Tag Archives: Bettye Griffin

A Look Into BookBub by Bettye Griffin

Secrets and Sins The days of simply uploading a book to the various online retail sites and having people download it are over. Now, with thousands of new titles being released each week, it’s all about discoverability. How to get your book noticed in a sea of literature?

Prolific author Kristin Kathryn Rusch recently wrote a series of articles on her blog about this topic that you might want to check out. They are lengthy, but quite informative.

Advertising is one logical answer to this dilemma, and just about the best way to get the word out about your book is by advertising on BookBub. These people have somehow managed to amass huge numbers of subscribers (the more subscribers, the higher their fees) who receive emails 365 days a year listing bargain books in multiple categories (mystery and contemporary romance being the most popular, but also including thrillers, action, women’s fiction, literary, nonfiction and others).

Advertising on BookBub is not cheap, but there’s no denying its effectiveness. I first heard about this service in April 2013 through an article at author D.D. Scott’s (now inactive) blog. I immediately subscribed and did some monitoring of how advertised contemporary romance books fared. They way they shot up the rankings impressed me, but I had reservations about how my book would do in what I suspected was a majority Caucasian marketplace. Ultimately I decided to go for it (after expressing these doubts and being encouraged by others on the blog), and I submitted a request to feature my romantic comedy Accidentally Yours as a free offering (yes, you pay them handsomely to advertise, but http://thewritersguidetoepublishing.com/do-bookbub-ads-work-to-find-new-readersd they have to accept you, which struck me as downright nutty…but one reason their advertising is so successful is that they strive to offer high-quality books).

I was approved, but due to personal travel plans, did not set my date until early June, to give myself plenty of time to get both the book file and its pricing in order. I was thrilled when Accidentally Yours went to #1 in the entire Free Kindle Store. Better still, sales of my other books experienced a nice bump, obviously from readers who enjoyed reading this freebie (I made sure to upload a new version that included brief excerpts from a few of my other titles).

The same thing happened when I did my second BookBub promotion for A Love of Her Own in September, although the sales of paid titles didn’t get as high as the first time. That was about the time the market was starting to get glutted, but I did well enough to make a profit from my ad, and the title I included an intriguing excerpt from in the freebie shot back onto the Top 100 some eighteen months after its original publication.

Here are some recommendations I’d make in regard to using BookBub:

Don’t even consider doing it unless you have at least three eBooks published, preferably more. You want to have more product to offer people than the one discounted or free title.
I have yet to be turned down for an ad, and I understand that the main reasons for rejection are length (BookBub does not advertise novellas or short stories), quality (I’m not sure just how they make this determination to what’s behind those covers, but it’s listed as a requirement on their site), and a professional presentation (in other words, your cover shouldn’t look like you put it together yourself at your kitchen table unless you’re a design professional or are truly gifted in that area). While there is no minimum number of reviews required, a book with five reviews with three or four of them 3 stars or below will not likely be accepted, whether those reviews are truly deserved or not, i.e., someone giving you a low ranking because of downloading.
Use an older title, particularly if you’re doing a freebie. I personally don’t like slashing the price on an eBook less than two years old; I don’t think it’s fair to readers who paid full price.
The first book of a series works well to spur sales of the remaining titles in the series…just make sure that readers know it’s a series.
Pay close attention to your front and back matter. Two suggestions I like are to include the book’s description in the front, right after the copyright page, to remind the reader of the plot (suggested by J.A. Konrath) and to include a listing of your other books in the front (suggested by Deatri King-Bey right here at Become a Successful author) with purchase links, of course (I used to provide Amazon links in the Kindle file and Barnes & Noble links with the Nook file, but now I simply link to my eStore, which has both, as well as links to purchase directly from my eStore at a cheaper price. I also like to include a brief note to the reader with a link to whatever excerpts I’ve included (which are also in the table of contents). Every piece of front matter should be absolutely necessary; you don’t want the reader to have to thumb through (or the electronic equivalent of) pages and pages before getting to the actual start of the book. All the other stuff can go in the back matter.
As I mentioned above, BookBub’s rates are pretty hefty. It bases its prices (which are increased regularly as their subscriber lists continue to grow) on both the number of subscribers in the desired category and your sale price. A free book is cheaper than a 99-cent book, which in turn is cheaper than a $1.99 book.
I personally feel it’s better to pay more for a 99-cent listing than to do a freebie, and to maximize earnings, consider enrolling in Kindle Select (a must if you plan on offering a free book) and subsequently in the Countdown program running simultaneously with your promotion, which will still net you the 70% royalty rate even for a 99-cent book.
With regard to pricing, BookBub recently introduced an African-American category. This is virtually the same as being segregated from the general book population in bookstores in the African-American section, but the rates are very affordable because of the smaller number of subscribers (50K vs. nearly 700K for contemporary romance and over 500K for women’s fiction), which makes it worth considering. If you like the results, you can always run another ad (but not within six months if it’s for the same book) and put it in a more broader category (BookBub retains the right to make a final determination about your chosen category).
Put your best work forward. You might want to do a complete read-through of your work and upload a new file if necessary. Some avid readers will snap up everything under $1, whether it’s their preferred category or not, read them, and can be very critical. When I advertised A Love of Her Own , some readers complained about a continuity error that hadn’t been caught in the original Kensington print copy (because editors aren’t perfect). I went in and corrected it and uploaded a new version, and reviews after that have mostly been positive. If you seek universal adoration or are in the habit of replying to negative reviews (something I strongly advise against doing, no matter what the circumstances), BookBub probably isn’t for you. It’s reading reviews or emails from people who say they are buying my other books after having read the sale or free book that make it worthwhile, at least for me.

Happy Sales to You!

Bettye Griffin

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Let’s Talk Ganxy by Bettye Griffin

I first heard about Ganxy from a post on one of the blogs I read regularly, The Writer’s Guide to ePublishing. I found the idea of selling to readers from my website, blog, and/or Facebook page with 90% of the cover price going into my pocket intriguing, to say the least. (Note: Some refer to this as a “royalty,” a term I don’t really agree with in this context; the arrangement seems more like a commission to me since these are retailers, not actual publishers.) I decided to give it a try by setting up a test showcase (as they call product pages) at Ganxy.

It seemed daunting for someone like me, who knows squat about ePUB and MOBI files, both of which Ganxy recommends be uploaded. About all I could handle was a PDF, which is the third and last format Ganxy recommends. These three formats pretty much cover any eReader device. I read the instructions thoroughly, then did a search for a site that converts documents to ePUB and MOBI formats. I found Online Convert, which does it for free (they do accept donations). I followed Ganxy’s suggestion and named each new file with the book title, my name, and the format.

Once that was done, I was able to go back and finish my showcase. I decided to take advantage of the function that allows me to list other retailers, because some folks will always want to purchase from Amazon or BN, and there’s no denying that the reviews on those sites still stand for something (The folks at Ganxy are reportedly working on incorporating reviews into Showcases, but I haven’t heard from where). Since I am an Amazon Associate, I made sure to include my personal ID in my links so I get credit for any orders from those who prefer to buy from Amazon.

I then embed the code on the main page of my newly re-designed website for an easy purchase link. The showcase is pretty big, and since there’s no way to fit seven of them (and counting!) on one page, I also set up an eStore on a single page that lists my other titles by linking each cover to its corresponding showcase. I also set up showcases for my traditionally published titles that are still available, although with links only rather than files for direct sales, since I do not own the rights to sell these directly. Take a look and tell me what you think!

These are the pluses of hooking up with Ganxy that I’ve identified to date:

The purchaser’s choice of format, which between them cover all devices: MOBI, ePUB, or PDF. One disadvantage: Readers will have to load the book onto their eReader themselves, which might be a turnoff for Kindle owners; I believe their books are loaded automatically on their readers when purchased thru Amazon. I try to head this off by discounting the prices at my eStore for new releases…nothing like offering readers an incentive!
A 90% cut of the cover price of all eBooks sold, rather than the 65% and 70% offered by BN and Amazon for books priced at $2.99 and above).
The 10% cut Ganxy takes is effective even if your book or story costs less than $2.99. In that situation Amazon increases its take to 65%, with just 35% going to the author; BN increases theirs to 60% with the author getting just 40%. You can sell a 99-cent short story and pocket 90 cents, not 35 or 40 cents! (Note that authors, not the customers, pay the credit card processing costs, which are a few cents per transaction…just the way J.C. Penney or Red Lobster pays this fee when you use your credit card at their locations. It’s true that a law recently became effective that allow merchants to legally pass on processing fees to their customers, but generally the only type of merchant who charges service fees on top of the price of the product are those selling concert or event tickets.)
The ability to offer free eBooks to readers, choosing an end time by whichever is reached first: A maximum number of free downloads or an end date. Doing this on Amazon and BN is very difficult and involves lots of patient waiting, sometimes in vain. Note that Ganxy may be charging authors to offer free downloads in the future; I won’t know what the fee will be until they initiate it.
The ability to offer sale priced eBooks to readers, with automatic end dates/criteria set (i.e., “The first 150 people to download this eBook will get $1.50 off the cover price”). The possibilities for this are endless…introductory price sales…12-hour sales…5-hour sales…Valentine’s Day sales…Cyber Monday sales…Black Friday sales, to name a few. My current sales are listed at the top of my eStore page. I’ve already started the practice of offering introductory prices for new products to entice readers to buy from my eStore rather than Amazon or BN. Another plus is that price changes go into effect immediately, the second you hit the Enter key. There’s no waiting for the retailer to adjust the prices, the way the other guys make you do.
Smooth and prompt payment processing. If you’ve earned the minimum (I don’t remember what it is, but I’m thinking $10), you can request payment at any time. My funds were deposited in my Paypal account within two days of my request. You don’t even have to wait 60 days…you only have to wait until you make the minimum.
Gift options are available.
Offering bundles are super-simple…instead of having to assemble one file of two or three books into a single linked file, which can be unwieldy and be difficult for readers to download, authors can choose which of their books they want to include in the bundle and the reader will receive a separate file for each! So if you want to offer a bundle of a series (Ganxy recommends including two to six books in a single bundle), just set up a showcase, set a price, and choose which files you want to include. No special formatting to do.
Your customers have the option of signing up for email notifications from you about future releases or sales. I’m surprised at how many customers took advantage of this. Whenever I offer a sale, they’re the first ones to know about it.
Superb and prompt customer service. I had many questions along the way, and they got back to me very quickly…even on Sunday.

Another plus, albeit an indirect one: Since I’ve learned how to create MOBI and ePUB files, I can now offer free downloads of short stories direct from my website, bypassing retailers altogether, if I choose to take that route.

Another important factor is your own aspirations, since everyone’s are different. If Amazon rankings are important to you, you might want to skip Ganxy altogether and continue selling only through ranked channels. My own career has taken an unorthodox path in that I began by being traditionally published but am not pursuing that path now, so a higher earnings potential holds the most appeal for me. I must admit that I’m not comfortable with Amazon wielding so much power, and I like having an alternate option. But it’s understandable for those pursuing a traditional publishing contract and/or those who like to announce their book’s sales rankings or placement in the Top 100 Bestsellers of its genre may prefer to get as many sales as they can through Amazon…editors are certain to check your rankings, and while no one really knows if repeatedly declaring yourself to be a bestselling author translates into sales, it’s not going to hurt anything, either.

Finally, this is an overview of my experience, not an endorsement. The decision to Ganxy or not to Ganxy has to be made by each individual writer, just like everything else in the business. I strongly suggest reading their Terms of Service thoroughly. But if you do decide to set up one or more Author Showcases, it’s always nice for them to know the source of the new business. For that reason, if you do decide to set up one or more showcases, I’d appreciate it if you would drop an email to Lonnie Rosenbaum at Ganxy at lonnie @ ganxy.com (please remove the spaces) and let him know I referred you!

For more information about Ganxy, you might want to check out this recent article in Forbes magazine.

Bettye Griffin

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Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author will be used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $9.99(print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

Adventures in Plotting

Part of the key to succeeding as an indie writer is to offer new products on a fairly regular basis. You cannot expect to put out one book and then sit back and count the money. Readers want more, and writers have to offer it. There are ways to get around this. Established writers can publish eBook versions of backlist titles they own eBook rights to. If your project is coming along slowly, you can write a few self-contained short stories featuring the characters. An ideal publication schedule is to have something new every three to six months.

This can be difficult for slow writers like myself. I find that regular writing helps, and I use tools like a hand-held recorder compatible with Dragon dictation software, to help maximize my output. But my biggest obstacle with this is being able to knowing what to write about.

I’m not sure I ever really understood plot-driven vs. character-driven (probably not a good thing for a fiction writer), but I do know this: When it comes to writing my books, I am a plotter, not a panster. I summarize the entire story first. This comes from my years as a traditionally published author, when new contracts were offered to me on the strength of the synopsis I provided to my editor. When I began to indie publish, it was easy to keep up this practice.

I have had times when putting together a story where I became more stuck than tires in mud. In the case of my book A Kiss of a Different Color (2010), I had a basic premise of a black woman forced by economics to take a job in overwhelmingly white North Dakota, where she decided to take a chance and enroll for the ballroom dancing lessons she’s always dreamed of taking. There she is paired with a handsome, tall blond man from Minnesota. Some cute banter and a few fireworks at their first meeting…a car that won’t start after one night of classes that puts them together in a bar while they wait for a tow truck…and then what? I had a promising beginning, but nothing else.

I did what most writers would do…I put this story aside and worked on something else. I kept coming back to it, hoping that the “light bulb” inside my head would go off. Months passed, and then years…and I still couldn’t come up with a plausible story.

‘Plausible’ is an important word to me. While I’m a big believer in having a defined plot, I also feel it’s important to stay true to my characters. Have you ever read a book where a character you think you know does something totally out of character? This usually happens when the author is trying to force the characters to fit their predefined plot, and it won’t ring true, which will leave readers feeling bewildered and ultimately unsatisfied.

Obviously, I eventually figured out a plot line for A Kiss of a Different Color, although it took several years. I ran into a similar problem when outlining the story that became Isn’t She Lovely? (2012). I was pleased with the story I’d created, but then after reaching a pivotal moment in the story, where the hero is threatened with exposure of a carefully guarded secret by a vindictive person (who learned of his secret by her own devices, not because he confided in her), I got stuck. What would happen next?

This time the solution came to me much more quickly. I let the characters decide. My hero was running for governor, and if his secret became public knowledge, it might mean the end of his campaign. My heroine was being threatened by her ex-husband who wanted custody of her children and was desperate to keep her name out of any scandal that might make the judge decide in her ex’s favor. I had written these characters pretty well and felt I knew them. By getting into their heads, I figured out what they would do. The solution opened the door to a ton of additional conflict, which would keep the story moving. I was happy…my editor was happy…and, judging by the responses I’ve received directly and those left on review sites, the readers are happy.

Plot-driven vs. character-driven? I guess I believe in a little of both. Have a plot, but let the characters’ personalities propel it forward and get from point A to B and so on. Once you have a fully defined story, it’s easy to focus on one scene at a time until you have an entire book.

Because the clock is ticking.

Bettye Griffin

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Bettye Griffin began indie publishing in 2009. Her latest eBook, Isn’t She Lovely?, was published in March 2012.

Upcoming Free Workshop: Character Cake (Character Development) Facilitator: Deatri King-Bey Date: May, 19 2012 Time: 4-5 p.m. Central Location: Become A Successful Author Website (link and password will be given the day before the event). Sign up for the newsletter to participate.

Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for? Become A Successful Author will be used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $9.99 (print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble