoia about ebook piracy is allowed to run amok. While piracy and intellectual property theft are valid concerns, anyone who suspects his rights are being infringed must see to due diligence before setting out on a witch hunt with torch and pitchfork in hand, based solely on hearsay and suspicions. Remember: anyone can say anything on the internet; that doesn’t make it true.

Fair warning: I am angry, and this is an angry post. When misinformation has the power to kill totally legitimate, above-board small businesses, it’s time to stop being nicey-nice and start getting down to brass tacks. When the business in question directly impacts authors’ livelihoods, it’s time to take action.

This week, there was a huge kerfuffle on Facebook and elsewhere about LendInk.com, a site that allowed people to list any of the ‘lendable’ Kindle or Nook books they own in exchange for getting access to other members’ listings of ‘lendable’ books. The sites make their money on advertising: they don’t get any piece of the action on the lends, which are essentially private transactions between two individuals, carried out in full compliance with the lending rules and limitations set forth by Amazon and B&N. As another person put it in a discussion on my Facebook page:

If I have a copy of ebook X that I think somebody might want to borrow (just once, as per [Amazon’s and B&N’s Terms and Conditions]), I can say so on this site. If someone wants to borrow it, they contact me and I either say yes or no. If I say yes, I tell amazon to lend it and it’s flagged on amazon as having had its lend. No different than me lending it to my mum for her kindle.

Just as with any other lend, the author gets her commission [if she is eligible for one, per Amazon’s and B&N’s terms and conditions] on lends originating from contacts made on sites like LendInk. There is nothing illegal about such sites, and having your book listed as available to lend on such sites is a GOOD thing because the fact that someone else already bought it serves as a kind of implied endorsement, and the lend listings lead to lend commissions you wouldn’t otherwise get [on your Kindle/Nook books that are eligible for lend commissions].

But once a few hair-on-fire, sky-is-falling types of indie authors got wind of LendInk and found their books listed there, they jumped right to the WRONG conclusion that this was some kind of illegal Napster for ebooks and went on the warpath. Rather than take a few moments to read the site’s FAQ, where the specifics of the site and the legality of it were addressed clearly and in detail, these authors immediately started posting warnings to all their author friends about this new ebook pirating site, LendInk. It became an online game of ‘telephone’, with well-meaning people re-posting incorrect claims about LendInk, and the claims about LendInk getting more distorted as they were passed around and new posters added their take on the situation. In a matter of just THREE DAYS, it went from an online campaign of spreading hysterical misinformation to LendInk being shut down.

The icing on this cake d’stupidity is that many people are taking the fact that LendInk has been shut down as proof that it MUST have been a pirate site, and posting "Yay, us!! We beat the evil ebook pirates!!" messages online. A more accurate message for them to post would be, "Yay, us!! We killed a small business that was making readers happy and making authors money!! And we did it without any actual evidence of wrongdoing, just hearsay and angry threats!! This is a victory for those who wish to cut off noses to spite faces everywhere!!"

While I’m still investigating the specifics of the shutdown, there’s a suspension of service message on LendInk’s former home page so I think the most likely reason is that one or more ill-informed authors sent ‘takedown’ notices to LendInk’s web hosting company, threatening legal action for intellectual property theft.

Even though LendInk wasn’t doing anything illegal or unethical, having to prove it in court is a costly and time-consuming process. Add to this the fact that you must generally stop doing business until you’ve been exonerated in court, and it’s not surprising that the great majority of small businesses are more likely to fold than fight the good fight. If anyone were to bring a totally bogus legal action against Publetariat, there’s no question I’d shut the site down rather than go to court to defend it. I simply don’t have the money or time to fight a frivolous lawsuit, no matter how completely ridiculous that lawsuit’s claims might be.

I fervently hope LendInk will be back, but it’s too soon to tell. For now, just let me say this to everyone who’s participated in the events leading up to its suspension this week:

Congratulations. You may have just destroyed a legitimate small business that was making life better for readers and authors of ebooks. You have caused someone who was in business to serve readers and authors a great deal of stress and expense, and potentially the total loss of his livelihood. You have definitely cost every author whose book was listed there the lend commissions [or added exposure] they would have otherwise received through this totally legal, legitimate channel for Amazon’s and B&N’s existing ebook lending programs. Pat yourself on the back, because I certainly won’t be doing it.

UPDATED TO ADD:
There’s some evidence to suggest LendInk’s site was hacked. I can’t say for certain whether it was or not, and if it was, whether the hack was a targeted attack instigated by one of those making false claims about LendInk. I’ve got some feelers out to contacts and I’m trying to get the full story.

But whatever the reason for LendInk’s current state of suspension, its owner is now put in the position of having to answer to all the false claims authors have made about it in emails to Amazon. I’m hopeful that once Amazon fully investigates the situation, they will see there’s been no wrongdoing and alter their responses to authors who complain about LendInk accordingly.

Also, I’m getting some feedback from people with wrong information. Let me address the myths floating around out there.

MYTH: Only Prime members can lend or borrow Kindle books.

FACT: Any Kindle book the publisher has marked as Lendable is lendable. The Kindle Lending Library is a special, sub-program for Prime members that gives them access to books publishers have approved only for limited lends to Prime members. Read Amazon’s page about Kindle book lending here.

MYTH: LendInk claimed to have Amazon’s approval to list its books on its site and lend them on its site, and it was a lie.

FACT: LendInk claimed all lends were processed by Amazon and B&N, and they were. No special ‘agreement’ is necessary, since it was the owners of the Kindle books who were listing them on LendInk, NOT LendInk itself. All they were doing was putting Kindle book owners in touch with one another, it was those book owners who actually transacted with one another to request and approve lends.

Here is some of the actual text from the former FAQ on LendInk:

Is the loaning of eBooks really legal? Isn’t this the same as file sharing?
Yes, loaning of certain eBooks is legal and No, it is not the same as file sharing. The key difference between the two is that the loan status of an eBook is directly dictated by the publisher and file sharing is usually done without the publishers consent. Working with Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble, the publisher’s make their eBooks available for loan under very strict rules. The actual book loaning process is handled by Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble, not by Lendink.

I am a Publisher or Author of a book on Lendink, how did you get a copy of my book?
First, let us explain up front, we do not have a copy of your book. This is actually a common misunderstanding of how Lendink functions. No book has or will be stored on any Lendink server, ever. The title of the book is entered by our members and the book information is fed to us by an automated link between Lendink and Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Our servers only store our member contact information and the basic book information such as the author, ASIN and book description. We do not even store the book cover artwork.

MYTH: LendInk was allowing members to lend multiple copies of the same book, which is against the one-lend policy. I saw (or my friend saw) where multiple copies of one book were listed as available to lend.

FACT: Not true. If multiple copies of a single book were listed as available to lend, that just means multiple members of LendInk owned that book and listed it as available to lend. Since all lends occurred off the LendInk site, through Amazon and B&N’s *own* lending mechanisms, it would not be possible for any Kindle book owner to exceed publishers’ specified lend limits—at least, not without some kind of hacking or dishonesty on the part of the Kindle book owner. And even if that were to occur, it would not be LendInk’s fault.
 

MYTH (Well, not really a myth, but another misleading item that needs to be addressed): I wrote to Amazon about LendInk and they wrote back to say LendInk was not authorized by Amazon to lend Kindle books.
 

FACT: Amazon is correct in this response, but the thing is, LendInk was NOT lending Kindle books. LendInk was just a specialized messaging and lendable ebook listing service, at its heart. It put owners of lendable ebooks in touch with one another, and those owners conducted the lend/borrow transaction off of the LendInk site, through Amazon’s (or B&N’s, in the case of Nook books) channels.

Amazon can only reply to the question put to it; if the question is, "Is LendInk authorized by Amazon to lend my Kindle book?" their answer will be "no". If anyone had written in to ask if owners of lendable Kindle books are allowed to list those books online for purposes of connecting with other lendable book owners, he or she would’ve received a different response.

 

MYTH: My book is offered through KDP Select, so it’s not lendable.

FACT: Lendability is a requirement of participation in KDP Select. Here’s the main Amazon KDP page about the program (note how most of the information here is specifically ABOUT lending), and here’s a link to KDP Select terms and conditions.

I’ll add more to this section [ on the original blog post ] as more myths come in.

 

This is a cross-posting from April L. Hamilton’s Indie Author Blog.

Selling Books: The Only Guide You'll Ever Need

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Originally appeared as Selling Books: The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need on LiveHacked.com.

 

Note: This post is really long. I believe it’s pretty darn good, and there’s lots of information in it. If there’s one post I’ve ever written that truly sums up my thoughts on writing, books, and making money from them, this is it. Here we go! Since I’ve started this blog, I’ve grown a highly-targeted email list, gained attention in a crowded niche (writing and productivity), and have been able to correspond directly with literally hundreds of people. I’m not famous, and didn’t start by being well-known. In fact, if you would have Googled me six months ago, you’d have found my Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ pages, maybe my personal blog (now pointing to this one), and another dude with the same name as me who sings Backstreet Boys, albeit not well. Basically, I was a nobody.  Sure–I’m certainly not "famous" now, by anyone’s standards, nor have I become some sort of sage or guru. But I’ve definitely made an impact online, and the numbers don’t seem to be slowing down. There are lots of benefits to this sort of "impact," not the least of which is gaining attention and mindshare in a crowded world. For me, though, the best value I’ve received is having been able to help so many other people with their writing, business, and "platform building" online. …And, I’ve had a few book sales, to boot. That’s what this post is about I hope you’re writing for more than just making money. Selling a book is a great way to get your name out there, or promote an idea or mindset, and it can certainly lead to earning more money for yourself as well. Money’s a great thing, used wisely and for the right purposes, but it’s certainly not why most writers and creators are artists. That said, you do need money–either to spend on your family and lifestyle, or to reinvest into your writing business. Whatever the reason, I’ve been getting more and more questions lately about the writing + book sales dilemma. Most writers want to sell their books, and lots of them. But they have a (justified) hesitation when it comes to self-promotion, marketing, and spending hours and days on things other than writing. And I’ve harped on it enough to know that just writing and waiting is sort of a luck-based scenario. If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you’ll know that I believe in building platforms online, and these platforms help to promote us and get more books sold. The problem In a nutshell, the problem with this philosophy is that it’s unspecific. You might understand the concept of building a platform, attracting people to it, and then hyping your product, but you might not understand the intricacies of how it all works. For example, here are some questions I’ve been getting over and over again in my email inbox, in the comments section of some posts, and on guest posts I’ve written around the web:

  • I write fiction, not nonfiction. How can I blog and still sell fiction?
  • I don’t want to write about my life or other nonfiction stuff–how can I write a fiction blog that sells books?
  • How can I sell more of my books without a big publishing deal?
  • How much does it cost to build a solid platform online?

This post will hopefully answer some of these questions. Step 1: Ask the Right Questions First, though, it’s important to make sure you’re asking the right questions. Questions like, "how do I sell more books," or "how many books do  I need to sell to quit my day job?" These questions aren’t bad, they’re just too early in the process of building a platform. The first, most obvious, and most-forgotten question is WHY.

  • Why do you want to build a platform?
  • Why you? Why not someone else?
  • What do you hope to gain from your platform?
  • What do you want others to gain from your platform?

These questions are the "business plan"-type questions that are all related to vision. Vision is a fleeting, hard-to-capture entity that dances in our dreams and makes our mouth water, but it’s not something we usually write down on a piece of paper. For some people, the vision questions (and their corresponding answers) lack clarity, specificity, and action-based steps, so they ignore it, opting instead to "just have it in my head." I can tell you from experience that "just having your vision in your head" is way different than having it written out in perfectly clear sentence form. I’ve launched a few businesses and blogs, and the ones that had a chance of succeeding were the ones that I spent time working on a vision for. Note: Here’s a secret, though. The really good visions aren’t ones we usually have to think too long or hard about–they’re already floating through our heads and in our minds. We just need to actually write them down.  What if your vision is just "to be a writer"? That’s a good question–and the answer is that it’s really not your vision, it’s just the method you want to use to get to your vision. Your real vision is something like:

  • To provide a new, fresh perspective on modern-day cultural changes in humanity, provided through writing and blogging
  • To offer a style of horror novels that inspire, teach, and guide young adults into adulthood
  • To change the way the world views life in third-world countries by writing personal first-person accounts and testaments of the men and women who live there

Do you see the difference? These "vision statements" are bigger–much bigger than, "to be a writer." Your vision can change, and it often does, but it needs to be something big, lofty, and "change-the-world"-y. So again, ask yourself the right questions and come up with a vision you can stick to for awhile. If you need help with these questions, I’ve written an entire book giving them to you (101 in all), and you can grab it here. Step 2: Build A Platform Once you know the right questions, you’ll know the right answers. You’ve been around long enough to have heard all of the ins and outs of what you do, and you’ve read enough about it and studied it long enough. In other words, you’ve read so many answers that all you need to do is figure out the right questions, ask them, and then let your mind answer them the way you know is right. I realized long ago that my platform was going to be successful only if I provided a solid value to other people, first and foremost. Building a business on affiliate programs and product sales was one of the many "answers" floating around on the web, but for me the "right answer" was more about writing for other people and listening to their concerns, and then helping when I could. So, how do you build a platform? You start by figuring out your value. What are you going to offer me that’s going to save me time, earn me more money, entertain or enlighten me, or give me something to think about? You can pick any of these things, but the secret to providing value is doing it well enough that I’ll want to come back later. Platforms range in all shapes and sizes, but the ones we’ll talk about (because that’s what I’m trained to talk about and what I know how to build) are those platforms that are built and grown online, using technology like social media and blogging, and are teaching-based and product (books)-based. This website is a good example of that kind of platform. And here are instructions for building one:

  • Set up a home base. Your "Home Base" is a website, preferably a blog, that will act as your online start and endpoint to everything you do. You don’t need to spend forever building this Home Base, but you do need to take some time to get it right. Here are a few posts describing this process in more detail. Use Google Analytics to track your Home Base’s activity.
  • Set up your outposts. Like your Home Base, these "Outposts" are websites, but they’re usually owned and controlled by someone else. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are all Outposts, and they should all be set up with one and only one goal in mind: Get people to click through to your Home Base.
  • Start promoting. Use the "Slow-Drip Marketing Method" to promote other peoples’ content most of the time, and your own stuff a much smaller portion of the time. Don’t be afraid to promote your own stuff if you’re promoting other stuff most often. Shoot for an 80/20 ratio of promoting other content versus promoting your own. Figure out how to promote almost on autopilot, so you can focus on the next step.
  • Start writing. Actually, you’ll be writing throughout this entire process. You are a writer, so this shouldn’t be difficult. Specifically, you need to write about things people want to read about, and don’t be afraid to try out new things. Again, get this on autopilot (blog every Tuesday and Thursday, for example, no matter what), and then start writing other things, like guest posts, manifestos, and books.

Tweak as you go, adding/subtracting/changing/whatever until you feel like your platform is looking polished and running like a well-oiled machine. Once you get to the point where you don’t need to actively be working on your blog’s theme, widgets, and plugins, use that energy to write more and broaden your horizons. Once you’ve started writing more, measure the results of everything you do, which is the next step. Step 3: Measure and Improve What gets measured gets managed. You don’t want to micromanage for too long, though, or you’ll get analysis paralysis and burn out. However, don’t use that excuse to not track what your efforts are leading to. Here are some key points:

  • Watch Google Analytics data on your Home Base and track things like Bounce Rate, which pages are bringing in the most visitors, and where your visitors are coming from.
  • If you’re using WordPress, install Pretty Links and set up some "pretty links" on your site. An example is the link I use for my new book: www.livehacked.com/blogging-101, which is a "pretty" link that just sends you on to Amazon–but it also tracks how many clicks there are on it, and now Analytics can track it as well. If you’re not using WordPress, start. If you won’t, then I guess you can use gaconfig.com.
  • Using the data you’re starting to measure, tweak things on your Home Base to hopefully improve them.

The formula for all of this is build-measure-tweak-repeat, over and over again. It’s not fancy, pretty, or even fun sometimes, but it works. Having a vision that excites and invigorates you is going to help you run with this formula without getting sick to your stomach. "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Alright–that covers it! Wait–you thought I was going to give you a top-secret recipe for selling loads of books? Well, I can’t do that–but what I can do is help you figure out how you, as a horror/romance/memoir/investing author, can actually get people to pay attention to you and take the time out to visit that awesome platform you’re building. There are a few tried-and-true methods in the industry that still work, and probably always will. Pick one of them if you want:

  1. Writing about writing. Companies like Writer’s Digest do this very well, and probably make a killing. The goal is to teach other writers about the craft and business of writing, and sell them products, services, and books that further help them. LiveHacked is doing this to some extent.
  2. Writing about yourself. Memoir writers and some other nonfiction authors can usually do this pretty well. Basically, you’re blogging about yourself, your life, your cat, your kids; whatever. It can sometimes be more difficult to make a long-term career out of this style, unless you have a large catalog of your work for sale or you have a bestseller or two.
  3. Writing about your fiction. Every now and then, I’ll come across a blog that’s just a mashup of an author’s fiction–blog posts are really snippets of short stories, character shorts, or serialized books (one chapter or section each day/week). If you want to sell books like this, you might try starting with releasing your book as serial fiction, one post every other day or so. This way, you can "set it and forget it" while you work on your next novel and promote the blog.
  4. Writing about your subject matter. This one’s cool, but it’s difficult. Basically, you’re writing nonfiction blog posts about your fiction’s subject matter. Let’s say you write a novel about a wizard kid who has to defeat He Who Shall Not Be Named. You might write a few posts about the history of wizardry, maybe another few on castles, and some on fantasy in general. You can certainly build a successful platform, but be careful when you try to turn around and write a Tom Clancy-esque military novel–that might need another platform (or pen name) altogether!

I hope all of this makes sense–blogging and platform building is not as much about the subject matter (what you’re blogging about) as it is about to whom you’re offering it. If you can figure out a subset of your demographic that really loves the stuff you blog about, it doesn’t really matter if it’s related to your book’s subject or not. WHAT?!? Yeah, okay, I said it. If you can build a great, successful, and popular platform, your readers and fans will buy your book.  They might not all buy it, but don’t think that just because they like reading your blog about military history, they won’t like reading your YA fan fiction. If you’re building a platform correctly, people will know you as a good writer, not just as a niche-focused writer. An example Trent Hamm, a very popular blogger, is known primarily (and almost exclusively) for his blog, TheSimpleDollar. He’s written so many blog posts on personal finance and helped so many people find financial answers, it came as sort of a shock to me when he announced that his next book (after his first, called The Simple Dollar) would be a novel.  Huh? That’s right–a novel. I don’t know what it’s about, but I know that I’ll buy it. Part of it is just trying to support the guy–hey, I love his work–and the other part of it is that I know he’s a great writer, and even if the book’s a flop, it’ll be like having a friend’s book on my bookshelf. I’m pretty sure that there are about 100,000 other readers of The Simple Dollar who feel the same way. Last thing–let me paint a picture There’s one other way I can illustrate this. I had a comment from a reader not too long ago asking (basically), "how can I promote and blog about nonfiction stuff, and expect these readers to buy my fiction?" It’s a good question, and it warrants a good answer. So here’s my best shot: Imagine you’re at home, having a nice dinner with a friend, whom you know through work. You often exchange work-related ideas, and help each other on projects and such. After dinner, you start watching TV, and the friend says, "hey, man, is this book on the coffee table yours?"  You of course reply, "Yup! I wrote it last year–I’d love for you to read it, but I don’t have another copy here." They will, no doubt, say, "Oh please! Just tell me where to get it! Is it available on Amazon? I’m more than happy to help you out!" You’ve just sold a novel to a "nonfiction friend" (does that analogy make sense?). There will be some friends who congratulate you and pat you on the back, but who never actually buy the book. There are also people who read only one book per year (usually Harry Potter, Twilight or Hunger Games, etc.), so you can’t really expect them to read yours, too. The point The point, if you’re still following along, is that this little parable of The Friend in Your Living Room is really People Who Read Your Blog. Your "living room" is your "Home Base," and the "friend" whom you invite over is the reader whom you attract through your platform-building efforts. Keep plugging away at your platform, and there will be more and more friends in your living room. The end.  I’m really sorry this post ended up so long–thanks for holding on there with me, and if I can ask one more favor–let me know what you thought. Leave a comment, and add your thoughts on the subject!

Why I Signed With A New York Literary Agent

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Last week I announced on my author blog that I have signed with literary agent Rachel Ekstrom from the Irene Goodman Literary Agency in New York. Thank you for all the congratulations I have received!

Many of you have been incredibly supportive of my independent publishing career so far and I know you will have some questions. Since I have always been transparent with my journey, I’m happy to share what I can.

I am a fan of publishing in all its myriad guises, and none of us know where the industry is going.  It’s also quite ironic that I feel like I have to defend my decision, since in the past, self-publishing has needed the defense more!

Why do I even want an agent?

I am an author and an entrepreneur, so my goals center around:

  1. Creating great books and quality products that will delight, entertain, educate and inspire my readers
  2. Building a long term career as an author and widening my reader base
  3. Growing a sustainable income that enables me to travel and spend my time on (1) above!

In working towards these goals as an independent author over the last 3.5 years, I have used business partnerships with professional editors, book cover designers and formatters. I also depend on distributors like Amazon, Kobo and BookBaby to get my books into the hands of readers. I use tools like blogging and social networking to market and I pay for internet hosting to enable this. I sell from my site so I use Paypal as a merchant service.

I could not run my business without these business partners.

I look at signing with an agent, and possibly a traditional publisher, in the same way. They are business partners who I will work with to achieve a mutually beneficial goal. I am not a newbie in this business anymore. I have been learning about publishing for nearly four years, so this is certainly done with forethought. I have also done a lot of research on contracts and legalities, attending the Rights workshop at the London Book Fair as well as poring over books on contract clauses. I’m not going to sign anything that doesn’t fit with my goals.

Being an indie author is not only about self-publishing anymore. It’s more about taking control of your career as an author and becoming a creative director for each book. The Alliance of Independent Authors has a fantastic definition here if you want to read more.

So signing with an agent and pursuing traditional publishing reflects on my overall goals above as follows:

(1) Traditional publishing is excellent at creating quality products.

I’m an ebook only author right now and although I have dabbled in print, I don’t enjoy the process. I know a lot of indies do it successfully but I am a huge fan of doing things I enjoy :)

I currently employ several different editors during my writing process, and I absolutely believe this is critical for any author to invest in. Traditional publishing will hopefully take me to a new level with my writing and push me further. I will certainly be looking for a great editorial team as part of any deal.

(2) Traditional publishing will enable me to build a wider audience.

There are still many readers who will only buy print books in bookstores, or who hear about books through more traditional venues e.g. book clubs. I can reach an online audience myself but there are possibilities with traditional publishing that I also want to pursue.

(3) On the income question.

I am the kind of indie who wants a hybrid approach combining traditional publishing with self-publishing. After all, traditional and independent publishing are not mutually exclusive.

This approach can bring in spikes with advances, and then a monthly rolling income with self-publishing. I specifically went with the Irene Goodman Agency because they understand self-publishing can be an option for some of their authors at certain times, depending on the specifics of the author’s career and goals. I know some of their authors who are already following this hybrid approach successfully.

Nothing changes right now in terms of my books being available for sale. You can still buy Pentecost and Prophecy at the moment (better snap them up though!).

Here are some of the other reasons for pursuing this opportunity.

Authority, experience, social proof and let’s face it, ego.

You guys know I am proud of self-publishing and absolutely intend to continue doing it in some form. Indeed, I recently re-released my first book on career change. But originally, this blog was sub-titled ‘Adventures in Publishing’ and it was always my goal to have a traditional book deal one day.

In the UK, there are still bookstores on the high street and my parents read books in print that they buy from Waterstones. I do want to be on those shelves among the bestsellers. There is definitely still some authority and social proof with traditional publishing that I want to benefit from, so long as I can integrate it with my self-publishing goals.

I would also like to say I have ‘done it’ so I can justifiably join in the discussions on traditional publishing that I can only report on second-hand at the moment.

Film rights and other subsidiary rights.

As well as my lovely agent, Rachel Ekstrom, the Irene Goodman agency has a couple of great rights agents who focus on specific areas of subsidiary rights. I am interested to see what they can do with my books.

Lee Child talked at Thrillerfest about the upcoming movie Jack Reacher, starring Tom Cruise. Very exciting. I want Morgan Sierra to be the next Lara Croft, so I need people with the right contacts to make that happen. I know the film deal is a lightning strike type of luck, but some authors make it, and I have always had stretch goals and dreams!

Peer respect, blurbs and networking.

At Thrillerfest, I was excited to meet some of the big name authors who I call my writing heroes. Much as I love self-publishing, even in the current market, I think I am more likely to be able to get blurbs from big name authors if I get a traditional book deal. I have to build my author brand over time and peer networking is critical for this.

Entry into prizes.

This is an arena that is slowly opening up to indies, but most prizes are still currently based on traditional publishing. I think nominations and awards can help marketing and enable the expansion of readership.

Speaking opportunities at festivals.

I already have a professional speaking career but it doesn’t currently include talking specifically about my fiction :) The festivals in the UK especially are only about traditionally published authors, and this is an area I want to break into. (btw, I’m speaking at Zurich WriteCon in October if anyone fancies some Swiss chocolate with their scribbling!)

Why a New York agent when I live in London?

I am British but I moved back to London last year after 11 years in Australia and New Zealand. In the last four years, I have learned about online marketing from mainly US blogs so I am enmeshed in their business models. My Mum also lived in the US for many years so I have visited a lot. I love my homeland but in terms of publishing, I believe the Americans are still ahead of us in terms of the new paradigms in publishing. I wanted a forward thinking agent at an innovative agency.

It’s also a bigger book market in the US and my current sales are about 4:1 US:UK split. I wrote for the US market and even use an American spell-check. My traffic for this site and my podcast is over 50% US so most of my existing audience is there. In publishing terms, books that make it big in the US are more likely to be picked up in the UK and in other countries. So it is a business move that hopefully will put me in a better position for achieving my goals.

I have years of writing ahead of me.

The books I have out right now are not the end of what I can create. They are not precious snowflakes (much as I love them!). I have stacks of ideas and I am writing more books. At the moment, I am mostly in the library working on edits for Exodus, ARKANE book #3 and researching my next book, Hunterian, which is possibly a stand-alone or the beginning of a new series.

This is a serious career for me. I want to sell some books to the right trade publisher and self-publish others.

I am 37 with (hopefully) 50+ years of writing ahead. The decision to sign with an agent and pursue traditional publishing for some of those books opens possibilities but it certainly doesn’t stop me from doing all kinds of exciting things in the future.

This is just the beginning. I hope you will join me for the ride!

I’d love to hear what you think as I know it’s an emotional topic. Please do leave your comments [here, in the post’s original location].

 

This is a cross-posting from Joanna Penn‘s The Creative Penn.

Book Marketing Toolbox – Free Conference Pro

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Today I want to share another of my favorite free book marketing tools with you. Free Conference Pro is one of several companies that provide free conference calling and recording services.

Here are just a few ways that authors can use this no-cost resource to promote their books and run their business:

 

  • Record yourself reading an excerpt from your book to use as a promotional tool.
  • Do conference calls with your project team or author group.
  • Conduct and record teleseminars with up to 200 live participants.
  • Do recorded interviews of other authors or experts.
  • Record consultations with clients so they don’t have to focus on writing notes.
  • Record audio presentations to distribute on your podcast or website, or sell as a downloadable product.
  • Record an audio greeting to play (on demand) on your website.

What other ways can authors use a free conference call service? Please share your ideas in the comments area below. See previous book marketing toolbox columns here.

 

This is a cross-posting from Dana Lynn Smith‘s The Savvy Book Marketer.

Fifty Shades of Hypocrisy

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When it comes to books like Fifty Shades of Grey, the Twilight series and The DaVinci Code (huge commercial successes that are pretty universally acknowledged as poorly written), outrage among authors who haven’t been as successful in finding a monster, dedicated fan base is generally off the scale.

I’m not going to reduce this to a simple case of jealousy, though jealousy is certainly a factor. It’s more like a sense of injustice, a feeling that authors who seem to be lacking in skill or talent haven’t truly earned the riches and fame being heaped upon them—particularly in the eyes of those who have labored long and hard on craft.

Anyone who aspires to authorship has been told her entire life that eventually, quality work rises to the top and finds the audience it deserves. Fifty Shades of Grey and Jersey Shore memoirs notwithstanding, I still believe this is absolutely true. The part that angry, hardworking authors seem to miss is that when "quality work rises to the top and finds the audience it deserves," that audience may not be large enough to crack the NYT Bestseller list, nor even necessarily the Amazon Top 100.

Why does this come as a surprise to anyone?

Look at the most popular television shows, musical acts and movies in the West. And by "popular", I mean the most commercially successful. With very, very few exceptions, it’s all lowest-common-denominator tripe, aimed at the 18-35 demographic, promoting the pursuit of youth, physical beauty, material gain and fame, above all else. If I wanted to put it more kindly, I might say it’s escapist wish-fulfillment material.

For many of us, life is already throwing enough physical, mental and emotional work our way that when we have a few minutes or hours to spare on entertainment, all we want is the cinematic, musical or literary equivalent of junk food. We want something shiny to distract us for a little while, that’s all. I’d have to count myself as part of that population most of the time, for the past few years.

Then there’s the (possibly larger) population of people who never seek out anything but the shallowist escapism in their entertainment. If a movie, song or book happens to make them think a little, fine. But they’re not looking for that, and if it requires them to think too much, they’re turned off because it starts to feel more like work than entertainment. It stops being fun, and nowadays, consumers expect everything from driving directions to language lessons to be fun.

Guess what? Quality prose is rarely described as "fun". It can actually be quite demanding. Clever turns of phrase often hinge on historical or literary references. Similes and metaphors are built on the foundation of a shared vocabulary between writer and reader. Intricate plots require the reader to keep track of multiple plot threads and character arcs. 

Writers who sweat these kinds of details in their manuscripts do so not only because they take personal pride in quality work, but because they want the reading experience to be the best it can possibly be for the eventual reader. But here’s the thing: if you’re preparing a seven-course, gourmet meal for dinner guests who only have the time or inclination (or both) to wolf down fast food, your eventual disappointment is both inevitable and predictable. Nobody who’s craving a Big Mac is inclined to seek out haute cuisine.

Here’s where the "Hypocrisy" from the title of this blog post comes in. As an author, you can strive to write prose your fellow authors and the literary establishment will admire, belittle the quality of a lowest-common-denominator bestseller, and mock the lowbrow tastes of the majority. But if you do all those things while simultaneously being angry that the majority isn’t buying and loving your book, you’re being a hypocrite. You’re not writing what they’re lining up to buy, and you don’t even want to write what they’re lining up to buy, so why begrudge them their choices and purchases?

In fairness, there’s definitely some skill and plenty of work involved in engineering entertainment so that it will appeal to the widest possible demographic. Nicholas Sparks is a master of this, and has the piles of cash to prove it. Adam Sandler isn’t likely to win an Academy Award in his lifetime, but he’s amassed as much wealth as a small island nation, and is beloved by millions the world over for bringing laughter into their lives.

None of which is to say that quality writing and commercial success are totally incompatible. When art and commerce meet and play nice together in the literary world, the result is a Neil Gaiman or Nora Ephron. Authors like these, who hit the magic trifecta of talent, skill and zeitgeist time and again are a rarity. They are the Bonos, Beatles and Bowies of the literary world: hugely popular, successful, admired, respected, and influential in their medium—all at the same time, both within their own profession and in the eyes of the general public. The most that the rest of us can hope for is to achieve maybe two of the things on that list, and not necessarily both at the same time or even in the same book. Anyone can hope to become a literary rockstar, but no one can plan for it the way one can plan for a successful career in medicine or teaching.

So pick a goal, art or commerce, and devote yourself to it. Accept that while it’s possible you may achieve both, it’s not too likely. Accept that in fact, it’s not even truly "likely" that you’ll achieve either one. Accept that writers who are willing to pander have better odds of enjoying the kind of sudden, ‘overnight’ success enjoyed by E.L. James, the author of Fifty Shades of Grey, just as an Us Weekly with a picture of a Kardashian on it is the odds-on favorite to far outsell an issue of the Economist with a picture of a Prime Minister on it. But also know that the likelihood such books will become beloved classics that future generations of readers will reach for, and recommend, time and again is remote.

 

This is a cross-posting from April L. Hamilton’s Indie Author Blog.

Remember When Amazon Set the Pace for Ebook Pricing? It’s Back!

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This post, by , originally appeared on Digital Book World on 7/26/12.

 

Remember when Amazon set the pace for ebook pricing?

Remember when they set prices designed to build a market from scratch – and did just that – built a market from scratch?

If you don’t recall a time before Agency Pricing, a time when Amazon fully ruled the ebook roost, dust off your history books. That time is coming back, in very short order, and it’s going to completely redefine the publishing and ebook landscapes (again).

Once the DoJ case is officially adjudicated (with all signs pointing to the Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster deal being the final structure of the settlement) we’re going to see an unprecedented 30-70 days where the ebook market and competitive landscape will be complete re-written – literally in real-time.

Despite all of the upheaval that’s coming, what I’ll be watching most closely is discoverability – specifically the ability for authors to build audiences in light of massive price competition from retailers and publishers.

With prices crashing through the floor, upstart authors losing their ability to compete / differentiate / build an audience based on price and publishers frantically racing to develop direct to consumer (reader) relationships in a bid to re-establish themselves as the foundation of the ebook market, it’s going to be increasingly difficult for readers to keep finding new quality works.

When best sellers are priced at (or nearly at) the same level as unknowns, the decision to venture off the beaten path will become more difficult. This is the same concept as purchasing Kleenex vs. the store brand tissue. If the price is close enough (<10% variance), you’re buying Kleenex. It’s only when the price variance exceeds 25% that consumers begin to react negatively to a brand and seek information about alternative products.

 

Read the rest of the post on Digital Book World.

How to Have a Great Social Media Presence and Still Have a Life

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This post, by , originally appeared on Ezine @rticles.

If the idea of Facebook, Squidoo, Twitter, and YouTube (not to mention your own site and blog) are inundating you. Take heart! You’re not the only person overwhelmed with choices. With more places to post and keep track of, our days seem to shrink . Here are some helpful, time-saving tips for making the most of your social networking without having it take over your life.

1) Blogging: first off, try and plan as many blogs as you can so you can preload them and forget about them. You can still post additional content but ideally you want to have at least one or two posts a week that are scheduled.

2) Social networking: sometimes an author will come to us with 35 social networking sites. Frankly that’s about 34 too many. With the popularity of social networking growing these niche social sites are popping up everywhere. I’m not telling you not to post something there but if you are stretched too thin and can’t keep them updated, what’s the point? Personally I recommend posting to two sites: Facebook and Squidoo. Start with one or the other and get your feet wet, then once you have an audience built and a social networking routine in place you can expand your networks.

If you’re unfamiliar with these sites (and many are unfamiliar with Squidoo, I’ll explain why in a minute) know that these are the two powerhouses when it comes to social networking. You can get on there and start a page, build a fan base and promote your book. It’s very easy to do and best of all, it’s entirely free. Squidoo.com is (like Facebook) very integrated in Google’s ranking system. Any Search Engine Marketing expert will tell you that you need three things: Facebook, Squidoo, and Twitter. Squidoo (again free) is very easy.

Also take advantage of time saving options on both of these sites. Both Facebook and Squidoo let you feed your blog and Twitter account through there which will help with keeping the page updated. You should plan to update each page once daily and here’s a quick Facebook tip for you and a great way to expand your network. Go in and wish folks a happy birthday. Birthdays are always posted on your page so go in and write on someone’s wall and wish them well, it’s a great way to network with your FB peeps and trust me, it will also help to expand your network!

 

Read the rest of the post on Ezine @rticles.

Using Engagement Analytics to Understand What Drives Customer Engagement

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This post originally appeared on My Business Marketer. While it is aimed at small business owners, the advice it contains is just as useful to indie authors, who are, in effect, running a small business.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – –

I came across an interesting report a few weeks ago that offers an in-depth exploration into how to use engagement analytics to better understand what drives customer engagement with your brand and how you can use this information to improve your company’s revenue stream.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – –

For the uninitiated, engagement analytics give online marketers the ability to more precisely define those advertising and marketing initiatives that are the most successful in driving targeted customer engagement and generating revenue for the company. These analytics are invaluable when it comes to measuring aggregate average quantities, such as number of visits, most visited pages, time spent on each page, among others.

Knowing what’s driving whom is crucial information in the world of online marketing. After all, you can attract tons of traffic to your site, but if the traffic you’re getting isn’t the kind that is interested in the products or services you have on offer, your efforts are ultimately an exercise in how to burn through time and money. 

To get there from here, you need to drill down deep and mine the information recovered  for clues that you can then use to build subsequent successful marketing campaigns. 

Effective engagement analytics measurement will help you do just that as you zero in on three key areas: 

1. Traffic Sources. 

Sophisticated engagement analytics don’t just attribute traffic sources to the major search engines, such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo! Instead, traffic is broken down into paid, organic search, and organic branded search engine traffic (that is, traffic from visitors who included your company name or brand in their search term). This level of detailed understanding enables you to monitor what quality and quantity of traffic to your site is coming from which marketing channels so that you’re ensured that your marketing dollars are well spent.

 

Read the rest of the article on My Business Marketer. Also see: Use Statistics Counters In Managing Your Author Website, by Savvy Book Marketer Dana Lynn Smith.

Justice Department slams Apple, Refuses to Modify E-book Settlement

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This post, by Jeff John Roberts, originally appeared on paidContent.org on 7/23/12.

The Justice Department released a document today that characterized criticism by Apple and publishers of a controversial price-fixing settlement as “self-serving” and ill-founded. The Department also pointed to recent ventures by Google and Microsoft as evidence that the e-book market is thriving and that Amazon’s dominant position has been overstated.

 

The arguments came as a reply to the 868 public comments that were filed in response to a settlement announced in April under which three publishers agreed they would change their pricing policy in accordance with Justice Department demands.

The settlement was imposed after the Justice Department sued Apple and five publishers for allegedly conspiring to wrest pricing power from Amazon. Apple and two of the publishers, Penguin and Macmillan, refused to settle and are fighting the case in court.

The Justice Department document is posted below with key passages underlined. The primary upshot is that the Department is refusing to modify any parts of the settlement agreement despite about 800 comments in opposition to the deal and new political opposition from people like Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY).

In its filing, Justice says it addresses Apple’s objections at length because of “[Apple’s] central role in the events leading to the underlying enforcement action.”  It also quotes an incident in which Steve Jobs reportedly told publishers, “the customer pays a little more, but that’s what you want anyway.”

The government goes on to refute Apple’s contention that it is imposing a business model on the industry:

 

Read the rest of the post on paidContent.org, which includes an embedded copy of the DoJ’s full response. Also see Consumers face long wait for $52 million tied to Apple e-book ‘conspiracy’, by the same author, on the same site.

Tim Roux of Taylor Street Publishing, on “The Publishing Market”

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This post, from Winston Emerson, originally appeared on The Object on 7/22/12.

Recently, The Object interviewed author J. Eric Laing, who told us he had placed his novel Cicada with Night Publishing, owned by Tim Roux, but several months ago withdrew it from Night and self-published instead.

A disagreement between the author and publisher unveiled itself during the interview and subsequent commenting, which has led to Tim offering us an article entitled “The Publishing Market” that details his perspective on the subject, along with how his company operates in today’s publishing world.

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The Publishing Market

by Tim Roux, Taylor Street Publishing

I have been a professional international marketer, brand manager and business strategist for 30 years but, like many a closet (or at least bookcase) bookworm, I always felt I had a book inside me.

Then, in 2004, after throwing away a few chapters of an effort that embarrassed even me twenty years earlier, I went for it and wrote ‘Blood & Marriage’ in 3 months, mostly 35,000 feet in the air.

It was, and is, a totally self-indulgent book that nobody should ever be asked to read, but it led to nine other books, some of which have been kindly reviewed, and I have had something like 20,000 sales / downloads of my books since, so I can declare with false modesty to anyone who will listen – and many who won’t – ‘Yeah, I have sold a few books’.

However, where I have really begun to sell books has been as a publisher. When I started out in January 2010, I simply knew that I wanted to get some books I loved into print. I knew how to publish books on the cheap into paperback – I had self-published my own – but I certainly didn’t know how to promote or sell them. Nevertheless, I was friendly with several authors and managed to persuade a few of them to let me publish them (as I still do).

I started with a target of publishing 5-6 books a month. Nine months later, our first book really took off – 3 sales in 6 months, then 11,000 the next day. The company got into its true sales rhythm about a year ago. It has certainly had its ups and downs since, and the original company was driven into the sidings during a particularly vicious divorce process, but the phoenix companies are up and fighting all over again, with a specific view of publishing which I would like to share here, whether it is useful to you or not, or even true or not.

I think the first thing, as authors, we have to decide is what we want from writing. Do we want to hold our own book in our hand; do we want people to read it; do we want to make money out of it?

If all you want is your own book, then you can self-publish your book in a day, and nothing can stop you. If you want people to read your book, you have Kindle Select and Smashwords to offer free downloads in their tens of thousands, if your book is attractive enough. If you want to make money, well, as Mark Twain said, “Any idiot can write a book, but it takes a genius to sell it.”

The book market is a market, and all markets have segments, eventually. As far as we are concerned, there are four topline segments for fiction – literary, genre, life and weird.

 

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