UK Amazon Kindle Forum discussion

What do you guys think about this:

"In fact, I’m convinced we’ll see many more indie success stories over the next few years–maybe even more than the ones we’ve witnessed so far. The “Gold Rush” ends when there is no more gold left, or no way to get to it. That’s not the case here. The problem today is that there are too many people who want to find it, and perhaps not enough of them willing to do the hard work it takes to strike it rich."

http://bookmachine.org/2015/01/05/end...

Nice piece. I think it's fair to say the easy money has dried up. For people like me, who were writing long before the Kindle came along and would still be writing if Amazon fell into a black hole tomorrow, it's not really a problem. I have no serious plans to ever leave a pretty lucrative day job career.

And for writers slogging their guts out who have already established a readership, they should be OK too. They may need to adapt to a changing landscape, but in a publishing market that's only existed for five years, that shouldn't be the end of the world.

I think it's going to become harder for new independents to establish themselves, and I'd certainly include myself among their number given my ridiculously small number of published works and modest sales, but in the long run that can probably only be a good thing for readers.

I think it's true - there will be more Indie success stories over the next few years. There is a lull right now, but when e-books first came out, we all went crazy downloading all the free and cheap books, but I know for me, I've got a huge backlog to read and haven't bought a new book in awhile. I also agree with Andrew. For those of us who love to write and have written forever, we'll keep writing. I think as it becomes harder many bad writers or people who thought selling books was easy will be weeded out.

I agree with you both, as I put it in the piece, I think competition is a good thing because only the persistent writers who write for the pleasure of it (or because they can't help it) will keep writing. And usually, they are the best ones (or in any case, they get much better in time).

And I'm not to worried for them as long as they understand the challenges they'll have to face continuously. Leaving a day job is incredibly dangerous because book sales are very unreliable. Amazon can change their categories from one day to the other and your income can significantly drop because of that, for example… But I think there is more and more education out there on how hard it is to be an author, whether indie or traditionally published (the hybrids, somehow, have it better, as they usually figure out quickly how to take the best from both sides)

In addition, a few years ago there were roughly a million self-published eBooks listed on Amazon. There were about 12000 free promos a day. Now there are nearly 3 million eBooks and 40000 freebies a day. Also, if you are ranked over a million sold in Kindle store and sell one eBook, your rank goes to roughly 150,000 sold in Kindle store. In other words, you pass over a million authors who have sold no eBooks in the past week. Lastly, there are over 6 million books (kindle plus paper)listed on Amazon. Good luck...

Where did you find those numbers, Richard? They're pretty interesting!
In any case, it's really my point: if you are in this seriously, you're not really competing with all those "authors" who put stuff out there but don't care whether it sells or not. The people you are competing with are "the big dogs", so it makes it both difficult and fascinating.

Richard, I found out you move up too whenever someone does a review on one of your books. Strange system they have.

Ricardo wrote: "Where did you find those numbers, Richard? They're pretty interesting!
In any case, it's really my point: if you are in this seriously, you're not really competing with all those "authors" who put ..."

If you look at an eBook or paperback on Amazon, you can see where it ranks on its product page. I've seen some that are ranked 2,000,000 plus in Kindle store or 6,000,000 plus in books in Kindle store. When I began my last free promo, I started out at 36,000 in Kindle store for free eBooks.

DM wrote: "Richard, I found out you move up too whenever someone does a review on one of your books. Strange system they have."

I'd dispute that, actually. Two of my books haven't sold for quite some time in the US, but both have received a new review in the last couple of weeks (readers clearing their TBR list over Christmas, I have to assume). The new reviews did nothing to halt the inexorable slide into ranking obscurity ;)

Good post. I would never leave my day job, it pays the bills and provides good, steady income. Writing is a hobby and the few quid a month ( yes, my sales are that few!) helps me rent films on iTunes or buy a DvD and that is all fine for me!

I agree about the ranking, just one sale can see you massively move up the charts but to really break into the top 10000, even 20000, you need to be shifting a dozen a day. I've yet to see reviews have a consequence on ranking, however, not directly - it's possibe they may help in the search algorithm along with good tags.

A dozen a day is needed to get you into the top ten thousand, initially, but four sales yesterday was enough to push me from 21,000 back up to 9,000.

Interesting blog.

"Gold rush" is an apt analogy. Like a gold rush, there is some money to be made for a small number of indie writers, but the vast majority will be disappointed.

Two main problems, I think. First, it's hard to get noticed give that there is so much competition. Second, It's hard for indie writers to compete on quality with publishing houses who will generally pass a book through one or more editors and proofreaders. Not to mention professional marketing experts. And cover designers.

Indies can flourish, but it's hard work. We have to bring the quality of our books closer to that of mainstream publishers. and then we need to market those books in a way that catches the attention of readers.

Tough. Very very tough. But not impossible.

I hope!

Interesting thread. As a result, I went and had a look at my stats on Author Central, and discovered I've sold a "complete set" of all 4 paperbacks in the last week (on the same day, so presumably to the same person).

Since these are my first paperback sales in, like, forever, I'm quite chuffed :)

Rankings are still way down in the doldrums though.

Nice, Tim; no doubt a collector that sees good times ahead.

Yes, I may blow it on a Costas later... ;)

Congrats Tim! Definitely go for those Costa ;)

Will wrote: First, it's hard to get noticed give that there is so much competition.

Is that necessarily a bad thing? Here's what Hugh Howey posted about this a few days ago, it's worth a read: http://www.hughhowey.com/the-glut-is-...

I don't think it is any more difficult to be a successful ebook author these days than it was a few years back.


If anything, with all the technology available, there are more ways to reach a reader.

The difficult part is not the writing or reaching the reader. The difficult part is how willing we are to put in the hours and the discipline.

Like any other field, success in self publishing, is more down to a work ethic than the environment.

Ricardo - I think what Hugh was saying is that the glut is good for publishing and good for readers. I'd certainly agree with that. The ease of self-publishing means there is more consumer choice. Whatever your taste in books, there is almost certain to be someone out there writing it.

The glut is not so good for individual authors who have not yet built up a fanbase like his. But then I don't think that was the question he was answering.

That's a sensible point, Will.

I think the perspective changes entirely for authors who already have a strong fan base. Robert Rankin is about to release his first self published book: it will be interesting to see how it survives after the first day or so of sales to those with whom he has engaged on FB

I ought to point out that Robert Rankin got the rights to his novels back and has been self-publishing his backlist on Kindle for some time now. It was quite a talking point at a convention I went to in September 2013.

The backlist yes, but this is the first entirely new book

interesting post but I've been reading similar stuff for decades now - basically, you don't earn money from writing, you do it for love. Look at the Soc of Authors income figures for income - most authors survive cos they do other stuff like teaching, or part time or even full time work. Writing, like most of music and art, does not pay. We're not 'in it' to make a fortune. We just love what we do

Agreed, Karen. Though sometimes you can start writing for the love of it and end up selling very well. But going into it for the money is obviously not a good strategy (nor very sound)…

Some of you might know that I run a flight sim hobby site in my "spare" time. Anyhow, last year the tip jar on my flight sim site brought in 10 times more money than I made from writing and selling books.

So if you want to make money, get a hobby and a "Donate" button ;)

Tim wrote: "So if you want to make money, get a hobby and a "Donate" button ;)"

So that's how sperm donation over the internet works.

What's the link, Tim?

To my Flight sim site? http://www.tasoftware.co.uk :)

Thanks, Tim.