We’ve all heard the numbers. Over 7 1/2 million books on Amazon. Over 3,500 new titles added every day.
The gurus tell us we can beat the odds and become a bestselling author. All you have to do is pay them hundreds or thousands of dollars. And they will make it happen.
Hundreds or thousands of dollars? For one book? But, hey, it’s only money and they guarantee that your book will hit some bestseller chart (usually obscure) on Amazon.
The questions I ask are:
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- A bestseller for how long?
- Will I earn back my investment?
- Can I duplicate the results on my own?
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The odds are you won’t earn back your investment any time soon. Nor will you be able to duplicate the results on your own. Because if you did, the guru just lost a potential future customer and maybe created a rival. And that’s bad for business.
As for how long your book will be on the bestseller list — does it matter?
No, I don’t think it does. Because a bestselling book that ends up losing you money is simply a loss. No matter how many copies you sell.
Think about this: aside from Patterson, Rowling, or King, name me a bestselling author from 20 or 30 years ago. Fame is indeed fleeting.
And if you can name one, that’s only one writer among many, many tens of thousands. That’s something to think about.
Bestselling fantasy author Brandon Sanderson blew the lid off Kickstarter setting an all time record of over $41 million in pledges for his latest campaign. All I can say is that it got my attention. (If being a bestselling author was so great, why was he doing a Kickstarter?)
I took Dean Wesley Smith’s free Kickstarter workshop and took a long look at whether or not Kickstarter was a viable platform for me.
And that’s a valid question to ask about any platform. Is it valid for me?
Let’s face facts. Amazon is glutted. The odds of anyone finding your book are pretty doggone remote.
Most people don’t look beyond page 1 or 2 of the search results. If your book isn’t showing up there, for all intents and purposes — it doesn’t exist.
Couple the above with the fact that a search returns more sponsored ads and Amazon promos than search results — so there’s even less chance for someone finding your book on a search. Even if your keywords are perfect.
To put all of our auctorial eggs in the Amazon basket is, in my opinion, just plain stupid. I didn’t always think so. But years of minuscule sales have convinced me otherwise. There’s just too much competition, no matter what category you put your book in.
Practically speaking we independent authors are also independent publishing houses. Which means, whether we like it or not, we are businesses. Our job is to sell our books. Does it make sense to try to sell your wares in an overcrowded marketplace?
If you were selling apples, would it make sense for you to go to the same place where everyone else was selling apples?
Might you not get better results adopting a different sales plan?
Why do you think these gurus are teaching courses and selling their services? It’s easy money compared to selling books.
Remember: the people who got rich in the California Gold Rush weren’t the prospectors. It was the people selling stuff to the prospectors.
In my tooling around on the Kickstarter site, I was surprised at the number of authors who are in fact funding their projects. Sure there are a lot that don’t fund — but there are a lot that do.
I’ve supported a half-dozen projects and gotten loads of goodies in addition to the items I pledged for. Plus I found myself a couple new authors I want to follow. I’d say that was a win-win situation. Win for the author and a win for me, the reader.
I just finished writing the 9th Pierce Mostyn Paranormal Investigation. I’m going to use it to test the Kickstarter waters.
If I’m successful, I plan on doing more Kickstarters and will hopefully build an audience there, plus earn some cash along the way to fund my business. Others are doing so. Why can’t I?
And remember: Dean Wesley Smith has a FREE workshop to help you get started on developing a successful Kickstarter campaign. He’s run many successful campaigns.
Get the workshop here: https://wmg-publishing-workshops-and-lectures.teachable.com/p/kickstarter
If you are a fiction writer and haven’t gotten any traction on Amazon, perhaps Kickstarter is a place you need to consider as an option.
My thought is this: if there are too many cooks in the kitchen — find another kitchen.
Comments are always welcome. And until next time, keep thinking outside the Amazon box.
CW Hawes is a playwright, award-winning poet, and a fictioneer, with a bestselling novel. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes
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Yeah, a little research will show you that most of those “gurus” are marginal writers themselves. But yeah, never mind the gurus, just the everyday stuff… A cover artist will charge you $500 if you’re lucky. A professional edit? Fuhgeddaboudit! These are services to polish a book that the stats say will make less than $250 over its lifetime. We all have to find solutions, and I wish you the greatest success with yours.
Mine, as you know, is Writing-dot-com. I went there because once I realized that I wasn’t going to become rich or famous, I decided that the next best thing was to just be read, and readers abound at WdC. Once an author gets the stars out of his eyes, he can really begin to enjoy what he’s doing, and that’s been the case with me for a good long time now.
By the way, R.A. Salvatore. Of course, he’s my favorite author, so it’s only to be expected that I’d remember him. Also, Sue Grafton, though I could only remember her by her “A is for Alibi” series; had to look up her name. Other names from the era are Patricia Cornwell and Dean Koontz, though I can’t remember what they wrote. Not sure whose point I’m making with that, but you brought it up…
Fine insights you offer, and food for thought for anyone who thinks they’re going to live the life of luxury by writing books.
Yep, you named a few bestsellers from recent yesteryear. But note, of the 4 names you mentioned one was a favorite, one you couldn’t remember her name, and the other two you can’t remember what they wrote. Does anyone under 40 know these names? Interesting question that. Fame is fleeting.
Fiction writers are entertainers. Every entertainer starts out with virtually no audience. We have to build one. We all have one, we just have to find ours.
You can publish your book on the cheap. There are many good cover artists who will make a top notch cover for less than $100. For line editing and proofreading there’s ProWritingAid. Much, much cheaper than a human. The same with formatting. There are free options and low-price options.
Most books earn very little money, as you pointed out. So spend as little as you need to. Because marketing is really where it’s at. To my mind, that is the difficult part.
Thanks for stopping by, Jack, and adding your insights. Appreciate it!