1. Annual Smashwords Survey 2015
MONEY MONEY MONEY:
Facts & Figures for Financial Payoff
Slideshare Edition December 2015
Originally presented in Dallas
May 13, 2015
Mark Coker
Founder, Smashwords

2. Introduction to
Smashwords Survey 2015
For each of the last four years, Smashwords released the
annual Smashwords Survey at the RT Booklovers convention.
This survey is based on over $25 million of actual verified
retail ebook sales data aggregated across the Smashwords
Distribution network, and covers a 12 month time period
between April 2014 and March 2015.
This is the Slideshare edition of the data presented May 13,
2015 in Dallas.
This Slideshare edition, uploaded December 3, 2015, adds
minor supplemental textual analysis and updates to capture
some of the information conveyed verbally during the live
presentation. To maintain historical integrity, this includes all
the original data as it was presented May 15.
An appendix of indie author resources is added at the end

3. Welcome
• What you’ll learn
• Today we debut the annual Smashwords
Survey results
• New metrics to enable more informed writing,
publishing and promotion.
• Who this presentation is for
• All authors, publishers and book marketers
• No technical experience required!

4. The Smashwords Backstory

5. The Smashwords Backstory
• It was a fortuitous accident
• My background is tech marketing, and
founder of a couple Internet startups (UC
Berkeley Haas business school)
• About 12 years ago, along with my wife I co-
wrote Boob Tube, a novel about daytime soap
operas (my wife is a former reporter for Soap
Opera Weekly Magazine).
 Repped by top NY lit agency
• Book rejected by all NY publishers (twice)
• Previous soap opera-themed novels had performed
poorly, so pubs were reluctant to take a chance

6. My Epiphany
• Publishers unable, unwilling and
disinterested to take a risk on every
author
• Publishers…
• Judge books based on perceived commercial merit
• Guess what readers want to buy
• Throw spaghetti against the wall

7. The Three Essential Legs of the
Professional Publishing Stool
- 1 -
Printing
Press
- 3 -
Retail
Distribution
- 2 -
Best practices
knowledge

8. My solution: I founded
Smashwords to help all writers
• Launched 2008
• FREE eBook Publishing Platform
 Free ebook printing press (creation,
publication)
 Free best practices knowledge - to help
writers publish like professionals
 Distribution to major ebook retailers and
libraries

9. How Smashwords Works
1. UPLOAD
• Upload a Microsoft Word file, formatted to
our Smashwords Style Guide
• Ready for immediate sale online
1. DISTRIBUTE
• Distribution to major retailers
1. GET PAID
• Author receives 85% of net (60% list at
major retailers, up to 80% list at
Smashwords Store)

10. Smashwords Distribution Network
Upload once, reach multiple outlets
* Limited distribution to AMAZON, see http://smashwords.com/distribution for instructions

11. Ebooks published at Smashwords

12. LET’S GET STARTED

13. Welcome to the Fourth Annual
Smashwords Survey
2015!
An RT Booklovers Exclusive
MONEY MONEY MONEY

14. Last year’s study has been
viewed over 45,000 times
• Access the prior study at Slideshare
http://www.slideshare.net/Smashwords/2014-
smashwords-survey-how-to-sell-more-ebooks

15. GOAL:
Identify data-driven factors that can give
indie authors an incremental advantage in
the marketplace

16. Data was Aggregated and Analyzed Across
from …

17. ? ? ?
We asked questions of the data
We looked at 12 months of sales data (April
2014 – March 2015) for over 250,000 titles,
aggregated across the Smashwords
distribution network, representing over $25
million in global retail sales
Some findings are useful, some not. Some
of the data provides hints to the most

18. The Secret to Reaching Readers:
Best
Practices!

19. The Power
Curve and
Best Practices
The Power Curve describes a common phenomena where most sales of any
product are concentrated among a small subset of bestsellers (the left side of the
curve on the next page). For each incremental increase in sales rank, you can get
a significant increase in sales. Your opportunity is to leverage multiple best
practices for multiple small incremental advantages that can shift you to the left
of the power curve. This Survey seeks to identify some of these best practices.

20. The Power Curve – Sales at Each
Sales Rank
Best practices yield incremental
advantage in sales rank, exponential
advantage in sales
Sales rank
Sales

21. In Search of Best Practices

22. What’s a Best Practice?
• A best practice is anything that makes your book more
accessible, discoverable, desirable and enjoyable to readers.
A best practice acts as a viral catalyst to drive word of
mouth.
• Read the free Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success to
learn how viral catalysts spur word-of-mouth

23. Numbers are
Dangerous

25. Data can inform but it can also
muddle
• Averages are only averages
• Big variances in a small sample can skew
results
• Median = midpoint of numbers in a
range when arranged from lowest to
highest. Often a more “typical” result.
• Your book is unique. Data alone
cannot fully explain what separates
bestsellers from poor sellers
• Your results may vary from the norm

26. The Sales Rank Power Curve (a
few massive bestsellers can
skew data)

27. The Long Tail of Authordom

28. About the
Smashwords
Catalog
(source of these survey results)

29. Smashwords authors and
publishers come from 198
countries

30. Smashwords Catalog is Fiction-
Heavy
• 89% of sales are fiction
• Romance (incl YA romance) is
~50% of sales (45% excluding)
• Erotica is 11% of sales
• Non-fiction ~11% of sales

31. Fiction Dominates
Top Fiction Categories
1. Romance
2. Erotica
3. Young adult or
teen
4. Fantasy
5. Mystery &
detective
6. Gay & lesbian
fiction
7. Science fiction
8. Historical
9. Thriller &
suspense
10. Adventure
11. Horror
12. Literary

32. Top Non-Fiction Categories
1. Biography
2. Health, wellbeing, &
medicine
3. Business & Economics
4. Self-improvement
5. Religion and Spirituality
6. Relationships and Family
7. Sports & outdoor
recreation
8. Education and Study
Guides
9. New Age
10. Computers and Internet
11. Cooking, Food, Wine,
Spirits
12. Entertainment
13. History
14. Home and Garden
15. Sex and Relationships

33. Let’s dig in to
the survey

34. How different
categories
perform

35. Categories of Top 100 Bestselling
Smashwords Books

36. Top Smashwords Categories

37. Romance Dominates across
Smashwords network
• Romance accounts for
• 70% of top 10 bestsellers
• 87% of top 100 (up from 70% 2014)
• Smartest authors in the business
• Most organized
• Most professional
• Most sophisticated
• Most experimental

38. Let’s look at the top
romance categories

39. Top Romance Subcategories for
Top 100 Bestselling Romance
(2015)

40. Social Media
Impact on
Sales?

41. Bestselling Authors More Likely
to Have a Website
The bottom axis here and in other slides often groups authors or books into sales rank bands,
such as the top 1000 highest earning authors you see above.

42. Bestselling Authors More Likely
to be on Twitter

43. Bestselling Authors More Likely
to be on Facebook

44. Metadata
machinations

45. Book description word counts,
top 1,000 bestsellers
Is the word count of your book’s description a factor in sales? Probably not,
though it’s interesting that our top 50 bestsellers had shorter word counts.

46. Book description word counts,
top 10,000 bestsellers
From a high level, no visible correlation.

47. Do Shorter book titles sell better?
(top 1,000 bestsellers)
Indicates a slight advantage to having a shorter title. Makes sense. A shorter title requires less cognitive effort
to read and process.

48. Do shorter book titles sell better?
(top 10,000 bestsellers)
Indicates shorter titles may be a contributing factor. But bottom line, choose a
title that works for your unique book. Don’t shorten your title based on this
data alone.

49. Do Prices Changes Impact Sales?
Here, we’re wondering if frequent price changes (which may be a proxy for more active or more frequent proactive
promotions) are a factor in sales. This data sample looking at our top 1,000 bestsellers is inconclusive

50. Do Prices Changes Impact Sales?
But looking at a broader data set, we do see some correlation. However, correlation does not mean causation. My guess is
that for many better-selling authors, price changes are often part of special proactive promotions or ad buys.

51. Pricing

52. Q:
What price moves the most units?

53. DATA FROM SMASHWORDS SALES AT
iBooks

54. FREE
• FREE moves ebooks
• 41X more downloads on average compared to
priced titles (last 12 months)
• Was 39X in 2014 Smashwords Survey, but 100+ in years
past
• Data surprised me. I expected the impact of free to
decline, consistent with prior surveys. Instead, we
found that despite widespread adoption of free, it’s still
an incredibly powerful sales driver (at least at iBooks).
• Powerful platform builder
• Powerful sales catalyst for series or deep backlists

55. Which Price Points Get the Most
Downloads
Compared to prior SW Surveys, data is
remarkably consistent with prior surveys

56. Which Price Points Get the Most
Downloads (2014)

57. Common Price Points (2015)
Fun to see where indies and small presses are
pricing

58. Which Price Points Yield Highest
Earnings

59. Which Price Points Yield Highest
Earnings (2014)

60. Traditionally Published
Ebook Authors are
Disadvantaged
When we consider both the unit sales advantage and earnings
advantage of lower prices, we understand why indie ebook authors
have such a strong competitive advantage over traditionally
published ebook authors. At $3.99, indies earn about the same as
they would earn at $9.99+ prices, yet get 3-4 times the readership
which means they have platform-building incentive to price lower
yet still earn more or the same. Combine this with the fact that
indies earn royalties of 60-80% list on ebook sales while
traditionally published authors earn only 12-17% list and you
understand the economic and fan-building advantage of indie
ebook authorship.
Traditionally published ebook authors are suffering from high
prices and low royalties. As reading transitions to digital, the pull
of indie authorship will increase.

61. Average Word Count for Books in
Each Price Band

62. Does Length
Still Matter?

63. Analysis: Do longer books
sell better?
In prior Smashwords Surveys, we found strong evidence that longer books
sell better than shorter books.
In the 2015 Survey, we found the same thing, but this year there are some
important caveats to consider. Unlike prior years, during the survey period
which spanned April 2014-March 2015, we observed a dramatic increase in
the number of multi-author box sets. Many of these box sets were often
500,000 to one million words, yet the books were promotionally priced. I
expect this skewed the data in multiple directions.
For example, we can expect that a popular box set would skew the
earnings per word downward, while skewing the unit sales upwards. But
not all box sets are popular, and many box sets are only made available for
limited periods of time which means their impact could be underestimated
in the data. So it’s safe to assume box sets muddied the data.
Following the release of this data, Smashwords announced enhanced
categorization options for box sets, giving authors the ability to tag box
sets as box sets. In next year’s 2016 Survey, this will allow us to get a
better handle on some of the unique characteristics of box sets and pricing,
while also allowing us to exclude some box set data from the main data
set.

64. (2014 Survey) Longer Books Sold
Better

65. (2015) Word Count for Top 100
Bestsellers

66. (2015) Word Count for Top 1,000
Bestsellers

67. (2015) Word Count for Top 10,000

68. Q:
What’s the average word count for
the top 70 bestselling Smashwords
romance books?

69. 2015 Survey
A:
94,150 words
= average word count of top 70 Smashwords romance for

70. 2014 Survey
A:
96,197 words
= average word count of top 70 Smashwords romance for

71. 2012 Survey
A:
112,195 words
= average word count of top 60 Smashwords romance

72. Preorders

73. Smashwords Launched Preorder
Distribution July 2013
 Ebook Preorder distribution to iBooks,
Barnes & Noble and Kobo
 We promised a sales advantage
 NEW: Google “How to Reach Readers with Ebook
Preorders” for a primer on preorder strategy

74. Fun Facts: Preorders
 7 of top 10 bestsellers born as preorders (6 of 7 preorders
were romance)
 Only 9.8% of books published during period were born as
preorders (HUGE implications here)
 December 2015 update: We did an update on the 12 month data through
October 2015 and found the number has increased to 13% of titles born as
a preorder. Still a minority, but still accounting for majority of bestsellers
 On average, preorder books earned authors 10.6X what non-
preorder books earned (median earnings for preorder 3.5X
non-preorder books). See next page for important
supplemental caveats.
 Of top 200 bestsellers, 67% (134) were born as preorders
 Of top 200 preorders, 82% supplied by romance authors

75. As you see on the preceding slide, for our survey period we found that a very small
minority of titles accounted for a great majority of our bestsellers. We also found that
ebooks born as preorders earned over 10X more than books simply uploaded the day
of release. Looking at the median, which is less likely to be skewed by a few large
bestsellers, we found books born as preorders earned 3.5 times more.
Although I can say without equivocation that books born as preorders sell more than
books uploaded the day of release, I believe the numbers above OVERSTATE the
impact. Here’s why:
1. Bestselling authors typically implement a broader range of best practices, among
which are preorder releases and free series starters and other practices
recommended in my free ebook, The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success. We
especially see these factors with Romance authors, who are typically early adopters
and pioneers of new best practices.
2. Bestselling authors are more likely to receive special merchandising support by
Smashwords and Smashwords retailers.
3. Although all Smashwords authors received regular invites and encouragement to
utilize our preorder feature since 2013, our bestsellers received additional invites.
4. Throughout the Survey period, I personally managed an invitation-only beta test for
our new Assetless Preorder feature, which allowed longer preorder runways and more
merchandising support. Our bestsellers were most likely to receive these invitations.
This feature is now open to all authors. Yet still, prior bestsellers (which are typically
more progressive on the best practices front) are the primary users.
Do eBooks Born as Preorders
Really Sell 3-10 Times More?

76. Bestselling Authors Utilizing
Preorders at Much Higher Rate

77. Bestselling Authors Utilizing
Preorders at Much Higher Rate
than Poor Sellers

78. Series!!!

79. Smashwords Series Manager Tool
Gives New Insight about Series
Performance
 Launched September, 2013
 Enhanced discovery at retailers gives
Smashwords authors advantage
 Nearly 15,000 series at Smashwords
 We can now track series performance!

80. Do series writers gain an
advantage writing more than one
series?

81. Do series writers gain an
advantage writing more than one
series?
The highest earning series authors are more likely to
write more than one series. Not a surprise.

82. Series with Free Series Starters
Earn More
If you write series and haven’t tried a perma-free series
starter, you’re probably missing out on a lot of sales and
readers.

83. Series with Free Series Starters
Earn More

84. FREE Series Starters Lead to 66%
Boost in Series Sales

85. Summary
• Data-driven publishing decisions are
irrelevant without a great book
• Numbers provide hints at opportunities to
engage with more readers
• Dangerous to make decisions on a single metric
alone
• Your book is immortal
• Experiment and iterate until you get viral catalysts
just right. Then iterate some more.
• Read the Secrets to Ebook Publishing
Success for other viral catalysts

86. Free Ebook Publishing Resources
• NEW! 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 format and

87. Thank you for your time!
Connect:
Twitter: @markcoker
Facebook: facebook.com/markcoker
Web: www.smashwords.com
Blog: blog.smashwords.com (offers
free email subscription option)
HuffPo: huffingtonpost.com/mark-coker

88. Appendix:
Free resources about
ebook publishing in the
slides that follow …

89. Don’t Keep Knowledge a Secret!
For the last eight years I’ve shared the best practices knowledge
that helps writers publish with greater pride, professionalism and
success. I learn from our authors – I learn from you – and I share
it for everyone’s benefit. The secrets I teach are universal. The
knowledge – like Smashwords - is free and available to everyone.
One need not publish with Smashwords to benefit from this
information. I share this information because I believe a rising
tide lifts all boats. I want to help writers everywhere achieve
their dreams because dreams are important, and books are
important! Help your fellow writers learn to think and act like
professional publishers.
As you peruse my free resources, please do your fellow writers a
favor and share what you learn. Blog it, Facebook it, Tweet it and
share hyperlinks to it across social media.

90. Learn to Publish Like a Pro with
These FREE Best Practice Guides
• 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 format and publish an
ebook)

91. How to Publish Ebooks
• Earlier this year, I presented a four-module ebook publishing course
at the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference.
• View all the slides at http://bitly.com/howtopublishebooks or
http://blog.smashwords.com/2015/06/how-to-reach-more-readers-with-
ebook.html
• Modules include: 1. Introduction to Ebook Publishing. 2. Ebook
Publishing Best Practices. 3. Ebook Preorder Strategies. 4. iBooks
Merchandising Secrets.

92. Checklist for Publishing and
Distributing with Smashwords
1. Sign up for a free account at www.smashwords.com
The confirmation email will walk you through the next steps
2. Prepare your manuscript and cover image. The
Smashwords Style Guide will teach you how to
professionally format your book -
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52
3. If you want to hire a low-cost expert to format your
book or design your cover, check out Mark’s List at
http://smashwords.com/list
4. Upload your manuscript and cover to Smashwords for
distribution to major retailers.
5. Bonus points: Read the Smashwords FAQ to learn how
to get the most out of the Smashwords platform -
https://www.smashwords.com/about/supportfaq

93. Smashwords YouTube Tutorials
• View nearly 10 hours of Smashwords video workshops at
http://youtube.com/user/Smashwords
• Smashwords video series:
• #1: Introduction to ebook publishing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=khM4czIJUVM
• #2: Ebook publishing best practices: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Jnd7jYcjqm8
• #3: 2013 Smashwords Survey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=2rrl4NExo3Y
• #4: 10 Trends Driving the Future of Authorship:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbT7r-DUa6M
• #5: How to reach readers at iBooks, the #2 global ebook seller:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKwwcL_FS_c
• #6: How to add navigation to Smashwords ebooks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpB9hmlgeU4
• Check back for new videos in the future!

94. What does it mean to be an “indie
author”?
• Indie means self-published
• You are your own publisher
• Indie authorship is a worldwide cultural movement
• In April, 2014, I published the Indie Author Manifesto at
http://blog.smashwords.com/2014/04/indie-author-
manifesto.html which is my attempt to describe and
distill the ethos behind the indie author movement.
• The manifesto explores the mindset, attitudes and aspirations of
indie authors
• Contrary to some reactions, the manifesto is not “Anti-publisher”
• Instead, it provides a roadmap by which indie authors and
publishers can work toward mutually aligned interests
• Infographic on next slide…

95. The Indie Author Manifesto
• Read the story behind the manifesto (and download a high-res
poster) at http://blog.smashwords.com/2014/04/indie-author-
manifesto.html or Google “indie author manifesto”

96. 10 Reasons Indie Ebook Authors
will Capture 50% of the Ebook
Market by 2020
• In March 2014, I predicted indie ebook authors would capture
50% of the US ebook market by 2020
• Some have said my forecast is too conservative (they’re probably right)
• Read the post at http://blog.smashwords.com/2014/03/sizing-self-publishing-
market-10.html or Google “ebook market by 2020”
• Includes a downloadable spreadsheet so you can create and publish your
own forecast

97. View other Smashwords
Presentations on Slideshare
• View more Smashwords presentations on Slideshare at
http://slideshare.net/presentations/smashwords
• Here are some notable presentations
• How to Publish Ebooks (a collection a four-module training course mentioned on prior
slide): http://blog.smashwords.com/2015/07/how-to-publish-ebooks-ebook-
publishing.html
• Ebook Publishing in the Classroom (Includes a primer of ebook self-publishing and
also best practices): http://www.slideshare.net/Smashwords/ebook-publishing-in-the-
classroom
• How public libraries can launch community publishing initiatives:
http://www.slideshare.net/Smashwords/how-libraries-can-launch-community-
publishing-initiatives-with-selfpublished-ebooks-33409020
• 2014 Smashwords Survey - http://www.slideshare.net/Smashwords/2014-smashwords-
survey-how-to-sell-more-ebooks?
• 2013 Smashwords Survey - http://www.slideshare.net/Smashwords/new-smashwords-
survey-helps-authors-sell-more-ebooks
• 2012 Smashwords Survey - http://www.slideshare.net/Smashwords/how-data-driven-
decisionhow-datadriven-decisions-might-help-authors-reach-more-readers

98. Connect with Mark Coker
Twitter: @markcoker
Blog: blog.smashwords.com (subscribe via email
and never miss another post)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markcoker
Facebook: facebook.com/markcoker
Web: www.smashwords.com
HuffPost: huffingtonpost.com/mark-coker