Trying Out Self-Publishing

[COSenior]

Yeah, I've been thinking about doing longer stuff too, although it's undoubtedly much more daunting, haha

Sweetie, you've already proved that you have the discipline to write. If you think writing 100k instead of 2500 is daunting, don't think of it that way. Write it 2500 at a time. If what scares you is sustaining the story for that many words, that's why I'm suggesting stretching it a bit at a time. I started out writing 3-5k short erotica. Then I thought of a story that needed a real plot, and it was probably around 20k. The second full-length novel I published was with my writing partner, @mossie. He laid out a plot that we wrote in two books, which eventually got pared down to one at around 150k. Now I'm working on a 5-book romantic suspense series that will average probably 85k, and the full romance arc won't resolve until book 5. As you gain experience and confidence, it isn't that difficult.

Stretch your wings a little bit at a time instead of scaring yourself, but don't stop what's paying you now. You can do it!

 

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[Aimee]

Sweetie, you've already proved that you have the discipline to write. If you think writing 100k instead of 2500 is daunting, don't think of it that way. Write it 2500 at a time. If what scares you is sustaining the story for that many words, that's why I'm suggesting stretching it a bit at a time. I started out writing 3-5k short erotica. Then I thought of a story that needed a real plot, and it was probably around 20k. The second full-length novel I published was with my writing partner, @mossie. He laid out a plot that we wrote in two books, which eventually got pared down to one at around 150k. Now I'm working on a 5-book romantic suspense series that will average probably 85k, and the full romance arc won't resolve until book 5. As you gain experience and confidence, it isn't that difficult.

Stretch your wings a little bit at a time instead of scaring yourself, but don't stop what's paying you now. You can do it!

Aww, thank you for being so lovely, I really appreciate it.

I agree that it does make more sense when you look at it like that, though. I think for my next venture, I'll try for a series of novellas. When you say 85k, do you mean 85k words per book, or for the entire series? I'm assuming you mean the former, which is super impressive. I'm very inspired!

 

[COSenior]

Correct, per book.

I'm happy to hear you're going to consider a series of novellas. You can charge $2.99 for those, which will get you to that coveted 70% royalty rate on Amazon.

 

[RHL]

Do you guys have the chance to opt out of Amazon's lending system, or is it an automatic opt-in. Not sure what your margins are but it seems likely to me that a handful of real sales would be much better than dozens of rentals.

 

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[Charnell]

Do you guys have the chance to opt out of Amazon's lending system, or is it an automatic opt-in. Not sure what your margins are but it seems likely to me that a handful of real sales would be much better than dozens of rentals.

Do you mean borrows, or the actual lending? You can opt in to KDP Select when you publish, its not required.

From what I've gathered, it seems like the people that download free books aren't going to be the same that would buy a book, much like a person that only uses Amazon's unlimited books for $9.99 isn't going to be one to buy a book outright. All those borrows, wouldn't have been sales. Much like when you opt into KPD select and do a 5 day free book giveaway and get hundreds of downloads, then don't get hundreds of sales. Different group of people.

 

[COSenior]

Do you guys have the chance to opt out of Amazon's lending system, or is it an automatic opt-in. Not sure what your margins are but it seems likely to me that a handful of real sales would be much better than dozens of rentals.

It's an automatic opt-in if you go with KDP Select, although I believe you can opt out. But your assumption that real sales are better than borrows isn't correct for a low-priced product. The borrow actually pays several times the royalty over a 35% rate for say, a 99 cent title.

 

[RHL]

But your assumption that real sales are better than borrows isn't correct for a low-priced product. The borrow actually pays several times the royalty over a 35% rate for say, a 99 cent title.

So it's a great option for all the $0.99 books out there, but a worse option for the $9.99 or higher end type stuff. Thanks for clearing that up!

 

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[COSenior]

So it's a great option for all the $0.99 books out there, but a worse option for the $9.99 or higher end type stuff. Thanks for clearing that up!

Yes, exactly. And you're welcome.

 

[lost278]

I'm an eighteen year old sentient being with no cash at my disposal I 'm interested in this method of providing funds for ones self. I would be no competition for yourself ... If we could potentially communicate by some means I would appreciate eny knowledge you have to offer



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[COSenior]

I'm an eighteen year old sentient being with no cash at my disposal I 'm interested in this method of providing funds for ones self. I would be no competition for yourself ... If we could potentially communicate by some means I would appreciate eny knowledge you have to offer



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Dear Sentient Being. There are a number of pinned posts at the top of this subforum's menu. Read them, take action, create a progress thread and then if you still have questions, someone is sure to answer.

 

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[lost278]

Thank you you've made me smilie. To be honest I've been researching ways to make money for a few hours today. I'm sick of lounging around playing destiny, or the newest game on the market, And I'm ready to move on with my life. I find this tactic to be the most appealing, I'd rather create and string words than take a survey. .... But in reality what I know on this subject isn't merely trivial but at current I've yet to even browse the site at which you are selling these segments, of sentences and paragraphs designed to provide a false sense of stimulation and ensnare the reader into providing funds .... I hate to see that but it's how I need to look at this ?


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[lost278]

Dear Sentient Being. There are a number of pinned posts at the top of this subforum's menu. Read them, take action, create a progress thread and then if you still have questions, someone is sure to answer.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[COSenior]

I've yet to even browse the site at which you are selling these segments, of sentences and paragraphs designed to provide a false sense of stimulation and ensnare the reader into providing funds

No, no selling involved. You are reading a thread on a subforum of The Millionaire Fastlane , in which we who aspire to earn money from our writing share our experiences in our own threads; what worked, what didn't, everything you need to get started just as the @Aimee did. Anyone following her example will usually receive encouragement and moral support from those who have gone before. Go to the top of the page, click on the bolded Writing and Self-Publishing link, and you'll see a list of dozens of threads. Those that I recommend are pinned at the top and designated Gold Threads.

It's all there, and I don't mean to offend you, but it is frankly annoying to those of us who have been here awhile and answered questions to see people asking the same questions again, over and over. The pinned posts are those that the owner of the site has deemed the most valuable. You'll find almost everything you need to know to get started in them. Hello from Denver is the one that most of the old-timers here saw and took inspiration from. It launched my career. I'd recommend reading that one first. If you prefer outsourcing (won't work if you have no funds), look for a thread called "My Take on Self-Publishing". I thought it was pinned, but don't see it now.

Other members of this community who have provided value are @Thriftypreneur, @Rawr, @SinisterLex and half a dozen or more others that I hope I haven't offended by not remembering to mention them.

PS, You need SOME money to self-publish. Not a lot, but some. I'd recommend finding a job that will pay you enough to get started, even if it's just part-time, low-pay. You obviously have someone to support you while you play video games. Take advantage of that while you still can, but start your writing career with half a chance at making it.

 

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[lost278]

No, no selling involved. You are reading a thread on a subforum of The Millionaire Fastlane , in which we who aspire to earn money from our writing share our experiences in our own threads; what worked, what didn't, everything you need to get started just as the @Aimee did. Anyone following her example will usually receive encouragement and moral support from those who have gone before. Go to the top of the page, click on the bolded Writing and Self-Publishing link, and you'll see a list of dozens of threads. Those that I recommend are pinned at the top and designated Gold Threads.

It's all there, and I don't mean to offend you, but it is frankly annoying to those of us who have been here awhile and answered questions to see people asking the same questions again, over and over. The pinned posts are those that the owner of the site has deemed the most valuable. You'll find almost everything you need to know to get started in them. Hello from Denver is the one that most of the old-timers here saw and took inspiration from. It launched my career. I'd recommend reading that one first. If you prefer outsourcing (won't work if you have no funds), look for a thread called "My Take on Self-Publishing". I thought it was pinned, but don't see it now.

Other members of this community who have provided value are @Thriftypreneur, @Rawr, @SinisterLex and half a dozen or more others that I hope I haven't offended by not remembering to mention them.

I understand how continually answering the same basics of life question repeatedly can get annoying but I urge you to take into account the excitement and the actual psychological effect you may have on ppl. One person explaining and guiding the hand of another will likely expose and enroll the desire that they posses and could be the difference between a successful career and a happy life or few shots of vodka that help them forget the "agonizing" task they undertook .... Life's funny it's that moment when you dropped a nickel in a dinner that saved someone's life how it happened idk maybe I'll go explain it on amazon


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[COSenior]

Life's funny it's that moment when you dropped a nickel in a dinner that saved someone's life how it happened idk maybe I'll go explain it on amazon

There you go! You do that.

I'm sorry. I didn't at all mean to diminish your excitement, nor did I stop to think that perhaps my words would. I wish you the best.

 

[lost278]

There you go! You do that.

Thank you for that I will good first project



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[Aimee]

I'm an eighteen year old sentient being with no cash at my disposal I 'm interested in this method of providing funds for ones self. I would be no competition for yourself ... If we could potentially communicate by some means I would appreciate eny knowledge you have to offer



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Hiya, I'm glad you've taken an interest in my mindless ramblings, haha.
Pretty much any knowledge I have to offer (which, as you can imagine is not an awful lot right now...), I've revealed in this thread. I honestly don't think there's a way for me to be any more open without giving too much away, I'm trying my best to quite literally spell out the process as I go along.

I have no issue with answering any questions if you have any, but as @COSenior has already pointed out, there are many people on this forum with much more experience than myself, and petty much all of the information and encouragement you need to get yourself started can be found for free on their threads. That's exactly what I used to start out.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm worried about competition at all - the ebook market is so vast that I think there'll always be room for additions. But learning how to do it is part of the process. I spent hours teaching myself how to do this and making loads of mistakes (and I'm still making them), and I'm in pretty much the same position as yourself right now, so I don't really have the time (or knowledge) to hold anyone's hand through the learning process. To be honest, there's not a lot I can really tell you - just do a bit of research in the genre(s) your're most interested in, read the top selling books, and write, write, write. Hopefully you'll find the information I'm sharing valuable, though, and I wish you the very best of luck!

 

[lost278]

Hiya, I'm glad you've taken an interest in my mindless ramblings, haha.
Pretty much any knowledge I have to offer (which, as you can imagine is not an awful lot right now...), I've revealed in this thread. I honestly don't think there's a way for me to be any more open without giving too much away, I'm trying my best to quite literally spell out the process as I go along.

I have no issue with answering any questions if you have any, but as @COSenior has already pointed out, there are many people on this forum with much more experience than myself, and petty much all of the information and encouragement you need to get yourself started can be found for free on their threads. That's exactly what I used to start out.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm worried about competition at all - the ebook market is so vast that I think there'll always be room for additions. But learning how to do it is part of the process. I spent hours teaching myself how to do this and making loads of mistakes (and I'm still making them), and I'm in pretty much the same position as yourself right now, so I don't really have the time (or knowledge) to hold anyone's hand through the learning process. To be honest, there's not a lot I can really tell you - just do a bit of research in the genre(s) your're most interested in, read the top selling books, and write, write, write. Hopefully you'll find the information I'm sharing valuable, though, and I wish you the very best of luck!

Well the simple fact you have replied is encouraging. I should thank you for taking the time read my post. - insert emoticon -
I can not stress how much a simple positive attitude could change someone's life. A romance novel won't be my thing but if I make eny money off of this I promise to purchase a book or two from you I hope to hear more about your personal success and if I stumble across eny "secret "or "tip"'or whatever hidden jackpots might lurk behind the daunting hours of work and experience you will be the first to know.

As a side note I offer a voice if your lost or confused tired or lonely. This offer extends to all who have read this.

Have a lucky day

 

[lost278]

There you go! You do that.

I'm sorry. I didn't at all mean to diminish your excitement, nor did I stop to think that perhaps my words would. I wish you the best.

I do plan on doing this I also plan on having a subplot to this story where a good deed ruins multiple life's a simple harmless act life's just a dice role.
I sincerely thank you


Have a lucky day

 

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[KaiReader]

If you have your ebooks in epub or pdf format, consider submitting them to www.kaireader.com - we're a startup looking for self-publishing authors to submit ebooks to sell on our platform. Such proliferous writing should boost our catalogue quickly

 

[Boyd]

If you have your ebooks in epub or pdf format, consider submitting them to www.kaireader.com - we're a startup looking for self-publishing authors to submit ebooks to sell on our platform. Such proliferous writing should boost our catalogue quickly

All you've stated in your post is who YOU are and how this would help YOU.

@Aimee seems to be doing just fine without your website. What additional benefit would there be for HER to take you up on this offer?

 

[KaiReader]

Wow, hostile much? Give a newbie a break lol..
I would assume that most Authors would want as much exposure and opportunities for sale as possible, figured that was self explanatory but perhaps I was mistaken.
It costs nothing but a little time to register and upload books to the KaiReader platform. You can set your own pricing, apply DRM or not, and users can purchase from the iOS and Android apps as well as the website.

But each to their own. Just trying to raise awareness of a new service for self-published authors, is all.

 

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[Draven Grey]

Wow, hostile much? Give a newbie a break lol..
I would assume that most Authors would want as much exposure and opportunities for sale as possible, figured that was self explanatory but perhaps I was mistaken.
It costs nothing but a little time to register and upload books to the KaiReader platform. You can set your own pricing, apply DRM or not, and users can purchase from the iOS and Android apps as well as the website.

But each to their own. Just trying to raise awareness of a new service for self-published authors, is all.

I think most people here are skeptical of posts like yours - not hostile really, but protective. If you had been here a while, adding value, then I'm sure the response would've been different. Your post didn't add value, but rather by your own words, asked us to add value to you. We know nothing about you. That's why you were immediately asked for proof of value.

 

[KaiReader]

I think most people here are skeptical of posts like yours - not hostile really, but protective. If you had been here a while, adding value, then I'm sure the response would've been different. Your post didn't add value, but rather by your own words, asked us to add value to you. We know nothing about you. That's why you were immediately asked for proof of value.

Thanks for the clarification, I appreciate it. Every community is different, takes a little time to get to know how to get along in a new place!

 

[Aimee]

Been pretty busy, haven't had the chance to update for a while. I haven't written anything in the past week since I've been away, so I've got a lot to catch up on. Kind of lost track of things a bit, so I'll just update with the figures off KDP. These are from 1st Nov til yesterday the 24th Nov.

Pen name #1

Book 1 (standalone, Oct 27): 17 borrows
Book 4 (standalone, Oct 31): 12 borrows

Series 1:
Book 2 (series (vol 1), Oct 29): 56 borrows, 2 sales
Book 8 (series (vol 2), Nov 7): 31 borrows, 1 sale

Series 2:
Book 3 (series (vol 1), Oct 30): 142 borrows, 9 sales
Book 9 (series (vol 2), Nov 9): 41 borrows, 2 sales

Series 3:
Book 6 (series (vol 1), Nov 4): 43 borrows, 9 sales
Book 11 (series (vol 2), Nov 19): 3 borrows, 4 sales

Mailing list sign ups: 9

Pen Name #2:
Book 5 (standalone, Nov 5): 33 borrows, 7 sales
Book 7 (standalone, Nov 7): 56 borrows, 11 sales
Book 10 (standalone, Nov 10): 16 borrows, 2 sales

Mailing list sign ups: 0

Total for previous 24 days: 450 borrows, 47 sales

Yeah, not as good as it probably should be, but I'm happy and I'm back on track now.

Tried with a bundle for pen name #2 last Tuesday for $3.99 but it wasn't selling so I switched it to KU and got 4 borrows. Then changed my mind and took it out of KU, and now it's just kind of sitting there. Not really sure what to do with it right now...

Anyway yeah, not much to update, so I'll just leave it at this. Will update more at the end of November.

 

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[Aimee]

Thanks for the clarification, I appreciate it. Every community is different, takes a little time to get to know how to get along in a new place!

Thank you, I'll check it out when I get a spare minute!

 

[Aimee]

Sales kind of sucked this week (especially today, dammit), and I don't have much time to update since I'm waaaay behind schedule for today and have another 11 pages to proofread and edit before I go to sleep, so I'll just post an overall update for the month of November:

Books published:
Pen name #1: 9
Pen name #2: 4 (and one bundle, but that just sucked)
TOTAL: 13

Sales and Borrows:
Pen name #1: 395 borrows, 31 sales
Pen name #2: 119 borrows, 23 sales
TOTAL: 514 borrows, 54 sales

Not bad for the first month (I think?!), just got to keep plugging away. Also got 11 signups on my mailing list for pen name #1. Pen name #2 has no sign ups, but that's just because it's straight erotica with pretty much no story, I think. I wouldn't sign up for a mailing list for that, either...

For December, my goals are to finish all of the series' I've started (two of them will have three books each, the other will be a bit longer), get to 30 books overall by writing more erotica as opposed to erom, aaaand actually doing some promos once my series' are finished.

Time to finish editing. Hahahahahaha. Ha.

 

[MTF]

You're crushing it, @Aimee. I love your updates. You have a spirit of a true hustler.

 

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[Aimee]

You're crushing it, @Aimee. I love your updates. You have a spirit of a true hustler.

Thank you! I appreciate the support.

 

[Peakdesire]

Hey girl! seems like your doing well! just keep at it!

I'm also starting out self publishing, but non-fiction and I will outsource the writing.

You said that you research bestsellers on Amazon,and note down trends and research bestselling authors on Amazon, and note down trends.

What do you look for specificly when you look at those lists?

I'm having a hard time finding a niche so that I could start the damn self publishing. Any tips on that? PS I'm already looking at the best sellers, clickbank, forums, and other sites for ideas, but I can't seem to come up a good potential niche...frustrating