I'm finally joining the crowd!

[britnidanielle]

Not sure, I haven't branched out onto any other networks yet. Are you going to make any of your work perma-free? If so, I'd love to hear how that process goes for you.

Edit: Also, great work on the keyword usage. That's an optimized listing for sure!

I was reading some things last night, namely folks on HM Ward's books complaining about how short her serial was & charging for each part (hers are like 100 pages)...and...it made me unsure of charging $2.99 for a 30 page serial.

I thought about dropping it to .99 at that moment. lol. I think once I release part 2 of the serial...I'll drop the first one to permafree, since it's more of an intro. But we'll see. I'm pretty much improvising as I go, which may not be a good thing, but yeah...

 

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[Thriftypreneur]

I was reading some things last night, namely folks on HM Ward's books complaining about how short her serial was & charging for each part (hers are like 100 pages)...and...it made me unsure of charging $2.99 for a 30 page serial.

Also keep in mind, while she has tons of complaints, it doesn't keep them from buying, buying, and buying. They're like addicts on that series... it's really wild. They're complaining because they can't keep themselves from buying. (I want to write like THAT!) But, I do see your point, most of her works in that series are 35-45k words (100'ish pages). In either case, experimentation, testing, and data collection is your friend.

I thought about dropping it to .99 at that moment. lol. I think once I release part 2 of the serial...I'll drop the first one to permafree, since it's more of an intro. But we'll see. I'm pretty much improvising as I go, which may not be a good thing, but yeah...

Sounds like a great idea. Be sure to let us know how that process goes.

 

[ChickenHawk]

Interesting on the $3.99 price point. I just raised mine to $3.99 a couple weeks ago, and it's hard to tell what kind of impact (if any) it has. It didn't seem to make much of a difference either way. It might be worth an experiment though. Hmmm... Much food for thought.

 

[britnidanielle]

Book 2 is....not selling as my novella, but whatever. 6 sold w/ 1 return (ugh. I HATE seeing the returns). I wonder if they felt it was too short (30 pgs) for the price?

Should I drop it to $.99 now instead of waiting on Book 2?

 

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[Held for Ransom]

6 sold w/ 1 return (ugh. I HATE seeing the returns)

You need more data here IMO BD - that's a very small sample size. I find that my historical average over tens of thousands of Romance-related sales is that the return rate hovers around 5%. Length does not appear to be a factor in that number from my experience.

If your focus is eyeballs, $.99, KDP free or perma free *might* get you there more quickly. There's a great thread from Russell Blake on that debate if your goal is eyeballs as he believes this translates to huge numbers of buyers long-term.

From a pricing perspective, it will take you approximately six times the number of sales at $.99 to equal the same dollar equivalent that you would get at ONE sale at a $2.99 list price. So if short term revenue is an issue, that's something to think about.

Honestly, I've been around long enough now to see people on both sides swear up and down that free or not-free is that iron clad way to go. I think if you spend enough time reading KBoards, you'll encounter almost every imaginable pricing scenario - as well as success and failures with both.

As Thrifty alluded to, it all comes down to your own experience and testing.

Curious... How many titles do you have at this time in this series BD?

Decided to publish the short on Nook. Uploaded it yesterday and it's STILL processing. How long does it take them to make it live?

Anywhere from 24 hours to six months. Seriously though, in my experience... the longest I've waited for a new title to go live is a few days. This is especially true if I've uploaded something over the weekend.

 

[britnidanielle]

Thanks for the info, HfR...I appreciate it.

Curious... How many titles do you have at this time in this series BD?

This is just the first one. It's only been live for a day. We'll see.

 

[britnidanielle]

End of the Month Update!

So, I published my first novella (Turn It Loose) on 10/10/13 & my the first book in my series, Bad Dates & Other Diasters on 10/24.

Here are the deets:

Turn It Loose
I sold 76 copies in the US, 2 in the UK and I have 9 reviews (all 4 & 5 stars).

I raised the price to $3.99 last weekend, sold a few copies, then NADA...no more sales. I guess the $3.99 curse is real. lol I changed the price back to $2.99 yesterday & have sold a couple since then. So...who knows.

Bad Dates & Other Disasters:

It hasn't sold well AT ALL. I sold 7 copies this month (in 7 days), but sold 1 today. Yay! I suspect the slow sales may be due to the fact it's only 30 pgs and it's $2.99, but we'll see. When I drop book 2 in the series I'm going to put book #1 on permafree to see if it'll reel people in. Book 2 will be out later this month (as will the follow-up to my novella).

Now...the money!

My royalties for October were $163.45 (and £4.14 in the UK, which I can't get until I reach £10). Not AMAZING, but not bad. Hopefully when I drop part 2 of both books I will continue to improve from there.

ETC.

This whole thing has been a HUGE learning experience, but it has taught me a few things:

1) I can actually finish a book! I've started so many projects over the years and this is the first one I've actually finished (damn near 10 years after getting my MFA. SMH).

2) I can write a book that people will read & like (even if it's only 70 people...they liked it).

3) This whole ebook hustle is TOTALLY possible, but it's HARD. It takes work, but I'm SOOOOO here for it.

4) I can TOTALLY do this!

5) You guys are AWESOME. I really wouldn't be here without you guys. Thank you!

 

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[britnidanielle]

Super Mini-Update:

After a week, Bad Dates & Other Diasters is now available on Nook!

And also...I've randomly already sold a copy. lol. Who knew?

 

[biophase]

Try $3.49?

 

[Rawr]

I just saw you have 10 great reviews on your book. Have you considered bookbub, as their requirement is good reviews?

 

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[britnidanielle]

I just saw you have 10 great reviews on your book. Have you considered bookbub, as their requirement is good reviews?

I actually just submitted my book up for a possible ad today, so we'll see if they accept it.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

I actually just submitted my book up for a possible ad today, so we'll see if they accept it.

Pretty sure they don't accept novellas or short stories.

 

[Breaking Free]

Pretty sure they don't accept novellas or short stories.

So I'm going to dive deeper into this later this week on my INSIDERS's thread, but there are a ton of advertising outlets for ebooks. Some aren't the most effective, but you have to define success. Making my novella free has earned 136 downloads the past day, plus a five star review. It made my day.

 

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[britnidanielle]

Pretty sure they don't accept novellas or short stories.

You're right. I got turned down. lol...

 

[britnidanielle]

Mini-Update:

Running my first sale today via Free Kindle Books & Tips blog. We'll see how it goes.

Smashwords STILLLLLL hasn't approved me to the "premium" catalog. Does it take over a week?

I happened to log into Nook Press & saw that my Bad Dates # 1 book sold 4 copies over there (I think 5 total). Yay! lol

I'm almost done with Bad Dates Book #2. It's longer, will probably clock in around 25-30k words, so a respectable amount. Then I'm on a sprint to write the follow-up to Turn It Loose & get it out by Black Friday. Eeek!

 

[Thriftypreneur]

I'm almost done with Bad Dates Book #2. It's longer, will probably clock in around 25-30k words, so a respectable amount. Then I'm on a sprint to write the follow-up to Turn It Loose & get it out by Black Friday. Eeek!

You can do it. Remember, 30k words is only:

2000 words per day for 15 days
3000 words per day for 10 days
4000 words per day for 7.5 days
5000 words per day for 6 days

 

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[britnidanielle]

You can do it. Remember, 30k words is only:

2000 words per day for 15 days
3000 words per day for 10 days
4000 words per day for 7.5 days
5000 words per day for 6 days

Yeah...I think I was shooting for 3k words/day, but dammit...I find it SOOOO DIFFICULT lol. I think too much. I'm more in the 2k/day range, but that's not enough. I gotta get my ish together.

I had one 5k word day and felt so damn spent...yeah...no. 3k is my sweet spot if I can get there.

 

[COSenior]

Smashwords STILLLLLL hasn't approved me to the "premium" catalog. Does it take over a week?

Yes. And longer. It took them about 10 days to tell me I had some formatting problems (that didn't show in a preview) so now I'm back to square one, waiting, waiting.

I had one 5k word day and felt so damn spent...yeah...no. 3k is my sweet spot if I can get there.

Sheesh, I hope I don't burn out. I've just contracted to do 6000 a day, and that's not counting my own writing. Wonder how long I can keep it up?

 

[Breaking Free]

Yes. And longer. It took them about 10 days to tell me I had some formatting problems (that didn't show in a preview) so now I'm back to square one, waiting, waiting.



Sheesh, I hope I don't burn out. I've just contracted to do 6000 a day, and that's not counting my own writing. Wonder how long I can keep it up?

Contact smashwords. They can usually help when you have to resubmit.

 

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[britnidanielle]

Sheesh, I hope I don't burn out. I've just contracted to do 6000 a day, and that's not counting my own writing. Wonder how long I can keep it up?

6000 for OTHER people? Good luck.

 

[Breaking Free]

Sheesh, I hope I don't burn out. I've just contracted to do 6000 a day, and that's not counting my own writing. Wonder how long I can keep it up?

That's a lot of words... what are you writing for them?

 

[britnidanielle]

SALE UPDATE:

So my sales day garnered some decent results. I sold about 60 copies yesterday & bumped my ranking back up.



While it was great to move units and see the rankings climb back up, I couldn't help the feeling I got knowing I made $0.35 per sale instead of $2 lol. Oh well.

My plan was just to run the sale for a day, but should I let it ride and see if I can go higher in the rankings?

 

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[joanna]

Wow, the promo is working great for you I would let it climb a little longer. Once you see you stabilize somewhere might be a good idea to up the price again to see if the market will take it.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

SALE UPDATE:

So my sales day garnered some decent results. I sold about 60 copies yesterday & bumped my ranking back up.

View attachment 6262

While it was great to move units and see the rankings climb back up, I couldn't help the feeling I got knowing I made $0.35 per sale instead of $2 lol. Oh well.

My plan was just to run the sale for a day, but should I let it ride and see if I can go higher in the rankings?

No idea whether you should leave the sale or try to capitalize on your improved ranking, but I'm curious how your book is 32k words and showing at 130 pages? That's about 250 words a page? I notice other authors reporting similar lengths. Mine are about 330 words a page, thus making my books seem very small in comparison.

Any idea?

 

[britnidanielle]

No idea whether you should leave the sale or try to capitalize on your improved ranking, but I'm curious how your book is 32k words and showing at 130 pages? That's about 250 words a page? I notice other authors reporting similar lengths. Mine are about 330 words a page, thus making my books seem very small in comparison.

Any idea?

The only way I can figure it, is that I have a paperback version that's 130 pages (I think) once you include the front & back matter and the section breaks (odd page) for each chapter.

 

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[joanna]

I have a paperback version

That would do it. The estimated word count is variable, but once you link a print version, I'm pretty sure they use that page count for both editions.

 

[Breaking Free]

That would do it. The estimated word count is variable, but once you link a print version, I'm pretty sure they use that page count for both editions.

They do. It takes a little while, but they do sync up.

 

[COSenior]

I'd sure like to know how they do the page estimate when you don't have a print version. I've got one at about 32,000 words that gets an estimate of 103 pages, while another at 30,000 comes out at 111, while another at 29,300 shows as 89. I think I'm formatting them all the same, but if it comes down to the difference in page count with a 1.25 line spacing vs. 1.5, I'm going for the bigger number.

 

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[joanna]

I don't have a specific source, but I think I've seen it mentioned somewhere that the estimate takes into account the type of writing (not formatting). Something like lots of description vs lots of dialogue on the page will change the words per page estimate. Then again, it's amazon, the formula could change twice during the next month

 

[britnidanielle]

Quick update:

Finished writing book # 2 in my Bad Dates series today. Took a little longer than I thought, and it's also a little longer (about 32k words), but I also think it'll need quite a bit of clean up. So I'm going to tackle that this week as well as get started on the follow-up to my novella. I wanted to have them both finished by Black Friday, but we'll see. I'll at least have one done & ready to sell.

Also, with the sale & extended 99-cent price, I sold 100 books last week. Crazy. Way more than I sold last month LOL. But the book has tumbled back to the 57,000 sales range. I switched the price back to 2.99 and will keep it there, probably until I get the follow-up done and then I'll run a sale on the first book, then have the second one out for sale.

So....I'm just writing, writing, and then editing.