October 2024 was my strongest month since December 2021, even though my Bookbub Featured Deal didn’t quite live up to expectations. Fortunately, it still gave my books some momentum on Amazon, which has become the main place where my sales matter. The results from Apple, my second best platform was better than an average day, but it was pretty lackluster for what I expect during a Bookbub Featured Deal. That performance helped me decide to move my books into Kindle Unlimited, and it forced me to rethink whether sticking to platforms that rely on free books is worth it.
Why Kindle Unlimited?
My books are all now in Kindle Unlimited (KU), and here’s why: people can read my books, and I still earn from it. On other platforms, I’m often just giving away free books, and I haven’t seen enough of a return to justify it. For instance, my experience with Kobo Plus has been disappointing. Since it launched in 2021, I’ve only made a few dollars, barely recouping any promo costs. So, aside from a few remaining pre-orders, I won’t be publishing on Kobo Books in the near future.
Leveraging Promotions and BookFunnel
I recently ran author generated promotions for both my mystery and romance series (think Stuff My Kindle promos), and the romance side was especially successful—it felt like a paid ad but cost nothing because I collaborated with other authors. I’m also doing BookFunnel promos with authors in KU, which has been a great way to reach KU readers and build my audience on that platform. Essentially, Kindle Unlimited is a different ecosystem than the rest of the Kindle store.
K-Lytics Subscription – Game Changer
One major factor in my October success was using K-Lytics reports. I’ve been watching Alex Newton’s seminars and making small adjustments that yield great results. For instance, after applying a tip from the Christmas Romance report, my Christmas romance title saw an immediate boost. Investing in a K-Lytics subscription is on my Christmas wish list!
Exploring Virtual Voice Audiobooks
Amazon’s virtual voice audiobooks have been another highlight. They’re significantly more affordable than traditional narration, and readers don’t seem to mind at all. Since Amazon bundles the e-book and audiobook at a discounted rate, I’ve been able to earn a steady income here, unlike on platforms like Apple, where sales are sparse.
Rethinking Freebies and Reader Expectations
My strategy going forward is all about giving value to genuine readers. I’m no longer giving away entire books for free. Instead, I offer sample chapters. If readers enjoy them, they can continue on KU. I’m also running my own promotions where I control what readers see and engage with. For new subscribers, I’m shifting to shorter welcome emails—something I’ve found more effective than traditional autoresponders.
Looking Ahead
My focus now is to reach consistent four-figure months and beyond, and I’m pushing myself to release a new book every 30 days. My goal is to have my first cozy mystery with an editor by mid-November and to publish it once the second one is ready. It feels good to be back on track after a rough patch where I even considered returning to a day job, but my husband encouraged me to stick with it, and I’m so glad I did. Now, my confidence and my sales are on the rise, and I’m optimistic about what’s to come in 2025.
It’s always exciting to get a Bookbub Featured Deal and after a two year drought, I finally got one! This time the fourth book in the Sylvia Wilcox series was featured for free. Here are the stats:
At the time of the Bookbub, all books in the series were wide. Unfortuantely, as has been the case over the past two years, returns on wide platforms were not great. In fact, Kobo was so dismo that I’ve decided to not publish direct to that platform for now. I will still use Draft2Digital to add books to Kobo when they are wide, but I will not waste time with the promotions, or going direct. Why? Well, there are many reasons. Here are the most important ones:
In addition to the Bookbub, I paid for a ten dollar Kobo promotion. So, between the Bookbub and the Kobo promotion, I made less than $2.00. This has been an ongoing problem with Kobo. Their subscription service is dismo for authors and book sales are non-existent. I think I may have exhausted the readers that are interested in my books on that platform. While that may sound far-fetched at first, if we analyze this idea a bit, there are reasons to think this might be the case. First and foremost, my books are very American. I write about places like Detroit and the Utah desert. New York City and Los Angeles, two large cities often featured in books that do very well internationally, don’t figure into my stories. Kobo doesn’t have a large readership in the United States which is the main audience for my books.
Barnes and Noble was okay, but I think it really is a store that is more in tune with readers who read physical books. Yes, I know Nook is a thing, but how much of a thing is it? There always was a major glitch a few years ago that lasted for several months and honestly, nothing has been the same with Barnes and Noble since that time. Now I’m focused on paperbacks and hardcovers at Barnes and Noble. The sales following the Bookbub were not impressive, so I will focus on physical books there.
Google Play is another store I might strike from my publishing list. My sales were better than they were on Kobo, but that’s a tiny feat. There also always seem to be emails from Google about how I need to do something in my account. Usually, it isn’t something that makes sense, like change my tax info or something like that. Nothing has changed and after jumping through several hoops, Google usually says everything is fine. Why waste time dealing with issues when the amount of money I make from the platform is negligible?
Apple Books is a platform I will definitely continue to use. I really enjoy their promotions (which are free) and I have a good readership there. With that said, I have had trouble getting one of my romances published there because it has been marked as explicit. It has one kiss in the entire book. It’s a clean and wholesome romance, but I can’t seem to get Apple to understand this. Their publishing portal is nightmarish and isn’t worth the time it takes to post books. BUT the readership is good there, so I will publish early on Apple before putting my books in Kindle Unlimited.
New Marketing Strategy
The Bookbub helped me achieve my best month in sales since late 2021, and I am so grateful, but it also signaled that it’s time to change strategies. Bookbubs are good for building readership on non-Amazon platforms and I appreciate all my readers out there, but the fact of the matter is that most of my readers are on Amazon. Not just more but the overwhelming majority are on Amazon. What would happen if I really leaned into Amazon? I don’t know because I’ve never done that, but my new marketing strategy incorporates Kindle Unlimited in a big way.
Preorders will be available on my store. This will provide an opportunity for anyone on my newsletter that doesn’t use Amazon to buy copies of my books. After the preorder phase, I will publish the first book or any new series for a few weeks before pull the book and putting it in Kindle Unlimted. I’ll designate $500 for each new release for advertisement and I will do a few author swaps around the time of release. Within 30 days, the next book will be published and I will give it the standard $500 worth of advertising dollars. But once we get to book three, I’m going all out. $1000 ad budget to market the trilogy. If I can get a Bookbub, great. If not, I’ll run pay per click ads on Bookbub and Amazon. I’ll do four author swaps—one each week—and regular social media posts.
The first book that will get this treatment is the last book in the Sylvia Wilcox series. For that book I will throw $500 in ads at the book, see if it sells on the wide platforms, and move it into Kindle Unlimited a few weeks after release. My December release will be the first book in a new series, so it will be the one that gets the full new marketing strategy. I’ll be sure to document the results here.
Since publishing my first book in 2019, I’ve learned a lot It’s been an uphill battle, with ups and downs. I did experience success during the pandemic, but as the world returned to normal, things slowed down—a reality that makes sense, as a friend put it: “Anyone could make it in 2020 and 2021.” His point was that everyone was at home, governments were sending out money, and people had disposable income. Even those who hadn’t read a book in decades found themselves glued to their Kindles.
Scores of people signed up for my newsletter and read my books. Some of them told me they hadn’t read a novel since high school, but they found solace in books during the lockdowns. Just as pet adoptions surged during the pandemic, book readership soared when people had nowhere else to go. However, as soon as the world reopened, many returned their pets, and people stopped reading as much. For me, October, 2024, is the best month I’ve had since December 2021, mainly because I’ve shifted my approach, focusing on what works instead of experimenting. While experiments are fun, they make it hard to sustain a career.
Here are five key lessons that have shaped my career:
1. Wide vs. Exclusive: Eggs In One Basket vs. Many Baskets And Few Eggs
While I advocate for going “wide” (publishing across multiple platforms), it may not be the best strategy for new authors. Many successful “wide” authors initially built their audiences on Amazon before expanding. If you’re starting in 2024, the advice to go wide from the get-go may be unsound. The global economy is tight, and readers are looking for value. Kindle Unlimited (KU) attracts readers with a subscription model, allowing them to access tons of books for one low price—especially valuable for readers consuming 9-10 books monthly.
Additionally, free books on wide platforms have become harder to promote. A recent free BookBub promotion I had did well on Amazon, but it flopped on other retailers. While I can’t be sure if I’ve exhausted the readership on these other platforms, Amazon’s market share seems to be growing. The company continues to finds new ways to engage readers and encourage exclusivity. Although I don’t love exclusivity, I understand that it’s a great business model—for Amazon and, sometimes, for me.
The saying goes, “You don’t want all your eggs in one basket.” But can we talk about having a lot of baskets and too few eggs? My books are listed on platforms around the world, which is a great feeling, but does that matter if I never get a sale on those platforms? My books are available in libraries. So far, I’ve made less than $100 in four years from library checkouts. Amazon has continued to account for the vast majority of my income. Here’s a pie chart for Q1-Q3 of 2024
As you can see, the only players in the chart are Amazon and Apple. Does it help me to have my books on Kobo if I have only made $700 over the past five years? Not really. So the next time you hear about all your eggs in one basket, ask about having many basket and few eggs.
Here’s my strategy to spreading out the eggs and baskets. I have preorders on my Shopify store, paperbacks for sale, and a blog for readers. There are a few books readers can only get through my store, and I offer exclusive deals every quarter. It is also important to point out to the one basket folks that ebooks are just one part of the market. For example, This month 25% of my income has come from audiobooks. I was pleasantly surprised to see the pie chart further diversify. Special editions, Kickstarter campaigns, live events—the list is endless of ways you can use Kindle Unlimited and still have your eggs spread out in other baskets.
2. Preorders: Proceed with Caution
Preorders can work if you’re sure about meeting deadlines and have an established audience. They tend to perform best on Apple Books, followed by Barnes & Noble, but on other platforms, the results vary. Setting up multiple preorders can set you up for failure if sales don’t meet expectations. In my mystery series, I set up long-term preorders, but the series began to taper off after the fifth book, leaving me locked into writing books I wasn’t sure would sell well.
Canceling preorders is a bad idea, so I wrote the books, but I really should have just canceled the darn preorders. My heart wasn’t in the books, I saw the profit of the series waning and I was aching to move on to another story. Also, unless you have a large following, there is really no reason to put up a preorder on any platform, but this is especially true of Amazon. If you have a year long preorder for a book that gets ten or twenty preorders over that time, Amazon has learned that your book doesn’t sale.
The advice from wide authors is to set up preorders because that is what creates the longevity on wide platforms. This can be true, but it also locks you into a series that you might want to abandon.
For my new series, I’m only using preorders on my website, not on Amazon. This way, I maintain control and avoid the algorithm penalizing my book for low initial sales. I can promote preorders directly to my newsletter subscribers, who can get the book early, and then do a “cold” release on Amazon. This approach aligns with my goals and gives me the flexibility I need.
3. Paid Newsletter Promotions: Use Sparingly
Newsletter promotions are a good starting tool for new authors needing exposure, but relying solely on them is unrealistic long-term. This is another go-to piece of advice from the wide world. These lists often include readers looking for free or discounted books, and many won’t buy at regular price. As a result, repeat promotions start hitting the same readers who may not even have read the first download.
Free books are everywhere. Readers who simply like to read and aren’t choosy about what they read—as long as it’s free—tend to sign up for these newsletters. They often are sent to readers on a daily basis, which means there is a steady stream of free books being pushed to readers. It can make some feel like paying for a book is a travesty. Are these the people you want on your newsletter? Trust me when I say, no. They hang out and wait for freebies, don’t engage, and basically use you as a peddler of free books.
Using newsletters too often also tends to attract readers who rarely pay for books, making it harder to cultivate an audience willing to invest in your work. Newsletter promos can help initially, but as you grow, they should only be one small part of your marketing strategy.
4. Ads: Don’t Wait Until You Have Multiple Books
The advice to wait until you have multiple books to run ads was one of my biggest early hurdles. I relied on newsletter promos, thinking that paid ads required a backlist. I wish I’d run ads sooner, even with one book, instead of waiting and investing in expensive courses that didn’t yield results. The strategies in these courses often reflect what worked years ago, for authors with a large budget and backlist.
When I had one book, the stakes were lower, things were cheaper, and I could have been testing strategies. Instead, I listened to a few gurus and ended up with an expensive ads course that I studied for months. I thought it would be beneficial once I had three books. The truth of the matter is that it has never been useful. to this day, there is not one strategy from the super pricey, premium ads course that has worked for me.
While ad strategies vary, basics can be learned without breaking the bank. Kindlepreneur has a free course that helped me come up with strategies that helped me create a moderately successful ad. Also, Amazon’s own training materials are a good starting point, and with some trial and error, you can find an ad approach that suits your books and budget. Start after book one so that they strategy is sound.
5. Writing Conferences and Courses: Be Selective
Courses and conferences are a great way to learn, but not every option is worth the investment. I’ve spent thousands on courses that didn’t lead to any results. In hindsight, I should’ve ignored 99% of them.
Conferences focused on traditional publishing often center on finding agents, which isn’t helpful if you’re looking to sell directly to readers. Indie-specific conferences like the 20 Books to 50K conference (a personal favorite that’s sadly no longer around) and the Writing Gals’ conference are practical for indies. And then there are other courses and conferences that are actually just repeating things that have been explained on free podcasts and in much cheaper books. Before signing up for conferences or courses, look for a book that explain whatever topic you are working on. For example, if you want to open a direct store, skip the expensive courses. Buy a book and learn how to do that, or find the easiest way to complete that task. One of the things I initially regretted is opening a Shopify store. I should have stuck with Payhip because it was so much cheaper and easier. Now I’ve revamped my strategy and the Shopify store is coming in handy, but I honestly could have waited to open it.
The most beneficial conferences for me have been led by industry-savvy indie authors. They are often the writers you don’t hear too much from most of the time. Along the way they drop golden nuggets for writers, but most of the time they are running their businesses. For example, the Indie Inspiration Conference is low key, but it’s phenomenal and has become one of the conferences I plan to attend as long as it is held.
Choose your conferences and courses wisely. If you’re interested in conferences, look for ones that are given by author who have a proven success record in fiction—preferably your genre. But there is one exception. Romance writers’ conferences are often ahead of the curve, as romance authors are highly attuned to market changes and effective strategies. Even if you don’t write romance, these conferences have much to offer in terms of marketing and reader engagement.
Reflecting on my journey, I see how important it is to be discerning about advice. The market changes quickly, and what worked in 2020 or 2021 may not work now. Today, I’m focused on Kindle Unlimited, writing to market, and reaching six figures by October next year by publishing fast, promoting strategically, and making data-driven decisions.
Above all, trust your own research and listen selectively—no one has the definitive answer to success in indie publishing.
Over the past few months a few things have become clear. Some of the strategies indie authors used to attract readers in 2020 and 2021 started to fade away in 2022. For example, the much touted perma-free strategy that wide writers swore by between 2020-2022 isn’t nearly as effective in 2023. If you get a Bookbub, then it might work for a while, but in reality, you’re going to have to move on from promo newsletters, and that free book that is being downloaded by hundreds of folks, won’t ever be read by the majority of the people who have it stored away on their ereaders. I can’t speak for others, but I can share my experiences with the major derailment of my wide for the win strategies. It would be interesting to know how many others had similar experiences, but since this is such a heated topic, it doesn’t get as much play as it should in indie author groups. So, let’s have a candid conversation and look at the numbers from each platform.
First, let’s talk about 2021. It was the year I made more from my books than my teaching position. Of course, teachers don’t make a fortune and even though I have a master’s degree, each teaching position I took was a decrease in pay. So by the time I started publishing books, my income was super low. BUT I was able to make more than I made as a teacher from my books and that was super exciting. Here’s the breakdown of my numbers from 2021:
So what the heck happened??? First, we have to be realistic. 2021 was not a run of the mill year. People were in lockdown in various parts of the world and there wasn’t a lot to do. Many people picked up a reading habit to pass the time. When the world opened back up in 2022, sales started to dip and all those quarantine readers stopped opening emails and buying books. They had their lives back and reading shifted to the back burner, or the habit was thrown out all together. With those things in mind, I understand a drop off in sales, but I also know there are plenty of people out there who are reading several books a week. It’s just a little harder to find them now that the world has reopened. So where are the readers? Before we answer that question, we need to do a deep dive into to my experiences on the wide platforms.
Kobo
We’ll start with the platform I had the least amount of luck with during my wide excursion. There are in-house promo you can apply for, but out of the four I was able to get, I had zero sales. Two were free promos, so I wasn’t expecting direct sales, but I was hoping for some read-through. That didn’t happen. I can be sure of that because my sales were so far and few in between that I would definitely know if there was any read-through. Unfortunately, I had zero sales for the sales promos. My Kobo Plus earnings currently average about $7.00 a month and Kobo accounted for less than 2% of my sales for 2022.
A Word About Kobo Plus Expansion Into US and UK
The expansion of Kobo Plus is good news, but for someone who has an American audience, I don’t see Kobo Plus being of much use. I have used the system for Canada and a complete read-through of my 81,000+ word book resulted in 0.91. Kobo Plus pays based on minutes read, which is an interesting metric, and it makes it impossible to calculate potential earnings. Now that Kobo has expanded into the US market, I don’t know how useful it will be because most of my readers have no idea what Kobo is. Others want to know about the parent company. Is it an American company? Where is it located? Is it a new company? Do I have to buy a new device to use Kobo? Can download Kobo files to my Kindle? These are all questions we will have to tackle with our American readers, and while I am happy to answer questions, I think most readers are more comfortable with whatever platform they’ve already chosen. And honestly…I don’t recommend Kobo for readers or authors. The books are more expensive and the selection is lacking.
Overall, Kobo hasn’t been a profitable platform for me. I will publish on Kobo for a few weeks when I release books, but it’s hard to get my books off their platform when I want to pull them. In fact, you can’t delete your book if you want to take it down. You have to email Kobo and ask if they will allow you to remove your book from their platform. It also is difficult getting a hold of Kobo customer service if you need help.
Between August 2020 and June 2022, my income on Kobo went from a couple of hundred dollars a month to $5-$10 A month. By February 2023 when I removed my books from Kobo, I had not received a payment from them in seven months. That means I didn’t make the payment threshold of $50 in any of those months.
Barnes and Noble
I took a piece of advice from a self proclaimed wide guru that seemed to derail my Barnes and Noble royalties. In 2021 B&N accounted for 14% of my revenue. Unfortunately, it dropped to 9% in 2022 and some of the factors I’ve mentioned above contributed, but the biggest contributor to the drop off at B&N is the wide guru’s advice: Go direct to B&N.
While I’m a little bitter and resentful about this piece of advice, I have to take full responsibility for following through with it. I know B&N is known for extreme tech issues and I imagine that there is an old dinosaur of a computer behind the scenes, chugging along and just waiting for the next skilled hacker to sink their teeth into the antiquated system. Why do I think that? Well, back when I was NOT direct with B&N, I remember authors not getting paid for months because of a cyber attack. I was getting to B&N through Draft2Digital, so I still received payments each month, but some of the authors that were direct were in trouble because B&N was their number two platform. Writers spend money on advertisements, covers, and editing with the hope that future earning can be used to pay bills and start the next round of publishing. But if you don’t get paid, things can get hairy. The same is true of any business or job. You need to get paid. Sadly, this was not happen for B&N authors for a string of months.
So, I knew better but I trusted this person’s guidance and I switched to direct distribution with B&N. Immediately, the downloads of my perma-free stopped and sales dried up. This was odd. People download free books like crazy and the book had been getting at least a couple of downloads a day. I ran a few promos and even had a Bookbub. B&N was a big fat goose egg for all of those things. Nothing happened! I continued to check and the book was indeed listed and viewable on the site. I contacted B&N and they assured my everything was fine. What was happening??? I had no idea and B&N had no answers for me.
I started checking the book at random times and realized that the book was only visible some of the time. Other times, I couldn’t find it on B&N’s site. I tried to get to the bottom of things, but no one had any ideas what was happening. Eventually, I switched back to Draft2Digital and I started to see the trickle of my perma-free being downloaded again. My numbers never returned to where they were before the switch, but at least something was happening.
B&N Paperwork Fiasco
The first time I received a payment from B&N was January 2021. I should have received the first payment from them in November 2019 but because B&N wouldn’t accept my tax document, they just didn’t pay me or answer questions about what was wrong with the document. Eventually I deleted the document and the fourth time I uploaded, it went through without any problem. No idea what happened there but the B&N saga gets worse.
In November 2022 I decided to give B&N another try. Technology can be very fickle and I wanted to use the mythical promo tab that can only be acquired if you’re direct to B&N. So, I tried to publish my book. It was stuck in “pending” status for a couple days after which time I just uploaded the book to Draft2Digital. I went back to B&N to remove the book from the system but because it was “pending” I was not able to remove the book. Since the book was published to B&N on Draft2Digital, I moved on and forgot the book that was stuck. My sales were coming through on D2D so there was no reason for me to go back to the B&N platform. I forgot about the stuck book until I received an email from B&N letting me know that the book was published. When did that email arrive in my inbox? March 17, 2023. The book was apparently pending for five months. It’s a good thing I didn’t wait for B&N to get things straightened out. I would have missed out on sales and preorders.
Google Play
Google Play is easy to navigate but it seems to need a Bookbub to active sales. My royalties went from 5% in 2021 to 6% in 2022. There is a lot of learn about how the platform works and while I’m open to learning as much as I can about the writing business, there are only so many hours in a day. I tried to implement the tips and tricks people say they use to find success on the platform, but I never made more than a couple hundred dollars a month on the platform. After having a candid conversation with another wide author, she told me I was “killing it” on Google Play. Really? A few hundred dollars is “killing” it on Google Play?! Sadly, I think that’s true. If you make a couple of thousand dollars a year from Google Play, you’re probably doing okay on that platform.
Apple
The best non-Amazon platform for me is Apple. The perma-free strategy works well and read-through is good. But there’s one catch. Well, a few catches. First, you have the super secret nature of the platform. If you sign up for a webinar or meet a rep at a conference, they will share information about how to contact them. BUT even if you get the secret info, they will grill you about where you got the information if you decided to reach out for them. I’ve discussed this in a previous post so I won’t go too far into it, but the way they treated me really rubbed me the wrong way.
My revenue from Apple dropped from 33% in 2021 to 29% in 2022. Like I mentioned before, the perms-free strategy works well on Apple, but even so, sales were down. By mid-2022, it was clear that Apple was the only platform where the perma-free strategy was working, but it wasn’t as effective as it had been in the past. With that said, Apple Books is by far the best wide platform in my experience.
My Wide Income Fell Off A Cliff In 2022
As you can see, my wide income fell off a cliff in 2022. By March my income was down quite a bit and I was only making a couple of hundred dollars across all platforms. By June I started alternating my books in and out of KU. Why? Because there were a few months where my Amazon income accounted for 70% of what I was making. By the end of the year, I was only making money on Amazon and Apple. In February I started to hear wide authors say that they were going back to day jobs they’d left, or they were looking for jobs. Others confessed that they had gone back into KU and were making good money again. I was at a point where I felt like I might give up on writing, but my husband told me to take my time, figure it out, and not to worry about the money at this point. “Just analyze what’s going on and find a way forward.”
I made $174 in February. At that point, I decided that something had to change immediately. I put my books in KU in March, started going through all the information in the 20Booksto50K Facebook group, and came up with a strategy. Last month I made about the same as I did in February, but here on April 8th, I’ve already made half of what I made in March. I’m also working on Amazon and Facebook Ads and pushing direct sales of paperbacks. I feel great about being a writer again and I’m no longer trying to keep up with trends and tips for multiple platforms.
Let’s Be Wider
Is the answer throwing all your books in KU? Or should you be wide? I’m going to tell you the answer to both of those questions is yes, but I think direct sales is the real gold mine. My goal is 2023 is to be wider than the wide platforms. That means selling direct first, uploading to all platforms after that, and eventually moving into KU. If we’re ignoring readers who only read in KU, aren’t we missing out on a huge group of readers? I know all the arguments, but here’s a little something most wide authors don’t talk about.
Readers on wide platforms signed up for my newsletter from a the link in the back of my permanent-free. By that time they’ve already received a free book and the newsletter is free as well. I don’t think this is “training” readers to want free things. Instead, we’re simply tapping into the basic desire to get things for free. We want a deal. Once these readers were on my newsletter list, they weren’t really interested in buying additional books. Every now and then I send out free promos for other author’s books, and occasionally I have deal on my own books. The readers that read the free book and signed up for the free newsletter waiting patiently for the freebies. It’s not a bad strategy for readers, but it doesn’t benefit writers. So, is it better to be in KU or use a perma-free wide strategy. Again, the answer is both.
“Wide Readers” and “KU Readers” Want The Same Things
That’s right. I’m saying it. Readers are readers. They want good stories and a way to read without breaking the bank. KU is a subscription model that allows readers to binge series after series and perma-free books allow readers to try an author before they purchase a book. Authors earn money from page reads when they use KU and wide authors take a loss on book one in the hopes people will move on to the next book. While these strategies are different, they actually are very similar. Readers want a sample of your work before they move on to the rest of your books. Eventually, if they really like your work, they will purchase your books or check them out from the library. Either way, you win. You have a reader who is going to keep reading as long as you keep them entertained. Stop putting readers in boxes and saying silly things like “KU readers don’t buy books” or “Wide Readers buy books”. Neither one of those statements is true. There are just TOO many readers out there for us to make blanket statements, so let’s just stop it.
Free VS Page Reads
A perma-free goes out into the world and we never know how many books actually are read. There is no mechanism to track the book, so we’re just tossing it the wind. You may not see any read-through. In fact, the reader may never open the book. Or if they do read the book and decide to sign up for your newsletter, they may just hang out on your newsletter list looking for freebies. Why? Because everyone loves free stuff! It’s no secret that companies give out samples with the knowledge that the majority of people are never going to buy the product they’re advertising. The free sample is a loss leader to try to get customers into a brand. This is a tried and true method business around the world use on a regular basis, and it is is the strategy that helped me become a full-time author.
Page reads are not perfect but they do pay something and you can see that someone is actually reading your books. Of course, there is a trade off. You’re not going to make as much as you would from a sale, but you do make something. It bothers me to not know how many downloads I have when my books are in KU, but the bonus of this strategy is that if you grab readers who use KU they will read your entire series. I have to admit, most of the authors I see posting their six and seven figure revenue sheets are in KU. In the past there was always the question of how much did the author spend to get to that point, but now with TikTok and other less expensive advertisement opportunities, ad spend it down for some of the six and seven figure authors. Once again, both strategies we just discussed are valid ways forward.
A Last Word About Who You Learn From
One of the things I’ve noticed is that a lot of writers are offering courses and books to “help” other writers. While there are some I can honestly say truly helped me, beware of authors who offer courses and how-to books who aren’t currently publishing. 2023 is not 2020 or any other year. Authors who are pushing tips and tricks from the past do not know what is going on in the current publishing landscape. For example, the perma-free strategy was awesome in 2020 and 2021, but it started to wane in 2022. I know this was a wide spread issue because I’ve heard plenty of authors asking if perma-free is dead. The answer is no, it’s not dead, but there are a lot more perma-free books out there. That means a book that is always free might not have the same appeal that it used to. A book that normally has a price and has a free day here or there, might be a bit more appealing in 2023. If you haven’t published anything in a couple of years, you can’t know how the strategies that you used years ago work in present day.
This year I decided to sign up for two conferences. One, which I just completed two weeks ago, has already changed my author business for the better. The Indie Inspiration Conference by Elena Johnson was life altering for me. How did I manage to pick the perfect conference for me? Here are the questions I asked:
Does the author have a proven track record of success that includes hard numbers?
Answer: Yes. She has shared plenty of details about her writing success including hard numbers and detailed explanations about how she reached such heights.
Is the author a romance or mystery writer?
Answer: She writes romance, which is one of the genres I write.
Have I heard this author speak on writing topics? Was I inspired or educated by the talk?
Answer: Yes. I’ve watched several talks from 20Books and interviews. She’s fantastic! I am always inspired and educated by her talks.
Does she have a teaching style that fits my learning style?
Answer: She’s a phenomenal teacher.
Is the author where I want to be financially? Am I confident about that data?
Answer: I believe her income disclosures because she has shared data in the past and I see how popular her books are.
The other conference I am attending this year is 20Booksto50K. I am an introvert, but I think it is high time I get my butt out there and meet some author friends. So, I will be traveling to Las Vegas in November for the conference. By that time, I plan on being one of those authors who is sipping a drink and talking about how well my books are doing. Why did I pick 20Books? Because they have shown me the money. The authors that go to 50Books and present provide so much valuable information that I know I’ll get more than my money’s worth. I also want to make connections with other writers and I know that is the place to do it.
That’s all for now. How are you doing? Leave a comment and let me know. Until next time, cheers!
Most writers acknowledge that Freebooksy is a wonderful way to get your book in front of a lot of readers. I have had great success with Freebooksy and credit a random social media post they made about my first book as the thing that made me understand I had a future in writing. The only downside is that it was the only book I had at the time, but I received some newsletter sign ups, so there’s that. But Bargain Booksy hasn’t been good fr me in the past, but I thought I’d give it another try. I also added on Amazon and Facebook Ads for extra reach. Even though I have taken a lot of expensive Amazon and Facebook Ad courses, I haven’t seen any success with them. This is partially due to the fact that I don’t like spending time working on Ads—I’d rather be writing. I’ve decided to inch into Ads in 2023, but I also wanted to end 2022 on a bang, so I decided to sign up for the additional Written Word Media’s Facebook and Amazon advertising.
Jumpstarting A Dormant Brand
I have published seven mystery novels and while they have generated decent revenue, I feel like I should be making more at this point. I’ve also published two romance novellas, and to be honest, the romance audience is much more engaged and interested in what I have to say. My romance newsletter was neglected for almost two years because I was so focused on writing mysteries. However, when I emailed and said, “Hey! Sorry about the drought. Here’s a story…” Several readers wrote back and only a few unsubscribed. So last month I decided to pivot a bit. Maybe I should lean into the romance and write a mystery here and there. This decision was solidified after watching a K-lytics video about the self publishing market, and realizing that I personally want to write something happier. Now, just a month into the pivot toward my romance brand, my romance newsletter has surpassed the one I have for mystery. I saw that as a green light, so I decided to book a Bargain Booksy and see if I could get things going. At the time, Frozen Cowboy, the first book in my Friendly Valley Romance series ranked around 1.5 million in the U.S. Amazon store. I know about not wanting to make the algorithm mad by having a major jolt in one day, but it couldn’t be avoided in this case. Besides, I’m not exclusive to Amazon so I worry less about the platform’s whims.
Bargain Booksy requires a deal. I’ve tried the 2.99 price point before and didn’t have good results. This time around, I priced the book at 0.99 in all the big English speaking markets. That means I can only access the 35% royalty rate through Amazon, 45% on Kobo, the royalty rate is the same on Draft2Digital, but they also take a small amount because they’re handling distribution. Obviously a Bargain Booksy is something you want to run for exposure and gaining new readers. If you want a great return on investment, try Bookbub instead. So my goal was to revive my sweet romance brand. If I see a good ROI, I will be elated, but I went into this thing with my eyes wide open. I don’t know that I will profit from this venture, and that’s okay.
Read-ThroughRates
Read-through is hard to determine this early in the game because not everyone that buys a book reads it the same day. In fact, a lot of people grab books when they are on sale and save them for later. For example, I’ve been much busier than usual this holiday season, but there have been scores of sales on books, so I buy them even though I probably won’t read them until January. I also have three books checked out from the library, and they take priority over books I’ve purchased, These are books I’ve planned to read for a while and had to get on a waitlist to receive. I will try to knock them out over the next fourteen days (hopefully) but in reality I might end up returning one early simply because I won’t get to it. I am sure there are plenty of book lovers out there in similar predicaments, so at this point, the read-through to the second book on the first day of the sale was 18.5% which isn’t terrible since it was the Friday before Chanukah and a week before Christmas. What was even more encouraging was that 100% of people who went on to buy book 2, went on to preorder book 3. 75% of people who pre-ordered book 3 went on to preorder book 4 and 25% went on to preorder book 5. This is a decent result for a brand I haven’t paid much attention to in the past two years.
Romance books have lower price points than mystery, and this week I’ve seen a multitude of 0.99 boxsets with up to ten books! So when one book cost 0.99, some people simply aren’t going to buy it. The price jump from the book that’s on sale to book 2 is two dollars (2.99). Again, that’s a barrier for some readers, but others are not as price sensitive. This is a bonus of being wide. Apple readers seem to be least sensitive to price with Barnes and Noble readers being a close second. Kobo readers will spend money on books, but they’re more apt to do so if the books are in a boxset. Even so, I’d say that Amazon readers are the most price sensitive because of Kindle Unlimited.
With that in mind, I will be carefully watching sales over the next three weeks. Will there be a pick up in read-through after the holidays? Things tend to be a bit calmer for most people in the week between Christmas and New Years. It will be interesting to see if more readers move on to book 2 and the preorders during that time.
Constant Trickle of Sales
Since Frozen Cowboy hasn’t been selling at all in the past several months, I know that the sales I’m getting can be attributed to the advertising. The Bargain Booksy was $80 ($72 with my discount) and the Reader Reach Facebook Ad was scheduled to run for five days. It costs $150 and I received a 15% discount because I have a premium subscription, so I paid $128 which works out to around $26 a day. The Amazon Ad cost the same amount and it runs between 5-10 days. It takes longer for Amazon to spend the money, so if the ad runs for 10 days, that is quite a bargain!
The sales have been steady and my book is no longer completely invisible. This is a great outcome for me because the Facebook and Amazon Ads I’ve tried in the past don’t garner sales. Some people scoff at the Reader Reach Ads, but I’m a fan. When you look at the cost, it’s about what you would spend if you were creating the ads yourself, and since Written Word Media is constantly dealing with books and testing out what works, I trust their judgement.
The Verdict Is In
Bargain Booksy has been redeemed! It will now be a regular staple in my advertising hat. At this point, I think Frozen Cowboy will be 0.99 for a while to help get people into the series. I’ve signed up for another Written Word Media Ad in February but it is a Readers’ List Ad. Can’t wait to see how that goes!
When I run a free promotion on a book, I can change the price on every single platform except for Amazon KDP. Instead of have control over pricing, I must email—usually several times—before I can get the price removed on a book. After spending days hoping that Amazon will allow me to run a free promo on my book, the book finally is listed as free. The promo runs, it’s great and I go back to Apple Books, Google Play, Barnes and Noble, and every other platform and I move the price back to $3.99. Unfortunately, I can’t do that with Amazon. Once again I have to email them multiple times before the book’s price is restored. Why does Amazon do this? Because they want to control every aspect of the book market. Here’s another example.
Yesterday my Christmas novella paperback was priced at $5.43 in the morning. By the evening it was priced at $8.47, which is less than the list price of $9.99. When the book was priced at $5.43, there were eleven books in stock (according to Amazon). By the evening, there was only one book in stock. Where did the other ten books go? No idea, but I didn’t show any sales for that book yesterday. What does that mean? Most likely is means there is another seller, possibly Amazon, that is selling the book at a steep discount. Of course, this really hurts my bottom line. If we account for the extra four days the ebook I ran a promotion on was left free, because I had to wait for Amazon to decide it was okay for the price to be added back to my book, and the ten paperbacks that sold for $5.43 instead of the list price of $9.99, I’d say Amazon ripping me off.
These are just flukes, right? Well, here’s another tale. I released a new book on November 18th. The book was $3.99 for the launch. A few days later it went up to $4.99. Well, because when the book was released it was priced at $3.99, that’s the price Amazon is still selling it at, even though it is $4.99 everywhere else. So now I have to send emails to Amazon again to beg them to change the price to $4.99. In the meantime, that’s one dollar off my royalties for each book sold. Thank goodness Apple is the place where I’ve sold the most copies of the new book.
It’s Not Personal
I’m telling you all of this because this is a major business issue. Personally, I have no problem with Amazon, but when it comes to business, they are not a good partner to work with. At the beginning of the year, excessive returns were an issue. Readers would buy every book in a series and return them all after they finished reading them. To Amazon’s credit, they have put some parameters in place to stop this from happening. But as soon as that issue was fixed, the crazy price fluctuations started. All of a sudden prices were going way down without author’s knowledge. Why did this happen? Who knows. Amazon rarely shares important business information with authors.
Now that I am a full-time author, I am completely focused on my business. That means I’m watching more carefully for strange events. Unfortunately, there have been quite a few on Amazon’s platform. In my personal life, I love Amazon. The fast shipping can’t be beat and I love having a large selection to choose from, but I am starting to wonder if I want to continue to giving business to Amazon. If they aren’t a good business partner to me, I’m sure others are having similar issues.
The Ecosystem Is Shifting
The days of Amazon dominating the book sphere are starting to wane. At this point I’ve only purchased a few books from Amazon this year—which is more than I usually buy. One of my friends has a series that is in Kindle Unlimited, so I buy her ebooks when they come out, but 90% of my purchases are from Apple or direct from authors. This is a trend that is starting to pick up speed. People are starting to understand that buying from small businesses help keep ecosystems healthy. Competition is good. It keeps companies on their toes. Here’s an example of why that is important.
A few years ago an author I like told a story about how Amazon and IngramSpark postponed his preorders without even letting him know. These were paperback preorders. He’s a very popular author, so we’re talking a significant amount of money and a significant amount of his fans. If you want to hear his story, he made a podcast episode about it. The podcast is no longer being produced, but it’s a good example of how Amazon behaves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdBnk0iOim4
A follow-up to the YouTube video—the same thing happened the a second time he had a preorder, and shockingly, a third time!. IngramSpark was not innocent in this debacle and Mr. Croft has moved on to use Clays in the United Kingdom as his printer. At the end of the day, neither Amazon or IngramSpark were good partners.
Even though Apple is my preferred retailer for ebooks, I have started to buy direct whenever I can. If an author has selling direct, I will go out of my way to buy from them.
IngramSpark Shenanigans
Here’s a bit about IngramSpark and another way they aren’t being good partners to indie authors. Bookstores want discounts on books because there is no guarantee they will actually sell the books they have on their shelves. So, they want a 40% discount. IngramSpark takes 15% off the top for sales, meaning that authors have to give a 55% discount for bookstores to consider stocking their books. The 35% discount bracket is really only 20% for bookstores because IngramSpark takes 15%. This is problematic for a number of reasons. The number on reason why it is problematic is because you have to pay a $50 fee to upload a title. If you need to make corrections to your manuscript, you will pay an additional $25. I’m totally fine with the upload fee, but the extra 15% IngramSpark takes on sales causes paperback prices to inch up higher and higher, but authors are making less because readers see the high prices and opt to not buy paperbacks from Amazon. This puts a dent in independent bookstore sales and indie authors’ pockets.
Going My Own Way
The paperback I mentioned earlier that has fluctuated in price over the past few days, and went from eleven books in stock to one, even though I didn’t get a dime in royalties, is being pulled from IngramSpark. The book is part of my series and the ebook will still be available on all ebook retailers, but the paperback will only be available on my website. It’s a risky move, but I’m tired of playing games with players in the indie book world that want to monopolize the industry. I’m also starting a Patreon, so a cute author swag box with an autographed copy of the Christmas novella seems like a better use of the book, than to have it on Amazon where the price is jacked around and I don’t ever see the royalties.
I officially quit my job September 20, 2022 and it is the second best thing I’ve done in my life. The first best thing was buying a one-way train ticket to Salt Lake City and starting over from scratch. This time around is much like when I bought the one-way train ticket. Everyone was like, “What are you doing????” It seems that the craziest, most drastic, ridiculous steps are the ones that matter the most. I took a leap without the net and at this time, I’m still falling, but I’m confident the net will appear.
Selling Direct
I recently set up my Shopify store and started selling direct. So far a few of my newsletter subscribers have purchased books, but after the released of the eighth book in the Sylvia Wilcox series, I will start experimenting with Facebook Ads. So far, I haven’t had much success with pay-per-click ads, but I confess that I don’t like them. Basically, I’m hoping that I can get a better handle on Facebook Ads now that I will be running them to my own store. I am taking Morgana Best’s course on Shopify and it was been SO helpful. She haas a section on Facebook Ads that is very easy to understand, and it indicates that running ads from your own Shopify store is easier because the data is more transparent. For example, you can’t really see if the 400 clicks Facebook claims you received really took place because you don’t have access to Amazon, Apple, Kobo, etc., data. But with Shopify, you receive detailed information about how many people have been to your site. This transparency will make it much easier to see if all those click Facebook says you’r getting really made it to your Shopify store.
The second thing I’m doing to grow my direct sales is leaving my writing cave. Yes, I will be out amongst people, visiting shops and bookstores to see if they will carry my books. My introverted heart is screaming “NOOOOO!!!!!” But I must do it. There is no reason to ignore the local market. I need to get my face out there and convince shop owners that they simply must have my books in their stores.
One Does Not Live By E-books Alone
There is a tendency in the indie author community to fixated on e-books. We show off our pretty graphs and take pride in our ebook sales or page reads, but what about audiobooks, paperbacks, and subscriptions? If you are just checking your e-book numbers and ignoring all the other ways you could diversify your income, you’re really missing out.
I recently joined an Author Subscription Facebook page. It is an exciting place run by two innovative 20 something’s who helping authors create their own subscriptions. I just created my first subscription program—an affiliate marketing program—for both readers and writers alike. Anyone who would like to share the affiliate links will make 5% from any sales that results from their affiliate link. That’s so simple and easy and it’s a great way to get others to promote my books, and get something out of sharing the links.
Patreon is the next subscription I plan to play around with. I’ve deceived to use it for my romance series, instead of the mystery series. Later on, my new paranormal mystery series might also have a Patreon, but I don’t think my regular mystery subscribers would be interested in that. YouTube is the place where my regular mystery readers seem comfortable going. I have been producing true crime videos every two weeks (or so) and sharing them with my newsletter. I still have a long way to go before I can monetize the channel, but I figure with true crime videos and audiobooks, the channel will grow over the next several months.
Mystery, Paranormal Mystery, and Romance
Now that I no longer have a job, I have decided to start a new series and pick up the pace on the other two that are already going. This may sound crazy, but without the day job, I am writing up a storm. How much of a storm? Well, I have 40,000 words of the eighth book in the Sylvia Wilcox series complete, even though I just started in on October 16th, 1400 words complete on the first story of the paranormal mystery, and my revision of the second book in my Friendly Valley romance series has gained any extra 5,000 words. I also am editing the second draft of book seventh in the Sylvia Wilcox series, recording audio version of my Christmas book, and outlining the paranormal series. All of this without a set schedule.
I can’t stress how much better my life is without my day job. I wake up in the morning, have coffee with my hubby, relax, hop on the elliptical and do something strength training, and then, after all of that enjoyment and self care, I sit down, ready to write. Sometimes I write at night, but other times I write during the morning. I love having the free reign to write whenever I want!
By this time next year I will have at least two more books in my mystery series, three books in the paranormal mystery, and at least three romance novellas and several serial stories. Sounds like a a lot, and things could change based on which genre does the best, but I’m really looking forward to putting out eight books in a year.
Serial Story Platforms
Subscriptions are all the rage and even though serial story platforms are not as big in the United States as some other parts of the world, serial stories shouldn’t be ignored. I am starting a Patreon that will run serial stories, and I’m also giving Vella—and possibly Radish— a try. The royalties from the outside platforms will take time to build, but I can released the episodes early on Patreon for immediate monetization.
To Be Continued…
This update was written about a month ago. If you want to know more about how I revised my author career, here’s a video I posted on my financial independence YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3JTXvJW0ss
(This is a piece I wrote November 23, 2018. It was before I published the first book in my mystery series. I decided to visit the topics and thought I’d re-share the post here. Originally published on brayleeparkinson.com)
I love reading self-publishing success stories, but there are times when my writing ego is very low, and I want to hear about someone who has risen from the ashes of self-publishing failure. Well, I have decided to give this another try, hence creating my own rise from the Phoenix self-publishing journey. First, let’s talk about the mistakes I’ve made, and believe me when I say, mistakes were made.
In 2007, after a bad break-up, a bout with the flu, and the death of a loved one, I decided to publish a chapbook of poetry. The need to publish had been burning inside of me for a long time and the combination of events seemed to force my hand. At the time I was working on a novel, but it wasn’t ready for publication. So, instead of buckling down and concentrating on my novel, I decided to pull together some poems and publish a chapbook.
Eleven years later, my friends and family still bring up the darkness I unleashed on the work in 2007. My teenage angst, my college delusions of grandeur, and snippets from my past romantic entanglements (all of which resembled a mash-up of a Fiona Apple and Tori Amos greatest hits compilation) were printed, bound in a small book, and sold. The surprising thing is that I actually made money off of that little mess of a book. Friends and acquaintances were willing to let me sell the book in their small businesses, and most of the people I knew were more than happy to buy a few copies. BUT…..publishing that little chapbook of poetry was a waste of time and effort. Not because the poems were not good and not because the chapbook didn’t make some insane chapbook bestseller’s list, but because it didn’t move me anywhere beyond where I already was.
(update 2022)
The self publishing success stories no longer get me down. I’ve learned that many of them have come after years of hard work. Before you publish, the success six and seven figure authors must be view in context. If an author has a number of books and has been writing for years, it makes sense that they are doing well. If you haven’t published anything yet, or you only have one book out, you can’t compare yourself to them. Be happy for their success and move on.
You MUST Use a Professional Editor
My first major mistake was not using an editor. I have a master’s degree in English, I teach high school advanced placement course, and I’ve taught at the collegiate level, but I can’t edit my own book. No one should edit their own book. I repeat, NO ONE should edit their own book. I don’t care what your qualifications are, you need a pair of outside eyes. If you’re a starving artist, find the advertisements for editors at the local university or email a faculty member of the English department — do something other than edit you own book. You will live to regret it if you don’t.
(update 2022)
I stand by this suggestion. There are a few useful software tools you can use to clean up your manuscript, but you definitely need a human editor to read through your book.
Make Sure You’re Publishing The Piece You Want to Publish
Don’t publish the first thing you complete! At the time I published the little chapbook of poetry, I was working on a novel I’d started writing the year before. It was complicated and draining at times, and I really couldn’t see the forest for the trees. My thought was, “Oh, I’ll just publish this poetry and it’ll give me a boost to finish my novel.” Wrong. All it ready did was take time and energy away from novel writing and sidetracked me from my ultimate goal of publishing novels. I spent so much time promoting the book, meeting people and talking about the poems, selling the book, etc, that the novel was pushed aside. I was young and naïve, but the thought I had went something like this, “Well, once people know who I am, they’ll buy my novel.”
Wrong! You know why that’s wrong? Because I didn’t finish my novel that year, or the next year, or for several more years. Why? I got distracted and had trouble getting back into the groove of working on my novel. During this time, I was also working two jobs, so falling out of the writing practice was easy. Also, my friends and family members were constantly suggesting things for me to do with my book. “Hey, how about bringing your book to the fair,” or “Hey, have you gotten you book into any of the indie bookstores?” Or “Hey, do you have more poetry to publish? I want to read more of your poems.”
Needless to say, each time someone brought up the chapbook, I was engaged and ready to have a conversation. Of course, a chapbook isn’t going to fetch a ton of money, and even though I made a tiny bit off the book, it did not launch my writing career. In fact, it stalled the production of the novel and set me on a course that was never going to get me to a place where I could quit my day job.
2022 update)
This is still something I struggle with. For example, romance is a great genre to write in most of the time, but right now it is gobbling up even more of the market share of readers. People are reading more romance and while I have a romance series, I haven’t put as much time into it as I have the mystery series. Currently, I’m working on balancing the two genres.
Don’t Choose Between Ebooks and Traditional Books
If you love ebooks and your Kindle is your best friend, good for you! If you can’t imagine reading without flipping through physical pages and sniffing the edges of a book in between paragraphs, excellent! But if you are a writer, you can’t let your preferences determine the publishing platforms you choose. There are people who are never going to read an ebook, but they are avid readers. You will never reach them if you don’t have a paperback. There are others who only download books to their e-readers or phones. If you are a stick in the mud about publishing an ebook, you won’t catch those people who only read ebooks.
Want to go the extra mile? How about recording a podcast, or starting a YouTube channel where you read chapters of your book? Podcasts are all the rage these days, and many people are listening to them during workouts, the drive to work, or while they’re making dinner. While this may not be the ideal writing dream, reading stories to your audience can help get your name out into the world.
Anything worth doing is going to take time, effort, and money. Yes, money. The bonus of living in this glorious age of the Internet, you have the power to publish whatever you want. You don’t have to wait for some gatekeeper to decide that your book is worthy of publication. The down side of that is you need to be ready to pay out-of-pocket for the editing, proofreading, and binding costs. Of course, this also means that you will be able to keep more of the money you make, because you don’t have an agent and publisher sucking up more than half of your profits. You will need to make a decent investment up front, but it will pay off in the long run. Even if your book doesn’t sell much, you will still have a quality product you can be proud of.
A few years ago I published a short memoir of my spontaneous move from Michigan to Utah. I did have the book edited, but I went with an inexpensive option and the editor was NOT good. Once again, I was eager to get the book out into the world. I skimmed it for mistakes, found a couple, corrected them, and published the book. Later on, some of my graduate school friends started emailing me, asking why I didn’t have the book edited. I decided to go back through the draft and found that it was riddled with elementary mistakes. The editor had changed sentence structure, verb tenses, and punctuation that didn’t need to be “corrected.” I was shocked and disappointed. Once again, I had screwed up the self-publishing game.
This time. I have decided to go through an editor that has a number of verifiable references. I have even read a few books this person has edited, so I feel better about submitting my manuscript.
(2022 update)
I’ve embrace this notion. Quality costs money. So, I expect each book to cost at least three thousand dollars to bring into the world.
Don’t Rush!
I was eager and ready to get my name out there, so I rushed to get the chapbook published. I wanted the book printed and shipped within a two-week timeframe. I was hungry, stupid, and ready to fork over money to anyone who would help me achieve the timeframe I was interested in. Some guy in the middle of nowhere Kentucky was happy to get the ball rolling. After a few emails, the draft was sent to me. I was giddy and overcome with joy as I read over the poem and fawned over the cover. Oh, I was elated to have a book ready to be sent out into the world.
(2022 update)
Don’t rush but don’t take too long. If you wait too long between books, you will end up losing part of your audience. There are a lot of books out there. After several months, people will move on to other books and forget about yours.
Use the Well-Established Platforms
The debate over whether or not to enroll in the Amazon KDP Select program have raged over the years. It is true that when you go for any platform, you are going to have to follow some rules. This is life, folks. This is why we have some law and order in the world. Just kidding. I actually DO have concerns over publishing platforms and the rights they may or may not want to assume. But….those platforms work. So, with that said, what have I done, and what do I plan on doing in the future?
There are times when I get cold feet. I publish a book, pull it back because I feel like it’s not selling well enough, or I decide it’s not good enough. This is a mistake. Put the book out there on Smashwords, Amazon, and whatever other platform you want, and see what happens. In the past I’ve had books in progress on Smashwords, but I always pulled them. Why?? I was getting reviews but they just weren’t coming fast enough. Well, once again I am ready to explore where writing can take me, and as I approach the six year mark of being a teacher, I am ready to end that career. Now that I am at the point where I no longer want to teach, I think I’ll be patient enough to leave the darn book up, even if it isn’t on the bestseller’s list immediately. So, don’t do that. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot and lose your nerve. Leave the darn book up!
Full disclosure here, I prefer Smashwords to Amazon KDP Select. Crazy, right? Here’s why. I enjoy the fact that I can post a book in progress and garner followers while the book unfolds. My suggestion is to offer you book for free for a few weeks or months, get some good reviews, and then after a period of time, add a price and see what happens. If the price seems to be a deterrent, set the price at free and leave it that way. You can always charge for the second book, but if no one reads the first book, no one’s going to pay attention to the second book.
(2022 update)
I no longer use Smashwords. At the time I wrote this piece, I was posting my National Novel Writing Month manuscript on the site. It was fun to interact with readers and garner interest before the book was complete. After I published the book, Smashwords was a dead zone for me. Also, the interface was clunky and the site of the security was low. Account hacks were frequent. This has likely changed because Draft2Digital recently acquired Smashwords and D2D is fantastic. I will probably revisit Smashwords soon.
Consider Selling Direct (2022 update)
Yes, you should be on established retail platforms, but what if something happens and you can’t sell in those places anymore? Every few days I see posts in Facebook author groups about how a certain retailer has sent them an email stating that the author doesn’t have right to book, or that there is no proof that the author wrote the book. The next step is account termination. So, what happens then? You can fight to get your account back, and you might succeed, but the timeframe could be a day, a week, a month, or longer. Do you really want to be in a position where your books are in limbo over some nonsense? OF course not. So, sell far and wide and find a way to control some of your sales.
Website plug-ins and virtual storefronts makes setting up a manner for customers to buy direct easy. I personally wasn’t a fan of the website plug-ins, but I recently set up a Shopify store that I like much better. Either way, consider setting up a way to sell books to readers on your own.
Don’t Expect Immediate Gratification or Financial Gain
I love writing. If my books become fun reading material for people and I never make more than two or three bucks, fine. I still have them out there and I can be proud of accomplishing that goal. An old friend who has gone on to live her dream of being a harp player, told me something that has shaped my most recent forage out into the publishing world. She told me that it can always be better, but there is a point where it is also good enough. When it is good enough, go with it. That friend has now published several music compilations and travels the world playing her harp. So, take this spirit of good enough into your own writing. Do your due diligence to find and editor, proofreader, and publishing house that is able to provide good publishing services. After that, just do it! Just get your book out there!
(2022 update)
My books have made more than two or three bucks! In fact, I made more money from my books than I did at my day job in 2021. Now, as we approach the end of 2022, I am taking the plunge and becoming a full-time writer!
Cover Art….Leave it to the Professionals
The book I mentioned earlier, the one with the terrible editing job, had a fantastic cover! Why? Well, I was willing to consult a professional and they created a wonderful cover for my book. I used ebook launch and they gave me professional service for a fair price. I love the book cover! So much so that when I clean up the book and re-release it, I will ask them to create a cover for the paperback version.
Ebook covers need to catch the reader’s eye. Have you ever noticed how those ebooks with scantly clad women, or six pack abs of men seem to make it on to the most downloaded list? Ebook readers choose their books based on the covers. Keep that in mind when you are choosing a design for your cover.
(2022 update)
There are some caveats to this topic. There are some great premade covers out there that are inexpensive and easy to procure. Also, when I write prequels, Kindle Vella stories, or short stories for my newsletter subscribers, I create covers on BookBrush.
Okay, so that’s all this amateur has to say on the matter….for now. I need to get back to what I hope will be my final read through of my novel before I send it to the editor. Stay tuned for more!
I was excited to hear that audiobooks created using artificial intelligence were available. Turns out, they aren’t bad. Will I use sell them to readers? Once they are cleaned up, of course! But there is a decent amount of clean-up that must be done before the A.I. narrated audiobooks are ready for prime time. So why not create author narrated versions of my books in the meantime? If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you probably know what happened next.
Author Narrated Readings
Yes, I am reading my books and posting them on my Youtube channel. This is not an actual audiobook. It’s just me reading the story. While I do plan on recording audiobooks this winter, I figure, “Why not give this a go?” If an A.I. narrated copy is acceptable, I feel like readers might like hearing an intimate reading of the book from the author. Also, I watch other authors read snippets of their books, and it’s a lot of fun. So, I have a new project ahead of me.
A.I. Narrated Audiobooks
For the record, I’m not someone who fears the rise of the machines and thinks that this is going to interfere with human narrators. I think A.I. narrated audiobooks can be added to your arsenal. I have come up with ideas about how I’d like to use mine, but I’m hesitant to put them on a storefront. I do offer them to my newsletter subscribers at a much lower price point than human narrated audiobooks. Readers on a budget can listen for much less if they’re okay with A.I. narration. Of course there are some who will balk at the idea, but readers are hungry for more audio and if you don’t have human narrated audiobooks, why not try it out?
Copyright Laws And A.I. Voices
Copyright laws are different around the world and just like people pirate written books, the same thing happens to audiobooks. I’m sure you’ve seen audiobooks uploaded to Youtube on random channels. In the United States, creators can file for copyright protections, but these are limited if you don’t complete the process within a few months. It’s a good idea to register your copyright regardless of whether or not you plan to create A.I. narrated audiobooks. With that said, a battle between an author with A.I. narrated audiobooks is likely to involve the actual words of the text, not the voice. Copyright protects the text in all formats, so there is a level of protection, even though the legality of the situation could get blurry. I’m not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, so make sure that you check with your lawyer for cold hard facts on this topic. Of course, since all of this is relatively new, laws have yet to be developed on the topic. This is a gray area we’ll need to keep an eye on.
Google A.I. Narration Tools Are Constantly Improving!
Being able to choose the type of voice you’d like to read your book is a huge plus! I went with a voice that I thought sounded like what I imagine the main character of series sounds like. An American female voice that has a Midwestern lilt to it. But you can choose other voices with accents from around the world. I’m sure more will be coming in time if the one you’d like to listen to is not currently offered.
There will probably come a time when A.I. narration tools are very good, but that is a ways off. Even so, it’s a good idea to check out the A.I. narration tools. The more we know as authors about how to use these tools, the more control we’ll have on how las unfold regarding these tools.
In forty days, I will hang up my red pen and become a full-time author. This is not how I thought things would go, but I am SO excited to take this step! So, how did I get here? That’s a long story, but it’s worth telling, so let’s get into it.
Last December, I was hired as an adjunct for a university. Great, right? I was excited about making extra income without the headache of being full-time faculty. But as the months passed, and no call came, I thought maybe I had misread the email that congratulated me on getting the position. Of course, I know adjunct positions come and go and you never really know when you’re going to be asked to teach, but by the beginning of summer, I’d written the place off. Then I got an email in early July asking if I was available to teach in August. I accepted, completed the training and paperwork, and waited for the curriculum to unlock so I could prepare for the class. Then, one day, I received a nondescript email with the contract for the course. The pay was not listed and the day I’d been asked to teach had changed from Tuesday to Thursday. This was a problem because I already work my part-time job on Thursday evenings. Also, why would they change the day they’d asked me to teach without asking if that was okay? Or at least informing me that the class had to be moved to Thursday. I let it go and carried on, rearranging my schedule at the other job and eagerly anticipating the release of the curriculum. At this point, the class is starting in a month and I want to get ready. When would I get a look at the curriculum?
At the beginning of August, the course finally was unlocked. This was super late since the first class was set to start on August 18th. I felt a little strange the day I received the curriculum, and I wondered if this was a sign of things to come. Actually, it was. I received an email that told me the class had been canceled due to low enrollment. No call. Just a short email. They said they’d call me next term if any classes were available.
Ignoring signs is a bad idea. I should have left teaching behind when the State of Utah told me I couldn’t continue to work at a job I loved. It was the best position I had during my eleven year career in Education, and it paid well. I took a $10,000 pay cut after that and the work tripled. As crazy as it sounds, my current part-time job pays less than I made when I was an undergraduate working at a restaurant, but it requires a master’s degree.
Education is constantly taking educators for granted and sadly, most of us allow this practice to go on. Well, on that day when I received the email about the adjunct position, I decided to put a stop to it. I gave my notice at the part-time job and deleted the email from the university. If they call me next term, I will tell them I’ve retired from teaching. I did get some inspiration from my former supervisor and three coworkers, who all left teaching behind. As I watched great teachers leave the profession behind, I was envious. What if I put all the energy I invest in running live session for students, grading papers, interacting with students, and doing everything that a professor does while making less than what most fast-food restaurants pay, into my writing? Why split my energy and time? Why not go full speed ahead with my writing? I know I can make more money from writing than I do teaching.
After I submitted my notice, I immediately started infusing more energy into my author career. It’s a risk because my sales are down, but I know that’s because I’ve neglected the business. When was the last time I published a book? How many books do I have? I haven’t published since last August, and I only have seven books. So far, I haven’t published a book this year. How many books would I have written if I didn’t have this ridiculous part-time job?
Back To Wide
So, putting my books in KU was a good idea because I ran promos and a lot of people downloaded my books. They are still reading them even though my books are back wide. This might be my strategy going forward. I know, I know. I had a different strategy a few weeks ago, but I reserve the rihgt to change my mind at a moment’s notice:). Also, I’m working on my Shopify store and my YouTube channel. Books are not enough and simply selling books on different retailers is not enough. I need audio, ebooks, paperbacks, hardcovers, my own storefront, videos on my YouTube channel, and interaction with my community. This is another reason I must leave the job behind. It’s holding me back and if I’m going to do wide the right way, I have to be very, very wide.
Concerns
Leaving a regular job, even one that doesn’t pay much, creates some anxiety. A regular paycheck is something we get used to, and without it, life seems uncertain. I have done this before—leaving a job behind—but I took a leave of absence and was able to go back when I needed to. This time I won’t have a job in waiting and it scares me just a little. My husband has income and we actually don’t use my income for anything, so it won’t be a huge loss, but now I have no excuse for not rising to the occasion. What is it going to be like to not have to carve twenty-eight hours out of my week for a job? What will it be like to just have my author business? I don’t know, but I’m excited to find out!
The Writing Life 