I'm Late for a Very Important Date!

Today's post is late because I've been struggling to get the final edits done for A Modicum of Truth. A scene I thought I'd written wasn't in there. I went through notes and spread sheets, and I finally realized I'd thought about the scene while doing laundry, and when I went back to my computer, I picked the story with the following scene. *facepalm*

Then the rhythm of the climax was really off, and I didn't note something super important that had happened in the climax in the final chapter. My endings usually are a lot tighter, but then I realized it's technically the middle of the trilogy.

Add in my usual tendency to accidentally leave out articles and prepositions, I'd added nearly 10K words to the novel by the time I finished.

Just in time for the new episode of Samantha Bee tonight, thank Goddess!

In the meantime, chaos is running through Indie World. Data Guy put out the latest iteration of his Author Earnings report. And he greatly underestimated the level of anger Indie World has concerning trad pub.

Sort of like the men who don't get the #MeToo movement.

Even though a lot of indie writer will talk money, they are revealing their own numbers, not someone else's. Data Guy made the mistake of naming names and counting Benjamins. Publicly.

How gauche!

Then he made the second mistake of revealing that he's selling info he's scraped from Amazon to the bigger publishing companies. Basically, if you make $10 million or more, he'll sell you a copy of his data.

*facepalm*

A lot of indies gave Data Guy their personal information in order to calibrate his 'bots back at the beginning. And now they're feeling a little betrayed. Especially after they were named on Author Earnings.

There are already calls for a class action suit.

I can't comment on the legalities, or lack thereof, on who did what. But I will say there's nothing more fearsome on Earth than a bunch of romance writers with their panties in a wad.

Alternative Facts

Copyright 2017, Author Earnings

Author Earnings' latest report came out via Data Guy's presentation at last week's Digital Book World '17. This was more of an overall view of the industry and included not just Data guy's spiders, but also information from Nielson and Bookscan.

Yes, there was some pretty significant information. Such as the strength of indies in underserved markets such as African-American-themed books. Or that the print book sales surge was actually a test by Amazon offering consumers steeper discounts on trad published books after post-conspiracy debacle contract negotiations were resumed. Or that e-books have plateaued or shrink and instead are up 4%.

What's more telling to me though is that the same people, who derisively dismissed Hugh Howey and Data Guy's efforts when they started Author Earnings a little over three years, are now listening attentively. Yeah, the same people, who screamed from nearly every online venue that DG was a liar and his data was false, are now inviting him to their conferences, sitting raptly at attention and soaking in the numbers.

I know there's at least one of you out there thinking, "But, but, but digital was growing 100-200-300% back 2010-2011. 4% is awful!"

No, it's isn't. Let's say you sold 1 e-book in 2010. Not a lot, but a good start. In 2011, you sold 2 e-books. That's a 100% increase. In 2012, you sold 20 e-books and that's a 1000% increase for you.

Compare that to total e-books available on Amazon (because I'm trying to make this easy to follow). When I first started publishing, there were roughly 3 million e-books available. Staying in the top third, i.e. your rank was above #1,000,000, was fairly easy.

Now, there an estimated nine million e-books available. My books are generally ranked roughly around #2,500,000 mark. That's still the top 30%. However, there's more books to choose from so it doesn't mean I'm making anywhere near the amount of sales I was before.

(And no, I'm not blaming Amazon or anyone else. I only started publishing again last June after a nearly three year hiatus due to personal issues that I enumerated extensively during that time period. I still hold to the belief that the best way to market your books is by producing more material for your readers.)

So the money pot is actually growing. There just happens to be more people dipping into it. However, there's still room for indie growth.

How so?

Beyond numbers, there's something more telling. Trad publishing is leaving a hell of a lot of money on the table. Remember the African-American themed books I mentioned above? 96% of those sales were e-books, and guess who controls that market? Trad publishers like to claim that certain portions of our country don't read, but the numbers say otherwise.

The best thing indie writers can take from the latest AE report is that trad publishing is leaving a lot of genre territory for us to claim. So get out there, find a niche genre you love and start writing it!


P.S. Yes, I stole Data Guy's Pac-Man slide. It's cute, and it's a generational thing.

Data Guy Strikes Back and Other Important Info

I was going to talk about my projects this morning, but Data Guy released the Author Earnings Report for May 2016 yesterday.

HOLY FUCKING CRAP ON A CRACKER!

If you want or have a career as a writer, you need to read this report. It shows the marked changes in the publishing industry.

Another important blog to read is Kris Rusch's current series on contracts. There's lots of scary (and career ruining) contracts these days, and indie writers aren't immune. She focuses on some problems with the now-defunct Booktrope.

To top off the recent spate of writers not getting paid, Barnes & Noble's NOOKPress managed to fully fuck up payments for the month of May. I've counted nearly 300 indie writers including myself who did not receive payment on May 31st. And these are just the folks who bitched. Goddess only knows how many others are in this boat.

Sadly, it took B&N over forty-eight hours to issue any kind of statement. I'll update this post if/when I receive my payment.

Needless to say, I've pulled all of my books from B&N after this fiasco. I'd previously pulled my books from Smashwords, Apple, Kobo, etc. in preparation for the new book covers and updated back matter. Now, I'm wondering if I should try Kindle Unlimited since I have a fresh slate. I'm already researching some other retailers like All Romance eBooks.

The whole incident really bums me out because the original Nook was a decent product. But no, the short-range thinking of Len Riggio, his board of directors, and B&N executives torpedoed their potential before they even got off the ground. And they wonder why Amazon is crushing them.

After all that, I promise more positive news next week!


UPDATE: My payment from B&N/NOOKPress arrived in my business bank account this morning. I received an answer to my e-mail I sent to them on Tuesday at noon today.

Unfortunately, this fix doesn't alleviate my deep concern over B&N/NOOKPress's professional behavior of late, or their lack thereof in this case. This isn't the first time they've had a problem paying authors who indie publish through them. Therefore, my e-books will remain unavailable through Barnes & Noble's website for the time being.

Which means I need to spend tomorrow updating a zillion links. URGH!

Trad Publishing Is Bonkers Over the Author Earnings Report

The ninth quarterly Author Earnings Report came out Monday. For those who've been sailing around the Caribbean for the two years (oh, wait! that's one of AE's authors, and it's only been for the last couple of months), AE is a project put together by SFF writer Hugh Howey and his partner Data Guy.

Basically, these two gentlemen have developed spiders that crawl through the Amazon book data and scrape info concerning the sales of genre books on a given day. They then spreadsheet and smoosh and extrapolate whatever's happening in the wilds of Amazon to the book industry. The really cool thing is they make the raw data available for the public so we can also spreadsheet and smoosh and extrapolate to our little hearts' content, too.

The first report came out with very little fanfare except among indie writers. It showed that we were selling a pretty decent chunk of e-books on Amazon. It reassured us that this e-book self-publishing thing wasn't a flash in the pan.

As more reports came out, trad publishing pundits first made fun of the reports. They called it wish fulfillment. But with each successive report, the laughter died, and the complaints about their collection methodology began. As more reports rolled in, the complaints became shriller.

With the latest report (mind you, this is all being done by a couple of guys as a hobby), certain insiders are calling for AE to be audited. So what's behind all the mockery and complaints?

Fear. Simple unrelenting fear.

More and more of trad publishing's normal news channels are reporting falling sales. Let's face it--the savior over Christmas for the trad publishers was the popularity of adult coloring books. There hasn't a major fiction blockbuster since Fifty Shades of Gray in 2012.

The AE report shows where those missing sales are going, the pockets of indies. And this terrifies the Manhattan literati. So much so that Porter Anderson is calling for the duo to be audited and Lee Child mocks them for inaccuracy.

If indies were as inconsequential as many in trad publishing believe, then there is no reason for the uproar. But that screaming gets louder with each successive report. The fear has gone from general unease to full-blown panic.

What does this all mean?

To me, not a damn thing. I've played with their raw data enough to confirm what I already knew. I've gone from making a week's worth of groceries in my first year of publishing my work to paying for my son's oral surgery out of pocket.

Now. if you will excuse me, I need to write and publish a few more books because GK needs his wisdom teeth out this summer.

I'm Glad I'm Not an Oscar Hipster Weiner

This subject comes under the Roger Murtaugh Rule. In other words, I'm getting too old for this shit.

Last week, a young gentleman named Oscar decided to criticize the Author Earnings Report on his blog. No, I'm not going link to him. If you really want to find it, you will. I'll give you a hint. Passive Guy linked to him.

First point--I did check out his blog. How do I put this? I'm old enough to be his mom.

Second point--If GK acted like a total douche online, I'd rain down on him like the Baltimore mom on her son in the middle of the recent riots.

This gentleman's criticism of AE wasn't the problem. It was how he reacted when others started poking holes in his criticism.

Which leads to my typical constitutional law lecture on the First Amendment. Sure, it gives you the right to say what you want. It doesn't protect you from the consequences when you say something stupid.

Instead of meeting the criticism with facts or an intelligent reasoning, this gentlemen decided to lie and insult his critics. Referring to all indie published writers as unintelligent housewives was the kicker that alienated any allies the gentleman had left.

A friend of mine, who was semi-sympathetic to the gentleman prior to that last insult, sadly noted that Oscar was probably used to being the most intelligent hipster in the room.

I realized my friend was right. This gentleman was someone to be pitied, not reviled. This gentleman has only finished one book and working on his second. The writing community is very generous to newcomers. They would have bent over backward to answer questions, relate experience with particular vendors and publishers, and help with promotions.

Even more, this gentleman proclaims on his website that he plans to become a bestselling author. Maybe he will.

But one thing I do know is you can't have a career in this funky business without help and support from others. Insulting and demeaning experienced folks in the publishing biz is not the way to attract people who want to help you. And it's small enough that your reputation for acting like a douche will follow you.

And Then the Numbers Flowed Like Manna from Heaven

On Monday, I talked about the recent trashing of indie publishing by some trad published writers.

Well, on Sunday, Jim Hines, a SFF writer I admire, jumped into the fray. The religious mockery he used made me laugh, and he really tried to be neutral in the main post. Unfortunately, his attitude in comments was rather telling. Especially when he jumped on J.R. Tomlin for not being able to produce a study on indie earnings that was not anecdotal, but didn't say a word to Sylvia McIvers for stating that indies spent all their time doing their own shipping. (Needless to say, my respect for Jim dropped a bit for the uneven moderation of his blog.)

Then yesterday, lo, behold, a savior appeared. Nope, not Jesus of Nazareth. Hugh Howey.

Hugh Howey, his mysterious angel, and The Numbers.

The Numbers that showed the Transformation of the Publishing Universe was not only well underway, but past the Point of No Return.

People got so ecstatic that they crashed the server in their reverence. The raw data is available for those who like the crunchiness of fresh numbers.

Joe Konrath, who foretold the revelation by Hugh and his angel years before, immediately posted the report on his website, so that the faithful flock (or herd if you're The Donald) may continue gaze upon The Numbers and be redeemed.

There are already those who claim the Great Revelation is based on heathen propaganda. Absolute Write shut down the thread about The Numbers within three hours because the OP didn't back up her reasoning for the post. (Because the OP was working that day job that everyone says not to give up, maybe?) And the AW moderator cried out in horror, "Numbers? You expect poor dumb writers to understand numbers?"

And the Wave of Knowledge swept across the countryside and the sacred cattle moo'd...

***

All religious snarking aside, comments are welcome. But y'all know the rules here: play nice, play fair, no name-calling. And this is my blog so I'm the final arbiter. If you can't handle that, go cry somewhere else.

Are the breakdowns perfect? No, but already Hugh and his partner are miles ahead of the Digital Book World/Writers Digest poll because 100% of the writers in Hugh's survey are published.