2022 Predictions for Independent Publishing by Debbie Young

This time last year, my predictions for the new year were influenced by the impact of Covid on indie authors, on readers, and on the publishing industry. Twelve months later, with the pandemic still rumbling on like a multi-generational saga, we’ve mostly accepted Covid restrictions as the new normal (for now), and as we head into the new year, the biggest conversation points in the indie publishing community are to do with technology.

THREE TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES

Just out of beta testing is the new Atticus software, masterminded by Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur in response to indie authors’ need for a Vellum equivalent for PC users. Atticus is both PC- and Mac-compatible and it provides facilities for drafting and editing as well as formatting. Atticus also provides healthy competition for Vellum. Both reasonably priced, they will be a powerful and transformative resource for self-publishers in 2022.

The second big tech story of 2022 will be the NFT (non-fungible token) – effectively another publishing format, offering buyers a unique and uniquely valuable product.

Find out more about the concept on this helpful podcast, including a transcript, by ALLi director Orna Ross and Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn: https://selfpublishingadvice.org/technologies-for-authors/

While futurists are getting excited about the potential of NFTs for authors, others have yet to be convinced. Says ALLi’s Technical Manager Robin Phillips: “There’s a lot of talk and hype around NFTs at the moment, but I suspect by this time next year there will be very little talk of them around books. If authors and publishers do use them in the long term, the model will be the occasional one-off offers, not a continuous steady income stream, like books, I think it’s more likely though that by this time next year, they will all be mostly ignored, probably with a small cadre of people buying and selling them, albeit at much lower and more sensible prices than what we are currently seeing.” It will be interesting to revisit this conversation at the end of 2022 to see how NFTs are panning out in the indie publishing sector. 

The third technology making news in the new year will be AI (Artificial Intelligence), particularly for audiobook narration. Amazon’s Audible will not currently stock audiobooks narrated by a non-human voice, but other platforms are available, including direct sales from authors’ own websites. 2022 will reveal how readily readers will embrace AI narration. According to ALLi director Orna Ross, AI is especially good for non-fiction books: “Research shows most serious audiobook listeners don’t care about robot-voices when it comes to how-to non-fiction. They are getting used to the robotic voice from YouTube and other places and they just want the info—many of them speed up and listen at double or even triple speed.” 

More nuanced narration is required for fiction, but Dan Holloway is optimistic: “I expect AI to come up with voice narration that’s not only good but genuinely indistinct from human narration. Whether this is an opportunity or whether it changes creative industries the worse forever is unlikely to be clear within a year.”

Will 2022 also see refinements to make AI narration cope better with fiction audiobooks than at present? If they do, it will make self-publishing audiobooks far more affordable, given that AI narration costs about a third of a human voice artist’s fees – the most expensive element of audiobook production and publication. 

AUDIOBOOK PLATFORM CHANGES

Still on the topic of audiobooks, Audiblegate – the industry shorthand for Amazon actively encouraging Audible subscribers to return listened-to audiobooks for full credit at the expense of their authors/publishers (find out more about the indie publishing industry’s Audiblegate campaign here) – remains unresolved. In consequence, in 2022, more indies are likely to seek alternative audiobook publishing platforms, including the wide distributor Findaway Voices and the Authors Direct service that enables authors to sell their audiobooks direct from their own websites.

Spotify’s recent purchase of Findaway Voices promises an even wider reach with its vast and well-established customer base for music-streaming. Says Rachel McLean, best selling indie author of crime novels, “In a year’s time we could very well find that Spotify is on the road to replacing Audible as the dominant force in audiobooks. It’ll make the decision between wide and exclusive to ACX very different and will in turn make Findaway Voices a bigger player in the indie space.” 

Not all indie authors are as optimistic about Spotify’s acquisition of Findaway. “It didn’t make my heart sing when I heard the news, knowing what Spotify did to the music industry and its artists,” says Dawn Brookes, indie author of thrillers, mysteries, memoir, and children’s books. “For now, they are making reassuring noises, but my gut feeling is they will cheapen audiobooks and potentially chip away at author rights and royalties. In a year’s time, we might no longer see ACX as the villain.”

Personally I think the Spotify/Findaway deal comes not a moment too soon, as at least it will provide more competition for Audible and encourage Amazon to review its business practices regarding Audiblegate. 

Calling the Spotify/Findaway deal “the biggest news story of 2021”, Dan Hollway sums up: “I expect the repercussions of that to ripple throughout 2022. I don’t expect we’ll know for sure whether it marks the start of a land of opportunity for us or the beginning of the end of meaningful payment for audiobooks, but we should at least have an idea.” 

Meanwhile Amazon continues to expect indie authors to “pay to play” to gain traction on its storefront, with indies who opt for Amazon advertising needing to spend significant amounts of time and money to keep up with its ever-changing algorithms. Yes, there are indies who master the system and do very well, but there are untold numbers making a loss and losing heart.  

VALUE YOUR RIGHTS

As the indie publishing sector matures, its authors are becoming ever more aware of the value and significance of their IP (Intellectual Property), and more are selectively selling rights to specialists to reach territories and formats beyond their comfort zone.

I predict that in 2022 more indies will seek foreign language rights deals, not least because it’s nigh impossible to market a book published in a language you don’t speak. Similarly uncertainties surrounding Audible, Findaway and Spotify will encourage indies to sell audio rights. I’ve just done this myself this month, signing a seven-book audio deal for my Sophie Sayers Village Mysteries, and am glad to have been able to delegate their production and marketing to an expert, giving myself more time for new content creation.

With some English-language book markets starting to feel saturated, a growing number of indies will focus on foreign-language markets as the key to future growth and profitability. I’ve been surprised by recent success stories with German translations, given the excellent standard of English in the key German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland), but it’s heartening too. 

ECO ISSUES

In the wake of the COP26 Climate Change Conference, fiction editor Amanda Waller, who works exclusively in the indie publishing sector, says, “I predict an increase in eco fiction where green themes are woven through the narrative rather than being the obvious focus and an awareness of how self-publishing is greener than traditional publishing – not least because of print-on-demand. I’ve even seen eco-credentials listed as a reason why someone would choose to self-publish.”

At the same time, a growing awareness of the inherent waste in traditional publishing practices, which are built around the sale-or-return model, will put pressure on all publishers to reduce their carbon footprint. 

“41% of all emissions in trade publishing are down to unsold book returns,” advises Dan Holloway. “Publishing has committed to tackling climate change en masse. In 2022 , more traditional publishers may turn to print on demand, where printing is more local to customers and there are no, or fewer, returns. This could either level the playing field and mean better facilities are built that we all benefit from, or it could see indies competing with traditional publishers for POD printing facilities.”

Personally, I’d be glad if the ongoing shortages of paper and card and constant price hikes in print costs persuaded publishers to rethink their increasingly extravagant use of materials. It’s startling to compare chunky 21-st century print books, with their widely-spaced lines and copious white space on every page, to the frugal early Penguins, designed to make reading cheap and affordable for the masses, and with books printed during the Second World War when paper was rationed. It would be a brave publisher to sacrifice the high production values that modern readers expect, but, hey, we need brave decisions to reverse climate change, so here’s hoping… 

OPENING UP TO INDIES

Since its launch in 2012 ALLi has campaigned for a more level playing field across publishing, and as each year we have seen encouraging progress. The Crime Writers’ Association is the latest author organisation to welcome indie members. “It’s another step towards total inclusion,” says Dawn Brookes. “And others may follow suit. However, there are still so many places where indies are treated separately, such as CrimeFest, so there’s still a way to go.” Fingers crossed that 2022 will bring more such developments. 

SUBJECT MATTER

I’ve talked a lot about production, distribution and marketing, but what kind of books indies will be writing, and what will readers want to buy, in 2022?

In a world that will continue to feel full of threats, I predict there will be huge demand for comfort reads: escapist, feel-good fiction genres that lift our spirits and bolster us against bad news. Not least of these is romantic fiction, which I hope will receive greater recognition in the new year. Clare Flynn, indie author of historical novels and a member of the Romantic Novelists Association’s management committee, comments: “In 2022, publishers and the media will need to wake up to the fact that romantic fiction authors are not something to be sniggered at or completely ignored, but make up a financial juggernaut that powers their industry. These are the writers whose lousy deals but astronomic sales allow the publishing industry to cream in the profits and fund those books they do consider to be worthy but never make any money.” 

Perhaps in 2022, we’ll see many more writers of romance decamp to the indie sector, which keeps its authors firmly at the heart of its business model – and in receipt of all the profits from their books. 

AIMING HIGH

With many more trade authors of all types turning to self-publishing, will there be enough bookbuyers to go round in 2022 and beyond? Dawn Brookes hopes so: “I think there will be a lot more focus on indie business models with indie author millionaires who challenge the traditional view that authors don’t or can’t make money from their writing. These are no longer outliers.” 

I believe there will always be huge winners on the indie stage, but for most indie authors, including the highest earners, self-publishing success won’t happen without hard graft. In a new year which looks likely to include rising inflation and increased economic pressure on individuals, I would not be surprised to see more authors spreading their financial risk and growing their earning opportunities by going wide (which in any case is ALLi’s recommendation), and even by offering author services such as editing and formatting, capitalising on skills learned throughout their self-publishing careers. Extra income streams will always help even out the rollercoaster of book sales.

Whether your priority as an indie author is to earn big bucks, to gain creative fulfilment, or simply to leave as a legacy a body of work you are proud of, 2022 will see continuing change, and it will pay indie authors to keep up with developments, eg by joining ALLi and following its blog. 

Last word to ALLi’s Outreach Manager, Michael La Ronn:

“2022 looks to be a year of convergence, new developments in the audiobook space with potential AI narration, cryptocurrency and NFTs gaining strength in the publishing space, AI-assisted writing tools and new tools like Atticus that streamline the writing process, I predict that savvy authors will start figuring out how to put all these tools together with tried-and-true methods and create new ways of earning income and growing a readership. 2022 may give us some promising glimpses at what the indie writer of the future could look like.”

Debbie Young is UK Ambassador and Special Projects Manager for the Alliance of Independent Authors, the global nonprofit for professional self-publishing authors. She is also a prolific indie author, writing warm, witty fiction set in the English Cotswolds countryside, where she has lived for most of her adult life. In 2020 and 2021, her novels were shortlisted for The Selfies Award, given for the best independently-published fiction for adults in the UK. You can sample Debbie Young’s fiction for free by joining her Readers’ Club at www.authordebbieyoung.com  - new members receive a complimentary novelette, The Pride of Peacocks as a welcome gift. She runs the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival in her home village. She is also a course tutor for Jericho Writers, and her first self-publishing course is now open for bookings. 

Ten Growing Years by Paty Jager

 

I want to thank the blog queens, Sarah Raplee and Judith Ashley, for asking if I would like to do a guest post this month. It seemed fitting that I did, because 10 years ago, not only did I join this blog but I took a huge leap into self-publishing. So not only is this a 10^th anniversary for this blog, it is my 10^th anniversary of being a self-published or Independent author.

It took several other authors I admire to talk me into going Indie. I wasn’t sure I wanted to deal with all the details the small press I was published with took care of for each book. But on the other hand, I hadn’t been happy with the covers and when you work with a small press, you learn a lot about the whole publishing process. It also helped I had been an editor for the press for five years and had learned how to format both print and ebooks. All of that and my friends saying you can do more promoting and make more money by going Indie.

Because at that point- 5 years of being published with 10 books, what I made still wasn’t covering my writing expenses. I was glad I not only was editing but had a job with the 4-H Extension Program. One year after going Indie, I was paying my writing expenses and tucking some money away.

Being my own boss wasn’t a problem for me. I’ve always been driven to get things done. However, I had to learn to give myself time for more than writing and researching a book. I needed time to write the back cover blurb, work on metadata, purchase ISBNs, run the books through my critique partners, then a beta reader, and then a line editor, and finally a proof reader. Then I had to format and give the number of pages to my cover designer. But, of course, that is after we had settled on the cover design which can take a bit of back and forth between myself and the designer until we are both happy with the outcome. 

Once the cover and book have been formatted and are ready to publish, I have to upload them to the ebook and print vendors. Another thing I had to learn. I was thankful for author friends who were willing to help. I started back when it was mostly me reaching out to another self-published author and asking questions.

My goodness, in the last ten years there are now companies who will do all the work for you or you do the work and they will upload the book to the various vendors. There are books, workshops, webinars, Facebook groups, and authors all over the internet who will help you with learning how to self-publish.

When I started, I’d write the back cover blurb, send it to my CPs, then to another person and that was it and is pretty much how I work now. But these days there are people who will write your blurbs, or help you write your blurbs and there are always workshops on how to do it.

The best organizations I’ve found for Indie authors are:

Alliance of Independent Authors- ALLi - https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/

Northwest Independent Writers Association – NIWA - https://www.niwawriters.com/

Maggie Lynch has a box set of books to help someone who wants to self-publish. The Secrets to Becoming a Successful Author  She also has a POV Author Services. 

I’m also thankful I was asked to become a member of an author co-op. We are independent authors who have a website where readers can purchase our books and learn more about us all in one place. Windtree Press - https://windtreepress.com/  This co-op purchases ISBNs that are used under the Windtree Press name and logo. So while I am an Independent author – which means I do all the work and spend all the money to make my book published, I have the Windtree Press as my publisher and use the logo on my books.  Because I purchase the ISBN from the co-op and it (the co-op) is down in the International Standard Book Number identifier as the company that recorded the number.

Again, this is all information I had to learn as I became a self-published author. I encourage you to do the same, if you have been writing and find you tend to write outside the box.

The journey has been challenging and rewarding, and I wouldn’t change a minute of it.

This month, I’m not only celebrating my 15^th year as a published author, my 10^th year as a self-published author, but also my 50^th published book!  And to celebrate this ?? in my career, I’m hosting a month-long Facebook 50 Book Bash party where I’ll be talking about the 50 books I’ve published and giving away prizes every day to people who stop by and visit with me. Here is the link to the Facebook page. I suggest you click on plan to attend so you get notices when the party starts which is today!  https://www.facebook.com/events/887343232080078

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 50 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

blog / website /  Facebook / Paty's Posse / Goodreads / Twitter / Pinterest   / Bookbub

 

 

 

 

2021 Predictions for Independent Publishing from ALLi’s Debbie Young and Friends

 By Debbie Young, Indie Author & Ambassador for the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi)

A year ago, who could have known how 2020 would turn out? 

Certainly not me when this time last December I shared with you my predictions for indie authors for the new year. I take comfort from ALLi’s Twitter Chat host Tim Lewis, who says, “Predictions are usually wrong, but they tell you about the current zeitgeist”. So here goes for a new round of predictions for 2021, inevitably many of them connected in some way with the impact of the Covid-19. 

Despite the turmoil wrought by the pandemic, ALLi Director Orna Ross reminds us of the positives for indie authors: “All the indications are that 2020 was a bumper year for sales of author-published books, eg aggregator PublishDrive noted a 58% increase in book sales in October 2020 compared with the same month in 2019.”

But as she acknowledges, it was hardly plain sailing. “While some authors found lockdown led to inspiration, with fewer distractions and less travel giving them more time for writing and publishing, others had less time, due to caring for dependents. Still others had a hard time focusing and found the turbulence and constraints destabilising.”

Writing Priorities

 I believe that having had more time and solitude to reflect on their writing lives, more authors will now be reconsidering their priorities. We all feel more mortal now than we did a year ago. Will those used to spending every spare waking hour writing have a change of heart and spend more time with their loved ones? Might those writing to market start writing from the heart instead? (Of course, there are some lucky souls who can do both with the same book!) I predict we’ll see more passion projects in 2021 – the kind of books we don’t want to leave unwritten when we go to our graves. “I’d like to think that 2021 will be the year that quality, not quantity, takes priority,” says Carol Cooper, hybrid author of fiction and non-fiction.

Writing Trends

Earlier this year, there was much debate on author forums as to whether we’re about to see a spate of Covid-inspired fiction. The possibilities are endless, from the hospital romance of pandemic medic and patient, to dystopian apocalypse in a world where the virus mutates faster than vaccines can be found. More importantly, will readers want to read them? I back Tim Lewis’s prophesy: “The 2020s will be similar to the 1920s in having a great (but ultimately temporary) reaction to the Covid crisis, just as those in the 1920s reacted to the Spanish Flu after the First World War, so expect a revival of light, fluffy fiction towards the end of 2021 as the Covid event subsides.” I’m not saying that only because I write upbeat, feel-good fiction myself!

Orna Ross predicts a different kind of change in readers’ tastes. “Consumers will seek out more mindful and personalised experience online and off. Independent authors will source and take such readers with them into their publishing adventure, through patronage, crowdfunding, premium products and other ways, in addition to making and selling books.”

 Marketing Trends

Although independent publishing has stood up well during the pandemic, with many authors selling many more books than every before, few will have taken their eye off the constant imperative to market their books. However, there is a growing disillusionment with marketing courses that propose a one-size-fits-all solution. In one of ALLi’s recent Twitter Chats, run weekly under the hashtag #indieauthorchat, ALLi’s News Editor Dan Holloway identified as a prevailing self-publishing myth “that there’s a template for it [book marketing] you can find in a course and copy and paste into making sales. I think as indies we look far too much to a few superstars and assume the answers they found for them will work for us.”

With most live events cancelled in 2020, online advertising became very much more competitive, inflating bid prices and decimating returns. More and more authors asked themselves whether it was a waste of good writing time. In my own circle of indie author friends, many are turning their backs on Facebook and AMS ads, instead planning that the focus of their 2021 marketing strategy will be monthly reader newsletters underpinned by a strong mailing list magnet, plus occasional paid newsletters such as Freebooksy and BargainBooksy, with Bookbub still the Holy Grail.

 But first and foremost, writing and publishing more books will be their priority, in whatever frequency works best for them as individuals and for their particular business model. The old maxim still holds, especially when you are starting out, that the best marketing strategy is to write the next book.

 Indie Author Business Trends

 With so many people everywhere struggling with the long-term financial impact of Covid, more of the general public may turn to writing in hope of building much-needed income. Sadly, they will quickly discover that it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme, nor even a get-solvent-quick scheme. I just hope they manage to avoid the vultures ever hovering on the edges of the industry, picking off naïve newbies by telling them what they want to hear, before fleecing them for false promises.

 ALLi’s Watchdog John Doppler concurs: “As the pandemic puts pressure on the market, ALLi’s Watchdog Desk is already seeing an increase in scams, exploitative schemes and unqualified publishing services being pitched to authors. Chief among these are marketing services that are unlikely to yield a return on the investment. Authors must take great care to ensure that services they hire are vetted, competent, and stable, even more so in the coming year.”

Even some experienced authors were caught out this year, because their risk was not sufficiently spread across sales funnels, especially those whose incomes are dependent on physical bookstores and live events. They would do well in 2021 to broaden their operating base, taking their books wide and making sure they are well represented online.

 On the other hand, the cancellation of conventional events compelled indies to build valuable new skill sets. Award-winning author Jean Gill predicts: “In 2021, more and more authors will reach new readers and market books using audio-visuals with Zoom etc as we apply the new IT skills Covid isolation has forced on us. The must-haves will be good quality headphones and microphone, recording and slideshow software, and – to update Virginia Woolf – a home studio of your own.”

 Overall, however, there is an air of digging in for the duration. Award-winning thriller writer Alison Morton suggests: “2021 will be a year of survival and consolidation when we can gather again in real time, recover our speaking gigs and meet up with our genre colleagues. My instinct is that ebooks will still be the most consumed formats and that indie authors will turn away from time-sucking marketing to writing more books.”

 Consolidation

 As 2020 draws to a close, one of the big news stories in the world of independent publishing is was “Audiblegate”, as it became clear that Amazon had been actively encouraging Audible subscribers to return used audiobooks for credit at the expense of the authors’ royalties. As yet unresolved, this scandal has shaken the trust of many indies, particularly those whose audiobooks are exclusive to Amazon via its ACX audiobook publishing platform. It’s inevitable that in 2021 more authors will be reluctant to commit to ACX exclusivity and will publish their audiobooks wide. I suspect whether this development will also encourage more indie authors whose ebooks are in KDP Select will also take those wide as a point of principle.

More radically, will 2021 see more indies at least flirt with trade contracts for at least one book as a kind of insurance policy? Will that come to be viewed as another means of going wide? While it wouldn’t surprise me, let me remind you that the big publishing houses have struggled to cope with a pandemic that closes bookstores. Think how many books due to be launched back in the spring had their publication date put back till September. Any indie author considering this route should sign only any contracts that offer them something they can’t do as well or better as indies.

 The divide between trade and indie grows ever more blurry. ALLi Advice Center Blog Manager Sacha Black elaborates: “With yet another merger on the traditional front just announced (Penguin Random House and Simon and Schuster), I won’t be surprised if there’s another big influx of previously trad authors into the indie market.”

 Another way of bolstering your business against whatever new shocks 2021 might bring is to make your books available in as many formats as possible to maximise the earnings on each piece of intellectual property; licensing selective rights (translations, film, etc); and direct selling on your website. It’s much easier to write and publish one book in half a dozen formats than to write and publish six books in a single format.

Strengthening Foundations

 But before we get too carried away with ambitions to turn our books into Hollywood blockbusters, it’s a good idea to treat the start of a new year as a timely opportunity to take stock of where you are now and to fix any problems. Sacha explains: “Of all the lessons I’ve learned in 2020, it’s that in order to keep your business stable during global crises like coronovirus, you have to make sure your business foundations are in place. Indies are at an advantage because part of our ethos is to be independent. But it’s even more important in times like this. It’s vital we own as many of our assets as possible, that we’re up to date, our reader funnels are slick and that we have a mechanism of selling our books and products even if the big bookstores go under. Do you have a mailing list? And are your autoresponders up to date? Are you selling direct? Do you have other streams of income? Is your website clean, tidy, up to date and fitting in with your branding and current content? This year I’ve gone back to basics to ensure that the foundations I’m growing my business on are solid, and I’d recommend others do too.”

Opportunities in Audio

 Notwithstanding Audiblegate, 2021 bodes well for the audiobook market, so make sure you’re ready to roll with it. Over to ALLi’s Multimedia Manager Howard Lovy: “Last year I urged everybody to read their drafts out loud to hear how they would sound in audiobook form, since more and more people are consuming books through their ears rather than their eyes. After all, what could possibly interrupt our busy lives on the go, between our commutes to work and trips to the gym? What I did not predict, of course, was that a pandemic would force most of us back into our homes for the duration. Yet, even under lockdown, audiobook sales continue to rise. Not only that, we’re downloading more podcasts as we settle into semi-permanent home life. The move to audio appears to be pandemic-proof, so I’d advise all authors to think about how your book’s ‘voice’ sounds when paired with your literal voice (or that of an actor). Also, how can you turn your book or your author brand into a podcast? Your readers would love to listen.”

 Audio isn’t the only technical area that will see a flurry of activity in the new year, as Orna Ross explains: “2020 was also notable because of technological audiences that are making the writing, publishing and marketing of books ever easier and increasing distribution options for the self-published  authors around the world. And the Covid crisis accelerated trends that were new to other parts of the book business eg digital bookselling, online events, but already long-established practice for indie authors.”

 Conclusions

Despite the optimism and excitement surrounding the new vaccines, we still have some way to go before we can return to normal life – or whatever the new normal may prove to be. Says ALLi’s Outreach Manager Michael La Ronn, “2021 will look more like 2020 than 2019. Authors will still benefit from people staying at home, at least for much of the year. As more people emerge from lockdown and return to daily commuting, we’ll like see a resurgence in audiobook and podcast listening again.”

John Doppler concurs: “As always, changes in the industry bring challenges and opportunities. Authors who can adapt to that shifting terrain will see an unusually profitable year.”

Last word to Orna Ross: “In a year of unprecedented difficulty, self-publishing has proved itself to be not just resilient but ahead of the curve, and we expect that to continue in 2021.”

Whatever surprises 2021 may bring, keep writing and self-publishing!

Here’s to happy and healthy new year for us all.

Author Debbie Young

BIO

Debbie Young is UK Ambassador and Special Projects Manager for the Alliance of Independent Authors, the global nonprofit for professional self-publishing authors. She is also a prolific indie author, writing warm, witty fiction set in the English Cotswolds countryside where she has lived for most of her adult life. She has two series of cozy mystery novels, the Sophie Sayers Village Mysteries, starting with Best Murder in Show, and the new Staffroom at St Bride’s series, starting with Secrets at St Bride’s, shortlisted for the 2020 Selfies Award for the Best Independently Published Adult Fiction in the UK. She also has a new series of quick reads, Tales from Wendlebury Barow, which starts with The Natter of Knitters. A free short novella (11k words), The Pride of Peacocks, is available exclusively to members of her Readers’ Club, which you can join via her author website at www.authordebbieyoung.com. She also has three collections of short stories, including the Christmas-themed Stocking Fillers. Each April in her home village she runs the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival, showcasing dozens of indie authors, but sadly it is now postponed until 2022 due to the pandemic.

Debbie Young’s Author Website: http://www.authordebbieyoung.com

ALLi Self-publishing Advice Center Blog: http://www.selfpublishingadvice.com

ALLi Membership Website: http://www.allianceindependentauthors.org

2020 Predictions from ALLi's Debbie Young and Friends

NOTE: ALLi (Alliance of Independent Authors) is revamping their website, so links to ALLi's web pages in this post will 'go live' on Jan.2nd or 3rd, depending on what time zone you live in. ~Judith

By Debbie Young. Indie Author & Ambassador for the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi)

Debbie Young’s Author Website: http://www.authordebbieyoung.com

ALLi Self-publishing Advice Center Blog:  http://www.selfpublishingadvice.com

ALLi Membership Website http://www.allianceindependentauthors.org

With a growing number of choices and opportunities available to indie authors during 2019, it’s easy for us to feel bewildered and overwhelmed. To help you decide your priorities for 2020, here are my predictions for what next year will bring to the ever-changing self-publishing landscape, with a little help from my colleagues at the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) www.allianceindependentauthors.org.

Self-publishing Ebooks

With ever more aggregators making it easier to reach more readers around the world, more indies will “go wide”, ie publish on multiple platforms, despite the lure of page-read income from Amazon’s Unlimited subscription reading service. The general acceptance that you now have to “pay to play” on Amazon by investing in AMS advertising has unnerved even those previously 100% committed to Select.

Sacha Black, manager of ALLi’s Self-publishing Advice Center blog (www.selfpublishingadvice.org)  observes: “I’ve noted a trend in larger indies who have been exclusive or with a narrow focus starting to look wide – not only with books but also with products and income streams generally. Whatever the big indies do, the masses eventually follow.”

Self-Publishing Print Books

Until now, ALLi has recommended that indie authors publish their print books simultaneously with KDP Print and IngramSpark (more on why here: https://selfpublishingadvice.org/kdp-print-ingram-spark-paperbacks/), but I’m keeping a close eye on another print-on-demand service. The slick and user-friendly aggregator Draft2Digital, an ALLi Partner member, has just started piloting a print book service - one to watch in 2020. Read more about the pilot scheme here: https://draft2digital.com/blog/d2d-print-now-in-beta-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

Self-publishing Audio Books

In 2020, most authors will accept that self-publishing is no longer just about ebooks and print, but that audio is an essential part of the mix.  Although audio is expensive to publish, and relatively slow to repay the substantial initial outlay, the public’s thirst for podcasts proves a ready-made habit for listening at their leisure.

ALLi’s Multimedia manager Howard Lovy reports; “In the battle between the eyes and ears, the ears have it. More content is being listened to through podcasts and audiobooks as our devices come along with us everywhere in our busy lives. We’re all going to have to think about how our work sounds.”

In 2020, authors would be wise to take the potential of audio into account even as they write their first drafts. Reading your work aloud has always been a useful part of the self-editing process. Now there’s another reason to do so: to test it will work as an audiobook.

The Impact of New Technology

I can’t write about the new decade without mentioning technology– although I confess AI etc goes over my head! So I’ll turn to ALLi’s News Editor, Dan Holloway, for his predictions:

“AI will continue to increase in profile, but there will be lots of unjustified hype, so treat most AI announcements with caution. We are still a long way from it being really useful in helping us as writers find our voice, so I think most of the applications will be marketing based, like PublishDrive’s Savant. Blockchain is popping up again, but I’m not sure whether this is genuinely post-hype or an aftershock of the initial hype. The most exciting thing for me is VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality) – from a storytelling point of view it’s like the world’s biggest sweet shop is opening up on our doorstep.”

Marketing Self-published Books

For many indies, 2019 was the first year that they had ventured into substantial paid advertising campaigns, not only with AMS (Amazon Marketing Services), but also with Bookbub and Facebook.

Each of these services requires a significant financial investment with no guaranteed return. While many authors have made money or broken even on their ads, others have lost money and given up. The unpredictability of Amazon ads in particular makes it a nerve wracking

process: two identical ads, set up a day apart, can for no apparent reason yield completely different results, one flying, the other bombing. In 2020, learn as much as you can about each platform before making your investment.

ALLi Moderator David Penny also counsels planning ahead for other means of reaching your readers:

“As ads become both more expensive and less effective, authors will be forced to explore alternative means of reaching people. This could mean the resurgence of some of the old methods and the even greater importance of building your own list.”

In 2020, authors will be paying more attention to the state of their list and trying to make it work harder for them. But a word of caution. In 2019, Mailchimp, a longstanding favourite with indie authors, radically changed its terms and conditions. Check you’re happy with the terms offered by your current provider, especially if your planned growth will require you to step up to a more expensive subscription category.

How to Grow Your Mailing List in 2020

So, how to grow your list? Newsletter swaps are big at the moment, although I query whether that bubble will burst as readers accumulate more ebooks on special offer or free than they can reasonably consume. Use newsletter swaps sparingly and appropriately so as not to devalue your newsletter.

Another increasingly important tool will be a mailing list magnet representative of your work to lure in new readers and to maintain the loyalty of longstanding subscribers.

Content marketing in general – sharing quality information and material relevant to your target readers -  is also set for a revival, not least because it does not require a huge budget or risk. It’s also enjoyable as it plays to your strengths and your passions, rather than forcing you to step outside your comfort zone. Find out more about content marketing here: https://selfpublishingadvice.org/content-marketing-for-fiction-and-nonfiction/

Your 2020 Vision

But above all else, in 2020, focus. Prioritise your key aims, rather than trying to do everything, because that way madness lies. Ring-fence your writing time to keep growing and refreshing your catalogue.   And above all, be true to yourself.

Last word to Orna Ross:

“Drop what everyone else tells you you should be doing and go creative.”

Find out how and why here:  https://selfpublishingadvice.org/creative-self-publishing/

I wish you a happy and successful 2020 – and above all, keep writing!

Debbie Young – Bio

Debbie Young is UK Ambassador for the Alliance of Independent Authors, the global nonprofit for professional self-publishing authors. She is also a prolific indie author, with two growing series of cozy mystery novels, the Sophie Sayers Village Mysteries, starting with Best Murder in Show, and the new Staffroom at St Bride’s series, starting with Secrets at St Bride’s. Her fiction is inspired by the English Cotswold village in which she has lived for most of her adult life.

She has also self-published three collections of short stories, two of essays, and some self-help books, and writes for local community magazines. She speaks at bookish events far and wide, runs the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival (www.hulitfest.com) and two local writing groups, and is a regular guest on BBC Radio Gloucestershire’s Book Club.

She is never bored.

www.authordebbieyoung.com

Twitter: @DebbieYoungBN

Instagram: www.instagram.com/debbieyoungauthor/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDebbieYoung/

And Onward To Nine!

First, the Blog Queens and all the Genre-istas want to Thank You for your support of Romancing The Genres for 8 years.

Here’s what you can look forward to in the coming months!

As you’ll see we have a Guest Theme and a Genre-ista Topic for each month. We invite you to recommend authors who write in our Guest Themes as Sarah and Judith are always looking for new-to-us authors.

June our guests are 20^th Century Historical Romance authors: Maggie Robinson, Anna Brentwood, Margaret Tanner, Lauri Robinson and Eleri Grace. And the Genre-istas will be sharing Wedding Stories. Judith already has her June 7^th post up “Say Yes To The Dress” but you’ll have already read posts by Paty Jager, Luanna Stewart, Robin Weaver and Dora Bramden before Judith’s day.

July our guests are Emerging Romance Authors. What’s an Emerging Romance Author? One who has at least 3 books published but not yet seven. In other words, fairly new to the wide, wonderful world of publishing. At the writing of this blog post we’ve got Kerry Blaisdell, Kathy Coatney and Andra Ashe signed up. And Genre-istas will post about the one thing they would change about their past and why. That should be an interesting month.

And in August we’ll share an “Adventure in Traveling.” Hmm, Judith’s had several including ending up on a list of suspicious international travelers. Wonder if she’ll expand on that one. While you read about our travel adventures, our guests will be Authors of Historical Romance From Around The World.

September our Topic and Theme center around The Craft of Writing. As a reader let us know what you’d like to learn from us.

October we celebrate Superhero/heroine Romance and the Genre-istas will be talking about Their Own Superhero/heroine.

Over the years we’ve settled into our November and December topics so there’s nothing new here: November: Holiday Reads is the Genre-ista topic and Holiday Romance Authors is our guest theme.

December is our What’s New In Publishing theme. Our guests have included folks from Draft2Digital, Findaway Voices, Alli, as well as a couple of people who stay on top of the publishing trends.

As the calendar shifts from 2019 to 2020, we head in to the last four months before our 9^th Blog-O-Versary. We’d love to have your thoughts on topics and themes you’d like to see. After coming up with topics and themes for 96 months, you can imagine how grateful the Blog Queens are for ideas.

And to sweeten the request, leave your ideas and contact information in the Comments. Those who do will be entered in a drawing for a $10 Amazon Gift Card.

MY PREDICTIONS FOR INDIE AUTHORS IN 2019 By ALLi's Author Advice Center Manager

Cozy Mystery Author Debbie Young

http://www.authordebbieyoung.com

Author Advice Center Manager
http://www.selfpublishingadvice.org

Alliance of Independent Authors
http://www.allianceindependentauthors.org

A Bumpy Start

The last few months of 2018 have been turbulent for indie authors, thanks to a raft of changes at Amazon, still the largest online platform in the self-publishing ecosystem and the main source of most indies’ income:

~ KDP Print replaced CreateSpace as Amazon’s print service

~ Amazon’s paid advertising options went through various iterations

~The storefront page was rationalised to make space for more advertising

~A new reporting system popped up in beta test mode

Once we’ve recovered from the accompanying glitches, in the new year we may appreciate some advantages:

~ The single KDP dashboard simplifies publishing and sales monitoring.

~ Although it may feel as if shifting from level playing field to pay-to-play, the minimum entry  advertising budget remains just $2 per day, so is accessible to all.

~ The new banner advertising offers an elegant, high profile way to target rivals' readers. The bad news: competition for these ad spots will be fierce.

DEBBIE YOUNG

Going Wide in 2019

Unnerved by these changes, many indies who aren’t already publishing on other platforms will be looking to future-proof their business in the new year by “going wide”, or at least by publishing any new titles on multiple platforms, if they can’t bear to curtail the page-read revenue earned by books in KDP Select. Many will also start sell direct on their own website as  an additional sales platform entirely under their control.

Alternative Advertising

Smart operators will also capitalise on new advertising opportunities emerging at Kobo, BookBub and elsewhere. 

(Excellent Kobo webinar here: https://selfpublishingadvice.org/how-to-grow-your-global-sales-with-kobo-webinar/ ) Facebook ads seem to work for some, but not for others, and I think there’s a gap in the market for other author-friendly ad services. Will 2019 see some great innovations fill that gap? I hope so. 

Offline Opportunities

While most indie authors make most of their money online, the slow revival of bricks-and-mortar bookstores, led by creative indie booksellers engaged with their local communities, will provide an increasing number of sales opportunities for authors who approach them in the right way. 

(For more help in this area, see the ALLi guidebook, How to Get Your Self-published Book into Bookstores – by me! https://selfpublishingadvice.org/how-to-get-your-self-published-book-into-bookstores/)

Audio Options

Online and off, books in all their forms will continue to flourish, with neither ebook nor print waning. Audio will be the biggest growth area, though requiring the greatest investment and offering the slowest return. New services will make it easier to venture into audio (Draft2Digital’s tie-in with Findaway voices, for example) – and to do so without unduly restrictive contracts (eg ACX requires a seven-year commitment – a long time in the fast-moving world of self-publishing!)

Sophie Sayers Village Mysteries

Print Range

Authors who were early adopters of ebooks often rejected print publishing as less profitable, but now most have accepted the joy (and profit potential) of print. In 2019, being e-only will seem oddly restrictive. ALLi’s standard advice for optimum market reach with print books is to publish via KDP Print for Amazon customers and IngramSpark to reach bookstores and libraries. (https://selfpublishingadvice.org/kdp-print-ingram-spark-paperbacks/)

In 2019 we’ll also see a growing interest in different kinds of print books, including large print, dyslexic format and braille – all great ways to reach additional readers who cannot access standard print books. There’s also a growing interest in hardbacks, not so much for commercial sales, but as a special edition for superfans.

Patronage

And speaking of superfans, more authors will set up Patreon accounts, which effectively operate as subscription fan-clubs offering extra services and materials, providing a useful extra income stream to bolster sales income.

Business Focus

ALLi has always advocated going wide in multiple formats as the best business proposition for any indie author. And the terms “author business”, “author publisher” and “authorpreneur” will become much more commonplace in 2019, as more indies recognise and embrace the notion that from the moment they publish their first book, they are in the publishing business. If they want to sell their books, in the increasingly competitive marketplace, they’ll need to act like businessmen as well as creatives. (See what ALLi director Orna Ross has to say about the future of indie author earnings here: https://selfpublishingadvice.org/self-publishing-3-0-call-for-government-support/ )

What About Writing?

Let’s not forget the actual writing process! At the start of 2018, high-speed, high-volume writing and publishing was a top topic of conversation. The prospect of writing a book a month or even a book a week excited some and horrified others. By the start of 2019, I think most indie authors will have decided where they stand on this hare-and-tortoise question, and I hope success stories by proudly slow and deliberate writers such as Joe Malik will give them the confidence to embrace what approach works best for them.

(link to ALLi post by Joe Malik: https://selfpublishingadvice.org/joseph-malik-selfpublishing-success/ ) 

Over to You

Whatever your plans for 2019, I hope you will take the time to make your books the best they can be, because whatever your business model, your books are your business’s building blocks. So build out of finest marble, not sand. Unless, of course, you want to be a sand sculptor. That’s the joy of being an indie author. The choice is yours – and I hope that 2019 brings you whatever kind of self-publishing success you desire.

DEBBIE YOUNG

Debbie Young – Bio

Debbie Young is the Author Advice Center Manager for the Alliance of Independent Authors, the global nonprofit for professional self-publishing authors. She is also a prolific indie author, with a growing series of cozy mystery novels, the Sophie Sayers Village Mysteries, starting with Best Murder in Show,  inspired by the English Cotswold village in which she has lived for most of her adult life. She has also self-published three collections of short stories, two of essays, and some self-help books, and writes for local community magazines. She speaks at bookish events far and wide, runs the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival (www.hulitfest.com) and two local writing groups, and is a regular guest on BBC Radio Gloucestershire’s Book Club. She is never bored.

www.authordebbieyoung.com

Twitter: @DebbieYoungBN

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDebbieYoung/