INDIES HAVE HIT A BRICK WALL

 

The gravy train of exponential sales growth is over.

Indies have hit a brick wall 

and are scrambling to make sense of it.  

It's rather simple really: there are too many of us.

And too many of us turn out shoddy product.


If I see one more bare chest on a cover, I think I will start baying at the moon.

Sales at Amazon dropped significantly since last July after Amazon launched their ebook subscription service, Kindle Unlimited.

 For $9.99 per month, 

Kindle Unlimited offers readers unlimited access to over 700,000 books -- 

most of which are supplied by indie authors.

Amazon's power reader customers now have 700,000 fewer reasons to purchase individual books.

Many authors are considering quitting. 

 Sad to hear.  Living in Hurricane Country, I know that sometimes you just have to ride out the storm.

You have to consider the enormous ocean of high-quality, low cost eBooks out there.  

We are getting lost in numbers.

How many people are reading anymore anyway? 

For every 161 people who landed on this page, about 61 of you—38 percent—are already gone. 

This is a new world of Netflix and Hulu and Amazon Instant Video.

But kids don't read anymore because their parents don't read anymore.

Once eReaders were all the rage.  Now they are old hat.  

Most authors cannot break out of the Author Blog ghetto of readers to the larger world of non-author readers.

More and more, we are singing to the choir.

 

1.) You have to take THE LONG VIEW

Six years ago, authors were on the ground floor of an explosion waiting to happen.  Now, it has.

You have to keep producing product, while establishing a platform that entertains and enlarges your audience.


2.) GOOD IS BAD

Just being "good enough" is bad.

You have to stand-out.  Go for extremes.  Shoot for the moon.  Make yourself laugh, cry, and thrill as you write.

"OH, MAN" books makes disciples of your readers who go out and pull in other new readers.


3.) DON'T BOX YOURSELF IN

I know it is tempting to box yourself in with other writers to ensnare new readers.  

But if you are in a box of seven authors, you may end up a book never read.

4.) PIONEER

 

Go down avenues you never considered before.  

ACX still makes it easy to do audiobooks.  

They are a market that has potential for growth.  

Make an audiobook and see what happens.

 

5.) NEVER QUIT

That is the SURE WAY to ensure failure.


6.) ENJOY THE JOURNEY

 

No one is promised a Lotto Win.  

But each day of working towards your dream is made better by laughing with your fellow travelers.