Updating your ebooks?

About a month ago the internet got all aflutter when it was leaked that George Lucas had messed with his classic once again for the blu-ray release. As you probably know you can’t even buy the original Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi anymore — without Lucas’s little “updates.” He’s added scenes, cgi, and, of course, the imfamous “Noooooo!” Darth Vader utters above.

Some people are cool with these changes. Heck, the kids who watch the films today have no idea a more muppet-like, less special effects Star Wars ever existed. But others are furious that he would mess with a classic…without even allowing fans to purchase the old version. “It’s a moment in time,” my husband says. “And it’s okay if that means today it’s outdated.”

I feel for George. I really do. As an author who loves to ply her novels with pop culture references and slang of the day, as the years go by, the novels can end up sounding dated. So when my publisher told me they were repackaging the first three books in my Blood Coven series, I thought GREAT! Let me fix them! I went through and updated all the pop culture references so the book would seem brand new and of our time. A couple years later, they repackaged the first two books in one volume. Again, I was allowed to pull a George Lucas and update them, much to the annoyance of my husband.

But while I only have the opportunity to update books once every couple years with physical, traditional publishing. With ePublishing, I have the opportunity of always staying fresh. A celebrity mentioned dies? No problem. A slang term goes out of fashion? Fixed! A technology is replaced? No problem. For a writer like me, this is a heavenly prospect. And now I can thumb my nose at anyone who insists books should be “timeless” without slang or pop culture.

Yeah, I wasn't even allowed to play this on the "tame" level....

The other thing that may be possible in the future? Different versions of the book for different audiences. I remember when I was a kid there was an old video game, produced by the makers of Zork called “Leather Goddessses of Phobos.” When you started the game, you could choose your level of “naughtiness” from tame to lewd. Now I don’t know who actually played the game on “tame” (if anyone) but I imagine this could be a huge hit with eBooks, especially amongst romance readers. Some like it hot – others like it sweet and up until now, they have to choose their books and authors by sensuality, rather then plotline. What if authors created two versions of their ebooks? One sweet, one spicy. One that closes the bedroom door and one that pulls back the sheets for you. It could bring the author a ton of new fans.

I think everyone is so busy talking ebook sales and ebooks vs. traditional publishers in terms of advances and author rights and all that. But we really should also be looking at the content possibilities. I mean, Choose your Own Adventure eBook anyone? Piece of cake with hyperlink technology. The possibilities are endless. And I, for one, plan to take full advantage.

MARI

Hates Gonna Hate (NaNoWriMo and Beyond)

So I was listening to the Story Wonk Daily podcast this morning with Lani Diane Rich and Alastair Stephens. (Who are always hilarious, by the way. If you’re not a regular listener, you’re missing out!) They’re in the middle of their month-long NaNoWriMo theme as they do every November. NaNoWriMo, if you don’t know, stands for National Novel Writing Month. The idea is simple: you pledge to write 50,000 words (the equivalent of a rough draft of a book) in one month. A great way for people who are thinking of writing a novel and haven’t otherwise found the wherewithal to sit their butts down in front of the computer to write. You get to do daily word count check-ins, gain badges to mark accomplishments, and have a participant pool of thousands cheering you on. It’s like a writer’s marathon that lasts all month long.

I’ve never gotten to do it myself, because my timing is always off. I’m usually just at the end of writing a novel — and in the low-word-count, polishing stage — and thus not ready to start something new.  Also, to be honest 50,000 words a month is pretty much par for the course for me when I’m on deadline. As some people have suggested, “Every month is NaNo month for you!”

But I digress. In this podcast, Lani and Alastair were addressing the NaNoWriMo haters. Evidently some people are putting down the program, saying that people are only participating out of the “challenge” mentality and not to hone their craft. Much like someone might try to run a Marathon for fun–to say they did it–rather than take it seriously and properly train all year etc. They say they’re not “real writers” if they only write one month out of the year and that the whole thing basically is an insult to those who take their craft seriously. Oh and the amount of crap they produce, they lament, clogs the inboxes of agents and editors for months to come. 

To me, it seems pretty harmless. (And I’m guessing agents and editors have crap filled inboxes every month of the year!) And if it gets people excited about books and writing–well, that’s a good thing, right? I actually spoke to a woman at my RWA meeting on Tuesday who said she had been waiting 30 years to write a book and never put one word down on paper. Now she’s about 25k into her novel, thanks to NaNoWriMo and man, you should have seen the glowing look on her face as she talked about it. She was SO HAPPY! So proud. So enthusiastic. It was as if she could barely stand still because she wanted to go home and write some more. It was awesome.

And you know what? It doesn’t hurt me a bit, as a professional writer, to have her succeed. In fact. I love the idea that there’s a new writer in the world who loves the process as much as I do. Just like I’m pretty sure the men and women who win first place in marathons wouldn’t take the time to hate on Betty Sue and her friends who walked 23 out of the 26 miles, but managed to cross the finish line all the same. I bet they’d be cheering.

In any case, to bring this topic back to theme of this blog, I think a lot of writers have the same perception of self-publishing. They lament the idea that anyone can throw up any book they spent 12 days working on and make it available for anyone to buy. They say they’re afraid of badly edited books full of typos and misspellings clogging up the online bookseller shelves, making it impossible for a “real” book to stand out.

But you know what? I don’t think that’s what they’re really afraid of. I think they’re more afraid that one of these self-published newbies might actually have a hit. A commercial book that people LOVE that New York, for whatever reason, rejected. There are so many good books out there that just didn’t have the commercial appeal or the right submission timing that, put in the hands on the right readers, will explode with popularity. And those authors who weren’t “good enough” for New York will suddenly find themselves making money hand over foot. More money, likely, then their traditionally published counterparts. I know I keep bringing up Amanda Hocking, but damn, she’s such a good poster child for this. She decided to take charge of her career. Put her rejected novels online. And now she’s a millionaire. (One NY is suddenly paying a lot of attention and money to.)  

Now I’m not saying there aren’t books out there that don’t deserve to be published. I’m sure there are thousands. And I’m not saying quality isn’t important and that anyone should just throw any old book up online. But I am saying this: don’t discount a writer or try to question his or her legitimacy just because their methods are different then yours. Maybe his bestseller will be written in one month during NaNo. Maybe her rejected novel will hit the NY Times eBook list. Or maybe they’ll never write anything ever again. Who cares? It’s got nothing to do with you!

My best advice to writers–whether on the NY Times list or just starting their first NaNoWriMo. 1) If you write, you are a writer.  2) If you finish a book, you are a novelist. (And you’ve done something 99 percent of the population can’t do.) 3) Stop looking at what everyone else is doing and keep your eyes on the prize.  4) Figure out your goals and pick the best path you can to reach them–whether traditionally or by other means. And finally 5) Don’t give up! And don’t let the haters get you down!

Links:

Haters Gonna Hate, Writers Gonna Write

NaNoWriMo and Kvetching

Don’t Knock NaNoWriMo

How to interpret NaNoWriMo rage

Choosing your role models: Gemma Halliday

There are a lot of articles appearing on blogs and in newspapers these days about authors raking in thousands of dollars a month by putting their backlist or frontlist eBooks up online. Usually these articles are really interesting reading–especially since many of these authors are actually talking real numbers and real money–which is hardly ever done in traditional publishing. They’re also usually pretty inspirational and get me very excited about the possibilities that are out there in the wild, wild west of digital publishing.

But, I realize, I also have be careful, when reading these articles, to look at who’s writing them and what their background might be. For example, it’s amazing that Barbara Freethy just sold her one millionth eBook. Or that Maya Banks is banking $35,000 PER MONTH on digital sales.  And how many freaking books has Amanda Hocking sold now? (By the way – reading and LOVING Hollowland!! Currently free on Kindle or Nook.)

But those aren’t necessarily realistic goals for me. Barbara Freethy is a #1 NYT Bestselling romance author. Maya Banks is also a NYT Times bestseller and has been writing erotica ebooks for years through online publishers. Amanda Hocking started from nothing–she was completely unpublished and built her empire entirely through digital means. (Until recently when she scored a 7 figure contract from St. Martin’s and will add print to the mix.)

None of these authors have the same background as me, so it’s likely my experiences in the epublishing world will differ from theirs. So I try not to create goals based around these success stories. Instead, I look for authors with similar backgrounds. Midlist authors who still publish with traditional publishers but have delved into epublishing to put their backlist online and maybe started doing some frontlist on the side.

"Smart and Stylish!"

And I’ve finally found the perfect poster child! Gemma Halliday. She actually started publishing around the same time as me and though she does mysteries, we have a similar chick lit style. In fact, her editor asked me to do an author blurb for her first book, Spying in High Heels.  (Which I loved and called “Smart and stylish!”)

And lest you think Gemma is just a good writer–she’s also an amazing person. When my house burned down in 2005 and I lost everything, she volunteered to help coordinate a huge writer auction on my behalf. I owe her big!

Well, now it seems that good karma has come back her way. Last year, she put her backlist online as ebooks as well as some new frontlist titles and recently posted a huge milestone. 500,000 ebooks sold–in one year!!  So amazing! I’m really proud of her! (She talks about how she did it — really simply with no upfront expenditure! – here.) And just FYI, she didn’t quit print to do this. She somehow manages to keep up her print contracts and self-publish as well. Exactly what I aim to do.

Talk about a perfect role model. A girl who came from the same humble publishing roots as me. Probably suffered lost royalties from her publisher as I did. But she didn’t cry over spilt cash. She made it back…and then some! Now this is the kind of writer I need to emulate.

Will I be able to also sell 500k next year, just because Gemma and I have a similar background? Who knows? But at least I’ve found someone in my sphere to model myself after and look up to. Someone who has been there, done that, got the “publishing sometimes sucks” t-shirt–but didn’t give up. And is now living the dream.

So Gemma – congratulations on your milestone! I’ll be hopefully following in your footsteps soon! 🙂 And the rest of you? Go check out Gemma’s eBooks. I guarantee you’ll get a great read–and she’ll get closer to her next milestone. One million books!

MARI

 

It’s a marathon, not a sprint

When you’re traditionally published you have to move fast to get those sales. Sure, you have a lot of lead time BEFORE your book comes out and you can use that time to build hype through blogs and reviews and social media. But once that book comes out? You’ve probably got 2 months to get those bookstore sales–before those paperback copies are sent back to the publisher for recycling and you get a big, fat “Returns” negative on your royalty statement. A tiny window to make enough sales to justify another print book. It’s tough on the author, to say the least. Especially a midlist author who doesn’t get a lot of publisher resources. You’re pounding the pavement–both virtually and in real life–that entire first month, only to be rewarded by dropping Bookscan numbers each week, as bookstores clear off their shelves.

eBooks are completely the opposite. They’ll stay online FOREVER. Your readers will always have access to your complete series and it will never go “out of print.” This allows you to build an entirely different type of marketing plan around your book. A long-term plan that will grow your audience over months and even years. So what if month #1 you only sell 10 copies? With the right marketing plan, in a year, those 10 might have ballooned to 1,000. Or 10,000. Or 100,000. How many books can you sell in a lifetime?

This book is in stores now--but for how long???

It’s a thrilling prospect for those of us who write series. Right now, every time I have a new book in my Blood Coven Vampire series come out, the bookstores only stock the latest book. Which in March will be #7. Now imagine a vampire lover walks into a store. They see Book #7 on the shelves. They say, “Well, that sounds interesting, but I sure don’t want to start at book #7 in a series.” They look for the first book, but don’t see it. So they decide to read something else. A lost reader–maybe forever.

With eBooks I no longer have that problem. The reader goes on Amazon, sees Book 7, then clicks on my name and finds Book 1, no problem. They click and they purchase. And they can read it instantly. Heck, they can read the sample chapter for free before they buy.  Then they can go back and purchase the rest of the books at their leisure, never worrying about them going out of print before they get to the later books in the series.

I can’t tell you how frustrating it is, as an author, to have people post on Facebook that they can’t find my book. I try to tell them they can go on Amazon and order it or go to a bookstore and ask them to order it. But most people don’t have the follow through to do that. They take the path of least resistance. In this case, buying a different book. That’s how bookstores can get away with only stocking huge bestsellers like James Patterson or Stephanie Meyer. They know the customer wants to walk out of the store with a book. And if it’s not the book they walked in looking for, well, whatever. It’s all a widget to the store.

Once eBooks become the dominant medium for books, this will no longer be a problem. Authors will have the ability to build their audience over years instead of weeks. They’ll be able to create long, drawn-out series and always have every book available to readers. As a series writer, the prospect is mindblowingly awesome!

But authors must remember, when selling ebooks online, that this is a marathon, not a sprint. And your marketing plan should reflect this. Time and time again I see amateur authors so excited about having their book available online that they pimp it out nonstop on Twitter and Facebook, much to the annoyance of their followers and friends. It’s one thing to announce you have a new book available. But to push it every single day on social media? It gets old. Fast. And you’ll see people dropping off your list at a rapid rate.

So don’t think of eBooks as a get-rich-quick scheme. Think of them as a long-term career. Build your readership slowly. Take your time marketing to your target audience. Enjoy the luxury of no longer having to rush to sell your book within the two months it has store placement. I know I will!

And remember, even if it takes a year to sell in eBooks what you might sell in a month in bookstores, well, you wouldn’t have gotten the royalties from the publisher for those first two months’ sales for over a year anyway! So it’s all the same to your bank account in the end.

Marianne

Going at it alone?

When I first decided to make my backlist available online, I figured I’d go at it on my own. Make my own covers, format my own books, put them up for sale myself–then reap all the profits! What a perfect plan!

Except, not so much.

I want to spend time with her--not PhotoShop!

First of all, I didn’t have the time. I only have a finite amount of work time each day and that is usually spent writing new books or marketing them–two things I’m good at. If I end up spending most of the day formatting, proofing, uploading, etc. then that’s time taken away from writing. I don’t want to be an editor or a cover designer or a page proofer. I want to be an author. And also a mom. Those two things are worth my time. The others are not.

My best cover to date. But still not perfect by a long shot!

Second, even my best efforts looked amateur. My cover art was cool, but only because someone else took the stock photo. The rest looked flat. The type looked funny. The dimensions were off. It just looked unprofessional. Something I am a hundred percent positive influences sales.

Sure, back in the day you might have been able to get away with a homemade cover. Amanda Hocking never had any thrilling cover art and look how well she did! But nowadays, with more and more authors hiring professional cover designers for their online books, you don’t want to stand out in the crowd in a bad way with a cover that makes people cringe.

Also there was the formating. I slaved over these manuscripts, trying to get them Smashwords friendly so they could appear in their premium catalog. But try as I might, I just kept getting turned down. In fact, to date, I only have one book in the Smashwords premium catalog and one that is up on their site, but still rejected. I gave up entirely after that–it was too much work. And my self-published books never looked as good on my reader as my New York published ones. (The damn paragraph indent alone has succeeded in driving me bonkers!)

And that worried me. As a professional author the last thing I wanted was to look amateur. To portray the idea that these ebooks were somehow inferior to the ones found in paperback. I found myself posting again and again “This was originally published in paperback” as if I felt the need to defend myself against someone thinking they might be inferior works because of their covers or formatting.

So I decided it was time to stop going at it alone. It’s called self-publishing, but that does not mean you have to do every single thing yourself. Pick your strengths–mine are writing and marketing–and then farm out the rest. Professional covers are a lot less expensive then you might think–you can get one for around $100. And there are many freelance editors out there, ready for hire. Companies will even format and upload your manuiscripts for you–taking away all the stress of Smashwords!

Sure, there’s an upfront cost to all this. But I believe in investing in my writing. Over the years I’ve spent thousands of dollars marketing my books by going to conferences, running contests, taking out advertisements on blogs, etc. etc. I just see this as one more element to that. Maybe the most important of all.

In any case, I will be beginning the process of “fixing” my books in the next couple weeks and will be documenting the process on this blog. And then, in the end, I’ll compare sales from what I have now (completely self-published) to after I’ve had a little help from professionals. I could be wrong, but I’m betting there will be a big difference.

And now back to writing!

Marianne

Friday Roundup

eBook Deals

Amanda Hocking is giving away the first book in her “Hollows” series on Kindle.

RITA award winning author Nikki Burnham releases “Shot Through the Heart” – her digital first young adult romantic comedy novel.  

eBook News

The Wall Street Journal adds an eBook bestseller list to their weekend edition. (Both an eBook only list for fiction and nonfiction and a separate list that combines eBooks and paper books.)

AAP reports eBooks are standing strong at 20 percent of reported trade sales.

Around the blogosphere

Andrew Shaffer says “quit bitching about eBook prices, you damn cheapskates!”

PJ Hoover talks “marketing madness”

Barry Eisler addresses the fear of an Amazon monopoly

Golden Handcuffs

So if digital first publishing is becoming such a force to be reckoned with and self-published authors are raking in the big bucks, why aren’t more traditionally published authors jumping ship and embracing this brave new online world? In a word: advances.

Advances are golden handcuffs for midlist writers. They know if they come up with an idea for a book, write a quick synopsis–maybe a few pages–viola! They get money in the mail. Sure, it isn’t a ton of money. Sure, it takes forever to actually get it. But it’s guaranteed income and permission, of sorts, to continue their writing career.

Self publishing is much more of a gamble. You must write the entire book on spec. Without any advance. Without any guarantee of any money whatsoever. And then there’s the opportunity cost involved. If you’re busy writing for yourself, you’re not writing for a publisher. And not getting advances.

But let’s crunch some numbers here to see if those advances are really worth it. I apologize in advance for any math mistakes and feel free to correct them if you see them. I’m a writer and we’re notoriously bad at numbers!

Let’s say you make a decent $10,000 advance per book and you’ve just received a one book deal from your publisher. It sounds like a windfall, right? Well, not exactly.

Usually publishers will divide up advance payments into thirds. One third on signing. One third on delivery and acceptance. One third on publication.

So your first check, will be $3,333 minus your 15% agent fee. $2,833. Reserve a third for taxes and you’ve got a whopping $1,983 to spend.

Oh and don’t spend that check just yet. First your agent and publisher will have argue over the contract for a few months. Contract negotiations can take a long time–especially with all the new digital clauses publishers are trying to put into them. It’s not unreasonable to assume you won’t see the final contract for 3 months from agreeing to the deal.

Once you sign the contract, you’ll probably have to wait about another month for that check to be processed. So you’re now four months into the process. The point where many genre writers have already finished the book in question. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve passed in a manuscript before signing the contract.

Then there’s D&A. Authors mostly focus on the “D” –if I ideliver on this date, I’ll get paid. But not so fast. Many editors are so overworked it takes them months to get to your manuscript. I know one author who passed her book in back in April and finally got edits in October. That’s extreme, but still, on average it’ll take your editor at least a month to get to your book. Then you’ll get the revisions. If you’re a genre author, they might not be so heavy. But with YA and middle grade, there might be several rounds of revisions before the manuscript is accepted.

So even if you turned in your book 4 months from the time you agreed to the deal, it could be six months or later before you see that second check.

And then there’s the “on publication” check, which usually comes a month AFTER publication, from my experience. Which can be over a year from when you passed in the book.

So let’s say you get your offer November 1st, 2011.

• * First check – Februrary 2012
• * Second check – June 2012
• * Third check – July 2013

So that $10,000 dollars (or really $5,950 after agent commission and taxes) is spread out over a year and a half minimum.

And then there are the royalties. Which you won’t see for another six months to a year. And even when they do come and you’re lucky enough to earn out? They’ll hold a good percentage of your books “in reserve” just in case a bookstore ends up sending them back and they’re not really sales. And many books don’t earn out at all.

Now let’s look at ePublishing.

You start writing the book November 1st.

You finish the book March 1st.

You hire a freelance editor who gets the job done in 2 weeks. You bang out the edits, have a copyeditor give it a run through, and it’s ready to go up online April 1st.

On May 15th you get your first online check.

Now let’s talk royalties.

Your traditionally published book sold 10,000 copies. You make 75 cent a copy. (Trade paperback based on a standard 7.5 percent royalty rate.)

You’ve made $7,500 and are still $2,500 in the hole on your advance.

Your eBook sold 5,000 copies in the first month – HALF the copies of your traditionally published book.

You make $2.10 a copy. You receive $10,500. And you receive it on May 15th, 2011. In cash. Direct deposited to your bank account.

At this point, you’ve only received your $2,833 from your publisher. And your traditionally published book won’t be out for over a year. But with your eBook you’ve already got  $7,667 in your pocket — money you wouldn’t have collected from your publisher in total for another year and two months.

And that’s just the first month. If you keep selling your ebook monthly – you’ve got a whole extra year to be pulling in income before your traditionally published book even hits store shelves!

Where's Waldo? Or, I mean, my book? Look hard!

Oh and by the way – for those you thinking – but with a traditional publisher, I’ll have my book in the bookstore! That has to count for something, right? – think again. With Borders closed and B&N tightening its belts, many midlist traditionally published books never see the inside of a mainstream bookstore. And if they do? It looks something like this on the left. Can you find my book in the stack? Will readers be able to?

Of course there is one advantage to advances. You don’t have to pay them back. So if you sell ZERO books, with a traditional publisher you’ll still have $10,000. (And a very unhappy publisher.) If you sell zero books online, you won’t make a dime. So there is a risk there, I won’t lie.

Bottom line: are advances really something a midlist author should remain dependent on? Or should we remove the golden handcuffs and take a chance on writing something on spec, for the digital first market? What will end up making us more money in the end?

Only time will tell. But as they say, “Those who dare, win.”

Pricing eBooks

One of the most talked about issues in eBook publishing is price. Do you charge 99 cents? $2.99? $5.99? Or follow NY publishers and go $8.99 and above? What are people willing to pay for your novels?

Right now I’ve priced my backlist eBooks at $2.99 for a full novel and 99 cents for a novella. Some people have suggested I might make more sales if I dropped the price for the novels to 99 cents as well, but I’m not so sure. Two weeks ago, bestselling author Shayla Black spoke at the Austin RWA chapter and claimed she had MORE sales when she upped her e-book prices to $2.99 from the original 99 cents. How can that be? Well, it’s all about perceived value.

Limited Edition Snow White Doll

To take it away from books for a second, the Disney Store recently offered up a special “Disney Princess Designer Doll Collection” — a limited edition set of Barbie-esque replicas of Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and the rest of the gang. They were offered at $59.99 (a much higher price point then their very similar, but non-limited edition dolls) and sold on one day at one time until they ran out. Once the 8,000 or so of each doll was gone, the company said, they would never be made available again.  

Well, people freaked out! They had to have these “special” dolls. They waited in line for 12 hours at the Disney Store, they crashed the Disney Store website, trying to order. The dolls started going up on eBay for hundreds of dollars a piece. People saw value in these dolls–because someone from Disney told them they were valuable–and were willing to pay for that perceived value. Are these dolls any more valuable then the ones you can buy at WalMart for $12.99? Yes. But only because people perceive them to be.

Same deal with Beanie Babies, Cabbage Patch Kids, Tickle Me Elmo. The list goes on.

Sure, eBooks aren’t limited edition. (Though wouldn’t it be interesting if an author decided to try something like that!) But the idea is the same. If your book is priced too low, many readers will consider it to have “less value” then one priced a little higher. Maybe they’ll assume it’s only 20 pages long. Or that you vomited it out in your sleep (Shalya’s words!) and you didn’t spend any time working on it. If you don’t see value in the work you put online, how do you expect a reader to?

But don’t take my word for it. NY Times Bestselling author Barbara Freethy put out a press release yesterday to announce her millionth eBook sale. And she makes it a point to talk about price in the first paragraph of the release. 

Unlike independently published authors who publish at the $0.99 price point to fuel sales, Freethy’s books are primarily priced between $2.99 and $5.99. Her self-published books come from her extensive backlist, whose rights were reverted after the books went out of print. Freethy repackaged the books and put them on sale again, finding gold in books that had been taking up space in her closet.

Backlist books priced cheaper then what a New York publisher would charge, but not given away at a basement bargain price. Readers perceive value in these newly packaged books (which have professional covers–something we’ll talk about soon!) and are thus willing to pay for that value.

Not everyone agrees with this theory and, of course, I’m still experimenting myself. And I’m not even saying that $2.99 is necessarily the sweet spot. New models are being created everyday and it’s possible someday books will be free–with subscription models or advertising as the revenue generations. All I’m saying is no matter where things go, you need to keep perceived value in mind when pricing your book. Value what you’ve created and others will value it, too.

One of the great things about self-publishing is you’re not stuck with any decision you make. Try different price points. See what works for your books. Maybe price your first book in the series at 99 cents to entice readers to continue on with other books. Maybe hold a one day or one week sale. Maybe even give some books away through a Smashword coupon if they sign up for your blog or newsletter. This kind of thing shows you value your book, but are willing to give readers a deal because you value THEM as well.

Oh and by the way? No matter what you choose to charge, it’s bound to be less them traditional publishers who are still going off their print models. My traditionally published eBooks go for $8.99. And yet, as an author, I end up making less per book then when I charge $2.99 for my backlist, go figure.

Some articles on Perceived Value.

eBook Pricing Power is Undermined by Perceived Value

What is the Right Price for a Book? (Dear Author)

Race to the Bottom (A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing)

eBook Price Strategy on Amazon (ePublishabook.com)

 

Welcome to From Paper to Pixels

My name is Mari Mancusi and I’ve been a traditionally published “legacy” author since 2005. I’ve started this blog to chronicle my adventures in ePublishing and to share news, research, links and tips that I come across along the way.

A little about me: I published my first book with an independent genre publisher back in 2005. It was a mass market paperback time travel chick lit style romance called “A Connecticut Fashionista in King Arthur’s Court.” I got paid a $2,500 advance and was promised a whopping 4% royalty rate. Today that seems insane to me, but at the time I probably would have taken even less. Let’s face it–I was getting published! I would have an actual book printed on actual paper and sold in actual bookstores! It was more than a dream come true.

I went on to accept more low advance deals from the publisher over the next few years. I wrote six mass market romances, one Young Adult, and two novellas. Though the money was pathetic, I liked the freedom of writing for a small publisher. They would allow me to push the boundaries and write what I really wanted to write–whether it be a 1920s time travel, a chick lit expose on TV News (my day job at the time), or a post-apocalyptic zombie thriller. In the meantime I also picked up bigger contracts with two Penguin imprints–Berkley and Dutton Children’s. I started to make a living as a midlist author, especially with my Blood Coven Vampire series for Berkley.

But then my first publisher started having financial troubles. And word came that they were changing their publishing model. Oh yeah, and they couldn’t pay the royalties they owed for the already published titles. Which is a big deal when you’re not getting a big advance–you depend on the money you make on the back end. 

So my agent did the only thing she could do–she demanded the rights to the novels be reverted back to me. It was a bittersweet moment–I had a lot of good memories with my first publisher. But I wanted to make writing my career, at the end of the day. And that meant I needed to get paid.

Now, with the rights for nine backlist titles in my hands, I realized I suddenly had the power I’d never had. I could put my titles online and sell them for a discounted price. This way I could not only allow my readers access to my backlist at a decent price point, but also perhaps make up for all that lost money from my publisher. And if the experiment worked? I’d start writing front list digital first books as well. Right now I’m still keeping my “day job” as a legacy author — with two more trade paperbacks from Berkley coming out next year. (Books 7 and 8 of the Blood Coven series.) But who knows, if the experiment is successful–what will happen in the future. I truly believe ePublishing has unlimited opportunity and am excited to become a part of that world.

This blog will chronicle my journey from paper to pixels. Unlike many e-pub blogs that are written by industry pros or those who have already succeeded in creating an epublishing empire, I don’t claim to be an expert. I’m just like you probably are–muddling your way through this brave new world of self-publishing.

In addition to blogging my journey, I also plan to reblog interesting articles, feature industry experts, showcase successful authors and offer up useful links. By aggregating all the information out there, I hope to create a useful resource for others interested in self-publishing either now or in the future.

Thanks for stopping by! Let the games begin!
MARI