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Post by Becca Mills on Mar 27, 2014 14:20:40 GMT -5
ETA: On p. 5 of this thread, the data on the follow-up novel starts coming in.
Nolander went permafree in November. I thought it was about time to check in with it. These are the numbers so far:
all Amazons: 6183 (Nov13) + 780 (Dec13) + 663 (Jan14) + 347 (Feb14) + 383 = 8356
Google: 974
Smashwords: 173
B&N: 150
Kobo: 85
Drivethru Fiction: 32
iTunes: 24
Total: 9794
New reviews: 27 on Amazon.com, 3 on .uk, 2 on .de, 4 on Google, 2 on B&N
The biggest nice surprise for me is how well Google is doing, compared to the other platforms. That number gives me some hope that Google could one day become a serious competitor to the Big A ... or maybe it's just sad to get excited that someone broke the "10% of downloads on Amazon" barrier. The 974 is a worldwide number, with sales in 26 nations. The breakdown was 403 U.S., 248 South Africa, 126 Australia, 87 UK, 42 NZ, 21 CA, and the rest single digits.
The biggest not-nice surprise is how poorly the book is moving on iTunes. However you get traction there, just making your book free isn't enough -- at least for this book.
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Post by Suzy on Mar 27, 2014 14:51:12 GMT -5
That's very interesting, Becca, especially Google. Funny but my best sales outside Amazon are on iTunes.
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Post by Becca Mills on Mar 27, 2014 14:58:43 GMT -5
That's very interesting, Becca, especially Google. Funny but my best sales outside Amazon are on iTunes. Has it always been that way, or did some noticeable thing happen that helped you break into the iTunes market? |
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Post by Suzy on Mar 27, 2014 15:01:31 GMT -5
No, it was always that way, right from the start of iTunes e-books. Closely followed by B&N. I never did any marketing there. Don't know how.
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Post by Daniel on Mar 27, 2014 19:07:51 GMT -5
Nolander went permafree in November. I thought it was about time to check in with it. These are the numbers so far: all Amazons: 6183 (Nov13) + 780 (Dec13) + 663 (Jan14) + 347 (Feb14) + 383 = 8356 Google: 974 Smashwords: 173 B&N: 150 Kobo: 85 Drivethru Fiction: 32 iTunes: 24 Total: 9794 These figures are depressing to me. They basically tell me we can't even give away our work on other platforms. I left Select after six months because I hated the exclusivity. Eggs in one basket, yada, yada. But since then (about two years later), my sales on other platforms are still less than one percent of my sales on Amazon. Leaving select did almost nothing for me, and who knows how I could have (and still might) take advantage of Select-only marketing tools to keep my books visible. I'm seriously considering returning to the Select fold. I hate the exclusivity, but none of the other platforms are doing anything for me anyway, so they are making me exclusive by default. I hate it when my principles get in the way of business decisions.  |
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Post by Becca Mills on Mar 27, 2014 21:31:48 GMT -5
Nolander went permafree in November. I thought it was about time to check in with it. These are the numbers so far: all Amazons: 6183 (Nov13) + 780 (Dec13) + 663 (Jan14) + 347 (Feb14) + 383 = 8356 Google: 974 Smashwords: 173 B&N: 150 Kobo: 85 Drivethru Fiction: 32 iTunes: 24 Total: 9794 These figures are depressing to me. They basically tell me we can't even give away our work on other platforms. I left Select after six months because I hated the exclusivity. Eggs in one basket, yada, yada. But since then (about two years later), my sales on other platforms are still less than one percent of my sales on Amazon. Leaving select did almost nothing for me, and who knows how I could have (and still might) take advantage of Select-only marketing tools to keep my books visible. I'm seriously considering returning to the Select fold. I hate the exclusivity, but none of the other platforms are doing anything for me anyway, so they are making me exclusive by default. I hate it when my principles get in the way of business decisions. My reaction was similar, Daniel. I left Select more than a year ago -- early January 2013. Nolander was up on most of the sites listed above for 10 months before I made it free (Drivethru and Google are new). I think I sold 4 on Kobo, maybe 5 or 6 on iTunes, fewer than 10 on B&N ... it just seemed pointless. Even now, with the book free, there's precious little movement on any of these sites compared to Amazon. It sure would be great if we had a viable competitor to the 'Zon, but I just am not seeing it yet. A lot of us might as well use Select. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2014 7:40:25 GMT -5
Interesting numbers.
I have kinda been missing Select, too. Though I have a few very dedicated fans on iTunes, so I wouldn't go back. However, on my inspirational pen name, I plan to only do Select. I think inspirational, especially women's fiction, tends to do very well on Select (judging by the freebie-type emails I get).
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Post by Becca Mills on Mar 28, 2014 11:23:08 GMT -5
I'd be regretting leaving Select if it weren't for Google. Google gives me some hope.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2014 12:13:41 GMT -5
I've been meaning to upload to Google, but when I tried awhile back it was just a mess. I need to try again.
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Post by Becca Mills on Mar 28, 2014 13:30:20 GMT -5
I've been meaning to upload to Google, but when I tried awhile back it was just a mess. I need to try again.[/quote Yeah, it's complicated. Use TK's directions in this thread, and write to Google's help if you get stuck (which I did, at one point). Unlike with KDP, there are informed and careful people on the other end: www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,167655.0.html |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2014 14:15:33 GMT -5
Did you notice that the required preview amount is at least 20% on Google, when Amazon only allows 10%?
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Post by Becca Mills on Mar 28, 2014 18:47:02 GMT -5
Did you notice that the required preview amount is at least 20% on Google, when Amazon only allows 10%? Interesting! If I noticed that, I didn't remember it. Do you think that'll make a difference? |
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 3, 2014 18:50:04 GMT -5
Up to 1090 on Google, now. That rate -- 100+/week -- is better than the typical week I'm having on Amazon, at this point. Could be a blip, but it still seems promising to me.
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 5, 2014 23:57:54 GMT -5
I know you guys prolly are not that interested in this stuff, so forgive -- I'm using the thread to collect info as much as anything else.
Amazons downloads, 4/1-4/5: 53 (almost all in the U.S.)
Google Play, same period: 82 (AU 36, U.S. 20, SA 10, NZ 5)
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Post by Suzy on Apr 6, 2014 2:11:02 GMT -5
That's excellent, Becca! It makes me want to upload my books there. But how? What kind o file do you upload? I've been scared off hearing it's very complicated.
ETA: I read Tk's thread on KB, so now I know what to do. It appears that it's fine to just save a word doc to PDF and upload that. I'll look into it when I have finished my WIP
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 6, 2014 13:09:55 GMT -5
It is sort of complicated. I just followed TK's directions line by line, and it went fine UNTIL I neglected to scroll down on one of the financial pages and left something blank. So my book didn't go live and I couldn't figure out why. I email Google Play help, and within a day they got back to me with a clear answer that was obviously the result of a real person actually getting into my account and seeing what I'd done wrong -- not a canned response, like you'd get from KDP. I was pretty impressed. I filled in the part I'd left blank, and then everything was fine.
Oh, there is one glitch -- the book description areas don't like formatted text, even though they are set up to allow formatting (italics, etc.) Some of the italics I used worked, but in most spots it plucked out formatted text and moved it to the bottom of the paragraph. So I went through and just made everything plain text. Could be this wouldn't happen if you used a different browser. No, scratch that. I use Chrome, and that's *their* browser. Heh.
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Post by Suzy on Apr 6, 2014 13:29:37 GMT -5
It is sort of complicated. I just followed TK's directions line by line, and it went fine UNTIL I neglected to scroll down on one of the financial pages and left something blank. So my book didn't go live and I couldn't figure out why. I email Google Play help, and within a day they got back to me with a clear answer that was obviously the result of a real person actually getting into my account and seeing what I'd done wrong -- not a canned response, like you'd get from KDP. I was pretty impressed. I filled in the part I'd left blank, and then everything was fine. Oh, there is one glitch -- the book description areas don't like formatted text, even though they are set up to allow formatting (italics, etc.) Some of the italics I used worked, but in most spots it plucked out formatted text and moved it to the bottom of the paragraph. So I went through and just made everything plain text. Could be this wouldn't happen if you used a different browser. No, scratch that. I use Chrome, and that's *their* browser. Heh. There is no such thing as a free lunch... |
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Post by cbedwards on Apr 7, 2014 8:07:53 GMT -5
I think the PDF is for Google Books. I "think" you'd want to upload an epub to sell on Google Play. I'm not Mr. Computer or anything and I was able to do it. Their customer service was quick and helpful, too.
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Post by Suzy on Apr 7, 2014 8:13:08 GMT -5
I think the PDF is for Google Books. I "think" you'd want to upload an epub to sell on Google Play. I'm not Mr. Computer or anything and I was able to do it. Their customer service was quick and helpful, too. Hmmm. TK seemed to say she uploaded a PDF there... ETA: No, you're right. It has to be an e-pub... |
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Post by cbedwards on Apr 7, 2014 8:22:41 GMT -5
The last fews thing I put up I didn't send a PDF and they are for sale.
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