2020 Publishing Nostalgia
2020 Was a rough year. Personally, it was at least the equivalent of scratching your nails across a chalk board that extended way too far into December. Thankfully, being a largely digital business, the Government-imposed lockdown was not the worst thing that could have happened to us. In fact 2020 saw our self-publishing community further swell by another 68 authors – our highest ever in a single year since our doors swung open in 2012.
Let’s jump into some numbers.
2020 at a glance
How many authors did we help in 2020?
68 in total. (Brings our total to 346 authors since our business was birthed in 2012.)
How does that stack up against 2019?
In 2019 we were able to level-up to 62 authors. This means 2020 saw 6 extra authors get their hair blown back.
Breaking down your 68 authors by gender?
36x Female.
32x Male.
What was the split of fiction or non-fiction with the books you helped publish?
41x Non-Fiction.
22x Fiction.
The reason the above does not match our 2020 tally is because some of the 68 authors were helped through steps like website design or private author coaching where there is no specific genre/ book (yet.)
How many authors that you helped had more than just the one book?
6x authors were working with multiple titles.
Right, now for those especially nerdy readers …
Breakdown of publishing services
ISBN Applications = 180x
Customised BLURBs written = 7x
This is where we craft the books sales blurb used to sell your book on Amazon. Can also be used on a book’s back cover.
Manuscripts EDITED = 12x
ILLUSTRATIONS (illustrated?) = 6x
When I say 6, I mean 6 different books, most containing multiple illustrations. These were largely illustrations used within the pages of children’s books. See some of the recent designs on our Facebook Business Page here.
Book COVERS designed = 36x
This includes both eBook & paperback versions. See some of our tasty cover designs on our Facebook Business Page here.
Book INTERIORS professionally designed (aka Typesetting) = 33x
If you are reading this, no – exporting from Word to PDF does not count as typesetting. Sis.
PoD Treatments = 6x
You might already have a book designed from some time back, but now you want your paperback to be made available from Amazon for sale globally. This step sees us tweak the book interior and cover measurements of your existing paperback to ensure Amazon compatibility.
eBOOKS Created = 57x
This number consists mostly of reflowable .ePUB & .MOBI files we created. (These are eBooks that easily shape to fit any screen size.) There were a handful of fixed-layout eBooks created, these are specifically done for books with a visually intense interior, normally children’s books for example.
eBook PUBLISHED to Amazon = 54x
Self-explanatory right?
Print on demand PAPERBACKS PUBLISHED on Amazon = 31x
Years ago authors were able to publish a paperback via the Createspace platform online. These paperbacks were made available worldwide. No stock was required either as orders would be printed from the print-ready files supplied to the platform. Small orders would also be no problem, this explains the term print on demand. All-in-all a very useful technology for those authors looking to get their paperback into the hands of far-away readers. More recently Amazon purchased Createspace. This means that aside from selling your eBook, Amazon is now able to seamlessly sell your paperback format too.
eBooks published via EXPANDED DISTRIBUTION stores (Google, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo…) = 12x
Amazon is the biggest store when it comes to global eBook sales. That said there a number of international competitor stores, that although much smaller in reach, can also be an option for an author looking for maximum distribution. For those South African authors reading – I don’t consider TakeAlot a viable solution as a distribution platform. Go global, always.
Author WEBSITES DESIGNED = 4x
Feeling clicky?
Audiobooks PUBLISHED = 2x
This was an exciting new avenue for us – being able to take existing audiobook files recorded at an acceptable quality and have them distributed into multiple online audiobook retailers – including Amazon’s Audible platform.
How many complete publishing packages sold?
We offer author publishing packages where we provide and guide the eager author through each and every step, targeting a specific book format. In return for allowing us to guide you from beginning to end, the package is discounted.
7 x Amazon Warrior* Packages
17 x SpellSword** Packages
* Amazon Warrior = Our package for an author looking for an eBook-only approach to publishing.
** SpellSword = Our most popular package that includes both a physical paperback as well as a digital eBook version being created with both formats are then published to Amazon.
Positive Feedback Shared
Our Facebook Page currently lists 66 reviews with an average of 4.9 out of 5 stars.
2020 saw us get these kind words from our authors
- 9x new Facebook recommendations. See here.
- 7x new YouTube Testimonials from authors. (See our favorite bit of feedback below.)
- 7x new reviews on our Google Business Page. See here. (This is a really powerful new feature we recently set up. Let me know if you wanted to know more about how to optimise this page for your own business?)
2021 Motivations
Looking forward to 2021, assuming we don’t all get wiped out by a meteor impact or the zombie apocalypse…here is our MYeBook wishlist.
- Target of 100 new authors joining our existing community.
- Streamlining our existing self-publishing experience even further.
- Reaching at least 100 new subscribers on our growing YouTube channel for authors. (Visit here and subscribe!)
Much love to the weird & wonderful MYeBook Team – This journey would be less awesome without you.
Dave – Ringleader of the MYeBook self-publishing team | Voted least favourite sibling at the 2020 family gathering.