The List That Never Ends (need opinion)

[lou]

I'm thinking about the dreaded list this morning between writing sprints. I have a ton of admin on it but also sales things. I need your opinion. I may have more of these sorts of questions in the next month, as I refine my plan for 2017.

[scdaffron]

I voted for audio just because I haven't gotten much traction with my box set. (I'm feeling like I should do audio too, but, ugh, talk about admin.)

[Miss Terri Novelle]

I also voted for audio. Box sets actually cost you money if you discount them. Audio sounds like an admin nightmare, but is probably the more lucrative option. That and translations seem to be doing well for people.

[lou]

Query: does ACX require a different cover for audio?

[Miss Terri Novelle]

Same cover, but different dimensions. Their covers are square so you'd have to expand the background and overlay the text to keep from crunching the cover. I'd also think that you could just use the cover as an overlay in the middle of the square and have a complimentary color as the background.

[Pru Freda]

I can't answer this, lou, because I've never done either. Living outside the US, I'm unable to use ACX, but there was a long thread on KB about a year ago with authors complaining that ACX had slashed royalties to the point that they were a mere pittance.

You might want to consider that before splashing out on narrators, etc.

[ameliasmith]

Box sets cost a lot less to set up, in time and money. From what I've heard you're looking at about 1/10th of the time versus audio. If you want to keep the admin time in check, that might be the better option, but audio books seem like they'd have more sales potential and would be better for diversification of income yadayadayada.

The best thing I've heard about box sets is that they can be a good way to get a BookBub, and thus raise your visibility (also, see above, that they're pretty easy).

[Miss Terri Novelle]

The problem with getting a Bookbub for a boxed set is that unless you have a lot of books behind it and only give away the first three or so, the sell through to the individual books in the set is non-existent. Or so I've heard. I was thinking about subbing my Psychic Seasons set to them for .99 and then I asked a few people who said don't do it unless you have at least 5 books behind the set because you won't make back the cost of the ad.

As far as ACX goes, it can take a long time to earn out the cost of narration and some books never do. On the flip side, you can do royalty split and take the chance that if it does do well, you'll only get half the money. It's a double-edged sword really. Some author friends of mine earn out their costs in the first month or less. Total crapshoot...but what isn't these days?

I suppose there's no reason not to do both. Maybe just wait a month or so in between to spread the admin tasks out over a more reasonable time period.

[Suzy]

ACX is not accessible for authors in Ireland. Only US and UK. Makes me very, very cross.

[Miss Terri Novelle]

Wasn't Joe Nobody doing something to help with that? I only check kboards twice a week these days and haven't seen anything from him, but then I barely glance at the first page before moving on. Maybe it didn't work out and I just haven't noticed.

[lou]

If I plan on never trying for a Bookbub again, is there any reason to do boxed sets at all? I recalled today, I wanted to do a boxed set because I was told it functions as another release and keeps you higher in the algos, but what if that was nonsense or has recently become untrue? I can't think very well any afternoons, and that might explain why only a few hours after I posted this I realized I now can't think of a good reason to do boxes sets. Outside of romance, do they work to add to sales?

[Miss Terri Novelle]

Mine for Psychic Seasons sold pretty well right out of the gate, but that was pretty much on the heels of a Bookbub for either Rings or Bells. After a couple months, sales slowed way down and now, I sell hardly any unless I have a promo of some sort. Then I'll see a burst of sales.

I think I put it up with the intention of doing Facebook ads for it and then I sucked at them so I've just left it alone. If I had it to do over, I'd probably not do the full set. In fact, now that I've combined that series with Earthbound, I'm tempted to take it down and put up 3 sets of two books instead. Then maybe I could get a BB on a two book set at .99 or even free...and have the four behind that which is a much better plan.

I hate these decisions. And I'm aware I'm not being very helpful.

[lou]

Laura, actually, watching people think through their issues even if they aren't identical to my issues can be helpful! You might get me thinking about some cognate thing. (Cognate. Good word. I was able to use 'susurrate' in the novel yesterday. Also a good word but one I'll doubtless edit out.)

[scdaffron]

Having a release was my rationale for a box set. It was easy (because I didn't have to do the work) and cost exactly nothing. Now I've got a BookBub coming up for it. Mostly I want to see if it can jump-start some sales on the other platforms because I just put everything wide again. And I was able to put the box set itself wide for the first time too. Permafree doesn't seem to do much on the other platforms, so it's an experiment to see if I can hook a few more readers into the series. (With that said, I have 6 more books they can go on to read.)

The cost is honestly why I haven't done audio. I'd REALLY rather not do a royalty split, but coughing up two to three thousand dollars that I might not get back is daunting. I've heard you can get aidop done for less, but most narrators I've seen charge $200-$300 per finished hour, which on my relatively long (80-85K) books would be a big wad o' cash.

[Daniel]

Boxed sets are easy compared to audio, but I don't think they have much value for an individual author offering a selection of his/her works. They are essentially a way for readers to spend less money on your books.

I would love to do audio, but every time I get fired up about it and start looking into it, I end up dispirited. It's either a lot of work or very expensive, and it may or may not make any money. In other words, it's an expensive (time/money) gamble.

You can't win if you don't play, but playing doesn't mean you're going to win.