|
Indie sales have slowed as compared to five years ago. KU, libraries, poor quality of some books, FREE books by the boatloat, and less advantageous placement on Amazon/visibility are the big reasons.
I base this on my own sales/momentum and also on authors I work with (I do editing on the side and some cover work now). I've also seen the difference in sales/momentum via my blog which is an affiliate at Kobo and Amazon (used to be B&N, but they no longer offer affiliate payment on Ebooks).
I actually have seen a pickup in affiliate book sales in the last 3 months. Some of that is Christmas/gift cards. But as I said in the earlier post, I'm seeing a much larger reluctance to accept the new pricing from the big six. As of the first of the year (or possibly earlier but that's about when I noticed) any best selling author is priced at 10 and UP. 14.99 is not unusual. What that appears to have done is cause readers to search out 2.99 books and below. Anything under 5 still sells some copies. Anything over? Nada. Even boxed sets over 5 are having a hard time of it.
Kobo sales have slacked off too, in part because they offer fewer coupons. Their pricing is often slightly more expensive that Amazon's pricing but with a coupon, they are generally below Amazon (I know this more from being a shopper there than an affiliate). I don't advertise full priced books on Kobo very often...maybe never? So I can't say how or if sales of the big six have slacked off there. Kobo does run daily deals on some big name authors and those get clicks. Results vary as far as sales with Scottland Yard mysteries and British mysteries doing the best.
|