"There are a lot of rules" ... LOL Zoe, no, there aren't a lot of rules! Gah, the language we catch ourselves saying. There are a lot of FACTORS in how you move up within that midlist sales range. No rules. I'll do better. :)
I just did this (comparing front and back list) for an author I follow. So interesting, thank you! I can't wait to publish more books so I can put all these juicy gems of yours to use! From a reader's perspective, is it more supportive of your favourite authors to buy a book when it's on pre-order?
I think readers should buy books when it feels right to them! A pre-order is great because then you don't forget about it. If you prefer to wait until it releases, that's totally fine too -- release week sales are awesome for visibility and rank bumping. There's no wrong way to support an author by buying a book!
@@ZoeYorkWrites - best answer ever! I do tend to forget, so I like the idea of grabbing something when I see it. Then Amazon reminds me when it's out too!
First off, I love your videos and I am learning so much. Thank you for sharing all of this great content. I do have a question - you say "you can push those backlist books." Do you have a strategy for pushing backlist books? Thank you again!!
Three ways: 1. use the backlist book as a free or 99 cent loss leader with a big ad-supported push (BookBub is by far the most effective one here; if your books aren't long enough, I would make a backlist collection of duets, meta data connected, and try to BB the first one in that series; also, that would give you some new releases, too, although they aren't the same as true new material front list). 2. rebranding backlist when you have a front list hit. This, if done well, lifts that backlist baseline sales average. 3. CPC ads. To every reader who hasn't discovered you, your backlist could be front list to them! I'll get to CPC ads in a few weeks, but in a nutshell, my thoughts are that not all books are CPC-promotable, so you need to bring your most objective, self-critical eye to that marketing task.
I’m sure you’ve heard of 20 books to 50k group/philosophy. I think they’re primarily KU driven though? Do you think that their numbers hold up? Especially with KU page rate seemingly on a downward trend? (Disclosure, I haven’t checked what it is in some time) I know you pulse some books in & out of KU for promo purposes, do you ever get warning emails about having your content posted elsewhere?
I don't think I've ever had a problem with KPD re: content elsewhere at my own fault; I'm usually pretty careful to take the books off the other retailers with a few days of buffer space before I enroll them in KU. Once a scammer did upload one of my books to Apple Books while I had it only on KDP. That was a stressball of a nightmare, but it got sorted out with stern but polite emails asserting my copyright. As for 20 books to 50k ... I don't know the specifics there. I know some people who really like that group, and I see how hard they work. I think the precise hard work that will click for every person is different, though -- and no matter how hard the hustle out of the gate, you don't change backlist numbers that much.
Zoe York they kinda scare me TBH. I was in the group a few years ago (I’m an information junkie ((my husband calls me Number Five)) so I’m always trying to learn) but when the whole Cockygate thing happened it got really hostile & I left -although I lurked more than anything. I’m considering relaunching into KU for a limited run & then going wide, I’ve just always wondered if their claims of having 20books in KU actually led to 50k/yr. I’ve decided to leave my “essential worker” job b/c it’s too dangerous for what I made but I gotta hustle to replace that income which is actually less than 50k... Sorry I’m rambling. 😆. Thanks for your reply & videos :)
@@jennifervangunten8339 I think their stats are sound IF you ALSO have the pieces that Zoe is talking about here -- series, hooks, a good brand. If you just write 20 books willy nilly that aren't connected, aren't on brand, and frankly just aren't that good, you're probably not going to make 50K. They definitely have some outliers in that group and I find them great for like... technical support, basically. But I'll always go to people like Zoe (or like, Zoe specifically in my case lol, much to her chagrin - but what I mean is authors who ARE actually successful and have a grip on the scene) for actual relevant industry advice.
I agree :) I generally trust my gut, but I still like to ask people their opinions especially if I know they know more than I do. I have a wide series that does nothing on Amazon, (it did alright at launch but fell off the cliff in a hurry) so I balk at bring all in on the Zon. Was considering a KU launch as I move ahead and then going wide, but if KU would be a negligible sales force I’d rather go wide right off the rip :) Thank you for chiming in! I appreciate your POV
I have a sense of what you're saying. Tell me if I'm off the mark. I can more or less predict my future income range by determining the high end and low end # backlist titles sold daily i.e. 1-10 titles. Next, I'd multiply those numbers by my profit margins i.e. 1x $4.99 and 10x $4.99. These number would be used to help me figure out how many backlist books I'd need to earn X income? i.e If I wanted to earn at least $20,000 dollars a year I'd need to have a backlist of of around 11 books. This is assuming I'm selling 1 book a day. If I'm a superstar then my income could shoot up to ...Oops the calculator broke, Lol!
None of this makes sense to me. I don’t understand data, I’m crap at mathematics (I have a primary school level of understanding of it), I can rarely afford paid marketing, and when it’s not a release day, I’m lucky if make one sale in a month or two. I’m good at writing and publishing the books, but I’m awful at this side of things.
Maybe it's worth taking a look at the framework and foundation--are you collecting readers who have enjoyed your work on a mailing list, on social media. Do you struggle to stay connected with them in between releases? Are the releases building from one title to the next? I'll talk more about this in the video coming up this week, and talk about the books I've written that have not sold or moved the needle at all.
SINCE I'm a slower writer with a smaller backlist but I stubbornly keep chugging along, videos like this continue to give me hope.
Yay! I'm glad you found it helpful! Clink! I love it.
"There are a lot of rules" ... LOL Zoe, no, there aren't a lot of rules! Gah, the language we catch ourselves saying. There are a lot of FACTORS in how you move up within that midlist sales range. No rules. I'll do better. :)
I just did this (comparing front and back list) for an author I follow. So interesting, thank you! I can't wait to publish more books so I can put all these juicy gems of yours to use! From a reader's perspective, is it more supportive of your favourite authors to buy a book when it's on pre-order?
I think readers should buy books when it feels right to them! A pre-order is great because then you don't forget about it. If you prefer to wait until it releases, that's totally fine too -- release week sales are awesome for visibility and rank bumping. There's no wrong way to support an author by buying a book!
@@ZoeYorkWrites - best answer ever! I do tend to forget, so I like the idea of grabbing something when I see it. Then Amazon reminds me when it's out too!
First off, I love your videos and I am learning so much. Thank you for sharing all of this great content. I do have a question - you say "you can push those backlist books." Do you have a strategy for pushing backlist books? Thank you again!!
Three ways:
1. use the backlist book as a free or 99 cent loss leader with a big ad-supported push (BookBub is by far the most effective one here; if your books aren't long enough, I would make a backlist collection of duets, meta data connected, and try to BB the first one in that series; also, that would give you some new releases, too, although they aren't the same as true new material front list).
2. rebranding backlist when you have a front list hit. This, if done well, lifts that backlist baseline sales average.
3. CPC ads. To every reader who hasn't discovered you, your backlist could be front list to them! I'll get to CPC ads in a few weeks, but in a nutshell, my thoughts are that not all books are CPC-promotable, so you need to bring your most objective, self-critical eye to that marketing task.
@@ZoeYorkWrites Thank you!!
I’m sure you’ve heard of 20 books to 50k group/philosophy. I think they’re primarily KU driven though? Do you think that their numbers hold up? Especially with KU page rate seemingly on a downward trend? (Disclosure, I haven’t checked what it is in some time)
I know you pulse some books in & out of KU for promo purposes, do you ever get warning emails about having your content posted elsewhere?
I don't think I've ever had a problem with KPD re: content elsewhere at my own fault; I'm usually pretty careful to take the books off the other retailers with a few days of buffer space before I enroll them in KU.
Once a scammer did upload one of my books to Apple Books while I had it only on KDP. That was a stressball of a nightmare, but it got sorted out with stern but polite emails asserting my copyright.
As for 20 books to 50k ... I don't know the specifics there. I know some people who really like that group, and I see how hard they work. I think the precise hard work that will click for every person is different, though -- and no matter how hard the hustle out of the gate, you don't change backlist numbers that much.
Zoe York they kinda scare me TBH. I was in the group a few years ago (I’m an information junkie ((my husband calls me Number Five)) so I’m always trying to learn) but when the whole Cockygate thing happened it got really hostile & I left -although I lurked more than anything.
I’m considering relaunching into KU for a limited run & then going wide, I’ve just always wondered if their claims of having 20books in KU actually led to 50k/yr.
I’ve decided to leave my “essential worker” job b/c it’s too dangerous for what I made but I gotta hustle to replace that income which is actually less than 50k...
Sorry I’m rambling. 😆. Thanks for your reply & videos :)
DM me on Twitter or FB and we can get into the specifics some more!
@@jennifervangunten8339 I think their stats are sound IF you ALSO have the pieces that Zoe is talking about here -- series, hooks, a good brand. If you just write 20 books willy nilly that aren't connected, aren't on brand, and frankly just aren't that good, you're probably not going to make 50K. They definitely have some outliers in that group and I find them great for like... technical support, basically. But I'll always go to people like Zoe (or like, Zoe specifically in my case lol, much to her chagrin - but what I mean is authors who ARE actually successful and have a grip on the scene) for actual relevant industry advice.
I agree :) I generally trust my gut, but I still like to ask people their opinions especially if I know they know more than I do.
I have a wide series that does nothing on Amazon, (it did alright at launch but fell off the cliff in a hurry) so I balk at bring all in on the Zon. Was considering a KU launch as I move ahead and then going wide, but if KU would be a negligible sales force I’d rather go wide right off the rip :)
Thank you for chiming in! I appreciate your POV
I have a sense of what you're saying. Tell me if I'm off the mark. I can more or less predict my future income range by determining the high end and low end # backlist titles sold daily i.e. 1-10 titles. Next, I'd multiply those numbers by my profit margins i.e. 1x $4.99 and 10x $4.99. These number would be used to help me figure out how many backlist books I'd need to earn X income? i.e If I wanted to earn at least $20,000 dollars a year I'd need to have a backlist of of around 11 books. This is assuming I'm selling 1 book a day. If I'm a superstar then my income could shoot up to ...Oops the calculator broke, Lol!
That's exactly it!
As a newbie author with ONE book out, I dream of selling 1-10 copies per book per day 😂
It's the realistic goal, not the standard!
None of this makes sense to me. I don’t understand data, I’m crap at mathematics (I have a primary school level of understanding of it), I can rarely afford paid marketing, and when it’s not a release day, I’m lucky if make one sale in a month or two. I’m good at writing and publishing the books, but I’m awful at this side of things.
Maybe it's worth taking a look at the framework and foundation--are you collecting readers who have enjoyed your work on a mailing list, on social media. Do you struggle to stay connected with them in between releases? Are the releases building from one title to the next? I'll talk more about this in the video coming up this week, and talk about the books I've written that have not sold or moved the needle at all.