Vincent Zandri's Blog - Posts Tagged "ja-konrath"

Lately I feel like I'm at war with the world's bookstores. Nothing could be further from the truth. While it's true I've been social networking and virtual "cyber" pushing the Kindle and EBook sales of my new bestsellers, The Remains and Moonlight Falls (and the forthcoming The Innocent), like a street-corner prostitute on crack, I haven't completely ignored the value and communal benefits of the traditional bookstore. After all, all my books are still published in paper and like any other author, there's no greater feeling than holding your own book in your hand.

However, bookstores if they are to last must face some serious facts, the major one being, if they don't adapt to the new indie publishing revolution, especially EBook/Kindle publishing, they will go out of business, or at the very least relegate their personalized service to the big box Target's of the world. That includes the littlest corner shop to the big B&N stores.

Get the rest of the scoop here from the Vincent Zandri Vox!!!:

http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...

The Remains

A little boy in short pants jumping in a puddle of freshly collected rain ...a bearded man with a blood-stained white apron wrapped around his paunch standing outside a butcher shop smoking a cigarette, a boar's head hanging by a string inside the window...a stunning middle-aged woman wearing a short black skirt, knee length leather boots, tight jacket and slim eye-glasses, converses on a phone while walking hurredly past...a young woman is black skirt, knee length boots, tight jacket and thick, long, black hair holds her boyfriend's hand while they peer at the muddy Arno, which runs over the banks this time of year...a squad of uniformed Carabinari drilling with automatic rifles, trumpets and drums while the tourists and smoking cafe patrons look curiously on.... For the full story hit the "Vox":

http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...

The Innocent
The Remains

I know, I'm way behind on my blogs...but, I'm in Italy and working feverishly to get the next two Moonlights done...In the meantime we'll be bringing you the new bestselling Moonlight short, Moonlight Mafia and the paperback edition of The Remains...And don't forget The Innocent. The followup to The Innocent will hopefully be here in January: Godchild.

In keeping with the blog however, here' s my list of essential top 20 noir novels as presented by noir critic and novelist Heath Lowrance in his very cool blog, Psycho-Noir.....

Get the rest of the story here at the Vox!

http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...

Moonlight Mafia (A Digital Short)The Remains

The Innocent

Here's the latest review from Cafe of Dreams Blog Critics Reviews....

get it at the Vox:

http://www.cafeofdreamsbookreviews.co...



The Remains

The Remains

(What follows is part one of an ongoing informal Q&A I've got going with bestselling author J.Carson Black. The Q&A will be published in parts here and on Black's blog and eventually in its entirety)

The Silver Bullet for bestselling book sales: Does it actually exist?
My humble opinion: There is no silver bullet per se, when it comes to selling a lot of E-Books, Nooks and Kindles, so much as there are "bullets."

What's for certain is that every E-Book which is successful (and paper book for that matter) will have at least four things in common:

1. A great cover.
2. An intriguing and well written product description.
3. A price that says "Buy me" to impulse buyers ($.99 is a good place to start).
4. Great writing and a great story.

The other stuff or, in this case, more bullets: Social Networking on Facebook and Twitter helps keep you in the know, and so do virtual tours. Every published author has to maintain an up-to-date blog these days, and it pays to put out as many books as you can write well in a reasonable amount of time since you never know which title or titles is simply going to take off. Bestsellers like Aaron Patterson and JA Konrath have reminded us of the important of title proliferation time and time again in their own blogs.

The one silver bullet no one can control however is this: Luck.

Some books either have it or they don't. There are books out there that get terrible reviews and win no prizes that somehow hit the Amazon Top Ten Bestselling Kindle E-Book List and there are books that win major awards like the Edgar and receive wonderful reviews that tank in the marketplace. You simply never can tell.

I'm convinced my new books have sold well in part because I've published two novels with the big legacy publishers in New York City. Titles that received a lot of praise from such notable publications as Publishers Weekly, The Boston Herald and the New York Post. Those reviews are mine to keep forever and ever, and my new publisher at StoneHouse/StoneGate Ink does not hesitate to display them prominently now that the same books, THE INNOCENT and GODCHILD are republished and enjoying Top 100 Amazon Kindle Bestseller status ("Innocent" was in the Top Ten for a month).

However, despite all the above, if you were to twist my arm and hold me down on the ground and demand one solid answer to the question, "What's the silver bullet?" the closest sure bet would be price. Simply said, when a title is $.99 it tends to sell. On the other hand, there are many more books priced at $.99 that DO NOT SELL than there are books that move! Remember what I just said about luck?

There's something else to consider about price: Do these "one buck" discounted e-books make the kind of money that a novel priced at $2.99 or even $3.99 will make? Not by a long shot. But if you are lucky, you might move a thousand or more per day and that will give you a great Amazon ranking.

"Innocent" was priced at $.99 for a short time. But at the start of this month it went back to its normal, $3.99 price tag. At the same time we witnessed a steady drop in ranking from No. 3 to around 90-120 over the past three weeks (after moving around 80,000 - 100,000 units in eight weeks). Trust me when I say we are pleasantly surprised. A price increase of 400% raised the possibility of the novel immediately plummeting in ranking to somewhere back in the 4 figures. But "Innocent" has proven its worth with a great cover, great product description, great reviews, and what I hope is very good story. What it won't do at that price however, is entice many of the impulse buyers who buy now/read later. Still, the novel is making far more money at the new, higher price. And we feel that $3.99 is still a bargain. Have you bought a Big Mac lately?

So, to repeat, there is no silver bullet when it comes to selling books, but there are bullets. And each and every one of them is painted with a layer of luck in order for them to hit their target.

Concrete Pearl

The following blog is now appearing at The Vincent zandri Vox:http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...



There are reasons I don't get into publishing and this is the main reason why: Success is a guessing game more synonymous with luck than solid business practices or science.

My books took a bit of dip this month compared with rocket-propelled sales of the past three months in which I sold over 100,000 Kindle E-Books of one single title alone: THE INNOCENT. That book was purposely priced at $.99 for a period and we (meaning myself and my pub StoneGate Ink), believe that the special price propelled the sale initially. And then, once it reached a certain rank (say below 50, sales snowballed) It also served to expand my audience by enormous numbers.

However, when you price a book that cheaply you also pretty much give away the store. Even so, I made a personal profit of over $15,000 for that one book. Not bad change. But in May, when we changed the price to a more realistic and reasonable $3.99 and later, $2.99 (remember folks, I am traditionally published and receive only a 50% commission for which an agent takes 15%), we then earned a very reasonable profit from a book that was once acquired by Delacorte Press and blurbed by the likes of Harlan Coben and Don Winslow. We sold something like 13,000 copies during May which we were happy about. The irony? If Random House had held onto the E-Rights for both THE INNOCENT and GODCHILD (which also hit the Top 30), I would have finally earned out my mid-six figure advance with them. Bad timing on their part, great timing on mine.

The final sales strategy analysis? According to indie publisher and bestselling author Aaron Patterson (who is also my publisher) "The end result was about a 5k increase to the bottom line, but a hugs loss on the people reached. The question is: Is it better to reach a huge amount of people for a time and give up sales, or try to make as much as you can no matter how many sell? I believe in both. Put books on sale, test the market as each author will have different stats. Some will sell well at a buck and others it wont matter. I have one author that sells just as good at 2.99 as she does at 8.99. So we keep it at 8.99. "

Then came June, the Amazon Summer Sizzler thing, the tag debacle and who knows what else, and sales dropped off significantly no matter what the price. Apparently, a lot of indie authors and no doubt, legacy published authors as well, began scratching their heads as early as June 2nd at the virtual tanking of their ranks. Since this was an across the board phenomenon much has been written and speculated about what happened. Indie expert and bestselling author Joe Konrath addressed this issue yesterday in his blog by pointing out the following:

"Summer is slow. But once the holiday season comes around again, there will be another boost in sales across the board. This year should be bigger than last year, as ereader prices come down and move from early adopters into the mainstream. In other words, no one needs to panic. No business has constant, unstoppable growth. Sales fluctuate. This is normal."

This a is a rapidly changing and emerging business. Which is why I'm a full-time writer and not a publisher. E-Books are still in their infancy, and for any of you who have children, you know how everyday can be an adventure when you have a baby hanging around. One minute the cuddly little kid is cooing in your arms, snuggled up all warm and cozy in the nape of your neck, and next, he's projectile hurling chunks all over your new gaberdine suit.

So what to do?

Listen the experts when they tell you not to worry about minute-by-minute sales. Like Konrath says, this is "a marathon not a sprint." It's E-Books. Our books aren't about to be removed from the shelves anytime soon. Like Patterson says, keep experimenting with prices until you find that "sweet spot." You don't have to be in the Amazon Top Ten in order to make a good living (although it is rush for the ego, believe me..., but again quoting Joe, "what goes up must come down").

But also listen to your heart...Your writing heart that is. No doubt it will tell you to write more books, and to write them as well as you are humanly capable. There is no better way to guarantee excellent sales than by introducing a new book to your fans and future fans.

Concrete Pearl

The following blog is "now appearing" at The Vincent Zandri Vox: http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...



I'm in Florence for the month working on two sets of galleys, researching a new novel, and trying to make two trade journalism deadlines. Plus my son the Bear is with me, and despite some junkets to Rome and other places, I'm really trying hard to get everything done before I have to hand back the keys to this apartment on the 31st. That said, I've been cruising through some of the more prominent lit blogs looking for a topic I can blog about quickly and effectively. Or, to be more frank, I'm more or less looking for a topic I can rob.

But all existing topics aside, there seems to be a new thread I'm noticing that's springing up amongst just what a few months ago might have been some steadfast "indie" authors, some of whom publish with indie small presses like StoneHouse/StoneGate Ink (as in my case) and some of whom DIY. The thread is this: Indie authors who are making waves in the bestseller lists are being picked up by the majors. And gladly.

Thriller writer Simon Wood is one author, who like me, has been published by the biggies in the past and while the experience wasn't by any means an end-all/be-all, he nonetheless has found great success in indie publishing, especially when Amazon directly marketed one of his titles catapulting it to the No. 2 spot on overall Amazon Kindles. You can check out his story here at JA Konrath's Blog.

Wood has to be making a great payday as an indie. I know this from personal experience. I too have reached the top ten and held tight at the No.3 spot with THE INNOCENT while at the same time, held tight with two other books in the top 100. That said, why would I want to publish any other way than indie?

But take the case of JCarson Black who has also been killing it in the top 100. She's another ultra successful indie author who has been with the biggies in the past and has recently made a return by having signed a multi-book deal with Thomas and Mercer, Amazon's new publishing house. Thing you gotta ask yourself is this: if the machine ain't broke, why try and fix it? If she was doing so well as an indie, why sign on with a big publisher?

Same story with Scott Nicholson who has literally written the book (or books) on the subject of indie publishing. Both he and Konrath have signed with the aforementioned T&M...There must be another dozen hyper-successful indie authors like these who have either willingly given up indie publishing exclusively or are contemplating it, even while kicking some serious ass with no real end in sight. Why are they doing it? Why jeopardize the relative freedom and money-making potential to once more become beholden to a big corporation?

I think the answer lies not in dollars and sense or big business vs. the little guy or even logic for that matter. I think the answer has to do with the human condition. Or to be more precise, the one thing that is most important to a professional writer: validation.

I'm not going to lie. Even after experiencing one of my lucrative years (and the year ain't over yet by a long shot) as an author since signing a mid-six-figure deal with Delacorte, I have some things on the fire. Rather my agent is working them. Soon as they are done and can be announced, you'll all hear the dinner bell clanging loudly. Suffice to day I'm open to making a return to the biggies not just for the money, but to be perfectly honest, for the pride as well. I have a perfectly good and lucrative and happy experience right now publishing with StoneHouse and StoneGate Ink, but to be offered an opportunity to do the same at another big house would only add further validation (there's that word again) not only to my recent Top 10 success, but to me as a writer also.

I wonder if a lot of indie authors out there feel the same way?

No matter what happens I plan on continuing my relationship with the "Gates," but I also want to explore the enormous marketing and distribution possibilities of once more being with a major pub.

Being an indie rocks, no doubt about it. Just me against the big bad world. But then so does belonging to something important and exclusive, like a major publishing house. I mean, what the hell, I'm only human.

Moonlight Rises