As an author, you'll be asking is it better to write one book or a trilogy? This is something to really think about when you are going to sell your books. Learn about the secrets on how to get more sales.
Before I get started with answering today's question, I want to let you know that the fourth answer to this question is a secret that may nearly double the revenue you are getting from your books and it's related to this question.
So let's get into it right away. The question that was sent to me today was, is it better to write one book or a trilogy? This is an excellent question because there are risks associated with either way that you go with this one.
You're writing a series of books and you're thinking, maybe I should write with 3. Obviously, maybe I'll get more readers who will read from one to the next. But if I write with 3, maybe they'll stop somewhere in the middle and then I'll get a huge drop off on the later books.
It's a very good question. We see writers who do well in writing single books and others who do well in writing a series of books. So where you're following through.
Before I answer the question, check out my free Self-Publishing Secrets Checklist. I think you will find that to be very helpful.
So let's start with my story. When I first started self-publishing, coming out with books or semi-unrelated, they were productivity books and things along those lines. That was when somebody introduced me to the secret of grouping them together and selling them as a group.
Check out this related article: How Many Books Do You Need To Sell To Make A Living?
The beauty of that is instead of only having 1 book on Amazon, or let's say 3 books on Amazon, I could sell the 3 by grouping it together, batch them together as a bundle and sell it on Amazon. The bundle then would have the ability to also serve as a book on its own.
That was a strategy that was introduced to me early because then, you would have that bundle. And then as more books are released on the market, you would have additional bundles that you would be able to do.
But there are some downsides to this. Let's get into the answer. So the answer is, it depends upon whether your writing fiction or nonfiction.
Now, for fiction, it can be a little dangerous. Because if your first book does not attract enough readers, nobody's going to want to start on your second or third book in a series, in your trilogy. So, this is a very important one.
Don't Mix Fiction With Nonfiction
The quality of the first book is especially important. I have seen many books where I read the series, the first book is outstanding and then the following books are lower in quality.
Maybe they hire other authors singles for films but because you already invested in one or two of the books or films, you'll continue going.
So the quality of the later ones is not as critical. Not a great idea to write lower quality. But at the same time, there will be fewer readers who will get all the way through.
Those who do want to and enjoy reading that first book of yours, they are just going to keep plowing on through to the other books. This is another factor you are going to want to consider, how high of quality is your first book.
At the same time, it's a lot easier. You created a world, you created a character. If you're drawing people into that world, they're going to want to know more about it.
Check out this related article: Motivation To Create The Type Of Book You're Offering?
Many of the best-selling books and films, you'll see that it's a franchise. They keep coming out with one after another. Once you get a hit on the first one, that then, pushes and say, "Hey, can't we create a sequel and prequels and all sorts of things that we can go from there?".
Now, if you are writing a nonfiction book, then it's a no-brainer because you lose absolutely nothing by grouping and bundling your books together. And that brings us into your fourth secret.
The fourth secret here which is if you are bundling your books together, fiction, or nonfiction, you are making a huge mistake. Don't get me wrong. What we do is when we bundle let's say, this is particularly advantageous with the paperback books.
But for each book we add on to the bundle, we add a dollar. It's just that simple. So you have your initial price, let's say your Kindle book is $2.99.
If you throw an additional title on there, now it's $3.99. They could pay $2.99 for each of the separate books. You will still sell the separate books but when you put them together, now we can sell that for let's say $3.99.
It then makes a person think, maybe they should invest in paying $4 as opposed to $6 to get the same 2 books.
Learn How To Price
The fact is, this bundling psychology is huge and it's such a big deal. You need to always make sure that it does go up at least $1. If you see high levels of sales of particular bundles, well then, it's okay to raise the price even higher.
But you're never going to want to drop below your base price. And for Kindle, that would be around $2.99 for each individual book. Unless we are seeing a high level of sales then we might raise it from there.
Another thing to remember for the trilogy concept also is that we will want to make sure that first book, it may be free or $0.99 in order to pull people in.
If you are not able to drive enough traffic off of the others and once they get into your book and get hooked to you as a writer, they are going to want to read more and more and more of the books that you have written.
Check out this related article: Which Is More Profitable In General For Kindle And KDP Authors, Fiction Or Nonfiction?
But no matter what the case is, even if I have individual books but by the same author, same ghostwriter, same author that I have on the program, then we are always going to want to make sure that those books are in a bundle.
Because even if they are unrelated books but they are still like all science fiction or romance or mystery, by bundling them together by using correct price control on them within our sales on all the different platforms.
We are going to ensure that we are going to make the highest number of sales possible for those books that we are selling. So, this is a thing and I don't want you to miss that fourth point. That secret there, it is that if you aren't bundling books today, you're losing money.
Maybe you're losing half the money you could make. Otherwise, I see a large number of my sales specifically going to the bundles. Maybe half of my revenue comes from bundles.
So if you are not bundling it together, how much money are you losing? Why don't you tell me a little bit about what have you found? Have you already earned from one book or a trilogy?
Go ahead and let me know. Also, check out my other blogs and videos to see more answers to your questions and self-publishing needs.