Frontlist vs Backlist
A constant question that indie authors ask is which is more important – backlist or frontlist? Of course, we should define the terms first. “Frontlist” is books that came out recently. “Backlist” would be the older stuff. For me, as of December 2021, GHOST IN THE SUN would be frontlist, while an older book like SOUL OF TYRANTS from 2011 would be backlist.
Granted, this is something of an obsolete term, since it originated in the bad old days of traditional publishing when publishers would “list” their books. That said, it’s still a useful idea. Do new books generate more sales than old ones for an indie author?
I always thought new books sold better, but determining exactly how much would have been too difficult. But with Scribecount, I can track book sales to a granular enough level that I can determine exactly how much of book sales came from new books, and how much came from old books. So I set out to determine how much of 2021’s book sales came from books published in 2021, and how much came from books I had published earlier.
If was going to guess, I would have said that 40% came from new books, and 60% from the older ones.
However, the numbers told a different story. In 2021, 21.57% of my book sales came from new stuff, and 78.43% from older books. I was not expecting that!
Here’s how it broke down on the new books. Obviously, a book that was out longer had more chances to gather sales than a newer book.
Dragontiarna: Visionary (January 10th, 2021) – 4.62%
Avenging Fire (January 30th, 2021) – 0.005%
Ghost in the Talisman (February 8th, 2021) – 2.3%
Dragontiarna: Storms (April 5th, 2021) – 4.25%
Ghost in the Lore (May 5th, 2021) – 2%
Dragontiarna: Warden (June 13th, 2021) – 3.95%
Cloak of Blades (July 22nd, 2021) – 1.57%
Covering Fire (August 11th, 2021) – 0.002%
Silent Order: Royal Hand (August 23rd, 2021) -0.0079%
Dragonskull: Sword of the Squire (October 1st, 2021) – 1.65%
Ghost in the Sun (November 8th, 2021) – 1.22%
What conclusions can we draw from this?
1.) First, it’s helpful to write in a really long series if possible. When I release a book in a new series, it lifts up the older books as well. The reason that the CORMAC ROGAN books were so comparatively low, for instance, was because that there was only two of them and they couldn’t augment the rest of the series because there isn’t one yet.
2.) It’s also a good idea to improve your backlist with updated covers and descriptions whenever possible. I went through several iterations of the CLOAK GAMES and CLOAK MAGE covers before I found a set that really seemed to click with the readers.
3.) It’s also a good idea to advertise the backlist. I’ve posted “monthly return” totals on advertise before, where I say, for example, that for every $1 I spent advertising CLOAK GAMES, I got back $3.98 or so. A long series also makes turning a profit on ads much easier. In fact, I will be running a sale on GHOST NIGHT OMNIBUS ONE next week.
4.) Write more books! That’s the way to get a long backlist. As with all things, time, patience, and effort can effect great changes.
5.) I think it’s better to be an indie author than a traditionally published one because you have far greater control over your books. It’s a lot easier to run sales and generate book sales from older books when you’re indie than when you are traditionally published.
And, of course, as always, thanks for reading, everyone!
-JM