Inside Kindle — Analysing Sales and Market Data

An interesting webinar staged by Reedsy on the dynamics/underlying principles of the Kindle webstore. With an astonishing 70,000 titles published per month (!) independent authors really need to understand the platforms to which they are uploading their titles. While it may be dispiriting to see one’s book chunked into tiny little categories and subject to algorithmic vagaries, there is also power in exploiting this really quite remarkable flood of sales data.

“With 70,000+ books being published each month, you need tools and strategies to help you and your book stand out from the crowd. Knowing your market is the essential first step.”

Book Launch Timetable and Promotional Tips from a Pro

For a glimpse of what a book promotion might look like when integrated with email and social media, this post is worth perusing. While it would probably seem somewhat exhausting to many authors, it does emphasise just how much work is involved in making a book visible to an audience, and encouraging readers to actually purchase it.

“I release six books a year through a traditional publisher — three new hardcover/ebook launches and three paperbacks launches — and that frequency means I need an easily replicable marketing plan. After years of testing various marketing strategies, I’ve developed a book launch checklist with tried-and-true tactics that best build buzz and sales.”

News About Regatta — Local History Book

Peter Stokes has researched and written a very entertaining account of early colonial life on and around the Gippsland Lakes. He brings to life many interesting personalities and the yachting regattas held during the 19th century. The regattas were a major focus of social life in the region for many years, reflecting the importance of fishing and shipping before railways and cars came along. We received the following update from Peter recently:

“REGATTA has been quite well received in the small market of East Gippsland. I have sold/distributed  quite a number of the 100 I had printed, and have only a few left; although there are quite a few on shelves around the place. Had great feedback regarding how well it looks as a book (thanks) and the stories. I will need to print some more.”

Regatta is available here.

Creating Your Own Audiobook — Points to Consider

With the rise and rise of Audiobooks, some authors may be considering an audio version of their work. Whether they narrate it themselves (possible, but not always a good idea), or engage an actor at eye watering per-hour prices, there are many aspects to consider, most of which are covered in this excellent interview. Audiobooks are a powerful format with fairly high barriers to entry, platform independent, perfect for time poor people or those on the move, and only set to further expand. In my long experience as an audiobook consumer, the quality of the narrator is absolutely crucial — a good voice can make even indifferent prose sound oddly compelling. Some listeners will follow the narrator to different books just to hear his or her voice, which means some narrators are in massive demand.

It's the Gas, Gas, Gas — Book Cover Design

Dr. Harald Osel works in the global oil and gas industry and has written four remarkably detailed volumes on the industry he knows and loves. We designed covers for all four volumes of his magnum opus and typeset the text. Every aspect from exploration to extraction and transport is covered, along with issues of environmental preservation and clean energy. Published by Aurora Publishing. We maintained common design elements for al four covers and used images that reflected the topic covered by the specific volume. Typeface used on the covers: Proxima Nova (various weights and widths).

Why Vary Ebook Pricing?

One of the distinctive aspects of ebook publishing is the willingness of authors and publishers to vary book pricing. Some of this may be an attempt to find the ideal price for a given book, but others are following a more sophisticated playbook, a little like the strategies employed by airlines with ticket sales. Kindle itself has Kindle Countdown Deals, though there are built in limits to the use of this particular tool. PublishDrive makes the following observation:

“Writing an ebook is hard. Pricing it should not be harder. Ebook pricing, however, can often feel like a maze without exits. It is easy to get lost or confused. With the following ebook pricing guide we would like to help beginners and seasoned publishers to find their way out.”

And WriteHacked has a long post on the topic spelling out all of the options and reasoning behind them

Advice for Independent Authors

Independent authors are often preyed upon by publishers. Writing a book is hard but a relatively linear task — write > edit> proofread, but the modern landscape of publishing and promotion is wide open, with a myriad possible strategies and pitfalls. Unsurprisingly, many authors find the prospect of self-managing their book overwhelming and sign up with ‘vanity’ presses. Many of these presses over-promise and under-deliver. With the amount of money they spend on signing up with a publisher, authors could have achieved a great deal pursuing their own promotional plan. There are many resources online to assist with this planning. Jane Friedman is also very helpful.

Here is a good roundup of Australian resources. The Queensland Writers Centre has some useful advice.

Independent publishing is hard, but it can be very rewarding. Many of the possibilities are very low cost, your reach is potentially global, an amazing thing in itself.

WorkingType Design has compiled a useful hints booklet for authors, downloadable here.

Directly Importing Author Comments and Corrections into a Book

Most books are set up in Adobe InDesign. Very few independent authors subscribe to Indesign, and therefore have no capacity to directly edit or correct their own book. Typically they will supply a list of corrections to the designer. However, Adobe have recently added an interesting feature to InDesign that will at give authors the chance to at least annotate the PDF proof, and have the designer import the PDF (and annotations) directly into Indesign (provided the comments are properly made). This should increase the speed and accuracy of book proofing and streamline the workflow. An article on the process from Adobe.

POD Book Sizes from KDP and Ingram Spark

Most independent authors opt to upload their print-on-demand book files to Kindle Direct Publishing (formerly Createspace) or to Ingram Spark/Lightning Source. Hence, designers tend to choose book sizes that conform to the standard sizes supported by these two providers (the sizes are very similar between the two platforms. The pages that detail the standard sizes for KDP are here, and for Ingram Spark here. For a head to head comparison of the two services, check out this article. Others argue for using both services at once.

From Revolution to Reflection — Book Cover

In his youth James O’Brien was a republican firebrand, campaigning against the British presence in Northern Ireland and sympathetic with the aims, if not always the methods, of the IRA. Time and experience mellowed his views and he left Ireland for a prosperous life in Australia. We designed the cover for his memoir some years ago, and recently adjusted the layout for an audio book version he created in conjunction with Findaway Voices.

Smashwords versus Draft 2 Digital

The ebook landscape is dominated by Amazon Kindle, but there is a world of ebook consumption beyond Jeff Bezos’ realm. Smashwords aggregates together a number of ebook selling services as does its newer competitor Draft2Digital. Kindlepreneur has done yeoman’s work in comparing the two services in detail, even going to the trouble of contacting their respective CEOs. Spoiler alert: Draft2Digital wins!

Getting Your Book Out Loud

Audiobooks are currently the fastest growing segment of the publishing world. Listeners can login to audiobook services such as Audible, Playster of Apple Books on almost any device, and listen at home, the car or while walking. In short, it is a portable and very immediate format. Until recently, the process of recording a professional ebook has largely been restricted to publishers, due to the expenses involved. However, audiobook recording services have been established aimed at independent authors. An author client recently recounted their experience using Findaway Voices, and was vocal in praise of their service. This article posted at the Creative Penn in mid 2018 largely echoes his praise. Amazon’s own audibook recording service to authors is here.

The Big Bucks in Design... Uber's redesign

Uber, everyone’s favourite “move fast and break things” startup/world consuming corporate giant, has just installed a new look. How much of it is effective and how much is marketing doublespeak and gobbledygook, I will leave to you to decide. But rest assured that the designers have been paid handsomely for their work. Uber Move is quite a pretty typeface family, though.

Preview Your Kindle File

If you need to preview a kindle book file and do not have an actual kindle reader, try this free program from Amazon, or the excellent multi file type previewer, Calibre.

Joe Darling Book Review

A book we designed last year has come to the attention of a popular cricket site. In addition to saying many positive things about the content, the writer also touches upon the design:

“Joe Darling, lived a full life, not just in a cricketing sense, and his story is a fascinating one. Thankfully it is told thoroughly and entertainingly by Whimpress and Ryan. Add to this some great production values and this is a great read. It should be in the book collection of all cricket fans. ”

Double Dutch and other Covers

Three recent draft covers: a hard-driving thriller, a detailed family history and a gritty young adult story. Plenty of contrast and big bold typefaces. Typefaces include Korolev, Sentinel, Alternative Gothic.

Ghosts and Antiquarians — Book Cover

Trevor Hay has spent his professional life studying Chinese culture and history, and brings this knowledge and sensitivity to bear in his novels, which very often relate to the Western experience of China. We combined a number of images around a famous artwork — that of the Fragrant Concubine, a semi-mythical eighteenth century figure. We used Kepler for the title typeface.

Automagically Remove Backgrounds

From the Department of AI is Coming for Your Job: an algorithm that does a pretty fair job of separating a human in an image from its background. I uploaded the image of the woman at left, and downloaded the result at right, all in a few seconds. Check it out here. The free version works at limited resolution. There is a paid version (naturally) that works at much higher resolution. The underlying technology is pretty impressive.

Balboa Press — Warning Signs

Another publisher for independent authors to approach very warily, if at all. These links point to a troubling pattern of overcharging and over-promising, followed by poor and incomplete service.

Change and Time — Cover Design

Mala Naidoo depicts complicated human relationships in her novels, her authorial eye remaining consistently wise and warm. We wanted to convey the depth and subtlety of her protagonists, opting for a dramatic sky with layered faces and a large, classical serif typeface (Mort Modern).