OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
The last few days at London Book Fair have been mind-blowing for me.
I feel this is a tipping point in my own author journey, and in this post I share with you what I have learned.
This week I experienced the Indie Bestseller group of authors, made up of Bella Andre, Hugh Howey, Jasinda Wilder, Barbara Freethy, Liliana Hart, Candice Hern and Stephanie Bond, all of whom are incredibly successful as indie authors, both in terms of hitting the big lists, satisfying readers, and making a very good living.
I say ‘experienced' because they are all forces of nature, working incredibly hard to express their creative selves, please readers and run international businesses. I met most of them personally and was able to chat and ask questions because they are not so well known in the UK so they weren't mobbed all the time. I was basically a fan-girl for several days, hanging on every word!
I love to write and to create for its own sake, but I am also unashamedly a business-woman and entrepreneur.
We all have different definitions of success, but I would not have given up my day job in 2011 if I hadn't seen that being an author could be a viable business. After 2.5 years, I'm currently earning about one third of what I was making as a business consultant, but in meeting the US Indies, I am even more confident that I can reach and surpass that. The penny has really dropped for me this time and I can see the path ahead.
Of course, Hugh Howey makes the point often that the outliers are not the success story of self-publishing, that we should be talking about the thousands of indies making good money, decent money, reaching readers and loving their lives as authors. Absolutely. But I am one of those already, and for me, the outliers are also the inspiration.
So let's get a little deeper … There were a few over-arching things that seem to go into their success:
- Focus on creating great books, for a specific audience. There was a lot of focus on brand, through cover design, through the author's name, through the genre or related genres. Write in one name and one genre and do 5-6 books in that in order to grow a fan base, before trying something new, if you want to be successful fast.
- Write a lot of books and produce them on a consistent schedule. To be a successful author, you need more than one book, for sure. But it seems you need more than 10 to make a very good living. Train your readers with what to expect and then deliver to that e.g.
- Grow an email list and use at least one form of social media for connection with the readers
- Allow time in the market – which enables development of craft and story, a slow build of readership and back-list creation which continues to grow the income every month.
- Work incredibly hard. As many small business owners know, owning a business is not about balance. If you are an ambitious author who wants to earn the big money, you have to work your butt off. If you want to be treated more like an employee, and clock off at 5pm, then get a publishing deal, or continue in the day job.
- Connect with other authors. Learn from each other. Connect with retailers as well, and play around with working together on different things. Be generous in helping others as much as you can, but always focus on the next book.
I am crazily encouraged by these things, because I am doing all of this already at a smaller scale. There is no magic bullet, it's just this list, which should be nothing new if you've been reading this blog for a while.
This year's LBF has been a game-changer for me as I caught a glimpse of my possible future in these wonderful, entrepreneurial indie authors. I feel like I am about three years behind them – so watch out for J.F.Penn in spring 2017!
Check out the video below or here on YouTube from Barbara Freethy, author of 37 books which have sold over 4 million copies. Barbara talks about going from author to CEO of a creative business, as well as branding, writing in a series, connecting with readers and what's coming next in the indie world.
I love this quote, as I totally agree with it. At this point, I feel like my whole life is marketing in that all I do is share what I love with people who want to hear about it!
Bella and Hugh Howey particularly talked about the book itself as marketing – the brilliant story, delivering on the promise to the reader, a consistent production schedule, covers that evoke the emotion of the story, the author's name, the title and sub-title, the sales description and keywords, email and newsletters. All this is ‘marketing' but it is also just the job of an author.
Bella stressed the importance of the author name on covers, as well as a recognizable cover branding – although changing this up over time was also encouraged if your covers look dated. Readers will likely forget the title of your books, but they shouldn't forget you as the author.
(3) Stay confident in your brand, and keep writing
Don't jump on trends, as they come around again. Barbara Freethy mentioned that she has seen the vampire craze at least three times in her career as an author, and she has just stuck to what she writes. The readers will stick around and then the author will find that the circle turns and their genre is trendy again. So keep delivering on your promise to the reader.
I also talked about this with USA Today bestselling author Steena Holmes, who said:
“It's not actually about writing what you want as an indie. If you want success, you have to focus on your readers, and if you want faster success, you should keep satisfying that core group of readers as that will bring you organic growth through word of mouth.”
Basically, keep writing in one genre, or at least related genres so you get crossover between customers. Deepen that one vertical.
(4) Expanding into audio rights can be a lucrative business move
Most of the Indie Bestseller group discussed how they were earning a great deal from audio now, and some even said that they could live off the audio proceeds alone. ACX is the only site available for royalty split deals right now, which makes it a great deal for indies. The biggest tip from Bella Andre was that ‘you live and die' on the professionalism and skill of the narrator, so choose carefully.
In terms of advertising audiobooks, check out Bella's audiobook page and consider it as a template for your own.
(5) How to go from being an author to being the CEO of a global business
This is something I think about a lot right now, as there are huge benefits to being an indie, but one of the drawbacks is that you do have to do everything yourself … or do you?
That seems to be the crux point for the Indie Bestsellers – how much can you outsource? and to who?
Bella Andre still does her own cover design, but most other authors outsource that. Other outsourced tasks are editing (of course), proof-reading, audio narration quality control, file formatting, some PR activities through launch period, rights negotiation, website design and technical things, accounting and reporting as well as data analysis.
The main thing that everyone agreed on was that the author remains the creator of content and is also in charge of connection with fans. Those two are non-negotiable. I'll be getting into this topic more as I work on a new non-fiction book about the business of being an author, hopefully out in the autumn 2014.
In the video below, Bella talks about her tipping point, the importance of community amongst authors and readers. You can also watch it here on YouTube.
For brilliant tweets that minute the main author events and a different perspective from mine, check out Paris Marx's round-up of day 1 and day 2 of London Book Fair, and his twitter stream for #LBF14.
Finally, it seems to me that indie authors exist in a different dimension, a world of infinite possibility
I started my week at Digital Minds, the pre-conference day run as part of London Book Fair at a separate conference centre. The opening speech was by Anthony Horowitz, who I think is a brilliant author, but his words made me think that I am living in a completely different world to him and many of those in the established publishing industry.
Most of the sessions of the day seemed to be two years out of date, rather than future focused. The questions asked of Hugh Howey, Orna Ross and Jon Fine indicated that many people still don't understand what indie authors are about, or are even interested in working with us or learning things together. I see this new world of publishing as infinite possibility in an ever-expanding world of opportunity, but the atmosphere was sombre.
The picture left has some of the characters involved, from the left and clockwise: Debbie Young, Hugh Howey, Diego Marano, Dan Holloway, Orna Ross, and Jessica Bell. The picture was taken at the launch of Open Up To Indie Authors, a campaign to get the establishment to let indies be part of festivals, bookstores, prizes and more.
Amazon ACX and Audible sponsored the party along with KDP and Createspace, and the pub was packed with talented writers, and business people working in the new industry that the indie world is made up of, many of whom make a significant income reaching readers directly.
But we are really just getting started in this new world.
In the last few weeks, we've seen NookPress finally open up to authors outside the US, as well as the launch of ACX for UK authors. Indies have got ebooks and print-on-demand in English pretty much nailed, and audio in English about to boom … but the next wave of expansion is global penetration and international translations and rights deals, and this has segment of the market has barely even started yet.
In the last two weeks, I have published my own books on Nook, and worked with two audiobook narrators on ACX. I have two books in German coming out in the next few months, as well as Italian and Spanish in the works. I also have a right agent working on other deals, so of course, I'll report on my experiences more in coming months. By this time next year, at LBF 2015, I expect things to have changed all over again.
My author friends, we live in interesting times and I am ridiculously excited! I hope you are too!
What are you excited about? Please leave a comment below and join the conversation.
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1 2 3 Next »Brilliant post Joanna, thank you so much for sharing! Fantastic pics and videos as well :) You all look lovely, vibrant, and energised!
The way I see things, the horizon of the world of indie publishing keeps expanding, as opposed to that of traditional publishing, which is shrinking. There is a way for the two worlds to co-exist but only if there is mutual respect. I think this respect is slowly growing but there is still a lot of fear and uncertainty from trad pub.
Indies are more flexible, more nimble, and more willing to embrace change. They are always looking for opportunities to grow their careers and expand their business. This is why they will prevail. Traditional publishing can do this as well. Yes, they are huge companies and bringing about change is more of a challenge, but many big organisations can and do move more swiftly, Amazon being one of them. These companies listen to what their consumers want and adapt their practices to deliver the goods. I believe one of the principal reasons they do so well is because they have strong, visionary, innovative leaders.
Thanks AD, and I agree on 'nimble' and also I think having skin in the game helps to guide what we consider to be important. It's about running your own business, where every hour you spend benefits your bottom line, as opposed to being an employee. For most people in publishing, their salary is not related to the books they work on. But for indies, every day is a chance to expand markets and that income ends up in our pockets.
Exciting times, indeed!
I couldn't agree with you more, Joanna! LBF was a game-changer. I feel it has given me the push I need to really up my game, and as you said for yourself, when I look back in a few years, I think LBF will prove to have been a real turning point.
It's unfortunate that the brilliance of our little corner didn't make it far into the rest of the fair. I noticed its Twitter account was never tweeting anything about Author HQ, nor was there much in any of the reporting about it. Most of the seminars I attended were by or for indie authors, but the few times I went to see anything else I was almost shocked by the crazy, almost ignorant, things I was hearing.
While all the great knowledge shared at LBF was incredible, I think the best part for me was meeting so many amazing people. From the indie bestsellers, to you, Simon Whistler, Orna Ross, and just so many more authors at didn't stages of the game, it was both inspiring and informing. I've made connections I can go to when I need help or the kick I need to keep at it, and I hope I can do the same for them.
Keep up the great work, Joanna, and thanks for the links!
Thanks so much for sharing my corner of the fair, Paris. Your comments echo my feeling that we live in almost a parallel universe to many in the traditional industry. I see unlimited opportunity, millions of new readers, exciting years of expansion into new markets, creation of stories and worlds that readers fall in love with, and for me, lots of travel :)
I also think that these fairs and conferences should primarily be about connection with other authors. I used to go along to all the sessions, but I feel that more can be learned from the chats in the hallways ... connection on twitter first is always a great introduction!
I hope to see you at another fair, perhaps BEA next year, or Frankfurt ... or LBF15 :)
I'm with you on the travel! (And the rest of it.)
The coming years are going to be so exciting for indie publishing. It gives me shakes just to think about it.
I'm trying to figure out what the future holds for me now, and which conferences fit into the plans. I'm sure we'll see each other sooner rather than later, wherever it may be. Sure you don't want to come over for the Toronto and Montreal book fairs in November? :p
Great roundup of LBF, Joanna. I can hear the giddiness in your words :-) It was beneficial that not many people knew who the big indie bestsellers were. We had them all to ourselves! Paris did some stellar tweeting at the event. Wrote probably the equivalent of a novella, I'd say!
Haha, I'll just package up my tweets as a short self-publishing masterclass. :p
Agreed - I was absolutely thrilled to get so much time with the indie rockstars. I'm pretty sure things will change over time :) ... and maybe it will be you and I in a few years, Eliza :)
I haven't stopped talking about those fabulous American indie stars - whether people are interested or not! They were so inspirational. I think it's a mark of how traditional and conservative LBF is that we got to grill them in that intimate Q & A session - there were more of them than us!!
Great post Joanna - I need to let it all sink in to get all the goodness out.
If you can tweet as fast as you did at the impromptu Q and A session, Paris, a novel will be of no bother to you.
Hey Joanna. Great post and wonderful contributions at the Wednesday pm sessions of the LBF too. An author friend asked me yesterday for my shortest possible summary of top marketing tips - which, remarkably, came out as broadly the same six bullet points as you listed above. Brilliant to put them so concisely though. I think a lot of us get daunted by the number of marketing possibilities and end up not seeing the wood for the trees. Onwards and upwards, eh?
Agreed Dave - it just comes back to basics. There's no magic bullet, we just have to do the work, write the words and please readers :) Luckily, that's a lot of fun!
Joanna – a fantastically enthusiastic post and the video interviews were simply brilliant. To see and hear those talented women describing how they have 'made it' was truly inspiring.
My own (non-fiction) book was published by a traditional publisher last year and it has been, shall we say, a 'learning' experience. In the end, I have done 99% of all the marketing myself, and they made such a hash of the Kindle version that I had to demand that they remade it from scratch. Then, after all that, the royalties for my efforts... Well, let's just say that despite them calling it a 'best seller' in the genre, I can't afford to give up the day job!
The lesson learned, of course, is that I would probably have been better off sticking to self-publishing, especially since I already had the experience of running my own magazine. Alongside this, following what you've achieved has certainly made me decide that my next publishing venture will be precisely that: MY publishing venture!
Keep it up, Joanna, great stuff.
Hi Henry - it's great to hear about your experience, and it verifies so much of what we're hearing these days. There are some great publishers who are good at ebooks and digital marketing, but they seem to be in the minority. And after all, nobody cares as much as we do about our books!
All the best with your new publishing venture for the next book :)
Joanna
I sense that the world is moving your way!
One thing that that stood out is this:
"...Most of the sessions of the day seemed to be two years out of date, rather than future focused. The questions asked of Hugh Howey, Orna Ross and Jon Fine indicated that many people still don’t understand what indie authors are about..."
To me this just signals a gigantic opportunity for those getting in early... such as yourself.
Jonathan
It's hard to remember that we are still 'early' in this market, Jonathan. But agreed, I feel like an early adopter in Europe, for sure :)
Great stuff, Joanna, and yay team!
It's always surprising the amount of naivete (or ignorance??) that still exists regarding indie publishing, especially among some of the trad publishing boffins. I guess they'll catch up eventually. ;-)
Do you know when ACX will be open to other parts of the world, not just US/UK?
Hi Belinda - I'm not sure about ACX - best to ask them directly :)
and I'm not sure trad pub wants to catch up to be honest - they are still making enough money at a large scale not to worry about the little people - what's so great is that we can just get on with it all and not worry about what they're up to!
Joanna, Thank you for sharing this information. It' s a helpful reminder that authors can make a career for themselves and by sticking to basic actions. It was also a great post because your enthusiasm that shone through is so inspirational! Thank you!
Thank you for sharing this. I have to confess to being ridiculously excited and yet also crushed at the same time. You see I'm a stay at home mum with elderly parents who need my help. For me the timing of the ebook revolution is pretty piss poor. There are priorities which I cannot down play or put aside if I wish to behave in the manner I consider appropriate for a decent human being.
There is no one else but McOther and me on the parenting front - I do have a brother who helps me to keep an eye on the old dears - so I have between 11am and 2pm some weekdays, during school term times, to do all of it. I work on the social networking side when I wake up, in the evening and in any other stolen moment I can grab. I gnash my teeth in frustration as I creep along the the road of literary life, at the speed glaciers move, eating snail and tortoise dust.
If I was sensible, I'd walk away from the whole sorry mess of trying to be a writer but I'm an authorholic and I can't. I still hope that I might somehow succeed in slow motion, against all logic and flying in the face of the mountain of evidence put by articles such as this.
Still, on the upside, I've written 4 books. The next two are out this year and so it'll only be another 6 years before I've written the required 10. It'll be 20 by then, of course but by that time I may have more opportunities to write and have learned to write faster. But all this does mean there are some days when all the networking, blogging and knocking about on the web seems a bit pointless. Today is one of them.
So here's to all the other #slowwriters out there and if any of you are reading this you are not alone. Join the club! :-) and to those of you with the luxury of enough time. Well done and good luck.
Cheers
MTM
Hi MTM, in terms of time to write, Jasinda Wilder mentioned she has 5 children!
so if can be done :)