New Smashwords Survey Helps Authors Sell More eBooks

MONEY MONEY MONEY:
Facts & Figures for Financial Payoff
New 2013 Data
Presented May 2, 2013
Updated May 8, 2013 for Slideshare
Mark Coker
Founder, Smashwords
Twitter: @markcoker

The purpose of this study was to identify data-driven factors that might
impact the sales of an ebook. We present this as a public service to the
publishing community of authors, publishers and retailers.
This new presentation – utilizing all new data across an even broader
data sample – was presented at the RT Booklovers convention in
Kansas City on May 2, 2013.
The first installment of this presentation, based on data gathered
between 2011 and early 2012, was given at the Chicago RT Booklovers
convention on April 11, 2012. Click here for the original 2012 study.
For this Slideshare edition, I have enhanced the presentation with
additional slides and text to capture some of the information that was
conveyed verbally. This will give Slideshare viewers better context
through which to evaluate the findings.
Visit http://www.slideshare.net/smashwords/presentations to access a
wide variety of other presentations from Mark Coker, including the
original 2012 presentation.
Background on the Second
Annual SMASHWORDS MONEY
MONEY MONEY Presentation

Smashwords is the world’s largest independent distributor of ebooks
from self-published authors and small independent presses. Our
company makes it fast, free and easy for any writer or publisher,
anywhere in the world, to instantly publish an ebook. We distribute our
ebooks to ebook retailers including the Apple iBookstore, Barnes &
Noble, Sony, Kobo, the Diesel eBook Store, Amazon (only a small subset
of our titles go to Amazon), and public libraries. We also sell books in
our own ebook store at Smashwords.com. In the last five years, we’ve
helped over 60,000 authors and publishers around the world to create
and distribute over 200,000 ebooks.
For this study, we analyzed the sales behavior of approximately 120,000
Smashwords books between May 1, 2012 and March 31 2013. The data
drew upon over $12 million of sales aggregated across all Smashwords
distribution channels, making it perhaps the industry’s most
comprehensive view of how indie ebooks behave in the marketplace. It
lumps fiction and non-fiction together. The vast majority of
Smashwords sales are fiction.
Please note that we’re reporting data based on averages. Every book is
unique, so you book may deviate from the average.
About Smashwords and the
methodology for this study

Please share this presentation with your
fellow authors and publishers
A companion blog post with additional
analysis of the findings can be found at
http://blog.smashwords.com/2013/05/new-smash
When we work together to help our fellow
authors and publishers succeed, the rising
tide of best practices lifts all boats.

The Smashwords Backstory
(first slide of the original presentation, provides background
context for Smashwords and our source of data)

My wife Lesleyann is a former entertainment reporter for Soap
Opera Weekly Magazine, and is now an entertainment blogger for
Forbes.com and the Huffington Post. In 2005, we co-wrote
Boob Tube, a novel that explores the wild and wacky world of
daytime television.

Publishers Said “No”
• Despite representation from one of country’s
best literary agencies, every major NY
publisher said NO (TWICE!)
The stated reason: Previous soap-opera
themed novels had performed poorly in the
marketplace, so publishers were reluctant to
take a chance on us.

I evaluated our options
1. The rational option
 Accept that we were failed authors, give
up and cry [at the time, publishers
controlled the printing press and the
access to retail distribution. Without a
publisher, we truly were failed authors].
1. The irrational option
 Believe in ourselves
 Get mad
 Try to fix the problem

I contemplated the problem
 Publishers value books based on perceived commercial
potential
• I considered this a myopic measure of a book’s worth. A book’s
value to humanity cannot be measured in dollars alone, let alone
“perceived commercial merit.”
• Publishers can only “guess” what will sell. They really don’t know
until the book reaches readers.
• They reject thousands of talented writers each year. They view
the vast majority of writers as not good enough
• Publishers denying readers the rich diversity of talent locked in
the minds and fingertips of writers around the globe
 Publishers unable to take a risk on every author
• Millions of rejected authors were going unpublished and unread,
thereby denying current and future generations the richness and
diversity of writers’ talents.

I contemplated the solution
 I believe every writer has a right to publish. It’s a
matter of free speech. Not everyone agrees with me.
 Just because every writer has right, doesn’t mean it’s the
publisher’s responsibility to satisfy that right. What they
viewed as a problem and a limitation, I viewed as an
opportunity
 Could technology solve the problem?
 What if I could create an online publishing platform
that would allow me to take a risk on every author?
• Give every writer the freedom to e-publish, without
interference of a publishing gatekeeper
• Give the marketplace of readers the freedom to decide
what’s worth reading
• Make the solution free and easy so it’s accessible to all
writers

My Answer: Smashwords,
launched in 2008
• * FREE * eBook Publishing Platform
• Free ebook printing press
• Distribution to major ebook retailers and
libraries
• Free learning materials help writers
become professional publishers

0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Ebooks published at Smashwords
140
6,000
28,800
92,000
191,000
220,000
April 2013

How Smashwords Works
• UPLOAD
• Upload a Microsoft Word file or .epub
• Free conversion to 9 ebook formats (for Word .doc
files)
• Ready for immediate global sale online at
Smashwords store
• DISTRIBUTE
• Distribution to multiple major retailers such as the
Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony and Kobo
• GET PAID
• Author receives 85%+ of net = 60% list from major
retailers

Smashwords Distribution
Network
*limited

LET’S GET STARTED WITH THE SURVEY
RESULTS

Welcome to the Second Annual
Smashwords RT Booklovers MONEY
MONEY MONEY survey
(first released May 2, 2013)

Last year’s study has been
viewed over 75,000 times
• Access the prior study at Slideshare
http://www.slideshare.net/Smashwords/how-data-d

We’re in Search of Viral Catalysts

What’s a Viral Catalyst?
• A viral catalyst is anything that makes your
book more available, accessible, desirable
and enjoyable to readers
• Read the Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (it’s

We decided to pose some simple
questions to our data, in the hope
that the answers might reveal some
viral catalysts
? ? ?
Useful (and not-so-useful) discoveries
start with simple questions

? ? ?
We looked at 11 months of sales data for
over 120,000 titles, aggregated across the
Smashwords distribution network,
representing over $12 million in global
sales
Some findings are useful, some
inconclusive, and some were downright
silly (but fun)

Q:
Do authors who change prices
frequently sell more books?

Impact of Price Changes
• Indie ebook authors have the freedom
to change prices frequently, and some
do so with ADHD fervor
• Do frequent price changes sell more books?
• Conclusions not clear cut
• Price changes likely a proxy for author promotion
• Our bestselling authors, on average, changed prices only once
in the 11 month period, possibly an indication that frequent
changes provide little benefit
• Worst selling authors changed prices less, possibly a sign of
inattention to their books?

Impact of Price Changes
Vertical axis: # of price changes over 11 mo. period. Horizontal:
bestselling titles, both ranges and range bands. You don’t want to
be in the sales rank bands of 50,000+. They sell very little.

Q:
Which sells more books? A longer
book title, or a shorter book title?
(a new question in our survey this year)

Do shorter or longer book titles
impact book sales?
• We look at both character count and word
count for the title
• Conclusion: yes, there appears to be some
indication that shorter titles work better
• Possible reasons are unclear
• Do readers prefer shorter titles?
• Does a shorter title catch the eye more effectively?
• Are shorter titles easier for the reader to grok?
• Are some ebook retailing system unable to list full title
of long titles (answer: yes)

Do Shorter Book Titles Sell
Better? Let’s look at character
count

Let’s look at the number of words
in the title, the advantage is a
little more clear cut

Q:
Should my ebook description be short
or long?
(New question for this year’s survey)

Do shorter or longer ebook
descriptions impact sales?
• We look at word count of the book description
• Most retailers support up to 4,000 characters, which
equals ~ 500-600 words.
• Conclusion: inclusive
• Bestselling ebooks have descriptions, on average, ranging
from 150 to 180 words.
• Indication that worst-selling titles (sales bands of #50,000-
#51,000, and #100,000-#101,000) have lower word counts
• My recommendation: Rather than focusing on word count,
focus on making sure that the first sentence captivates
the reader’s attention and makes an honest and
compelling case for why this book is worth reading for
your target reader. Then make every sentence thereafter
do the same. Know your target. We read to experience
emotion, and this is true for fiction and non-fiction.

What’s the right word count for
an ebook product description?

Q:
If ebooks are immortal, how do sales
develop over time? Case studies
from Apple iBookstore

How Sales Develop: Single
Retailer, Single Title
• This set of daily sales data looks at individual titles at
the Apple iBookstore, which reaches 51 countries
• Key findings:
• Books develop differently over time
• Some books sell poorly at first, then breakout
• Breakouts can happen in different countries and not others
• Sales rise and fall, then rise and fall again, based on various
factors (randomness, luck, author promotions, new title releases,
retailer promos)
• Note that authors have control over many of these factors!
• Non-stop presence is important. Never unpublish, otherwise you
miss breakouts!
• Unlike print books, which quickly go out of print, ebooks are
immortal and can yield income for years

The immortal indie ebook keeps
on giving
• Axis at right shows daily unit sales at iBookstore. The
vertical black bar shows the sales for that particular day.
This title had been out over a year (chart doesn’t show
complete history). A new released by this author in
November caused this title to surge anew, followed by
subsequent breakouts as new readers discover this great
author. As shown, still selling over 50 copies a day on
average one year after publication.

The book that keeps giving
• Became immediate bestseller upon publication. Months
later, still selling about 100 copies a day. This book will
rise again with new releases by this author as new readers
discover her talent. For this author, the annuity of ongoing
sales will far surpass her great sales in the first few weeks
following publication. This book, like all indie ebooks, is
likely to yield income for the author and their heirs for
decades to come. Think long term.

Breakout, followed by breakout,
followed by strong daily sales
• Immediate wordwide bestseller. Then experienced
another spike in sales with free promo of a different
book and series by the same author. Not captured in
the data – experiencing another spike in May 2013 with
a new release.

New release sparks new
breakout for older book
• Full history prior to October not shown. This book has
been out nearly 18 months. Still performing well.
Spiked in October 2012 concurrent with the release of
a different unrelated book by this author. Still selling
around 50 copies a day.

Slow boil, breakout, slow boil,
breakout
• This title was selling relatively well (5-10 copies a day) then
benefited from press cover in a single national daily
newspaper (spike #1) then spiked again after a feature
placement in an Apple email promo (spike #2). After each
spike, sales settled at a higher level. Data from 2011-2012. I
included this chart in last year’s presentation.

Slow boil to breakout
• This is the chart for Ruth Ann Nordin (the only author for which I obtained
permission to reveal her identity) and her book, An Inconvenient Marriage. This
book had already been a bestseller at a much smaller retailer, Kobo ,12 months
before it suddenly broke out at Apple to become the #1 romance title in the
store. The Apple spike was prompted by a new title release, and price changes
including possibly a free promotion for a separate title on her list. More
discussion in my free Secrets ebook. I included this chart in last year’s
presentation too.

Case study: How a Cover
Redesign Sparked a Breakout and
Caught Apple’s Attention
• A book’s first impression is its cover
• A great cover draws the reader in by
making a promise
• A poor cover chases readers away,
creates unnecessary friction

Look what happened when this great author
updated the cover for this romance novel
from this to (next slide)…

The cover sparked a breakout at
Apple
Prior to the new cover, the book was selling 5-10 copies a day (not bad! above average for
all books), and was earning rave “Wow” reviews from readers. In retrospect, the old
cover wasn’t making a compelling case for readers to try the book. The new cover made
the right promise to readers, and kept that promise. The cover upgrade helped propel
R.L. Mathewson to the New York Times bestseller list a few weeks later.

Q:
What’s the ideal word count for
ebooks?

Do Readers Prefer Shorter or
Longer ebooks?
• The findings were again very conclusive:
Based on sales data, e-reading consumers
prefer longer books
• This finding runs counter to prevailing notion that
ebook readers prefer shorter books
• Long form reading is alive and well on e-reading
devices
• Word of caution: Always write your book to the
length your book demands. Don’t bloat or cut your
book to meet these average word count numbers.
On the other hand, you can forget the notion that
120,000 words is too long for a romance novel!

Do Readers Prefer Longer Books?
• This looks at sales rank bands from #1 to
#XXX.

Readers Prefer Longer Books
• When we zero in on narrower sales rank bands, the
impact is clear.

Q:
What’s the average word count for
the top 60 bestselling Smashwords
romance books?

A:
112,195 words
= average word count of top 60 Smashwords romance

How Many Indie Ebooks Sell
Well?
• Key findings:
• Sales distribution is a “power curve”
• Most books do not sell well (very important for authors to set
realistic expectations, and take long term view to platform
building)
• Sales distribution characterized by small minority of titles selling
extremely well, thousands of moderate sellers, and then a long
tail of poor sellers
• Authors should implement best practices (read the
Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success for ideas!) to drive their
performance to the left of the curve
• As books move to the left in sales rank, their actual sales
increase at an exponential rate, especially in top 1,000
• Because ebooks are immortal, authors should continue to iterate
their viral catalysts (cover, description, book content, etc.) until
they get the formula just right so they spawn reader word-of-
mouth can move up and to the left on the chart.

Sales Distribution Across
Smashwords Network
(½ of sales are to the right of #1,000)
At first glance, it looks like most authors sell nothing. The scale is thrown off
by a few amazing sellers. While it’s definitely a long tail market, many authors
enjoy satisfying sales. ½ of sales by revenue was to the right of #1,000. The
next slide takes a closer look at the top 500, and how the curve is shaped.

The Sales Curve for the Top 500
(normalized data)

Q:
What do words cost readers?

What do words cost?
• This question revealed some interesting
results
• There’s a lot of variation
• Similar to last year’s study, there’s evidence that
some authors are probably underpricing their books
• Note the two blips at the end of the chart, where
two books are charging around 1 cent for 100
words, whereas most other bestsellers are selling
around 300 words for penny. The authors are
Bella Andre (a 41k-word book for $3.99) and Mia
Dymond (a 35k-book for $2.99). This shows there
are exceptions to the rules. Just because the
“average” bestseller includes more words doesn’t
mean there’s not an opportunity for some great
books to be priced higher.

How many words can a reader
buy for a penny?

Q:
What are the most common price
points?

What are the most common price
points for indie authors?
• Key findings:
• Indies leveraging their pricing flexibility to
underprice traditional publishers
• Big competitive advantage for indies
• Indies satisfying reader desire for high-quality books at lower
prices
• $2.99 is most popular price point with indies
• $.99 remains popular, but shows a big relative drop
compared to our 2012 study which showed more
$.99 titles than $2.99.
• Indies have virtually abandoned the $9.99 price point
compared to our last study.

(Last year’s 2012 Study) How
Many Books are Priced at Each
Price Point?

(2013 study) Number of indie
titles in each price band

Q:
What price moves the most units?
(With the following slides, we explore the most important

FREE
• FREE moves ebooks!
• 91X more downloads on average for FREE compared
to priced titles
• We looked at 12 months of Smashwords download data
from the Apple iBookstore
• Powerful platform builder for authors
• Gives indie authors tremendous fan-building advantage over
traditionally publishing published authors
• Powerful sales catalyst for series or deep backlists
• Smashwords authors have yielded over 35 million free
downloads at Apple last 12 months (rapid fan-building!)

Smashwords, an authorized global aggregator for Apple, makes it fast
and simple to get your ebooks listed at the Apple iBookstore. Our
authors are yielding tremendous growth as Apple expands globally.

Q:
What impact does price have on unit
sales?

Impact of Price on Unit Sales
• This set of data examines how price impacts
unit sales
• 1.0 = normalized reference point. For
example, books priced in $3.00-$3.99 price
band, on average sell 4.3 times more units
than books priced $10.00+
• Key findings:
• Low prices tend to sell more units (not a surprise)
• $1.99 price point dramatically underperforms (surprise)
• Is $3.99 the new $2.99? I see untapped opportunity there,
where indies may be able to raise prices but not suffer
unit volume decline.

Q:
What prices earn the author the
greatest amount of money?

What Price Earns the Author the
Greatest Yield?
• We know low price generally yields more unit
sales, but what price yields the greatest profit
for the author?
• Key findings:
• $.99 to $1.99 underperforms. $1.99 a black hole.
• $2.99 to $6.99 sweet spot for max earnings
• $3.99 the new $2.99? Fewer titles to compete against at
$3.99, and authors appear to pay no penalty in terms of
unit sales volume (see prev. slide, “How Price Impacts
Units Sold.”)
• Some authors are underpricing

What Price Yields the Greatest
Author Earnings?

The Yield Graph explains why
traditional publishers are headed
for trouble
• As ebooks account for an ever-greater percentage of book
sales, it’s bad news for publishers, good news for indies
• Publishers can’t compete at these low prices without lowering
author payouts
• If publishers try to hold prices high, they’ll squander their authors’
fan-building potential
• The Yield Graph explains why self-published ebook authors will
out-perform traditionally published authors over the long term
• Lower prices move more units faster
• more unit sales = more readers = more fans = more super fans
= more word-of-mouth = faster brand-building for indies
• An indie author can price at $2.99 and earn about $2.00. A
traditionally published author would have to be priced over
$10.00 to earn the same amount. Implication: If the economic
allure of a publisher’s print distribution fades, it’ll become more
challenging for publishers to attract and retain the best
authors

Final Thoughts
• Data-driven publishing decisions are irrelevant without a great book
• Our study examined averages. Your results will likely vary because
your book is unique!
• Numbers provide hints at reader preferences
• Dangerous to make decisions on a single metric alone
• If your story demands 200,000 words, go for it!
• Last year’s study influenced the pricing decisions of thousands of
authors. If this study does the same, it may skew your results (i.e., if
everyone moves to the $3.99 price point).
• Your book is immortal
• Experiment and iterate until you get your viral catalysts just right.
Then iterate some more.
• Read the Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success for other viral
catalysts

Free Ebook Publishing Resources
• Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (best
practices of successful authors)
• Smashwords Book Marketing Guide (how to
market any book at no cost)
• Smashwords Style Guide (how to create,

Help Spread the Word about this
Survey and Indie Ebooks!
• I hope you found this presentation useful
• Please share it with your favorite friends on Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, message boards and with your writing
group members! Link to my blog post, where you’ll find
additional analysis of the survey findings -
http://blog.smashwords.com/2013/05/new-smashwords-survey-hel
• Blog about your favorite findings
• Start an online discussion and share your thoughts.
• Whether you’re a writer, a publisher or a
literary agent, we’d be honored to publish and
distribute your ebooks. Here’s how:
• Click here to learn how to publish and distribute wi
Reach more readers today!

Thank you!
Connect with Mark Coker:
Twitter: @markcoker
Facebook: facebook.com/markcoker
Web: www.smashwords.com
Blog: blog.smashwords.com (subscribe via
email)
Huffington Post:
huffingtonpost.com/mark-coker
My Smashwords page:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/mc

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