Buried under the headlines about its Prime membership growth (one million new subscribers in one week) I dug out some facts about book selling and related activities.
(No, this is not a photo of a Baby Bezos!)
Prime members. This is an important number for self-publishers because Prime members that own a Kindle device can borrow eBooks for free. With the hoopla over new eBook subscription plans people forget that Amazon currently has the largest eBook subscription plan. Amazon doesn’t disclose total subscribers but they did announce they have “tens of millions” suggesting at least 20 million, a number higher than analysts had previously estimated.
A footnote about the Prime signup rate: they had to limit the number of signups because adding new members would have adversely impacted current Prime members. (Okay, this sounds like spin to me.)
KDP Select. I have heard a number of authors say that the free promo days that are part of KDP Select are less effective than they used to be. But apparently this hasn’t stopped authors and publishers from adding their eBooks to the 90 day exclusive program. Total books available in 2013 grew from 250,000 to more than 475,000, a 90% increase. I believe the addition of the Countdown program played a role in this growth by giving established books a better alternative that free promo days.
3 Standout Authors
Amazon highlighted 3 authors out of the 150 self-published authors that sold more than 100,000 eBooks in 2013. Here is my analysis on each.
“Hopeless” by Colleen Hoover was cited as a top seller this year. The print edition says it was published in May of 2013 and the Kindle came out November 28, 2013, which I think is a misprint, as it were. I recently discovered that making a change to your book’s KDP listing will result in the publish date changing to the current date which is obviously misleading. This looks especially suspicious when you see she has 6,227 reviews.
Hoover is one of those authors, like Hugh Howey, that have gained success self-publishing and then signed with a major publisher for broader print distribution. Interestingly both are published by Simon & Shuster who also issued a release about their stellar, and profitable, year.
“Wait for Me” by Elisabeth Naughton was the second book called out. There are 3 reasons why I think Naughton is successful and aspiring self-publishers should take note:
- She has written a lot of books! 22 so far and 2 boxed sets. Lesson: write a lot of books.
- For those where she is listed as the sole author not one is priced above $3.99. Lesson: low prices build your fan base for future purchases.
- Write and design as a series. Once your character and/or style connects with readers you’ll own a franchise. Lessons: similar titling, cover imagery and plot lines.
It’s also safe to say that romance is one of the hottest categories in all of publishing. It lends itself especially well to eBooks.
Amazon’s final highlight in publishing was H.M. Ward’s success over the holidays, specifically. Her approach is similar to Naughton’s:
- 42 books
- Multiple series
- Romance genre
Clearly these are not overnight success stories but the formula and the road map are there for any publisher to follow. Get busy writing and build a fan base and let the revenue take care of itself.
