Indy E-publishing Part 2 with NYT Bestseller CJ Lyons
Posted By Carrie Spencer On December 21, 2011 @ 12:08 am In Self-Publishing | 27 Comments
Monday we learned some of the pitfalls to Indy e-pubbing. Today we’re going to learn some of the practicalities and how-tos! Welcome back CJ Lyons! [2]
Advice on why and how to self e-publish your books from New York Times and USA Today bestseller CJ Lyons. CJ has had two indy e-published books appear on the USA Today list and one debut on the combined print/e-book New York Times list at #2. This book alone sold 230,000 copies in only two months and has sold in almost a dozen countries. In addition to her six traditionally published novels, CJ now has nine books self e-published with sales of almost half a million books in 2011 alone.
Part one explores the pitfalls of indy e-publishing. Part two explores the practical how-tos.
Part 2: The Nuts and Bolts
Being a cyber-klutz, I thought this would be the most difficult part of self e-publishing, but it actually was quite easy (if a bit tedious and time-consuming).
All the major e-pub sites have guidelines available. All you need to do is to follow them.
Don’t want to do anything on your own? There are many “all in one” services springing up, including some from traditional publishers. I would caution you to do your due diligence before you use one. Know what’s a reasonable charge for formatting, conversion, and distribution. Never sign an agreement giving them any of your rights or future earnings.
One of the oldest and most reputable of these sites is BookBaby.com. [3] They provide some free guides to indy e-publishing that will help you decide which direction to go—even if it’s deciding not to use their services.
Before you choose any service, carefully read their terms of agreement and definitely shop around.
If you’re doing your own distribution, the major sites are Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, Barnes and Noble’s PubIt!, and Smashwords. All provide free distribution.
There are also programs available that will allow you to do your own formatting. See the resource section for a list of a few.
How do I do it?
Step one is to create an account at the sites you’ll be using. Through this account you’ll upload your books, track sales, make any revisions to your final product, and, at some sites, interact with customers.
Step two: read each site’s guide to formatting and follow it closely. For the sites I worked with, this basically came down to stripping all formatting from a Word doc of your manuscript and exporting it in the format the e-publishing site requires.
I found the Smashwords guide to be very thorough and in-depth with a lot of trouble-shooting tips, so I start there, transforming my Word doc to a document suitable for Smashwords and then simply export it as a html file for uploading to Amazon.
This step is the most time-consuming because you need to go through every line of the manuscript ensuring that no errant formatting remains behind and that the resulting manuscript is readable. I found several easy shortcuts and created a video about the Five Easy Steps to Formatting that you can view here: http://www.norulesjustwrite.com/resources/indy-resources/ [4].
Step three is almost as tiresome as step two. You need to upload the re-formatted manuscript to each site and proofread it (yes, again!) to ensure that nothing is lost in translation.
Step four: add cover art, a description, tags, and set a price. This is where using more than one platform comes in handy.
I start by publishing my books on Smashwords because if they are qualified for their Premium Catalogue, then they’ll be distributed to a variety of channels including the Sony, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and Kobo stores. You can inexpensively purchase an ISBN for each book or use one of the free ones provided. Smashwords also has an easy to use coupon generator, which is perfect if you’re trying to target certain groups and want to measure your success.
I prefer to distribute to all of the channels through Smashwords except Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s PubIt!—those I do myself. I like being able to control the Kindle and PubIt! channels since for me, they’re the ones with the most sales.
Step five: Hit publish and you’re done!
What about the money?
Some authors may choose to give their work away for free in order to gain new readers or as a promotion tied to other books. But most of us will be hoping to earn some income from our e-published books.
Joe Konrath initially recommended pricing books between $0.99 and $1.99. I disagreed, thinking that a full-length (100,000 word) ebook was worth the same as paperback. I also wanted slightly higher price points than Konrath advised because I thought it would be nice to have special “sales” tied to my traditionally published releases in the future.
Since my paperbacks sell for $4.99 at Walmart, that’s where I priced my full-length novels. My shorter novels (75-85,000 words) I price at $2.99.
My results? My bestsellers, without ever lowering the price, have been my $4.99 books. And, when I’ve used limited time promotional sales or free giveaways, I’ve been able to increase sales of ALL my books three-fold.
What’s very exciting is even a month after a sale ends, my overall numbers remain significantly higher than before the sale. So I now try to have some kind of promotion every other month, usually tying it to a holiday or new book release.
The Bottom Line
My first year of indy e-pubbing I made more than I would have if I took any of the offers from NYC publishers that I’d received for these particular manuscripts. All with no expenses incurred other than my time and a few dollars for the copyright, ISBNs, and the stock art I used in the cover design.
And my second year? I’m making significant income from my indy e-publishing. Enough so that I’ve turned down several traditional publishing contracts because I can make more per book in a year than during their entire contract period without tying up my rights. Not to mention the very nice extra income from sub-rights my agent sells for me.
So why did I sign with Minotaur?
Because I firmly believe that traditional publishing has a place in my business plan. No one else can turn a book into an event, something to be treasured and placed on a reader’s keeper shelf, better than NYC publishing.
I also feel that I’m ready to take my writing craft to the next level and working with a skilled editor like I am at Minotaur will help me to do that.
In all honesty, I could earn more money without the traditional contract, but the reason I signed with Minotaur isn’t about the money. It’s about what will make my readers happy.
My readers love real books as much as they do their e-books. They want more stories—and better stories.
For me, pursuing a “hybrid” career is the best way to achieve this.
Indy e-publishing definitely has its place in an author’s career path, whether to keep a backlist alive, to try new genres and markets, to use as a promotional tool in conjunction with traditionally published books, or to generate income on the side.
But, remember, it’s only a tool. You are in charge of your publishing career. Decide which tool to use and when to use it because you have a clear goal, not because everyone is “doing it.”
Happy writing!
CJ
Resources:
JA Konrath’s blog, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com [5]
US Government Copyright Office
http://www.copyright.gov/register/ [6]
Amazon’s Kindle Digital Text Platform
http://dtp.amazon.com [7]
Smashwords
http://www.smashwords.com [8]
PubIt!
http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com [9]
No Rules, Just WRITE!
http://www.norulesjustwrite.com [10]
E-book Creation Tools:
Calibre
http://calibre-ebook.com/ [11]
Legend Maker (paid software, Mac only, but wow, so easy to use!)
http://www.zapptek.com/legendmaker/ [12]
Sigil (free opensource software)
http://code.google.com/p/sigil/ [13]
Press Books (free service on a wordpress platform)
http://pressbooks.com/wp-signup.php [14]
***
So now you know the good, the bad and the how-to’s of e-publishing. Ready to give it a shot?
Join us on Friday for The Form of Romance, or, A Roll in the Hay with Theresa Stevens
***
Bio: As a pediatric ER doctor, New York Times Bestseller CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge Thrillers with Heart.
CJ has been called a “master within the genre” (Pittsburgh Magazine) and her work has been praised as “breathtakingly fast-paced” and “riveting” (Publishers Weekly) with “characters with beating hearts and three dimensions” (Newsday).
Learn more about CJ’s Thrillers with Heart at www.cjlyons.net [2] and read her tips on publishing at www.NoRulesJustWRITE.com [15]
Similar Posts:
- Indy E-publishing with NYT Bestseller CJ Lyons [16]
- How to publish your book through PubIt!—and market it, too! [17]
- Weekly Lecture Schedule for December 19-23: CJ Lyons on Indy E-Pubbing & Theresa Stevens [18]
- Author Monica Burns: The Greater the Risk — The Greater the Profit [19]
- Here’s to hoping . . . Self Publishing by Hank Edwards [20]
27 Comments (Open | Close)
Article printed from Romance University: http://romanceuniversity.org
URL to article: http://romanceuniversity.org/2011/12/21/indie-pubbing-and-the-nyt-list-part-2-with-cj-lyons/
URLs in this post:
[1] Tweet: http://twitter.com/share?counturl=http%3A%2F%2Fromanceuniversity.org%2F2011%2F12%2F21%2Findie-pubbing-and-the-nyt-list-part-2-with-cj-lyons%2F
[2] CJ Lyons! : http://www.cjlyons.net/
[3] BookBaby.com.: http://www.bookbaby.com
[4] http://www.norulesjustwrite.com/resources/indy-resources/: http://www.norulesjustwrite.com/resources/indy-resources/
[5] http://jakonrath.blogspot.com: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com
[6] http://www.copyright.gov/register/: http://www.copyright.gov/register/
[7] http://dtp.amazon.com: http://dtp.amazon.com
[8] http://www.smashwords.com: http://www.smashwords.com
[9] http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com: http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com
[10] http://www.norulesjustwrite.com: http://www.norulesjustwrite.com
[11] http://calibre-ebook.com/: http://calibre-ebook.com/
[12] http://www.zapptek.com/legendmaker/: http://www.zapptek.com/legendmaker/
[13] http://code.google.com/p/sigil/: http://code.google.com/p/sigil/
[14] http://pressbooks.com/wp-signup.php: http://pressbooks.com/wp-signup.php
[15] www.NoRulesJustWRITE.com: http://www.norulesjustwrite.com/
[16] Indy E-publishing with NYT Bestseller CJ Lyons: http://romanceuniversity.org/2011/12/19/indie-pubbing-and-the-nyt-list-with-cj-lyons/
[17] How to publish your book through PubIt!—and market it, too!: http://romanceuniversity.org/2011/05/13/how-to-get-your-book-on-the-nook-and-market-it-too-2/
[18] Weekly Lecture Schedule for December 19-23: CJ Lyons on Indy E-Pubbing & Theresa Stevens: http://romanceuniversity.org/2011/12/18/weekly-lecture-schedule-for-december-19-23-cj-lyons-on-indy-e-pubbing-theresa-stevens/
[19] Author Monica Burns: The Greater the Risk — The Greater the Profit: http://romanceuniversity.org/2013/02/22/author-monica-burns-the-greater-the-risk-the-greater-the-profit/
[20] Here’s to hoping . . . Self Publishing by Hank Edwards: http://romanceuniversity.org/2011/10/14/heres-to-hoping-with-hank-edwards/
[21] : http://www.google.com/producer/editions/CAoww845/no_rules_just_write
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27 Comments To "Indy E-publishing Part 2 with NYT Bestseller CJ Lyons"
#1 Comment By Tracey Devlyn On December 21, 2011 @ 5:26 am
CJ, thanks for the fabulous mini-series on e-pubbing. I like the idea of diversification, of getting one’s book into as many readers’ hands as possible. Seems like a sound business plan. I also like that you valued your full-lengths similarly to what they could be found in the stores.
#2 Comment By CJ Lyons On December 21, 2011 @ 8:18 am
Thanks, Tracey! Like I said in Part One, once I figured out my “why”–or call it my goal, vision, end point, whatever you’re aiming at–the rest fell into place.
Thanks again for having me here on RU! Always a treat to visit,
CJ
#3 Comment By Becke Martin/Davis On December 21, 2011 @ 8:30 am
C.J. – Nothing is ever as easy as it first seems, is it? Your step-by-step instructions take a lot of the pain out of the process!
#4 Comment By Mary Jo Burke On December 21, 2011 @ 8:35 am
Hi CJ,
What was your NYC publisher’s reaction to your indy publishing? Do they see it as a plus or minus?
Mary Jo
#5 Comment By CJ Lyons On December 21, 2011 @ 8:36 am
Glad to help, Becke!
I actually hosted a guest post on the No Rules, Just WRITE! blog from someone who was intimidated by the formatting and who hired a service to do the job for her….and regretted it.
Not only was she out tons of money (they over-charaged her ten fold compared to other formatting services) BUT they ruined her ms so she had to go thru it line by line, taking hours to get rid of the mistakes, and then they wanted a % of her future sales!
Thankfully, she was able to get out of the contract, but really, just because a service has a slick website and promises the moon, you still need to check them out before you sign.
#6 Comment By Carrie Spencer On December 21, 2011 @ 8:38 am
Morning CJ!
I’ve been reading a lot about the various pricing structures. It seems so difficult to chose which way a new author should go. Do you think it’s best for a debut author to start low, until she starts to publish her back list, and once she gains a readership then go up in price? Or just dive in at the higher end?
There’s so many variables, it’s hard to choose! =)
Thanks so much for being here …you’ve always got great advice! =)
carrie
#7 Comment By Robin Covington On December 21, 2011 @ 8:44 am
Fantastic CJ! I love practical, real advice like this. Book marking this post!
#8 Comment By CJ Lyons On December 21, 2011 @ 8:46 am
Hey, Mary Jo! Great question!
I’ve been totally transparent with my business plans with all my publishers and my agent from the start.
Minotaur is excited by my indy publishing–they see it as a promotional tool that is not only cost-effective but already has proven results (let’s face it there aren’t that many promotional things we do that we can say that about!)
In fact, they’ve been helping to spread the word about my hybrid career, including a front page of the USA TODAY Life section story that appeared last week.
I can’t tell you how thrilling it is to be working with a team whose focus in on the reader and who aren’t afraid to think out of the box.
To me, this is the future of publishing: the author connecting to their reader (and the fastest, most effective way to do this is via e-books that we control), the agent reaping the rewards from subrights and traditional contracts, the publisher creating “keeper” books that readers cherish, and the bookseller getting both e-books and print books into the hands of eager readers…
But hey, I dream for a living, lol!
CJ
#9 Comment By CJ Lyons On December 21, 2011 @ 8:56 am
Carrie,
As I said in Part One, I think if you’re previously unpublished, with no readership, it would be best to plan your launch after you have several titles polished and ready to go.
You want a strategy, and yes, part of that will include pricing.
Depending on your readers, that might mean starting with a “high” price (say in the $4-6 dollar range for a 100,000+ book) but then making a big deal of lowering the price when you release the second and third books, especially if they’re a series.
You’d probably combine this strategy with giving away FREE books to readers who are likely to leave a review, such as bloggers, members of your mailing list, etc.
OR, if your target audience is more likely to buy AND read a book priced at the lower tier (or if your book isn’t full length), then maybe start low from the beginning….
But this is where the magic of indy e-pubbing happens. We can see the trends, measure our sales, read the reviews and comments of our readers to see what works and what doesn’t–and we get REAL TIME info updated hourly!
So we can quickly change things–this kind of instant response to the market will never happen in traditional publishing, they just have too many books to keep track of…but an indy author can experiment and tweak and respond immediately.
I guess the answer to your question is: know your audience, give them what they want, and if that’s not working, reassess and experiment…there’s just no downside and plenty of upside to being flexible, especially since things change so very fast.
Hope that helps,
CJ
#10 Comment By CJ Lyons On December 21, 2011 @ 9:02 am
Glad you enjoyed it, Robin!
Be sure to check out the NoRulesJustWRITE.com site for more info…or get it on your phone or tablet via the newly launched free No Rules, Just WRITE! app:
[21]
Sorry, I don’t mean to turn this into a shameless plug, but I just created the app and, being a cyber-klutz, would love any feedback from savvy writers such as yourself!
Thanks in advance,
CJ
#11 Comment By Jamie Farrell On December 21, 2011 @ 9:15 am
Thanks for a great couple posts, CJ! I’m so glad you’ve found a way to get your books to readers at a benefit to you, them, and your publisher.
#12 Comment By CJ Lyons On December 21, 2011 @ 9:21 am
Thanks, Jamie! I’m always looking for the win/win solution and this seems perfect for everyone!
#13 Comment By Jamie Farrell On December 21, 2011 @ 9:48 am
It really does! And it’s so refreshing to hear a discussion that’s win-win rather than us-vs.-them, because you’re absolutely right – the point is to make the readers happy. Make the readers happy, and you’ll sell more books.
It’s that simple.
Thanks again!
#14 Comment By CJ Lyons On December 21, 2011 @ 9:57 am
Yes! Exactly!!!
But folks seem determined to make it more difficult, lol!
When I post on loops or speak about this, I’m often accused of “hiding” the truth–like there’s some magic secret handshake only a few “chosen” ones know about.
I think sometimes we’re scared to face the truth that our success lies in our own hands…so much easier to blame it on outside factors like “I don’t know anything about marketing, business, etc” or “it’s the publisher’s fault” or, or, or….the list is endless.
If we start with our one thing, our why (and it’s perfectly okay if that why is to make money–nothing wrong with that! just be honest about it) then everything else boils down to one question: will this help me achieve my why?
Of course the downside to that is it means there’s no room for whining and no one to blame when things go awry…and believe me, I’ve had more failures than many other authors, so I know how hard it is…but oh, the upside to taking control and being responsible for your own destiny? Priceless!
Okay, getting off my soapbox now…
#15 Comment By Adrienne Giordano On December 21, 2011 @ 10:13 am
Good morning, CJ. Another outstanding post!
My thoughts/questions have already been posted by the others, so I won’t repeat them.
Thank you for a great mini-lesson on indy pubbing. To see it spelled out this way makes it not so scary.
#16 Comment By CJ Lyons On December 21, 2011 @ 10:27 am
Thanks for having me here, Adrienne!
Always a pleasure,
CJ
#17 Comment By Kelsey Browning On December 21, 2011 @ 10:31 am
CJ –
Great information,, as always. Thanks so much for sharing all your hard-earned knowledge with RU and our readers. You’re such a gem!
Kelsey
#18 Comment By CJ Lyons On December 21, 2011 @ 10:44 am
Thanks, Kelsey! You are very welcome!
CJ
#19 Comment By PatriciaW On December 21, 2011 @ 11:39 am
CJ, how might your release strategy be affected by Amazon’s new KDP program? Is there value in giving them a 90-day exclusive, and how might this play out for new vs. established authors?
#20 Comment By CJ Lyons On December 21, 2011 @ 12:19 pm
Great question! And this is where indy authors have an advantage–we can take advantage of programs like this and experiment with different methods of gaining exposure.
I think the advantage to the KDP Select program has nothing to do with the pot of money (although that seems to be what all the pundits focus on) but rather with the opportunity to schedule a limited time free offer.
If you know when your book will be free, you can promote that–as opposed to the current free offers which are random.
Of course the downside is the 90 day exclusive–but really, it only makes sense that a distributor would want something in return for allowing authors to basically use their service for the authors’ promotion (and remember Amazon, BN, whoever the distributor is, they actually lose money on free books because of the distribution costs)
Here are a few ways to mitigate that downside:
–if you have a new book, start it for the first 90 days there, plan your free period and promote the heck out of it, gaining readers and more importantly reviews…then when you place it for sale everywhere you already have reviews and high rankings to help jumpstart its momentum elsewhere
–for already published books, consider entering them but plan your free period around events that would help the sales of your other books or achieve some other goal like newsletter signups or a reader appreciation special
(in fact, this is what I’m doing with three of my standalone titles and their free promo periods–a birthday celebration, a celebration of a new book in a series, and a holiday celebration)
–if you have a series, consider entering the first and releasing the next book in the series at the END of the 90 days (that way you won’t upset folks wanting to buy the first from other vendors) and add promo about the new book in the back of the first
I could riff on this all day! The important thing is not to treat it as some grand money making scheme (there have been tons of writers blogging about how to take advantage of Amazon and rip them off, which, sorry, that’s just wrong) but instead using it as one more tool to achieve your goal, your why.
Anything that gives us control of how we reach out to readers is a good thing–the more tools at our disposal, the better.
Hope that helps,
CJ
#21 Comment By PatriciaW On December 21, 2011 @ 1:10 pm
Thanks. That gives writers a lot to chew on. I thought KDP was simply a 90-day exclusive for sale before expanding to other vendors, but it’s for offering a free promotion?
#22 Comment By CJ Lyons On December 21, 2011 @ 1:20 pm
KDP is the overall Amazon self-publishing platform.
One of their programs is KDP Select where you give them a 90 day exclusive. During that 90 days your book in enrolled in the Prime Lending Library on Amazon and thus you’re eligible for a piece of the monetary pie that Amazon provides lenders.
But, like I said, the big deal (to me) is that Amazon also gives you, in exchange for the 90 day exclusivity, five days where you can place your book on sale for free…
You can read all about the details on the Amazon KDP site–and please do before you enroll! It’s not for everyone or every book.
CJ
#23 Comment By PatriciaW On December 21, 2011 @ 1:22 pm
The good stuff is always in the details…
Thanks for clarifying. I love how you look beyond the dollars to find the bigger opportunity.
#24 Comment By CJ Lyons On December 21, 2011 @ 1:24 pm
LOL! In my experience, the bigger rewards have almost always come with the initially less-attractive bottom line (something traditional publishers could probably learn a lot from). But they often require a leap of faith.
Take care,
CJ
#25 Comment By kc stone On December 21, 2011 @ 3:05 pm
hey, me too….
MANY MANY THANKS for so generously sharing.
#26 Comment By CJ Lyons On December 21, 2011 @ 3:11 pm
You’re very welcome, KC!
CJ
#27 Comment By Laurie London On December 22, 2011 @ 3:27 pm
What a great two part series, CJ! I learned a lot. And I love that you have a “hybrid” career. It sounds like the best of both worlds.