A big thank you to those of you who downloaded your free beta-read reviewer’s copy of my new fictional work Magdalena’s Bones. I hope you found the storyline intriguing and thoroughly entertaining. Nearly five years hard graft has been an enlightening experience not without its publishing pitfalls and writer’s setbacks. The final book launch is now scheduled for October 31st
My eventual decision to take the self-publishing route is largely down to finance and reward – the number of working hours has been astronomical given the time needed for plot development, actual writing then toiling with freelance editors, cover designers and professional proof readers.
It was a great shock to then realise that handing over to a London-based literary agent and publisher would garnish me little more than ten percent of eventual book sales revenues – perhaps less than the national minimum wage when calculating all the hours of writing time involved.
So, my plan now is to try it alone. First, it is the big self-managed book launch – and what a eye-opener that has been…
Let me explain the mind-bending process involved in profitable book writing – the act of making a living wage from what most readers commonly assume is a joyous task of creative enterprise. During the last ten years, self-publishing has become THE growth area in the author’s somewhat limited choices of routes to book sales markets. In many respects, self-publishing mirrors the growth of the internet worldwide web.
In the past, old fashioned traditional publishing always involved first finding a literary agent willing to take on the author’s work – as a long-established freelance editor in my own right, I’ve seen firsthand how convincing an agent to represent a new, novice author is far from easy; in my professional editorial capacity I have worked with a number of publishers and near breadline writers. IF the author manages to secure a competent agent, the agent will find the right publisher who will take over the print and distribution rights of the book – putting the love & joy that’s been sweated over in the wee small hours for what seems like centuries, on high-traffic shelves in retail bookstores while the new agent arranges promotional book tours, thin-on-the-ground (unless paid for) radio interviews and other marketing gimmicks in the hope of driving book sales upwards. Of course, this conventional route works just fine, it is time proven providing the author’s name is reasonably well known – but it’s that breakthrough moment that’s so hard for first time novice writers.
23 DAYS TO BOOK LAUNCH
Agents and publishers can be a greedy lot with their extravagant overheads, fancy London or New York offices and blistering business lunch budgets but, in truth, many literary agents work extremely hard to earn their corn – once they’ve decided to give a new author the time of day. They are also a canny bunch, agents know full-well what books sell in volume and what does not, they know what genres are trending and which smiling authors will be loved by the media once the image-making process is complete. The one thing most authors learn quite quickly, especially relatively new authors trying to get their feet off the ground, is that agents and publishers drive sales of books solely to create enough revenues from the author’s reputation to pay their own commission rates and publishing costs – rarely for the love of the author or the author’s creative mind. The mathematical equation is quite simple – the greater the author’s success, the more the relationship between literary agent and the author grows. But, whatever the author’s choice, everything starts with a well-written, gripping manuscript in the right genre.
Of course, celebrity and superstar authors are different, these mega-authors make huge eye-watering sums in book sale revenues and upfront royalties – and budding new authors cannot complain because it is everything we each and every one of us aspire to. It has been like this since the human race first learned to read & write, well before ancient Egyptians invented papyrus-made paper.
Then, you already know the story, EVERYTHING, the whole world changed when a little-known Albuquerque-born Jeff Bezos came up with the mad, revolutionary idea that is today’s Amazon. Bezos and the pharaohs of Egypt are not dissimilar, both came to rule the land in which they reigned; in the process realigning the publishing world to their own benefit – those who write what is written, those who read it and those who sell it. Not since stone tablets inscribed with ancient scriptures has there been such monumental earthquake changes in the delivery of the written word – writing paper made from Egyptian riverbank reeds and Mr Bezos, who himself decided to do things otherwise.
Why Bezos? Well, Mr Bezos came up with the Kindle.
Amazon first set out as an online bookseller which, at that time, selling books on the internet was pretty much unknown. For many years Amazon struggled for survival, making no money but Bezos, against all sound advice, stuck with it. Meanwhile the traditional publishing industry meandered along in its own way, ignoring the looming peril of online downloads while settled in its own established comfort zone making money hand over fist with book sales of epic proportions – there were movie rights, lucrative publishing deals and folklore author reputations sometimes made over lunch – because paperbacks, hardbacks and magazine sales thrived for the fortunate few writers who made their stratospheric names through classic storytelling – the same storytelling that made literary agents and publishers drool. Of course, there was, and always will be, the breadline writers scratching the dirt to make their living – some of whom made their name and wealth only after their untimely deaths. For example, Philip A Dick, whose largely rejected written work went on to be adapted into major blockbuster movies – Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, The Adjustment Bureau… before this Dick lived a relatively austere lifestyle, most of the time in near poverty.
When Amazon launched its Kindle device, at around the same time Apple came up with the head-scratching concept of the iPod, no one suspected the revolution about to take place in both the publishing and music industries. Nothing was instant but take a look now, online publishing is dominated by Amazon, with Apple combining music with its revolutionary smart phone – which, to all intents and purposes, is an iPod with a built-in camera, data feed and phone. The innovators, Amazon and Apple lead, the rest of the pack followed – except for the publishing industry which still largely meandered along doing lunch.
Why am I telling you this? I am telling you all this solely to explain why I decided to self-publish Magdalene’s Bones. I will also tell you why I am in need of your help, why I am desperate to get your feedback and why I am going to beg on my knees for your all-important crucial review – why my whole ‘Sliding Doors’ moment hinges upon your goodwill. I’m not grovelling – but I’m only a small wee bit away from licking your feet. Here’s why…
Firstly, if you aren’t a reviewer or beta reader and haven’t yet purchased Magdalena’s Bones then please, please head over to Amazon now, pre-order if you are in the UK or pre-order here for Amazon US, then come back. If you use Apple Books or another online bookstore then please pre-order here. Or you can continue to read and find the same pre-order links below. As an extra-special incentive for you to pre-order right now, Magdalena’s Bones is available at the pre-launch price of £0.99 (the same in $’s and €’s) for a LIMITED PERIOD ONLY. I will explain the marketing concept behind this magnet incentive price to you. First, why the reviews? Why are reviews so important?
23 DAYS TO BOOK LAUNCH
As a relatively unknown first time author with no track record, I would get the worse possible deal from a literary agent, maybe a lowish four-figure upfront royalty payment up to a maximum of ten-percent calculated against possible, maybe, future book sales – and that would be it. Likely well below minimum wage working at McDonalds selling hamburgers when all the hours of creative turmoil are totalled up on the back of a cigarette packet. Or, as a self-publisher, with no literary agent or publisher representing me, I could do everything myself using freelance editors, proof readers and cover illustrators. Let me tell you, the first time self-publishing is daunting – but it’s not rocket science. And Amazon make it remarkably easy for me to upload my virginal masterpiece on to Amazon Marketplace – and I don’t have to convince Amazon I am the next Stephen King, J K Rowling or Barbara Cartland to the sceptical literary agent sitting behind their desk. But here’s the magical cut – any literary success and subsequent commercial livelihood is all down to Amazon’s REVIEWS.
Amazon will pay the uploading author an ambitious seventy-percent of book sales revenues. Of course, from this sum the author has to pay all supporting freelancers but seventy–percent can be more than sustainable to a starving writer. Ok, with a literary agent, publisher and the ten-percent I make from them I would have no further costs, I don’t put myself on the line, the publisher takes all the risk but, unless my book sales go stratospheric, I may have to be content with just my upfront payment through my agent and publisher being extraordinarily expensive. Having said all this, many mid-range authors make an envious reasonable to good living from publishing through their agent – once they get to the grail with those smiling sales numbers.
So seventy–percent of what? Well, even Amazon can be seventy–percent of not much – unless I can somehow drive my book sales through my own endeavours. Fortunately, own-endeavours are generally free, without too much costs – but not always. Let me explain. The self-publishing author’s one chance of success through Amazon is the fabled AMAZON ALGORITHM. This algorithm is artificial intelligence at its best, it is complex computer coding of the most wonderful kind. Amazon KDP Marketplace (Kindle) keeps a keen eye upon all book sales, the algorithm knows who is buying what, the age and buying profile of the buyer, where the buyer lives and the number and quality of positive reviews from that buyer. Therefore, if the selling book is good, mediocre or bad then Amazon knows. The better each of the review and sales parameters are then the higher Amazon places the book in the potential buyer’s highlight choice. You see the Best Seller List, ‘Also Boughts’, Recommends and Top-Sellers in the genres of choice. Amazon isn’t stupid, Amazon wants to sell Magdalena’s Bones, Amazon knows who will buy the book providing the book is good enough to attract reviews. So, the fresh peas & carrots on my dinner plate are all down to the algorithm invented by Jeff Bezos and his Amazon gurus – who sell Kindle readers to readers who need a Kindle to read the books that Amazon sells. Now you can see why Bezos has launched himself into building space rockets, why he will be the first one to Mars to then build the first Amazon Martian warehouse.
Reviews linked to book sales are key, the more Magdalena’s Bones sells the higher the book appears in Amazon’s rankings, the more reviews I acquire the more successful book sales are – providing all reviews are genuine, the algorithm is clever in knowing when they are not.
Is this why the special promotional book launch price is only £0.99? Well, yes and no.
The normal retail price of Magdalena’s Bones will be £9.99 for Kindle downloads and £16.99 for printed paperbacks – it is not economical to print in hardback. My pre-production costs so far for Magdalena’s Bones are around £6k including freelance editors, proof readers and cover design, this cost also includes preliminary marketing costs (Facebook & Instagram) to test the age and gender demographics of potential readers and where they can be found. Facebook Marketing, invented by that other Californian entrepreneur Zuckerberg, is remarkably good at this. The normal retail price will be £9.99 of which Amazon takes thirty-percent in commission, leaving me with the residual £6.00 or so as my seventy-percent cut – so I need to sell a minimum of one thousand copies of Magdalena’s Bones to break even on my costs so far. I will not break even, not ever, with the novel selling at the promotional price of £0.99. So the £0.99 is a magnet price, a short-term introduction teaser to get book sales numbers moving quickly with the greatest chance of good reviews at the outset – which hopefully drives ongoing sales upwards when the book-launch offer expires after the promotional fourteen days finishes. The higher volume book sales, by now driven by Amazon’s algorithm, will then fall into the £9.99 sphere, giving me a higher possibility of at least breaking even after one thousand-plus books are sold. Of course, to put more wholesome, better quality food on my table, I need to sell many more copies than one thousand. Lots more. A couple of gazillion sales and I would sit at the proverbial feasting table of King and Rowling.
If you didn’t get the free reviewer’s copy of Magdalena’s Bones, head over to Amazon to pre-order your £0.99 pre-launch version – you get the same offer on Apple Books, GoodReads, Barns & Noble, Kobo and many more at the bookstore of your choice.
D.D. Did
Magdalena’s Bones by D.D. Did. Cover design by Nuno Moreira, edited by Davina L Realm. Proofreading by ProofRead.Inc. Copyright ©️ D.D. Did – All Rights Reserved.
Please – if you have read and liked Magdalena’s Bones, then I would be grateful if you might leave a genuine review once you have received and read your copy from the Amazon Bookstore.
Link will activate on the 31st October Launch Date.
Note: D.D. Did is my pseudonym, my pen name, my nom-de-plume to hide my identity, to protect the brand value of my real name under which I normally edit and write. Once I know who you are then I am happy to reveal my true name, if you have subscribed to this website and purchased my work.
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