Martin Perry2013-06-20T04:11:17-04:00Martin Perryhttp://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=martin-perryCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Martin PerryGood old fashioned elbow grease.Independent Science Fiction Series You Should Be Readingtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.14569702012-04-26T16:27:08-04:002012-06-26T05:12:01-04:00Martin Perryhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-perry/
Fortunately, the independent eBook scene has more than enough digital pages to occupy you. Here's three independent science fiction series that are currently delighting Kindle readers across the globe.
1. Wool
Hugh Howey's Wool series has been the perfect example of a Kindle sensation. Bridging the gap between science fiction fans and the general book reading public, his novella length tales of human entrapment and farming are wildly popular. You're looking at a series with hundreds of positive reviews and with good reason: Howey's writing is genuinely engaging.
The first five novellas in the series are available separately or as an omnibus edition. Howey has since moved onto the series continuation, which comes under the series title of "First Shift." That omnibus volume is available at this link.
2. Doom Star
The first of the Doom Star books, Star Soldier, was released way back in 2010. Now with six volumes, the series offers plenty of hard scifi to get stuck into. The series draws on plenty of different influences but does so well, refreshing popular concepts with a dreamy, reflective style. At times you'll feel a little like you and the narrator are omnipresent observers - a quality that makes it all too easy to devour the series whole.
You can read more about the Doom Star series and find links to all the current releases at author Vaughn Heppner's website.
3. Star Force
It's incredibly easy to find B. V. Larson's Star Force books on Amazon. The series has been a mainstay of the science fiction chart for longer than I can remember, and at four books deep, as well as other series for readers to enjoy, it's pretty easy to see why. This guy writes, giving his readers a steady stream of books to read. If you're done with Star Force, then why not try Mech or Imperium?
Again, B. V. Larson has a detailed website that will take you through not only his science fiction works, but his fantasy titles too.
As an independent order looking to establish my own series among the hugely popular names you see here, it'd be a little bit silly not to mention the Legacy Universe. If you're done consuming all the great science fiction, and you've still got some reading in you, then maybe you'll go give the first book a look.
Visit www.legacy-universe.com to find out more about Martin Perry's eBook releases, and read more about this new science fiction series. You can also email him at martin@legacy-universe.com. Come back in a week or so for the next instalment! ]]>Where to Find Free Kindle Bookstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.11947512012-01-09T15:10:33-05:002012-03-10T05:12:01-05:00Martin Perryhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-perry/
However, there's as much free stuff to wade through as there is paid, and the new Kindle Direct Publishing Select programme means authors can run a free promo of their book for a couple of days, further saturating things.
Below are the three websites that I'd say do the best job of sorting everything out. Bookmark them, and read for free!
Pixel of Ink features at least three free books a day, commonly focusing its efforts on the most popular Kindle genres like Romance, Thriller and Mystery. They also have bargain book posts where good buys can be found, but like the rest of the sites on this list, these are usually paid adverts but with strict quality guidelines based on reader reviews. A lot of the site's biggest fans connect with it through Facebook, getting free book updates straight into their social timelines.
That felt like a very futuristic thing to say.
The site also has a section for free Nook books, for those of you that are from the US and prefer Barnes & Noble's eReader.
Kindle Nation Daily, or KND as it is frequently referred to, post 'Free Book Alert' articles everyday, giving you a comprehensive overview of the books that have moved to free promotions in the last twenty four hours. It has more 'bargain book' style posts than Pixel of Ink, but those loaded Alert posts will keep you busy for hours.
They also have a eBookTracker page, which is in beta, that allows you to track the sales and price discounts on your favourite authors. If you're a real bargain hunter, you should get this set up quick, and save valuable pennies when those price cuts hit.
ENT probably has more in common with Pixel of Ink that it does Kindle Nation Daily, having four to five posts a day dedicated to free books. It also features book of the day paid advertising, and those books may well be worth checking out too. If you're just looking for the free stuff, then they have a page for that. Extremely convenient.
No fancy book tracker, but ENT is heavily present on Facebook.
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That's your lot! If you're reading this on the 9th or 10th of January, my first book 'Legacy Universe: Gentle Reminders' is also available free of charge at this page, or by clicking below.
Get downloading people! There's a whole wolrd of great free reading out there!]]>Indie Authors Need to Look for New Opportunitiestag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.11795532012-01-03T19:00:00-05:002012-03-04T05:12:01-05:00Martin Perryhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-perry/
What it rarely involves, unfortunately, is them looking at how the new ePublishing market can be brought forward, and how that might help them.
I can understand why, of course, the new world of digital publishing being a scary yet exciting place. Given the rapid change we've seen from the old monopoly of print books to the growing importance of digital, it might be enough to simply roll with the tides. If change is happening already, why bother pursuing it myself?
The answer is the same as it is for any business. Fail to be the innovator within your marketplace, and you'll find yourself turning into one of its relics. It's happened to automotive manufacturers, it's happened with Hollywood studios, and it could happen to the new breed of independent authors if they aren't capable.
There are plenty of self-published writers out there, successful or otherwise, who are already falling into this trap.
So what could they do that's different than simply releasing their books onto Kindle and leaving them to it? And, if I'm ready to spout my mouth off about the issue, what am I doing?
Firstly, reader reward schemes. The Legacy Universe Reader Crew, or LURC as it is more commonly known, offers free short stories, shareable discounts and the opportunity for a reader's name to appear in the book in a special section. All of this serves to say thank you to groups of people who are used to buying a DVD, and getting a whole load of special features with it.
Essentially, it's the act of bringing back the fan club. Given that loyal readers are so important to independent authors, it seems obvious to give them something back. Has your favourite author thanked you recently?
Secondly, indie authors need to find new ways to promote. If you head over to SFBook.com you'll find that GENTLE REMINDERS, the first Legacy Universe novel, is now being serialised, with a new chapter available every week. Paid adverts on big name Kindle reader websites like Pixel of Ink or Kindle Nation Daily are good, but what happens when those blogs are saturated with amazing offers? Your book won't stand out.
Finally, indie authors need to talk to their readers, not just sell to them. Twitter is an oft-cited source of new customers for indies, but so many of the writers on there have scheduled tweets that repeat URLs to books, or snippets of reviews they've received. That's no way to repay a reader who has tried to connect with you, and shows a remarkable arrogance to believe that they will keep listening to some marketing robot.
This post comes from somebody that can't quite believe that you can DIY books, the last bastion of corporate creativity. I want, and need, the independent market to continue to flourish. My ideas are limited compared to what a massive band of creative people should be able to achieve.
You can find out about LURC here, or visit the GENTLE REMINDERS page on SFBook.com to see what I'm talking about. ]]>Kindle Self-Publishers Soon to Become Amazon Exclusivestag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.11438302011-12-12T19:00:00-05:002012-02-11T05:12:01-05:00Martin Perryhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-perry/
As of 8 December, Amazon launched KDP Select, a new scheme to tempt independent authors into publishing individual books exclusively on the KDP platform.
Exclusivity means that these author's opted in books would no longer be available for services such as Apple's iBooks. Many have suggested that Amazon's share of the eBook market was dramatically increased by the popularity of iPads and iPhones, which have access to a Kindle app. However, after Apple effectively locked Amazon out of having an in-app eBook store, the relationship between the two seems to have grown frosty.
Recent estimates suggest that by 2012, regardless of this change, Amazon would control 50% of the market for all books, with both brick and mortar and digital outlets losing out. The success of the Kindle Fire, their recent entry into the tablet market, and the growing ubiquity of Kindle devices with digital reading only seems to support this.
Based on this mix of projection and assumption, it would appear that Amazon will remain the most profitable platform for indie authors. Those most comfortable with sharing their sales data rarely report a book selling more outside of Amazon with a competitor. However, any exterior sales would be lost through exclusivity, and regardless of its volume, Apple's money is as good as Amazon's.
It still looks as though if authors are going to go exclusive with anybody, Amazon is the company to do it with, but what do they get in return? This is when we have to look at the really juicy part of the KDP Select offer. Authors who opt books in to this exclusive deal will be given access to a set of tools giving them more control over how their book is marketed on Amazon.
The most significant part of the KDP Select offering is that an author can now sign up for their book to be available to be freely borrowed by Amazon Prime members. In return, they receive a cut of a pot of money; $500,000 for December with $6 million set aside for 2012.
The other hugely exciting new feature of KDP Select is that author's can choose for their individual book to become free for a five day period. Free books on Amazon were previously controlled by their royalty agreement; a free price appearing on Barnes and Noble eventually leading to Amazon matching. That's a frustrating experience if you're trying to run a promotion, one you can avoid by making your book exclusive. That isn't all though! There are rumours about other features being on the horizon.
The most popular rumour at the moment seems to be that indie authors will eventually be allowed to accept pre-orders for releases through Amazon. That's a powerful promotional tool, giving indie's a new means to generate interest prior to release. This can be a big challenge, and any inroad that will assist with 'buzz generation' would be gladly received.
Saying decisively whether or not any of these new features will boost the popularity of any one independent release is impossible. However, all of these revelations point towards Amazon aggressively pursuing author exclusivity. Will I sign up? That's a tricky question.
Visit www.legacy-universe.com to find out more about Martin Perry's eBook releases, and read more about this new science fiction series. The books are currently selling at sale prices. You can also email him at martin@legacy-universe.com. Come back in a week or so for the next instalment!]]>What Does the Release of the Kindle Fire Mean for Indie Authors?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.9876112011-09-29T15:04:08-04:002011-11-29T05:12:01-05:00Martin Perryhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-perry/
This is not a tech blog though, and I'm more interested in how the new device might or might not affect the fortunes of indie authors.
The device has the potential, and I use that word specifically, to significantly broaden the audience for digital book releases, including those by independent authors. Why potentially? Why not certainly? Simply put, the Kindle Fire is not specifically an eReader device.
Yes, it is certainly a child of the eReader, and a device that would likely never have seen release had Amazon's experiments with the Kindle not been so successful. However, one quick scan over the current advertising for the product reveals that Amazon are not pushing this as an eReader that does more, this is an iPad competitor that happens to do digital books.
Between Amazon's app store, video content and the built-in browser, digital books appear to be a secondary feature for the tablet despite it bearing the Kindle name. At a $199 price point, and with the world's biggest internet retailer behind it, the Fire is destined to succeed and pose a genuine threat to the more expensive, frequently unavailable iPad. However, it will do so by offering a similar feature set, not by being a colour eReader.
In other words, purchasers are coming for the Angry Birds and video rentals. If indie authors are lucky, these people might stay for the digital books. In my opinion, the greatest benefit in the Fire for us self-publishers is that those who might have formerly been on the fence about ditching dead tree books, may have their final shred of resistance broken down by the bright pictures and iPad-on-a-budget features.
The one thing that the Amazon Kindle can't do though is turn non-readers into bookworms. The Kindle Fire may well outsell its book-focused older brother, but those newly ensnared by Amazon's web of content will not immediately be interested in what's been uploaded to Kindle Direct Publishing that week. Indie authors should not assume that any excess sales of the Kindle Fire over ordinary Kindle devices mean that they have a significantly wider set of people who might buy their books, but instead just a portion of that growth.
On the other hand, the press attached to the tablet might drive Kindle device sales as a whole, at which point the benefits of the iPad competitor are more widespread for independent publishing. It's difficult to decide at this point, but the majority of evidence points towards the Kindle Fire being more about Amazon providing more of our streaming content as a whole in a market continually less obsessed with physical media, and less about selling even more digital books.
Visit www.legacy-universe.com to find out more about Martin Perry's eBook releases, and read more about this new science fiction series. The books are currently selling at sale prices. You can also email him at martin@legacy-universe.com. Come back in a week or so for the next instalment! ]]>The Look of Love - An Interview with Bella Andretag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.9558052011-09-16T13:25:33-04:002011-11-16T05:12:01-05:00Martin Perryhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-perry/
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MP: Doing a bit of research on yourself, it seems like your enthusiasm for writing really took off when you started exploring the Romance genre. It's something that I've spoken about on the blog before, but why do you think Romance is so compelling for readers?
BA: I've always loved reading romance novels. I can remember, as a very small child, watching my mother read them and as soon as I was old enough, I naturally gravitated to the genre. There's something so wonderful about stories that revolve around finding and holding onto true love. I also think that romance writers are so smart and savvy - I write contemporary romances, but there are so many other great sub-genres for readers to choose from: vampire, regency, scottish, suspense, and time-travel are a few of them. What's more, romance readers are voracious! I'm a one-book-a-day girl when I can find the time and I know I'm not the only one! There's nothing more fun that finding a new author and then getting to devour their backlist - the bigger the better! Fortunately, romance authors are often quite prolific.
MP: Is there anything that you try to do to separate yourself from the crowd or do you find that keeping things formulaic works?
BA: Honestly, I rarely think about formulas or "rules" when I sit down to write my books. What I enjoy most is figuring out the heart and soul of my characters and following that. I love tearing up as a write a scene - I love laughing, too! Hopefully, if I'm feeling that way as I write, my readers will react similarly. For example, in my latest contemporary romance, From This Moment On, my heroine, Nicola, is a pop star who has a wild image that isn't at all true to who she really is. My hero, Marcus, is the oldest of eight children and helped take over the reins of his family at a young age when his father died unexpectedly. Both of these characters have a different set of issues and beliefs about life and love than my other heroes or heroines and I really enjoyed delving into who they were as people and what experiences had shaped them as they headed toward their happily-ever-after.
MP: Whatever you're doing, it seems to be working, in both digital and print. Which distribution channel do you think is best for your books? Which gives you most exposure?
BA: It has been a really thrilling year, with a half-dozen of my ebooks - FROM THIS MOMENT ON (Sullivans #2), THE LOOK OF LOVE (Sullivans #1), GAME FOR LOVE, CANDY STORE, LOVE ME and ECSTASY - regularly hitting the Top 50 bestseller lists at Amazon, Apple and Barnes & Noble. With regards to exposure, there's no question that the ebook revolution has made a huge difference for my books. I own a Kindle, Nook and iPad, so I know first-hand how easy - and enjoyable - it is to buy and read ebooks. Of course, I also offer print versions of my self-published books through Amazon - and Random House UK will be publishing my Hotshots firefighter series back-to-back in paperback in 2012. (The ebooks launch their new "Rouge" digital imprint this October, November, December.)
MP: Can you see a time when you might be an exclusively digital writer, or do you think your audience demands print versions? Have fans been supportive of the move?
BA: My fans have been great, and I'm willing to move wherever they want me. If my fans want me to sky-write my books, then that's how I'll do it!
Case in point, for years, they had asked me to write a sequel to my first book - TAKE ME. Unfortunately, while I desperately wanted to write that book, my publisher didn't think there was a big enough market for the sequel. Fortunately, last July, when I realized self-publishing on kindle was a viable option, I sat down, wrote that book and published it myself as LOVE ME. Not only did that book hit all the ebook bestseller lists, but it was a real thrill to be able to give my readers the book they wanted.
MP: Is there anything that concerns you about digital publishing? How do you find competing against a market that anybody, for better or worse, can contribute to?
BA: I find the changes in publishing to be absolutely fascinating and spend every morning soaking up the latest news. I have to-do lists a mile long and while it's sometimes daunting to look at all I want to accomplish with my books, I can't help but be excited about it. (Well, perhaps at 2 in the morning when the rest of my family is sleeping and I'm still at the computer just like I was the night before and the night before that, "excited" isn't exactly the right word....) For me, the truth is that any concerns that might pop up from time to time simply get buried beneath the work involved in publishing 13 titles in the past 18 months - creating the covers, writing the descriptions, soliciting author reviews, distributing the ebooks, marketing & promoting, etc. (Note: Many were backlist titles I got the rights back to, but I have also written four brand new self-published books in that time, in addition to writing books for a publisher in the US under the name Bella Riley.)
MP: You've had some great press interest over the years, and obviously had a strong fan base before you went anywhere near digital publishing. Is there a stand-out moment in your career so far?
BA: My first book signing was pretty spectacular. Getting to meet fans in person - fans who read my book - and liked it! - was a dream come true. And every time I open my email or twitter account or facebook page and find a note from a reader who has enjoyed one of my books, I couldn't be happier!
MP: Writers usually say their inspiration comes from their own lives. If that's the case for you, then you have a pretty exciting life filled with six packs and football players. Is that where it comes from, or do you have to look elsewhere for inspiration?
BA: I had to share this question with my husband! And while his six pack is pretty darn impressive, we had a good laugh over it. I have a feeling I'm going to be quoting you for some time to come! :) But while I'm certainly inspired by everything around me, my imagination is pretty good at supplying what my real life doesn't.
MP: Are there any other genres you'd like to explore? Potentially cross-overs between say, Romance and Fantasy?
BA: I love trying new genres and formats. Under the pseudonym Lucy Kevin, I recently released a young adult paranormal retelling of Gigi titled Gabrielle about a high school music student under a family curse to only find love as a courtesan. It's an enhanced ebook with songs that the title character writes and sings at emotional high and low points during the books.
MP: Lastly, it'd be great if you could let everybody know what you're working on at the moment.
BA: Can't Help Falling in Love, the third book in my bestselling Sullivan family series, will be launching in December! I will also be releasing my Bad Boys of Football series - GAME FOR ANYTHING, GAME FOR SEDUCTION and GAME FOR LOVE - as special UK edition ebooks within the next month. I'm very excited to introduce UK readers to this series, featuring football playing heroes and the women who tame them. For more information about my titles or to contact me, I invite people to visit my web site at www.BellaAndre.com. Thanks so much for the fantastic interview!
MP: Thanks to you! Bella's books are available through Kindle, Smashwords, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Goodreads and AllRomance.
Visit www.legacy-universe.com to find out more about Martin Perry's eBook releases, and read more about this new science fiction series. The books are currently selling at sale prices. You can also email him at martin@legacy-universe.com. Come back in a week or so for the next instalment! ]]>Amazon Opens Kindle Publishing for Blogs to Alltag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.9657822011-09-16T07:57:44-04:002011-11-16T05:12:01-05:00Martin Perryhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-perry/
The response seems mixed. Kindle is certainly associated with books first and foremost, and in some geographical areas the selection of magazines is relatively poor. However, there certainly seems like there is a growing understanding among periodical publishing that digital editions will soon become as ubiquitous in their industry as they are for books, even if the seismic shift hasn't happened yet.
In making a digital edition available, a periodical prepares itself for the future, and places a defence against the ever encroaching horde of blogs and online news sites. The Huffington Post itself, where you are probably reading this article, is one of the very outlets driving the old fashioned newspapers to adapt to the modern age.
Those businesses might now be more concerned once again, that they are not adequately protected against the future. Amazon has opened up its Kindle Publishing for Blogs platform to the masses. As of now, you can self-publish a magazine or newspaper style periodical as easily as you can a new piece of fiction. Just set up a blog, work out the RSS feed URL, and fill in the fields. Users will then be able to subscribe to that feed as if it was the New York Times, and you can profit from it.
These blog posts will be delivered to readers as they are updated, but Amazon will be charging for the privilege. However, in a move very much alternative to the free pricing structure of self-published books, Amazon has decided to set the prices of these subscriptions themselves. Typically a monthly subscription to one of these blogs will set you back less than $5, or the equivalent in pounds and euros. For that, you are guaranteed to get the full content published by that blog within any calendar month, and without advertising.
So, should the current digital magazine and newspaper publishers be worried that this new distribution channel, with its carefully managed prices, will soon be as crowded as the internet itself? Will its openness destroy the closed market they used to have for digital editions? I would answer a strong yes. The ease with which you can add a blog to the Kindle Publishing programme means that anybody who has an internet outlet might as well try and monetise it through the system. As of yet, I can see no reason that you wouldn't, with the minor possibility that you might upset your existing advertisers requiring only brief concern.
More than the ease with which you can self publish a blog through Amazon, the potential financial gain from self publishing means your blog could soon be generating more income than you might expect. Pick the right topic, and those monthly subscriptions, all affordably priced, may well start pouring in.
For proof you need only look at the tech website Ars Technica's recent experiment. In July of this year they published John Siracusa's mammoth review of Apple's OS X Lion. Clocking in at nearly thirty thousand words, it was certainly a weightier blog post than most. Ars Technica saw an opportunity, and published the article as an eBook, generating 3,000 sales at $5 each within the first 24 hours of publication. This blog post was freely available online, yet this website made $15,000 in a day by publishing it as premium content.
Users are willing to pay for blog content then, provided you give them a product they want. The growing popularity of online news and magazine content publishers like Huffington Post, the very reason that traditional sources started to expand into digital, shows that the internet is often better at providing said product than their print counterparts. Amazon's new Kindle Publishing for Blogs platform cements the company's position as the world's biggest proponent of self published content, perfectly complimenting their existing services. It is yet another revolution for both writers and readers, and will be a major force within the shifting world of publishing. Do not be surprised if a Kindle published blog soon has a larger circulation than the NYT.
And yes, you can get this blog through the service. Viva la revolution!
Visit www.legacy-universe.com to find out more about Martin Perry's eBook releases, and read more about this new science fiction series. You can also email him at martin@legacy-universe.com. Come back in a week or so for the next instalment! ]]>Indie Publishing and Quality Control - Why Only Readers Mattertag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.9401452011-08-29T08:35:22-04:002011-10-29T05:12:02-04:00Martin Perryhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-perry/
However, when major publishers and agents talk about independent publishing, they often refer to themselves as offering a quality control barrier between authors and consumers. This barrier, they say, means that for as long as you buy books from the major publishing houses you are far less likely to read a bad book than if you explore the world of independent publishing.
You can certainly see where they begin to form the basis of this argument. It doesn't take long to search through Amazon's Kindle eBook store and find a title that is poorly edited, poorly designed and, most importantly, poorly written. Without mentioning names, I personally uncovered a series of science fiction books (not my own I hasten to add) which were so diabolical as to be amusing. I wondered if that was the point, but unfortunately, the writer was deadly serious.
Of course, I might fit into that category myself, but I believe I give readers adequate information to make a purchasing decision based on their own internal quality measures. Through a combination of different mediums, readers can evaluate the Legacy Universe books and decide whether or not they appeal to them.
Firstly, Amazon's sampling system allows any reader to try out ten to fifteen percent of any of my books before they purchase them. You'll notice some authors pad out that first percentage of their book, filling it with blank pages and useless nattering to ensure that if the reader wants to find out if the book is any good, they have to buy the whole thing. Mean, I hear you say. What cads, I hear you cry. I agree, and therefore would urge you only to support indie authors who don't abuse this system.
Secondly, my product description is detailed and contains critical information about what the product is. Go have a look for yourself. Unlike print books, you can't tell if a digital release is short or long, nor can you scan through and check for bad language and general adult content. Indie writers, including myself, often include word counts and general content descriptions to better inform the reader, overcoming some of these hurdles.
There's also blogs, and twitter and all the other forms of social media that writers use to connect with the reading public. Through all of these mediums, or through just a few, readers can make their own decisions about quality, and may arguably end up being more capable of avoiding bad books.
Of course, the 'quality control' argument really falls apart when you start seeing indie authors, who have been repeatedly rejected by publishers, land major deals following indie success. The most successful writers are now seeing books picked up by big names. They are even managing to negotiate contracts whereby they retain control of digital rights, and only hand over the distribution of dead-tree books.
John Locke, who I've mentioned before, has recently struck a deal with Simon & Schuster to release his million selling Donovan Creed books in print form. John has written at length regarding his repeated rejection by agents and publishers. Now though, after consumers have proven them wrong, one of the biggest houses in the business is now paying to print his books. This is not only great news for John Locke, but for every author, as it shows a willingness to combine the very best of what both worlds can offer.
Ruth Harris, the New York Times bestselling author of books such as DECADES and HUSBANDS AND LOVERS, feels that changing economies now means that traditional publishers may now struggle to offer the same level of quality control as they could once profess to:
"Professional authors with substantial track records who have gone indie have the experience and knowledge to produce high-quality work. However, traditionally, large publishing houses had full staffs of editors, copyeditors and proofreaders so that manuscripts were thoroughly vetted before publication. Changing economics have forced publishers to downsize and those staffs no longer exist. In preparing my previously published fiction for e-publication, I have found only a few very minor errors--mostly typos. In more recently published fiction, the error rate is noticeably higher."
What does this all tell us then? Well, it tells us that readers are becoming the only reliable means of quality control within the publishing world. Given the right tools, and given that authors do not try to deceive them, readers will ensure that the quality releases, whether indie or otherwise, will always rise to the top.
It doesn't matter if a book is good in a classical or academic sense. All that now matters is whether or not people want to read it and if they'll pay to do so. If they do, traditional print and indie digital writers can work together to make popular, quality works available to even more people. That seems like a win-win for everybody, and means the traditionalists can stop being precious about the quality control they supposedly offer.]]>Romances and Thrillers - Studying Kindle Reader's Genre Preferencestag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.9293502011-08-21T00:00:00-04:002011-10-20T05:12:02-04:00Martin Perryhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-perry/
Wrong. At least, nearly wrong. You need only look at the top fifty best-selling books on Amazon's shiny new indie specific store-front to see that, at least as far as us independent publishers go, there is a definite demand for two things. Firstly, people want thrillers. Whether they feature cops, sleuths, or the ordinary man trapped in an unusually exciting situation, books that can be broadly categorised as thrillers, or those containing promises of thrills, do extremely well. They account, roughly speaking, for almost half of that top fifty.
It's understandable. Thrillers have always been a popular genre in print. Names like Patterson, Grisham and Brown continue to sell dead-tree books at incredible rates. Others like Christie, Fleming and Conan Doyle are true legends of fiction, having their legacy extend from the printed page to the silver screen and beyond. Although I'm using a broad definition of thriller, which would likely include suspense, mystery and police procedurals, it's clear that this super-genre continues to draw in the crowds. It has done so for years.
Why? What is it about thriller novels that draws people back for more time and again? Specifically, what makes them a good route for indie authors to take? Sean Patrick Bridges, author of ROLL OF THE DIE, weighed in.
"Indie market or traditional publishing route, it's not an easy task to walk the suspense tightrope, but I think the thriller genre works if you can pull it off. If you can keep the reader wanting and needing to turn the page, then the writer has done their job."
There's the trick. Thriller novels, by their very nature, are designed to keep the reader reading. While stories about robots, orcs, or life itself might focus on world-building or conveying a strong message, thriller books just want to keep you reading. It's all that matters, and, like Sean says, if the writer can succeed at that, then they will likely keep turning that page into another novel. Then another, and another. Just what an independent author needs to sell that broad catalogue of stories they have for sale.
Another broad genre keeps climbing up the charts. Kindle readers, based on the same top fifty chart, love love. Whether it takes place years ago, or in the modern world, or with vampires and werewolves, a romance novel is apparently far more likely to accrue chart topping sales than my own science fiction novels.
The romantic fiction industry is a strange world that, unless you are one of the large number of readers who enjoy the genre, you are unlikely to cross into by accident. While most have at least sampled a fantasy novel, it is a very dedicated audience that ravenously consumes Mills and Boon's endless list of saucy, lovey-dovey books. While last year, Random House, a generalist publisher, saw its profits dip a little, Mills and Boon, saw its own rise. Indie publishers are benefiting too. Romantic books account for the second biggest share of the current Amazon Indie top fifty, alongside thrillers.
Nichole Chase, indie author of the young adult paranormal romance novel MORTAL OBLIGATION, had this to say on why romantic books connect so well with the reading audience:
"The need to feel connected to someone else, to feel loved, is a common motivation. Romance stories allow others to live vicariously through the characters. They give the reader a little fix of hope."
If these two genres are quite so dominating, and offer the reader so much, then how is an indie author supposed to succeed with anything else?
While these genres certainly account for the highest volume sales on Amazon, you don't have to be breaking into the top fifty to be selling a lot of books. While your science fiction or fantasy book might not sell as many copies as Stephen Murcer or John Locke, many writing in these most popular fields aren't accruing the number of sales of quality writers in other fields. There are plenty of people who have seen the successes of the thriller genre, tried to copy then and haven't managed to mimic their sales, nor the sales of the most popular science fiction writers. After all, there are over thirty-two-thousand thriller/mystery books that aren't in that top fifty.
In the end, if you don't write from the heart, it'll usually show through in your work. Quality, even in the indie world, still dictates success more than any other factor. Thrillers and romances top the charts, but if that isn't the genre you feel compelled to write in, you shouldn't force yourself into it. There might be a large market for these two dominant forces, but that market isn't interested in reading half-hearted efforts. So, stick to what you love, and hopefully those Mills and Boon sales numbers will still find you.
Visit www.legacy-universe.com to find out more about Martin Perry's eBook releases, and read more about this new science fiction series. You can also email him at martin@legacy-universe.com. Come back in a week or so for the next instalment! ]]>The First Step to Becoming an Indie eBook Millionairetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.9229802011-08-10T06:31:58-04:002011-10-10T05:12:02-04:00Martin Perryhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-perry/
My name is Martin Perry, and I've just become one of the many authors now turning to the world of eBook distribution. Eschewing the lengthy publisher/agent submission process, I have decided to take my new science fiction series, the Legacy Universe, straight to consumers, and make my own bid to become one of the lucky few who receive thousands of book sales in return.
Amazon proudly boasts that, as of May this year, digital books are now out-selling their print equivalent on the world's largest online store. Names like John Locke and Amanda Hocking have capitalised on this, making millions in revenue without the support of traditional publishers. It's no surprise then, that other writers are lining up to try and cash in.
What does it actually take to do so though? Nobody seems to have the answer. Nobody has truly cracked the code. Locke himself made an attempt recently, releasing "How I Sold 1 Million Kindle Books in 5 Months" to detail his process. Within these digital pages he waxes lyrical about the benefits of acquiring a loyal twitter following, and making contact with his readership. These were, he says, the keys to his success.
People are definitely taking his words to heart. If they weren't already trying to turn a profit from social media, they certainly are now. Independent authors are abundant on Twitter, Facebook, and the majority occupy their own blog. Plenty are spending hundreds of dollars and pounds on advertising. Yet, despite the effort invested, many are finding that this isn't enough to push their title up the charts. In fact, extremely few authors are effectively marketing their books and seeing the sales numbers to reflect it.
In this blog I will begin to look at how the advent of the digital book market is changing how works of both fiction and non-fiction are being marketed. More than that, I'll be interviewing the authors trying to make it big, while sharing my own experiences, whether they bring success or failure. Hopefully along the way I'll work out exactly how to sell a million eBooks.
I should probably start by delivering on that blog title, right? Not a problem. The "The First Step to Becoming an Indie eBook Millionaire" is incredibly simple. You have to write.
I'm sure that at least one point in your life either yourself, a family member or friend, has talked at length about how they would like to write a book and yet never seem to get around to it. I was that person once. Actually, I've been that person several times. All until one January night where, with the spark of an idea, I decided to finally produce a chapter.
I think I was tired and there might have been alcohol involved. I can't quite remember.
It's all spiralled from there. I have my own Twitter account, @LegacyUniverse, and I have my own promotional website. Most importantly, I now have three, yes three, books available to buy on Amazon's UK and US Kindle stores. The first is a novel, Gentle Reminders, the others are two short stories by the name of Wandering Man and Prize Fighting.
Without variance, every single successful independent Kindle author will tell you that having a catalogue of work is important. Self-published books, the traditional name for independent releases, are rarely made available through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing programme at the same price as paperback releases. Unfortunately, when you're selling books for £2.09, you need to sell a few of them to make any decent return.
The first way the multiply those sales is to have more products available for purchase. Readers who enjoy one of your releases will return to Amazon in search of more - why wouldn't they? If you don't have anything else to offer them, they'll head off and discover the next new writer. He or she probably has a full range of titles, and you'll be lucky to ever win that reader back. I've taken this message to heart, and while I know it's only one part of an apparently solution-less puzzle, I also know that without doing so, I'm doomed to fail.
However, this blog isn't going to be a guide on how to make money. I haven't even had my first royalty cheque yet, so it'd be a bit rich to start lecturing you all. No, this blog is about how the world of publishing is changing, and has already changed, beyond recognition. It's going to be about how a guy in his bedroom can outsell Stieg Larsson. It's also going to be about me doing the exact same. Or, as is equally likely, it'll be about me crashing and burning following a series of marketing blunders. Either way, I'm sure it'll be entertaining.
In the next blog post I'll be having a look at genres, a slightly more complex subject, and how particular ones seem to be particularly fruitful for indie authors. Leave a comment, and let me know what you want to know about the changing world of publishing or eBook marketing. Perhaps we can all make a million together?
Visit www.legacy-universe.com to find out more about Martin Perry's eBook releases, and read more about this new science fiction series. You can also email him at martin@legacy-universe.com. Come back in a week or so for the next instalment!