As you might know I just released my new book on meditation last weekend. This is my eighth published book in the last twenty years. This is an incredibly exhausting endeavor but I never tire of the exhilaration of the process. I released my first novel, Alarm Clock Dawn, in installments on Steemit last fall. Ever since I did this I haven’t been able to shake the idea that Steemit (and future competitors) will play a key role in the future of publishing. Last week’s book launch definitely confirmed the idea.
The purpose of launching my most recent book, The Perfect Pause, was twofold. Of course, my goal was to generate a buzz and get more book sales but I went into it with the intent to experiment and create an easy-to-follow formula for other indie authors to follow. Click through these posts to see how I approached publicizing my book.
A week after the launch it’s been fascinating to compare different metrics between Amazon and Steemit and get an accurate picture of what kind of role Steemit can play in my future projects. I’ve determined that Steemit has definitely proven its worth in terms of enhancing a traditional indie book launch on CreateSpace (paperback) and Amazon Kindle Direct (eBook). After this little experiment, I think Steemit should play an even larger role. I intend on testing this theory with the launch of my second novel, Truth Is Stranger,* later this fall. More on this to come.
Let me break down for you what I learned:
Networking & Pre-Launch
Steemit turned out to be an excellent resource in terms of networking. Each of the following things were accomplished as a direct result of this platform.
- I found a great group of beta readers to help edit the manuscript;
- an incredibly talented book designer (Lubosh Cech) through the recommendation of a fellow Steemian (thanks Ruth; and
- last but not least, a celebrity endorsement of the book (Leon Logothetis).
The community really came together to support me on this project and I thank each and every one of you.
Engagement
In my experience, the level of engagement and support I’ve received from the Steemit community dwarfs all other social media platforms. To get the level of engagement I experience on Steemit on other social media platforms I must pay for access to my own audience though post promotion.
I’ll give you just one example, this week I boosted one Facebook post to advertise my book. On Facebook, twenty dollars bought me 1,723 views and 32 clicks. Absolutely no comparison to Steemit.
Profit
I produced nine Steemit posts about the book in the two weeks leading up to the launch on June 25th. The seven-day voting window hasn’t closed on some of them yet but the payout of these posts likely will dwarf the book’s first week of revenue on Amazon by a large margin (roughly 15x).
This number is staggering to me. Granted, the paperback and eBook version of the book has the potential of creating a longer-term revenue stream but, in my experience, sales generally taper off in 2-3 months unless you release a sequel. There is a real chance that the book sales revenue will take months to equal the income earned from the Steemit posts. Essentially, the Steemit earnings were a kind of crowdfunding that paid for the costs associated with the production of the book. This allowed me to more than break even before the book launched...a rarity for indie authors.
In Conclusion
The way I see it Steemit should play a role in every indie author’s book marketing strategy. The key is to build a steady foundation of followers before you launch your book. Just as the internet has disrupted the entertainment and retail industries, crypto-currency and blockchain have just begun to show us their true potential. It’s up to us pioneers, as members of the Steemit community, to keep pushing these boundaries and experimenting.
I've found the answer to that question up there in the post title to be a resounding YES.
I will have much more to share with you all as the marketing for The Perfect Pause continues and as we get closer to the release date for the sequel to Alarm Clock Dawn. Have a wonderful weekend!
*I am an American novelist, poet, traveler, and crypto-enthusiast. If you’ve enjoyed my work please sign up for my author newsletter at my website. Newsletter subscribers will receive exclusive updates and special offers and your information will never be sold or shared.
Connect with Me
Completely agree with you on this. When I finish my next book in July, I'll release it chapter by chapter to help pay for cover design and final proofing.
Plus, it will help pay for any promotions on Amazon and Facebook.
Great, it really helps not to have to dig into your savings or, worse yet, finance a launch on credit. I wish you well on you launch, Martin!
There are a lot of artists on steemit. You may want to try a steem gig for your cover design.
Not a bad idea. But I really liked the designer for my last book. I may go back to him.
An artist that "gets you" is a very valuable asset. (well, as long as their work is up to snuff.) So, if you can afford it, go with who you know works.
I think one of the most tragic stories on this was a friend
Who "won" a free self publishing. And she was really afraid of vanity publishers, so she did her research... but anyway, in a seminar, she one their little raffle, and got the "type setting" for free.
She had her friend artist do a cover... which the friend knocked out in a couple of hours, probably not realizing this was going on the cover of 500 books. Anyway, my friend should have paid for good service.
She basically paid through the nose for a vanity publishing. And got shit for it.
I love this idea. Interested in your book--what's it about?
Wow, that is no comparison. At nearly $1.00 per click that is not a marketing strategy to continue with.
The possibility of launching a book at break even is a game changer. What you have done over these past few weeks is a priceless gift to aspiring indie authors.
WORD. I'm a working writer--I make almost half my living with written words--and I'm just now thinking about how Steemit can play into that.
You explained all stuff in detail
I like the way you put up your income and showed us how much you earned in those post
Thank You @ericvancewalton
You are very welcome. That's what I like about this platform is its transparency. We can all see what everyone is making. Can you imagine how different the workplace would be if this transparency existed?
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ᑭEOᑭᒪE ᗯIᒪᒪ ᒪOᐯE TᕼEIᖇ ᗯOᖇK
if transparency at all workplace exist then the employee will work harder to make it successful and to get paid for their hard work. Like big incentive and bonus.
It also decreases the corruption at some places. Lol !
That's one of the reasons I think that book publishing in steemit is such a great idea.
You introduce a lot of new people to steemit and that's amazing. Thanks for doing that by the way.
I'm certainly wish you all the best for this new book man!
Thanks, man. I'd just like everyone to have the chance to experience what I have, this is why I've recommended so many. So many of the positive things that have happened to my wife and I over the past year can be traced right back to Steemit. I appreciate this community and all of your help more than you know.
Well you deserve all that profit Eric as your meditation advice and exercises has helped me out so much.
If the rewards on steem persist and the community keeps growing, authors will flock to this website to publish and speculate around their new book.
Thanks and I'm happy that the meditation is helping you!
An active blog / podcast with thousands of followers is the only thing that beats steemit. But, in order to have that, you really need to be in a large field, not a tiny niche.
Steemit is a huge return on investment. Especially since it only costs time right now. And the people on steemit are really, truly engaged. If I could bottle that, f-c-book would by me out for billions.
AND! I hates f-c-book. You have a following there. You built it up. And, if you want YOUR fans to see YOUR post you need to pay f-c-book for the privilege. Even still, your post will not be seen by all. I find it is like 1 in 3. You make 3 posts, and I will see one in my feed. FURTHER, when you pay for advertising there, you often get lots of follows by puppet accounts. Who will never care about your content, but cost you because they are the ones that your advertising reached. They are a black hole, with no return.
I couldn't agree more. Facebook did Steemit a favor when they changed their algorithms. Now, there's really no good reason to stay on FB. I actually got great engagement there before they began to so severely limit post outreach. Plus Steemit has the crypto-aspect to it, it wins hands down.
WORD. F-c-book does exactly what it's supposed to do: make money for Mark Zuckerberg. It's not built for US, it's built for HIM. I wish I'd understood this a lot sooner.
Amen, well said.
@ericvancewalton i like your article, i am new on steemit community and i am trying learn more from your blog. thanks
Thanks! Welcome to Steemit and feel free to ask whenever you have a question. We are all here to help.
As long as you can get the traffic, and subsequently active readers, then I think Steemit is a great place to launch a variety of written works. The feedback can be invaluable, but only as long as it pans out into people reading your content. It also helps that you're a heck of a writer too :)
Huge compliment, man, I appreciate that. Yes, you're spot on, you must build a readership base before you attempt a book launch for it to be successful. I know it can be tempting for authors to release a completed book right away but if you have patience and build that following first it pays huge dividends. Thanks!
It's best to worry more about the feedback and critique, than the votes and monetary reward. At least from an author's standpoint. Steemit success will come as long as you're sincere and working on something that entertains, inspires, enlightens, etc. But Steemit can be a valuable means of building a long-term investment and providing funds for taking something you create here to the next level.
Absolutely correct. The feedback I received during the beta reader phase of this book project was so good that I didn't even need to hire a professional editor. Just the act of having an incentive to write every single day makes you a much better writer. Each word you write pays long term dividends.
Success and failure on Steemit can be a confusing endeavor. The mistakes I've made in the past has been to post a new storyline with only the first segment ready. Then I've allowed the votes and money to cloud my judgement and not continue on with what might be the makings of a good book or short story. A good idea might be to have 3 to 5 parts ready first and release them daily. Then look for the positive and negative from what transpires.
This is all over a year old now. There's been so much great yarn spun in that time, it's too bad someone doesn't come up with a brilliant idea to funnel some of it into the right channels and get it published for real. The authors always have the means to do it themselves, but maybe some good ole fashioned publishing could help the writers, as well as shine the light on how great Steemit really is.
Loved this thread. I'm very interested in how all this will play out in this space, and I have the feeling we're just starting to see the possibilities.
You could pimp out your account to other indie writers who do not have a following on steemit and host their content chapter by chapter. Better yet, create a new account that does exactly that, produce content that is only chapters of indie writers.
Thanks Eric! I am enjoying your progress as an author, and am learning from your experiences! Really helpful.
My pleasure, Ann! I'm glad you're finding this helpful. I have much, much more to share. : ) Thank you!
Such a great way to learn! Thanks!
Absolutely, Steemit is already growing into a great platform to publish work. I never liked the results from Facebook advertising, I think they cheat you somehow, plus they tricked people, I grew my following organically to 25,000+ people then boom they started blocking my post and trying to charge me just to show each post to more than 20 people. I'm so done FB and IG... Good post! Resteeming.
I think this is critical for artists to understand. Building a big following is important, but OWNING that following is crucial, and nothing on Facebook is owned by us. Thanks for this perspective. I'll be following.
Good Point! @cristof I've been trying with moderate success to migrate my fb and IG following to my own website and email list. Steemit is good, because I don't see them manipulating traffic for pay. Thanks for the follow, check out my writing on why steemit works well for visual artist, I think you will find it interesting. Link: https://steemit.com/steemit/@nathanjtaylor/9-reasons-why-steemit-is-the-future-online-platform-for-visual-artist
You can bet I will. I think the platform works even better for visual artists than for writers, though it's often pitched as a blog site. I'd expect you'll have solid success here, and I hope you do.
Facebook did the EXACT same thing to me. My author page had huge engagement, they changed their algorithms and I lost 98% of my readership overnight. It was crushing...but then I found Steemit. : ) Thanks for the support, man!
Yeah man, I know, Facebook is a trick... you are welcome, happy to support, let us do big things with steem!
Amen!
That is amazing profit before the book is in store and that is just extra money with free promotion. Steemit is powerful and they just need to figure out balance in rewards and reward pool so it can stay healthy for all.
This comment has received a sweet gift of Dank Amps in the flavor of 2.08 % upvote from @lovejuice thanks to: @cryptokraze. Vote for Aggroed!
This comment has received a 0.09 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @cryptokraze.
The answer - yes! Thank you for sharing your lessons learned - always helpful!!! CHEERS and best wishes to you, oh powerful one! :D
I'm not sure if I'm powerful but I sure am stubborn! Lol. I never stop until I find what works. Thank you very much, @robyneggs!
Stubborn is powerful! I meant powerful on Steemit - as in is you have a lot of STEEM 'POWER' LOL XXOO. Being stubborn is important on Steemit. I still get woe-ridden and bottom-lippy sometimes when I do not know what to post next...or when the wifi connection times out...or when the monkeys block the light from the window....j/k.
Cheers and so glad to see you steeming on! :-) Keep up the stubborn work! ;-)
Lol! It can definitely be a rollercoaster of emotions when you write here. I've been through many ups and downs. It's funny how time on Steemit seems to pass more quickly. My first Steemit birthday is on 7/5/17 but I feel as though I've been on here for five or ten years already. : ) Thank you for your support, Robyn!
Great post. For me writing fiction is more of a hobby than an attempt at making money so things like steemit, but also cryptocurency donate links on my author page are a good way to allow me to make my ebooks free of charge, while still making some money to fund my editing costs. Would be amazing if I could find a good editor on steemit willing to be payed in STD and/or Dogecoin (somehow the dogecoin users seem more generous with respect to considering making micro donations than the Bitcoin and ZCash users, who as far as 'my' experience goes, don't donate). To bad there really doesn't seem to be a way to make a donate button or link for steemit at the moment. I am currently posting chapters from my old novelettes on steemit and playing a bit with provoking some feedback by writing out a feedback lottery, but so far the idea isn't catching on yet (zero in 3 days). But then maybe with just 30 followers, what do I expect.
One additional thing I think steemit might enable is a way to value the now greatly undervalued beta reader. A real high potential platform for indie authors IMO, all it needs now is a good way for parties to find each other, such as authors and beta readers or authors and editors or cover artists looking to either make some STD.
You have a lot of great ideas. Have you tried PeerHub.com? It's like eBay, only you can sell products or services for Steem. I assume you could probably request services like beta readers as well. You could probably easily find beta readers once you grow your audience a bit more. Steemit communities will be launching soon and it should address many of these things you mention (and more). Thanks for your comment!
Thank you!
Good luck with your book mate :)
Thanks!
great suggestions for my next book in this post! thx so much. this creates a new prospective on the promotion of books!
You're welcome! This platform really forces you to think it different ways, just one of the reasons I love it.
Hey Eric! I'm just coming across your book now and will check out what you've released here on Steemit.
I'm an author as well and have been wondering about how Steem might transform the marketing side of things (which, outside of this platform, for me, was quite exhausting). So this is all amazing news!
Did your publisher mind that you released work here? How does that work contractually?
Hi, Jessica - This was all pretty eye opening to me to analyze everything a week after the book launch. I self-published on Amazon so I retain all my own rights. I tried the traditional publishing route once a few years ago and will never go down that road again, it was an awful experience. Best of luck to you with your writing!
Ah, I see! I think Steemit would work best if you're going the self-publishing route (and there's lots of good reasons to do so--that's for sure).
I published with a mid-sized literary press and had a great experience and the opportunity to work with an editor that I deeply respect.
Mid-sized presses can be a mixed bag, but that's better than the large presses, where the experience is (in my circle of friends) uniformly in the bad-to-awful range. You asked a great question here, and your perspective with a mid-sized house is valuable. Thanks for sharing.
Eye opening information. Certainly challenged my previous assumptions. I can see where the economics of things favors publishing your work on Steemit, at least in the beginning. Thanks!
I hope the information helped you. Thanks!
It did help indeed. I was thinking of testing the waters of self publication using Amazon, but from what I understand now, I am better off doing it right here on Steemit. Makes sense. Peace!
You can always do both too, this is what I did with this last launch. Thanks!
A well rounded opinion from one of the most reputable authors at steemit. Re-steemed and up-voted eric. Cheers my friend.
Thank you so much for the support!
I think it's already is. Ever since I've discovered Steemit I was thinking to publish webnovels on it.
Most of my posts are centered around writing poems, short stories and webnovels chapters.
I truly believe Steemit is a good launching ramp, because you can learn and experiment, while earning some rewards for your work as well.
Novels work well on this platform, as long as they're broken down into manageable chunks. When I was releasing my novel last year I tried to keep the posts to around 1k to 1.2k words and always end on a cliffhanger, this seemed to help.
It's critical to experiment, since the platform is new, and see what can be made from it. There are all sorts of attempts out there, and learning what works for other people can be valuable. I'll be watching. Thanks for the info.
You're welcome!
Thanks for the informative post, Eric. I’m trying to get my fantasy novel some views here on Steemit, but it seems impossible without a huge following in place.
You're welcome! It's difficult at first. I would suggest trying the #postpromotion channel in Steemit chat. You can share links in there. Thanks for your comment!
Thanks a lot, i'll look into it!
Having self-pubbed four books on my own, I'm very interested in what you've discovered here. I hadn't actually thought about Steemit as a promotion platform--shows just how new I am here--and this post is GOLD for an author. I'll be following, and can't wait to read your book.
I'm glad you found this information helpful. I'll continue to share tips as I experiment and learn more. I know how tough it is to be an indie author, I struggled for over 20 years so I'm happy to help others.
I'm only at the beginning of the struggle, though I've been making a living writing for some years now. I need all the advice I can get.
Do you get a lot of clickthroughs on your connect with me links on the bottom of each of your posts too? I like to get a few non fiction books out to start and then maybe venture into fiction when I have improved my show not tell standard of writing. Thank you for being a great author role model.
I get about a 2-3% clickthrough rate on average. I'm really building my mailing list (via Mailchimp), which makes be happy. A mailing list independent of social media is the most valuable thing an indie author can have, it really is more important than anything else. You're so welcome. Thank you for following me!
Awesome post! I was just talking to my mum (a fiction writer) about this the other day, to get her to sign up for steemit (which she has now done!). From what I've seen, it looks like cyptocurrency and the blockchain will have an impact on many professions in addition to the arts, including lawyers, and potentially even doctors. This is a very exciting time to be on Steemit :)
Thank you! How awesome that you talked your mother to join Steemit! What is her user name? I agree...blockchain is going to totally transform our society in ways we haven't yet even realized.
Thanks! Agreed! It's @jenniferhosein :)
This is exactly why I decided to join steemit. I appreciate an accomplished author like yourself sharing your experience. It gives a newcomer like me that extra motivation that is so important in the beginning. I also have chosen to begin posting chapters to a book I'm working on as well. Steemit motivates me to write more regularly. Thanks again!
You're very welcome! You won't regret posting your fiction here. Best of luck to you!
Hi Eric, it's great to read about your experimentation and success. Further to what you wrote, I have a suggestion for you. I think it might be worthwhile to lower the price of your books when you "launch" them on Steem to give fellow Steemians an opportunity to buy your book at a discount. This would undoubtedly increase your sales and push your books up the Amazon rankings, which could lead to more sales. Just a thought =)
Thanks for the suggestion, @livewell! I'll give this a try.
Hmmm, interesting , very interesting...But it is necessary to take into account the steem inflation that is making my voting power fall more than 10% every day.
Great topic and post! I agree, Steemit can definitely play a positive role in book marketing. I released my first story on Steemit (about 1 year ago) chapter-by-chapter before later self publishing it. The positive feedback I got from members of the Steemit community kept my excitement for writing going for 2 more books, and some short stories as well!
Good luck to you on your future writing endeavors! :)
I'm very happy to see this, as this is what I'd like to ultimately do as well. How often did you publish your chapters? How long were they? What was the engagement (comments, upvotes, etc.)? Anything you can tell me would be wonderful.
Nice post!
Thanks, @blow!
STEEM is a very useful platform for anyone looking to create their own content :)
You can not count as if you have earned 5k though when half of it would be steem power you need 2 years to withdraw.
It doesn't take 2 years to withdraw, only 13 weeks.
It takes 3 months.
That book should be great.. nowadays use steemit is the best way.. compare rob wordpress
We're on the same page here. In the future, the strong will prevail and the weak will fall behind but not totally. That's why I love steemit. Even if you're a small fry you can still try hard at it. You just got to put in the time and effort. Always give and you shall be rewarded. That's what I've learnt over using steemit. Thanks for sharing! Cheers! FOLLOWED! UPVOTED!
#follow4follow
yes i believe steemit is now the future of self publicity.
I first see your post and learn more than reading many other posts! Thanks you!
That's great! Thanks!
This is awesome I am so happy for you and glad your hard work payed of.
Thanks @stardust!
So funny to read this right now as last night, I was thinking about putting out installments/chapters of one of my novellas I had written here on Steemit just to see what would happen. I am intrigued. So based off what you had written, would you encourage putting out a series of chapters/installments? Would love to hear your thoughts. P.S. following because you are a fellow author :)
I'm posting this to follow the response. You've asked a great question.
Thanks for sharing the Potential of Steemit :)
You're welcome!
I found that when you shared parts of your book, you gave me the opportunity to get, not only a sense of the book, but gave me a sense of you as a person. Because of this, I was more compelled to buy your book. By sharing and giving, it is amazing how much it makes the flow of success more achievable. I think once you obtain those good Steemit followers, they will, more times than not, support you openly and freely. I am very happy with your success on Steemit! Congratulations!!!......Cabbagepatch
Steemit is the new way to go when it comes to social media. I hope people will realise their time is valuable. Thank you for sharing.
Congrats on finding a worthy platform for your work. Steemit will open doors for so many creators. As a filmmaker I am looking forward to seeing the development of steem and an internal video platform! Best of luck!
@ericvancewalton, I am so happy to read your blog. I love books and read them a lot. I also meditate a bit and so now I need your book, "The perfect pause". I live in India and let me see if I can source it through Amazon.
I will follow you so that I can read some nice e-books free of cost :)
Thank you. your blog made my day !!!
Very good article. I think that's the plan for mayn people like myself. I've been pushing some of my Podcast for several years now and not really been making anything. This is the first time I've seen some real payout is on this platform. The thing about it is too, that my podcasts are good, but just don't bring in the attention from Youtube that STEEM can give me.
Great post Eric! This seems like an interesting and profitable way to promote new books. I'm sure this is going to work well for many other industries as well. :)
Very interesting to read this; thanks for sharing your experience.
My wife has been considering whether or not "serializing" her (non-fiction) book on Steemit would be a viable thing to consider, and you've answered a lot of questions here. Granted, she has nowhere the Steemit following you do, but it still seems like it would work out a lot better than (for example) trying to get a lift through somewhere like Patreon, with follow-up promotions through other channels.
It seems really hard to persuade Facebookers to do anything more than "like" something, so it makes sense to put your effort someplace where such "likes" (aka upvotes) actually give you a monetary benefit.
I'm curious as to how much the existing following matters, and how much the serialization of the book will generate new followers. I tried something a while back that did not work, but I don't know if it would have if I'd kept at it. If your wife does do this, please make sure you tag me so I can follow along.
Steemit has it's revolutionary moments and your book launch reveals such potential for authors. Thanks for sharing your process so that other authors can learn and follow your lead. And congratulations on your early success, lots more to come!
Thanks for sharing your info. I tried Facebook ads similarly to you - and also found it to be expensive and not worth it. Steem is a game changer.
How do I find myself a great group of beta readers too? (I just signed-up today!)
Publishing is such a hassle - Steemit really cuts out the middle man.