Thoughts On BookTrakr

A few weeks ago I got an invitation to proceed with the beta version of BookTrakr, which I had signed up for several months ago. What the site basically does is compiles your sales figures from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo, and Smashwords. Yes, you must provide your log-in information, which many people are hesitant to do. But this isn't a fly-by-night service; they've been working on it for quite some time, and I know many reputable writers who got an even earlier sneak peek, and all of them trust the site well enough.

So anyway, once you provide your log-in information, it takes a while for the site to create a profile for you -- at least it did for me, but that's probably because I have a lot of books that have been published for a while. Then, once everything is compiled, you're able to view each of your books separately and see how many copies you've sold across all platforms or on each individual platform, as well as how much money you've made, how many reviews the books has, its best ranking, etc. It even provides numbers for all the ebooks combined. Because of this, I now see that I've sold, as of this moment, 107,627 ebooks across Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and Kobo (I didn't bother adding Smashwords, mostly because I couldn't remember my log-in information at the time). While that number sounds somewhat impressive -- and I guess it is -- you also have to keep in mind that it stretches back to 2009 ... though most of what I sold has been since 2011, so really two years. Even so, 53,000 books a year isn't all that impressive when you consider that some authors sell that number in a single month.

BookTrakr also has a feature where every morning they send you an email of your previous day sales. It tells me how many ebooks I've sold, how much I've earned, a breakdown of the sales across all platforms, whether or not I have any new reviews, if I'm currently on any top 100 lists, and so on. If your sales are good, it's nice to wake up to those numbers. If your sales are so-so, it can be rather depressing. It's possible to turn off the daily emails, though, which might be a good idea, as a writer doesn't have much power in changing the sales. It's like checking the stock market; you can watch your stocks go up and down, but you're pretty much powerless to do anything about it, so sometimes it's best to worry about other things.

Ultimately, I've found the service to be great so far. Currently it's still in beta mode, which means that it's free, though at some point soon they'll start charging. How much the rate will be is still up for speculation, but if it's anywhere near reasonable, I think it's completely worth it. I also say this as someone who, for over a year, would take my monthly sales reports and enter them manually into a spreadsheet. That takes up a lot of time that could be better spent writing.

Is BookTrakr for everyone? Probably not. When Duotrope announced that they were going to start charging for their service, I didn't bother signing up. Why? Well, because I haven't been writing and submitting much short fiction. If I did, then I would probably find the service worthwhile and pay. The same applies here. If an author only has a handful of books that it's easy enough to track, it might not be worth signing up. The same goes for an author who has a few books that aren't selling much at all. The cost of the service might not even off-set how much that author is making. But that's just my two cents. As of right now, I'm impressed, and am curious to see where they take this service next.

Thoughts On Bookstores

Once upon a time I went to bookstores a lot. Like, at least once a week, if not twice a week, and maybe sometimes even three times a week for various reasons. I'd browse the new books and the remainders and the aisles and even the magazines (the little section for the literary journals) and sometimes I'd pick something up, sometimes I wouldn't, but it didn't matter because they were books.

Now I can't remember the last time I went to a bookstore.

Nowadays I do most of my book browsing online. Every day I'll check out Amazon and iTunes for the new releases and what's selling (I check the Kindle Top 100 and the sub genres of mystery & thriller, horror, and action & adventure especially). If a book looks interesting to me, I can view the sample and check out the first chapter or two or three. If I want to buy it, I just press a button and, viola, I own it.

There's something remarkable about that, isn't there?

Often we hear people bemoaning the loss of bookstores. I'm sure the same was said about record stores and video stores. Now we can get our music and movies and TV shows streamed instantly to our devices. We can take them wherever we go. We can choose to purchase a new Blu ray for $20 or rent it on Redbox for $1.50 or stream it online for a couple bucks. The possibilities are endless and, more important, record stores and video stores still exist, to one extent or another.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-bookstore. I love bookstores. I love libraries. I love any place where readers can find books.

From a business standpoint, however, and even from a reader standpoint, I find myself appreciating online retailers more and more.

Recently Sherman Alexie put out a call to arms for writers everywhere:

Now is the time to be a superhero for independent bookstores. I want all of us (you and you and especially you) to spend an amazing day hand-selling books at your local independent bookstore on Small Business Saturday (that’s the Saturday after Thanksgiving, November 30 this year, so you know it’s a huge weekend for everyone who, you know, wants to make a living). Here’s the plan: We book nerds will become booksellers. We will make recommendations. We will practice nepotism and urge readers to buy multiple copies of our friends’ books. Maybe you’ll sign and sell books of your own in the process. I think the collective results could be mind-boggling (maybe even world-changing).

You can read the rest here.

While it's certainly a great idea, the simple fact is many independent bookstores don't want to deal with writers such as myself. They see writers like me as traitors and don't want anything to do with us.

Think I'm exaggerating?

Back when the Hint Fiction anthology was published, a local bookstore went all out to host a release party. It was great. They were great. They were big supporters of the book, and I made it a point to try to help support them anyway I could. Then, a little while later, I started publishing my own stuff online and in paperback form through CreateSpace. The bookstore learned about it. Suddenly I was persona non grata.

I can't say I blame them, of course. It's their business. They can certainly do whatever they want. But the simple fact is more and more writers are going the independent route. Not all writers, of course. There will always be writers wanting to publish through traditional means, and there's nothing wrong with that. But for those writers doing it on their own and having great success? Even if they wanted to do something with their local independent bookstore, they would probably not be welcome.

That isn't to say every independent bookstore is unwelcoming of independent authors. Not at all. But there's a sizeable chunk that many writers won't even bother trying to connect with them. And that's a shame. If my local bookstore was more open-minded, I would be happy to help promote them anyway I could. Have signed copies of my books there. Have readings there. Anything. I'm sure the same could be said about many, many other independent authors.

But the reality, of course, is that most independent bookstores survive by stocking the major bestsellers. It's the James Pattersons and Stephen Kings and Lee Childs and Nora Roberts that keep them afloat. Not midlist authors, let alone independent authors. So really it should be a non-issue, and yet I see it coming up again and again.

This post isn't meant to piss anybody off, though it probably will. The purpose is simply to discuss my overall thoughts on bookstores and how things have changed -- quite drastically -- over the years. I'm all for supporting bookstores, especially independent ones. But until independent bookstores become more welcoming of authors such as myself, there's not much I can do.

On Professionalism

Yesterday Brian Keene wrote a blog post which took a member of the HWA to task for what makes a professional writer. It's good stuff. Go read it if you haven't had a chance. I'll wait. Back?

Okay, so Brian's post reminded me that I had talked about what makes a professional writer a couple years ago. In the post I mused that some might considered professional writers only those who write full-time. The truth at the time, though, was that hardly any writers actually wrote full-time. Even Joe Konrath, who I quoted, had said that more people play in the NFL than write full-time.

At least, that was the case in 2009.

Now, four years later, a lot of things have changed. With the rise of self-publishing, more and more writers are finding themselves able to write full-time.

Before I signed with my agent several years ago, his first question to me was what was my ultimate goal.

I said to write full-time.

He acknowledged that he had some clients who wrote full-time, but most didn't.

Because, let's face it, that was the reality of publishing back then. Writers worked their butts off for a measly advance and low royalties, and still needed to work a full-time job to make ends meet. Now writers have the option of saying no to the measly advances and low royalties to go a different route. Is that route always successful? Not at all. But at least they now have a choice, which is rather refreshing.

I've never been a member of a writers' organization. I've just never seen the point. The only organization that I think is worthwhile is the Writers Guild of America, because they actually offer health benefits and retirement to their members. Unfortunately, the only way to join is if you write for movies and TV. All other writers' organizations? If they offer health benefits, those benefits are hardly comprehensive.

Back when I started writing, I thought I wanted to join the HWA. But then I had many friends who were members and heard the ongoing drama and even witnessed much of it on the private message boards which I was able to access using a friend's account, and I realized that no, I had no interest in becoming a member. It baffled me why so many writers wanted to join and become active members, until I realized that everyone was basically concerned about the Bram Stoker Awards. Well, okay, not everyone, but a good majority. I even saw writers make sure to mention in their bios that they were active or associate members of the HWA or some other writers' organization, which always struck me as odd, because really who cares? Your regular readers don't care. They don't care if you're an active member of some organization or if your book is published by a major publishing house. How do I know this? Because look at all the successful self-published writers out there. Readers want to find good books, plain and simple. The rest -- being members of writers' organizations, being nominated for awards, etc -- simply helps the writer feel good about himself.

Awhile back, I saw someone on Facebook complain that many of the writers on the Kindle top 100 bestseller list for horror were writers that they hadn't ever heard of. It didn't make sense to them, because they weren't "name" authors, or even authors who they were familiar with. Because -- surprise! -- those authors were not members of the HWA. They did not troll message boards. They did not follow the "rules" set forth by the HWA on how to get published, whatever those are.

What's worth noting, in fact, is if I wanted to join a writers' organization, there's a very good chance I couldn't do so as an active member. It doesn't matter that I've sold tens of thousands of books. It doesn't matter that I even managed to get on the USA TODAY bestseller list without the help of any publisher. It doesn't matter that I sometimes make more in one month than a writer will make from an entire advance for one book sold to a major publisher. What matters -- in the eyes of those who run these writers' organizations -- is whether my books are published by a "real" publisher, whatever that means anymore.

But you know what? That's okay. If I wanted to become a member of any of these organizations, it might bother me. As it is, I'm just happy being a writer. Or hobbyist. Or whatever.

I'm Part Of The 1%

So this morning I get an email from Goodreads alerting me to the fact that I'm in the top 1% of reviewers on Goodreads. Cool!

But here's the thing -- I don't review that much. I mean, I rate the books I read, sure, and sometimes I'll leave a few sentences for a review, but that's it.

Currently my "read" bookshelf only hosts 663 books.

In my mind that ain't a lot to put me near the top 1% of reviews on a site that touts the fact it has over 20 million members.

Now don't get me wrong -- I like Goodreads a lot. The fact that Amazon bought them never rubbed me the wrong way like it did a lot of other people. Amazon owns a lot of major websites you might not even be aware of -- IMDb is the first to come to mind -- and while they might own it, they generally don't make it Amazon-centric. In fact, I also received an email from Goodreads today telling me that a new Dave Robicheaux novel just came out. At the bottom of the email were buy links. Amazon was listed, yes, but so were Barnes & Noble and iTunes. And guess what -- those links actually take you to Barnes & Noble and iTunes! *GASP*

Anyway, my point?

If I'm truly in the top 1% of reviewers on Goodreads with only 663 books read (that's not all the books I've read throughout my life, of course, just many that I've remembered and thought to add, though there are also times when I don't list books I've read for one reason or another), then just what are the other 20 million users doing exactly? How many books are they reading? What exactly are most of the users doing other than spamming other users with their latest self-published book?

Anyone else in the top 1% reviewers on Goodreads?

No?

Well then -- IN YOUR FACE!

Joyland On Kindle ... But Not Really

Remember a while back there was this guy named Steven King and people were buying his books because they thought he was Stephen King and getting really upset? Well, the same thing is happening, only (surprisingly) nobody has caught on yet. At least, nobody has given this book any one-star reviews ... yet. EDIT: finally someone has caught on and the ebook has scored its first one-star review.

The ebook, published June 16, 2013, is titled Joyland (Hard Case Crime) by Stephen King, a review.

Talk about misleading.

According to the product description:

Stephen King brilliantly transforms a regular crime novel, into an amusement park, with pleasant and unacceptable memories, that teeter you on the edge of his Ferris wheel. When the ride finally stops, you push the bar back, and step off, right inside Stephen King’s, Joyland. You smile for a moment, at the sounds and smells of the fair, but here, joy takes on a different meaning. One that embarks on a role of entertainment, and saving a life becomes profitable. He reaches inside your emotions with unexpected sensitivity to human conditions: lost love, saving lives, family, friendships, mind readers, and fortunetellers. Yes, there are ghosts and murder, but more important is King’s ability to take you on a journey into the narrator’s youthful, past experiences, that are played in a rerun mode, by the now aged carny worker, Devin Jones. Joyland captures our desire to find answers to questions that we can’t seem to let go of, especially the painful ones. When the death of a close friend brings back those ghostly reflections of Devin’s life, he finds them lying next to colorful lights that seem to dance across those old carnival grounds, until the morning sun dispels them into tomorrow.

Does anyone get from that the fact this ebook is an review?

Anyone?

Bueller?

Currently (Sunday night at 11:40 pm) the book is ranked #1,558 in the entire Kindle store and is priced at $2.99.

And, according to the estimated length, is only 6 pages long.

The "author" of this ebook, Nick Walton, has published a few other ebooks with link-baited titles such as Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss; a review and Fifty Shades Trilogy: Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, Fifty Shades Freed 3-volume, reviewed.

The last one -- the review of the Fifty Shades Trilogy -- is estimated at only 3 pages.

And it's selling.

Welcome to the wacky and wonderful world of publishing!