This is a discussion on "Amazon E-Books Vs. Nook Books" in the Publishing forum.
how's that been working out for you? are there any advantages with the select service beyond being able to set your price to 'free' once in a while? i mean, do you get any more visibility from it? i don't know much about it. have you found it's improved your amazon sales?Originally Posted by Steerpike
the logic i'm going with for now is to get my ass visible on every possible platform i can. so it's amazon, smashwords, and everywhere that smashwords sends me out to for me.
The way I see it, if you aren't on all platforms that are free for you to use, why? Even if it doesn't translate to more sales, 1) You aren't losing anything, it's free and 2) You must be more visible, right? (This is of course ignoring the paid for services. I don't understand the advantage yet.)
I know if I came across a ebook I really wanted, but wasn't able to because it wasn't offered for the reader I had... well I'd be pretty pissed. I'd wonder why for a start. Then I'd probably ignore that author's work for the eformat.
So from this I deduce that being on Smashwords is probably a pretty decent method. Though conversely signing up for each service therein individually would work just as well.
Purely because I'm interested in other points of view Steerpike; Was your decision to quit smashwords solely because of insignificant sales, or was it prompted by something else? I've heard some don't like the stats system, or x number of other things about it. Just curious is all.
I also use Amazon and Smashwords. I have contemplated going directly through Kobo or B&N's self-pub service a couple times, but in the end that would probably take up a lot more time. I've been generally satisfied with Smashwords and they aggressively seek out new markets to distribute to, so I'm happy to stick with them.
If there comes a day when they finally cut a deal to distribute to Amazon, I might even entertain the possibility of pubbing through Smashwords alone - though I'd have to see what the market looks like at that point before I decide.
For myself and the other authors with my publisher, Kindle is the venue where the majority of ebook sales are made. Nook, iTunes, Kobo, and Smashwords all added together don't = the Kindle sales.
I must be in the minority. I won't buy an ebook from Amazon. All of my purchases are through Nook solely.
Your logic is the same as mine was. In practice, I'm not sure how effective it was. After switching to Amazon Select my sales did go up, as did my royalties. That's a correlation, and I can't say for sure the switch caused it. There has been a slow climb in sales since then. Just last night I received my largest royalty disbursement yet - a whopping $71
"With age came wisdom. Sometimes wisdom came with an ass kicking, too. And nothing could kick ass like the whole world." -The character "Horn" ruminating on his circumstances. The Decaying Mansions of Memory, by Jay Lake.
You, too, can get a copy of Lorelei and the Lost and Found Monster from Amazon.com.
Remember that the Ipad isn't built specifically for reading e-books, where the Kindle, Nook, and Kobo are. So even though there may be tons of Ipads out there it doesn't mean that people are buying a bunch of e-books on there.
Likewise I buy almost everything thru iBooks. However, for titles that iBooks doesn't have I will use kindle. In that regard, we are both in the minority.
“Maybe the hardest thing in writing is simply to tell the truth about things as we see them.”
― John Steinbeck
JC : my decision was based on lack of sales. I thought about exposure, but while it sounded good in theory, sales seemed to indicate that I wasn't getting much of it through b&n, smashwords, &c.
"With age came wisdom. Sometimes wisdom came with an ass kicking, too. And nothing could kick ass like the whole world." -The character "Horn" ruminating on his circumstances. The Decaying Mansions of Memory, by Jay Lake.
You, too, can get a copy of Lorelei and the Lost and Found Monster from Amazon.com.
Since I didn't know this, I'm sharing it with you guys. Microsoft has thrown their weight with the Nook. They've invested over $1.7 billion in the Nook division, also offering patents and such. You can find the story here
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