I have two fun things to share with you today…
I learned earlier this week that Memory Lane is a finalist in the romance category of the Carol Awards, given by American Christian Fiction Writers. (!!!) Fellow writers read and score books for this award, so it means a lot to me that Memory Lane received this recognition from them. This came as a wonderful surprise and encouragement, especially considering that this was the first novel of mine that I independently published. Be sure to check out the complete list of Carol Award finalists (including our own Tamera Alexander) here.
Also this week, I placed Rocky Road in Kindle Unlimited. If you’re a KU member and haven’t read Jude and Gemma’s book yet–it’s now there for you!
“What is KU?” some of you might be asking. It’s a subscription program offered by Amazon that enables members to pay $12 a month and read all the ebooks available in KU that they want. At the moment, 8 of my 13 novels are available in KU.
Publishers can enroll an ebook in KU and make that ebook available at all other booksellers. But independently published authors must remove the ebook from all other booksellers in order to enroll it. Note: this does not apply to the paperback or audiobook, only the ebook.
Some of my independently published writer friends place their books in KU right when they release. This has worked out tremendously well for some, and I understand why. Amazon is the 800-pound gorilla of the publishing industry. To give you a sense of what I mean when I say that… Since January of 2023, around the time that Memory Lane released, 67% of my income has come from Amazon. For this reason, it’s in the best interests of most authors to find a way to befriend the gorilla. 🙂
In my case, I chose not to place the ebooks of Memory Lane and Rocky Road in KU right away because I was coming off of 11 traditionally published books that had been distributed widely. I wanted to distribute my newer books widely, too, making it as easy as possible for readers to find them in the places where they were accustomed to finding them. For example–in print at Barnes & Noble, at their library, on Apple Books, etc.
I waited 7 months after release to place Memory Lane in KU. I had initially planned to follow a similar timeline with Rocky Road. I changed my mind and waited just 3 months with Rocky Road. Why? Well, since I placed Memory Lane in KU, 70% of my income on that book has come from KU. Also, I’m running ads for Memory Lane and most of the people reading the book because of the ads are reading via KU. So, in order to increase my return on investment on advertising, it makes sense to allow KU readers to finish Memory Lane and seamlessly begin reading Rocky Road.
Is Kindle Unlimited the only game in town? No. There are two other avenues that are showing promise for authors lately.
- Audiobooks. In March of this year, 45% of my income came from audiobook sales. Audible accounted for part of that, but most of that came from Findaway (which distributes to many audiobook outlets including libraries). I was delighted. I think this speaks to how many people are listening on Spotify, the Chirp deal I ran that month, and also how much audiobook listeners have enjoyed that I have both a male and female narrator for Memory Lane and Rocky Road.
- Bookstores on authors’ web sites. This enables authors to sell directly to their readers without a retailer keeping a percentage of the list price. I added a bookstore to my site years ago so that readers who wanted signed paperbacks would have an easy way to purchase those from me. Thanks to the support of readers, my bookstore has grown and expanded. I now sell other formats of my new books while continuing to fulfill orders for paperbacks, which remain my most popular item. Through my bookstore, I’ve shipped out almost 200 paperback copies of Rocky Road this year as well as pre-order swag boxes. I thoroughly enjoy being a “bookstore owner”.
Thanks for allowing me to provide a snapshot of the writing life, taken from my corner of the world.
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Becky Wade
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Becky, this is very interesting and will help me decide how I buy my books.
Thank you for telling us about how you sell and profit!
Thanks for stopping by the blog, Traci!
Congratulations on your nomination! Hooray!
Thank you!
Becky – So thrilled for your Carol Award final. WooHoo!! And being an author who is starting to dip her toes into indie publishing, I found the rest of your post very informative. Love that indie gig is working out so well for you, my friend. 🙂
Thank you, Karen!
Congrats on the Carol Award final! Happy for you. And thanks for sharing your percentages. So interesting and helpful.
My pleasure!
First of all, huge congrats on the Carol final! So happy for you! And second of all, that was really interesting and helpful information. I agree about audiobooks. Even though I don’t often listen to them, they account for quite a bit of sales. It’s nice to have several income streams!
“It’s nice to have several income streams!” Yes! As an author, I’m thankful for the growth in the popularity of audiobooks. It’s been amazing to watch that happen.
Congratulations on your nomination, Becky! I am so happy for you; it is well deserved. YAY!
Thank you, Gena!
Yay! Congrats!!! I’m a busy mom with 3 kids at 3 schools, work part time and love to garden – audible is my go to!! It’s such a gift to have great books to listen to when life is hectic and you don’t have time to be still much. Thank you for investing in audiobooks for people like me! I know there will be a season where I can do kindle and paper and love it, but this isn’t that season and I’m so grateful for well narrated audiobooks!
Jamie! This comment made me smile. I’m so glad that you’re enjoying audiobooks in this season. I found it SO rewarding to create audiobooks for people like you.
Congrats on your Carol Award nomination!! So exciting and definitely well deserved!
Curious, of all of the options, which format makes you the most money on an individual purchase? I imagine it’s most profitable for you if we purchase from your store. Is that correct?
Yes! Buying ebooks or audiobooks from an author’s store brings in the most money per copy sold. But any sale at any store in any format is awesome!
Congrats on the recognitions!
First of all, I own every book you’ve written – in multiple formats. I go back and re-read them because they are some of my ‘comfort’ books, (what I read when life is stressful and I need guaranteed comfort or a better mindset before falling asleep.) I have been making a point of going to your website to purchase lately, and I’m glad I can support you in this way!
Because you are one of my top favorite authors, I wouldn’t read you on KU because I just automatically buy everything you produce. However, if it’s an author who is not a ‘must-buy’ for me, KU is where I go. (And I’m grateful for e-books because right about the time they became popular my husband declared his refusal to build me any more bookshelves..!)
Thank you for the effort and quality you put into your books, (something which is particularly obvious when listening to the audiobook.) Clearly your peers continue to notice as well. Thank you for the topics, the moral questions, and the things I learn about life and people from your labor. Good stories are such a blessing and I’m grateful for you!