That Chris Fox 2019 Report On Earnings

[Shoe]

I saw this video posted at that other place and gave it a look. It was interesting but I wasn't able to draw many conclusions (other than double your ad spend and hope for the best, which is Chris's case, was the case). Those of you with keener minds may be able to get more out of it:

&feature=youtu.be

[LilyBLily]

One thing I appreciate is that he doesn't like monetizing other authors and instead of "getting over it" and grabbing for all the cash he can get, he has dialed back his consulting and courses in favor of writing more novels.

Others have gone in the opposite direction, including the anonymous people behind BookFunnel, Hidden Gems, the former Instafreebie, and so on. I don't say that they're wrong to do it, but the expansion moment is the most dangerous moment for any small business. You can dream big and go big and become the new Microsoft, or it can all fall apart.

[Shoe]

I don't read his fiction so I have no idea if it's any good, but he must be selling a ton of ebooks. On a much lower scale, his ad spend produces similar ratios to mine though my net is higher, speaking relatively. It's going to be tough ignoring audiobooks going forward.

[notthatamanda]

I saw this video posted at that other place and gave it a look. It was interesting but I wasn't able to draw many conclusions (other than double your ad spend and hope for the best, which is Chris's case, was the case). Those of you with keener minds may be able to get more out of it:

&feature=youtu.be

Does he tell you how to make the bots spend double? You know what would really help is if the ad reports showed you how many times people searched for the term versus how many impressions you have. I'm operating on the assumption that for some keywords there is just less searching going on. Maybe I should go back to using category campaigns also. They were very effective, but less profitable, but they gave me keywords I could use on more direct campaigns. But I don't know if I need that info anymore.

[Shoe]

You know what would really help is if the ad reports showed you how many times people searched for the term versus how many impressions you have. I'm operating on the assumption that for some keywords there is just less searching going on. Maybe I should go back to using category campaigns also. They were very effective, but less profitable, but they gave me keywords I could use on more direct campaigns. But I don't know if I need that info anymore.

I'm not sure I get exactly what you mean, but in your AMS dash, you can reports that give you all that data on your keywords.

[notthatamanda]

I didn't explain it well.

If my key word is "Stephen King" I'd like to know how many times people searched for "Stephen King" so I can see how well I'm doing.
I can't spend all of my ad budget. I get good placement. I assume there is a finite number of searches for "Stephen King" so I'd like to know how many there are.

[Shoe]

If my keyword is "Stephen King" I'd like to know how many times people searched for "Stephen King" so I can see how well I'm doing...I assume there is a finite number of searches for "Stephen King" so I'd like to know how many there are.

I think the best we can do now is speculate based on "impressions" which can only arise from searches.

[LindsayBuroker]

Chris published a couple of 99-cent boxed sets from his backlist that I believe he spent a good chunk of his advertising dollars on, and they returned hugely because of KU page reads.

I did the same thing with a full-series bundle last June (and have a second one I started in November) where you're only getting the 35 cents on sales but can make $10+ from a full read-through, and, this being the state of the KU-dominated world these days, people are just as likely to borrow as to buy, even at 99 cents. The bundles convert well on ads, and I've been getting KU bonuses on mine too. I'd guess that's where close to $100K of Chris's ebook income came from in 2019.

[notthatamanda]

Speculation I excel at.  Accurate speculation on the other hand...

[notthatamanda]

I just looked at one of Chris's box sets. The also boughts are mostly box sets and all but 3 books out of 20 pages on the carousel are in KU. One of the three authors not in KU is Patty. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, just observing, and I'm not trying to imply anything negative here.

I guess I should have kept writing my trilogies, but I just feel like my poor characters have been through enough by the end of 800 pages.

[dgcasey]

I guess I should have kept writing my trilogies, but I just feel like my poor characters have been through enough by the end of 800 pages.

What? You mean you left your readers hanging by their fingertips? I have two done in my trilogy and am about a third of the way through book three. I have a feeling my readers are about to break out the tar and feathers if I don't busy and finish the third book.

My next trilogy will be completely finished before I even publish the first volume.

[missingalaska]

Chris also hints at a pen name that is doing quite well.  I wonder if he's secretly playing in romance or even erotica?

It's also interesting to see that ebooks are still king for him. I had thought that audio would have been a bigger chunk comparatively.

I so appreciate him posting this and being transparent.  He really is a great asset to our community.

[notthatamanda]

I guess I should have kept writing my trilogies, but I just feel like my poor characters have been through enough by the end of 800 pages.

What? You mean you left your readers hanging by their fingertips? I have two done in my trilogy and am about a third of the way through book three. I have a feeling my readers are about to break out the tar and feathers if I don't busy and finish the third book.

My next trilogy will be completely finished before I even publish the first volume.

Oh no, I gave them happy endings.  The books followed the romance arc but beyond that I broke the tropes too much so they never did very well.  And I wrote both trilogies all at once and published books 3 then 2 then 1 (within a day for both) so readers didn't have to wait at the end of each. The links were live for the next book when I published it.

My latest book was kind of a trilogy, three major parts, but I only published it as one big book. I've just started the next one to that. It's going to be a struggle to create enough drama without torturing the characters too much.  Luckily the guy will have his demons to fight forever and I figured out something for the woman that's realistic.

I read "Mrs. Everything" a couple of months ago and though the book took place over almost 50 years all the bad stuff that happened to the characters was draining and I didn't find it particularly realistic either. I mean if you can think of anything bad that happened, odds are it was in this book.

[Anarchist]

He really is a great asset to our community.

Chris is a good guy. And he's definitely an asset.

I remember when he left KBoards. He left because of pushback he was receiving from select KB members (some of it aggressive). He figured sticking around wasn't worth the hassle.

The ordeal was cringeworthy because the people pushing back were not at Chris's level. It was like watching Supercuts stylists tearing Jose Eber a new one. lol

[TimothyEllis]

Chris is a good guy. And he's definitely an asset.

I remember when he left KBoards.

Invite him here.

[angela]

I'm always recommending Chris Fox's writing / publishing books to new authors.

Before his Write to Market book, people were definitely writing to market, but they weren't talking about it. He really blew the lid off it!

[Shoe]

I'm always recommending Chris Fox's writing / publishing books to new authors.

He's a hell of a nice guy but I'm not a fan of his "How To..." and "Write To Market" stuff. Not at all. I think they've done more harm than good.

[angela]

I'm always recommending Chris Fox's writing / publishing books to new authors.

He's a hell of a nice guy but I'm not a fan of his "How To..." and "Write To Market" stuff. Not at all. I think they've done more harm than good.

But he's not the one who pushes "minimally viable product." He generally has a pro-quality message.

Are indie authors destroying literature? Probably. LOL. But I think it's beneficial to literature in general to encourage the writers who truly care about their books to write in a manner that's sustainable, i.e. for a niche that has some buyers / readers.

[TimothyEllis]

Are indie authors destroying literature?

No, I don't think so.

While Amazon has more than 13 million books now, I think what defines literature now is the books residing within the first 500,000 ranks. And Indies have a lot of them.

[Shoe]

But he's not the one who pushes "minimally viable product."

Correct, but he does encourage "minimally viable talents" to have a go. Just "find a popular genre" and "write to market". Add a slick cover and voila... What I've noticed over time is some of his biggest fans aren't selling any books. But their books sure look pretty on the shelf.

Someone at that other place mentioned newbies should be arriving with a book or two finished hoping to learn how to publish. Instead, and more than not, newbies arrive having never written a book, and post "Can I make money writing books?" (they're the ones that run off to buy Fox's books). I wish they'd just go over to the Warrior Forum and learn how to make money blogging. Leave books to people with writing in their bones.

[Post-Crisis D]

I wish they'd just go over to the Warrior Forum and learn how to make money blogging.

The money blogging gurus now advise to quit blogging and write Kindle books instead.  You can start by repurposing any existing blog content as Kindle books but then anything you write should now be a Kindle book, not for blogging.

[dgcasey]

Someone at that other place mentioned newbies should be arriving with a book or two finished hoping to learn how to publish. Instead, and more than not, newbies arrive having never written a book, and post "Can I make money writing books?"

I always suggest they start with a handful of Kindle Short Reads. They will make a small bit of cash and they will learn the ins-n-outs of self publishing. If their Short Reads prove popular they can expand them out to be full novels.

[angela]

But he's not the one who pushes "minimally viable product."

Correct, but he does encourage "minimally viable talents" to have a go. Just "find a popular genre" and "write to market". Add a slick cover and voila... What I've noticed over time is some of his biggest fans aren't selling any books. But their books sure look pretty on the shelf.

Someone at that other place mentioned newbies should be arriving with a book or two finished hoping to learn how to publish. Instead, and more than not, newbies arrive having never written a book, and post "Can I make money writing books?" (they're the ones that run off to buy Fox's books). I wish they'd just go over to the Warrior Forum and learn how to make money blogging. Leave books to people with writing in their bones.

The bookshelves are VERY crowded! Everything is crammed. I started publishing in 2011, so I remember the ugly covers and the time that existed before New Adult, before Lit RPG, before witch cozies. (They existed, but you know what I mean). And before so much of the sexy romance! My goodness! Fifty Shades hit it big in the mainstream in, what, the summer of 2012? The literary world has changed so much.

As for the newbies... it sucks that they chew up shelf space, but I can't judge them too harshly, as I was one of them. I couldn't sell my sweet YA books to buy coffee, and I started writing sexy romance on a whim. I'd only read maybe 2 sexy romances at that point. Maybe just one. People loved the books. People hated the books. People bought the books. I like to think I brought some joy into the world. Maybe some babies, too.

I haven't even written under that name in over 5 years, and people still buy / hate / love those books.

It just happened that I started writing books before the whole indie author revolution. I'm not sure that makes me a better person or a better writer than anyone who started later, after the cat was out of the bag, and didn't want to write the 7 or 8 utterly useless books I had to write to start my career.

[Shoe]

It just happened that I started writing books before the whole indie author revolution.

And you're making a killing now... I suspect you enjoy writing too.

I'm just a crank on the subject of newbies with no interest in writing or books jumping on the indie bandwagon.

[TimothyEllis]

and post "Can I make money writing books?"

Quora is full of these questions these days.

And no-one likes the answer which says you can make money if you work it like a normal day job.

I've taken up what Mercedes Lackey is saying a lot - All first books are crap! No exceptions.

There are just too many people around now who think they can write a bestseller straight out of the gate.

The other thing I keep saying is there is to get a first time best seller, you need to make the movie first.

[Bill Hiatt]

It just happened that I started writing books before the whole indie author revolution.

And you're making a killing now... I suspect you enjoy writing too.

I'm just a crank on the subject of newbies with no interest in writing or books jumping on the indie bandwagon.

I know there are a lot of newbies who ask about making money, but I don't necessarily interpret that as a sign that they have no interest in writing or books. That said, I don't have any more patience than you do for people who are into publishing because they're under the delusion that making money that way is easy.

People with a lot of talent may be able to coast at times and crank out a decent book without straining too hard, but most of us ordinary mortals have to put in the time to create a good product, let alone a great one. As I think Timothy said, people who are really serious about writing have to treat it like a day job. That's easy enough to do if you love writing, but not so easy if you don't.

[angela]

It just happened that I started writing books before the whole indie author revolution.

And you're making a killing now... I suspect you enjoy writing too.

I'm just a crank on the subject of newbies with no interest in writing or books jumping on the indie bandwagon.

It's up and down. I love having written. There are moments when I love writing or revising, but getting started every morning is hard. I know a lot of people who adore writing and fully identify as "being a writer" but they don't get anything done. By contrast, some of the people I know in the indie world who are a bit ambivalent seem to get more words down.

And I can be a crank, too. About everything.

When authors seem overly focused on money, I feel cranky. When they're too focused on their artistic ambitions and then complain about a lack of sales after the fact, I also feel cranky. Can't win. :-)

Then there are the ad platforms, which are there to eat our margins. I suppose it's better than the old days, when it was mostly about luck, but it still sucks to blow all that money. And it distracts from the writing.

[TimothyEllis]

This:

[Anarchist]

The only thing that matters to me is whether customers enjoy reading a book.

I don't care about grammar mistakes.

I don't care about spelling.

I don't care about covers, editing, or whether someone is in for craft, passion, or "to get rich."

All I care about is whether the person who reads a book enjoys the experience.

But that's entrepreneur in me. Books are products. Readers are customers.

[okey dokey]

QUOTE:
"minimally viable product."

Isn't this what Microsoft has done with Windows from the very beginning?

[Bill Hiatt]

The only thing that matters to me is whether customers enjoy reading a book.

I don't care about grammar mistakes.

I don't care about spelling.

I don't care about covers, editing, or whether someone is in for craft, passion, or "to get rich."

All I care about is whether the person who reads a book enjoys the experience.

But that's entrepreneur in me. Books are products. Readers are customers.

I agree that reader enjoyment is critical.

That said, there are some readers who will enjoy a well-edited book more than a book that hasn't been properly edited. And some will give a book with a good cover another look when they might have passed over the same book with a bad cover.

Of course, it's hard to quantify the impact of either of those things. Judging from what you've said about sales in other threads, whatever you're doing must certainly be working well.

[Crystal]

I love Chris's books. I recommend than to everyone who asks my advice about publishing. I don't have the time or patience to explain 101 stuff to people who aren't going to actually listen. (Seriously, they never take my advice).

Chris's books are rather 101, maybe 102, so they're not really for already successful authors. I've read two and I found the info good. I picked up a thing or two but I mostly knew what he was saying.

As for Kboards, I get why Chris left, but I think he has a different role when he's an expert with how to books vs an author sharing his opinion.

He talks about this in the video. I'd feel the same--it sucks to not feel like part of the community--but I think a higher level of push-back/skepticism is fair and to be expected when you're positioning yourself as an expert/selling people something.

It's never okay to be rude, of course.

[LilyBLily]

I loved his story last year of wanting to do less consulting so he doubled his prices. Then he got even more consulting jobs coming at him.

Too bad I don't sell more romances by doubling their prices.

[dgcasey]

I loved his story last year of wanting to do less consulting so he doubled his prices. Then he got even more consulting jobs coming at him.

I know exactly how he feels. I do a little ghostwriting and got so busy with orders during the first 8 months of last year, I struggled to find time for my own writing. So, like him, I've more than doubled my prices, hoping to cut down on the number of orders I got. It worked somewhat. I'm getting fewer orders, but those orders I am getting are for much bigger projects. I think I'm going to have to stop doing ghostwriting altogether if I want to get my life back. 

[prolificwriter]

He really is a great asset to our community.

Chris is a good guy. And he's definitely an asset.

I remember when he left KBoards. He left because of pushback he was receiving from select KB members (some of it aggressive). He figured sticking around wasn't worth the hassle.

The ordeal was cringeworthy because the people pushing back were not at Chris's level. It was like watching Supercuts stylists tearing Jose Eber a new one. lol

The only thing cringeworthy was the way his supporters were acting (this includes the mods over there as well as the majority of the members), attacking anyone that would dare not worship at his feet.

Also cringeworthy were the vitriolic PMs he sent to those of us who dared speak out against the double standards on that forum.

“lol” indeed.

[Vidya]

prolificwriter, in which KB thread did all this go down? For some reason, I seem to have missed all the biggest KB blow-ups and only learn of them when people here refer to them. But then there were many threads I didn't read on KB.

[prolificwriter]

prolificwriter, in which KB thread did all this go down? For some reason, I seem to have missed all the biggest KB blow-ups and only learn of them when people here refer to them. But then there were many threads I didn't read on KB.

This is the one I remember: https://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=252961

I’m not sure if that’s the one Anarchist is talking about...

[notthatamanda]

I love Chris's books. I recommend than to everyone who asks my advice about publishing. I don't have the time or patience to explain 101 stuff to people who aren't going to actually listen. (Seriously, they never take my advice).

Chris's books are rather 101, maybe 102, so they're not really for already successful authors. I've read two and I found the info good. I picked up a thing or two but I mostly knew what he was saying.

As for Kboards, I get why Chris left, but I think he has a different role when he's an expert with how to books vs an author sharing his opinion.

He talks about this in the video. I'd feel the same--it sucks to not feel like part of the community--but I think a higher level of push-back/skepticism is fair and to be expected when you're positioning yourself as an expert/selling people something.

It's never okay to be rude, of course.

Did you ever get his "Relaunch a Series" Book? I'll be relaunching my trilogies over the next year, okay, probably couple of years. It seems that much of Chris's advice is geared towards longer series and being in KU, neither of which apply to me, not that there's anything wrong with either.

[Crystal]

Did you ever get his "Relaunch a Series" Book? I'll be relaunching my trilogies over the next year, okay, probably couple of years. It seems that much of Chris's advice is geared towards longer series and being in KU, neither of which apply to me, not that there's anything wrong with either.

I don't believe I've read that one. My feeling is: Chris's books are only a few dollars. If you think they may offer you any value, why not read one? Most likely, you will find something helpful in it. And the very act of picking up an instructive book and reading it is motivating.

His advice is more geared towards what's easier to sell, which is usually series. But I don't think that has to mean long series.

[LilyBLily]

Chris is the one who makes you do the hard math about books that don't sell and never will. He advises not to throw good money after bad--despite the temptation to rebrand and recover and reposition.

[Crystal]

Chris is the one who makes you do the hard math about books that don't sell and never will. He advises not to throw good money after bad--despite the temptation to rebrand and recover and reposition.

I haven't read the book. I'm sure he covers this, but just in case:
Absolutely let go of series that will never sell. But don't underestimate the possibility of rebranding. It can make a huge sales difference. A lot of this comes down to knowing the market. Do you know the series has commerical potential? Are you 100% sure? Does anything about it hook people? Etc.