50 questions for indie authors to ask
I’ve reached the point as an independent author where I recognize how much I don’t know about my profession as a business. And dearly I wish I did know.
So here, I’m posing 50 questions that ought to matter to all of us indie authors. Many refer to basic bits of information that should be key to any of our efforts to develop business plans, budgets, and marketing plans, just as is required of any other business.
After all, indie authors’ biggest challenges ain’t about the writing. Am I right?
I’ve done some research. I’ve done some asking around. I’ve attended the occasional writers’ conference. I’ve at least kept an eye out for articles, newsletters, blogs, books, resources, consultants, academic experts, conference speakers, panels, vendor’s tables, etc., that might have at least some of the answers.
I would be willing to pay money for crediblsome answers.e info from trustworthy sources. I think almost all indie authors would.
But so far, I’ve found a scant few credible sources out there, such as PublishersMarketplace. I must assume there are many I have yet to find, which is my whole point of this post. So far, mostly, I found a lot of bullshit, for free and for sale: dubious information from dubious sources in what, unfortunately, can look like a dubious business.
Yet I am not deterred. I am just turning my research to a different direction: crowd-sourcing. I’m asking you. Who knows the answers to these questions? If you do, and you want to share, I’ll follow up sharing everything I get in future posts here, and on social media, and cite you if you like. Help me find and share the credible sources. I’ll share them here. (Please: no “every book is different” or “every author is different” nonsense. We know that. But that’s the kind of worthless noninformation that can lead indie authors in wrong directions, into scams.
Here: 50 questions every indie author should ask:
1. What is the consensus assessment of the market for books from indie authors?
We hear anecdotes about this best-seller that started out self-published, or that one that started out at a small indie press. I can’t find any data on this, though. For every success story, there are… what? Ten of us who should expect failure? 100 of us? A thousand of us? 10 thousand? More? Fewer? Or is it like any other version of the American Dream: that just about any hard-working, reasonably-talented and trained person with a good idea ought to be able to succeed?
2. Roughly how many new books are published in America each year? 10,000? 100,000? 1 million? More? Fewer?
3. Can we break that down to fiction and nonfiction? 25-75? 50-50? 75-25? More fiction? Less?
4. Can that be broken down to various genres?
5. About what portion of all new books are published by indie authors in America each year, compared with agent-represented authors? 10 percent? A quarter? Half? More? Less?
6. About what portion of indie author books are self-published in America each year? A quarter? Half? Three quarters? More? Less?
7. Do a significant number of established publishers, agents, and other pros in the biz believe that many indie authors might be just as good as many of the authors with agents and big publishing house contracts, but that the indies are just undiscovered? Or do most of them see the vast majority of us as talentless hacks, annoying bothers, maybe even the butts of jokes at cocktail parties and happy-hour gatherings?
8. How many indie author books are published by indie or small publishing houses in America each year? 10,000? 100,000? More? Fewer?
9. How many indie author books are published by establishment, medium-sized publishing houses in America each year?
10. How many indie author books are published by “Big 5” publishing houses each year?
11. For an indie author, what’s a typical number of copies of books sold in the first year? 50? 100? 1,000? 3,000? More? Fewer?
12. We’ve seen reports that even Big 5 publishing houses have books that sell only in double figures. Is this true? Must these reports be put in context?
13. Roughly what percentage of published new books in America sell fewer than 100 copies? What percentage sell 100 to 999 copies? 1,000 to 9,999? 10,000 or more?
14. Roughly what percentage of new books sell so poorly that authors who cover many of the expenses should expect to lose thousands of dollars out of their own pockets? 20 percent? 40 percent? 60 percent? More? Less?
15. Roughly what percentage of new books sell enough that royalties cover all author expenses (including any previously covered by advances,) so that the authors actually make at least the first $1 in genuine profits? 25 percent? 50 percent? 75 percent? More? Less?
16. Roughly what percentage of books sell enough that the authors can expect helpful income supplements, what kids today call good side hustles? 20 percent? 40 percent? 60 percent? More? Less?
17. What percentage of books sell enough that the authors can make even paltry livings—but livings nonetheless? 10 percent? 25 percent? 50 percent? More? Less?
18. What percentage of books sell enough that the authors can make nice livings, clearly justifying their choices of writing careers? 5 percent? 10 percent? 20 percent? More? Less?
19. Roughly what percentage of books sell well enough that the authors live quite well, a lake house, a luxury car, months in Europe, maybe even get rich with the right moves? 1 percent? 2 percent? 5 percent? More? Less?
20. What should we consider as standards for a small-house or indie publisher?
Obviously old, established publishers with respected author stables. AAP or IBPA memberships. Pledges to ethics. Writers Market listing. Not written up with warnings in places like WritersNet. What should we watch out for?
(I’m not even talking about vanity presses. Of course, money should not flow from author to publisher for publishing. But it’s often more complicated than that, isn’t it?)
21. What should flow, in each direction between an author and publisher?
22. What services should be expected from small-house publishers?
In-house editing? Cover design? Text design? Formatting? Printing? Kindle/Amazon placement? Amazon page write-ups and design? Barnes & Noble? National distribution networks? International? Author copies? Book launch promotions? Publicity? Trailers? Advertising graphics and design? Advertising placement? Social media strategies? Pricing strategies? Discount sales? NetGalley placement? Audiobook production? Pursuit of reviewers, book contests? Placement in book stores? Author event plans? Scheduling? Advances? Others?
23. How much marketing, promotion and advertising should an author expect from a publisher, and what participation expectations should the publisher hold of the author?
24. How much of a social media platform must an indie author bring to the table with a finished manuscript? Nice plus, but not mandatory? Thousands of followers? Tens of thousands of followers? More?
25. How much of a blog or podcast platform must an indie author bring to the table with a finished manuscript? Nice plus, but not mandatory? Hundreds of readers? Thousands of readers? More?
26. How much of a newsletter following must an indie author bring to the table with a finished manuscript? Nice plus, but not mandatory? Hundreds of subscribers? Thousands of subscribers? More?
27. What percentage of books are published with advances from publishers? 10 percent? 25 percent? 50 percent? More? Less?
28. What’s a typical range for advances for indie books? $1,000-$5,000? $5,000-10,000? $10,000-20,000? More? Less?
29. What advertising, promotion, publicity, and marketing should indie authors expect to pay for in lieu of publishers doing it, or in addition to what publishers do? Nothing? $1,000? $5,000? $10,000? More?
30. Who should be responsible for designing advertising graphics and writing messaging?
31. Who should be responsible for writing and updating Amazon, B&N, and other pages about the book?
32. If the publisher is not going to direct an adequate book marketing campaign (or any,) then where might the indie author turn to find help to figure out how to do so independently?
There are plenty of book marketing consultants out there. What standards might an indie author review to determine which ones are good and which ones are scammers?
33. What should indie authors do to get their books into local chain and indie book stores and libraries, and what help should authors expect from publishers and distributors?
Used to be, any decent newspaper or magazine had at least one book reviewer, and many magazines and other mass media also employed someone to do that. Now, no. And the internet isn’t crawling with many free, respectable, powerful reviewers either. But there are plenty of reviewers that’ll review a book for a price. Some of them, even popular ones, are really expensive. That creates both ethical and financial dilemmas for indie authors.
34. How valuable are pay-to-play book reviews? Which ones? Or any? Do authors really fool anyone with store-bought praise from reviewers whom most readers have never heard of and whom most publishers and agents probably know all too well?
Same thing with book award contests. There are so many book award contests. They all have entry fees, varying from modest to ridiculous. “Award winning” looks great on a cover and in promotions. But do we really believe an award from some obscure organization is worth the entry fee?
35. Are most award contests worth paying money to enter? Which ones? Or any? How can we tell genuine prestige from store-bought trophies?
36. Are agents or publishers impressed by such awards, or are we only hoping to fool a few potential readers?
37. What should go into an indie author’s budget plan?
Beta reading. Content editing. Copy editing. Proofread editing. Cover design. Text design. Formatting. Kindle/Amazon, B&N, and other online placements. Book launch promotion. Publicity. Marketing. Subscriber lists. Follower lists. Advertising. Reviews. Contests. Book signing/sales tables. Signage. Trinkets, bookmarks, biz cards to give away. Writers conferences. Tours.
The expenses of some of it might be picked up by agents or publishers, but how much should authors be prepared to pay for? 25 percent? 50 percent? 75 percent? More? Less?
38. How much money should an indie author reasonably budget from his own pocket to get a book out there? $1,000? $5,000? $15,000? $25,000 More? Less?
39. Is there any analysis of what impact marketing money can have on sales, based on a sliding scale of dollars?
Amazon, BookBub, GoodReads etc. ratings are helpful and encouraging, and supposedly drive more exposure. Same thing with social media mentions and even media mentions. But that’s not the same thing as actual sales.
40. Short of actual sales numbers (which can be hard to obtain) how do indie authors assess the effectiveness of any marketing and advertising expenditures?
41. Does having an agent make a difference, or only having a good agent?
42. How many literary agents are there in America?
43. About what percentage of active literary agents are open to queries for new clients? 10 percent? 33 percent? 66 percent? More? Less?
44. How many clients does the average literary agent have?
45. At what point should an indie author assume an agent has too many clients to give adequate attention?
I’ve seen authors claim to have queried hundreds of agents. I can’t find hundreds of agents, certainly not who fit what I think I need. Low dozens, maybe. After that, I have to start stretching my standards, or I have to start ignoring what the agents say they look for.
46. How many agents ought an indie author query before getting the message that no one wants to represent the book?
47. What standards should indie authors apply to agents, besides that they have pulses?
Obviously old, established agencies with respected author stables. AALA memberships. Pledges of AALA or other ethics. Writers Market listing. Not written up with warnings in places like WritersNet. Beyond that, what should we look out for?
We see many agents state that they consider new clients only through referrals or if they meet authors at writers’ conferences.
48. Is it worth it to beg friends or acquaintances who are authors who have or know agents to talk you up? Or is that the kind of referral that annoys agents enough to maybe hold it against you and your friends?
49. As for writers’ conference meetings, are agents talking about a semi-social encounter with an author, which leads to a mutually interesting conversation, which extends into the lobby or over a drink in the hotel lounge, then to an exchange of cards, and a follow-up on Monday? Or are they talking about pay-to-pitch events common at writers’ conferences?
50. And then there are those pay-to-pitch events. Do they really seek to match hungry writers with agents genuinely on the hunt for new clients—at least often enough to justify the authors’ investment of expenses for the conference and the pitch? Or is this more often a scam, wherein less-than-honorable agents pocket fees, with little expectation or even intention of actually meeting anyone they might ever want to sign as a client?
We, the indie authors of America, want to know. We need to know. It’s our job to know.
