Author Topic: I'm Going Wide in 2021  (Read 8592 times)

R. C.

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Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #50 on: April 13, 2021, 06:24:44 AM »
In my experience, one of the factors at play is that gaining traction wide takes more than a few months. I've been all out of KU for the last four years and it took me over a year before wide revenues were reliably replacing the KU income I had before going wide.

Understood. 

However, two factors are heavy influencers in today's market entry: Existing Audience Size and Market Forces skewed to the 'Zon/Kindle audience.

Both are working against me in trying to find my niche and generate sales.

Waiting a year to "replace" already limited sales is not viable. Hence, go back and build upon the model which generated sales.

Cheers,
R.C.

 

notthatamanda

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #51 on: April 13, 2021, 06:53:59 AM »
Yeah, I've been wide since 2018 and 2019 was great and I seemed to be going in the right direction, but 2020 seems to be a hole I can't dig out of.
 
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PaulineMRoss

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #52 on: April 13, 2021, 07:22:17 AM »
I tried going wide a couple of years back, and I just about replaced the lost KU income with wide income, but it was a huge amount of extra work to achieve that. The final straw was getting a Bookbub on one of my KU books and NOT getting one on my wide books, so I just folded and went straight back to KU. I haven't regretted it for a second.

I think wide works IF you're prepared to put everything into it, including all the new stuff AND you get promotions on the wide stuff AND you stick it out for at least a couple of years. But it's still a lot more work than I want to do.

Writing epic fantasy as Pauline M Ross; writing Regency romance as Mary Kingswood
Bookbub score: 16 for 93
 
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notthatamanda

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #53 on: April 13, 2021, 07:47:42 AM »
So if you guys were going to pack it in and not do anything in terms of promotion/advertising but just leave your books up there would you do that wide or KU?
 

Eric Thomson

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #54 on: April 13, 2021, 08:03:10 AM »
Just for another view... I don't actively promote beyond AMS and the very rare BookBub (haven't been able to snag one in over a year). My time spent on marketing is less, way less than the time I waste on Forge of Empires. So beyond the aforementioned, my own site, and social media, I do bupkis for ads. But I've established a record of sorts with other retailers over time and get invited to participate in iTune free promos a few times a year. Apple iTunes is my second highest revenue generator, and every invitational bumps up my paid sales there and everywhere else (because of price match across the board). Now granted, I don't need book revenues to live on, so I'm an outlier who can afford a slow build up, but it does eventually pay off. Other than during new release months, my revenue by percentage is greater on wide than Amazon these days.
 
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R. C.

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Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #55 on: April 13, 2021, 09:34:10 AM »
So if you guys were going to pack it in and not do anything in terms of promotion/advertising but just leave your books up there would you do that wide or KU?

KU and run the occasional promotion via KU... BUT, I am going to target lots of "cycles" of advertising around new releases.  KU is LESS work not NO work.

Cheers,
R.C.
 
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Lorri Moulton

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #56 on: May 04, 2021, 12:44:43 PM »
So if you guys were going to pack it in and not do anything in terms of promotion/advertising but just leave your books up there would you do that wide or KU?

Wide.  Definitely.  I can have free books available all the time to bring readers into series and I've been getting more sales on Apple (through D2D) than I expected.  The other retailers are slowly picking up, and D2D has some nice promos. 

My advertising consists of social media (no paid ads), free books, and the occasional Fussy Librarian promo.

ETA: My focus in on brand awareness and getting readers to my website.  If I was focused on sales only, I would probably be trying paid advertising...but it just seems like too much work at the moment. 
And I really need to get some books finished this summer and fall!  :dog1:
« Last Edit: May 04, 2021, 12:56:51 PM by Lorri Moulton »

Author of Romance, Fantasy, Fairytales, Mystery & Suspense, and Historical Non-Fiction @ Lavender Cottage Books
 
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LilyBLily

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #57 on: May 05, 2021, 01:58:02 AM »
I think the choice depends on the type of book you publish. My western romances are the kinds of books KU subscribers read. My women's fiction, not so much, and I am unwilling to cannibalize my high prices and go for page reads alone. I keep them wide and I don't start them in KU, either.   

 
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JRTomlin

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #58 on: May 06, 2021, 03:12:09 AM »
I agree with LilyBLily. I think genre plays in as well. You'll find relatively few of the successful historical fiction authors in KU because HF readers apparently just don't join KU. What other genres this holds true for I'm not sure. But for romance authors as an example, KU can be a big seller. As Lily mentioned, if you publish in a higher-priced genre which HF is, it is a huge hit to income if you take the KU pay.

Is it more work to be wide? I honestly don't find it so. Making the switch a few years ago was a pain in the bum, but I advertise with places like BB and a few other advertisers that pretty automatically ad the other retailers to my ads. I am pretty selective where I advertise though.

I suspect that there are too many variables on following, genre, advertising budget, etc. to make any hard and fast rule about which is better.

ETA: The decision is easier for me since I only write HF. My historical mysteries might do well in KU though, but I don't want to split my market.
« Last Edit: May 06, 2021, 03:15:36 AM by JRTomlin »
 
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KelliWolfe

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #59 on: May 20, 2021, 04:59:29 AM »
I'm all in with wide, but I'm using D2D for everything but Amazon and Google.  They do take a percentage, but I like that everything updates at once.  If I start selling a LOT more books, I might try to go direct with some of the other major retailers.

One thing that surprised me is how much more "FREE" I feel since going wide.  No more wondering if something is allowed or how much of a book I can post elsewhere.

I also decided to raise my prices recently.  We'll see if it works, but I'm feeling pretty good about it! :dog1:
I would strongly urge you to go direct with B&N. You will not get into the genre subcategories if you go through D2D. Your books just get stuck into the top level genres and you get very little visibility that way, especially since B&N does not use keyword metadata in their search engine. I've more than tripled my sales there since going direct because of this.
 
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notthatamanda

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #60 on: May 20, 2021, 05:27:42 AM »
Well thank you, that's good info, but Ugh. B&N Finally approved me for an account a day after I launched my latest book. Took 2 years, more? Not sure I have the will to move everything over.
 

notthatamanda

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #61 on: May 20, 2021, 06:33:23 AM »
Because they kept sending me the same useless error message about my bank account info being wrong. Someone here finally pointed out to me I needed to do the W9. I think that was it.
 

Lorri Moulton

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #62 on: May 20, 2021, 07:31:31 AM »
I just got accepted into a Books2Read promo through D2D.  I write in many genres, but this was a fantasy/new beginnings category.

They also have some Vivlio promos that look interesting...as well as promos with other retailers.  Some are available direct while others are D2D only.


Author of Romance, Fantasy, Fairytales, Mystery & Suspense, and Historical Non-Fiction @ Lavender Cottage Books
 

Lorri Moulton

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #63 on: May 20, 2021, 07:44:12 AM »
I send everyone to my website, but I don't do PPC ads.  Mainly social media and a few promos.

From my site, I have buttons to most major retailers and a B2R button for everyone else. 

I believe the promos might be new.  You can sign up for D2D notifications, but I see most of them in the Wide for the Win group on Facebook.

ETA:  My co-author and I moved our series to D2D (even have them distribute to Amazon) for the 'split payment' option.  So much easier!
« Last Edit: May 20, 2021, 07:46:14 AM by Lorri Moulton »

Author of Romance, Fantasy, Fairytales, Mystery & Suspense, and Historical Non-Fiction @ Lavender Cottage Books
 

Lorri Moulton

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #64 on: May 20, 2021, 07:49:49 AM »
Thank you!

Author of Romance, Fantasy, Fairytales, Mystery & Suspense, and Historical Non-Fiction @ Lavender Cottage Books
 

notthatamanda

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #65 on: May 20, 2021, 08:41:09 AM »
You'd think support could have explained that.
That would have required a response to my inquiries.  :shrug
 

notthatamanda

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #66 on: May 20, 2021, 08:41:39 AM »
I just got accepted into a Books2Read promo through D2D.  I write in many genres, but this was a fantasy/new beginnings category.

They also have some Vivlio promos that look interesting...as well as promos with other retailers.  Some are available direct while others are D2D only.

Congrats. Hope the promo goes well.  :tup3b
Me too. Best of luck Lorri.
 
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JRTomlin

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #67 on: May 20, 2021, 08:58:07 AM »
I don't think D2D offered promos when I used them in 2017/18. I never had any problems with them, but also couldn't see the point to giving them a % of royalties. They made loading to all platforms easier. But you lost real time reporting. That was another reason I moved the books direct. With the exception of Google, you get real time reporting, which works better with click ads (PPC). And directing buyers to my website gives me more a bit more data about the campaigns I'm running.
I have gotten into a couple of Apple promotions through D2D and they are the only way I have seen to do that.
 
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JRTomlin

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #68 on: May 20, 2021, 09:41:37 AM »
I do some sales in the UK, enough that it is worth trying another int'l BB promo at the relatively low price compared to the US price. The big issue for me is that I know of no way to stack int'l promos. You would think that someone would have a UK list, but not as far as I've ever seen.
 
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notthatamanda

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #69 on: May 20, 2021, 08:21:20 PM »
I do some sales in the UK, enough that it is worth trying another int'l BB promo at the relatively low price compared to the US price. The big issue for me is that I know of no way to stack int'l promos. You would think that someone would have a UK list, but not as far as I've ever seen.
bookhippo.uk

I've never done them, but I just pulled up their website and they are still around. You will have to do your own due diligence as to whether they are worthwhile or not, I don't know.
 
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JRTomlin

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #70 on: May 21, 2021, 01:43:39 AM »
Thanks! I'll check them out.
 

Simon Haynes

Re: I'm Going Wide in 2021
« Reply #71 on: July 08, 2021, 06:48:35 PM »
I went wide at the beginning of this year, with a 3-month period when I had a foot in either camp as various books dropped out of exclusive.

Aside from June, every month has been close to the equivalent month last year.  June has been a bit quieter (25% lower) but I took my foot off the ad pedal and coasted, so I blame myself for that. I haven't sent out a newsletter for months either.

I've spent the last three days redoing a bunch of AMS ads across the 4 english-speaking markets, and I'm running a BB ad for a perma-free first in series at the moment.

I've had six months now where I've not had the slightest insterest in writing or publishing, but I've come to accept that I need these lengthy breaks from time to time. I've been plotting Hal Spacejock book 11 recently, and I can feel the urge to write coming back.