Inkshares Community discussion

Hi, I'm new and so will not spam you about how awesome Shizzle, Inc is...or that it is on sale for $0.99c on 10-11 October...

Instead, just wanted to let you know that I'm blogging about self-publishing, and have just published an enormous list of free and paid advertising resources, complete with my notes on the ones I've tried: http://anaspoke.com/2015/10/08/the-mo...

It's a great resource both for writers who need to promote their books and for readers who want to find free or bargain books.

Thanks Ana - are you on Inkshares - or planning to be?

This list is awesome. Thank you, Ana!

You're welcome :-) thank you very much, it was a lot of work, and more work to be done...

Cool thanks!

I just followed your FB page - says it only has 6 likes 7 now - that can't be right?

https://www.facebook.com/Ana-Spoke-39...

Oh, I need to delete it! I only maintain Twitter (spokeana) and blog (anaspoke.com). Over 25k followers on those two :-)

Ok, followed @spokeana, I'm @RFSaunders

Just followed you back :-)

Ana, with your following and "Likeability" factor, you would do very well as an Inkshares author - it has many benefits over self-publishing.

Once you reach your crowdfunding goal, you end up with a Real Publisher but with a better royalty structure than Random House!

Inkshares is attracting big name writers to their format including Daniel Wallace and Gary Whitta.

They are backed by Venture Capital and the Publisher (Larry Levitsky) has a LOT of street cred in the industry. They have the capability to get their books into bookstores around the world (assuming your product meets the standards of the aquisition managers at the stores)

Fair or not, self-pub still has a stigma and most stores & wholesalers won't look at that market.

Inkshares; along with proving that you can grow a pre-sales following validates our work in a way that self-publishing most often doesn't. That validation helps open doors for interviews, publicity, reviews etc.

(and no, I don't work for Inkshares:-) I'm just one of the writers who has successfully funded a campaign there and I believe in what they are doing.

Interesting! Thank you for letting me know - I will look more into it. For now, I love the freedom to make all decisions myself, and to experiment with marketing, etc. do they make a book available on all platforms?

Yes, and you have much more freedom than you would with a big 5 publisher. The editors are there to make suggestions but you have the final say on all decisions.

As far as marketing goes, even with the big houses nowadays, the author is expected to pitch-in, so experiment away!

My book comes out on December 1 and I chose to do a hardcover and an eBook version - of course the eBook is available on Kindle, Nook, Mobi or whatever format a customer might want.

Gary Whitta, (one of the screenwriters for the new Star Wars movie) chose to publish with Inkshares because of the freedoms allowed, attractive royalty structure etc.

I would be very interested to know how you go with your sales! So far I've invested about $3k Australian into professional editors, etc, and I'm doing my own marketing - but I get to keep 70% of royalties

You get your "crowd" to place pre-orders and once you hit your funding level the pre-order sales cover the editing, production and marketing expenses. Well, they don't actually completely cover them, but that level of pre-sale success gives Inkshares confidence to pick up the other expenses involved.

So basically, you aren't spending any of your own money. You get 70% of Gross sales for eBooks and 50% for hardcover or paperback.

In addition to the people you bring in to support your project, the site has its own growing list of readers who get bonus credits that allows them to buy your book.

Inkshares has to eat their expenses and recoup them from their 30% -50%, which reduces their Net.

Heck, don't judge Inkshares by my sales:-) My book could suck!

Gary Whitta's book came out in July and has sold over 8,000 copies - the upcoming holiday season could boost that by a lot.

Watch "HERB", which will be released in November. It's likely to be Inkshares first best-seller. It pre-sold nearly 4,500 copies so far.

Inkshares also has a relationship with United Talent Agency, (Google them!) so you get looked at for possible representation for movie rights, TV rights, speaking engagements, etc.

Bottom line is that you STILL have to be Amazing and have a great book; but if you do, Inkshares is an attractive platform to get in front of the right people.

They only started publishing last Spring, so it is very early in their evolution - I think it's just a matter of time before one of their authors breaks out into the big-time mainstream.