Creating my Fastlane with fiction books

[Karla]

Hi there,

I´ve been reading your posts for a while but only decided 2 days ago that I want to join this amazing community. I am german but have been living in Brazil for 2 years now. Together with my business partner I own a business that sells online fitness and nutrition programs and memberships. We are doing o.k. but I think there is a much greater potential.
Anyhow, in this threat I want to write about my second business. Well, to be honest, it`s not a true business yet since I just started. I always wanted to write but thought that it`s only a hobby and certainly won`t make me rich. Sometimes my thoughts are running crazy and I "need" to write them down. I love to create stories and enjoy the process of playing with words and creating something that hash`t been there before.I already published a few shorter books on amazon. Three of them are fitness topics that sell very well but mostly because I already have a following in that niche. My other three books are kids stories which I published just for fun to see if there is a market for it. I didn`t expect much but was amazed how well they sell. Within 3 three weeks I sold about 50 of my first story and 110 of my second story. My third story has only been online for 2 days and I am exited to see how this one will perform. I am only selling my stories for 0.99 cent at the moment because they are not illustrated yet. This means that my stories are making between 25 and 50 Euros passive income (I am publishing on the german platform) per month. I know that doing what you love is in most cases not the same than creating a fastlane and publishing on amazon violates a few of the commandments but I want to see where this road leads to ;-).
I´ve read some of the posts here, especially the one from ChickenHawk ;-), and think that this is a process worth following.
I already learned a ton from you guys so I want to be completely transparent with my numbers and process to give something back. I am still at the beginning but determined to make this work. I`d love to hear from you and I am always interested in opinions and ideas !

Cheers,

Karla

 

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[MayaMagpie]

The German market is definitely growing - It's still behind the UK or US, but getting there, slowly... Have you thought about translating your books into English? More competition, but also a much bigger market!
Good luck with your writing!

 

[Karla]

Thanks for your reply! Yes, we are still far behind but I think opportunities here are huge. I think I will see how much I can accelerate my books on the german platform and than see whether I will translate them into English. I think you are right that there is more potential there.....but like you said also much more competition. Are you writing books as well?

 

[MayaMagpie]

I have written a few books (non-fiction as well as full length novels) and published them for kindle, but never found great success. Understandable, because I didn't know what I was doing at the time At the moment, I'm concentrating on other things.

By the way, I'm German too, but living in the UK... Also wrote in English, not German. Opportunities will definitely be huge once the Germans understand how awesome ebooks are...

 

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[Karla]

Ah, how nice. I lived abroad for along time (not only Brazil) and I don`t "feel german" any more ;-). How come you didn´t have success with your books? I haven`t done a lot of marketing yet but build a Facebook fanpage for my kids stories and will definitely try to build a list. Selling over 100 books in 3 weeks makes me think that it is possible to create a fast lane with this.

 

[MayaMagpie]

Back in the days, I didn't write for money but for the love of writing, so I didn't do much marketing. And I also was almost afraid of anyone actually reading my stuff, for fear they might hate it. It'll be different for you...

 

[Karla]

Well I also started writing because I like it ;-). But yes, I want people to read my stuff and I also want to make money with it. But I know what you mean. Bad reviews hurt ;-). But I will focus on the positive ones and try to build a following. What business are you focusing on?

 

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[MayaMagpie]

I only ever got two bad reviews, and those were by really stupid people who just didn't understand my books. It hurt, but hey, such is life...
Now I'm more focussing on other digital products.

 

[apexstrat]

Are you promoting these books away from amazon at all?

 

[Karla]

Hi apexstrat,

at the moment I am only offering them on amazon. I do some marketing to my fanpage and to my list for the fitness topics. But with the children`s books I am starting from scratch. I want to build a list in that niche a well and have started a Facebook fanpage were I promote new stories I publish. But since this page only has about 800 fans so far it`s not that huge of an impact .
I might use other ebook platforms as well but I think amazon is the most interesting at the moment.

 

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[Selfy]

That's a cute avatar you got. An owl bird. lol.

Welcome.

 

[Karla]

Thanks . Since my kid`s stories are about an owl I thought the picture fits quite well ;-)

 

[Karla]

New update: I just published my next kids story. This is such a nice feeling. I think I am already addicted to pushing the publish button ;-)!
All my stories are 0.99 cent. To increase income I´d like to either bundle 4 of them and offer them for 2.99 or to add some illustrations to each story and sell them each for 2.99
Anyone has any advice?

 

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[AustinGator44]

Congrats on the success so far, keep at it
Any idea why your children's books did so much better than you were expecting?

 

[ChickenHawk]

Within 3 three weeks I sold about 50 of my first story and 110 of my second story.

Those seem like really great numbers out of the gate. Congrats and keep us posted!

To increase income I'd like to either bundle 4 of them and offer them for 2.99 or to add some illustrations to each story and sell them each for 2.99

I like this idea! Assuming your commission structure is the same over there as it is here in the U.S., this could boost your profits nicely. For one thing, you can earn 70% commission rather than 35%. It will be interesting to see what you do and how it goes.

 

[Karla]

Congrats on the success so far, keep at it
Any idea why your children's books did so much better than you were expecting?

No, I don´t really know why they are doing quite well. I also don`t know why number 2 is outperforming number 1 so much. I think that the cover is very important (in any genre but especially with kids books). I think that the competition in this genre is still o.k. and that my stories are good enough to get some good reviews. I thought that no one will download kids books for kindle but seems I am mistaken ;-)......sometimes you just need to give it a try, because without trying you will never know what works and what doesn`t. I like the passive part about this system. I create something and after it`s done it is generating money.....very nice . To be honest I am not sure whether this can become a fast lane since commissions are not that huge....but I will definitely try

 

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[Karla]

Those seem like really great numbers out of the gate. Congrats and keep us posted!

Thanks, I hope I can improve numbers.

I like this idea! Assuming your commission structure is the same over there as it is here in the U.S., this could boost your profits nicely. For one thing, you can earn 70% commission rather than 35%. It will be interesting to see what you do and how it goes.

Yes, the commission structure is the same. That`s why I am trying to get 79% rather than 35%. I think it makes a huge difference. Even if I sell only half of my books after raising the price to 2.99 I make more money.

 

[Lex DeVille]

Hi Karla,

Just curious how long your children's books are without illustrations?

Are you writing full length books?

If you jump into illustrated books, and have any questions feel free to PM because I'm getting pretty good at it.

 

[Jakeeck]

Hi Karla, what's your site for the fitness and nutrition programs?

 

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[Karla]

Hi Karla,

Just curious how long your children's books are without illustrations?

Are you writing full length books?

If you jump into illustrated books, and have any questions feel free to PM because I'm getting pretty good at it.

They are short stories. About 10 pages in word which are about 15 pages on kindle. I just illustrated my first story with 4 drawings I did myself. I am not Van Gogh but my drawings are not bad either ;-). I will include these 4 drawings in my first story and raise the price to 2.99 since 0.99 is just to low (since I am only earning 35% commission). I will see how it goes and then decide whether I will do the same with the other stories as well.

 

[Karla]

Hi Karla, what's your site for the fitness and nutrition programs?

The site is called poundattack.de
But it is in german ;-). My main product is a membership that helps women to get a bikini figure ;-). It is going ok.....actually I can`t complain since we only started about a year ago. The beauty of this is that the more members we get the mor we gonna earn without working more hours. But getting members is quite tough ;-)

 

[Karla]

Guys, has anyone tried to offer their book as audio or even movie?

 

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[Lex DeVille]

I'm working on audio right now. Just waiting on the rest of my equipment to arrive this week. Should be in today or tomorrow sometime.

 

[Karla]

One of my books isn`t performing as well as the others. Has anyone tried to change the cover and wants to share their experience? I am thinking to try another cover since this current is maybe to dark to stand out? Would love to hear your thoughts !

 

[Karla]

Is anyone using create space successfully? What is your experience?

 

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[Karla]

Just did a free promotion for my new book and got 350 downloads which is not to bad considering the type of book. Also I came to one maybe important conclusion: I will never be abele to produce hundreds of book on my own! That´s why I will start outsourcing. i just ordered 9 illustrations for my new kids book today. I already have the text for this book but will outsource the writing next time as well. I think to create a fast lane with small books and stories I need a whole lot of them.

 

[Karla]

New Update: I added 4 illustrations to one of my kids stories and increased the price (2.99 instead of 0.99). In the previous 2 month this story has made me 20€ (per month) which is about 25$ I think. Within the last 5 days it has generated 35 €!! I am very happy about this process ! If it stays like this I should make at least about 100€ (or 130$) with this one story. Now I am busy adding more illustrations to may other stories as well ;-)

 

[Lex DeVille]

I tried CreateSpace but the results weren't very good for my picture book.

I think it depends a lot on the length of your book though.

Mine was very short, so the book was extremely thin and not very durable.

Not only that, but I'd have to sell it for nine or ten dollars just to make a profit.

I doubt anyone will buy a picture book at that price, but it will help your Kindle sales since they're usually priced lower.

 

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[Karla]

Thanks, yes if the books are too short I think it`s not suitable for CreateSpace. Maybe I will bundle my stories and then offer them as paperback.

 

[Karla]

Update: I put all my books on 2.99. Only one book is still 0.99cents. Unfortunately my sales dropped extremely. Maybe 2.99 is too much for a kids story???? I will wait until the end of this month to be able to compare my royalties. I need to make at least 20 sales per book to earn more than with the 0.99 version. So far I have sold 13 which doesn`t sound too bad since it`s only the 14th but within the last 3 days I haven`t sold anything :-(. Will keep you updated.