Request for feedback

[JJ Alleson]

Hi everyone,

I wonder if you could help me out with some feed back for our new epublishing website. I see what you have done for ballyc27's leisureebooks website and the very helpful comments that were posted.

We launched our website www.ivanovella.com a month ago and have been surprised by its modest success. Two of us are writers and have partnered with a web designer. Our hope is to bring together good writers, and readers, and make the buying and selling process as easy as possible for both.

Some of the features we have already included free sign up for authors and readers; a book tokens system; authors can give a preview of the first three pages of their book; a rating system for buyers with comments; ability to upload in multiple formats; featured listings and banner ads: authors' forums, and a section for helpful articles on areas of writing. Everyone is welcome to contribute to this.

We'd really like to build something that is useful for authors and readers have tried to keep to a modest commission. Opinions on this are also appreciated.

We look forward to your comments and criticisms and thank Mobile Reads for this opportunity in getting your help.


Regards,
Jay

[mr ploppy]

£1 seems a lot to rake off for a site that doesn't have many titles available (and therefore won't attract many readers). What do you do that Smashwords don't do? It says "Once your book has been accepted" does that mean you vet titles before including them to weed out all the amateur crap? That would be something I would see as worth the commision if you built up a reputation of only accepting quality titles among readers.

[JJ Alleson]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

£1 seems a lot to rake off for a site that doesn't have many titles available (and therefore won't attract many readers). What do you do that Smashwords don't do? It says "Once your book has been accepted" does that mean you vet titles before including them to weed out all the amateur crap? That would be something I would see as worth the commision if you built up a reputation of only accepting quality titles among readers.

Mr P, many thanks for your comment. Much appreciated.

We're actually at the beginning stage of building membership and subsequently titles, hence our request for feedback. The commission price and the number of books aren't correlative: authors pay nothing unless they sell. And we're certainly not trying to compete with the Smashwords meatgrinder: what we offer is a pain-free method of uploading your work in different formats.

Ultimately, we follow the general wisdom that writers should spread their work around as many platforms as possible (of which IvaNovella would be one!) and we encourage our members to do the same.

Our aim is to attract good quality aspiring writers. I had a look at your blog and would hardly call the writing there amateur crap! We're simply looking at what writers and readers say they want and trying to fulfil this need. Some of these - as mentioned in my original post - include forums where authors can promote their own work, have banners, and show previews of their work.

Writers can also contribute articles with a linkback to their book.

Obviously, we can't offer the elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, or a winning lottery ticket, although we'll try for other alternatives! We have a few things in the pipeline that we're currently working on, so it really does help to get feedback at the development stage. Thanks again for being the first to pitch in.

Jay

[JJ Alleson]

Mr Ploppy,

I forgot to add that our terms of use make it clear that we vet submissions on a discretionary basis.

However I'm sure you realise that the term 'amateur crap' tends to be a highly subjective one. Likewise 'professional crap'...

Jay

[susan_cassidy]

The first 3 pages isn't a large enough sample. Books on other sites have much longer samples available.

[emellaich]

Seems to me that you have two issues. 1) What is your purpose? Their are lots of choices and there needs to be a reason to visit you. 2) How do you reach critical mass?

Here is what I would try. Establish yourselves as experts on a Genre (to start with, you can expand to other Genre's later). Actively go out and find good books in that genre. Build an inventory of books that are good -- you can publish a discard tally just to show you have gone through the drek for us, but their is no need to cloud the picture with junk. Build a reputation as a good place to go if you are looking for a good book in the Genre.

In order to get started, set yourself up as an affiliate. Your book listings can be a combination of books you 'publish' and those that are on Amazon and other affiliate sites. When you add an author as an affiliate link you can visit their website and offer to carry their book directly to offer them a better margin on sells through your site. As you prove your volumes by actual affiliate sells, you can revisit the author to show them how much more they can make if they go direct.

It lets you start small but have real content.

[JJ Alleson]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

The first 3 pages isn't a large enough sample. Books on other sites have much longer samples available.

Hi Susan,

Thanks for replying. We're aware of this and did consider it. Although some sites may offer more sample pages, our own feedback from readers suggests that they don't go much beyond a page or two before deciding whether or not to buy. 3-5 pages overall appears to be the maximum. It also seems to help set the bar for writers to create a well written story, with an attention grabbing opening.

However we won't rule out this very useful point when we've reviewed all the comments received.

Out of interest, how far do you read into the samples you look at? Thanks again.

Jay

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by emellaich

Here is what I would try. Establish yourselves as experts on a Genre (to start with, you can expand to other Genre's later). Actively go out and find good books in that genre. Build an inventory of books that are good -- you can publish a discard tally just to show you have gone through the drek for us, but their is no need to cloud the picture with junk. Build a reputation as a good place to go if you are looking for a good book in the Genre.

As well as that, I would also make it all free for now, just to build up a better inventory and attract more readers. You can always start charging once you've built up a decent number of buyers, but I still think 50% of the average indie list price is a bit steep at this stage, when the big players in this game are only charging 30%.

If you can build the reputation for quality ebooks, then sellers will be able to charge a premium to cover your fees. But until then, I think most people will just take their chances with Smashwords or Amazon, etc.

[JJ Alleson]

@Emellaich,

You've raised some interesting issues, particularly in your second paragraph, which we've been discussing. One of our concerns would be moving to a specialist genre and back to a multi-genre later on, possibly finding ourselves almost at a pre-launch position in the market. But we like a lot of what you say and it's certainly going to have some impact on how we develop our brand.

@Mr Ploppy,

You're connected to some of the things we initially considered (and are still looking at) on pricing. We're aware that the writing community has been shackled to the 99c/free price tag by market forces but we're seeking a compromise that will encourage good writers while attracting readers to purchase. Nevertheless, we wouldn't rule out the option for allowing writers to showcase some of their work for free.

You've both given us some food for thought and some excellent pointers, which we'll be having a thorough look at.

Jay

[JJ Alleson]

Hi Emellaich and Mr. Ploppy

Just an update to my last post.

We've had an indepth discussion about both your suggestions and have incorporated a couple of these.

We've now suspended our commission fee for the foreseeable future.

Writers can now sign up for free, and sell for free.

As Amazon affiliates we're also featuring more new writers from Amazon, and will also approach the indvidual writers to see if they would like to showcase with us.

As a thank you, we would like to feature both your books on Ivanovella. If you let us have a link here we'll be happy to put them on the site for you.

Regards,
Jay

[Connallmac]

Originally Posted by JJ Alleson

Hi Susan,

Thanks for replying. We're aware of this and did consider it. Although some sites may offer more sample pages, our own feedback from readers suggests that they don't go much beyond a page or two before deciding whether or not to buy. 3-5 pages overall appears to be the maximum. It also seems to help set the bar for writers to create a well written story, with an attention grabbing opening.

However we won't rule out this very useful point when we've reviewed all the comments received.

Out of interest, how far do you read into the samples you look at? Thanks again.

Jay

When I download a sample from Amazon that only contains three to five pages I delete it and forget about that title. I want to see at least 20% of the book when I'm sampling, unless you're just a great author that draws me right in.

[JJ Alleson]

Originally Posted by Connallmac

When I download a sample from Amazon that only contains three to five pages I delete it and forget about that title. I want to see at least 20% of the book when I'm sampling, unless you're just a great author that draws me right in.

Hi Connallmac,

Thanks for sharing your views. Obviously we're not Amazon, but we understand the conditioning that works so well and which leads readers to expect 20% and upwards as a sample of a writer's work.

In some cases - for example, a short story - 3-5 pages may well be 20% of the work. And we certainly wouldn't discriminate against authors that can draw you in by the first page!

We've found that very few readers read the whole chapter of a paper book before deciding on a purchase. In fact, most say they tend to be either losing interest or gaining it by the first couple of pages. This view also holds out in the practices of many traditional publishers when sorting through their slush pile. Although eBooks may be different, it looks like this issue is somewhat like pricing; with widely varying opinions.

We're currently working on enabling writers to showcase some of their books for free on ivanovella. Hopefully this will complement those books that have a preview, by helping readers to decide whether or not to buy.

Many thanks again for your feedback.
Jay

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by JJ Alleson

As a thank you, we would like to feature both your books on Ivanovella. If you let us have a link here we'll be happy to put them on the site for you.

Regards,
Jay

I have three at the moment, Sniffing Glue and Other Tales from the Underclass, The Meat Wagon, and Punk Faction. I can't paste a link here due to forum rules, but you can find them by searching Amazon for Marcus Blakeston or following the links on my blog.

As for samples, 3 pages is enough to tell whether the writer can string a coherent sentence together, but not usually enough to get much of an idea of where the story is heading. What would be ideal would be to let the writer decide precisely where the preview ends. Nobody else does that, at least not without a lot of padding and experimentation. And there's nothing worse than having a sample cut off just before a good bit

[Justin Nemo]

Speaking as someone who has used this website, I would like to throw my hat into the ring.

The pluses for me were the ease of use and navigation, getting your book uploaded was really easy and the Author's control panel, which you can't see from the front end was very comprehensive, with sales stats and other stuff you would expect. Also communication with the admin was quick and friendly, although this may change as they grow.

The down side was the commission, which others have commented on, which didn't correlate with others in the market, and the fact that the site is new and therefore doesn't have much traffic yet and therefore can't generate many sales. Having said that, I am all for variety and don't like to put all of my eggs in one basket and so would like to see many more sites like this. Now that there is no commission, I think this site is a viable option.

[JJ Alleson]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I have three at the moment, Sniffing Glue and Other Tales from the Underclass, The Meat Wagon, and Punk Faction. I can't paste a link here due to forum rules, but you can find them by searching Amazon for Marcus Blakeston or following the links on my blog.

As for samples, 3 pages is enough to tell whether the writer can string a coherent sentence together, but not usually enough to get much of an idea of where the story is heading. What would be ideal would be to let the writer decide precisely where the preview ends. Nobody else does that, at least not without a lot of padding and experimentation. And there's nothing worse than having a sample cut off just before a good bit

Thanks Mr Ploppy, we've added a link to The Meat Wagon on IvaNovella.

As you say letting writers individually decide where their preview ends would be unfeasble in terms of resources and planning. We feel we're offering quite few features at the moment. We encourage writers to use synopses to give the reader an overview of the story. They can also discuss their books in the author's forum. As for having a sample cut off just before a good bit - I believe some writers might have their own reasons for doing this !

Cheers!
Jay