I'm going to write that book, baby.

[joanna]

I really like your arrow analogy. Makes a lot of sense

 

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[Selfy]

So here's the total time for book5 10k words

Total Time Editing: 3
Total Time Writing: 15.5
Total Time Planning: 1
Total Time Market Research: 9
Total Time Plotting: 6 hours
Total Time Spent: 33.5 hours

There will be two to five more hours to add to this as I do one more pass of editing, format and re-upload the book.

This is from modelling the book, doesn't even account my reading it, and other books, nor dreaming stuff up how I can play with the plot. I ordered the cover giving him precise examples of what I wanted to see, and what my genre is. So far this had been my fastest time but I'm pushing for 20 hours if it is indeed possible.

As it stands I have four unpublished 10k books. Of which, I'm spending more time on market research and reworking their intro. I'll release on June. (cue music) Dun dun dun!

 

[Lex DeVille]

Can't wait to hear how things go with your market research.

Thanks for posting the things you're learning (and things that aren't working) as you go.

These will definitely be helpful for the rest of us.

 

[Selfy]

Just playing with numbers, assuming your 5 books a month sells 5 more than the last then refreshes every month. Sell at 1.99 set at .35 royalty. This is what I got. I think I shot myself in the foot with this, but oh well.

5 3.4825
10 6.965
15 10.4475
20 13.93
25 17.4125 52.2375

30 20.895
35 24.3775
40 27.86
45 31.3425
50 34.825 139.3

55 38.3075
60 41.79
65 45.2725
70 48.755
75 52.2375 226.3625

80 55.72
85 59.2025
90 62.685
95 66.1675
100 69.65 313.425

 

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[Lex DeVille]

I think I understand what you are explaining, but I wouldn't let this bother you. This is all based on factors that can easily fluctuate depending on a lot of things. When you get good at this and you finally write something people find incredibly valuable then those numbers will increase exponentially. Plus I assume you'll try different price points. Why not set at 2.99 to get the 70% royalty?

 

[Lex DeVille]

Any updates on how your books are doing so far?

I'm really interested to see how this goes for you!

 

[Selfy]

Came here to get my hours and this will be a short update. I need to spend time away from here, maybe update at the end of the month.

- I got book 6 done in 20 hours.
- Started book 7
- Re-released book 2 (the one that didn't sell) less than 24 hours ago. Same book, tweaked the intro, and cover with higher price point. It was out in the market for two hours when I noticed an error so I'll need to reupload. I checked just now kdp and saw 3 sales. I'm waiting for early morning to re-upload the book. It might have had more sales than what I have now. I don't know, we'll see. It's getting exciting. I love it.

I will lay low for now to concentrate on my business. I want to get my book count to 10 by the end of the month and release the 4 books I have written so far. I've messaged some of you as beta readers. I learned that its important to have pairs of eyes to look at least my introductions. I had an error in my book 2 and now it's eating me if my reupload will mess the algo.

 

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[U.P. Author]

How many books are you at now?

 

[Selfy]

How many books are you at now?

Editing book 9. Book 10 will be a bundle pack. lol

 

[U.P. Author]

Editing book 9. Book 10 will be a bundle pack. lol

And you started in April? You're an machine!

 

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[Selfy]

And you started in April? You're an machine!

I'm a dog, actually. But I dream of my wolf origins. *fack man snap out of it!!*

Hey! Yeah, I started in April. June would be my second month. It's been a helluva ride so far. I mean it has its low points, like how @joanna said in another thread from thinking "this shat is going to be epic" to "FML!!" But it has high points that gets rather addictive as well. Like when you refresh KDP like a crack-addict and see a bump in your sales. Makes you wanna do a rain dance or something.

Anyways, June is almost over. @ctcrompton shared his sales and I found it valuable, so I'll be sharing mine as well.

 

[Selfy]

So one of my books spiked up to 25 sales today (my prior record was 8 sales), after being out for a day. I'm not sure what to do at this point.. should I be doing something? I didn't expect it to get that much sales to be honest.

 

[Selfy]

Oh man. I didn't even really put that much effort in that book. It was kindof practice. Should I edit the shebangbang out of it?

 

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[ChickenHawk]

So one of my books spiked up to 25 sales today (my prior record was 8 sales), after being out for a day. I'm not sure what to do at this point.. should I be doing something? I didn't expect it to get that much sales to be honest.

Oh wow, how exciting!!! You must've done something right, congrats! Did you see if your book is appearing on the hot new releases list? I'm betting it's at least appearing there for your genre.

As far as whether or not you should edit it, that's hard to say. Does it need editing?

 

[Selfy]

Oh wow, how exciting!!! You must've done something right, congrats! Did you see if your book is appearing on the hot new releases list? I'm betting it's at least appearing there for your genre.

As far as whether or not you should edit it, that's hard to say. Does it need editing?

YEAH ALL MY BOOKS NEEDS EDITING! lol

Will knowing if it's in the Hot List help me?

Should I just let this one go and chalk it to blind luck or REEDIT the babakaboosh out of it? Damn.

I can't get back to work editing book 9 bc of this. Re-edit or chalk it to beginner's luck and churn them books. Decisions Decisions.

//edit. there's no sales rank yet. It hasnt been 24 hours.

 

[ChickenHawk]

YEAH ALL MY BOOKS NEEDS EDITING! lol

Hah! Well, at least you know it, so that's a start...

Will knowing if it's in the Hot List help me?

It won't help you with the editing decision, but it might help you understand where your sales are coming from or how your categories are working for you.

Should I just let this one go and chalk it to blind luck or REEDIT the babakaboosh out of it? Damn.

How BAD does it need editing? Is it littered with spelling and grammar mistakes? Or is it simply not as polished as you'd like? It's really hard to say without knowing how much editing it might need. If it only needs some polish, you're probably fine. If it's a train-wreck, that might show up in the reviews. Hard to say...

I can't get back to work editing book 9 bc of this. Re-edit or chalk it to beginner's luck and churn them books.

It might not be beginner's luck. It might be that your cover/description/excerpt really pulled in readers. You might've found a compelling story line that speaks to people. It's really hard to say what makes a book take off, but if it were me, I'd consider taking a look at all my books to make sure they're in decent shape in case this sales spike results in a spike of your other titles. These seem like really good numbers to me, in the same ballpark as my "breakout book," so hopefully the momentum will build. Please keep us posted!

 

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[Selfy]

I think it's the hot guy in the cover. I mean even I got pulled to him, and I'm completely heterosexual. Lolz.

I don't think I'm going to pull a chikenhawk level sales. I'm sure it'll fizzle out when the time comes. I just hope I got book 9 out. BC book 9 is a lot better. So yeah. I'll chalk it to the full moon or something.

 

[Selfy]

So i'm going to pretend that this did not happen. And work on book 9. Maybe it's a one day lucky draw. If I can do it this once, then maybe one in the one hundred books that I have to write to reach HFR or chickenhawk levels will be a breakout.

Not paying attention to KDP now..

Not paying attention...

*Zen Monkey Mode Enabled*

 

[ChickenHawk]

Not paying attention to KDP now..

Hah! You keep telling yourself that, mister!

 

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[U.P. Author]

So one of my books spiked up to 25 sales today (my prior record was 8 sales), after being out for a day. I'm not sure what to do at this point.. should I be doing something? I didn't expect it to get that much sales to be honest.

Celebrating! Great job!

 

[Selfy]

I’ll ignore the “spike” book for now as I report on my June numbers. I’m sharing this bc @ctcrompton shared his, and I thought it was a neat thing to do, so if want to talk about your numbers please take this lead. The information helps us newbies.

I remember when I started this venture thinking if anytime it passed the $100/month threshold, I’ll consider it success. So minus that weird book that is spiking right now, here’s what happened.

- Ever since June started I’ve continuously sold at least one.
- Highest ever was a spike of 8 sales
- No reviews at all
- Write time hovers at 25 hours per book
- I ditched my cover designers and have opted to design covers myself (one of my wisest decisions)
- Two of my books accounted for most of my sales, ironically, it is the same genre as the “spiking” book
- My books seemed to confirm HFR that it takes approx 11 days if it actually is going to make it
- Most of my books are in the “slush” pile as referred to by @Thriftypreneur . They’re dead man. Until I make them a bundle.
- My book productions costs from this day forward is $9/book. Which is $3 for cover and 3 starbucks worth of coffee at $2 (with gift card). Coffee is my biggest expense by far. I’m considering saving my cups in the future. *evil grin*
- I have not done editing. I don’t have funds so don’t ask.
- I purchased these books to get started “2k to 10k”$1.99 (+5stars glowing reviews) Emotional thesaurus $6 (4 stars). Fire in fiction $10.99 -5stars (if I see this author in real life I will punch her/him in the face: total waste of money) – Total spent on books: $17. I will not buy anymore how to write books in the future.
- Spent $20 on 123srf for my $3/photo deal. Everyone is shopping here it turns out from the covers so I’m only looking for new photos.
- I guess the only thing left now is the sales.

I crossed $100 somewhere on the 25th. I thought it wouldn’t happen, I mean I thought it would take longer. There’s like other currencies that would push it to $150 or something depending on the rate, again that is without the "spike book" which ATM hovers at 50 sales in its second day. So all in all I’m on the green.

So yeah that’s pretty much it for my June report. I’ve been wanting to do this report, really. So I guess what I’m going to do next will be on the following post.

//edit: Also i'd like to thank you all for being supportive and giving such valuable information, and keeping the fire burning. Shout out to @ChickenHawk and the highly missing @Held for Ransom who I'm sure is too busy raking in cash that he's decided to block this site.

 

[Selfy]

The future.

It’s not rocket science what I need to do next. I’ll write more on the genre that is selling for me.

I think there’s mental component now attached to this, especially with that spiking book in the background. Nothing has to change. I need to be as hungry as I was as when I first started.

I wrestled with how I’m going to proceed, and after a long walk I’ve decided. It’s a good thing @UP came here just in the nick of time. She said something that resonated with me. I’d rather get 25 sales/day from 25 books than 25 sales from one book.

Did you get that? Here one more time.

I’d rather get 25 sales/day from 25 books than 25 sales from one book.

The reasons are mine. This is my path so that is how I’m going to take it. So on that note. Here is the new Selfy goal. 25 books by the end of August.

I’m not playing.

25 books by the end of August.

So on that note, I'll be taking a HFM style leave of absence. I have a lot to do. But here's my attitude at the moment. Cheers everyone!

//edit

Ok I think I got carried away from checking my KDP. It does that. Make you feel loopy.

A more realistic goal is 4 books in july +1 book for a male audience.

25 books what was I thinking --- lol.

 

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[Selfy]

I forgot to add. If anytime this venture nets me $1k a month, i'll be approaching the most intimidating girl here in this cafe.

She's intimidating because she's uber-pretty. She comes in here with her kid sister. I think I she's a med student bc I saw a stethoscope peering from her bag.

So to make it interesting, she's going to have a special place when this venture succeeds. I'm not going to stop until she goes out with me. And I can be pretty persuasive guy. She will love me. But that's after I make this goal so this love story may not happen anytime soon.

 

[Selfy]

Lesson for the kittteeeeehs.

I thought i'd pull a Slick Rick by using the excerpts to increase my word-count. But Amazon caught it. The result was a broken look-inside hook which showed only half of what I wanted.

 

[Lex DeVille]

The sales you're making are very interesting considering your method.

I can't quite put my finger on it but something isn't working with my EF book. It hasn't sold even a single copy. However it has been more than 13 days or so. Maybe it will never sell. I made the cover myself, so perhaps that is part of the problem. It seems very strange though because yourself amongst others continuously report early purchases in these genres. (I realize your books aren't necessarily in the same genre.)

The progress you're making with these books is still very encouraging!

 

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[Selfy]

The sales you're making are very interesting considering your method.

I can't quite put my finger on it but something isn't working with my EF book. It hasn't sold even a single copy. However it has been more than 13 days or so. Maybe it will never sell. I made the cover myself, so perhaps that is part of the problem. It seems very strange though because yourself amongst others continuously report early purchases in these genres. (I realize your books aren't necessarily in the same genre.)

The progress you're making with these books is still very encouraging!

Thanks! You might not have picked a good genre as I read about in a KDP discussion.

And I would throw out being creative for now. Instead, try building the skills of a book "modeller." My first 10 books were just practice on how to write this way. I tried to be creative on some of my books, and by far had the worse sales on them.

It'll come later when we learn about the works of those top-sellers. You can see how they actually did something, like how they developed character and stuff like that. One of my reviews nailed me for "no-character development" and she was right. It's something I need to work on, and now that I know, i'll be extra keen on how the top-sellers do theirs.

 

[Selfy]

Why do I keep doing that to myself? Writing books that have abysmal sales when clearly the market wants me to write a particular genre.

Shot myself in the foot. I'm done with being creative. DAMN IT.

If it aint gon be selling, i aint gon be writing it.


//end rant

 

[Selfy]

Selfy Training:

When a book is uploaded without hitting the publish button, letting it marinate for several days, the faster "the review" time turns when published. Thus, the faster the book becomes live, with a window of approx <2 hours.

If you do a dirty-quick upload, it might take up to <12 hours for it to become live.

For timing issues.

 

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[Selfy]

The Borrow Parameter

There's now this component called the borrow. Which is a function of the new Kindle Unlimited offering, which started in the middle of month.

I could have cared less about borrow before I started this venture, but now those blue-borrow spikes have surpassed my sales greatly. I am not sure if others are experiencing the same thing.

On the 15th of August, I will know if these borrows will impact the business model that I am running. Will it destroy me? Will it be a cash-windfall? I have no fcking clue.

But if I do get the $2/borrow, I'll be approaching a certain girl very soon. But honestly, I think it'll crash into several cents per borrow. What the eff. On other news, I have started another pen name without an author page for a genre I'm willing to bet on.

Stay tuned.

 

[Selfy]

Selfy Training:

Another refinement for the writing process.

Lesson on using emotional thesaurus

After writing book as quickly as possible and fixing as much structural components, there should be a pass of marking where a particular emotion needs to be amplified, then reiterate through using the emotional thesaurus.

ie(
Step 1:Write entire document
"Where did you sleep last night" he said.
Step 2: Mark the area with an emotion tag
"Where did you sleep last night" he said.//emotion
Step 3: Clean with the emotional thesaurus
"Where did you sleep last night" he said raising an eyebrow.

For quality purposes.

-----------------

Lesson on structural improvement (syntax)

Every after book, there should be a time alloted to learn and absorb new vocabulary with emphasis on verbs and adjectives as well as advanced fiction punctuation.

Methodology: Write a scene, preferably a scene which has a high probability of being incorporated in future works. Sex scene works best.

Step1: Create folder.
Step2: Write scene as practice (ie. new verb usage or punctuation)
Step3: Save. Create as much as needed. Copy and Paste. As needed.

For quality purposes

^ I write these nuggets for myself mostly.