Support for Indie Authors discussion

Hello everyone. So I've been thinking of releasing my debut novel, Kenji and Yuki: A Japanese Tale, some time in 2021. I have a couple of release dates in mind. The first is July 29th, 2021 and the second is November 10, 2021.

My debut novel is a romance and coming of age story that's targeted at Young Adults. It has been looked at by an editor and dozens of beta readers. I've taken the feedback I've gotten from them and applied quite a bit of it to my novel. At this point in time, I feel that it's almost ready to go.

I plan on self publishing my novel as only an eBook via Draft2Digital.

With that being said, do you think I should release it on July 29th, November 10th, or did you have another 2021 date in mind?

Unless you have a specific marketing plan tied to a date, I don't think it matters. Many people release books every day. It's unlikely you will stand out as an individual grain of sand on a beach. Therefore, you should release it when it is ready. That may be now or next year. I think the exact day is arbitrary if you are asking us for advice.

When I become rich and famous (tongue-in-cheek), I'll have a definite release date because radio, TV, appearances, and n/paper releases, etc. will have to be arranged. But for now, as an Indie author, I generally pick a month and the actual date will present itself unless I plan to have the ebook preordered.

If you are doing promos and a big launch planned, then you will need a specific date. If this is your first novel and you have no email list, following, etc. it doesn't really matter.

FYI for all who are writing a novel, you should start marketing it at least six month prior to publishing. This is where you get your email list excited, you contact your bloggers who handle your type of book, you let those FB groups your are in know that you have a book coming out., etc. To make the launch a success, it will take that six months to get it all in place.

I'm working on marketing this next year, so I will have my plan and begin my marketing for my newest book in January to be published in June. This will be my trial run for advanced marketing. From there I'll tweak it to get the results I want. My budget will be $500 total for marketing.

Just pick one, unless those dates tie into the Japanese culture or month, or are significant to young adults.

Phillip wrote: "Unless you have a specific marketing plan tied to a date, I don't think it matters. Many people release books every day. It's unlikely you will stand out as an individual grain of sand on a beach. ..."

I agree with what Phillip said. The date doesn't usually make much difference.

I released my debut 5 years after I started writing it. But I only chose that date when I knew I'd have the cover done ~5-6 weeks before that and that I'll need 2-3 more months for formatting (so the finish got me 3 weeks away from it).

Draft2Digital? Seriously? Run, don’t walk, away. They don’t do artwork. They don’t do editing. They just take 10% of your sales for putting your work on bookseller sites—which is free for you to do yourself, on Amazon and Smashwords (who puts it on Kubo, Apple Books, and Barnes and Nobel for you)

And, when should you release your first novel? When it’s ready, of course. There’s no special day when readers run to the bookseller. So you punch “Send” when the writing is at a professional level—when those who read the excerpt will be forced to buy because you’ve made them need to know what comes next.

Before computers came along, conventional advice was, “You’re ready to submit the work when the thought of retyping the manuscript to fix more problems makes you physically ill.” Today, it’s been modified to, when reading it again to look for problems does that.

We submit our work directly to the public. But the criteria publishers use when evaluating when to “buy” our work is, “How will a buyer react to this writing?” So…if the work couldn’t get at least a request for the full manuscript from a publisher, can we expect better from their customer—who is now ours?

My point? Write a best-seller and it matters not at all when you release it. Release something a publisher would reject before the end of page one and it matters not at all when you release it. A publisher will choose a given work because the writing stands out from the hundreds of others on their desk. A reader will choose you because the writing stands out from the thousands of others shouting, “Buy me…I’m better!”

In short: It’s time to release the project when the writing is ready…which is another discussion, entirely.

Amazon takes more than 10% of your profits. They aren't free. Draft2Digital is right up front in what they do. They are also have customer service who, unlike Amazon, responds to your problems. They also sell books all over the world and you are going wide with B&N, Kobo (this is a big one for them), Apple books, just like Smashwords plus a quite a few more. Not in Amazon. You are locked into them. They don't want you going to these other places.

As for Smashwords, I gave up on their meatgrinder. I couldn't get my manuscript through it and for me, easy is necessary. And like D2D they also take part of your profits.

I have no idea of where you got the idea that uploading a book to Amazon was 'free' when you put it on sale. It isn't. Amazon takes 20-30% of your profit. 30%.....is that free? I don't think so.

Yes, you can go through and upload your book to all the different websites. You can set up ad campaigns for them all and monitor what is going on, but I like the ease of one place monitoring and If I have a question, actually getting an answer back that isn't a form letter.

Amazon doesn't do artwork, or editing. Neither does Smashwords. That is you, the author's job. If you want a really good distributor, then go to Ingram-Spark, but you still have to do the marketing and your manuscript has to be pristine.

It doesn't matter what distributor you use, They all take part of your profits or they wouldn't be staying in business. Bottom line...unless you are doing a picture book or have some major drawings in your book, Draft2Ditigal offers good service. If you can get Smashwords to take your manuscript, they have decent service. Amazon has minimal service because they really don't care about you, the author. For them, it's all about the money. Choose your poison and go with it.

I have gotten the best service from D2D, but they are small and are limited in what you can do with the interior of your book. Same with Smashwords. Their uploading system won't take a lot of things, so be prepared to fight with it. Amazon takes it all, but frequently it doesn't come out like you wanted it to. Ingram-Spark, you better have everything embedded and perfect, but they do the best work on print books.

Again, none of the services are 'free'. You pay $49 for each title on Ingram. D2D take 10%, Amazon, 20-30%, I'm not sure about Smashwords because I gave up on them, but I'm pretty sure it's at least 10%.

Summer: for the romance genre and since it's set in Japan, I believe, so a new, vacation-type setting for many readers.

Amazon takes more than 10% of your profits. They aren't free. Draft2Digital is right up front in what they do.

Amazon takes 30%. And they take that from you, or, someone like Draft2Digital who publishes it for you. So what’s your point? Kindle accepts Word files. So D2Dl does nothing but put your book on Amazon, exactly the way you would.

They are also have customer service who, unlike Amazon, responds to your problems.

Problems? Certainly not with editing or the other things a publisher does. And once the book is up for sale, what problems are there?

Obviously you were published by Draft2Digital, and are using a made-up publisher’s name. So, specifically, what problems have they helped with that make their company necessary for Haily’s book? Have they driven sales of your books, significantly? Have their efforts resulted in lots of good reviews? Since you recommend them so strongly, in real-world terms, what have they done for you?

Not in Amazon. You are locked into them.

No. You’re not. You’re dead wrong on that point. That's true only if you sign up for Kindle Unlimited. So you're comparing apples and oranges.

As for Smashwords, I gave up on their meatgrinder. I couldn't get my manuscript through it and for me, easy is necessary.

Seriously? You upload a .doc file—the same one you might send to D2D. As someone who's done it many times, it's no big deal.

So if they do nothing to the “interior” of the book, and nothing to the exterior, what do they do, other then pushing “send,” that will be of use to Hailey, or anyone reading this thread?

Hailey wrote: "Hello everyone. So I've been thinking of releasing my debut novel, Kenji and Yuki: A Japanese Tale, some time in 2021. I have a couple of release dates in mind. The first is July 29th, 2021 and the..."

Since your target audience is YA, I would choose a date when teens are doing the most reading. The teen section at the library (pre-covid) used to get pretty empty a couple of weeks after school let out for the summer. They also checked out a lot of books for winter break.

Jay wrote: "Amazon takes more than 10% of your profits. They aren't free. Draft2Digital is right up front in what they do.

Amazon takes 30%. And they take that from you, or, someone like Draft2Digital who pub..."

Hi Jay! I think there might be some confusion floating around. D2D is NOT a publisher. For that matter, neither is Amazon. Neither one offers editing services. D2D is a distributor to many different markets. You don't need to use them, but let's not cast aspersions on the services they offer to authors who wish to use them.

Let's keep things calm 🙂

• D2D is a distributor to many different markets.

A distributor to distributors? Remember, their charge comes on top of the distributor's charge. So what is it they do that's worth 10% of your earnings on the book forever? "Format" the book? Hell, if you can't learn to do something that simple, you're incapable of learning the skills that will make the reader look at your excerpt and say yes.

Literally the only difference in format between Smashwords and Amazon is:
1. You save the Amazon file as .docx and Smashwords as .doc.
2. The disclaimer on the Smashwords flyleaf mentions Smashwords, the Amazon doesn't.

If that's too hard to handle...

Certainly, B.A. can do anything she cares to with her own work. But she was recommending that Hailey use D2D, based on things that are 100% untrue—like giving the impression that going through them doesn't incur the Amazon 30% distribution fee, when in reality, their 10% is charged to the amount that's left after Amazon et al. take their cut—and claiming that if you go with Amazon you're somehow "locked in," when you're not. In fact, you may be locked out of Kindle unlimited if you go with them.

Isn't our goal to help each other?

Jay, you are right in saying our goal is to help each other. However, we strive to do that in a respectful manner, yes? I may be wrong, and apologize if I am, but the tone of your posts here seems antagonistic.

At any rate, you have made your point, and B.A. has made hers. I don't think there is anything more to be learned here by continuing this thread.