Joe Konrath on his recent sales figures.

[I. J. Parker]

I assume you may know this already.  Joe posted recently that he earned $ 100,000,00 during the past three weeks.  From his self-published books.

I kid you not.

 

He's been very good about sharing his sales figures for the past few years, so I don't doubt his good luck.  He's since explained that it's based on a lot of hard work.  I don't doubt that either.

 

But here's my problem: I don't write books that appeal to that many people. Still, his story is encouraging.  Check out his blog sometimes when you get depressed.

 

 

[Jude Hardin]

Thanks, I.J. If I had a bunch of good stories lying around, I would do the same thing. Not sure about making my own covers, though. Amateur-looking covers are a turnoff bigtime. I'm happy with the cover of UNBORN, my one self-published title right now, but it cost me a pretty penny and I haven't recouped the investment yet. Anyway, best of luck to you too!

[I. J. Parker]

Thanks.  As to covers, the current crop of mystery covers hasn't really worked for my books. And I've had too many completely unsuitable covers from the pros.

[Brian Hoffman]

I read Konrath's blog all the time.  I find it inspiring.  I've even read a few of Joe's books.  He's no Joseph Conrad, searching for the heart of darkness.  He isn't Raymond Chandler slumming his way through the mean streets of post-war L.A.  And he isn't Elmore Leonard scratching the scabs off the lives of dirty cops and sexy crooks like Chilly Palmer.  He isn't...well you get the idea.

His books are like written television shows.  That isn't a knock on Joe, I write the same way, I hope.  Rather I'm trying to say that Joe isn't a success because his books are ground-breaking.  I doubt that young women go to bed clutching their Kindles wishing he could spring full grown from the screen and save them from their mundane lives.

What Joe does do is market as good as anyone I've ever seen.  The rest of us don't.  But we could.

[I. J. Parker]

Well, if it's the marketing, then I don't altogether know what it is he does.  He does exploit every opportunity offered by Amazon.  He's also hooked up with other writers to co-author books, no doubt in order to speed things up and get the other guy's help in selling.  He says publicity has done nothing.  Take that with a grain of salt.

 

There is a rather peculiar thing going on in the media:  if you can start an avalanche, nothing will stop it.  He's reached that point.  And while I could theorize about his type of book appealing the greatest number of non-discriminating readers, that also doesn't explain all of it.

 

I don't write like television shows.  Maybe that explains why I'll never come close to Joe's sales.

[EDWARD C MORGAN]

What is publicity? I would suggest he has phenomenal publicity and it helps him tremendously. We talk about him quite frequently here. Has it led to a reader of Crimespace purchasing a Konrath book?

If all those interviews do him no good, why then does he waste his time on them? I'd argue that deep down, he sees some sort of value in it. The hardest thing about PR is it can be very difficult to measure in immediate, direct sales. That said, I can provide plenty of case histories showing where long-range PR does result in significant business growth.

Konrath's marketing machine started years ago, when he was a legacy print author. It demonstrates his recognition that legacy publishers are a business. To remain a part of that business you need to have increasing book sales. His aggressive conference attendance, his tour/meetings/signings/drop ins at bookstores, his direct marketing efforts to reach librarians all show a real understanding that he is in a business.

I do think his blog post "The Value of Publicity" shows a very limited view of just what constitutes publicity and using PR as part of a long-range plan.  The "few hundred sales" that don't mean "diddly" can be the start of something great. And it is a few hundred sales more than most self-published authors.

The value of Konrath is his ability to look forward in the industry and his willingness to try new things. He saw the value/increase in self-publishing and figured out how to drive and sustain sales. He started the blog early and built a strong audience - he didn't do it to sell books, which is key, but its gotta sell books.  He developed a strong understanding of how Amazon works and how to position his books ideally for sales.

He turned his fiction writing into a true business - and that started before he was a self-published author.

I read two or three of his Jack Daniels books. I also read his novel Afraid, which he wrote under the name Jack Kilborn and I enjoyed all. They weren't as well written as your books, Ingrid, but they were fun and gave me enjoyment for a couple of hours each.

That's what he's capitalizing on - mass appeal.

I don't agree with everything Konrath says. However, I have to acknowledge this - he's published and sold a lot of books and made a lot of money - both as self-published and with a legacy publisher. It's something I've not been able to do!

[I. J. Parker]

Oh, well, thanks, Clay, but I think writing well (and I don't really think I'm all that good) doesn't sell books.  Perhaps the opposite.  The same for picking a subject matter that most people haven't even heard of.

 

I do agree with you on everything but the promotion Joe did.  Mind you, he did a phenomenal job, far more than most people are prepared to do.  He worked for the publisher at the time but probably thought he worked for himself.  It may have done something for the publisher, but it did nothing for him.  In this business, you can't begin to count the handful of books you sell at each signing or appearance, not even if you multiply them as many times as Joe's efforts did.  He agrees with that.

Ultimately, what I think worked is name-recognition coupled with easy, entertaining stories, low prices, and a knowledge of Amazon. 

The latter still escapes me.  In particular the purpose of Kindle Boards, which condemn authors to a sort of outer hell that no one visits but other authors with their own agendas.  A massive waste of time.

[EDWARD C MORGAN]

Ingrid, as you well know, in any endeavor (writing, music, furniture making), we hold to the illusion that quality is enough, but we know that isn't always the case.

I have to disagree with your statement, "It may have done something for the publisher, but it did nothing for him." We don't know how much his efforts on the first three Jack Daniels books led to his contract on the second three. Also, nobody can tell me that the hard work he did then hasn't helped built an audience he's benefiting from now.

[I. J. Parker]

Ah.  It is possible that the publisher was feeling more inclined to offer the next three contracts because Joe worked so hard at it.  But I still think, his sales were the deciding factor.  All that work would have been wasted if the books hadn't sold adequately.  And in the end, they dropped him anyway . . . at least, his mysteries were canceled along with the imprint.  I haven't heard if they offered for his other titles.