Author Topic: Wide Vs KU Experiment: Results So Far of my KU Exit  (Read 1411 times)

lyndabelle

Wide Vs KU Experiment: Results So Far of my KU Exit
« on: January 07, 2019, 11:12:45 AM »
So, last year, I decided I had enough of the Zon messing with my bottom line. With the category changes and recategorizations last Spring and then the Createspace merge and changes in AMS, I'm kind of happy I did. Because I'm finding I am doing better with a decent sized catalog slowly releasing wide than I would have staying in KU.

So, half the year, up to May, my titles were in KU. By end of May, my reads were at zero, and my sales started with my release of titles through Draft 2 Digital.

I had approx made $7 last year from page reads with 0.004 used for cost per page. I used an average of KU at that time.
My Wide sales from May 2018- Dec. 2018 have been: approx $10. with only about 1/2 my catalog released so far.

So, yes, this looks like the difference of a cup of coffee, and I know I'm not paying the mortgage with my royalties (yet). But it is also reflective that my whole catalog was in KU the first part of the year with a slow withdrawl, and now I've got 3 series released wide, with 3 more to go. So, I might gain, a few more cups a coffee a month.

Why is this important? Well, because I'm trying to at least break even. I've also noticed AMS costs gone way up with bids having to be around $0.45-50 in my romance genre to get sales to counter the costs. So, I'm paying more to Amazon to advertise at this point.

AMS Example: This year so far, I've had $2 of sales with $6 of cost to make those sales over just first 5 days of January. To note: 219 keywords too. I have only one ad running since the Zon won't let most of my erotica catalog advertise in AMS anymore. (Another reason I went wide).

So, I've been pretty upset with the Zon all last year, and I'm trying to find other ways to bring in income. I do have Fiverr gigs that help, and I sell estate sale items on Ebay. Plus, I've had to return to some day job work to pay for those little things in life, like food, mortgage, car maintenance.

These are real numbers for being a writer. Most of the time, I'm not making much money, but I keep trying in spite of that. I think just trying to make it work in the long run is the best way to look at things. But it isn't a get rich quick scheme, it's survival to keep writing.

So, I'd love to hear if you've left KU and how you are doing. I know factors, such as I write erotica and erotic romance, made it necessarily for me to leave. Others might stay because they do well with what they are writing. But, the bottom line is every writer is now an entrepreneur and has to figure the best path to follow now. I'd love to hear about your path of either staying in KU or KU Exit.



 

David VanDyke

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Re: Wide Vs KU Experiment: Results So Far of my KU Exit
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2019, 01:35:49 PM »
I left KU two years ago and I'm doing fine in mil sci-fi. I recovered my KU losses with wide gains within one year.

I have three series, two with permafrees book 1.

I promote the permafrees with BookBubs and other second-tier sites like FreeBooksy. That converts into read-through.

If you have series, I suggest making the first one of each wide and permafree. Then apply for BBs while also using the second-tier sites.



Never listen to people with no skin in the game.

I'm a lucky guy. I find the harder I work, the luckier I am.

Those who prefer their English sloppy have only themselves to thank if the advertisement writer uses his mastery of the vocabulary and syntax to mislead their weak minds.

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notthatamanda

Re: Wide Vs KU Experiment: Results So Far of my KU Exit
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2019, 02:05:02 AM »
I was out of KU by June of 2018.  Traction wide is slowly building.  I did almost $1000 on Kobo alone in 2018, but it took getting posted on their free romance page to get any traction there.  I have two trilogies and permafree on the first of each is working well everywhere, read throughs are consistent across all platforms.

I have heard that Smashwords is good for erotica, but I don't write it, so I can't comment specifically.  My trilogies aren't up there so I've sold nothing there, but that's on me.