Is Self-publishing a Salvation for Authors?

The case of Lithuanian printed bestseller in the digital environment

ARŪNAS GUDINAVIČIUS

VILNIUS UNIVERSITY

LITHUANIA

2nd International Conference on Publishing – trends and contexts 2014 Focus: Digital authors and electronic books8-9 December 2014 – Pula, Croatia

Self-publishing: not a new phenomenon

Ben Franklin (1706-1790) – the pioneer of self-publishing,

William Blake (1757-1827),

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849),

Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870),

Mark Twain (1835-1910),

Marcel Proust (1871-1922),

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936),

James Joyce (1882-1941),

Virginia Adeline Woolf (1882-1941),

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950),

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950)

and many others.

New wave of self-publishing

"My friends, we have the chance to become Big

Publishing's worst nightmare.“Stephen King, 2000

2007: the new era for self-publishers

In 2007 Amazon.com launched Kindle Direct Publishing

(https://kdp.amazon.com)

Research questions:

Do really author gets all income to himself?

Can author manage all possible risks of his

investments (time and money)?

What additional skills (besides the writing skills)

author must have to do publisher’s job?

What are small language author’s chances to

success with this self-published book in big market?

What are key factors for success?

The case study

Interview with the author combined with already published some facts on author’s blog was used.

The research conclusion makes assertions and suggestions for further research activity.

The limitation of this research comes from case study method: one selected case can offer no strong grounds for generality of findings.

Selecting the case

The case had to be considered typical.

The case had to be from small language market.

The author had to be known in that market.

The eBook must be self-published on large worldwide publishing platform.

Andrius Tapinas steampunk novel “Hour of the Wolf”

Published by largest Lithuanian publisher “Alma Littera” (in Lithuanian language)

Self-published by Andrius Tapinas (in English language)

Success of the print version The sales of printed and digital versions (both in Lithuanian)

started on 16th February, 2013.

No. 6 in adult fiction category of bestselling books in Pegasas bookstores chain (No. 1 between Lithuanian authors) in 2013

No. 6 (No. 2 between Lithuanian authors) in Vaga bookstores chain in 2013

Book of the Year 2013 Award in Lithuania (by readers; adult fiction)

Lithuanian Literature and Folklore Institute included Hour of the Wolf into his TOP-12 list of The Most Creative Books of 2013 in Lithuanian Literature

Patriots Prize (by Ministry of National Defence Republic of Lithuania and Lithuanian Publishers Association) for best book for young generation

Sales of Lithuanian version (November 2014 data): 14 000 (printed hardcover, 7th edition on sale, 12,5 EUR)

500 (digital, EPUB, 9,5 EUR)All data here and forward comes from A. Tapinas blog (http://www.tapinas.lt/knygos/) and from A. Gudinavičius interview with him.

Preparation for self-publishing on Amazon.com

Translation

Conversion

Right cover for eBook

Purchase an ISBN

Submit title information (18 items: keywords, category, etc.)

Decision on Digital Rights Management preference

Uploading and previewing eBook content

Confirming publishing rights and selecting the territories

Selecting royalty option (35% or 70%) and setting eBook price

Create Amazon Author Page

US Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) or EIN

“1 per cent of all self-publishing work are done”, A. Tapinas

Done? Or buried under 3.4 million eBooks?

On September 3rd 2013 was introduced English language digital version Kindle Edition of Hour of the Wolf (Steam and Stone Saga 1) on Amazon.

The price for US citizens was set to $3.99 and $7.25 for non-US.

In Europe Amazon version the price is 2,99 EUR.

Author’s royalty is 70%.

Lithuanian digital version costs 9,5 EUR.

“One new title every five minutes an Amazon”, Claude Nougat, writer, economist, painter and poet (August 2014)

Pushing eBook forward

Social networks (Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, LibraryThing, Shelfari, BookDaily, Wattpad)

Reviews social network followers

StoryCartel system

Advertising campaigns (BookBub, Book Blast, Frugal Reader, Digital Ink Today, Kindle Fire Department, Free-booksy, YouTube)

Kindle Direct Publishing Select program

Amazon 99 cents (USD) campaign

Results: No. 23000 in Kindle chart and No. 22 in Steampunk category

Results after 14 months2 first months with very intensive company, 12 following months without any special marketing

In total about 500 copies sold (price 3,99-7,25 USD)

Last months sales in average of 5-10 ebooks per month

“Better spend more time on writing books then on marketing”, A. Tapinas

Conclusions (with A. Tapinas)or some key factors for self-publishing success

Yes, in some cases, the author can get up to 70-80 % to him, but in exchange author need to spend a lot of hours in keeping his readers engaged,

you have to do marketing constantly, without loosening your efforts and do not expect fast results (snowball effect)

author need to organize (or do it by himself) translations, editing, converting, design a cover, get ISBN, deal with taxes, create accounts on many social networks (and keep them active), take care about reviews, do advertising campaigns and have time for writing

the fact you are not Anglo-Saxon native do not helps author might be known in small market, but it not helps in big

market (the small fish in the big pond [Carolan & Evain, 2013])

you have to have more than one book on sale to keep sales up

try to find literature agent (or publisher?)

Is Self-publishing a Salvation for Authors? The case of Lithuanian printed bestseller in the digital environment

Thank you.

Arūnas Gudinavičius

VILNIUS UNIVERSITY

LITHUANIA

2nd International Conference on Publishing – trends and contexts 2014 Focus: Digital authors and electronic books8-9 December 2014 – Pula, Croatia