--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Debbi Mack <demack5@...> wrote:
>
>
> First, thank you Steve Gerlach! You just saved me a lot of typing. :)
>
> Second, I know that Amazon rankings are fickle things, but allow me to direct you to this http://midlistlife.wordpress.com/2009/12/13/how-meaningful-are-kindle-store-rankings/
>
> Okay--I didn't stay at #4 for the hardboiled category in the Kindle Store (and I didn't expect I would). However, I have been in the top 10 (for that category) a lot lately. I was at #7 two days ago and #6 last night. (Charlie Huston keeps beating me out, but when I look at who's under me, I have to pinch myself.) And last night's ranking was over a period of three hours. Plus my e-books have been selling like hotcakes recently. I reduced the price and sales skyrocketed. They reached an all-time high yesterday of 18 downloads in one day. (I'm keeping track of all this on my Facebook Fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Debbi-Mack/111167807626?ref=ts)
>
> Now, I realize that won't pay off any mortgages, but the exposure has made the price cut more than worthwhile. Plus, I've actually made MORE money based on volume, even at the reduced price.
>
> I've been in touch with Kindle owners who read fiction (and, yes, they do exist). Their reasons for using a Kindle can vary, but if you think "old people" won't use them, you're wrong. In fact, I've been told by arthritis sufferers that they find the Kindle easier to handle than a book. It's also apparently very easy on the eyes. They're also great for traveling.
>
> So I guess it's pretty clear where I stand on digital publishing for fiction authors.
>
> Best,
> Debbi
>
Debbi, I don't want to repeat anything that I've just written in my response to Steve, but this is a unique time and I don't think you can extrapolate what's going on now when there are not that many books in the Kindle store, and certainly that many low priced ones, to what the future will hold when there are 100s of thousands books dumped there--many of them made free as desperate authors try to attract readers. How do you expect to stand out in this type of world?
Also, ranking numbers are kind of meaningless without knowing how they translate to sales. Can you tell us what that actually means as to what you're seeing in monthly sales? I see what Joe Konrath posts, and while he's an established author and has been around for a while, what he's making in ebook sales per book is a fraction of what he made through his print sales. But I am curious to see what real numbers you're seeing.
I think ebooks could work if there were still publishers, but this opening up the stores to self-published books is the killer. There are going to be so many self-published books dumped in there stores that finding anything decent will be a needle in the haystack type deal.
The reality is authors make the jump from midlist to better by having dedicated booksellers recommending their books to their customers, and eventually building up a readership that way, I just see this future ebook only world as a complete mess, where few authors other than the biggest names will ever be able to sell more than a few thousand copies.
--Dave
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 18 Dec 2009 EST