A more accurate title might be ‘the consequences of doing nothing’! I’ve done no marketing for two months, due to sunshine (making use of the unusual sunny weather to get on with planting up our garden) and a couple of holidays. The graph below shows the consequences – my daily income is down to £10-£20 a day. Not a lot! This wasn’t just laziness, as this gives me a baseline of what sales I can make with no marketing. Virtually all of this is still from Amazon.
Otherwise known as being lazy.
Results so far
It’s a couple of weeks since all my books were out of KU and I switched off Amazon ads. The only marketing I’ve done since then is to make two novellas perma-free (Amazon has now price-matched), and available on my website, and I’ve sent out an email to my subscribers telling them this. The graph shows my earnings (i.e. royalties) for the last 90 days. Blue is earnings for pages read in Kindle Unlimited, red is readers buying ebooks, and grey is from paperbacks.
As mentioned in a previous post, one advantage of being ‘wide’ is that platforms other than Amazon allow you to set books at £0/$0 etc.
I wrote a prequel to the Marstone Series (A Question of Duty) with the intention of offering that free for the few days in each 3 month period that Amazon allows for books in KU. I didn’t do this very often, as to get the book noticed, advertising the offer has to be done very close to the date of the offer. With permafree, I can run things like BookBub ads (the bit at the bottom of the daily BB email, if you subscribe to that) and it doesn’t matter when a reader sees the ad. I can also highlight the book as free on my website. So one obvious choice was to set this prequel story as free. I also made Saving Meg free – this is an 18,000 word standalone novella.
This is what I did – but it is not necessarily the best way of doing it!
There are several advantages (or potential advantages, as some depend on how much effort I put into marketing) of going wide, to counter the immediate drop in income from KU page reads.
An alternative title might be ‘how to drastically reduce your writing income’ – at least, that is what it feels like at the moment. This post (or posts) will be mostly of interest to other authors, but also any readers who are interested in some of what goes on behind the scenes in addition to writing. I’m posting these mainly for myself, as a record of my thoughts during the ‘adventure’. (Beware, a bit of politics in this post)
Background: When I first started publishing, I put my books into Kindle Unlimited, as this seemed the best way to get new readers. Readers who subscribe to KU can effectively read books in the scheme free (ignoring the monthly subscription), and so are more likely to take a chance on new authors. When I also started advertising on Amazon, this paid off and my readership gradually grew. However in recent years, my success with Amazon ads has reduced, and even when I put a new book out, the increase in sales tails off rapidly.
Walking around the local lanes a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the hedges had been cut recently. Straight tops and sides, uniform height, all very neat. A bit like an ornamental hedge in the garden of a stately home!
In the 18th Century, the formal style of garden for stately homes (described here) began to give way to a more natural style of gardening. Three men stand out in the transformation of the parks and gardens of the wealthy: William Kent, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, and Humphrey Repton.
A version of this article was originally posted on The Coffee Pot Book Club website.
In Regency times, prize money was paid to both army and navy personnel. The money came from goods captured in action, and was shared out between the men (it was only men!) according to their rank. The blog post here explains how prize money was calculated and allocated in the Royal Navy. This article looks at the Army in the Peninsular War.
We use many phrases in everyday speech that originated in the past and have often changed their meaning. For example, did ‘second rate’ always mean ‘second best’?
First rate or second rate?
Today, ‘first rate’ refers to something top quality, ‘second rate’ or even ‘third rate’ to items of lesser quality. Originally these terms referred to the number of guns on a warship, meaning that a first rate ship was only better than a second rate ship in terms of fire power. It said nothing about the quality of the ship in other respects.
These are some of my books. Click on the ‘Books’ tab for full details of all my books. All books except those indicated as FREE are available in Kindle Unlimited.
A soldier returns to keep a promise—but it will prove more difficult than he imagined.
Ebook available from retailers (note that Amazon may not match the Free price offered elsewhere), or download from BookFunnel here.
A Question of Duty is also FREE. This is the prequel novella for my Marstone Series (see below in this sidebar, or click on the Books tab)
I am joined by five other Regency Romance authors in this collection with a winter theme. Six romances, six happy endings, perfect for banishing winter blues.
Buy the ebook or read in Kindle Unlimited. Also available in paperback
Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met?
Buy as ebook or read in Kindle Unlimited. Also available in paperback.
A duelling viscount, a courageous poor relation and an overbearing lord–just a few of the memorable cast of characters you will meet in the Marstone series. From windswept Devonshire to Georgian London and revolutionary France, true love is always on the horizon and shady dealings often afoot.
Each book can be read as a standalone, but will be more enjoyable if read in sequence. More details here.
A Question of Duty is the prequel novella for the series and is FREE from retailers (note that Amazon may not match the free price offered elsewhere), or directly from BookFunnel here.
The four full-length novels are also available as an ebook box set.
After nearly five years of marriage, Ellie is finally with child. There’s just one problem. Her husband is not the father.
Buy as ebook or read in Kindle Unlimited. Also available in paperback.
Buy as ebook or read in Kindle Unlimited. Also available in paperback. Audio version available from Amazon or Audiobooks.com
Buy as ebook or read in Kindle Unlimited. Also available in paperback (Large Print also available). Listen on Audible or the audiobook retailer of your choice.
Buy as ebook or read in Kindle Unlimited. Also available in paperback. Large print version also available.
