A free short story, just for you.

For those who don’t know…

I am Paul White, a multi-genre author of fiction, non-fiction, and semi-fiction.

Many of my short stories are available under the ‘Electric Eclectic’ brand, some are eBooks, others paperback collections, while a growing number are those wonderful Pocketbook Paperbacks that are increasingly popular because of their size, as they really do fit into your pocket. Perfect for reading while commuting or away on vacation.

You can find my books on Amazon and many other bookstores. All are shown on my website

Now, on with the story.

This one is titled ‘Free Spirit’, enjoy.

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FREE SPIRIT

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When I walked into the apartment, I knew this project was going to be fraught with difficulties.

Firstly, the place has been unoccupied for some time; a musty dampness prevailed its entirety. I sensed this staleness was not simply neglect but an ethereal odour of others’ lives, of previous tenants.

Secondly, there were many pieces of furniture still in situ; old, dusty brocade curtains hanging at the windows, personal effects, a small trinket box sitting on the dark wooden sideboard, a silver-backed hand mirror laid on the dresser, and a time-worn leather-bound book on a side table, near the musty, torn chintz-covered armchair, all emitting a staleness of abandonment.

Before I could start the repairs and redecoration, I would have to clear all this old junk from the building. That would involve putting in some extra hours, late nights I had not planned. I was sure the extra effort would be worth it in the end because it is not often one can find such a large home for such a low rent in a neighbourhood of this stature.

On Friday, after work, I hurried to the apartment, eager to begin the clear-out and clean-up.

Once achieved, I could start on the repairs. Tearing off the old wallpaper, ripping up the musty carpets, filling the holes where pictures once hung, all that sort of stuff.

Then I would be in the position to begin to decorate what was to be my new home, my first home.

Fresh paint, light colours on the walls, modern, sleek, designer-style furniture, new light fittings, and mirrors. I like mirrors, they lighten even the dullest corners. I wanted the place to be what I can only describe as understated urban chich.

I was excited.

Tonight, I would be alone. My friends, the ones who offered to help, were all out on the town, or so they said. I don’t blame them for not being here today, after all, it was a Friday night.

Tomorrow, I had promises, commitments from them. I would have a small troop of workers grafting away all day in return for cold beer and snacks, oh, and pizza at the end of the day.

But tonight, it was just me.

My first task was to wrestle the largest items of furniture into a group by the lounge door, so my team of workers could easily carry them out to the skip, which was due by eight o’clock in the morning.

I was surprised by the weight of the old furniture. I’m uncertain if it was Mahogany or Oak, but it took all my effort to ‘waltz’ it across the room. No wonder the previous occupiers had left it where it stood.

By the time I had shifted all the pieces, I was sweating from the effort.

Opening the window did not cool me down. The air was too heavy and humid, and too weak to do more than slightly move those heavy curtains.

It was now midnight, but before I finished for the day, I wanted all the drapes removed, the litter from the floors swept and binned. I wanted this room ready for paper stripping, and carpet removal.

By the end of the weekend, I would be happy if this room and the hallway were ready for my creative attention. If I could get at least one of the two bedrooms stripped too, well, that would be a bonus.

Right now, my stomach was grumbling. I needed to eat. Anyway, it was time to take a break. A stroll to the all-night cafe on the corner, where I could grab a coke, a sandwich, a pork pie, or toasted sandwich. It would do me the world of good to eat something.

Once in the café, I decided I would be wasting time if I stayed to eat, so I carried my refreshments back to the apartment.

Wearily lowering myself into the tatty chintz armchair, I froze. Looking around the room in disbelief. The coke slipped from my grasp, spilling over the threadbare carpet.

The furniture, and I mean all the furniture I spent the last few hours moving into a group close to the doorway, was now back in its original position.

It was as if I had not moved a single item.

The window was closed, the curtains still, the lingering scent of neglect somehow stronger than before.

There was something more.

I could hear a faint melody floating into the room. Trumpets, brass. Smooth music. Perhaps a nineteen-forties swing band?

I shook my head, trying to gather my thoughts. This was not possible.

I moved the furniture. Placed it by the door.

I was trying to convince myself I had not, purely for my sanity.

The music was playing softly.

Surely it was coming from another apartment. Yet it sounded far closer, emanating from somewhere in this apartment.

Maybe I was overtired. Whatever; I needed to get a grip on myself.

I followed the sound, walking slowly along the hallway until I was outside the room where the music was coming from.

Someone was playing a joke on me. My friends have seen me leave, deciding it would be funny to mess with my head.

Angrily I snatched open the door, ready to yell at whoever was doing this, whoever found it funny to try and scare me.

The volume from the gramophone blasted out a crackling version of Chattanooga Choo Choo as I stepped into the room.

I halted, standing stock still.

I could not comprehend what I was seeing. This room was perfect. A nineteen-forties parlour. No damp, no faded wallpaper, no rotting furniture.

It was bright, new, perfect.

“Come in, David,” she said, “sit yourself down. I have been waiting for you.”

To my right, I saw a handsome-looking woman. She was wearing a flowing evening gown, long white gloves, and a pearl necklace.

In front of me, a well-ordered room, brightly lit and warm. Behind me, a cold dank hallway, the discoloured wallpaper peeling from the walls.

This was surreal.

“Don’t be shy,” she said, “come, sit, enjoy some champagne.”

She was holding out a wide-rimmed coupe glass at arm’s length. Hesitantly, feeling I had little option, I took the glass from her hand.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Oh, you young people, you are always in such a hurry,” she replied, smiling, and lifting her glass towards mine.

We touched glasses. Automatically I said, “Cheers.”

She smiled at me again, replying with a “Chin, chin.” She sipped her champagne without wetting her dark red lips.

I sat, bolt upright, in a small chair, and as nervous as hell. She lay back, relaxing on a chaise lounge opposite my chair.

If I were dreaming, this was far too real.

The woman spoke. “So, you want to move into my home, to come and live with me. Do you, David?” Her eyes were firmly focused on mine.

“There must be some confusion,” I said, “I have just bought this apartment, it’s mine.”

“Oh no, David,” she answered, shaking her head, “It will never be yours, it belongs to me, and forever will.”

 “I don’t understand,” I replied.

 She nodded understandingly, reaching out, placing a gloved hand on my knee, patting me like a reassuring aunt.

“My husband built this building back in the early 1930s. I have lived here ever since the day it was completed. I shall never leave. Now, I like you, David. You are a fine young man, so I am willing to let you stay if you wish to share my home with me?”  She left the sentence hanging.

I sat motionlessly, my mouth ajar. I did not know what to say.

“Well, David” she prompted, “what have you to say?”

“This place, it’s a mess, all old and rotting. I need to clean it up, do repairs, redecorate, get new furniture… except this room, your room, its lovely, I mean it’s really nice.” I knew I was gabbling, the words tumbling from my mouth faster than I could think.

“Oh, David.” She said, “don’t worry about that for now, just tell me if you will be happy sharing my home.”

“But when people come, my friends, family. How do I explain this room, or you?” I asked.

She smiled like an understanding aunt looking at a child. Patting my knee again she said, “No one will know, David. No one except you.”

“But this room, when people look around, they’ll…”

She interrupted me. “More Champagne. You look pale, you’re shaking. A good drink will settle your nerves.” She continued, “Think, David. This apartment, how many rooms are there? Don’t answer, but this room is not one of them, is it?”

I was mentally counting, walking through the apartment. She was right, this room was not one of them. This room did not exist.

My mind was in a whirl. “I, I, I don’t know. The furniture, I moved it. I put it by the door, now it is all back where it was. Then I heard the music and… and, I followed the sound. It led me to this room.”

Her laughter filled the room, “Oh my dear boy,” she said, “I have thrown you into a right tizzy, haven’t I?”

I gulped the last of my champagne.

“I have something stronger if you prefer?” she said, “a whisky, perhaps. I know what you men are like.”

I was nodding. It was an almost unconscious action as my mind was whirring. Random pieces of thoughts flew through my mind.

“Do not fear. You may decorate the apartment as you wish. I will not stop you, David. That is, if you want to live here? Now, before you worry too much, I don’t leave this room, well, only when the need arises, and I am sure I‘ll have no reason to venture out while you’re here.”

“I would like to live here but, who are you?”

“Oh, my. I have been remiss, haven’t I? How rude of me for not introducing myself. My name is Evelyn, Evelyn Keyes-Johnson.” She held her hand towards me. “So, David, are we friends. Shall you be sharing my home?”

I took her hand and shook it, although slight, Evelyn had a firm grip.

“I would like to stay, and I would be happy sharing with you,” I said, although I had not totally convinced myself. “I do have a question though.”

“Ask away, young man.”

“Are you a ghost?”

Her laughter filled the room with lightness. She smiled a wide, bright grin.

“As I died many years ago some people may call me that,” she said, “but I prefer to consider myself a free spirit.”

END.

Free Spirit©PaulWhite2022

Amazon’s A9 algorithm, dispelling a myth and the future…

In most of my posts, I ramble away in an unplanned manner, eventually making sense of, or come to a conclusion, about whatever topic is being discussed.

I tend to stay clear of jargon and try not to get too bogged down with the technical aspect of… stuff.

I have tried to do the same here; if you really want to get all techy and scientific you’ll need to undertake some research of your own.

Otherwise, please read on, some explanations, tips, and links are included.

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‘A9’ is the proprietary search algorithm developed by Amazon. It is named after the company’s subsidiary which handles SEO

It has one job, to answer customer’s purchasing queries.

Please note, it is NOT Google.

Amazon is the primary destination for book searches, so understanding A9 is critical to your author success on this platform.

Amazon is happy to let A9 fly under the radar, even with A9 being somewhat revolutionary, to say the least.

We all love how Google seamlessly adapts its SERPs to your browsing habits, but A9 floated this idea successfully way back in 2004. A9 also pioneered visual street views long before Google Maps was a thing. The point is, despite being the most valuable company in the world, Amazon isn’t keen on pushing A9 through as a wide-lens search engine. In fact, you won’t find many people who have heard of the A9 algorithm.

The simple reason is, as I said above, it is NOT Google.

Amazon is not in the Searcher Intent business. Searcher intent is simply the type of request or query a specific user is looking for. For example, searcher intent is extremely obvious when terminology such as “buy” or “sell” is used. This is 100% commercial intent. E.G. “buy shoes” “sell my car” etc.

Whereas other intents, such as informational, e.g. “how-to” is also searched by users in YouTube, Google and other major search engines.

Amazon though, being a product-based search engine, doesn’t have this issue. That’s because people coming to Amazon are looking to do one and one thing only: Buy Stuff, like YOUR books. Unlike a traditional search engine, A9 does not need to consider whether someone searching for say, ‘Stephen King’ wants to learn more about the author or if they want to buy his books, Amazon it ‘knows’ they want to buy his books… and this is the most important factor. It is what shapes the way you need to work with A9 to gain higher rankings on the platform.

To place your book in a ‘high’ and visible position the A9 algorithm needs to consider factors such as degree of text match, price, availability, selection, and sales history.

Therefore, optimizing your books potential rating on Amazon begins before your listing goes live. There are several optimization elements you have control over and need to address before you sell even a single book.

1, Book Title and Brand Name, (if any)

The most relevant keywords will be the title and subtitle (if any) of your book. As with Electric Eclectic branded books, the brand name is used as, or as part of, the subtitle.

This allows people optional and assorted methods of searching for your book. They can key in your book title if they know it or remember it, or at least search for something similar. Alternatively, they can use your author name, or simply type in the brand.

For example, when you enter ‘Electric Eclectic books’ into your Amazon search bar you will be presented with a list of all the titles, from authors who have written under the Electric Eclectic brand.

Check out Electric Eclectic at https://electriceclecticsblog.wordpress.com/about/

 

2, Book Description

While it is clearly important to write a compelling description to entice the person browsing to buy your book, consider using three to four ‘bullet point’ at the top of your description, such as, ‘Fast-paced Thriller’ or ‘Romantic Fantasy’, to clarify the genre of the book.

Bullets naturally stand out and make content easier to read than a block of text and help increases conversion rates.

Other bullet point options are such things as ‘Revised Edition’, ‘Prequal to ….’ and so forth. Not only does this help your potential buyers to decide, but it also reduces the risk of bad reviews due to a purchaser buying a book outside their regular choice/comfort zone.

A9 will also pick up on the words used, helping to target your book towards those who will enjoy your story.

TIP: Try by selecting three top-ranked competitors, (Mainstream publisher/agent listings are great for this) chose ones which boast the greatest number of reviews.

With the list of keywords in hand, remove those that aren’t relevant. As easy as that, you’ve got a handy list of keywords in your arsenal

In most cases, data from 3 or 4 competitors is enough to get started.

3, Pricing

Your books must be strategically and competitively priced. If they are your conversion rate will benefit.  Analyse the book pricing of those with high volume sale in your book’s genre, ensuring they are of similar page count/format. Find the ‘sweet spot’ price points, both on and off Amazon and price your book accordingly. Do not overprice or under-price, doing either will reduce your potential sales.

A9 takes pricing into consideration as it is in Amazon’s best interest to prioritise products (books) that sell.  To better your chance of being listed next to, or in the proximity of a ‘Best Seller’, you need to be thereabouts.

 

4, Cover Images

Although images are not a direct, performance-related Amazon ranking factor, they play a critical role in both your click-through and conversion rates.

While cover images are not factors A9 specifically evaluates, (presently) They are very important for your potential customers and can have an impact on your sales.

High-quality images which view clearly when enlarged can increase sales by as much as 10%, according to Amazon, and the A9 algorithm rewards products that sell well.

Are you looking for a bespoke cover? Email Peejay Designs at PeeJaydesigns@mail.com

 

5, Customer Reviews

Genuine, unsolicited, un-incentivised reviews are an ‘indirect factor’ which may impact your product’s rank on Amazon. Customer reviews can significantly influence the conversion rate, demonstrating their role in Amazon SEO. Books with strong ratings (four stars or higher) are more likely to rank higher in Amazon search results than those with less than four stars.

Although your Amazon ranking, as discussed, is dependent on many other factors; so often a two-star review rated book will show next to four and five star reviewed books. This could simply be because it is a new book is without enough reviews to give a true indication but more often it is because the author simply got everything else perfectly set up for A9, so the book appears higher on the pages.

You should constantly monitor your reviews to ensure customers do not abandon their potential purchase due to a negative review.

By responding to negative reviews in a timely fashion, you are showing your prospective customers you hold a value of their comments. This helps maintain positive overall customer experience.

You will notice at the start of this section I used the wording ‘Genuine, unsolicited, un-incentivised reviews’. This is because these are the ONLY reviews that Amazon A9 is concerned with.

Many authors believe that paid for, swapped, coerced or otherwise incentivised reviews help with Amazon rankings. Well, maybe they once did, but Amazon has been working extremely hard and are finding ways to validate every review.

Amazon uses a number of various systems to log everything… the numbers, the names, usernames, associated usernames (friends of), web locations, physical locations, device ID’s of reviewers, ISP addresses associated with reviews and many more data points.

This information is used to monitor the posting of fake and incentivised reviews, along with authors and businesses linked to enticing fake reviews. You may get away with one or two, but that’s about it, many more and A9 will flag your account(s). This may mean the reviews will be deleted, your account may be suspended or closed, just as those posting the reviews.

As A9 and its associated crawlers and bots develop and gather more information about each author/users’ actions and their algorithms enhanced, Amazon has vowed to clear all fake and incentivised reviews from the platform to improve quality.

Read more… https://wp.me/p5nj7r-1kR

 

6, Sales

The most important thing to remember about the A9 algorithm, and what differentiates it from traditional search engines, is that it exists to facilitate one thing: sales.

A9 looks at your title, product descriptions and the price you set to determine relevance. Together, these factors create a flywheel effect where improving one element of your product marketing also increases sales velocity which, in turn, improves your listing’s visibility.

Higher A9 ranking means more targeted exposure by Amazon, such as showing on ‘Also bought’, ‘Also viewed’ and ‘Frequently bought together’ directed to a relevant audience.

 

7, The Future for A9

Looking at how Google evolved over the years gives us a look into how we believe Amazon is expected to change.

Amazon’s A9 algorithm will follow a similar trajectory, albeit more slowly and less aggressively (remember, as effective as it is, A9 is not one of Amazon’s most important ‘products’).

Amazon is working to fix many problems: low-quality listings, broken English, higher return rates and how people generate reviews (fake reviews, for example). Amazon has aggressively targeted fake reviews in the past few years, going so far as suing Fiverr directly.

In February 2011, Google released an update called Panda.

Despite its tame name, this update wiped out millions in affiliate marketer & SEO consultant earnings. Superficially speaking, the update itself was aimed at low-quality sites from a content point of view. Copied, scraped and poorly created content was the chief target, meaning that millions of low-quality sites were hit very hard and de-indexed. 95+% of traffic and all the income associated with it, poof, GONE.

Amazon is looking to publish a similar update; the goal to have listings that read well and avoid broken English, duplicate content and generally poor optimization overall, instead of just basing the majority of factors on sales directly.

One of the reasons this makes sense from a business point of view is to reduce the number of low-quality Chinese sellers driving out genuine, quality-focused businesses. (Think future competition, think Alibaba).

There are multiple other reasons it makes sense to Amazon’s business model.

This ‘Amazon Panda’, or whatever they may call it, will change the game, but what will ultimately turn Amazon SEO services & marketing agencies on its head would be an algorithm update similar to Google’s ‘Penguin’ update.

The Panda update in 2011 was big but the Penguin update actually changed the SEO game forever. Released on 24th April 2012 (version 1) it impacted close to 3.1% of search queries. If you’ve ever implemented an SEO campaign, you’ll know it’s a massive amount of organic search results.

In short, this update aimed to remove link spam. Any site which was using questionable link building tactics was hit and penalised. Organic traffic for some companies went to zero and some never recovered.

Amazon’s ‘Penguin’ update, a form of which is under construction (I have been told), will involve targeting elements such as sales manipulation, discounted product giveaways, which they are already combating, and overall search engine manipulation.

Other trust signals will become more and more important.

Industry chatter tells me that generating more than 3 reviews per day is a signal that Amazon uses to identify review manipulation. Other tools such as Fakespot or Reviewmeta are also very common for spotting fake reviews.

Third parties are building tools that identify fake reviews. Amazon has signals and software to reduce the amount of review spam on their platform.

The end result is if you want to stay 100% safe, ensure you stay within Amazon’s terms of service and avoid any algorithm manipulation

 One final ‘thing’  to end this post..

Myth: Discounted books and Giveaways Still Work.

NO, they don’t.

This is an Amazon SEO myth we have to cover… discounted and book giveaways. They just don’t work anymore.

This was a very sharp change Amazon made almost 2 years ago now. The main tweak involved how Amazon weighted the ranking signal for discounted product sales.

Previously Amazon weighted discounted products (80%+) still relatively heavily. So, a small amount of discounted product giveaways resulted in large organic ranking movements.

The tweak Amazon added downgraded the weighting used. With this in place, running discounted giveaways just doesn’t make economic sense anymore.

Read more… https://wp.me/p5nj7r-1fn

Publishing trends, predictions & forecasts for 2020

Those of you who follow Ramblings from a Writers Mind will know this time of year I put my ‘professional neck’ on the line by expressing my prognostications regarding the publishing industry for the coming year.

The first of these predictive posts was made way back in December 2017, when I forecast my assumptions for 2018. Looking back now, you will agree I pretty much nailed it. See for yourself, ‘Insights & Publishing Trends for 2018′ 

Last year I published, on the 27^th of December 2018, my review for this year, 2019. How accurate is this forecast? ‘Publishing Trends & Indie Author Insights for 2019′ 

This year, I am once again sticking my neck above the parapet by suggesting what will be happening through 2020, regarding the publishing industry worldwide, especially that which affects the Indie Author.

I have been asked why I post this forecast every year.

My answer is simple; if you have an idea of what is happening, going to happen or reasonably likely to happen, you can plan your writing, your genre, your book and cover design, marketing, promotions, and social media content to take full advantage of the markets predicted movements and organic flux.

In simple terms, you can be proactive rather than reactive and keep up, if not stay one step ahead, of the game.

I have not organised the following in any particular order, so scroll down and pick out the areas which interest you the most and then work through the other sections as there is, most definitely, information you really do want, (or need,) to be informed about in each section.

1 – Book Cover Design Trends

2 – Audio/Audiobooks

3 – AI (Artificial Intelligence)

4 – Emerging reach methods

5 – Social Media

6 – Telling Stories on social

7 – eBooks and the Indie effect.

8 – India

9 – Authorpreneurs

10 – POD/Inventory

11 – Author Alliances

12 – Crowded Social

13 – Fundamental Shifts

So, without further ado, this is my insight and predictive forecast into the indie book market and international publishing industry worldwide for the year AD 2020.

1 – Book Cover Design Trends

As a digital artist and book cover designer, this is one area I personally enjoy keeping a close eye on.

There are many elements to good design and bringing them all together in a limited space while incorporating all the necessary text elements is an often-underrated skill.

With the lists of newly released and soon to be released books now in the public domain, it is easy to see the prevailing design trends. Many of which, I suggest Indie Authors should take heed of.

• The first is those where the designers create Technicolor covers, washes of psychedelic textured rainbow patterns, which appear to be moving across the cover or jacket. It is their dimensionality that tricks the eye.
• Continuing from 2019 is text and images which overlap images and text, and become interwoven with them, lending an almost 3D effect to the cover.
• Minimalist covers, such as monochrome with basic lettering, will carry over into 2020. The simplicity of such covers, usually using a bold background image, works well against shelves full of multicolour and bright renditions.
• Handwritten style fonts, occasionally used with ‘crossing out’ of bolder texts, do not seem to be going away but are becoming more inventive and eye-catching.
• Staying with text. A resurgence, in a modern form, will be shuddering, shading, glows, bevels and reflections. Big bold typographic statements that ‘jump-right-out’ at you.

2 – Audio/Audiobooks

The audiobook market has grown in double figures for six straight years with a 37.1% growth in the USA in 2018. (latest figures)

The original audiobook provided a way of reading for those with visual problems and the elderly. The CD market for audiobooks formed 54% of sales in 2010 with digital downloads at 42%.

This has changed in recent years, partly because older people tend to be more tech-savvy and partly because the audience is becoming younger. The average listening age has moved from over 50 in 2010 to under 50 now.

As technology advances, so does demand. Smartphones, tablets and more recently, the growth in artificial intelligence have all contributed to the rise and fall of different markets with physical products taking a hit.

2020 will continue to bring a more diverse listener as marketing targets people of all ages from all walks of life.

The rise of the podcast has, in part, been responsible for the popularity and growth of audiobooks and will continue to bring in new listeners (across all ages) as its popularity transfers across to audiobooks.

People utilise the ability to listen to books while doing other things like gardening, travelling, jogging, knitting. Despite advances in screen technology people still drop devices in the bath or struggle with the sun when on holiday, not to mention the need to hold the device while sunbathing. Audiobook offers a solution to these problems with obvious benefits.

The Big Five publishers have only recently recognised that the audiobook market is the only sector demonstrating year on year growth, but boy are they noticing now. They have huge marketing budgets which will have a big impact on future audiobook trends. There is already and will be more aggressive marketing by the big players who will want to dominate and take their share of the pot. Targeting has only just begun to attract under 45s who use smartphones and AI more than older generations.

Indie authors have to some extent been reluctant to get involved because of the price of production is prohibitive. Having said that, many have entered via the royalty share option offered by producers such as ACX. Early adopters found more success with non-fiction books and these are hugely popular with figures for the final quarter of 2018 making up 25-50% of sales in some non-fiction genres.

3 – AI (Artificial Intelligence)

Firstly, I am touching on a subject which is pertinent, but one which I expect will see smaller businesses and Indie Authors woefully trailing behind. It is one, however, which opens new opportunities or expands on the offerings of those already in the market.

This is the new wave of IT, or AI, as this in the next organic technological expansion. This evolution of IT will allow the integration of content, engagement and auto-tagging to scale and create process efficiencies.

While basic SEO will continue for the foreseeable, AI leveraged contributions will be at the forefront of the shift to mobile-first index and aid continued spotlighting of both local and personalised search results.

Publishers will start to create platforms to collect and visualise audience and community data as the focus on segmentation grows even more. This will lead to building branded lean sites featuring authentic storytelling and content native to the digital platform.

While content remains king, site architecture will focus on redistributing the information in forms which ensures easy to find and easy to access content for customers.

None of the above,  which may be some time before becoming widespread and accepted, should detract from already accepted processes.

4 – Emerging reach methods

It is important for Indie Authors and small press publishers to monetize traffic whenever possible.

This should not simply be considered a ‘secondary’ income stream but needs to be considered as part of the mainstream income.

Podcasting and 4K video are two areas Indies can consider. Both need a savvy website design and high-speed Internet.

Note: As mobile use continually grows users expect all content to load just as quickly and easily on their phone as on their computer. Since websites play such a vital role, trends surrounding them range from AMP to PWAs to Schema markup.

Okay, let’s get to some facts.

• You will need to leverage podcasting with publishing. In 2018, podcast listeners in the US grew from 40 per cent to 44 per cent of the total population.
• The top revenue stream for worldwide news publisher became digital publishing subscriptions with 44 per cent of the world population reading online.
• Printing is not going anywhere. Most businesses, 64 per cent, told the Quocirca’s Global Print 2025 study printing will remain important well into 2025.
• While the global book publishing industry is worth about $103 billion, it has continued to experience 0 per cent annual growth five years running.
• Self-publishing continues to provide an “in” for those who want to publish, but self-published e-books provide better response for the author. On Kindle, 17 of the 100 top-selling books are self-published.
• Publishers report their highest priority in 2020 is audience growth and marketing with 34. 2 per cent placing it at the top. Second priority comes successful SEO, say 25.8 per cent.
• Publishers have deserted traditional media as a source for information and instead, 64.2 per cent say they read blogs with second place going to forums with 11.7 per cent of publishers reporting it as their source for industry news.
• Publishers say their biggest challenges of 2020 include creating unique content that readers want, 23.3 per cent, keeping up with Google algorithm changes, 22.5 per cent, and diversifying website revenue, 20.8 per cent.

Okay. that’s the ‘techy’ stuff and what the larger publishers think. So, what can the Indie do, what are the trends to follow, or even lead on, regarding Social Media?

5 – Social Media

Habits change, platforms evolve, and new platforms come into existence. All this influences how people use and react to social media marketing, as well as how marketers can reach their audience.

What you did last year, or the year before, probably will not give the same results now. Like giving away your books for free… that is a big NO-NO for 2020.

There are now 3.484 billion social media users across the globe, which is a 9% increase compared to last year. This equates to 45% of the world’s population being on social. It also means social media adoption has beaten previous estimates, which estimated 2.82 billion would be using social media in 2019.

Saying that, more people are choosing to “detox” from social media, deleting apps and profiles to step away. This is more than the usual changes seen, in terms of people choosing to use one platform less in favour of another, such as Facebook seeing users decline but Instagram attracting more, this trend is seeing people take a temporary or permanent break from all social media.

One in three adults in the UK are reducing their social media use. Some 6% of users have removed an app from their phone, 6% have permanently deleted their accounts and 8% have deleted their accounts and removed social media mobile apps. A big reason for this is people feel overloaded by social media, with the permeation of social media affecting mental health and wellbeing. Others choose to detox because they don’t trust social media platforms, either due to issues like Fake News or because of privacy and data concerns.

This is not to say social media will become void in terms of digital marketing, but marketers do need to understand the impacts.  It’s also vital you ensure your social media presence is as meaningful as possible. Your brand needs to offer more than memes, you need to deliver content which is positive and memorable. Content that makes an impact on your audience and provides as much value as possible.

While sharing posts you believe your target audience will enjoy is part of maintaining your social media presence, but you also need to encourage and cultivate interactions which are more than a simple like or share. Many brands/other authors have large numbers of social media ‘followers’ yet, their engagement levels are almost non-existent. Don’t be them. Be a brand who attracts engagement from their followers by building communities around your content.

Encourage your(self)/team to create their own social presence to promote content and increase overall brand trust. This tactic leads to an authentic voice for your organisation/brand.

Twitter chats help create a strong sense of community through content, bringing thought from all areas together in a real-time conversation. It gives your brand the perfect opportunity to engage directly with current and potential customers/readers.

Building social media communities help with word-of-mouth marketing, which is another big social media marketing trend for 2020. Communities allow engagement with nano and micro-influencers. many who will already be advocating your brand. Give them more reasons to share honest views and experiences of your products/books/author services.

Note: I mention Nano & Micro-influencers above. These are the people you need to create ongoing relationships with, not the ‘big influencers’ ones often associates with that term.

‘Big influencers’ are no longer trusted by consumers as their activity is clearly biased and devised for commercial reward. They no longer have the impact they once did and are seen as disingenuous.

In comparison, smaller influencers, ones who are likely to be part of your communities, tend to have better relationships with their followers, benefiting from a higher level of trust. This can lead to more engagement, thus increasing levels of trust in a brand/author/books which is more likely to culminate in conversion.

The rise of alternative platforms

Whilst Facebook, Twitter and Instagram tend to be the core platforms, many users are growing fatigued with their continuous ‘moving of the goalposts’ in order to generate even high levels of their already extreme profits, seemingly at the expense, or disadvantage of their users.

This has led to brands, including the individual entrepreneur/author having to fight harder than ever before to achieve good levels of organic reach and engagement. While Twitter has seen some growth during 2019, its active user numbers are far from its all-time 2017 high.

Similarly, Facebook has seen a huge drop in users, especially younger users, over the last two years, with the younger audiences opting to spend time on other platforms. Combine the above with the increasing pay-to-play format of social media channels means brands are not seeing the result from the core platforms.

Be prepared for more changes through 2020 as these core platforms jostle for users and introduce alternative and optional platforms and media channels.

• TikTok, with a younger target audience (41% of TikTok users are aged between 16 and 24) could be a great platform to encourage engagement with users who are stepping away from more traditional social media platforms. TikTok is the destination for short-form mobile videos.
• Although Pinterest is far from new on the scene, it has experienced a recent resurgence. Pinterest has found it fits well into the e-commerce space and has an audience who are engaged with the idea of buying products they see on the platform. 75% of Pinterest users say they are “very interested” in new products compared to just 55% of people on other social media platforms. Brands report success on this platform, reporting 2x higher returns on ad spend from the platform than other forms of social media and a 1.3x higher return than traditional search.
• Consider Virily is a relatively new Blogging Platform which opened its doors in May of 2017. Its offices are located in Estonia and Macedonia.

Virily practices revenue sharing, which for the small publisher and Indie Author, means the content you post and the interactions you make on the site earn you a share of the platform’s income.

So, by simply posting your engaging content via Virily, sharing that to your other social sites, from which your posts will be viewed, you will earn some revenue. Don’t hold your breath though, you will not earn a fortune, but if you are constantly posting engaging content, which you should be, then why not do it via Virily and earn a few cents per post?

The one downside is, you cannot post long/large blogs (like this one). But you could break it down into three or four shorter articles.

Utilizing alternative platforms allows you to engage with an audience who may not be on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, as well as providing you with different ways to share your content.

This could help deliver better results and shape your future social media marketing strategy.

6 – Telling Stories on social

I have given this short section space of its own. Although it is still focused on social media, it is also at the core of what we authors do… tell stories.

Allow me to elucidate.

A long time ago I offered my services, on a commercial basis, to companies seeking ‘alternative’ marketing options. By a long time ago I mean the early two-thousands, so around twenty or more years ago.

This involved something I termed, CBNM, or ‘Creative Brand Narrative Marketing’. Not to be confused with ‘Narrative Marketing’.

I promoted the idea thus:

Unlike regular or standard brand narrative, CBNM uses flash fiction, short stories, essays and other narrative mediums to embed brand awareness and responsiveness into the consciousness of the consumer as a cultural and social standard, making it familiar and customary, thus creating longevity of brand loyalty.

CBNM is well suited to the internet; particularly Social Media Platforms, Web Communities, Forums and Blogging chains. Yet can be designed in such a manner that also allows inclusion in traditional and established marketing mediums.

CBNM is pro-active, flexible and adaptive. It can change and adjust your communications to express any modification or revision as and when required.

While I was more focused on the written word at the time than the current fashion for image-led ‘stories’, I see no reason the two cannot be combined and, with the option of linking the message to various other platforms, like Instagram, Amazon or ones own website. I see sharing ‘stories’ is a growth area for engagement.

I was way ahead of the game and now the rest of the world has caught up, as CBNM still holds true today, in fact, even more so. CBNM is all about engaging with one’s audience, about creating great content, about engagement and about eliciting response… the current mantra of all marketing gurus and one of the ‘must do’s’ of 2020.

Since the launch of Snapchat, other social media platforms have rushed to add the Stories format to their offering. The result has been huge growth in the usage of this format for Instagram in particular, which as of January 2019, boasts 500 million daily active Stories users across the globe.

On average, brands are posting Stories on around seven days a month, averaging out to one Story every four days.

Instagram.

• Instagram Stories are more authentic than traditional Instagram posts that allow for heavy editing and altering.
• Content is only available for 24hrs, therefore, it is current and will not become outdated.
• Consumers want live updates and real-time content. Instagram Stories are normally the most up-to-date content a business can offer a consumer.
• Through Instagram Stories, you can share other people’s Instagram posts. This function allows people to connect easily with other accounts and businesses.

Stories are not a suitable option for every brand, but as stories are engaging and seeing increased use, will lead consumers to expect brands to create Stories, it is worth assessing if and how you can utilize them.

An ongoing question I am asked is, “What’s the future of reading regarding eBooks and Print.”

Since the creation of eBooks, reading on the go has become so much easier… or has it?

Whether you daily commute or travel by plane, seeing people with e-reader devices in their sticky paws, rather than a traditional paperback book is not an uncommon sight. The prime difference is most devices avail the user to such a range of activities, it is so simple to flick, slide or click onto the next thing that comes into the user’s mind. From bidding on that must-have from eBay to browsing Amazon, to looking at pictures on Instagram before opening an eBook and reading another chapter, all can be done almost instantaneously.

Oh, for any doubters out there, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Reading a book is alive and well.

A recent Survey Monkey report revealed people have read eleven or more in the last twelve months. Uncategorised fiction came in first at 26%, with mysteries and thrillers coming in at a close second (22%).

What is interesting is the majority preferred to go with a print book when reading, with around 58% saying they purchased books in both formats. It seems people like the e-readers because they can store more, but overall, most people prefer to read a traditional printed tome whenever they can (70%).

Even with so many people liking the smell and feel of a paper book, curling up on a rainy afternoon with a mug of tea and a thriller may become a thing of the past, feared 45% of respondents.

What has not changed is peoples’ love of reading, no matter what shape, size or format the stories come in.

However, the above are just a few results from a relatively small market sample which was mostly based on people opinion rather than die-hard facts.

The following is a look at the state of the book market and takes its lead from industry published facts.

7 – eBooks and the Indie effect.

Two new sets of numbers covering 2017 (latest available figures)show ebook sales are on the decline, both in terms of unit and dollar sales.

NPD’s PubTrack Digital, saw the unit sales of ebooks fall 10 per cent in 2017 compared to 2016. In absolute numbers, that meant the roughly 450 publishers represented saw ebook sales drop from 180 million units to 162 million over a year’s time.

The second, The American Association of Publishers, reported a decline in overall revenue for ebooks, a year-to-year decrease of 4.7 per cent in 2017. AAP tracks sales data from more than 1,200 publishers.

This ebook decline occurred in an overall publisher revenue environment that AAP said was essentially flat in 2017. So, some other kinds of book formats that AAP watches, like hardback books, went up as ebooks went down. For its part, NPD says when combining print and ebook unit sales, ebooks’ percentage of the total dropped from 21 per cent in 2016 to 19 per cent in 2017.

Children’s ebooks had the most dramatic decline in unit sales, and children’s/young adult ebooks have suffered double-digital revenue drops ever since the year 2015. Whilst adult fiction remains the most popular ebook category, with 44 per cent of all adult fiction sales in digital form.

However, neither NPD and AAP measure indie sales.

This is simply because centralized reporting of direct-from-author sales is tougher to come by, but by all anecdotal measures the independent market has taken off, notably in the also-still-large category of adult fiction.

One serious source of numbers for online book sales, including for indie ebooks, was the website Author Earnings. (Recently defunct) It estimated that traditional publisher reporting is, “now missing two-thirds of U.S. consumer ebook purchases, and nearly half of all ebook dollars those consumers spend.”

They say; “Ninety per cent of all romance purchases are ebooks,” the site’s latest report for Q2-Q4 2017 stated. “And we can see that science fiction and fantasy, with roughly 75 per cent of sales now ebooks and audio, is not that far behind.”

For all categories of ebooks, Author Earnings figures purely “indie” publishing accounted for at least 38 per cent of ebook units and 22 per cent of ebook dollars in the last nine months of 2017. And that doesn’t include micro presses, Amazon’s imprints.

“The indie share of the entire U.S. ebook market … now looks like what the indie share of Amazon alone used to be,” Author Earnings concluded. “In other words, far from losing ground, the overall indie market share has grown.”

So, you may be wondering: Are people buying more ebooks or more print books, overall? It’s hard to tell, across all kinds of books. Author Earnings doesn’t track physical bookstore sales, and NPD and AAP only track traditional publisher sales.

Jeff Bezos, whose Amazon distributes a lot of independently published ebooks, made it a point to note in his annual letter to shareholders that, “Over a thousand independent authors surpassed $100,000 in royalties in 2017 through Kindle Direct Publishing.”

Part of the apparently increasing shift of authors to indie status may be about the money.

 “In traditional publishing, the writer sees a sliver of the profits — 5-15 per cent,” SFWA President Cat Rambo, herself a hybrid author, told me. “In small press publishing, that number goes up significantly, and indie writers get to keep the biggest portion of the pie.”

The future of ebook publishing may increasingly belong to the independent author, especially as traditional publishers shift more marketing weight onto the writers while charging a premium for their traditionally published product.

2020 will see the market share of Indie Authors and Publishers increase again. More traditional published authors will move, at least part of their catalogue, or new book publishing, to the Indie market and in doing so will bring subsequent changes to the way the Indie market operates.

Mainstream publishing houses will also continue to encroach into the indie field as Penguin has with their Independent Publishing arm… which I find a contradiction in terms… but there we are.

8 – India

India’s book market, currently worth Rs 261 billion making it the sixth-largest in the world and the second-largest of the English language ones, is expected to touch Rs 739 billion by 2020.

General and literary fiction is ranked the number one genre in the books segment while “test prep” was the most sought-after genre in Academic books.

The consumer data survey, (Nielsen India Book Market Report) shows, on average people read books 2.1 times a week while nearly two-thirds read the book occasionally; interestingly, 56 per cent of the respondents bought at least one e-book a year and nearly half of these bought at least 3-4 e-books a year indicating a growing demand for digital books.

Fifty-five per cent of trade sales are of books in English. Books in Hindi account for 35 per cent of Indian language sales.

While the market is highly fragmented, it is also experiencing consolidation, partly due to presence of the merged Penguin/Random House/HarperCollins’ acquisition of Harlequin (all companies with substantial presences in India), but also in educational, with S Chand’s acquisition of Madhuban, Vikas Publishing House and Saraswati Book House, and with Laxmi Publications’ acquisition of Macmillan Higher Education.

Vikrant Mathur, director of Nielsen Book India, adds,

“There is enormous potential in the Indian book market which has been highlighted by the report, enabling publishers, booksellers and libraries to gain a deeper understanding of the market, pin-pointing areas that can be developed and those pinch points that need to be addressed in order to bring more efficiency and cost savings to the Indian book market and its supply chain.”

Those authors who are part of Electric Eclectic will know this marketplace is already being explored by Electric Eclectic. For those authors who are not part of Electric Eclectic… then maybe now is a good time to join us.

I cannot write this forecast without mentioning Amazon… so, here is a brief mention…

Amazon has reported strong growth metrics across business segments in recent years. Much of the company’s top-line growth has been on an organic basis, with the only major exception being the $13.7 billion addition of Whole Foods and resulting physical stores to Amazon’s offerings. (latest available figures.)

Expect Amazon’s combined global online sales to increase from $130 billion in 2018 to over $180 billion by 2020.

The company’s net revenues to increase from $178 billion in 2017 to $235 billion and increase to over $340 billion by the end of the decade.

Accordingly, the online sales business is expected to contribute around 44% of Amazon’s overall revenue growth in the same period.

No one predicted, 10 years ago,  Amazon would emerge as the world’s largest cloud provider, or it would be opening physical bookstores, or offering innovative ways for customers to shop without cashiers (Amazon Go stores). I say Amazon will be pursuing a growth opportunity a decade from now that no one is talking about currently.

I cannot say what Amazon will look like in 2029… but…

Although Amazon is already enormous in size given its nearly $233 billion in annual revenue, there are still many places around the world where Amazon hasn’t penetrated. International revenue makes up about 28% of the company’s total revenue, and the largest market outside of North America is Germany.

Amazon will need to overcome obstacles as it expands internationally.

In China, where Amazon has less than a 1% share of e-commerce sales, Alibaba has a stranglehold on the market.

In India, where Amazon has been investing heavily, it has run into an obstacle in the form of new government e-commerce and anti-monopoly policies that force foreign competitors to compete more on quality of service instead of price.

But Amazon is just getting its feet wet.

In 2019, Amazon started to expand in Brazil and just opened its first e-commerce store in Turkey.

Amazon has generally run its international operations at a loss, but that’s indicative of Amazon’s moat. It requires billions of dollars to build the infrastructure in these countries, not to mention navigate around complicated laws and regulatory environments. There are not many companies in the world, except maybe Walmart, that have the capital and patience to lose money for several years while building the necessary scale to earn a profit.

While Amazon doesn’t disclose advertising revenue specifically, its “other” revenue category, which primarily includes ad revenue, increased 117% to $10.1 billion in 2018. Amazon’s ad business is growing at a faster clip than Facebook’s and Alphabet’s. It’s estimated that by 2020, Amazon’s ad business will reach $15 billion, which eMarketer expects to come at the expense of Google’s digital ad share.

While Amazon’s core retail business will continue to grow around the world, investors should keep their eye on Amazon’s cloud business Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS helps companies connect and scale a host of services and systems in the cloud, including machine learning, blockchain, storage, database system hosting, analytics, and business applications, among several other services.

Revenue from AWS has more than doubled to $25.7 billion over the last few years. It was estimated that Amazon had a 52% share of the public cloud service market in 2017, according to research firm Gartner.

What’s more, AWS contributed nearly 59% of Amazon’s total operating profit last year. One analyst with MKM Partners thinks that AWS alone could be worth $1 trillion by 2024, which is more than Amazon’s current market value of $871 billion (total shares outstanding times the share price).

Over the next decade, you can expect Amazon to continue to push forward internationally and penetrate the crevices of commerce and help migrate more people over to a digital economy. There’s still a lot of opportunities domestically, as well, given that e-commerce sales still represent less than 10% of U.S. retail sales.

International, advertising, and AWS are some of the big things that will drive growth going forward, but CEO Jeff Bezos is never short of ideas of where to steer the company. With Amazon currently pursuing opportunities in non-retail industries, such as the $135 billion video game industry and the $3 trillion healthcare industry, the company will likely look very different a decade from now. But that is what makes Amazon one of the most dynamic companies in the world, and why it’s a great growth stock to tuck away in your nest egg.

That’s it on Amazon. (I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.)

I don’t really need to say much else, except to ask where would we, as Indie Authors, would be without it? You may consider Amazon to be a Marmite company, love or hate. For me, the benefits of association far outweigh the alternatives… so, I’m in the love camp.

9 – Authorpreneurs

I expect to see more self-publishing authors taking the role of “authorpreneur.” Publishing a book is a business venture, one with you, the author, as the brand.

Many successful and experienced authors now build their brand and establish their credibility in a given field. It is not enough to simply write a book; authors must market themselves, become involved in their own promotions and advertising.

This opens opportunities to help, aid and coach other authors, and to create other revenue streams. This can be in editing, proofreading, promotions, marketing, design, virtual assistants, virtual customer services, the supply of hand-crafted merchandise, online stores and more.

Some author organisations, such as Electric Eclectic, allow their authors to use established branding and to work with other EE authors.

2020, I am sure will see many Indie authors utilising their skillsets in this way.

10 – POD/Inventory

Print on demand remains an important option for indie authors, one of the key factors which allow the independents to compete with their larger and better-funded competitors.

While eBooks are still in (slight) decline, print books show no such signs and allow the Indie Author the freedom of not having to hold a large inventory. An issue even large companies must contend with… even Amazon.

To deal with congestion at its warehouses, Amazon has cut book orders to publishers over the last several weeks. (reported by Publishers Weekly, Nov 19) 

The head of a publishing company said,

“if Amazon orders don’t rise to what has been typical ordering patterns in past years within two weeks we could lose the entire holiday season.” He added, “that if problems with Amazon persist and orders continue to be low, it is possible some online book sales could move to BN.com and other retailers such as Walmart, which has invested heavily in its online operations.”

It is this freedom from having to batch print and hold physical stock (of any quantity) which allows the Indie Authors to compete.

I don’t think 2020 will see any major movement from the likes of Barnes and Nobel or Walmart with regards to carrying indie-published books directly, but I am certain these companies are looking into the possibilities of creating their own POD systems.

If they do, it will open up a whole new world of possibilities for the Indie Author… stay tuned, folks.

11 – Author Alliances

This is not new in concept, but these cooperative associations are morphing into successful unions.

In 2020 I expect many more Indie Authors to pull together to advocate for themselves. For example, authors are challenging the control ACX, a marketplace owned by Audible still wields over the audiobook industry.

For uploading an audiobook, and perhaps a simple quality check, they ask for a percentage of sales twice the size the author receives. Authors are starting to question this and, now, more equitable alternatives are starting to appear.

An important shift now is that predatory and fraudulent companies are being exposed, as authors come together to protect their best interests.

ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors, is helping authors sort the legitimate actors from those that have been subject to repeated customer complaints and legal action. Their ranking offers a one-stop resource for authors to determine if a publishing service comes vetted and recommended, with a Watchdog Advisory, or somewhere in between.

Another form of author alliance is common branding.

For example, Electric Eclecticallows its members, Indie Authors and small press publishers, to use the Electric Eclectic branding and share in the brand and individual author marketing initiatives.

My own expectation is, it will be harder to survive without forming an alliance, partnership or collaborating with others.

Take note from some of the big brands who partnered up to expand their reach and increase sales. For example, Starbucks and Spotify, giants in the coffee and music streaming business. They integrated the Spotify mobile app with the Starbucks My Rewards program and app. When customers were in the store, they could use either app to find out what music is playing in the store and add it to their saved music in Spotify.

The payoff for Starbucks was that the collaboration drove customers to download the app and join their customer loyalty program. As for Spotify, users who subscribe to their paid memberships get extra points for Starbucks My Rewards program. The partnership is mutually beneficial, and both companies have the potential to reach the other’s audience without sacrificing their brand.

And that is the key, ‘Mutually beneficial’. Time to get you Mutually Beneficial coalition(s) up and running.

12 – Crowded Social

Indie Authors must contend with far more than the competition of other books. You must also compete for space and attention which a million and one other products and services are fighting for.

This is most obvious of these are other forms of entertainment.

Almost every day some newform or platform for entertainment is announced. The sources proliferate online, authors compete with not only radio and TV, but the new streaming services beyond just Netflix, including Disney+, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, along with sports, live theatre, podcasts, video games, and more.

It can be difficult to stand out, to be seen when you are alone. To stay relevant, Indie Authors need to brand themselves and, as above, share branding, at least for some of their works.

One area where indies can have an upper hand is on a local basis, one’s hometown and county. This year 2020, make it a prime task to link up with your local media, radio stations, newspapers and television. Find out who runs Podcasts and blogs with local content in your area.

Once you have some airtime under your belt or even scheduled, you will find organising book signings far easier as your target destinations will be more receptive.

If you get on extremely well, why not have your local radio broadcast their show from the premises you are holding your signing. You make the radio happy, the bookstore happy and get a ton and a half of great exposure in your local community… hey, celebrity status at last!

Basically, as with all marketing. Think ‘outside the box’. (At least a little)

 

13 – Fundamental Shifts

Of course, fundamental shifts in publishing will continue and not all of them will be predictable. (Except maybe by me? Lol) Authors do need to stay informed, this year 2019, we saw Sci-Fi, Cosy Mysteries, Women’s fiction and Historical fiction all come to the forefront of ‘trending’. I expect this to continue, at least for the first quarter of 2020.

Over the past years, we have seen Amazon grow from a minor player to the largest book distributor. Borders and the subsequent focus on B&N and Waterstones. Direct to consumer marketing, the vexing issue of ‘Discoverability’ and powerful trends like Open Access. Increasing globalised markets, innovations of workflow, and so much more.

But above them, all were the sea changes in how books of any kind were bought and sold, whether print or ebook and what this meant for the process and structure of publishing.

I think, starting now, we will see the effects of consolidation. Maybe. Eventually, an emergence of supergiant companies, such as the joining of forces of such giants as Pearson, Bertelsman, RELX and Lagardere… all as one? Maybe.

It is not so farfetched. Penguin (&) Random House, now incorporates Harper Collins. Nature and Springer are now one company. Each is a behemoth in comparison to what was considered ‘big’ just 20 years ago.

So, what does this hold for the Indie, the single hard-working writers such as you and me?

Thankfully, I see the road ahead as favourable.

While scale and centralisation may well be the future for the giants, the smaller ‘Davids’ of the world can look forward to continued diversity. Which is a good thing.

The growth of writing platforms, like Wattpad, YouTube for words, Vice, Buzzfeed, blogging and niche newsletters, are all thriving, which proves the case for more an unfiltered environment, rather than a controlled one… (one of the reasons Facebook is losing users.)

Think about the indie publishing markets future like the ripples caused by a stone being dropped into water.

Today, we are in the centre… time to ride the ripples outwards as they and the market expand.

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Did you know Electric Eclectic has its own Amazon store?

@open24 lists all Electric Eclectic books, books from associate publishers and a range of gifts for writers and readers.

Have a browse now, @open24, an Amazon store.

Publishing Trends & Indie Author Insights for 2019.

Those of you who follow Ramblings from a Writers Mind will know at this time of year I write about trends and marketing projections for the forthcoming year.

On December the 15^th 2017, I published ‘Insights & Publishing Trends for 2018’, in which I mentioned Data Breaches, GDRP, Narrative (Native) Advertising, the rise of Hybrid publishing, Books Shelf Life, the growth of Audiobooks and more. The post is still available to read HERE

I think you will find I was scarily accurate.

This post, my Insights and Projections for 2019, I hope will prove to be just as precise.

The following opinion is more than me simply licking my finger and holding it aloft to see which way the wind is blowing. It is from information accrued from a number of respected sources including;

CQ International Publishing, TOAD Publishing, Amazon.com, China South Publishing & Media, Hachette Book, Holtzbrinck Publishing, Penguin Random House, Phoenix Publishing and Media, Bonnier, Bungeishunju, China Publishing Group, De Agostini Editore, Planeta, HarperCollins Publishers, Informa, Kadokawa Publishing, Kodansha, and Sanoma Media

The following conclusions are a distillate of studying reports regarding;

Consumer Print Book Publishing, Consumer Digital Book Publishing, Market Size, Differential Market Regions, Main Consumer Profiling, Regional Production, and Demand Forecasts by Countries etc.

My 2019 report

It is important for Indie Authors and publishers to be aware of the industries shifting patterns, particularly as the market is more competitive than ever before.

While it is continuing to get easier to publish books, the general trend is for people to spend less time reading books.

In the USA the decline has plummeted by almost one-third since 2004.

Measure this against the rise of digital publishing and print-on-demand, the two main elements driving indie growth by making it accessible to almost everyone, and you can see there is a shrinking market which is flooding ‘over the brim’.

Way back in 2014 Amazon published figures showing a new book was published every five minutes. Some now estimated this figure to be one new book every thirty-seconds.

One thing which surprises many aspiring authors is when they learn eBooks are still lagging far behind the popularity of print books.

A survey earlier this year, (2018), showed 67% of people said they read at least one print book in the preceding 12 months in comparison to only 26% having read an eBook during the same time period. A decline of 2% from the 2016 survey.

This may be due to several factors, these are some of the most voiced:

You don’t need power to read a print book.

They [print books] are not as fragile, so best when travelling to remote and rugged regions.

Print books fit into pockets and pouches easily, (referring to jamming them in and rolling them.)

You cannot prop up a wobbly table with an electronic device. (also… cannot use to swat spiders/flies etc.)

You cannot lend/pass on/swap electronic books as you can print books.

Print books are tougher and resist damage better. (You can drop, stand on printed books.)

Moving on.

Audiobooks.

Digital audio is, as I predicted, a major area of growth during 2018 and will continue to grow rapidly during this [2019] year.

In fact, 25% of all Harper Collins digital revenue in the first quarter of 2018 was created from digital audio. This figure increased to 43% for Simon & Schuster, while Audible UK’s revenue grew by 45% from the previous year [2017].

Areas of audiobook growth to consider are the sight impaired, where reading print or digital display is difficult, impracticable or impossible.

The second sector to consider is group listening. This is clearly applicable for educational establishments, but the marketplace also caters for businesses, training/coaching/group bonding/team building etc.

I think it wise to contemplate specialist books written for relaxation therapy, traumatic recovery, inspirational and positive reinforcement.

With these and other, as yet, unexplored market areas it may be worth looking closely at the current expanding audiobook market and to research the potential of new and unexplored market segments.

We can expect to see the continued growth of Hybrid Publishing.

The attraction of Hybrid, especially to new and inexperienced indie authors, is the benefits of having the  ‘middle-ground.’

While authors (mostly) maintain creative control and revenue creation, the enlisted aid from experts (usually) ensure quality and help with market reach.

Some of the traditional publishing houses are now creating collaborative arms of their businesses to harness the rise of Hybrid publishing.

I think this route may be worth considering when entering the audiobook market as it can be an investment and time-consuming task with many pitfalls.

Covers.

Be prepared for a major publishing‘Cover war’ during 2019.

The new designers and predicted trends for this year will make cover designs a prime factor in all book marketing, in both on and off-line sales.

Pantone has already revealed their colour trend forecast for 2019 so, this year, use bold colours if you want your work or business to stand out. Yellows, orange,  pink, and bright blues, in combinations and in contrast all form part of this year’s mix.

Big book design. By big book, I mean copying and using the design keys which are traditionally reserved for famous authors with massive track records.

Crossing out. One element often seen on established authors books has found its way to the smaller author. Often combining handwriting over a font.

This fresh take adds a vibe of revision and restlessness, introducing the idea that the author thought about the title, crossed out words and made changes.

Geometric asymmetry is a big one, combined with geometric shapes and 3d renders. (With complimentary animated variations used in online promotions).

Gradients have seen a huge comeback in late 2017-2018 and are here to stay during 2019. With Apple and Instagram using them in their branding, this is a winning choice in 2019 for book covers too.

Bold fonts, with typography, are getting more and more into the spotlight. In some cases, typography is replacing prime images. Typography is now bigger and bolder, making it a trend for this year’s predictions. The winning combination, when you are using a big font is minimalism, otherwise, the design can be overcrowded and not really appealing.

Notes:

1, League Gothic and close derivative fonts, once usually reserved for Crime and Thriller novels will be touted for other genres.

2, Lydian font has re-emerged in late 2018, leggy, light and gender neutral, I see it continuing its resurgence in literary fiction and then spreading to nonfiction.

Florals. Floral backgrounds will be trending and not only for romance but mixed with masculine elements, such as bold fonts. Illustrations of flowers and plants are ‘on trend’ for 2019.

What makes this floral trend different is the flowers tend to heavily interact and even obscure the text elements on some of this year’s biggest covers. Something else which makes this trend unique: these botanicals are eschewing tradition and finding their way onto covers of books written by both women and men.

Overlapping Elements, previously it was taboo to have images overlapping the text on a books cover. No more. The new designers are ignoring this rule, with some wonderful outcomes.

Implemented cleverly, this can give a 3d-(ish) effect to a flat 2d image.

Hyperrealism. This generally favours non-fiction. These are cover designs which integrate the information about the book into a familiar product or household item.

Whether made from newspaper clippings, food wrappers or even projector slides, these hyper-real covers create effortless nostalgia and a feeling a wistfulness by taking something expected from our life and introducing it into an entirely new setting.

Expect more make-you-look-twice designs like these coming in the next year.

Modern illustration. Illustrated book covers have been having a well-recognized moment, the likes of which we have not seen since the mid-century era. This resurgence reflects the like of those old ‘trippy’ Penguin Classics.

Book cover design trends in 2019 look like they will be defined by contradiction.

Some designers will continue to push boundaries and move to edgier places, while others choose to embrace the typefaces and illustration styles of earlier eras.

Both directions mean readers’ shelves will be filled with gorgeous and fresh jackets.

If you are looking for a special, outstanding designed book cover then contact the award-winning artist designer, PeeJay.

 

PeeJay designs only take on a few new clients in any given year but you may lucky enough to become one of them. PeeJaydesigns@mail.com

 

Marketing.

Passive Aggressive Marketing is the key for a successful 2019.

‘Passive’ as in subtle engagement with your audience and building trusted relationships.

‘Aggressive’ applies to the consistency, continuity and visibility of your promotions. If you are not constantly seen your competitors will be.

One of the prime areas of being indie is the ability to successfully marketing your book(s).

This does not mean simply putting in a big effort on the publication/release of your book, but a continuous, ongoing, planned marketing strategy which is well implemented and executed.

The key word is ‘Ongoing’.

Amazon, for instance, has a vast online activity where your book is swallowed-up and made to disappear instantaneously. Even ‘successful’ books and those considered ‘still-relevant’ can get buried quickly if the marketing effort is not constant.

The torrent of new titles and advertising from new authors and mainstream publishing houses will swallow-up any effort that is not effective and constant.

Without this continued attention, your book may become irrelevant quickly, losing visibility under an avalanche of newer releases in its category. Think of it as having your book available in a giant bookstore, crowded with millions of new releases. (Which it is.)

My suggestion for 2019 is authors will benefit from long-term marketing strategies. Margins may be lower and slower as a result, but the longer-term benefits will make-up for any short-term shortfall.

Creating an ongoing marketing campaign is like paying to keep your book on a display in the front of the store, with ads visible right when customers walk in, instead of letting it move to a shelf in the back. It will have a noticeable effect on sales.

Staying a step ahead of these book publishing trends can make the difference between turning out a bestseller or just another drop in an ocean of self-published work that falls short of its full potential.

This is a transitional time for the publishing industry and these changes will only accelerate through 2019.

Content marketing has been steadily growing for several years now.

More and more businesses realise the long-term ROI (return of investment) of brand-owned content. 2018 was a big year for content; recent studies have shown content marketing revenue is projected to exceed $300 billion by 2019. 86% of B2C marketers think content marketing is a key marketing strategy. Content marketing generates over 4x more leads than PPC per $1000 within 36 months.

Most businesses seem to publish content only because they have heard, “Content is king” or because they saw competitors trying to put out some content too.

Publishing content for the sake of publishing content is useless.

An effective content strategy involves a lot of analysing, organizing and planning. It may be tough, but it is the only way to go if you want to see your content drive traffic and conversions.

Gone are the days where content means the blog posts your company writes. Instead, content marketing now includes a diverse set of content types and multiple channels to push them through.

Chances are that if you’re already using social media, you are doing content marketing to some extent. The next step is to get a strategy in place.

Content marketing is taking any type of content (digital or physical) and purposefully sending it out to your audience. Adding a strategy to this means you have thought about your goals, audiences and distribution channels.

There are quite a few types of content out there now, with new channels being developed every year. Part of being a good content marketer is being able to learn new types and be open to experimentation. Relatively new to the scene is user-generated social media content which can be used as part of your strategy.

This is a non-exhaustive list to help you think about what type of content you may want to consider.

Blog posts, Branded blog posts, User-generated content like an Instagram post, Videos, Podcasts, Infographics, Photos, Webinars, Quizzes, Press releases, News and magazine articles.

Unfortunately, in a world where everyone is connected, one poorly timed, or poorly worded message could destroy your brand reputation.

Taking the above information into consideration, it shows there are two main factors to contemplate in creating a successful marketing strategy for 2019 and beyond.

From this moment onwards, promotional tactics must focus on brand building and audience engagement.

Do not just take my word.

This is what some market-leading professionals have to say;

“In 2019 it seems that the brands who excel in cultivating community and brand loyalty will be the most successful. This means brands need to find their niche audience (instead of trying to be everything to everyone) and support them – through authentic content, top-notch customer service, and surprise-and-delight experiences.” Emily Hughes, Loup Digital

 

“2019 will be about using video. Facebook is going to continue to decline in reach so SEO will continue to be a top priority.” Melissa Chowning, Founder of  Twenty-First Digital

“Going forward, I feel that small online publishers won’t have a future if they try to be all things to all people. So, we are always looking at what we do best and doubling down on that. The Pareto Principle at play, as ever. Our strength is the trust we have built with our users, the quality of our editorial, and the relationships we have with our writers and key players in the media.” Mark Hodson, Co-founder, and editor of 101 Holidays

“In 2019, we will continue to focus on developing great content for our audience and look for new ways to expand our reach. As always, we’ll experiment with new technologies but will always keep the end user experience as a top priority.” Dianna Dilworth, Editor in Chief at Marketers Quarterly

 “My primary focus in 2019 will be building new and building on current relationships. The best way to learn about market trends, challenges, and opportunities are to spend time with the people dealing with them first hand. It’s essential to gain an understanding of what’s important to the people who comprise the different areas of your industry to best serve that industry. The reality is, business isn’t “just business”; it’s personal — and, personally, I enjoy getting to know the people who make the marketing industry come alive.“ Ginger Conlon, U.S. Editor in Chief at The Drum

 

The common threads here are; brand building by engagement of the audience, creating and cultivating community, delivering high-quality content and service, creating partnership and relationships with other organisations and using new technologies.

Last year, after my 2018 report (published Dec 2017), as part of my belief in my own predictions, I created a marketing opportunity for indie authors I called Electric Eclectic.

During 2018 Electric Eclectic built the foundations and established a working formula for a long-term marketing strategy, much based on the industry pattern shifts detected through 2018 and projections for 2019.

Electric Eclectic takes into consideration the need for constant ongoing promotion, for narrative engagement with potential readers (our audience), delivering great service and products while creating mutually beneficial partnerships and relations with individuals and organisations.

In 2019, Electric Eclectic will be considering requests for a small, select number of authors to join our marketing programme.

If you are interested please email eebookbranding@mail.com

Electric Eclectic website: http://bit.ly/visitEEbooks

Electric Eclectic on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElectricEclecticBooks/

The Electric Eclectic App on Google Play: http://bit.ly/2GFyarv

 

BOOKS.

There are two books ALL indie authors, regardless of experience, should have in their reference library.

Neither is a ‘How to’ book or ‘Step by step guide’.

Instead, they are full of relevant and enlightening information you can utilise to your own advantage.

‘The Frugal Author’

 https://amzn.to/2GH9HC7, as the cover suggests, this is all about creating and publishing your book at the lowest possible costs while keeping the quality high.

 

‘Lots of Author Stuff you Need to Know’ 

https://amzn.to/2GGwL3L is full of lots of stuff you really do need to know as an Indie author. This book includes pertinent material such as book parts, when and how to use them, industry word count for various genres, copyright, formatting, stuff about literary agents and much, much more.

 

I strongly suggest you arm yourself with both of these eBooks, which you can download NOW, using the links above.

 

Other marketing tools you need to be making more use of in 2019 are:

Twitter cards.

With more than 330 million monthly active users Twitter should not be overlooked this year.

Latest figures reveal around 51% of Twitter users earn more than $50,000 dollars per year. That is a vast amount of purchasing power. Advertise directly, but utilise Twitters reach to drive traffic to your blog, website and product pages while engaging with your followers.

Twitter cards have more visibility than a regular tweet, allow for immersive interactions while making your tweets attractive encouraging conversation from your audience.

The result of image-based tweets greater exposure with figures suggesting up to 55% increase in leads and a 41% jump of re-tweets.

Check out the four types of Twitter cards available and use/mix & match each style as needed.

Longer Tweets.

We all know Twitter changed its word limit from 140 characters to 280 and allowed images in addition to character count. But did you know you can create follow-on tweets from the drop down?

Want even more? Then try Longertweets.com and read their blog at automaticallytweet.com

You can also use WordPress plugins Tweetly, Tweet Old Post, Tweetable and WP to Twitter to boost and organise your Twitter presence.

Time and organisation.

Scheduling tools may make the difference between success and failure of your book sales this year if you do not have time to be constantly posting and promoting manually.

Having the right scheduling tools on deck can help you save time and push out more content to your audience. The more of your social strategy you put on autopilot, the more time you have to connect with your followers in real time.

The trick is to pick the right social media scheduling tools for you.

Take time to browse them and select the one(s) which offer you solutions to your own situation.

My prediction is for Instagram to be a key element in narrative engagement marketing this year.

The greater your Instagram reach, the more eyes you can get on your brand’s visual content.

With over a billion monthly active users and a constant flood of content, now’s the time to rethink how you can extend the lifespan of any piece of Instagram content and, of course, your reach.

Cross-posting content, that is placing the same/identical content on several social media platforms within the same timeframe. Starbucks marketing is a prime example of how to do this well.

Although you should not cross-post everything. The bulk of your Instagram content should be exclusive to Instagram.

 

BUT… Pinterest posts should be cross-pollinating because the Pinterest platform is designed to be ‘Evergreen’ in terms of network search. Therefore, it is a prime place to house your Instagram posts.

If you do not already know, Pinterest allows you to ‘Claim’ your Instagram account and your YouTube account. Check it out.

Pinterest also provides your brand content attribution, meaning that you can drive more Pinterest traffic directly to Instagram.

I have not yet delved into the recently launched IGTV… Instagram Television… but I shall and will report back on this blog during the forthcoming year.

IGTV is still in its early stages but considers that any followers you gain on IGTV translate to your regular account. Furthermore, the platform allows for heavy tagging and links to drive more attention to your Instagram content and promotions alike.

But that does not mean you should dismiss it out of hand. Go take a shuftie and see what potential you think IGTV holds for you.

Facebook.

The question here is Facebook throwing the baby out with the bathwater?

I don’t think so… at least not yet.

Kicking off 2018 with a reach-rocking algorithm shift, the social giant is now throwing some business owners for a loop with some recent changes to their Pages platform.

The new Facebook Page publishing authorization is something that brands of all shapes and sizes should be aware of.

These rule changes are part of Facebook’s reaction to threatened Government governance of the net and the many major security and data breaches in the last few years. One of the reasons Google is closing their social media platform, Google Plus, in January 2019.

You can read my post on this subject at HERE

Facebook told me that,

“Our goal is to prevent organizations and individuals from creating accounts that mislead people about who they are or what they’re doing. These updates are part of our continued efforts to increase authenticity and transparency of Pages on our platform.”

In short, Facebook is looking to fight disinformation and guarantee to users that Page owners are who they say they are. The Facebook Page publishing authorization provides a straightforward line of defence to achieve both of these goals.

If affected, you will see an alert banner like the one above in your News Feed. You will be asked to confirm your identity and likewise consistently reminded to do so until you go through the process.

Even if you take issue with Facebook questioning your identity, it’s best to simply go along with it if you want to stay in the good graces of the platform. Facebook seems to understand the inconvenience and has made the verification process quite simple as a result.

Remember, so much of social media is about rolling with the punches. Platforms change, rules change. It happens. These are private companies with commercial interests, they are not free public services and no one has an undeniable right to use any of them.

Expect Facebook to roll out many more security influenced changes during 2019.

That’s about it for one post, so I’ll close for now, leaving you with the following message.

As someone who enjoys reading a ‘good book’, you will not go far astray picking one or more of these ‘must reads for 2019’ as selected by from CQI Magazine.

 

 

Gobsmacked

Firstly, an explanation.

Gobsmacked is a well-known colloquial saying in the county of Yorkshire. (That’s Yorkshire, England, for all my American friends.)

Gobsmacked roughly translates as; So surprised you cannot speak. Overwhelmed with wonder, surprise, or shock. Astounded.

Liken such a surprise to that of being punched in the mouth and you are beginning to understand the word.

To break it down, ‘Smacked’ as in hit, slapped, punched, struck etc. and ‘Gob’ a slang word for mouth.

Hence, I would say it means; So surprised you are dumbfounded, unable to speak, as you would be after being ‘smacked in the gob’.

 Now, on with this post.

I do not feel Gobsmacked about the general lethargy and apathy I see and sense within the indie author community of late. I have noticed it, slowly but inexorably, growing over the past year or so.

Don’t get me wrong, this dispirited indifference is not an affliction which infects every single author, but a general condition proliferating throughout our worldwide community.

It could be a reaction to the changes at Facebook, the closure of CreateSpace, Amazons ever-changing algorithms or the news G+ is soon to close to the general public.

It could be a response, a consequence of them all. A mass writers communal PTSD from the constant shock and awe of all changes on social media… doubtful, but who knows?

(Much of what has passed this year, 2018, I predicted and wrote about on this blog. Not surprisingly about a year ago.) Check it out HERE.

So, you may ask, what is it that causes me to feel Gobsmacked?

Allow me to elucidate.

Point one.

I frequently, make that continually, read posts on social media where writers ask how to market their books.

I read questions that ask what is the ‘best way’ to do this or that. I see authors enquiring “who has had success with (such & such) and how did they do it?” or “what is the best book marketing platform?” and “is it worth paying Joe Bloggs ltd to market my book, they only want £10,000 a week“… okay, maybe that figure is a little exaggerated, but you get my gist.

Far too many times have I read how authors have been ‘ripped off’ or ‘scammed’ by the unscrupulous preying on writers.

I have no doubts I shall read similar accounts tomorrow of people feeling ‘robbed’ as I did yesterday and today.

 Point two.

Why then, when a genuine marketing method is offered do so many authors fail to grasp the opportunity?

I am speaking of a marketing organisation run by well respected, established and recognised indie authors.

No strange claims.

No get rich quick schemes.

No large sums of money required.

Just a solid method of creating awareness and establishing trust with readers.

What’s more, I am speaking of a marketing method which pays full royalties to those participating. In effect, it is a marketing which pays authors to sell their own books.

Yet this is one writers ‘cannot be bothered’ looking at or cringe about paying the small, token (once only) membership fee.

Instead, those very same authors, the ones who did not want to spend a few pounds or dollars, then post on Facebook about how they have lost a fortune on scammers and vanity promotions.

This then has the effect of pulling down the mood of the whole indie community. Something which is currently tangible. All you have to do is follow a few of the author group conversations on social and you will soon see for yourself.

 That is why I get ‘Gobsmacked’.

I am the founder of Electric Eclectic, a book brand marketing programme and author co-operative.

Electric Eclectic is not a get rich quick scheme. It does not offer magical solutions for generating massive sales.

Electric Eclectic offers a dedicated promotional strategy with growing market reach. It is a long-term, slow burn plan generating loyalty and confidence within our marketplace.

Oh, and yes, authors who are part of Electric Eclectic earn royalties too… but that’s only part of being an Electric Eclectic author.

Want to know more? Then why not visit our WEBSITE

Download the Electric Eclectic android app… NOW.

Just before I go, don’t forget Kindle Unlimited. You can get your 30 day FREE trial HERE

You have nothing to lose and a whole library to gain!

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How to sell you book series by writing another book.

 

 

Does this title sound stupid? (Don’t answer that.)

I was trying to come up with a fancy, clever, literary genius of a title, one which would give an undeniable clue to the content of this post.

I got a few good ones lined up and then re-read them. Most were so oblique even I forgot the connection. Others read more like popular newspaper headings than a serious post about writing.

In the end, I settled for what you have above. Which cannot be too bad because here you are, reading me waffling on about something inane.

Okay, on with my post.

Many of my indie author friends, especially those who tend to write in a specific genre, have one or more series of books.

I know writing a book series is no new thing, but it is one which has become resurgent in popularity over recent years. This is partly because of a shift in reading habits, which in turn is partly influenced by film and television ‘franchises’. (I shall not go into the reading trends and patterns regarding general social psychology of the masses here… albeit a subject I love.)

The ideal is to have someone buy a copy of one of your books and like it so much they rush out and by the whole series… or nowadays go to an online bookstore; not so much fun as browsing a ‘real’ shops shelves but quite practical, especially for social hermits.

Anyway… I seem to be digressing.

The problem, it seems, lays with having ‘that someone’ buy the first book of your series.

Herein lies a quandary.

Until such a person has a copy of your book in their sticky mittens, they shall never know how captivating the story is. They shall never know your carefully crafted characters, fall in love with your protagonist or hold disdain for your antagonist.

Neither will they learn how well you write, narrate or how charming a tale spinner you are. Which would all be a ‘bit of a shame’.

Oh, I hear so many of you thinking, “it’s all about promotion and marketing, that’s how you get readers.”

Well, yes and no.

Yes, it is about promoting your works, and NO… Allow me to enlighten you on my reasoning.

It is not all about promoting your books. (‘Promoting’ is a word I shall use as an ‘umbrella’ term to include marketing, advertising and such hoo-ha for the duration of this post.)

It is all about promoting you, your books, both individually and collectively, and your author brand, in a certain way.

If I were to cover all these topics, in one post, I would end up writing an entire thesis three thousand pages long, neither something I have time to write in one sitting, or, I am sure, you have time to read. So, I shall concentrate purely on one aspect and follow up, in future posts, on other relevant subjects.

As the amazingly conceived title of this post states, I shall continue discussing your book series.

It has become something of an urban legend, a myth which survives to the present day and one which far too many authors still fall prey to, that is the one which says: “if you give your first book of a series away as a freebie you will gain lots of new readers who will buy all your other books.”  

BULLSHUSH.  

 

That is a lie, promoted by those who generate financial gain from (often desperate) indie authors. Free may have been a viable option in the early days of the internet when Amazon was just a simple bookstore when indie authors were referred to as desktop publishers and vanity press meant having a book for sale outside of a mainstream publishing house. (See: https://wp.me/p5nj7r-1fn )

There are ways forward, none are push and go or plug and play. Each takes time and consistent effort to achieve and not all will work equally for all authors, their books or series. Book promotion is not an exact science.

Thunderclaps, Daycause, Blog hops, Tweet chains can all form part of your overall promotional strategy… You know, the carefully planned and timed schedule you have designed. The one which ensures you maximise each promotional effort… Yeh, that’s the one, your synergetic multi-arena integrated sales stratagem for the 2018/19 marketing period.

However, few authors consider writing a further book, or two or three or more to help gain and build readership and, on the face of it, with good reason. After all, writing another book is only adding to the series and that takes us back to square one… doesn’t it?

Not necessarily.

You see, this is about taking a new approach to authors promotions, in this case, Prequels… now, I know prequels are not new; way back when, we had Charlotte Brontë’s ‘Jane Eyre’ (1874); but did you know that Jean Rhys wrote the ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ in 1966 as a prequel and response, describing the background to the marriage Jane learns about after going to work for Mr Rochester?

How about a prequel with a difference?

Let me ask you some questions…

What if… you could write a shorter book, a book especially targeted at attracting readers to your current series?

What if…  a group of authors would help you promote that book?

What if…  a book brand would include your book in its promotions, making it constantly visible to a global audience, online, in magazines and via social media?

What if…

What if…  you became an Electric Eclectic author?

Currently, Electric Eclectic are well known for their ebook Novelettes, their short stories books which help connect readers and authors.

But now, Electric Eclectic is launching a form of book they call a ‘Proquel’

These are Prequels, Character Backstories and Parallels designed specifically to introduce readers to your book series, in fact, the name Proquel is simply an amalgamation of the words promotion and prequel. (Pretty cool, yeah?)

Now… unlike many books, an Electric Eclectic proquel is unashamedly a promotional tool. While there is no compromise regarding the quality of content or storytelling, these books do not have to be full-length novels, but novella’s, with a suggested word count of between 17K and 40K words.

Once assessed and accepted by Electric Eclectic, your book(s) benefit from all the marketing and promotional activities of Electric Eclectic and your fellow EE authors.

You will have your books on the Electric Eclectic website along with a personal author page and much more. You can check out the Electric Eclectic website HERE.

And…this is the BEST BIT… you make money on your proquels too… yep, you still earn full royalties on your book sales. 

 

Electric Eclectic is NOT a publisher and does NOT take royalties.

You will get all the above for a minimal fee… and I mean a minimal fee.

You have nothing to lose.

So, why not find out more about becoming an Electric Eclectic author and, how writing just one other book, could help you sell your whole series?

With major ground shifts and changes occurring throughout the publishing and online worlds, becoming an Electric Eclectic author could be the best decision you make this year.

Simply Email EEbookbranding@mail.com for further information.

 

Distribution paradox & disparity of price of indie authors books.

Yep, that’s a long(ish) title but it says what this post is about.

I have been asked on several occasions if my books are [officially] available from outlets other than CreateSpace/Amazon.

The answer is: I am slowly extending the platforms where my books can be obtained. Migrating some and simply offering others on multi-platforms.

The reasons for the disparity are many, I shall not delve into them all here.

Another issue on many sites is the price charged for my books. This is to some extent beyond my control, or at least I am bound by certain parameters which make it impossible for me to have a single fixed price across all outlets.

While this is somewhat annoying, I can see the relation with other products, the ‘recommended retail price‘, or ‘manufacturers suggested selling price‘, which individual retailers try to ‘discount’ against as they compete for their percentage of the market share.

 

I have come to accept, as an author, I am at the behest of these marketing trends and the need for retailers and distributors to make a profit, both which influence the pricing of my books.

Whilst I am happy in most cases to allow market demands to guide basic pricing structures, (after all, no one will pay more than they are willing,) it can become an annoyance in certain situations.

Allow me to explain.

I am sure, or at least I hope, you are aware of Electric Eclectic books. These novelettes, branded by Electric Eclectic, are designed to introduce readers to great authors and amazing stories.

The plan for Electric Eclectic is to offer each novelette at a uniform single price of ‘ONE’.

That’s £1.00, $1.00, € 1.00 etc.

While the Pound (GBP) and the Euro worked, Amazon.com insists adding tax after a price is set. So, the $1.00 becomes $1.34. (With the Euro, Amazon.EU & The Pound, Amazon.UK, the selected price includes tax, so you can accurately select a specific number which will show as the price the store shows.)

While I prefer the sales and marketing aspect of 1.00, a neat, round, simple figure. The issue is further compounded when listing your books in ‘other’ bookstores as they each have their own pricing parameters.

This gives a wide disparity of prices for the same item.

Take my book ‘Three Floors Up’, an Electric Eclectic Novelette such as mentioned above. This is 1.00 on both the Amazon.UK and from Amazon.EU. It shows as 1.34 on Amazon.com, although the price of 1.00 was selected on the site.

This alters further, to 1.39 & 1.43 on a dozen more online bookstores, until you reach Apple iBooks where it retails at 1.99, double the price, all bar a single cent, to that which I initially set when publishing on Amazon Kindle. (KDP).

I am sure there are reasons for such a wide differential, none of which I care about to the degree of losing sleep. This is because those who are dedicated to Apple are clearly willing to pay slightly more for a book, as are those who dislike Amazon. I know some people who detest them with a passion verging on hatred.

If you are one of the above or have a direct link, an investment, or another affinity with a particular bookstore platform you will be happy to know all my Electric Eclectic books, and some other works are now online at a selection of alternative stores. (My other books will follow in due course).

These are the main online retails officially authorised to retail my books.

Amazon, CreateSpace, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple IBookstore (Tunes), Google Play, Baker & Taylor and Peecho, are the prime retailers and distributors.

These are my Authorised Booksites, ones with direct links to the retailers.

BookRix, GoodReads, Authorsdb, Authors Den,  and Electric Eclectic.

WARNING.

Bootlegging and unofficial distribution of books is a major internet concern.

Sites with unofficial listings of my books may deliver a poor-quality product. Downloads from these sites may infect your device with a Virus, deliver Trojans, Worms or Ransomware.

Such sites create opportunities for Phishing, Mining and Pwning of your Personal Data.

Only connect and use the Official bookstores I have listed above. If in doubt go to my author’s website or The Electric Eclectic website.

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Get more tips, insights and information with this book… click the cover image, Now

A word of caution about FREE & some other stuff worth knowing about.

You may, or may not, have noticed I have not posted here for a while.

This is because there is so much happening in the book and publishing world; two areas I am involved in.

Here is one major ‘continental shift’ which is taking place right now.

FREEBIE books have lost their appeal.

“The general public has become immune and dissatisfied with the mass of FREE and GIVEAWAY books.”

What was once a novel, loss-leading marketing tool, has become a haunt for freebie hunters who just want free, they have NO interest in the author, or on many occasions the book itself.

In fact, Amazon’s own download figures show that ONLY 2% of ALL free books are read, with over 70% being deleted within 14 days of downloading. (Or discarded in the case of paperbacks.)

The reason is, as free loses its appeal, authors and publishers now give away vouchers, gifts, and run competitions to entice people to download their free books.

Simply, this means they are paying people to download in an attempt to manipulate the figures and gain a ‘ranking status’, in the hope it will influence genuine readers to purchase.

It will not.

Whilst this may have worked in the past, it no longer has any substantial legacy, particularly as Amazon has once again changed its A9 logarithms to combat this ‘false’ accounting of sale.

Now only verified ‘paid for’ purchases count towards rankings.

This leaves only one possible benefit of giving a book away… that of building a mailing list for future direct marketing and sales.

BUT… this now only tends to create a false list of possible future people who may read another of those books, because once downloaded the ‘reader’ then cancels their subscription/listing (as is their legal right). Only dedicated Freebie hunters stay, waiting for the next free book you offer. Which is one of the reasons why only 2% of such downloads are actually read.

Most indie authors give their books away in the belief they will gain readers in the long term. Oh dear, they are going to be out of pocket for a long, long time and those authors who pay companies, the free book marketing businesses, are losing far more.

If it sounds too good to be true… it is.

… paying someone to give away your book, (the book you may have spent a year or so producing, spending money on editing, formatting, cover design and so forth), in the vague hope ‘free’ will earn you an income, let alone cover your initial costs… without any guarantees…

Hmmph, doesn’t sound so good in the cold light of day, does it?

Read more about this here

AMAZON

Genuine reviews ONLY.

Sales logarithms are not the only change AMAZON have recently made. They have changed, once again the way customer reviews work.

This time for the best, in my opinion.

No longer will paid for, swapped, or gifted reviews count, and if things work well, they will not even be shown.

ONLY true, verified, genuine purchases by readers will count. NO form of solicited or professional reviews will be accepted.

If Amazon can and does strictly enforce this rule, then for the first time will all authors get, and all readers have a genuine, believable overview of the quality of the books they are looking to purchase.

I hope this works and the cheats and charlatans are cast out.

GOODREADS becomes the ‘GO TO’ platform.

Goodreads has been around for a long time and has slowly progressed to become a mecca for book lovers.

This trend continues and is now being enhanced on several fronts. Goodreads shall soon be THE place for readers and authors to talk and deal with all things literary. There are many changes which will be implemented during the next few years.

If you do not have a presence on Goodreads, either as a book lover or as a writer… get on with it… go now and sign up before you are left behind… and remember… you heard it here first.

Please don’t think I am in love with Goodreads. I am not.

The site is overbearingly confusing, they [Goodreads] do nothing to assist authors with marketing… but will soon offer paid for services, so I am told, which I guess will be expensive as they boast a high number of readers, even if few of those will want to read your genre/book/narration/style etc. unless heavily incentivised… but I wander off track again!

Read more about current trends here

Insights & Publishing Trends for 2018

PREFACE

This year 2017 has seen some seismic shifts in the publishing and advertising industries as major issues such as transparency (Note Facebook revealing their loss of Data a short while ago. This note added April 2018) and brand safety have taken centre stage. Next year is shaping up to be no different, as the industry looks ahead to key issues which will dominate the news agenda over the next 12 months and beyond.

“GDPR will hit in May 2018 and with just seven months left to be ready, many within the industry are only just learning about the implications. People are spending more time online across a wider array of devices and are becoming smarter at consuming online content. Consumers are hungry for real content and will be looking for ways to cut out fake news and time-wasting content by seeking out better quality content providers and starting to pay to access the best content.

2018 will continue to deliver opportunity; we all need to think about building interactive audio relationships via Amazon Echo, Google Home and other voice controlled devices, and how virtual reality devices like Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR and augmented reality via the latest generation of iPhones will affect the way we communicate brand messaging to our audiences in new and innovative ways.”

NATIVE ADVERTISING

“Native advertising has rapidly gained momentum this year and will continue to do so in 2018. With native ad spend expected to reach more than €13 billion across Europe by 2020, it is safe to say it is no longer just a buzzword, but an essential part of the marketing mix that is finally getting the recognition it deserves from the industry.

“As publishers look to focus on brand safety, transparency, and the user experience, I expect we will see more of a migration to native as developments in creative technology bring more flexibility. By harnessing the capabilities of programmatic, the scale and efficiency of this flourishing format will be a force to be reckoned with.”

Electric Eclectic books incorporate aspects of Native Advertising in their marketing strategy assisting indie authors book sales. The amazing thing regarding Native Advertising is most people will not recognise or notice it occurring because it is an almost subliminal method of carrying your brand message.

THE CONTINUED RISE OF INDIE AND HYBRID PUBLISHING

Traditional publishers may offer prestige, but also limited creative control and royalties. In recent years, independent publishers have accounted for an ever-larger share of the market, with the help of high-quality cover designs, writing, and marketing plans.

Last year, data showed for the first time the share of self-published books and books published by small publishers, at 42 per cent, was larger than the market share of big-publishers, at 34 per cent.

Ascendant is the phenomenon of hybrid publishing, which includes a variety of publishing models which straddle a middle ground between traditional publishing and self-publishing. Veterans of traditional publishing have left behind their larger companies to bring top skills and experience to the world of independent publishing.

More and more authors are opting for hybrid publishing, which allows them to hold on to creative control and royalties while benefiting from the best of the traditional publishing world.

 

LONGER SHELF LIFE WITH EBOOKS WILL MEAN INCREASED COMPETITION

With the rise of digital book listings, we are seeing a change in the lifecycle of books. When keeping books available depended on a limited quantity of physical shelf space, it meant books that no longer sold well were removed from shelves as soon as possible.

With digital retailers, there is no such premium on shelf space. With books remaining discoverable indefinitely, authors and publishers may want to take a fresh look at “legacy titles” – books published in the past that are no longer a focus for your attention.

Consider reinvesting in a new cover, book description, and marketing resources to revitalise these titles.

Remember, in this age of digital ebooks and kindle, the more books you have available, the better chance you have to grab your share of the crowded eBook market.

This is one reason you should have a minimum of three marketing branded books working for you and all your prime titles. Electric Eclectic (part of CQ International) is the fastest growing and most inventive brand. Take a peek at their Website. 

 

MORE BOOKS, STAGNATING READERSHIP

According to Pew Research Center, about 73 per cent of Americans read at least a book a year.

This is a figure which has remained stagnant since 2012. Meanwhile, the number of books published in the US has grown exponentially since 2010. Self-published titles have grown from 133,036 in 2010 to 727,125 in 2015, an increase of 446.5 per cent. (latest full figures available.)

Getting your books to readers has, therefore, become an increasing challenging.

Authors need to work towards “discoverability”, working to develop their own audience as an author and creating strong brand marketing for their books.

Many self-publishing authors also face criticism for poor editing and packaging – with more books on the market, the pressure to create and maintain high-quality presentation is becoming paramount. Pay special attention to your design choices; editing and marketing can help self-published books rise above the rest. But a great cover is your first opportunity to attract readers to your book. A professional cover will help you gain sales. Check out PeeJay Designs by Paul White. They offer a professional, but friendly and communicative service HERE

 

AUDIOBOOKS ARE GROWING

Audiobooks are the fastest growing sector of the publishing world.

In 2015, the audiobook industry was valued at 2.8 billion dollars. 43,000 books were released that year alone, compared to 36,000 in 2014 and just 20,000 in 2013. (Latest full figures available.)

Since audiobooks do not follow the same agency model as eBooks, publishers have been more willing to experiment with distribution models for audiobooks. In particular, subscription models, such as that of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited platform, are on the rise. In a similar approach to Netflix or Spotify, the service offers unlimited access to 2,500 audiobooks.

While the cost of creating an Audiobooks is higher than most forms of book creation, including many hardcover formats, it is one of the publishing trends to seriously consider.

As with all relatively new markets, audiobooks platforms, production and distribution methods are only in their infancy, so invention and initiative are prime.

   

PUBLISHING TRENDS 2018 – SUMMARY

The publishing trends of 2018 are likely to follow the broader patterns seen throughout the decade; the rise of small publishers, digital platforms and new formats.

In other ways, the publishing world will continue to see a backlash to traditional, restrictive and controlled marketplaces during in 2018.

Keeping an eye on such trends can help publishers and authors get a sense of where things are headed in the years to come. The future will be about development, choice and ‘canny’ marketing.

 

AGE GAP

The data reveal what some might consider a surprising generational pattern in book reading.

Young adults, those aged eighteen to twenty-nine, are more likely than their elders to have read a book in the past twelve months.

In 2014, there were more hugely successful movies based on young adult books than ever before. Divergent, The Maze Runner, The Fault in Our Stars, If I Stay, and The Book Thief all appealed to a younger audience and may be causing this surge of interest.

We’ll have to wait to see if this is a passing phase or a longer-term trend.

The survey also noted women are more likely to be the book readers in a household. The average woman reader read fourteen books in the past year, compared with nine books for men.

 

BOOKSMART PHONE 

In 2014, Pew reported that 50 per cent of Americans have a dedicated handheld device, either a tablet computer like an iPad or Kindle Fire, or an e-reader such as a Kindle or Nook, for reading digital content. This is up from 43 per cent in September 2013.

While tablets are still the most popular electronic way to read digital books… at present, last month The Wall Street Journal predicted they may be pushed aside by smartphones in the coming years.

In the first three months of 2015, 41 per cent of ebook buyers read digital books primarily on their tablets, according to the newspaper (citing Nielsen data), and 32 per cent read ebooks primarily on their e-readers. However, the publication also reported on a Nielsen survey from this past December that found 54 per cent of ebook buyers read on their smartphones at least some of the time. In 2012, that number was just 24 per cent.

Fortune cites reasons for the adoption of reading via smartphone:

“Convenience, of course, as well as ramped-up technology that makes reading on mobile phones a more pleasant experience. Smartphone screen sizes, too, are getting larger.”

 

Okay, that will do for today.

There is a mass of indicators which will need your careful consideration when deciding which tactics to adopt in your overall marketing strategy.

Chose carefully and wisely, invest well and reap the rewards.

Thanks for reading another of my rather out-of-character serious postings… my normal, regular Ramblings shall resume shortly.

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In the meantime, take a look at the latest Electric Eclectic Novelettes  HERE

If you would like to become an Electric Eclectic author, email me at EEbookbranding@mail.com

FREE is killing indie. (An urgent warning)

If you have been following Ramblings from a Writers Mind, or if you have scrolled down, looking and reading many of the posts, you will notice they fall into two main categories.

The first, those where I share my experience and attempt, in my rather haphazard way, to impart and to clarify certain aspects of wordsmithing, along with tips and ideas you may wish to try or adopt.

The second Rambling posts are ones where I express my opinions and beliefs about being an indie author. Many of these articles create controversy amongst the varying schools of thought running through the indie community. I do not see this as a bad thing, but one which stimulates discussion and debate, a great platform to exchange views and examine convictions.

This is the first of two posts regarding two current controversial topics.

This one is about giving away free books, an activity which is damaging the entire indie book market and something I am adamantly against.

So, without further ado, let’s get stuck into this wonderfully heated issue of free books.

When Amazon’s algorithms changed some time ago, giving less weight in rating terms to giveaways as opposed to paid-for copies, many authors became less enthusiastic.

However, the advent of new players in the giveaway frame, such as BookFunnel and Instafreebie, has added a new way of distributing free books and a new purpose: to build your author database by effectively trading email addresses for free books.

While the jury’s still out on the long-term benefits we discover how many of these subscribers unsubscribe – as is their legal right – or not bother to read their freebies.

As with any decision, we should evaluate any potential short-term benefits alongside the long-term effects on the mindset of our customers/readership.

 The vast (vast, vast) majority of free downloads never get read, so giveaways don’t accomplish what they’re intended to do: spread the word, get reviews.

On top of that, many authors pay money to advertise these giveaways, and spring for shipping in the case of hard copies, so they’re actually paying people to get a free copy and not read it.

Why buy the cow when the milk is free?

We’ve all heard that saying. Basically, the meaning behind it is that someone isn’t going to pay for something that is offered for free.

Whether it’s your virtue or your book, the issue is still the same.

When a writer devalues their work to the point of giving away their book, what are they really doing? Giving it away as if it were nothing?

It begs the question, are those authors so desperate to have someone, anyone, read their book, that they are willing to pass them out like pamphlets on the street corner.

Is the book so bad they think no one would or should pay for it?

What about the months, maybe even years, the author spent pounding away at the keyboard creating the book? What about the lost hours spent editing and reworking it to perfection?

Most authors sacrifice a lot to write a book. They give up any and all free time in exchange for getting the story on paper. That must be worth something; certainly, more than a freebie.

Authors tell me it’s a promotional ploy.

Promotion is great and today we must constantly try new angles and ideas to draw in readers. I have no issue with giving away a chapter to entice a reader to purchase the rest of the book, but give away the whole book?

It does not make any sense.

Many, often new or struggling authors, hope by giving away a book, readers will buy more of them or will buy the next book they release.

Unfortunately, it does not work that way. Readers are a very frugal bunch. If they can get free books, why would they pay for yours? They will simply pick up someone else’s free book tomorrow, and someone else’s the next day, and so forth.

The numbers don’t lie

You may disagree with me — maybe your experience is different — but as a publisher, I have to tell you the sales numbers don’t lie.

While a select small number of authors may have seen book giveaways as a clever promotion to boost the sales of their next book, it is rare. Giving books away isn’t making sales numbers climb.

How could it? Free doesn’t equal bigger royalty checks.

Meanwhile, authors have devalued their craft to the point where even they don’t think it should cost anything.

I’ve been to a lot of craft shows the past couple of months. I’m amazed at the price of the handmade pieces people are selling. Then I think about the hours and hours of hard work these artists put into each piece and I must admit, it’s probably a bargain.

Are not authors the same as these other artists? Aren’t authors creators of their craft and shouldn’t they value their work as much as a woodcarver or a glassblower does?

“It’s a tough time in publishing for authors but the answer isn’t giving it away. To me, that’s the same as giving up.”

 

People who get a free copy of your book will not convert to buyers.

You see there are two distinct markets when it comes to anything really: the buyers and the freebie hunters.

I know if I go to Amazon and I’m searching for a book about dogs I click on the top free category, I’m not leaving the free category. It’s already in my mind to not pay for something like that. Even if it’s an absolute hobby of mine, I already have a wealth of knowledge resources I can snag for free.

For instance, there are hundreds of new adult fiction books published every day on Amazon. Hundreds of those books are put into KDP Select and are set to a 5-day free promotion every day. If I’m an avid reader of literary porn and I know I can get new quality erotic stories for free every day, why would I pay for it?

Hell, most of them probably won’t even read the book, depending on the genre.

There was a time when I would go to Reddit’s free eBook page and go on download sprees. I Never read any more than 2% of those books and they were deleted from my Kindle library with the same quickness they were uploaded.

It did not matter, they were free. They held no value.

Your e-mail list isn’t going to grow substantially by giving away a book. Even if you offer another free book for signing up, your list will merely be tainted by freebie chasers. They will hop on your mailing list, snag the download, then unsubscribe.

I can’t help but laugh at self-publishing authors who brag about how many books they gave away in their most recent promotion.

Last time I checked, free never paid the bills.

2,000 free downloads of your sub-par eBook do not indicate any level of success.

If it was not selling more than a copy a week, then you gave it away for a few days before it sprang to a few copies a day, I would say it was worth it.

But no… it never happened, did it?

You see, when you discount your book to zero, it devalues mine too, in fact, it devalues every author’s book by undervaluing and diminishing the entire marketplace.

Please, don’t devalue our publishing world.

Giving away one free book can equal a part of an author’s mortgage payment, one of their children’s meals, maybe a new pair of shoes they shall now never own.

The thousands of free books given away mean many thousands of pounds/dollars/euros which should have supported an author and their family has been taken from them.

Giving books away is little different from stealing from your fellow writer’s pockets.

Remember, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

So, okay when would I, if pushed, ever do a giveaway?

Personally, never… but….

It seems to me that the only time to do a giveaway is to brand new authors and salty seasoned veterans.

Even if you have written ten books, but you get no sales, you’re still new.

The only, vaguely possible benefit, of ever doing a giveaway is most major eBook storefronts have an ‘also bought‘ section that shows which ‘other’ books customers also bought.

This is the ONLY possible ‘money shot’ when doing a free book offer (and ONLY for new authors). The population of this ‘also bought’ section will link your book to other books, (& vice versa) so someone searching for a book on a similar subject may stumble onto your book.

So, there you have it, folks. You might give one eBook away for free when you are a brand spanking new author, or perhaps when you have such a massive following and sell millions of books each month, that giving away a book that was once an all-time bestseller, possibly twenty years ago, does not matter a single jot anymore.

….This is where too many indie authors fall into the FREEBIE TRAP.

Trying to emulate the marketing and promotional actions of major mainstream publishers who market the books of authors who are household names.

The truth is you do not know what teeny-weeny, itsy-bitsy part of the publisher’s overall strategy their giveaway forms part of. It is definitely NOT a stand-alone, individual, and isolated ploy, but a small cog of an overall strategy, planned with experts as part of a long-term stratagem focused on future markets and indicated customer trends. A fact every individual indie author I have discussed this subject with, was either not aware of, or did not take into consideration.

My advice, leave it alone.

There are MANY better ways to generate interest in your works.

 

Take Electric Eclectic books as an example.

Electric Eclectic is where you take a short story, one you may have forgotten and is lying unused and unloved in your files, or maybe you have one which you published in an anthology some years ago. The point is, where your story comes from is not really important.

What is important is your tale must be between 6k and 20K words, a story which you can turn into a Kindle eBook or paperback pocketbook. Publishing your short story as a novelette under the Electric Eclectic brand enables you to benefit from the brand’s extensive promotions and marketing initiatives, many which reach markets way beyond the regular social media platforms.

While there is a small, one-off licence branding fee for each book, you keep all the royalties and rights… but that is only the beginning. The true advantage of being part of the Electric Eclectic brand is that each Novelette works as your own marketing tool, leading your readers to your prime books and novels.

So, instead of giving your prime books away, or worse still, paying someone else to give them away, your promotional tool, (your Electric Eclectic book) is earning you royalties while gaining you potential readers for those main works. It’s a win, win situation.

It’s time to stop devaluing your books and yourself, make your promotions work for you.

To find out more email EEbookbranding@mail.com