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Post by Daniel on Jan 5, 2015 9:28:10 GMT -5
Awesome month! Congratulations. Last time I checked, Solatium is still looking good from a ranking and review standpoint. You are definitely moving enough books to justify writing the next one.
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Post by Becca Mills on Jan 5, 2015 10:30:10 GMT -5
Thanks, Daniel!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2015 10:49:13 GMT -5
Congrats, and thank you.
I'm doing this experiment myself. The first in my series went free December, 9th. If anyone is interested, I'll gladly post my findings.
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Post by Becca Mills on Jan 5, 2015 11:28:28 GMT -5
Congrats, and thank you. I'm doing this experiment myself. The first in my series sent free December, 9th. If anyone is interested, I'll gladly post my findings. Please do post any info you're willing to share, Andrew! Off to download ...
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Post by Daniel on Jan 5, 2015 11:35:41 GMT -5
Congrats, and thank you. I'm doing this experiment myself. The first in my series sent free December, 9th. If anyone is interested, I'll gladly post my findings. I'm definitely interested. Real data is good!
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Post by Hsin-Yi on Jan 5, 2015 19:25:53 GMT -5
The big bump to downloads of Nolander on Google is striking, but sell-through from that bump is weak, so far -- only a handful of copies of Solatium are moving there per day. Google users seem to really, really, REALLY like a free book. Becca - sorry - I can't remember if I congratulated you on Solarium (and Theriac). Belated congrats if I haven't! I think your launch numbers are AMAZING!! 500 copies is brilliant, especially with 2/3rds at full price. Just wanted to chime in also that I see that with GP too - loads of downloads of my free kids book but very little sell through.
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Post by Becca Mills on Jan 5, 2015 22:54:46 GMT -5
Thank you, Hsin-Yi! I wonder if more people poop out on reading the books they download on Google Play. Back when I had a smart phone, I read a book or two on it. It sort of sucked.
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Post by Hsin-Yi on Jan 6, 2015 0:18:10 GMT -5
Thank you, Hsin-Yi! I wonder if more people poop out on reading the books they download on Google Play. Back when I had a smart phone, I read a book or two on it. It sort of sucked. I actually read exclusively on my phone (but it's an old Samsung Galaxy 2 so not one of the tiny new models) - but I use the Kindle App and don't buy through GP. My husband has an iPhone and I really don't know how people read on THOSE - hideous small, narrow screens. Mine is about 60% the size of a Kindle and I find it quite comfortable. I love having my whole library any time I want, on my phone - much more convenient than having to remember to lug Kindle along (and charge it!). But then I also don't care about prices of ebooks if I like the author/books (can't understand these people on Kboards who say they'll never pay more than $5.99 for ebook on principle) and I don't judge books by their covers and I don't finish books that annoy/bore me - I just stop reading and move on to something else, instead of forcing myself to read it to the end just because I've paid for it and then feel so angry that I have to leave a bitter review... so I guess I'm not the typical reader ETA: and I never download books just because they're 99c / FREE (unless it's to support a fellow author friend or something) - my time is the most valuable thing of all (hence why I just stop reading crap books) and I'm fussy about filling up my Kindle with rubbish - so I only download a book (whatever price) if it's something I really want to read.
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Post by Daniel on Jan 6, 2015 9:36:08 GMT -5
But then I also don't care about prices of ebooks if I like the author/books (can't understand these people on Kboards who say they'll never pay more than $5.99 for ebook on principle) and I don't judge books by their covers and I don't finish books that annoy/bore me - I just stop reading and move on to something else, instead of forcing myself to read it to the end just because I've paid for it and then feel so angry that I have to leave a bitter review... so I guess I'm not the typical reader I'm one of those readers who has trouble coughing up more than $4.99 for a book. My wife jokes that my pricing sensibilities are stuck in the 80's, so I guess that makes me a cheapskate. Fortunately, I've been a big fan of the library, used book stores, and book exchanges for decades. I used to buy new paperbacks all the time when I was younger, but at some point the prices started escalating ridiculously, and when they went above $5, I stopped buying new. I'm afraid that price threshold has stuck with me. I certainly won't risk $10 on a book I might not like.
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Post by Becca Mills on Jan 6, 2015 11:50:49 GMT -5
That's interesting about your phone, Hsin-Yi. It's the back-lighting that got to me, I think, rather than the screen size. Then again, I have to do a huge amount of back-lit reading (when I write, when I grade papers), so maybe I bridle more than some folks at back-lighting for my pleasure reading.
I'm with you on the free/cheap books. I don't download anything I don't think I'll want to read. I have way too many books in my account already.
Daniel, I agree that new book prices are ridiculous. I don't mind paying $8-10, but once you get up in he $15-30 range, I start to get the heebie-geebies. I get those as gifts for people sometimes, but that's about it. Thank goodness for Kindle.
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Post by Hsin-Yi on Jan 6, 2015 22:27:35 GMT -5
I'm one of those readers who has trouble coughing up more than $4.99 for a book. My wife jokes that my pricing sensibilities are stuck in the 80's, so I guess that makes me a cheapskate. Fortunately, I've been a big fan of the library, used book stores, and book exchanges for decades. I used to buy new paperbacks all the time when I was younger, but at some point the prices started escalating ridiculously, and when they went above $5, I stopped buying new. I'm afraid that price threshold has stuck with me. I certainly won't risk $10 on a book I might not like. Hah! Come to Australia, Daniel, where short paperbacks normally retail for $25 - $30 and anything longer or hardback for $60!! That'll re-adjust your sense of value on ebook prices very quickly! I nearly had a heart attack when we emigrated out. Back in the UK, I was used to 6 pounds on average for a paperback and I had a 5-book a week book habit... that all went out the window when we moved Down Under!! And yeah, imagine how annoyed you'd feel if you spent $30 - $40 and then found that the book wasn't very good!! That happened to me a few times and then I practically stopped buying new books for a long time. Too scared (and too expensive!) to take the chance! It was WONDERFUL when Kindle & ebooks became available and I was able to start reading again. So for me, anything below $15 is "cheap" - and anything below $5, I don't even blink at. It's only my TIME and the cluttering up of my Kindle that becomes the issue.
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Post by Rinelle Grey on Jan 7, 2015 0:33:50 GMT -5
I think I can count on one hand the number of (fiction) books I've bought new in Australia (and it was in the days when they were about $16 for a paperback). I can also count on one hand the number of ebooks I've spent more than $5 on too. But then, I'll likely buy (or more likely, rent!) a movie instead of seeing it in the cinemas, and I don't buy magazines, coffee, or any of those kinds of things. I'm a bit of a budgeter all round, not just with books!
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Post by Becca Mills on Jan 7, 2015 11:42:27 GMT -5
$60 for a book ... I wonder if it's because the books are mostly printed elsewhere and brought in by ship or plane.
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Post by Rinelle Grey on Jan 7, 2015 20:20:06 GMT -5
Nope, it's because book stores in Australia are only allowed to sell a book that isn't printed in Australia if none of the printing companies here will print it. So no getting it done somewhere cheap! It's pretty much killed all the book stores here already, yet they still cling to it as far as I know.
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Post by Hsin-Yi on Jan 7, 2015 20:34:34 GMT -5
$60 for a book ... I wonder if it's because the books are mostly printed elsewhere and brought in by ship or plane. Yeah, I always thought it was due to the import costs - but didn't know what Rinelle said above. Plus, to rub salt in the wound, the selection is pathetic most of the time. Only the bestsellers and book prize winners (and local Aussie trad-pubbed authors) - are stocked. There are a couple of discount book shops but they REALLY only stock the big Airport bestsellers. I was so sad when Borders closed coz that was the only time we had bookstores big enough with decent selection - if I'm going to spend $25 - $30 on a book, at least I want to know that I'm choosing from all the options! Now I find it very frustrating to go into Dymocks - the main bookstore chain - which have reduced to tiny stores with each genre taking up a couple of shelves. It's no wonder I read almost exclusively on the Kindle app on my phone now. I will tell you that books in NZ (where we lived for 8yrs before moving to Oz) were even MORE expensive - but everything material was expensive in NZ - and I always thought it was because it was at the edge of the world and everythign had to be imported and cost so much (or made locally with high labour costs). I know that postage from us out to the rest of the world is HORRENDOUS - whenever I send a parcel, the shipping usually equals or exceeds the cost of the items inside - it really puts you off sending anything to anybody. I've resorted to using Amazon.co.uk to sending gifts to nephews & nieces in Europe - even though I don't really like it coz it's so impersonal - but otherwise, you're spending $50 on a gift and paying $120 to ship it!!! (Plus you end up very restricted in only trying to find things that are lightweight to send...)
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Post by Becca Mills on Feb 1, 2015 0:43:04 GMT -5
Nolander (permafree):
all Amazons: 6183 (Nov13) + 780 (Dec13) + 663 (Jan14) + 347 (Feb14) + 383 (Mar14) + 262 (Apr14) + 245 (May14) + 200 (Jun14) + 218 (Jul14) + 179 (Aug14) + 422 (Sep14) + 206 (Oct14) + 299 (Nov14) + 444 (Dec14) + 509 (Jan15) = 11,849
Google: 974 (Nov13-Mar14) + 537 (Apr14) + 619 (May14) + 672 (Jun14) + 659 (Jul14) + 698 (Aug14) + 529 (Sep14) + 1988 (Oct14) + 2842 (Nov14) + 2446 (Dec14) + 1956 (Jan15) = 13,920
Smashwords: 173 (Nov-Mar) + 119 (Apr) + 32 (May14) + 28 (Jun14) + 44 (Jul14) + 25 (Aug14) + 14 (Sep14) + 127 (Oct14-Jan15) = 562
B&N: 150 (Nov-Mar) + 131 (Apr) + 157 (May14) + 85 (Jun14) + 68 (Jul14) + 29 (Aug14) + 13 (Sep14) + 86 (Oct14-Dec14) = 719 [Jan15 not yet reporting]
Kobo: 85 (Nov13-Feb14) + 19 (Mar14-Jul14) + 4 (Aug14) + 296 (Sep14-Jan15) = 325
Drivethru Fiction: 32 (Nov-Mar) + 1 (Apr) + 4 (May14) + 1 (Jun14) + 5 (Jul14) + 1 (Aug14) + 3 (Sep14) + 12 (Oct14-Jan15) = 59
iTunes: 24 (Nov-Mar) + 9 (Apr) + 2 (May14) + 4 (Jun14) + 3 (Jul14) + 7 (Aug14) + 2 (Sep14) + 39 (Oct14-Jan15) = 90
*Nolander is also available in a free boxed set that's been downloaded a lot of times -- well over 100,000, probably, across all platforms.
Sell-Through to Solatium:
all Amazons: 551 (Dec14) + 366 (Jan15) = 917
Google: 181 (Dec14) + 127 (Jan15) = 308
Smashwords: 2 (Dec14) + 1 (Jan15) = 3
B&N: 7 (Dec14) + 15 (Jan15) = 22
Kobo: 2 (Dec14) + 6 (Jan15) = 8
Drivethru Fiction: 0 (Dec14) + 1 (Jan15) = 1
iTunes: 9 (Dec14) + 20 (Jan15) = 29
Thoughts:
- The January upticks for Solatium at B&N, Kobo, and iTunes are very probably due to downloads of the boxed set in which it's included. The boxed set has been more successful in gaining visibility on those sites than Nolander ever has been as a free stand-alone novel.
- Note the very weak sell-through at Google. The almost 14,000 permafree downloads of Nolander there in the last year, combined with an unknown number of downloads of the boxed set in the last three and a half months (thousands, certainly), have still only generated 300 sales of Solatium. Pretty bad. The same thing is clear at Amazon, when you factor in the probably 80,000 recent downloads of the boxed set. This has motivated me to revise Nolander a bit to see if I can make it stronger. The funnel thing just doesn't work if the first book isn't strong enough.
- Downloads of Nolander on Amazon were up in December and January, suggesting that the publication of Solatium and "Theriac" (a free short story) did bring more attention to the permafree. That's good.
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Post by Daniel on Feb 1, 2015 9:42:14 GMT -5
The funnel thing just doesn't work if the first book isn't strong enough. I'll be interested in seeing what you do with Nolander. FWIW, I would have bought Solatium on the strength of Nolander.
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Post by Becca Mills on Feb 1, 2015 10:15:34 GMT -5
The funnel thing just doesn't work if the first book isn't strong enough. I'll be interested in seeing what you do with Nolander. FWIW, I would have bought Solatium on the strength of Nolander. Thanks, Daniel. I think it's almost ready to go. Just need to find time to proof it.
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Post by Miss Terri Novelle on Feb 1, 2015 11:29:01 GMT -5
Chiming in, I did buy Solatium on the strength of Nolander and I'd do it again. I thoroughly enjoyed both and have been hounding my husband to read them.
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Post by Becca Mills on Feb 1, 2015 12:32:14 GMT -5
Chiming in, I did buy Solatium on the strength of Nolander and I'd do it again. I thoroughly enjoyed both and have been hounding my husband to read them. Awww ... thank you, Laura!
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