Draculas Hits Top 100 Kindle Bestsellers

Tomorrow I'm going to blog in some detail about the Draculas marketing plan. Because I feel it's worth talking about.

Four guys, without any big NY print publishers behind them, managed to rank at #95 on the Amazon Kindle Paid Bestseller list and get 105 Amazon reviews all on this ebook's first day of release.

If you like horror, zombies, thrillers, vampires, or if you've ever been helped by this blog, I humbly ask you to buy Draculas for $2.99 on Kindle (it is DRM free, and can be converted to any format and read on any ereader.)

To read more about the ebook, visit www.draculasthebook.com.

Thanks!

BTW - Currently, the Amazon bestseller list Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror (which includes both Kindle and print books), Stephen King has five books in the top 30.

So do I.

:)

Blake Crouch on Ebooks

One of my best friends in the writing biz is Blake Crouch. I've collaborated with him on multiple projects, and we talk often about the publishing industry.

I asked Blake to write a guest post for me about something he's currently doing, because I knew it would be helpful to my readers. So here's Blake...

Blake: Rights reversion is a beautiful thing.

My first novel, DESERT PLACES, was published—wow, hard to believe—almost seven years ago. Its sequel, LOCKED DOORS, came out the following year. I knew at the time that most books didn’t stay in print forever, but I still quietly dreaded the day my books would no longer be available to readers.

Then, over the last couple of years, as ebooks rose in prominence and popularity, a strange thing happened. I quit dreading the day my first two novels went out of print and started wishing that day would come faster.

Unlike Joe, I didn’t have 74 unpublished novels in my drawer which were good enough for public consumption. I only had two unpublished novels prior to my first sale, and NOAA actually just sealed those manuscripts in a steel chest and dropped them into the Challenger Deep so there is no chance that future generations might accidentally discover them.

This meant I didn’t have any thriller novels to upload into the Kindle Store. Sure, I had a short story collection, a few novellas, including SERIAL UNCUT, which I wrote with Joe, and a quirky novel about warped celebrity called LUMINOUS BLUE, but I didn’t have anything meatier. And novels seem to sell much, much better.

To add insult to injury, my publisher, who still had the rights to LOCKED DOORS and DESERT PLACES, was selling them in the Kindle Store for $6.99. My two recent novels, SNOWBOUND and ABANDON are priced at $12.99, and I get email from people castigating me for this, but it’s beyond my control!

Reversion of rights is standard boilerplate in all publishing contracts (unless you are getting royally screwed) by which the rights to a book may revert to the author when certain conditions are met. There are subtle variations, but generally these conditions are activated when the books are no longer in the warehouse, when sales fall below a certain threshold, etc.

So I had my agent investigate the situation with these two books, and we concluded that, in fact, rights should be reverted. A letter was written to the publisher, requesting rights be reverted, and the publisher had six months to either initiate a new edition of the books, or to give me the rights back.

This was a challenging experience, which took every bit of six months to complete.

Joe: (Blake is being kind here. It's hell to get your rights back. Publishers want to milk them for as long as possible, especially now that ebooks are on the rise. Some publishers actually go into another printing rather than revert the rights. Compound the fact that publishers often have corporate mentalities, often putting things off and backburnering the stuff that isn't a priority to them, and it could take months of emails, registered letters, agent intervention, and even lawyers to get back the rights that are legally yours as stated in your contract.)

Blake: If you heard a shout of joy two weeks ago, that was me receiving my reversion of rights letter for DESERT PLACES and LOCKED DOORS, which meant they were mine again.

I had prepared for this, had the books poised to go in my DTP account, and all I had to do was hit publish. It felt good.

Two things to consider when getting your rights back.

THE BOOK ITSELF
Both these books had been given the full editing, copyediting, multi-round proofreading treatment, and so I wanted to capitalize on that.

My publisher, however, when I asked, didn’t have the final electronic version of the manuscripts, which had been spitshined into a high gloss sheen.

So with the help of a friend who shall remain nameless, I downloaded the over-priced Kindle versions of my novels, jail-broke the text out of DRM (die, DRM!), and was able to upload the pristine, final version of the manuscripts.

THE COVER ART
Even following a reversion of rights, the publisher still retains ownership of the original cover artwork. You can’t use it. Luckily, this was totally cool with me, because I never loved the covers to DESERT PLACES and LOCKED DOORS to begin with. So I asked Jeroen ten Berge (www.jeroentenberge.com), the man behind the “Serial” cover as well as many of my ebooks, to design new covers for DESERT PLACES and LOCKED DOORS. He did a fantastic job.

Here are the original covers, along with the new ones. (The new ones are clickable and link to the Amazon pages.)

I just put these books up, so it’s early yet to know how they’ll do in the long run, but I can’t help but feel it’s a wonderful new world we have, where books can find a 2nd life.

Joe: Are you using DRM on these titles?

Blake: Not a chance. These books are only available in the Kindle store right now, but I want all e-reading devices to be able to download these books (and with Caliber they can if DRM is not enabled).

Joe: My blog readers like numbers. I know that prior to your publisher listing DP and LD at $6.99, they were $9.99. What were the cumulative ebook sales through your publisher, compared to something you released (say SERIAL UNCUT)?

Blake: Last royalty period (which represents six months), these books sold about 200 copies each at $6.99. Serial Uncut, since its release this past March, has sold 2,943 copies in the Kindle store. It’s also sold a fair amount through Barnes & Noble, and when I have a spare fifteen hours, maybe I’ll go through the Smashwords spreadsheet and add up those sales. :)

Joe: You're writing a sequel to these two novels. Can you go into any details?

Blake: Well, it’s going to be another collaboration project—the conclusion to these books, as well as the conclusion to this guy Konrath’s Lt. Jack Daniels’ series. Working title is STIRRED, and it’s going to pit Jack Daniels against one of my nastiest villains, Luther Kite. We’re going to try to write it in the same manner we wrote “Serial,” bringing a true chess-like dynamic to the writing process. Should be a blast.

Joe: Both ABANDON and SNOWBOUND are doing okay on Kindle, even at the insane price of $12.99. What do you attribute this success to? And would you ever consider releasing a $12.99 self-published ebook?

Blake: I have no idea. But I think it clearly establishes that there are people willing to pay more than $2.99 for an ebook. I can't imagine releasing one myself for $12.99 though.

Joe: Especially with a cover like Snowbound, which has the be the very worst thriller cover I've ever seen. I won't ask you to comment on it because you're not into burning bridges like I am.

This is A Newbie's Guide to Publishing. So advise newbies. If they have a hot book, all ready to go, what should they do with it?

Blake: Get a great agent, and try to sell it for a lot of money. Publish short fiction in solid magazines. There’s a lot of bad-mouthing lately about the “gatekeepers” but I think a publishing track record is important, and it should matter to readers. I’m a reader, and it matters to me. Put your short fiction and your novellas and collaborations up on Amazon. Keep your irons in several different fires. The truth is no one knows how this is all going to shake out, so in light of that, there’s really only one smart play…diversify.

Joe: I encourage everyone to buy DESERT PLACES and LOCKED DOORS. They're terrific thrillers, and the villain from them appears in my seventh Jack Daniels book, SHAKEN, which comes out October 26. If you've read my previous Jack books, you'll love them.

Can Ebooks Outsell Print?

Before I get to the meat of this blog post, I need to do some housekeeping.

Tomorrow I'm off to the Novelist's Inc. Conference in Florida, which will be the last time I get up in front of a crowd and lecture for quite some time.

This decision didn't come lightly. For years, I jumped at every opportunity to open my mouth before a live audience. But I'm working my ass off, and something has to give, and I've decided it will be traveling.

Immediately after Ninc, I'm headed to San Francisco for Bouchercon. You won't find me on any panels, because I didn't register for any. I'm just there to hang out. If you're going, you can find me in the bar or the jacuzzi. I'll be the fat guy with the long hair and the beard surrounded by editors with stakes and hammers.

We just sent out advance reading copies of DRACULAS. If you wanted to review it and didn't get a copy, send an email to draculasthebook@gmail.com. Draculas is being released on October 19, and we're hoping to have 250 reviews by then.

There's a fun interview with me over at BiblioBuffet by Lauren Baratz-Logsted. It will probably be the last interview I do for some time, though I am going to try to join my Draculas co-writers tomorrow on Diabolical Radio.

SHAKEN is being released on Kindle October 26. AmazonEncore has done a terrific job with it, and I'm thrilled to be working with a group of bright, talented, enthusiastic professionals.

Okay, let's talk numbers...

I just got my latest royalty statements from my print publishers. In a previous blog post, I estimated I was selling 400 ebooks of Whiskey Sour per month.

Boy, was I wrong.

From January until June, my publisher, Hyperion, sold 878 Whiskey Sour ebooks.

Let's compare that to my ebook The List.

From January until June, I sold 9033 copies of The List.

My publisher has priced Whiskey Sour at $4.69. The List is $2.99.

On the surface, the price difference isn't that dramatic. But considering I sold 10 times the amount than they did, I'd have to conclude that price does matter. A lot.

But here is where it gets interesting.

Since 2004, Whiskey Sour has sold about 60,000 copies in print and ebooks. That's earned me about $54,000 not including foreign sales. (Not bad considering I got a $33k advance for it.)

That means it has sold an average of 833 copies a month, and has earned me $750 a month.

These are Important Numbers. Because publishing isn't a sprint. It's a marathon. Sure, short term, I got a nice five figure check as my advance. But long term, even a successful book (Whiskey Sour is now in its fifth printing) only pays out $750 a month after six years. And that's more than most books earn. Trust me. I have hundreds of peers who signed with Big 6 publishers and haven't earned near that.

Compare those numbers to The List.

In six years, I'll have sold 108,396 copies. Almost double what Whiskey Sour has sold. And I'll have earned over $200k--almost four times what I earned with Whiskey Sour.

So my little self-pubbed ebook not only makes me more money in the long run, it also SELLS MORE COPIES.

Did I get a nice, fat $25,000 advance check for The List? No.

But I'd return my advance to get Whiskey Sour back, because if I had it I'd for damn sure be selling more than 147 copies a month.

Now let's compare this to my recent Jack Kilborn novel, Afraid.

Afraid has sold, in all versions, about 62,000 copies. But it has done this in a year. Afraid was released in the UK at the same time as the US, and did pretty good in both countries. It has earned me about $34,000.

17,433 of these sales were ebooks. 10,235 were during its first month, at a reduced price of $1.99.

My publisher, Grand Central, has perhaps been reading my blog, because they recently reduced the price of Afraid to $1.99 again, after it being full price for over a year.

For the moment, let's disregard the month Afraid was $1.99 and average out the other 13 months where is was sold for between $4.99 and $6.99. During those months, it sold 554 copies a month.

Not bad. But not good, compared to Trapped and Endurance, the next two Jack Kilborn novels I released on my own. They're averaging 1400 sales per month, each.

If we add the sale ebooks, and all the print books, Afraid has been selling 4428 copies per month. The best month The List had was about 2600 copies, so it looks like there may be hope for print yet.

That is, until we realize that print numbers fall off rather dramatically.

In the past six months, Afraid has only sold 8,868 copies. That's only 1478 per month, and 3460 of those were ebooks.

So while Afraid is still averaging over 500 ebooks per month, the print copies sold have dropped off a lot, and they will continue to drop off. That's just how it works with print.

In comparison, Whiskey Sour had earned $33,000 during its first year. In other words, pretty much the same that Afraid earned during its first year.

Print books start out strong, then over the years they earn less and less. I expect Afraid, by year six, to do the same as Whiskey Sour (and the rest of my traditionally published books) and wind up averaging me about $750 a month.

So for the seven books I have in print, each averaging $750 a month after six years, comes to a combined total of $5250 a month. And I'm one of the (supposed) lucky ones, because my books are all still in print.

Contrast this to my seven top selling self-published ebooks. Those earn me $11,120 a month, and rather than slowing down, they're picking up speed. I'm selling more ebooks each month, and I expect a big boom come the holiday season.

So not only does self-publishing earn more money than a print deal does over the years, you can also reach more readers by selling more copies.

Think about that. I've gotten over a quarter of a million dollars in advances from the Big 6. That's more than most writers will ever get. And I've also earned out above and beyond that number.

But all by myself I can make a quarter mil in two years. And I can reach more people in six years than a Big 6 publisher with all of its distribution power.

Isn't that extraordinary? Or at the very least, messed up?

If you're a midlist author, crunch your numbers. Spread your advance (and royalties, if you made any) out over a six year period. Those naysayers who declare "You can't make a living self-publishing if you're only earning $750 a month" need to understand that "$750 a month" is what a print book earns, when averaged over time.

If you sign a deal for $50k, I'd guess you'll earn about that amount in six years.

Or you could have made $110k doing it on your own after only six years, by selling 750 ebooks a month at 2.99 each. That's a lot better than you'd do in all but the best print deals, and 750 ebooks a month isn't a huge number.

Now, your mileage may vary. If you get offered a big print deal, take the money and run. And print may pay off in a big way if you get lucky and land on a bestseller list. Then you can make better money (though I do seem to recall a NYT bestselling author who blogged about hitting the list and only earning $27k on that book.)

But if you're offered less than six figures, think long and hard. I believe you can sell more, and earn more, on your own.

You Aren't J.A. Konrath

"Sure, J.A. Konrath is selling a lot of ebooks. But you aren't J.A. Konrath."

I hear that a lot. Not directed toward me, since I am, in fact, J.A. Konrath. But I hear other authors being told this. And to my face I hear that I'm an anomaly and no other self-pubbed author will ever do as well.

In a previous post, I listed almost 100 self-pubbed ebook authors by name. Some of those I mentioned are doing as well as I am. All are selling in the thousands.

But then I hear that a hundred names, out of the hundreds of thousands of ebooks being released, still don't mean anything.

So I got to thinking. Am I wrong to believe that a lot of self-published folks are doing well on Kindle? Or am I blinded by my own success, and oblivious to what is really happening in the ebook world?

Surely, if I'm the only ebook success, the only other ebook bestsellers are those being released by major publishers.

Right?

So, on a whim, I began to check Kindle Bestseller lists. Kindle has many such lists, for every subgenre you can think of.

I began on Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Fiction > Horror. I perused the entire Top 100 Bestsellers on that list, and counted how many were self-published books.

I found that 29 out of a 100 were self-pubbed.

Hmm. Seems like almost one third of that list is from indie authors. That sort of spits right in the face of doubters and critics, doesn't it?

"But J.A." you might be saying. "That's only one list."

Indeed. So let's look at a few more.

Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Fiction > Horror > Occult
50 out of 100 are self-pubbed.

Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Police Procedurals

15 out of 100 are self-pubbed.

Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Technothrillers

36 out of 100 are self-pubbed.

Now, I'm not a guy to jump to conclusions, but it seems to me that some indie authors who aren't named J.A. Konrath are doing pretty well on Amazon.

I could spend the next two hours counting more books on more bestseller lists to prove my point, but I'm not going to. You're more that welcome to do that on your own. I encourage those jumping on the "You Aren't J.A. Konrath" bandwagon to do so. You'll find, as I have, that indies make up a good percentage of most bestseller lists. In fact, I urge all folks with opinions to do a bit of research before spouting those opinions, lest you look foolish.

Oh, and those who say, "The only reason these indie books are able to compete with traditionally published books is because of their low price" should take a look at some of the prices of traditionally published books on these lists.

Some of the Big 6 are pricing ebooks at $2.99 or less.

I wonder where they could have gotten that idea?

(One of these publishers is Grand Central, who is now offering my first Jack Kilborn novel, AFRAID, for $1.99.)

And yet, even at these low prices, indies are still able to compete.

"But we need gatekeepers, J.A.! We need people to bring order to this untamed ebook landscape!"

I agree. Those gatekeepers are essential.

But they don't have to be the Big 6. Readers seem to be doing a fine gatekeeping job all on their own. And Amazon, with its bestseller lists, and genre categories, and reviews, and "explore similar items" tags, and "customers who bought this also bought" lists, are doing a terrific job helping these readers find stuff that interests them.

No, you aren't J.A. Konrath.

But you don't have to be.

The Acquisitions Editor

INT. MORNING - Fourth Floor of the Hip Happening Building, New York

(Writer is escorted by an Assistant to the Editor's office)

Editor: Good morning! Assistant, can you bring me a cappuccino, skim milk, two Stevias? Writer, would you like something?

Writer: No, thank you.

Editor: Please, have a seat.

(Writer sits across the Editor's desk)

Editor: I'm excited to tell you we're epublishing your new novel. Aren't you thrilled?

Writer: I'm flattered. But there are still some things I don't understand. I was hoping you'd make them clear for me.

Editor: Of course. I'm here for you. We're partners now. Exciting times.

Writer: Yeah. Well, first of all, I'm trying to understand the royalty structure.

Editor: That's boilerplate. You get 25% of the net sales receipts.

Writer: With the agency model, that means I earn 17.5% of the list price.

Editor: (beaming) Not bad, huh? If it was one of those old-fashioned paperback books, you'd only be earning 8%.

Writer: But paperbacks cost $7.99. You want to publish my ebook for $9.99.

Editor: We've determined that's the best price.

Writer: How?

Editor: Pardon me?

Writer: How have you determined that's the best price? Have you done studies? Polled readers? Experimented with different prices?

Editor: We arrived at $9.99 by comparing it to the prices of paper books.

Writer: But paper books cost money to create. There's printing and shipping. And even with that, paperbacks are still cheaper than $9.99.

Editor: We're just following the market.

Writer: Actually, you're not. You determine the selling price. You're setting the market, not following it. And $9.99 seems high.

Editor: You should just let us worry about that. That's why we're partners. You concentrate on the writing, we'll handle the business end. It's part of the service we provide.

Writer: What exactly is that service, again? I mean, there's no printing or shipping...

Editor: Do you think those are the only costs involved in bringing a book to market? (forced chuckle) You writers are so naive.

Writer: Please. Enlighten me.

Editor: Well, we edit. Books need editing. We also create the cover art. Books, even ebooks, need covers.

Writer: Go on.

Editor: The list is so extensive, I have a hard time remembering it all. There's, um, catalog copy.

Writer: You feature ebooks in catalogs?

Editor: Well, no. But we do a lot of marketing.

Writer: How exactly to you market ebooks?

Editor: Because it's all so new, we're still trying to figure that out. But we just flew the whole office to Seattle to have meetings on how to market ebooks. We were there for two weeks. I think we're making some real headway.

Writer: (under his breath) Maybe you should have a meeting on how to better budget your money.

Editor: That meeting will be in Florida, next month. It's at the Ritz Carlton. We're paying Warren Buffett to be our guest speaker.

Writer: (sighing) Are there any other costs involved in bringing an ebook to market?

Editor: There's advertising.

Writer: You advertise ebooks?

Editor: We're planning to, eventually. Maybe on that Facebook thingy. The kids seem to love it. We also use Twitter.

Writer: Facebook and Twitter are free.

Editor: Facebook ads cost money.

Writer: How many Facebook ads have you personally clicked on?

Editor: None. Those stupid things annoy me.

Writer: So, let's be clear on this. There are no printing costs, shipping costs, or warehousing costs, and you don't do catalogs or advertising or marketing...

Editor: (snapping his fingers as if remembering something) We also format and upload the ebooks to retailers.

Writer: How long does all of that take?

Editor: Excuse me?

Writer: To edit a book and make cover art and format it?

Editor: Well, we could spend two or three weeks working on a single title in order to get it ready.

Writer: Nine months.

Editor: What?

Writer: Nine months, working 60 hour weeks. That's how long it took me to write my novel. That seems a bit longer and more labor-intensive than your three weeks. Yet I'm only getting 17.5% of the price that you set. Do you know what your percentage is?

Editor: Off the top of my head, no.

Writer: You get 52.5%.

Editor: Really? Huh.

Writer: To me, that doesn't seem fair.

Editor: You don't seem to understand that you need us. Without editing or cover art...

Writer: (interrupting) Let's say the ebook sells ten thousand copies. Which, at your inflated price of $9.99, seems unlikely. But let's say it does. That means I earn $17,500...

Editor: A respectable figure...

Writer: ...and you earn $52,500. Even though you only worked on it for three weeks.

Editor: But you gotta admit, we made a terrific cover for it.

Writer: True. But for fifty thousand dollars, I bet I could buy some pretty nice cover art on my own. I bet I could pay a doctor to raise Pablo Picasso from the dead and have him do the cover.

Editor: Don't forget editing.

Writer: How long does it take to edit a manuscript?

Editor: Excuse me?

Writer: In hours. How many are we talking? Ten? Twenty?

Editor: It might go as high as fifty hours, with multiple read-throughs and the line edit.

Writer: How much do editors earn an hour?

Editor: Excuse me?

Writer: Let's say fifty bucks an hour. I think that's high, and I also think your fifty hour estimate is high, but even if we go with both, that's only $2500. And according to the Artist & Graphic Designer's Market, book cover art should cost around $2000.

Editor: Don't forget formatting and uploading.

Writer: I can pay a guy $200 to format and upload the book. In fact, I can also pay a guy $300 to create a cover, and an editor $500 to do both content and copy editing. But you're not charging me $1000, or even $4500. You're taking $52,500. And that number can get even bigger. If I hire my own editor and artist, those costs are fixed. You continue to take your 52.5% forever.

Editor: You don't seem to understand. Do you know how much it costs to rent this office? We're paying $25k a month, and that doesn't even include utilities. I've got three assistants. We all have health insurance and 401k. Expense accounts. Do you have any idea what it costs to take agents out to lunch?

Writer: My agent didn't broker this deal.

Editor: You're missing the point!

(Assistant enters, with coffee)

Assistant: Here's your cappuccino, Editor.

Editor: There's another cost! We paid five grand for this cappuccino machine! How are we supposed to stay in business unless we take 52.5%?

Writer: (standing up) I think we're done here.

Editor: Wait a second! You need us! Without us to validate your work, you'll never be considered legitimate! You'll just be some unknown, satisfied rich guy!

(Writer turns to leave)

Editor: Think about what you're missing out on! When we do cover art, we do it without any kind of focus group, and we don't pay any attention to your wishes! We arbitrarily change your title to something we think is better, without any proof! We take twelve months to release a book after you turn in the manuscript when it would only take you a week! We pay twice a year instead of the monthly check you'd get doing it yourself, and our accounting practices are hard to understand and quite possibly shifty! Also, we'll drop you for no particular reason! You can't turn your back on all that!

(Writer pauses, then turns around)

Writer: Look, it's true that I do need a good editor.

Editor: See! I told you!

(Writer hands Editor his business card)

Writer: When your company goes bankrupt, and you're unemployed, I want you to look me up. Send me a letter. One page, double spaced. List your qualifications for editing my book, and your rates. Also include a SASE. If you don't hear from me in six months, no need for you to follow up--it means I'm not interested...

Ebook Pricing

In my last post, we had a long comment thread where many folks chimed in about the price of ebooks.

I thought I would distill my thoughts into a new blog entry, and explain why I believe $2.99 is the new ebook standard.

There are a few ways to support this claim, but before I begin, we need some background.

It all starts with print.

Currently, the majority of authors are offered boilerplate contracts with fixed rates for print books.

Mass market paperback is 8% of the cover price (though some houses offer 6% or even less), After a certain number of books are sold, it can escalate to 10%.

Trade paperback is 7.5%.

Hardcover is 10% for the first 5000, 12.5% for the next 5000, and 15% for everything after that.

So, for a $7.99 paperback, the author earns 64 cents per copy sold.

For a $13 trade paperback, the author earns 75 cents.

For a $25 hardcover, the author earns $2.50 to start out, though it can get to $3.75 if it sells well.

It is worth noting that these royalty rates are low because there are a lot of costs built into a book sale. Besides the costs absorbed by the publisher (editing, cover art, marketing, advertising, factoring the the cost of returns, plus overhead from salaries, rent, utilities, etc.), there are also printing and shipping costs. The distributor gets a cut. The bookseller gets a cut as well.

But the time the writer gets their cut, there isn't very much left. That's why hardcovers are priced as luxury items. You spend twenty-five bucks to be entertained by something for eight hours--something that I spent months of my life working on--and I get $2.50.

Now let's take a small detour and discuss ebooks.

Ebooks are a tricky product. Their costs are much lower than their print counterparts. No printing or shipping, no distributor, and the bookseller cut is smaller. There is no need to inflate the cost to factor in returns, because returns don't require shipping, warehousing, or printing.

I'll also put forth that the marketing and advertising costs for ebooks are much lower, and fewer people are required to create an ebook, which means less overhead.

Bottom line: Ebooks cost less to produce.

This is a Good Thing. Especially because customers want ebooks to cost less.

There is an acknowledged bias against the worth of downloadable content. This bias is partly emotional, and partly fact-based.

Facts include:

Ebooks cost nothing to distribute or produce.

Ebooks are intangible--they don't exist in a hard copy.

Ebooks have restrictions like DRM and proprietary format, which makes them worth less because they can't be shared, copied, or transferred.

Emotional response to downloads include:

I get a lot of stuff for free on the internet, which must mean it is worth less.

If something can be copied, it has no tangible value.

Copyright is not enforceable in a digital world, so everything should be free, and intellectual property is worthless.

Bottom line: Ebooks cost less, customers know this, and customers want to pay less.

Ebooks should be a bonanza for publishers. They cost less, they require fewer people to produce, and entire wings of their business could be downsized or eliminated, saving a lot of overhead.

But I believe publishers have seen ebooks as a threat to their long-entrenched print book business. I've I've said before: publishers should be connecting writers and readers, but they seem more concerned about selling paper.

That means protecting their paper-selling business. They've done many things to ensure this.

-Push the agency model so they control the selling price of ebooks
-Window ebook releases until after the print version is released
-Keep ebook prices artificially high
-Refuse to release ebook versions of some books, or in certain markets, or for certain platforms
-Demand DRM, which consumers hate (iTunes no longer uses it for that very reason)
-Devote time and energy and money to combating piracy, which is a waste of time and energy and money

None of this embraces the future and prepares them for making fat ebook profits. Instead, it alienates their customers, angers their authors, and leaves them even farther behind as ebook domination draws closer and closer.

Bottom line: Ebooks cost less, customers want to pay less, publishers don't care.

So where are the authors in this?

The boilerplate for ebooks was 25% of the net sales receipts. Instead of basing it on the cover price, it is based on what the publisher receives from the seller.

So on a $9.99 ebook on Amazon (price set by the publisher) is sold to them for $7, which means the author earns $1.75.

Now compared to hardcovers and paperbacks, a buck seventy-five is a pretty good royalty.

At least, on the surface it is. But not when some other things are taken into account.

On a hardcover, and on a paperback, there are so many costs that the publisher earns very close to what the author earns--three bucks on a hardcover, about a buck on a paperback.

But on a $9.99 ebook, the publisher earns $5.25.

$5.25 for simply uploading it to Amazon? Sorry, that's way too much.

Not only that, but they do a lot less to bring an ebook to market, and pay a lot less to get it to market. Lower costs, lower overhead, but jack up the profit? I think not. A world where a publisher earns three times what the artist earns is simply messed up.

If I wrote the damn thing, I deserve the lion's share. A 25% royalty rate isn't fair. Especially compared to print.

It gets worse, though. We've established that ebooks should be cheaper, and customers want to pay less. They certainly don't want to pay ten bucks. So when a publisher prices a book that high, they're losing potential sales. No wonder there's a $9.99 boycott by readers.

My own sales have confirmed this, numerous times. The lower the price, the more money a book earns. This is because value has nothing to do with the list price, and everything to do with how much the author earns.

But it gets worse, still.

By working with a publisher, an author gets 17.5% royalty of whatever price that publisher sets the book at.

By self publishing, the author can get 70% royalty, plus set their own price.

I price my ebooks at $2.99, because I've found that to be the sweet spot. If I price them higher, I make more per sale, but have fewer sales so I lose money.

On a $2.99 ebook, I earn $2.04.

In other words, I earn three times more than I do on a $8 paperback, and almost as much as I do on a $25 hardcover.

And guess what? Ebooks are easier to buy and sell than paper books. Kindle owners can buy my ebooks and get them instantly, without going to the store, or without even turning on their computers. No hassle, no wait.

I like the $2.99 price for other reasons as well. A hardcover requires thought before buying. In this economy it's a big purchase.

$2.99 is an impulse buy. It's no-guilt. It's a bargain. It encourages people to buy, rather than discourages.

Bottom line: I can make more money selling $2.99 ebooks on my own than I can selling $7.99 paperbacks or $25 hardcovers with a publisher.

The fact that I keep the rights, control cover art and titles, and can release the book as fast as I can write it rather than waiting 12 to 18 months, is all icing on the cake.

So let's hear from the opposition:

1. Joe, don't you think books are worth more than $2.99? People have always paid more than that.

Joe sez: A book is worth what it earns the author. Selling a bunch of $2.99 books is more profitable than selling almost as many $25 hardcovers. The public believes downloads should cost less, and the author makes more than they would in print. I think $2.99 is a perfect price to satisfy everyone.

2. Joe, don't you think part of the reason you're selling so well is you're undercutting other authors with your low price?

Joe sez: This isn't a zero sum game. Kindle owners don't buy just one book. They read more than they did before buying their ereader, and if they seem happy to buy more ebooks if they cost less. It isn't a choice between my book or your book. Readers can afford both.

3. Joe, but what happens when publishers start selling at $2.99? Won't you lose sales?

Joe sez: I don't believe publishers are going to go that route for a while. But if/when it happens, I can easily see my sales going up. When people can buy the new James Patterson for $2.99 instead of $9.99, they'll have money left over to spend on me.

4. Joe, ebooks have been around for ten years, and they've always been priced higher than $2.99.

Joe sez: The past is the past. Currently, people want to pay less. I say, give the customer what they want.

5. Joe, books shouldn't be an impulse purchase. Many writers spend years toiling over their manuscripts. Books have integrity and gravitas, and people are willing to pay more for that.

Joe sez: Books are entertainment. We can spend a lot of money to be entertained, and we can also be entertained for free. If you feel your ebook should be priced comparably to a hardcover, or a Broadway show, or a Picasso, knock yourself out. As I said, it isn't a zero sum game. You're free to price however you desire.

6. But if I price my book high when everyone else listens to you and prices their books low, I won't sell very many.

Joe sez: Then write a Broadway show, or take up painting. Then you'll get paid what your masterpiece is truly worth.

7. Your books suck, and the only reason you sell so many is because they're cheap.

Joe sez: I've long stopped caring about what people think of my writing, good or bad. I get enough fan mail, and make enough money, to no longer be concerned about bad reviews, negative people, or the obviously envious. My ego and bank account are satisfied, and I'm lucky I can find an audience while doing something I love. Also, you're an asshat.

8. Aren't you worried about piracy?

Joe sez: No. I'll eventually post long term results to my piracy experiment, but so far I've concluded that piracy hasn't hurt my sales. The way to fight piracy is with cost and convenience. Three dollar ebooks that can be purchased and delivered with the press of a button are the ultimate in cost and convenience.

9. Don't you think publishers will eventually figure out what you have? Some smaller, independent publishers already have.

Joe sez: I erroneously group all publishers together under the "Big 6" banner. If anyone can adapt and survive in this brave new world, smaller publishers are much better suited for it. But if the brand is the author, all publishers, small and big, need to figure out what they can offer their authors to justify taking a percentage of royalties forever. It has to be more than a cover and editing, because authors can get those on their own, and pay one-time costs for them.

10. What happens when Amazon lowers the royalty rate for authors?

Joe sez: What happens when it starts raining acid and aliens invade our planet and the crickets stage a coup and win the majority of the seats in Congress? I'll worry about it when it happens. But if it does happen, we live in a capitalist society. Other businesses will spring up and offer authors more... which is why Amazon is currently taking authors away from Big 6 publishing.

11. The only reason this works for you is because you already have a platform and a lot of books. Other authors can't follow your example.

Joe sez: How many authors get rich, whatever path they take? Very few. A fraction of a fraction are able to make big money selling fiction.

It isn't a question of either selling 100,000 ebooks or selling zero. Everyone falls somewhere in between. This isn't a competition, or a sprint. It's a marathon, and the race is with yourself.

Set realistic goals, experiment, learn from mistakes, keep and open mind, and most of all, write a lot of good books. I believe 99.9% of writers have a better chance to make more money in this new market than they did in the old one.

If you do get offered a print deal, congratulations. But make sure that there is a clear reversion of rights clause if the publisher goes bankrupt before the book comes out (or during its shelf life.) Make sure there is clear language about what "out of print" means. Make sure you get a decent ebook royalty rate. And above all, crunch the numbers and compare what you could potentially make on your own, especially in the long term.

Also you have to remember that I'm just one man following my own path. Your results may vary. You can, and should, form your own conclusions based on your own experience.

I'm sure this is my future. You need to figure out what your future is, and act accordingly.

Konrath Ebooks Sales Top 100k

I haven't posted my sales numbers in a while, and was going to hold off on this until I got my latest royalty statements. But I've reached a milestone, and decided it is worth sharing.

As of today, Sept 21, 2010, I've sold 103,864 ebooks.

Here's how it breaks down:

My six Hyperion ebooks, from June 2004 until December 2009: 7865

Afraid from Grand Central, from May 2009 until December 2009: 13,973

Self-pubbed titles on Kobo from May 2010 until July 2010: 132

Self-pubbed titles on Smashwords since July 2009: 372

Self-pubbed titles on iPad from May 2010 until August 2010: 390

Self-pubbed titles on iTunes from Jan 2010 until July 2010: 508

Self-pubbed titles on Barnes & Noble from June 2010 until August 2010: 2212

Self pubbed titles on Amazon from April 2009 until Sept 20, 2010: 78,412

So what does all of this mean to the home viewer?

Currently, I'm selling an average of 7000 self-pubbed ebooks a month on Kindle. Those numbers are for 19 self-pubbed titles, though the top 6 account for more than 75% of my sales, roughly 5000 per month.

That means those six are averaging 833 sales, or $1700, per month, each. That equals $20,400 per year, per ebook, for my top sellers.

Those six are my top sellers because they're novels. My other 13 ebooks are novellas and short story collections, which don't sell as well.

Considering the average advance for a new novel is still $5,000, each of these ebook novels is quadrupling that, annually. And these numbers are rising, not falling.

Compare that to the ebook novels my print publishers are controlling. (These numbers are going to be low, because I haven't gotten my latest royalty statements for Jan-June 2010 yet.)

My best selling Hyperion ebook, Whiskey Sour, has sold 2631 ebooks since 2004. That's earned me about $2200, or $34 a month since it was released.

$34 a month per ebook is a far cry from the $1700 a month per ebook I'm making on my own.

Why are my self-pubbed ebooks earning more than Whiskey Sour, which remains my bestselling print title with over 80,000 books sold in various formats?

Because Hyperion has priced Whiskey Sour at $4.69 on Amazon, and I price my ebooks at $2.99.

For each $4.69 ebook they sell, I earn $1.17.

For each $2.99 ebook I sell, I earn $2.04.

So I'm basically losing money hand over fist because Hyperion is pricing my ebooks too high, and giving me too low a royalty rate.

Even the print sales (Whiskey Sour just went into a fifth printing) don't come close to making up the money I'm losing.

If we assume I could sell 833 copies per month of Whiskey Sour, I'd be earning $17,000 per year on it, rather than $5616 per year. (I'm guessing my numbers have gone up recently, and am estimating 400 Whiskey Sour sales per month.)

Let's multiply that times the six books Hyperion controls.

I'm estimating I currently earn $33,696 annually in ebook royalties on those six.

If I had the rights, I estimate I'd earn $102,000.

Do I want my books to go out of print?

Hell yeah.

Now allow me to address the other ebook venues, on a case-by-case basis.

Through Smashwords.com, I've sold 3106 ebooks, but the majority of these have been within the last three months or so.

Smashwords allows authors to sell ebooks through their site, and also supplies ebooks to Kobo, iPad, B&N, Sony, and Diesel. (I haven't gotten Sony or Diesel numbers yet.)

My Kobo numbers are low, because I opted out of Kobo. They discounted my ebooks, which isn't fair to other retailers. But I'm currently working on a deal with Kobo to have my ebooks back up very soon. Kobo supplies books to Borders.com, so I anticipate a bump this holiday season.

iPad has proven disappointing, and I blame the iBookstore interface, which is very user unfriendly. I assume it will get the kinks worked out eventually, but it is currently torture to navigate and browse the iBookstore. Still, almost 400 sales in just a few months is better than nothing.

Of course, compared Kindle sales, I'm selling 70 to 1 on Amazon over iPad.

Barnes and Noble fares a bit better. I'm averaging 663 ebooks per month, which is substantial. It's still about 10.5 to 1 compared to Kindle, but I'm pleased with it.

For iTunes, I use IndianNIC. The 508 sales figure is incomplete, and doesn't count the last 2 and a half months, because their user interface isn't the best. But they're now supplying ebooks to Android, so I'm hoping to get a piece of that growing market.

Actually, I'm hoping to get a piece of all the growing markets, and every market seems to be growing. By the end of the year, my self pubbed books will be on all the major ebook platforms, including:

Amazon
Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble
Borders
Kobo
iTunes
iPad
Android
Kobo
Diesel
Sony

Do you know what that is? That's distribution. The very thing print publishers have had a lock on for a hundred years. Except now, authors control their own distribution.

By comparison, the ebook rights my print publishers control are missing from many of these key markets. On a daily basis I get emails from fans who want Whiskey Sour or Afraid for their device or in their country, but my publishers aren't exploiting these rights.

Am I angry?

Hell yeah.

And to add insult to injury, Hyperion recently packaged my six Jack Daniels ebooks together as a compendium. At first, I was thrilled with this, thinking they finally understood what I've been saying for months. Then they told me the price.

$36.00.

Even with Amazon's discount, that comes to $28.80, for ebooks that are several years old.

That's insane. And yet, a few poor souls are buying it, because it's still cheaper than buying the books separately.

I sent Hyperion several emails, explaining my reasoning for wanting this price lowered.

They haven't responded.

Now the anomaly here is Grand Central. They've sold 13,973 ebooks. Isn't that odd, compared to Hyperion?

Not when you realize that 10,253 of those ebooks were sold during the first month of Afraid's release, at the intro price of $1.99.

Consider that. In one month we sold 10,253 ebooks, just because it was cheap.

Now try to contemplate why publishers continue to charge $5 to $13 for ebooks.

Are you scratching your head like I am, wondering why they don't sell ebooks at lower prices?

Since that promo (and probably because of it), Afraid has been averaging around 465 ebook sales a month. Respectable, but still below my average, and only earning me $1.75 per ebook instead of $2.05.

But that's not a big deal, right?

Let's look at it over a three year period.

If I had the rights to Afraid and priced it at $2.99, I'd earn $51,000.

With Grand Central, pricing it at $6.99, I'll earn $29,295.

Ouch.

Do I want my rights back?

Hell yeah.

I wrote Afraid under the name Jack Kilborn, and received a $20,000 advance. It was released in the US, the UK, and Australia simultaneously. In nine months, combining the ebooks, trade paper, hardcover, and two paperback versions, Afraid sold 53,623 copies and earned $26,839.

On June 18, I self-published Endurance and Trapped, two more novels by Jack Kilborn. I released them in ebook format only, for $2.99 each.

In three months, Endurance and Trapped have each earned $11,424.

So, in other words, I'm earning $35,785 per year on Afraid, in all formats.

Endurance is on its way to earn $45,696 per year, in ebook only. So is Trapped.

And unlike Afraid, where I made the majority of my royalties on the print versions, which will sell fewer and fewer copies, Endurance and Trapped will continue to sell well for years as ebooks.

With Afraid, I went on tour and signed at 200 bookstores. I did a blog tour the month before, appearing on 100 blogs in 31 days. I worked my ass off promoting that book.

With Endurance and Trapped, I announced them on Kindleboards.com and did a few tweets on Twitter. That's it.

Does anyone else see this as a wake-up call?

When I began this ebook odyssey, back in April 2009, I had no idea the market would get so big so fast, or that I'd make so much money.

Since then, a lot of folks have done their best to dismiss what I've been preaching. They say I'm an outlier. An exception.

But I'm not an exception anymore.

New writers like Zoe Winters, Rex Kusler, Vicki Tyley, Karen McQuestion, John Rector, Aaron Patterson, B.V. Larson, Stacey Cochran, Amanda Hocking, D.B. Henson, Eric Christopherson, Debbi Mack, Karen Cantwell, Jonny Tangerine, Stephen Davison, Charles Shea, Joe Humphrey, Gary Hansen, M.H. Sargent, R.J. Keller, David McAfee, David Derrico, David Dalglish, Brendan Carroll, Alan Hutcheson, Paul Clayton, Imogen Rose, Tonya Plank, David H. Burton, Tina Folsom, Maria Rachel Hooley, Maria E. Schneider, Anna Murray, Ellen O'Connell, Edward C. Patterson, Caroyln Kephart, Lynda Hillburn, Robert Burton Robinson, Joseph Rhea, C.S. Marks, K.A. Thompson, J.R. Rain, John Pearson, Tonya Plank, Linda Welch, Ruth Francisco, Sibel Hodge, T.C. Beacham, Ricky Sides, Chance Valentine, Nancy C. Johnson, and many, many others are selling thousands of ebooks and getting on the bestseller lists. Many of them have even cracked the Top 100.

Then there are established pros like Robert W. Walker, Scott Nicholson, William Meikle, James Swain, Paul Levine, Selena Kitt, Richard S. Wheeler, Jon Merz, Simon Wood, F. Paul Wilson, Libby Fischer Hellman, Lee Goldberg, Casey Moreton, Raymond Benson, Blake Crouch, David Morrell, Mark Terry, Marcus Sakey, Ellen Fisher, Christine Merrill, Dean Wesley Smith, Kathryn Rusch, Joe Nassise, Gordon Ryan, Harry Shannon, and me, among others, who are releasing their backlists themselves, along with putting original works directly on Kindle.

I'm not the exception anymore. New writers and seasoned veterans are seeing the future and acting on it.

Publishers, however, are not.

Now allow me to draw some conclusions, make some predictions, and offer a bit of advice.

1. Think twice, and think again, before allowing anyone to buy your erights. I doubt I'll ever have another traditional print deal. I can earn more on my own, especially in the long run. With print losing ground to ebooks on a day-to-day basis, I'd hate to sign with a big house, and then 18 months from now they'll go bankrupt before releasing my book, taking my rights with them.

2. Amazon Kindle is where you want to be, but you should also check out Smashwords.com and IndiaNIC.com. That extra bit of income can turn out to be pretty substantial, and I expect some of these platforms to begin picking up speed.

3. Writing good books is essential. Having a bunch of them is a plus. The more ebooks you have available, the easier you'll be to find, the more you'll sell. By the end of this year, I'll have 28 ebooks available on Amazon. By the end of next year, I'll have at least 34.

4. I've been very lucky. I have a popular blog, and have gotten some good press. The scads of promotion I've done in the past certainly helps. But others are doing just as well, without my platform. And let me tell you, ebooks and Kindle are a much easier route than getting 500 rejections, mailing out 7000 letters to libraries, and visiting 1200 bookstores.

The ebook market hasn't even hit its stride yet. Here are some things I'm looking forward to in the upcoming months and years:

Selling my Kindle ebooks on international Amazon websites (with translations in German, French, Chinese, and Japanese)
Selling my ebooks on Kobo and Borders
Selling my ebooks on Android
Google Editions
$99 Ereaders
Kindle being sold at Best Buy
Getting my numbers from Sony and Diesel
Releasing DRACULAS on October 19
Releasing SHAKEN on October 26

This ride has only just begun. I'll end 2010 having earned over $100k on my self-pubbed ebooks, and that's nothing compared to what I expect to make in 2011. And I'm doing it without touring, without promoting non-stop, without spending a lot of money, and without relying on anyone.

I don't expect the publishing industry to acknowledge this post. You won't read about my ebook sales in Publisher's Weekly. Agents won't mention it on their blogs. If you go to conferences and ask the editors you meet about J.A. Konrath and ebooks, you'll get blank stares, dismissals, or outright hostility.

I'll be at the Novels Inc. Conference in Florida, October 7-10, and that will be the last time I speak in public for at least a year. In the past few months I've turned down dozens of speaking engagements and interviews, and I will continue to turn them down. The amount of email I get from folks wanting ebook advice is daunting and impossible to wade through, so I'm not even bothering to try.

I spent 12 years trying to break into publishing, and 8 years doing everything I could to succeed. Now I'm finally able to write full time, which is what I've wanted to do all along. No more tours. No more appearances. No more accessibility to the entire world.

I'm not a motivational speaker. I'm not a teacher. I'm not a salesman. I'm not a dog and pony show. I'm not an outlier.

I'm a just a writer, dammit. And that's all I'm gonna be.

Don't you want to be just a writer, too?