World, Writing, Wealth discussion

I'm hanging out on Goodreads for a little over than half a year. I'm a member of at least a few groups dealing with 'help and support to indie authors' as their main agenda.
My own experience and what I read from what other authors share show that the vast majority have abyssmal sales, while only a small per cent boast some kind of income and yet tiniest - make really big money. Every here and then a question is being raised, what's the recipe to bring some sales, readership, followship, whatever. Although there are advices of this or that sort like 'keep writing', 'don't worry about marketing that much', 'publish more books', 'enjoy the art in it', etc, but no one really offers a hidden/golden formula for success.
This weekend I read an interview with Harlan Coben, who is a big name in mystery genre without doubt, which I liked a lot. He says something like "I can't call myself an artist. I do my work. The readers may call it art, not me. I treat it as work."
I say, it can be viewed as business too. And I'm aware that many would protest such an assumption. But my feeling is that every author is concerned about sales no matter how dismissive they may sound. So for the sake of experiment, let's develop this thought a bit. We sell 'content'. Different in shape and appearance, but similar to some degree to other 'content', like new applications for cell phones (also being developed in thousands with only few reaching anything close to Angry Birds' level of success) or computer games or youtube films or songs or paintings or other stuff.
My impression is that most of the indie authors allocate very limited budget to promotion, if at all.
But I ask myself why? I mean at first you really don't know what your book is worth. Even Harlan says, he's never overly confident and has his doubts. But if after a while you have some positive feedback/reviews from the readers, then you know that there is at least a certain segment that likes your work. And I'm pretty confident that authors are 'brands'. Established brands sell. No matter what John Grisham or Dan Brown or Harlan Coben or Stephen King publish, they will have huge sales. But then you look at their books' ratings and some of them below 4. When you have thousands of reviews, the rating does tell something. I mean they are all great authors, but they have more successful books and less successful too. In their case the brand clearly sells, not the content per se.

So what I'm saying after all this long preamble, is that if viewing promoting a book as a business, then why not to try to go big? I mean, if you want to open a restaurant, you'd need to invest around 100K (rent, rennovation, design, stock, staff, etc) and it's a very risky business. Where I live 9 out of 10 restaurants die during their first year. Anyway people take loans, invest their funds and open new ones every year. Authors don't seem to do that. Indies, whom no one knows and who's not promoted by a publisher, need to stand out from a few million titles sitting on Amazon today.
I ask what happens, if we decide to promote it with some serious money? What happens if I buy prime time TV commercials? What happens if I pay George Clooney to read my book while he's drinking Nespresso? Shall this help to establish some kind of a brand? I mean who heard of Michel Telo and his "Nossa.." song until Neymar and then Cristiano Ronaldo popularized it by performing its choreography as scoring celebration.
Although a small group (yet? -:)), we have quite a few authors among the members. What do you think? Can it work? Would it be much riskier investment in comparison to other businesses?

Yes of course, it will work. Writers just need to see it differently. Most writers view writing as an artistic pastime. They need to change that mind- set; go to the bank; ask for loan; say that they want to borrow money to invest in the business of writing.

Knowing bank's mind-set, no bank would finance anything like that, unless again you are John Grisham or a borrower of a similar standing or can offer such a collateral that they won't really care what you need the money for -:) Public lending clubs or crowdfunding may..
I would stop short of recommending anyone such a hazardous endeavor, but I had some extra funds on the side, I might try. Or if I convince some oligarch to finance .. -:)

This is from advice I'd given a young aspiring author, I hope it helps others out there:



You don't have to have money to promote your book. I don't either. I promote it by particular groups on Goodreads that look for author's to promote their work. I put samples of my work on Wattpad to gain an audience there. I do a lot of interviews with bloggers who some of them also review the book.


Building buzz before your books initial release helps also. Networking and building a social connection works and social media is a part of that. But, I suggest you do this network building by sharing common interests with followers on Twitter and Facebook. I've found its better and it may eventually get you a sale or two. I have over a 1,200 Twitter followers and 246 on Facebook. I talk about my book only a few times but, mostly talk about t.v. shows and movies I shared interest with other Facebook people or Twitter followers, which brings more interest to my Facebook and Twitter pages.


I've been in this writing/author business both on the traditional and indie side (I prefer the indie side by the way) for 25 years. A lot of it takes patience and perseverance. But, networking making connections with readers, bloggers and other authors on a down to earth level is the key. You can never stop networking it's the main thing that will keep you afloat in this business. Also if you make a promise to someone keep it.

That is rare in this business and its invaluable, and paramount. It's how I've been able to preserve and survive this business all these years because of my integrity to my readers, bloggers, and followers. I always keep my promises and I don't make a promise I can't keep.

Also the word "No" is a good procurer for you as a writer/author. It can keep you grounded and relevant when there are people demanding more than you feel you can handle. Also there will be haters don't let them discourage you.

A thick skin and an even thicker skin is needed for this business. It's how I've maintained my place in this writing/publishing world. Also be humble and keep your eye on the prize, run your own race.

Thanks for your input and advice, Angel.
You give some sound advice how to promote without investment. 25-years long experience is by any scale very impressive and likewise the number of followers you have on social networks.
If we talk business here though, it can't be without figures -:) If you don't mind sharing with us how successful your strategy is, we'd appreciate. I don't want to pry and ask for your specific info (in case IRS is tracking these threads -:)), but maybe you can give us some heads up like an average number of purchased copies of a certain book a month on indie route and trad route, or similar data?

Whenever I've read about authors, especially self-published authors, who made it big, they generally put a lot of time and/or money into getting themselves noticed before they made it big, and then kept up the work once they were famous. E.g., I was recently reading about a romance author who spent tens of thousands of dollars on advertising--and has now sold over a million copies. I remember getting a free HARDBACK publicity copy of the first edition of Game of Thrones, back in 1996--Tor must have given out thousands of them. Pointing to Angel's point above, E.L. James made a name for herself writing on online fanfic sites, which is what led her to publish the "50 Shades" books, and J.K. Rowling continues to be very active on social media.

Here's an article on the topic: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaymcgreg...

Thank, E.P., yours are excellent examples for both approaches - of putting in big money or putting in big efforts. Sometimes both are needed. The article showcases how long the way to the top may be.
If I was to decide between the above two alternatives, I'd choose the money, for I'm not sure I have enough patience for waiting 15 years for something to pick up...

Nobody knows the golden rule for selling books because I don't think there is one. Suppose there were? With several million books out there, if every author applied it, authors would still sell only few books because the market is saturated. So what happens is that a few authors grab most of the spoils, and the rest do not.

I confess I have no idea how to sell. I write a mix of sci fi and futuristic thrillers, and i make a modest income; enough to buy some luxuries I would otherwise have to avoid, but not enough to call an income. I do not understand promotions. Last year I tried promoting one of my novels, and i got a significant increase in sales during the time - but none of them for the book I was promoting. How did that happen? Currently, I am running a promo for my "Miranda's Demons" which is my effort at a "War and Peace", and while I am reasonably proud of it, I doubt it will sell that much because everyone says it is "too long".

My view is expensive advertising won't do much, unless you can get a big name to genuinely endorse it. I gather Tom Clancy was a nothing author until the Reagans gave it some publicity, and for free! Otherwise, it is money down the drain. Me, I regard my writing as a business, and even if it is not exactly huge, I keep my literary efforts profitable. I have to pay tax on it, even after all the deductions, and as I say, I can purchase a few luxuries. And it amuses me. Fortunately, I do not depend on it.

Nik wrote: "Thanks for your input and advice, Angel.
You give some sound advice how to promote without investment. 25-years long experience is by any scale very impressive and likewise the number of followers ..."

When I was in traditional publishing which was when I was in my early teens ages 13-15 and in my early twenties. I didn't sell any copies. I didn't know much or anything about promotion then. The company I was published under took my works and made money off them, I didn't get a dime.

When I became indie I started to sell several copies almost immediately, because I started promoting my books as through the channels and tools above. I first started selling 3-6 per day, then per week, a total of 300-1,000 copies but, only less than 70 ended up in actual genuine reviews. But, I had a good year or so and now I'm on to the next book to top that amount. I count it as a little success. It's nowhere near the goal I'm trying to reach. But, it's a business that I've have invested a lot into.

Also I have business ideas (one of which is ghostwriting and editing services) not just writing which I'm using as another hopefully supplemental income, while I'm trying to gain income as an author. I am not a NY Times bestselling author but, I sold enough copies.

I have a eight year old son besides myself to take care of so this is what I hope turns into a long term lucrative thing. But, I guess I'll just have to see about that.

But, I can tell you this when I spent money in my younger years on either route trad or indie, sometimes both, I never got anything in return so this method after all the many methods I have tried is steadily working for me as far as gaining interest for my works, reviews, promotion, etc. and also I review other authors books for free and promote other authors, particularly the teen and young adult set for free, some older authors, too (I don't ask to be paid for reviewing a book or promoting someone's book, or anything), which at times ends up in sales and more promotion for me and for them, I guess because I am willing to review books outside of my comfort zone.

But, I am reaping the seeds I've sown and paying it forward in that regard. It's a great return investment. So far the loyalties are solid on this front leading to solid royalties in return. Who says gratitude isn't lucrative. Loyalty is very important in this business, it's a rarity. My loyalty to my readers, followers and has been the only steady and lucrative investment I have and it hasn't failed me yet. I offer this rare commodity. (See previous post on this thread.)

People keep looking for a specialty, a special formula to become this big name. But, there is no special formula. This is me being direct and honest. The secret is more down to earth than you all realize.

But, this trustworthiness may not work for you. But, it has for me. Me being trustworthy has worked for me. Does this answer your question? If not, then you are continuing to look in the wrong place. This is 25 years of my 2 cents. But, if you have any other questions, that goes for anyone about my experience in trad or indie publishing, etc. feel free to ask and I will answer directly and honestly.

In order for a book to live, it has to be used in academic institutions. Shakespeare would have been lost today, if he staged his plays only. By far, students of Shakespeare have immortalised him as well his followers.

Ian wrote: "Nobody knows the golden rule for selling books because I don't think there is one. Suppose there were? With several million books out there, if every author applied it, authors would still sell onl..."

I have a few friends in high-tech business, developing mobile apps and stuff like that. They all try to develop something 'cool' and then face the question how to monetize it. Facebook, Whatsapp coped with the same issue. In a way we (authors) are in the same boat, assuming we do offer something 'cool' or interesting or otherwise appealing.
The Tom Clancy example that you give is an example of a golden formula, unfortunately inaccessible to most. I know others like this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Oren
Nobody bought his books until he appeared on the popular night show and henceforth he is unstoppable -:). So if any one of you, good people, know personally any popular TV host, I'd appreciate if you can hook me or other friends here up with him/her. The beer is on me afterwards -:)

Angel wrote: "People keep looking for a specialty, a special formula to become this big name. But, there is no special formula. This is me being direct and honest. The secret is more down to earth than you all realize..."

Thanks for sharing, Angel.
Maybe the secret is being content with your achievements and persevere with further goals... I personally admire your dedication and persistence

Mehreen wrote: "In order for a book to live, it has to be used in academic institutions. Shakespeare would have been lost today, if he staged his plays only. By far, students of Shakespeare have immortalised him a..."

That's an interesting angle.
We may be losing contemporary shakespeares in the jungle of current literature and fewer options to stand out....
As of academic institutions - aiming there may certainly be a good idea. Students are usually the most active segment of population and whoever catches the attention of that particular audience shall probably be rewarded...
As of me personally, with a gritty stuff I write I'm not sure my books would embellish any institution's carriculum, so I would probably have to remain extracarricular for the time-being... -:)

I have read your Oligarch. I would approach a literature class with that. Lots of literary fiction deals with that kind of character. Also approach movies. I think it would make a good movie too, provided that someone can write a good script.

Thanks, for some encouraging words, Mehreen -:) I would think my books can fit police academies when studying economic crimes and money laundering, but I'd be certainly glad, if they had broader appeal.
Movie? That's probably a dream come true for many authors..

Nik wrote: "Angel wrote: "People keep looking for a specialty, a special formula to become this big name. But, there is no special formula. This is me being direct and honest. The secret is more down to earth ..."

Exactly my point! Thanks Nik!

Well, I didn't take out a loan, but I made a few simple calculations and then decided to register as a business.

I'm in Germany, and local legislation states that (unlike in the US), ebooks not only need their own ISBN number, but you need a different ISBN for each format (.mobi/.epub/.pdf/etc).

Given that I want to publish my book on Amazon (.mobi), the most popular German ebook sites (.epub), as well as paperback and possibly in hardback, that's 4 ISBN numbers already.

They cost close to 100 € each, so I'd be out of pocket by almost 400 € for just a single book.

However, if I can produce a business license as proof that I'm a registered publisher, the cost for ISBN numbers drastically decreases to about 2.50 € per number if I fork over 248 € and get a hundred numbers (which means I'd also have enough for quite a few more books). A business license cost me 23 €.

It's also helped me focus on my writing more, as I now feel like my writing has a bit of an (imaginary) official seal on it. After all I have a license, haha!

Not to mention it gave me a weird confidence boost.

Hey Kat, good luck with writing and business! Congratulation on the license. You saved nicely on ISBNs. I hope you'll have a profitable business, although many struggle to break even.

I've checked quickly the excel of expenses on the first book. My friend and co-author of the first book spent 132 pounds in the UK for a bulk of 10 ISBNs.
Now that I know that you have almost a hundred of them and the License, I know whom to approach, if I run out of ISBNs at some stage -:)

Hahaha :)

Thank you!

And I'm not kidding - as soon as I excitedly told someone I opened a publishing business, they sent me a huge Word document with their poetry and asked if we can make that a hardcover.

Mehreen wrote: "I have read your Oligarch. I would approach a literature class with that. Lots of literary fiction deals with that kind of character. Also approach movies. I think it would make a good movie too, p..."

Nik: you should use Mehreen's quote in your blurb. this is a good marketing tool b/c instead of a customer having to scroll down in your reviews, you can give it to them right away in your blurb. paperback publishers do that a lot.

Kat wrote: "Well, I didn't take out a loan, but I made a few simple calculations and then decided to register as a business."

good ROI analysis!

Thanks, Alex, and welcome to the group. I think it's a good idea. Some 'experts' advise to have a blurb of at least 500 words, so it'll register better with Amazon. I don't know how true this is - just something I read.
The thing is the account of 'Oligarch' is registered by my friend and co-author - his Brilliancy Carlito Sofer, who's a much better career as the published non-fiction author ( under his real name) and kinda disappointed that our joint fiction attempt is not on NYT b/s list. Good there are no worstseller lists otherwise we might be competing there -:)
So any experiments I do, I go with the 2-nd book - 'Mortal..', which I manage alone. There indeed I put a digest of the best reviews right after the blurb. Not that it brought some fantastic results so far, but I guess it's not detrimental either -:)

A blurb of at least 500 words? That's a short story. Personally, if a blurb runs beyond two or three paragraphs I stop reading.

Yeah, I know. For that reason I left the blurb three paragraphs long and just added selected reviews as an additional write-up to check whether it has any impact.
So far, doesn't seem to change anything

In my view, a blurb of 500 words is far too long. Having said that, I have to confess that my blurbs are hardly taking me to the best-seller list. There are various bits of advice out there on what a blurb should say, but somehow actually making my books fit the advice seems to elude me.

I'm with you on this. 500 seems to long, but the 'expert' claimed longer write-up gave higher chances to register well with Amazon and to pop up on searches..

These days you can't be sure who's expert and who's just claiming to be one...

The more words you use, the more "keywords" will be there to register on Amazon, that only gets you onto more searches. If they are the bottom of the page, it won't do much good, and anyway the key is also to get people to buy once they find it. Admittedly, first they have to find it, but the chances of people scrolling through many pages of search triggered by keywords rather than title is not good.

That is a good point about how search terms might not get you on the 1st few pages of results. You do need to target your search words to the people who you think would want to read it & yes it might be a competitive space. I have gotten search results for books that have a wide range of number of reviews on the 1st page: 200 - 2100. The searcher can also filter by rank so I'm sure what algorithm Amazon is using.

I'd like to offer a marketing case study: I just bought a novelette (11k words) on my kindle today. Why & how you might ask. I follow writers on Twitter & one of them, zen cho, said that an online mag-pub'd work of hers was on sale for .99 (I might not have bought a novelette for $2.99, which is what she's going to list it as later, but 99 cents is worth it). I clicked the link, read the synopsis on her website, downloaded the sample, read the 1st few pages, liked it and bought it.

Zen cho is not a well-known author (3 -4 books on amazon and one is an anthology). How did I find her? On goodreads thru another reader. I read some free samples of her writing & i had a good impression so I followed her on Twitter. She also tweeted her new book cover this week too: it was quite well-done.

I just bought a kindle in December & allocated $10/mo for purchases but I haven't been reaching my quota.

I think that the key takeaways are that I had a favorable impression of her work, it was 99 cents, everything clicked for me (the cover, the blurb, the sample) & buying it was a breeze. In summary, she has a good product, good marketing, good pricing, and a good sales and distribution channel.

i don't think that i'm an atypical reader. I check out more books from the library than buy. readers usually have to know an author--or get a personal recommendation--before they buy their works. i haven't had a kindle that long, but i see loads of people reading on their phone on the commuter train. $10/mo is not out of the ordinary either.

Alex G wrote: "readers usually have to know an author--or get a personal recommendation--before they buy their works...."

There are probably many researches on this point - how people end up buying this or that book. My own feeling is that purchases from a free search on Amazon definitely happen but do not amount to a prime source of sales. As you mention in your example, many come to buy a specific book or author that they had previous experience with or received a recommendation about.
Brands sell well. I bet any book released by John Grisham or Stephen King is bound to be sold in many thousands.
There are people of course that always look for 'new voices' and actively search Amazon and other venues for new names, interesting concepts, etc, but I'm not sure they constitute a majority.
Gaining some exposure through popular and followed blogs in your genre or reviewers with a considerable followship may be not less important than keywords...

Denise wrote: "writing is a business. Promote your works like a business. ..."

Totally agree with your approach...
It should go without saying that before promotion and marketing, one needs to have a marketable, 'palatable' product to offer with attractive 'wrapping' and close to typo-free text. Some authors seem to miss this point or maybe they think that their genius shall transpire through a myriad of typos nonetheless -:)
Now, I wouldn't necessarily urge someone to spend his good money on ordering external services, but if you are unable to achieve a decent level 'in-house', I don't see that much of a choice...
The Russian proverb says 'The cheapskate pays twice' - exactly my case with the third book that I'm working on now. I was happy to find a cheaper option for editing, but it seems I'd need to have another editor going over the book after the first one -:)

Checked them out - excellent covers. Well done!

I've run a sort of a poll here on GR about my own covers. Although I personally like them and they were prepared by designer, if I remember correctly out of 15-20 people who voiced their opinions, most had issues with them being more negative than positive. Now I intend to order a cover from a different source and if the results are better I might return to the first 2 covers to update them...

Hey y'all--just thought I'd jump in with some thoughts in response to this post and some other posts Nik and others have made about promotion and marketing, which I have been following with interest. I should start with a disclaimer that I'm certainly not a bestselling author by any means, but here are some observations:

1) Can writing be treated as a business? I would say yes, and maybe more importantly, anything you want to get good at has to be treated as a job. This means doing it regularly, even when it's not "fun," and making appropriate strategic investments. I don't think this means killing yourself to keep writing even when you hate it, or throwing away a whole bunch of money for nothing, but it does mean sticking with that first draft until it's finished, and then putting in the editing work and/or hiring a professional editor to create a clean and polished final product. As Denise said, you want to present yourself in a way that will make people take you seriously. If you want people to care about you, you have to show that you care about them by putting in the work and creating a quality product. And I can't tell you how many people I've come across who want to do various things (not just writing but all kinds of things) and who have great ideas, but they can't stick with it on a regular basis long enough to do something really meaningful or produce something high quality. I really believe you have to treat whatever it is you're passionate about as a job for long term results.

2) As far as how to get readers, I'd say as a reader myself the thing that causes me to try out new authors is cheap/free books. I find most of my new authors from the library, used book stores, promotional giveaways, and gifts. If I like their work, I'll probably go out and buy more of their books at full price. I know a lot of authors are leery of giving away their work for free, but I don't normally pay full price for a book by an author I've never heard of. If I get a cheap or free copy, however, and like it, I'll probably go out and buy more. I also take advantage of the free sample on Kindle and download that before deciding whether or not to buy the whole thing. The flip side is that if I don't like the free book/free sample, then I'll just put it down and not buy anything by them. But we always knew that was a danger anyway :)

E.P. wrote: "Hey y'all--just thought I'd jump in with some thoughts in response to this post and some other posts Nik and others have made about promotion and marketing, which I have been following with interes..."

Hey E.P., thanks for jumping in and sharing your vision -:)
I think you come with an important generalization that in order to succeed in anything one must see it through all the way. I mean lots of people have ideas for a book, for a start up, for invention/patent, for business, but only few would see them through all the way. That's one of the distinctive features of a businessman in my opinion - the ability to pick up the gauntlet, to undertake the risk and to put in the effort to make the idea work.. Now with books - I mean it's really a lot of effort (and pleasure also) to sit, imagine, conceive and write a book. The text is the essence, but it'd be a pity if the essence would be undermined by poor delivery - unedited work, amateurish cover, etc.. All those extra efforts are auxiliary, but not less important.

There are different patterns how people decide to buy books/ try new authors.. One of the strategies recommends offering one book in a series or one work for free, so people would get a feeling. I guess for readers like you, who want to try something first, it's a sound idea. I, on my part, usually go with recommendations from the people that I have similar reading tastes...

BTW, if anyone has a different opinion - feel free to voice it, we are not gonna throw rocks and welcome pluralism -:)

Yeah, I think because writing is an art form and isn't guaranteed to make you a lot of money (not that there is anything that is), people tend to think it should always be "fun" and you should only do it when you feel inspired and it's crass and immoral to treat it as a business, but successful artists (however you define success) put a lot of work into developing their skills and putting out a finished product, and those that make any kind of money off of their art do put a lot of effort into marketing and outreach, broadly defined. I don't think you can be a good writer if you're just in it for the money, but you do have to have a certain amount of business-like savvy to make it a success, even if your definition of success is just to have a completed manuscript (which is in and of itself a big deal!).

As for marketing strategies, I also follow others' recommendations, but that is something that we as authors have very little control over! Whereas running promotional discounts and giveaways is something we have direct control over. I totally agree that there is a danger of devaluing our work by giving everything away for free (my day job is in college teaching, which has seen a dramatic drop in salaries as more and more people have found themselves agreeing to teach for minimum wage with no benefits), but the benefits of giving people a free taste of your work is not to be ignored! I guess each author needs to figure out what works for them and strike the right balance, and unfortunately there's probably not a magic formula that can be applied for everyone.

True, there is no magic formula. For most of us that is. But take a look at John Locke's example. He must've found one. He claims to have sold over 1M copies of his book 'Saving Rachel'. Moreover he allegedly shares with us how he'd done it in his book 'How I sold...'.

I have certain doubts though that Locke reveals all components of his sales blitz....

Haha probably not. Because he probably doesn't even know himself. I was reading an interview recently with some successful self-published authors and they said they had low sales, low sales, low sales...and then suddenly their sales skyrocketed and they don't know why. They guessed that they had finally built up a critical mass of sales, reviews, and publicity, but they couldn't put their fingers in any one thing that they had done that was the tipping point. Which I guess gets us back to the old "Keep writing" advice...

But I will add that in my day job, which is a profession that is crazy hard to break into, I would have long dry spells and then suddenly have multiple acceptances/interviews/offers. And I really couldn't tell you exactly what was the magic formula, but I would send stuff out again and again, get rejection after rejection, and then all of a sudden things would start to go right. So if I'd quit after the first fifty rejections, I never would have gotten to the acceptance stage, but I can't tell you how to leapfrog over all the rejections, either. I basically had to be at the right place at the right time, but I couldn't tell what that right place was going to be until I got there!

Yep, there is a lot of element of luck, playing to some authors' favor. And luck is unexplainable -:)

In Locke's case, however, he knew exactly what he was doing... Kevin (I think he's also on the group) says he read Locke admitted buying reviews in an interview. But maybe it wasn't only that...

Yeah, I've heard that Locke bought reviews (which to be fair I think was only banned by Amazon recently) and also did things like insert unrelated key words into his blog posts to bring in more readers. I read some of the reviews of the marketing book and I'm not sure it's worth the $2.99.

Nik wrote: "In Locke's case, however, he knew exactly what he was doing... Kevin (I think he's also on the group) says he read Locke admitted buying reviews in an interview. But maybe it wasn't only that..."

There's a succinct review (Peggy Dekay's review, by the way, I started following her and she has another recommendation, which I (and she) thought was better: Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World) that states that Locke made it big in the early days of the kindle. So, part of it is market timing.

i don't think luck is unexplainable. i think that we call something luck when (1) we can't understand it; (2) it's too complex for us to understand (all right, maybe that's the unexplainable part ;) ); or (3) it is not under our control.

anyways, back to market timing, which i think that many profitable, up-and-coming or otherwise well-known writers tend to dismiss w/a wave of their hand (see ken liu's nbc interview (8 March 2016): "It's okay for you to write things that are just pleasing yourself, and not chasing the market, because no one really knows where the market is, and chasing that is a loser's market.").

i think that being able to get in on something when it is hot and being able to capitalize on it has become much more important now than say a decade ago. ever since apple destroyed the 20th-century music industry with iTunes, technological--specifically in computing but biotech is right on its coattails--change has been on an accelerating rampage. and now the smartphone coupled w/continuous, high-quality bandwidth (LTE/4G) is just big.

let's apply market timing to books. every since the The Hunger Games came out (& before for that Battle Royale & before that The Running Man (w/good 'ol Arnold, a former governor of my state), which incidentally was based on a sci-fi story written by Stephen King), dystopian has been a big seller (for example, Divergent). & if you hook into these market trends, you can be profitable. & the big publishers are not idiots, they're culling from the indie ranks (for example, The Martian) was self-published; heck, Weir even had it on his website for a while before he self-pubbed on amazon for 99 cents!). if there haven't been already, more imitators should be coming onto the market in time for summer.

One thing that tends to be forgotten when you mention Locke and Weir is that when they self-published on Amazon, there was hardly anything there. I reviewed "The Martian" early on, and recall buying it. I had never heard of it, and found it by browsing, and in that section, there were only four pages. It took off because there was a real shortage of material on Amazon. That does not apply now.

What really annoys me is that at the time I could have put books there and I might have got a similar benefit, BUT I couldn't because at the time Amazon demanded a US bank account, OR that you lived somewhere like the UK. It was impossible to get such a bank account - something to do with money laundering. (Had I kept my Canadian bank account from 30 years earlier I might have been OK!)

New Zealand only gets the opportunity when the opportunity has subsided :-(

Ian wrote: "One thing that tends to be forgotten when you mention Locke and Weir is that when they self-published on Amazon, there was hardly anything there..."

ah (lightbulb goes off in head), even Weir.

Alex G wrote: "more imitators should be coming onto the market in time for summer..."

Sure, there are and will be 'imitators' as you call them. The success of the intial piece might not replicate, but filling a niche on the rise may result in decent portion of interest/sales.
As of timing, at the time we were in a hurry to release the first book, when Ukraine (usually an obscure state) was constantly on the headlines. It seemed important, however in our case I'm not sure we were apt to use the momentum....

Publishers and lit agents look for less risk and more guaranteed sales. That's why thy frequently miss the 'next big thing', but know pretty well to estimate prospective sales in established niches. If you have a track record of a few thousand sold books as an indie, the publishers would court you...

Ian wrote: "New Zealand only gets the opportunity when the opportunity has subsided :-(..."

Oh, that sucks...
Looks like it's important to be among the first on the platforms that might enjoy exponential growth. You seem to have a nice diversity of vendors, which I'm not sure many authors achieve.
Hope it'll pay off big time in the future, as you are already doing not bad, being profitable..

How good are you at biz, guys? -:)

Nik wrote: "How good are you at biz, guys? -:)"

Judging by my latest book sales, not exceptional :-(

To answer the question, if you consider yourself a professional writer than writing is 100% a business. I'm actually giving a one hour talk on this later this month, but the gist is that any successful business strategy follows certain business rules, and they apply to a writer as much as to Microsoft or Sony.

Of course writing is a business. Well at least for some of us. Some prefer to call it art and that's fine but every work of art needs a salesman to sell it.

Selling isnt tough. It isnt a secret. It isnt even confusing.

Its patience and persistence.

Now Im just doing what I did 13 years ago when I entered the adult entertainment field as a lawyer. I spent money on marketing. I got in front of people and talked. I shook hands, attended parties, made contacts. I went to where my clients would be instead of waiting for them to find me. I worked my way up. It takes time. For me it took about 5 years of being in the industry before it started to happen. No one in the industry knew me before I decided to be an adult entertainment lawyer.

Not bragging, but now I usually turn down press interviews and rarely do speaking appearances despite numerous requests. Now Im focusing on promoting my book.

Ive had stories appear on TMZ - http://www.tmz.com/2012/04/17/three-s...

Was profiled in California Lawyer Magazine - http://ww2.callawyer.com/clstory.cfm?...

Even appeared on a couple of TV shows - https://youtu.be/rY2ne5KdA9Q

Getting the word out about your book isnt difficult - it just requires persistence. You have to set aside time every day devoted to just promotion. Whether its Twitter, Facebook, AskDavid, Goodreads or your local library. Build relationships, make friends, you might have to do a lot of favors before someone will be willing to return one. Be engaging, be available, be humble.

Every time someone on Twitter or FB says they bought or read my book I tell them I am humbled and honored that they would give me 8 hours of their life. To me a reader is everything, every single one of them. Just as every single one of my clients is special and I am honored that they chose me to represent them.

Michael - Brilliantly said, even down to how you respond to reviewers. I say precisely the same thing.

Your writing is your product. Everything else is just straight up business like anything else. And if anyone says they don't like sales, remember, you're either selling something, or working for someone who does.