Indie Author SnapShot: Concluding Remarks

As described when I began this series of posts, a single, one-day snapshot was extracted for Amazon rankings and other key parameters for a cross-section of 24 indie authors in the fantasy genre, spanning 259 books. This data was used to interrogate trends for various metrics - exploring which parameters might influence the sales potential for individual titles.

To recap some of the key conclusions from this exercise:

• Having more books in an author's portfolio was proven to be the most influential factor in the overall success of each new title.
• Releasing books in series similarly increased the through-read and sales potential for each book - above and beyond the effect of having additional books in an author's backlog.
• Covers which feature a human image on the cover lead to better sales - even if the person's face is not visible, or that person's back is facing towards the viewer.
• Romance is its own cross-genre classification, with its own opportunities for sales. If a novel can appeal to its conventions, a Romance-themed plot-line can promise a huge sales boost - but only if that novel fully meets the expectations for this genre.
• Within the fantasy genre, female lead characters are more popular than male lead characters.
• Shelf life means something different for the online, digital age than it did for traditional, brick-and-mortar sales strategies.
• A book needs to be priced to fit its market. Charging more doesn't necessarily lead to more revenue if it deters sales.

There were a number of things which I couldn't directly explore with this data set. No clear conclusions, for example, could be drawn regarding how reviews on Amazon might influence sales. The data set available was just too small or lacked the right information to draw such a conclusion.

Likewise, this data set could not draw any conclusions regarding the impact of advertising campaigns or the relative merit of different promotional tools. There is still much which can be learned from the experience and growth of individual authors who have made a career from their writing.

I will be indexing the results from this one-day snapshot for future ease of reference - sort of my own way of paying-forward all I have gained from my many fellow authors in the community. I hope this snapshot may benefit other indie authors, as the examples of past successful writers have likewise inspired me.