Publishing scams target babes in the woods
by Anne R. Allen
I hear about new publishing scams all the time. Sometimes scammers approach me personally, but more often I hear a sad tale of woe from some newbie who has fallen for the latest con.
This week I realized that almost all the victims of publishing scams have one thing in common: they don’t understand the most important part of the digital self-publishing revolution that started in 2009.
This is the thing you MUST understand in order to be a successful indie author:
Successful Self-Publishers Make Most of Their Money Selling Ebooks.
If you choose self-publishing, you have to give up the fantasy of seeing your book in the window of your favorite bookstore chain.
It might help to forget paper books altogether. I often see newbies obsessing about choosing a POD company and getting bookstore distribution. But they’re worrying needlessly.
That’s because 90% of the successful indie’s profits usually come from ebooks.
Which sell well because they can be priced lower than Big 5 ebooks.
POD “Print on Demand” paperbacks are usually priced higher than offset-printed Big 5 paperbacks. So they don’t have that competitive edge.
Even if you get the price down, you can’t get self-published paper books into bookstores in any numbers that matter. Bookstores get their books from distributors—mostly Ingram these days—and the books must be returnable. The books you see in a brick-and-mortar bookstore are on consignment from big publishers. They can all be returned for full price if they don’t sell.
But POD books are generally not returnable.
It doesn’t matter if your print books are in Ingram’s catalogue and can be ordered by a bookstore for an individual customer.
They also can be ordered by an individual customer and shipped directly to the customer’s home no matter who your distributor is because…the Internet.
Most stores won’t carry POD books as their regular inventory unless you have a personal agreement with a store owner. (That usually means you’ll pick them up when they’re shopworn and unsold.) So that’s going to have to be in your neighborhood.
But you’re probably not going to make much money selling books only in your neighborhood. In today’s market, you need to sell to the world. Although the profits will probably be less than indies were making 4 years ago when Amazon was more indie-friendly, you can still do very well.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t do any local promos. It’s great to have hometown fans. But they’re not going to be your main source of income.
Publishing Scams Play on a Writer’s Print Book Fantasies.
The notorious Author Solutions and other publishing scams that fleece newbie authors make money not only from overpriced publishing packages, but from high-priced, old-fashioned marketing plans that only work for print books and ignore online marketing.
They work best if you can find a TARDIS to take you back to 1999.
I’m talking about things like press releases to print media, pricey reviews in print magazines, elaborate book signings, and book fairs.
Especially book fairs. They’re a huge expense with no return on your investment except a little schmoozing. The huge book fairs like BEA, Frankfurt, and London are industry events where the bigshots go to network. People go to find out about the latest technology, trends in global markets, and multimillion dollar Hollywood deals.
Nobody has time for an unknown indie author hawking a first book. Unless that author has superpower networking skills and a relevant, innovative idea to market. (Say you’re selling a book about how to write for the growing Indian market.)
Anybody who tries to talk you into spending thousands for a spot in a booth at a trade fair has no idea how self-publishers make money. So they’re not going to be able to help you make money.
The $4000 booth at the trade fair, plus some business cards and maybe some cute bookmarks, your travel and hotel expenses, and the price of shipping those paper books, probably will net 20-40 book sales. Or let’s go crazy and say you sell 100. And that will get what? Maybe a whole $300 in profits!! And maybe you’ve given your bookmarks to 400 people. 395 of whom have already tossed them in the bin. And let’s see…you’re now probably around $6000 in the hole.
See how that doesn’t work? Compare that with an online blog tour, which might run you about $150 to get your book in front of 1000s of readers. With a buy button a click away.
Son-of-Author-Solutions Publishing Scams
Recently I got an odd phone call from a woman wanting to talk to me about one of my books. Odd since I don’t give out that landline phone number anywhere in my book publicity.
She launched an extraordinary sales pitch, gushing about my 2002 novel—originally published in the UK by Babash-Ryan—Food of Love. She said it was “beautifully written” and said her “book scouts” wanted to “partner” with me in marketing it.
I admit I told her I kind of know a bit about marketing myownself and had a #1 bestseller on Amazon in March.
She faltered a moment, but soldiered on with her script. Her company, ReadersMagnet, wanted to market my book at an upcoming book expo in Los Angeles.
I said thanks but no thanks and hung up. The whole thing sounded a lot like the Authors Solutions scams industry watchdog David Gaughran warned us about a few years ago. Later we heard that Author Solutions employees in the Philippines were starting their own publishing scams. I figured I might have run into a “Son of Author Solutions.”
So I Googled “Readers Magnet.” Seems I was right…
ReadersMagnet’s New Publishing Scams
At the top of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) was a post on Khristina Chess’s blog. Her piece is not only a fascinating story of her own experience with ReadersMagnet, but the comments offer a goldmine of info from other authors.
Further down the SERP, I found a thread from Goodreads from 2017, with authors voicing stuff like this: “I received a very peculiar phone call from a person at ReadersMagnet saying my book was recommended to them by a book scout and they want to help me market it… I haven’t given my work number out to anyone… “
A couple of writers had actually heard others in the call center cheering after they’d made a sale. Yeah, a call center. Doesn’t sound exactly like a legit publishing company.
So what does ReadersMagnet do and what do they want?
Besides being geniuses at getting your private phone number, they seem to have three separate publishing scams going on. (Besides an overpriced self-publishing package.)
1) The Book Fair Scam
This is what my caller had on offer. They will feature your book at a big, well-known book event, like the LA Times Festival of Books, The Miami Book Fair, or The Frankfurt Book Fair. They promise they will display the book in their booth as your “partner.”
And this will cost you a mere $699. Yeah. No pricey $4000 booth.
And there’s photographic evidence they do exactly what they promise. That is, they display one copy of your book. In a booth with 100s of other books. At a fair where tens of thousands of books are for sale.
Your book is not for sale. One copy is merely on display.
For $699.
Now let’s compare it to the price of a Bookbub ad, which is pretty much guaranteed to put your book onto a bestseller list or two. A featured Bookbub ad will run an average of $500. Other newsletters, like ENT, FreeBooksy, Fussy Librarian will run from $10-$100. (Here’s a great vetted list of promo newsletters from author Nicholas Erik.)
See why that print book sitting on its lonesome at the book expo isn’t providing a lot of bang for your hard-earned buck?
2) The Book Signing Event Scam
Now here’s even more fun. If you agree to this (such a deal!) book display, then you will be pressured to take advantage of your product placement by scheduling a book signing at the prestigious event.
This will run you about $3200.
How many books would you have to sell to make that money back? Yeah. The math is not your friend.
You’re doing it for “exposure”? Think how much more exposure you can get–to actual readers, not business people–with an online event.
3) The Radio Interview Scam
A number of authors approached by ReadersMagnet say they’ve been offered something quite different: the chance to be interviewed on what is apparently a fairly high profile radio show. I’d never heard of it, but I mostly listen to NPR. Apparently this show is real.
Again, the fee for this service is $699.
Seems high to be interviewed by a non-book oriented interviewer who probably won’t read your book. If you’re going to pay big money for an interview (which I don’t recommend) it better be targeted at your reader demographic.
Publishing Scams will Always Tell you They’re not Scams.
The second entry that comes up with a Google Search of ReadersMagnet is from ReadersMagnet itself. It’s a post titled “Why ReadersMagnet is Not a Scam.”
They claim they are not scammy because:
- They’ve published 72 books in 2 years.
- The marketing is at REAL—definitely not made up—book expos.
- They get radio interviews for their clients.
- The San Diego Better Business Bureau gave them a stamp of approval.
Okay, I don’t know how they got #4, but 1-3 are not exactly proof of anything. A quick search of some of their titles shows books with almost no reviews or sales.
And both the Goodreads thread and Khris’s post have had multiple sock puppet comments saying (often in fractured English) that they have worked with ReadersMagnet and know it’s not a scam. I have no doubt they’ll drop some comments here.
Right. Because somebody who joined Goodreads or WordPress 5 minutes ago and didn’t exist before that is so very likely to be telling the truth.
How to Stay Safe from Publishing Scams.
The number one thing a new self-publisher needs to do is stay current with the latest in self-publishing news. Indie publishing has changed radically in the past five years, so don’t rely on outdated information from the early “Kindle Revolution.”
Follow current indie publishing blogs like The Creative Penn and The Book Designer.
You can get great book marketing advice from Penny Sansevieri, Frances Caballo, Bad RedheadMedia, and our own Barb Drozdowich of Bakersview Consulting.
I especially recommend you sign up to get newsletters from The Alliance for Independent Authors (Alli) and always check with them as well as Writer Beware before you agree to anything.
To be safe, it’s also best to have a legal professional look over any contract before you sign it.
If you still long for an old fashioned paper book on a shelf in Barnes and Noble, look to traditional publishers. Contrary to a lot of old news, most are thriving. Yes, even small presses. (But investigate thoroughly and don’t sign any contracts without a lawyer’s approval.)
But it’s not wise to self publish unless you learn about the business first and have good marketing skills. You also don’t want to launch a self-publishing career with only one book. You need to be in it for the long haul.
For more warnings about individual publishing scams, check out my posts Social Media Scams, Don’t Fall Prey to Publishing Scams, 6 New Writing Scams to Look out For, and New Writing Scams to Look out for in 2019
by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen) June 2, 2019
What about you, scriveners? Have you fallen prey to any publishing scams? Have you been approached by ReadersMagnet? Encountered any other new and exciting scams? What do you say to newbies you fear have been scammed?
A reminder: We don’t run ads or sponsored posts on this blog. The only payment we get is when you buy our books. Do pick one up if you want to support this blog. You can find all our books listed on our book pages. Ruth’s is here and This is Anne’s. Thanks!
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Excellent as usual, Anne.
Although I usually sell more ebooks than print editions, my May sales were the opposite. I suspect that nonfiction writers might experience similar stats.
However, I’m a Kindle lover. I rarely purchase a print book unless it’s for a gift or my reference library.
Thanks for championing the writing community!
Kathy–You’re right that nonfiction does sell better in print than novels. I’ve been having a surge in hard copy sales since my Author Blog book has become a bestseller. Reference books like yours are especially useful in print.
I’m exactly the same in my buying habits. Gift books and the rare reference book are all I buy in paper.
Looking forward to your guest post for us later this month!
Thanks so much for another informative post. My primary response to all this is a head-wagging sadness. What a crying shame that people think it’s even slightly acceptable to prey on other’s dreams like this. Heavy sigh.
CS–You’re right. Scammers are terrible people on so many levels. They make money breaking hearts.
csperryess, yes exactly my thoughts when reading this.
If only the people who put all this time and energy into creating all these scams coudl turn their attention to alleviating world hunger.
Thanks for the heads-up on the latest!!
Jemi–Wouldn’t that be amazing? I suppose they think that’s what they’re doing: scamming the “rich” 1st world dummies to feed their 3rd world families. And unfortunately, by training them in these call centers, we have created the environment where they thrive.
I haven’t checked lately but there was a time you could get podcasters to interview you and it was significantly less than $699.
tlcooper–Not only are podcasts cheaper (or free) but when people listen to the podcasts on their devices, your buy button is only a click away. 🙂
I’ve only just started so you’re going to have to point me in the right direction for the less expensive/freebies!
tl–I just read that there are over 700,000 podcasts being broadcast right now. I haven’t approached any of them for interviews, but they’ve certainly approached me. I’ve given dozens of podcast interviews. Most podcasters are looking for people to interview. If you have a timely topic, just Google around and find some book podcasters and send a query just like you’d send for a guest blog spot or a review. Here’s a post on how to query a book blogger. https://annerallen.com/2016/12/guest-blogging-how-to-query-a-blogger/
You knocked it out of the park again, Anne! I will be sharing this widely, like I have many of your other recent posts.
Mark–Thanks for all the shares!
Excellent post, Anne, thank you! I’ve gotten several phone messages from ReadersMagnet about my first self-published book, which came out in 2012. I just deleted the messages, and they stopped calling. One small nit about print books. If you’re doing the POD yourself, and not through AuthorsAmericaPublishUniverse or whatever they’re calling themselves these days, you can price them however you want. I still do print versions because they’re good for giveaways and contests and such. I don’t expect to make a profit from them, but I treat them like another marketing expense.
Laurie–You can price your KDP print books however you want, but generally we want to cover costs. The print cost of one of mine is about $6-$7. With shipping, it comes to about $9. If I sell it myself, I can charge $10 and make a buck, but if it goes into a bookstore, where they want a 40% markup, then the price has to be at least $14, which is more than a mass market paperback. Otherwise you’re selling at a loss.
If you treat it as a marketing expense, fine, but new authors need to know there’s not a lot of profit margin there.
My vague understanding of these things is that most bookstores won’t stock paper books that are in any way affiliated with Amazon, whether that be KDP or 47North or the other various imprints. IIRC there might be a small exception to this, where there’s some sort of arrangement with a Big 5 house, but I doubt most self-published authors qualify for this.
They call a phone number you don’t give out? Now that is just creepy. Not only is it a scam, but they had to dig hard to find that number.
Alex–That’s what I found the creepiest thing of all. And I was even more creeped out when I read that other authors had the same experience. These people are using spy tactics to invade our privacy.
I wanted to say: “You can hack into my data to get my unlisted phone number, but you can’t Google me to find out I’m a bestselling author? “
Hard to hear this sort of thing goes on. When I started investigating self-publishing in 2011 I was lucky to find many of the authors/groups you mentioned above. They’ve stayed the course. One thing I’m seeing more of now, besides the ala carte publishers, is how many paid courses are offered, promising HUGE returns with little effort…in an SUPER short amount of time????.
Brenda–Author groups are some of the best protections from these scammers. Sharing data can help authors help each other.
Courses are another HUGE opportunity for scammers. I’ve talked about these in some of my other “Authors Beware” posts. Be very careful the course is taught by reputable, well, known experts. And do some price comparisons.
Wonderful post, Anne – Like you, I hear so many stories from fresh-faced authors who fell for a scam, or spent thousands on vanity publishing, without realizing that they were going to have to push the book like mad themselves. I think that’s the key, isn’t it? If you are going to self-publish, you are making a decision to become a *publisher*.
Melodie–We hear from the scammed every day and it’s always heartbreaking, isn’t it? So many of those fresh-faced writers don’t have a clue what self-publishing entails. It’s opening a business. And running a business is hard. Especially if you have no business background or aptitude. Sigh.
So much fabulous up in here! Just another post from Anne R. Allen. I wonder of course whether the dynamics you so accurately assess for e-books carry over to the a-book version? I’m tempted to argue Yes, but I don’t have any data on that. You can get a narrator without up-front money but you’re still a drop in the ocean without marketing.
Lots to think about (and beware of) as usual!
Will–I was tempted to add audiobooks here, because I know some indies are making tons with audiobooks. This has not been my experience, especially in the last year. I think authors with ACX have seen a big drop off in income, because Amazon gives away so many of our a-books free, but new audiobook platforms are coming along that give a much bigger profit margin.
If you know some tricks of audiobook marketing, do blog about it. I know I should learn more about it.
Anne—Thanks for an invaluable post. IME, the #1 thing holding new writers back are their FANTASIES about “what it’s like to be published.” Ohhhhh! Books in book stores! Books in book store windows! TV appearances! Book tour! NYT/USA bestseller lists! I’ll be rich and famous!
Uh, no. Not unless you’re Lee Child or Stephen King and *they* don’t want to be bothered. Too much work for too little reward when, instead, they could be home writing.
Writers, please, learn about how publishing works and keep it real. Your FANTASIES about “what it’s like to be pubished” make you prey to scammers who promise you all the goodies but can’t realistically deliver.
Ruth–It’s true. Those fantasies of being on TV and going on national book tours are what fuel these scams. Newbie indies don’t realize those things don’t happen for most trad-pubbed authors either. That’s not how the business works!
Thank you, Anne, for warning the unsuspecting. These scams are disgusting.
Last year, I attended BookExpo and met a lovely family (Grandpa, Mom, and 10-year-old boy) who’d traveled to NYC from Philadelphia. Grandpa was a retired college history prof whose children’s book, Mom proudly told me, had been pubbed by Simon and Schuster. The boy was an avid reader and they’d taken him out of school to celebrate the big event. How cool, I thought. What a great opportunity for a 10-year-old. They told me the booth number where Grandpa’s book was featured.
When I checked it out, my heart sank. Simon and Schuster’s Archway Publishing, operated by Author Solutions. I knew the family must have paid thousands for this so-called marketing opportunity, on top of whatever they paid Archway to publish Grandpa’s book.
These were well-educated, well-read, but naive people who’d been duped. Why S&S continues to allow their name to be associated with such business practices, I don’t know. Well, actually, I do know. They’re making money off it.
Thanks for sounding the warning again and again b/c naive, new writers keep entering the self-pub scene and new scams keep emerging.
Debbie–Oh, that’s such a heart-wrenching story. Let’s hope the family never learned the extent of the scam and got some joy out of that big, wildly expensive outing. I think most of the Big 5 have now separated from Author Solutions, but not Simon and Schuster. They should be ashamed of themselves.
I’m not positive, but I think cash can create a good BBB rating. Which means a dose of salt to go with it.
chezgigi–Well, that explains it, doesn’t it? So that means a BBB rating means nothing. Too bad they sold out. Thanks for letting us know!
Tate Publishing used to have a top BBB rating – if I remember correctly, Mr Tate senior was on the board, probably because they were a major local employer.
That didn’t stop him being convicted (embezzlement and extortion).
Iola–Thanks for the info! I think Tate may have started as a legit vanity press (back when vanity presses were the only way to self-publish) then they went into scam territory and I think they eventually teamed up with AS. (I could be remembering that wrong.) But yes, major scammer and crook. And he sat on the BBB board! Wow. BBB is sounding worse and worse.
“But POD books are generally not returnable.”
If you publish POD through IngramSpark, you set the discount and whether or not the books are returnable.
The question is whether or not you’d want to, because returned books are charged against your account. It can still be worthwhile publishing through IngramSpark, because booksellers are more inclined to get your book than through Amazon (one bookseller adamantly refuses to buy my books, although she’s willing to host my signings and is a wonderful supportive business owner).
This is an excellent, comprehensive post that can’t be said enough. I regularly hear from authors who spent several thousand dollars publishing through vanity presses. But I’ve made bad business decisions as well, so all you can do is chalk it up as tuition and press on.
Bill–That’s why I said “generally”. I know IngramSpark has this feature, and some authors, especially of nonfiction, find it’s worthwhile. But you also need to do some aggressive marketing to bookstores that may not pay off.
Unfortunately your bookseller friend is very typical. They may adore your book and love you to pieces, but any POD book gives them major anxiety. Probably because they’ve had to go through so many dramas with people with overpriced, unsellable vanity press books.
Hey Anne,
Good post.
I’ve not received any calls but I have gotten some emails that sound very similar in nature. Apparently, there are a LOT of book scouts out there working hard. But what they say is so incongruous to the facts that it’s obvious they don’t know any of my books from Adam.
I have no fantasies about my books appearing on bookstore shelves (well, maybe just a little itty bitty tiny one) and mostly view them as a ‘necessary evil’ for readers who prefer physical books to ebooks. But as you say, the money is in the ebooks – I think I actually make a higher royalty on ebooks than on the print books. Selling them through bookstores would probably mean an even lower profit with increased expenses.
I do think having your books in both ebook and print is smart because there is always going to be that reader who must have the physical book. But by having it set up as a P.O.D. at least means you don’t have to do those book runs, pay thousands of dollars and somehow keep the books from getting musty and moldy in your basement.
I do have one friend who is with Author Solutions and she swears by them. So, that’s one for Author Solutions. LOL.
There are so many scams out there already, I hope that new indies heed your advice and pass on such golden opportunities as the one above. I do tell them all to read your blog. So, I’ve done my part. Haha.
Cheers,
Annie
Annie—I agree that we need to have print books. I sell a lot of print copies of my writing guides, so it’s certainly profitable, although the profits on a print book are less than an ebook.
So you know somebody who is actually pleased with AS? They don’t have many repeat customers, but somebody with good marketing skills who ignores their overpriced junk marketing pitches might just be able to make it. They generally have professional covers and the books look good.
But Readers Magnet and their “book scouts” are another matter. Writer Beware!
Thanks for laying this out so thoroughly. I’m a relatively new fiction writer, but an old, jaded lawyer and it is so distressing to watch these piranha prey on the unsuspecting. Honestly, the authors would be better off to take the $3 to 6 thousand dollars and buy copies of their own book at retail to give away. They’d rack up “sales,” get a buck per book back, and cut their losses. (Tongue in cheek – I’m sure that’s not allowed by Amazon)
Lee–We need more old jaded lawyers in this business. 🙂 You’re giving that advice with your tongue in your cheek, but it’s not far from reality. I knew people in NY publishing decades ago when everybody in the office was assigned to go out and buy a bunch of copies of a book from a given store on a given day to make the NYT bestseller list.
There’s always been cheating in the book business. And paying people to buy a bunch of your own books is certainly a better use of your money than throwing it away on book fairs, that’s for sure. (I don’t know if Amazon has a rule against it, but I wouldn’t want to test them on it. Their punishment can be sudden and draconian.)
I feel relatively immune from such scams, since I couldn’t afford those kind of sums anyway. Thanks for the links and the comprehensive info – invaluable for a newbie starting out. I try to keep up with Writer Beware and similar sites, but sometimes there’s too much in the inbox to sort the wheat from the waste-of-space and it’s easy to cull too much and miss things.
Cathy–I hear you about the inbox overload. I delete at least 100 emails every morning without reading them.. There are another 60 I read. And by evening there are 160+ more. Writer Beware doesn’t have a newsletter, so you have to go visit her of your own volition. I like that about Victoria. 🙂
Anne, there you are again protecting us from all manner of harm. Your examples left an impression on me. So let’s see if I understand, if I do get my book self-published, then any paperback books I want to gift to family will have to be purchased by me. And Thar I won’t be seeing them in Barnes any time soon.
Kenneth–If you have your print books published by KDP print, Ingram Spark or an o outfit like BookBaby, they will be available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble and maybe the online Walmart store. So anybody with a credit card can buy them. They just won’t be in a brick and mortar bookstore unless you buy them yourself and put them in the shop on consignment. (I do this because I like to have my books available locally.)
But no. Barnes and Noble does not stock self-published books. They have special arrangements with the Big 5 who pay extra for front of the store placement and face-out placement. Not even a small press is going to be able to get anywhere but the bottom shelf in the back.
Yikes – thanks for the post! I just came home from BookCon and yes, there were several booths promising the sun and the stars to self-published authors if they sign up for the Extra-Shiny Triple Gold Package. Thanks, but no thanks.
I also got a very rude awakening about selling books at BEA/BookCon. I know enough math to not get a booth or anything, but my friend has a table to sell merch, and generously agreed to sell my book on consignment. I figured the book’s target demo is pretty much BookCon attendees, so had high hopes of making a few bucks.
… not a single copy sold. Apparently dozens of people picked up the book, then put it back upon realizing it wasn’t a free giveaway. It was disappointing, to be sure, and I know have a suitcase of books at home that I’ll work on getting sold, but at least I’m not out $4K. *shudders*
(I also can’t be too mad, in my glass house regarding paying for books at BookCon – it’s hard to justify buying a book when you’ve a duffel filled with 20 free ones.)
Irvin–You discovered something important I should have mentioned. Those cons are so full of swag and freebies, nobody’s going to pay cash for a book anyway. Cons are great if you’re there to schmooze and pick up freebies. Not so good if you’re trying to make a sale.
Ah, ha! So that’s who those people are who’ve been calling me from time to time over the last 18 months!
The first time, I listened carefully before telling them I was not interested. Now I’m much faster to hang up. The non-stop gushing about the wonderful “service” they offer me along with the boiler room sounds in the background are a dead giveaway.
But I’d been wondering who they were and why they kept bothering me. Now I know! And I like knowing. Thank you!
J. M. Yes. I’m sure if you got a weird call like that it was from ReadersMagnet. They’re using old fashioned cold-call marketing, Probably because they’re looking for people who aren’t Internet savvy. They’re hoping to target the elderly and clueless. Next time you can just hang up and block them. 🙂
These scammers deserve to go out of business.
Ingmar–They sure do! I hope I’m doing my part by spreading the word here.
Marvelous post! Thank you for sharing this, Anne!
Catherine–Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks, Anne. I’m new to your blog and reached it through reading The Author Blog, which I am loving. I have a non-fiction book which is doing pretty well. It’s true that most sales come from the eBook format, but about a fifth are from paperback sales and the royalties are higher from those. Also the audiobook format is proving pretty popular — more so than I thought.
Dave–Welcome! I’m so glad to hear you’re finding The Author Blog useful.
Generally the sales of paper books are much higher for nonfiction, and I probably should have made that clear. People like to keep nonfiction around for reference, and thumb back and forth through chapters–much harder to do with an ebook.
I don’t have either of my nonfiction books in audio yet. My fiction audiobooks used to sell pretty well, but they stopped almost entirely this year. No idea why. I’m glad to hear yours are selling well.
Excellent post, Anne! I appreciate all the links you included, too. I’m a self-published author who went solo, and struggle with all aspects of marketing. I used POD services to publish some of my own print books. I’m not entirely displeased with my work on those, but I do regret printing 25-100 of my first three books (one would think I would have learned after book 1). I did a few book signings in places where I had some great support and sold 42 of my first book in paperback in a few weeks and continued to sell one or two copies at a few fairs I attended. However, when I finished book 2, I got excited and ordered 75 copies all at once … and I still have about 30 of those sitting in my basement. Oy. Lesson learned. I have continued to create print copies for most of my books because that’s the only way my mom and dad will read them, but I don’t order many copies to have at home. One or two print books sell every month, then the rest of my sales are e-book sales.
I went to a fairly large book fair in Portland one year and it rained the entire day. The authors who seemed happiest at the end of the day had handed out business cards with qr-codes linked to their e-books.
Tyrean–I didn’t go into the QR code option, but that is one thing authors are having success with at the big cons–give out cards that have a code for a free ebook. I think those work, but I think it’s still hard to get at good ROI with book fairs. Unless you sell nonfiction. You can sell a lot of nonfiction books when you get to speak to the customer in person.
I hear you about people who only read print books. I have a lot of friends like that. So I have print versions of most of my books.
Wonderful post, Anne, thank you.
The problem Australian writers have with selling POD books on the internet to other Australians – or readers not in the US – is that the postage from the US to the reader’s country costs more than the book. So we are forever thinking that we need to do a version with, say, Ingram Spark to get the book into bookstores.
There’s much angst among the Aussies over this. Your point that 90% of indie sales are from ebooks is therefore especially relevant for us.
Danielle–I totally relate. My first publisher was in the UK, and this was long before ebooks. So the shipping made each book cost about $22 to US customers. Thank goodness for the Book Depository, which came along in about 2005. I don’t know if they carry Aussie books, but they do carry books from the US and UK.
But now, with ebooks, those paper books don’t matter so much. Tell your friends not to worry so much. (And POD books won’t get into US bookstores anyway.)
Excellent article Anne. I’ve received soooo many “have I got a deal for you” phone calls and emails. It was/is heady stuff being offered interviews, international book fairs etc, not to mention my book being recognised! But a few calculations as to how many books need to be sold @ a dollar or two royalty just to recoup the outlay … No thanks. The caller will apologise for interrupting your day and then spend up to 1/2 hour pedalling their great offer. I just say send me an email and now I have a few replies depending on the services that they offer and I copy and paste the relevant one. It is quicker, and they’ll send emails anyway along with more phone calls if they don’t get the ‘”right” answer on their first call.
Your article (link) is so needed to be shared – which I will do once I post. Enjoy your day 🙂
Suzanne–I think they’ve figured out that email marketing is past its prime because most of us delete stuff like that. Going back to an old fashioned phone call probably works better these days, because a real, non-robot call from somebody “in the industry” feels more official. And, as you say, they shower you with flattery which feels more real when it’s person to person. This outfit is probably snagging a lot of indies who put out one or two books that are no longer selling.
Thanks for spreading the word!
Thank you, Anne. I tend to be a skeptic by nature, and that has served me well over the years. I’m new to the writing world, but I can smell a scam a mile away. Since self-publishing my book (hopefully others to follow) I’ve had at least three phone calls from companies who claim they are interested in marketing my book. One suggested my book could be turned into a movie with their help. I always ask them to repeat who their “company” is so I can do a search. Unsurprisingly, there are a host of complaints about these companies.
Pete–I didn’t know the movie-scam people made phone calls too! That’s an old email scam. But it sounds as if all these scammers aren’t getting much traction with email anymore so they’re going back to old-fashioned cold-calling. One more reason not to answer the phone if you don’t recognize the number. Thanks for letting me know there’s more than one publishing phone scam out there.
Great post Anne. I am an indie micro publisher, and get hit with these same scams plus the ones that want to ‘help me market my authors.’
Another set of scams I’ve seen recently have names similar to valid programs. I was looking at one email I thought was from BookBub, (honestly don’t remember the name they gave, but it was very similar) but when I went to the site it was pretty obvious to me that it was a scam review site.
I’d also be careful of some of the hybrid publishers. I do offer a hybrid option to my authors, but will still publish their book if they choose the traditional option.
Just a reminder that you still need print books for the children’s markets, especially if marketing to the library system, as I do. Children need the physical interaction for learning, but if you do create an e-book (or app, if you want to market it further), you really need at lest minimal interaction to stimulate interest. A static illustrated e-book just doesn’t hold their interest, so won’t sell well.
Raven–Thanks for the heads-up! I hadn’t heard of the fake Bookbub site, but if I were a smart scammer, that’s just what I’d do. Everybody wants to get into Bookbub.
Children’s books are an entirely different market (except for YA). Because print is so important for young children, I don’t recommend that children’s writers self-publish. As I said, self-publishers make money with ebooks, and ebooks don’t sell to children.
It’s much wiser to go with a traditional publisher, whether Big 5 or a smaller indie company like yours. Children’s books absolutely have to get into libraries, which is very hard for a self-publisher.
Thank you, Anne! Interesting and helpful as always. I certainly have been getting my share of scams. Fortunately, I was able to avoid them all. In one case I was contacted by a so-called literary agency that claimed to work under a well-known publisher, with the usual promises and the usual ridiculous price. I asked them to send me the proposal, which they did. I then checked with Writers Beware and sure enough, it was a scam. Then I contacted the publisher they were supposed to work for/under. They replied and confirmed it was a scam.
Christa–You were smart to check with Writer Beware. For future reference–any “Literary Agency” or publisher who contacts YOU is a scam. No literary agent needs to cold-call potential clients. They have a pile of submissions so huge they’ll never run out. Ditto legit publishers. Also a literary agent who charges money up front is a scam. They make their money in commissions when they sell a book. And any publisher who charges money is a vanity press. Some people are happy to use a vanity press for a book of family recipes or personal poems they only want to share with friends and family. But they won’t get you into the marketplace and they’re usually extremely expensive. Hmmm. I think you’ve given me a topic for a new blogpost. 🙂