[PROGRESS THREAD] ChickenHawk's Self-Published Fiction EBooks

[Rawr]

Hmmmm... That depends. How far are you along in the process? For example, if you're planning to write a 40K book, and you're 20K there, I'd say push ahead, even if you end up shortening the story. If, however, you're only 5K words into a 90K book, you might want to start fresh in a niche that works better for you.

Some additional thoughts/ideas:

• Others might disagree, but IMO, you MUST read more in your niche (whether it's your current niche, or a new one). This will tell you the "rules." Does that niche require a happily-ever-after? Is the sex explicit or "off-camera"? How much cursing is allowed? For example, if you're writing a cozy mystery, and you drop an F-bomb and/or show explicit sex, you'll probably get some grief from readers/reviewers. If you're writing a billionaire bad boy romance, and DON'T show the sex, you'll get similar grief. Every genre has its own rules. You can bend them, or heck, even break them, but you SHOULD know them. When you consider how very, veeeeery long it takes to write a book, it's worth the time up-front to research the niche by reading at least five of the top sellers. Otherwise, you stand a risk of spending hours and hours writing something, only to alienate your audience by breaking a basic rule of the genre.
• If you don't have a lot of time and/or money for books, you could always browse the Amazon's top 100 free ebooks and skim some of them, assuming they're in your genre. If time is the real issue, you could listen to audiobooks in your genre. That way, you could do your research while doing other things.
• I will tell you this. Writing is a slog. Even if it's in a niche you enjoy, odds are pretty good you'll have lots of days where you don't enjoy it. Lots of days, I HATE it. And lots of days, I'm pretty sure what I'm writing is crap. But usually, when I read it the next day, I'm pleasantly surprised to discover that it's better than I thought. It's a really weird dynamic, because you've got to just keep pushing, pushing, pushing. Write that next sentence, and then the next one after that. This turns into a paragraph. Write the next paragraph, and the next. Then you have a chapter, and so-on. Eventually, you'll probably find that you write some types of scenes faster than others. (For example, sometimes, I can whip out a funny chapter in just a couple of hours, but an intense, emotional chapter might take me ten times that.)
• To break out of your rut, here's another idea: If you do an outline in advance, you could even write your book out-of-order, meaning if you're in the mood to write an action scene that day, you write that, even the action scene doesn't occur until later in the book. I did that with my breakout book, meaning that I wrote it completely out of order, tackling various scenes depending on mood that day. So, if you're in a rut, you could always skip the chapter you're stuck on, and move ahead, with plans to write the chapter you skipped at a later date.
• About Market Value: Remember too, this can be a mixed bag. A couple years ago, I think it was easier to break into those super-hot genres. But now, the competition is even more intense. If you're picking a genre because it's super-hot, that also means you're going to have some pretty intense competition, even moreso than when @HeldforRansom started his amazing thread. I was on the KBoards the other day, and some writers were saying that they've abandoned the super-hot niches, because they're too competitive. The example one gave, in fact, was that they'd switched from billionaire romances to cozy mysteries, with some success, because there was less competition in cozies. (Not sure how true that is, only relaying what they said.)

Not sure if all of this rambling helps, but please keep us posted on what you decide, and how it goes. Good luck!

Great post.

To the person asking - you might get a bit annoyed if you don't at least enjoy something about what you write, imo. I started off in romance, and I am a guy, so it was a bit silly. But what kept me there is that I simply love constructing sentences, I love dropping the word in it's place. And I also like telling fun stories, and intensifying the action. So what happened as a result, is my books were getting more and more into action instead of feelings as I kept writing them. My last book is probably more a thriller with sex, than romance. Editor said it was my best book. Readers bought it. But, a big but, it was a 3rd in the series. If i didn't have all those readers who were into it from the more romantic books I've wrote, I don't know how well it'd do. Just saying make a note of what you like, and blend it. Or maybe that's bad advice and you should just do your thing altogether from the start. Because on that last book, I was quite annoyed writing the sex scenes, it deflated me, and I was asking thriller authors for advice..

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[ChickenHawk]

I suppose the 12 hours isn't a normal writing schedule, more of an umbrella of all the functions of authoring like the editing, plotting, reading, marketing, emails, etc, etc.

Yup! But when I'm up against a hard deadline, I tend to let everything that's not writing (or editing) slide. I'm trying to get better at this, but alas, haven't quite succeeded.

I find that I can edit so much more than I can write the fresh new material, as writing fresh material to me is mentally draining.

Oh yeah. For me, editing is fun (unless I'm up against a hard deadline). But lots of time, writing is really draining.

I'm still new at this, but I find myself able to write new material for a mere 1-1.5 hours before my neurons start imploding, and I'm churning less quality material that follows my outline; so I need to take more, and more phat breaks as to give my mind time to recuperate. Is the same true for best-sellers or do you find yourself able to churn out high quality material for a longer period of time due to more time spent in writing or other factor?

Boy, that's a tough one. For me, it's not so much that the quality suffers, but that I suffer, hah! Meaning, I don't think it impacts the quality of my writing so much as the quality of my life. I'm TERRIFIED at the prospect of missing deadlines, so as a deadline looms, I beat myself with a mental stick until those words are done. It's not pretty, but the end-product seems to be unaffected by the mental-beatings. Or maybe, thinking out loud, the mental strain might help the writing, because I'll sometimes take more chances when I'm under pressure.

In summary, I think that for most writers (me included), the mental drain comes with the territory. Happily, there are lots of things to refuel that energy -- a great sales month, notes from fans, not having to sit in a cubicle. There are lots of days I'm drained, but I wouldn't change this for anything in the slowlane, for sure!

 

[ChickenHawk]

I started off in romance, and I am a guy, so it was a bit silly. ...I also like telling fun stories, and intensifying the action. So what happened as a result, is my books were getting more and more into action instead of feelings as I kept writing them. My last book is probably more a thriller with sex, than romance. Editor said it was my best book.

I believe it! To me, the best romance books are flavored with something else, like action, mystery, comedy, whatever. In contrast, some of the dullest romance books are written by authors who only read romance. (I know this from participating in online writing groups. The diehard romance readers/writers churned out stuff that was consistently dull and lacking in "voice.") So the fact that you're taking a "guy" thing of action and interjecting it into your romance, I think this is smart. It's the "seasoning" that makes your book different.

One thing that helped me, I think, is that while I've read a ton of romance books, I also love other types of books -- action, mystery, kid's books, etc. So while my books are definitely romances, there's always bits of other stuff in there.

 

[ZF Lee]

ChickenHawk,

If there is one thing I can tell you from publishing 12 books on Amazon, it is that the market is becoming increasingly saturated. I even recall MJ saying this in an interview. It violates the entry commandment, so everyone is just throwing crap on the market to "make money".

Try to get your work out now, because as more and more people start to publish your books can easily get lost in Amazon's search engines. They have already happened to some of mine.

Although there is still plenty of niches available, they are becoming harder to find by the day.

Anyways, I wish you luck and I'm sure you will succeed!

I might be in trouble because my strategy involves self-publishing.

Every blog I visit (i.e copywriting, financial freedom, sales, real estate) just swamp me with one free ebook after another. Free is good-free info, but the info is just either fluff or crap.

I hope the entry barriers come back on. If this shit keeps going on, the Internet ain't going to remain Fastlane.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Omni]

I might be in trouble because my strategy involves self-publishing.

Every blog I visit (i.e copywriting, financial freedom, sales, real estate) just swamp me with one free ebook after another. Free is good-free info, but the info is just either fluff or crap.

I hope the entry barriers come back on. If this shit keeps going on, the Internet ain't going to remain Fastlane.

What? THAT is your barrier to entry. Create lead magnets that readers find valuable instead them calling it "fluff or crap"

 

[ZF Lee]

What? THAT is your barrier to entry. Create lead magnets that readers find valuable instead them calling it "fluff or crap"

Probably. But I have to make sure that giving freebies won't be the death of me. It has to be long-term strategy. Look at Kiyosaki....at first he was the darling of finance self-help and when word spread around that his stuff was fluff.

Of course free stuff draws customers. Free samples of coffee at my supermarket. Free doughnuts or cheese sticks. But what I am thinking about is quality. Yes, I may have good distribution systems. I may have media leads that pour on the fire (like Tai Lopez). But if what I offer them is no solution at all, or even rotten fish, I'm going to be in some hot soup.

I'm all for it. In fact MJ offered the first three free chapters of TMF to hook us in. I found it and came here that way. Thanks MJ!

But thanks for pointing out! Absolutely mind-enriching.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Any updates @ChickenHawk ?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[ChickenHawk]

Any updates @ChickenHawk ?

Oh jeez, now I feel ESPECIALLY guilty! I just came here to give an update, not even realizing that one was requested a month ago. (I stink! Sorry about that!) Anyway, onto the update...

Alas, this year has been a big challenge, filled with lackluster results. Throughout this year, I've made some huge strategic blunders, which have cost me serious time and money. In hopes that others might learn from my mistakes, here are some hard lessons I've learned this year.

THE QUICK SUMMARY: I released three novels this year. All of them underperformed, due to my own strategic mistakes.

Lesson #1: Just because customers ask for something, that doesn't mean you should deliver it. (AKA, how to have two flops in a row.)
Over the last couple of years, I've had readers request certain books. In particular, I received several requests to rewrite my two biggest sellers from the guy's point-of-view. Thinking that these requests represented a larger pool of readers, I committed to do this. BIG mistake. Although my biggest fans absolutely loved these books, sales were lackluster right out of the gate. Most of my established fans didn't jump at the chance to read a re-hashed story, and it was similarly hard to get new readers interested. Worse, this was a two-book thing. After book #1 underperformed, I was faced with a tough choice: Abandon the story mid-stream or push forward anyway. I decided to push forward anyway, and here's why: I didn't feel I could afford to get a reputation as a writer who leaves a two-book series hanging unfinished. And this majorly suuuuuuuucked. At this point, I realized that book#2 would likely be unprofitable, but long-term, it needed to be written anyway, unless I was willing to risk my reputation and potentially damage sales of future books. Of course, this made book#2 especially hard to write, because I knew it would likely flop, which it did, spectacularly. In short, these two books were my worst performers, ever. Plus, you'd think they'd be EASIER to write, because they were retold stories. Nope. They were the hardest books I ever wrote, which means they were not only unprofitable, but creatively draining as well.

Lesson #2. Strike while the iron is hot. (AKA, how to have a potential third flop.)
Yup, this involves another requested book. Many readers requested a third book in what was a two-book series. Due to the high demand, I announced that I would do this "by popular demand." Readers were thrilled at the news. However, it took too darn long to write, mostly because I was tied up writing the two flops mentioned above. By the time I released this new book, much of the interest in this particular series had waned as readers moved on to other things. In short, many established readers lost interest, and new readers aren't jumping at the chance to pick up book#3 in an older series. There's a slight chance the situation with this book could improve, but it's hard to say for sure. Sadly, it almost certainly would've sold a ton, if only I'd released it a year sooner. Now, I'm pushing it heavily with advertising, etc., but it's like pushing a boulder uphill. As of now, it doesn't look like that puppy's gonna move, and it's my own fault. If I couldn't write that book sooner, I shouldn't have committed to writing it at all.

So, in summary, I wrote three books this year, and each one of them was a mistake in one way or another. As a result, I've lost momentum and will need to regain it. Sadly, I worked very hard this year, but worked on the wrong things, or on the right things at the wrong time. Financially, I still earned more than I made at my day-job, but not much more. Plus, most of that income was earned in the early part of the year from earlier books.

In cheerier news, there's a lot to be thankful for:
1. I work in a wonderful environment and am still my own boss. I STILL don't do TPS reports!
2. If I were a traditionally published author, I probably would've been dropped by my publisher by now. But as an indie, I can get back on the horse and work to regain that momentum in 2017.
3. I still have a nice mailing list (4,000 fans by now) and lots of readers who love my work, so I'm not starting from ground zero.

On the downside, there are some larger market forces at work here, which I'll detail in a new post.

 

[ChickenHawk]

And now, some observations about self-publishing today...

IMO, the gold rush has run dry. This doesn't mean that there isn't money to be made. In some cases, you can make a TON of money. But the odds of lightning striking are slimmer than when I started, not too long ago. This is due to several factors, including:

More competition from the big publishers. The big publishers are getting smarter. They're advertising, becoming more competitive on price, and putting out books that are edgier, like self-published books. Back when the traditional publishers were still listing their books at $9.99 and doing everything the old-fashioned way, it was easier to pick off those sales by a simple low price. Not anymore, unfortunately.

More competition from other self-publishers. The competition is getting more fierce, and everyone is upping their game. Professionally designed covers, professionally edited books -- these are now the norm.

Kindle Unlimited: Kindle Unlimited (where authors are paid for pages read, not for actual sales) has wreaked havoc on author earnings. It's true you can make a ton of money on Kindle Unlimited, and it can be a great way to launch a new pen name. But there is a downside, and not only related to lost sales. Currently, there is a technical glitch or something that is costing authors lots of money, because borrows aren't being accurately recorded. This hasn't impacted everyone across the board, but those who WERE impacted saw devastating decreases in their income seemingly overnight.

Advertising: Two years ago, you didn't need to advertise to make a ton of money. Today, it would be much harder to get noticed without spending money on advertising. Unfortunately, advertising doesn't guarantee sales, so it's risky, especially if your book isn't compelling for whatever reason.

Amazon Algorithms: They can change in a heartbeat. Current speculation is that Amazon is heavily pushing their own imprints, which means there is less visibility for indies. This has wreaked havoc on the commandment of control, because not only do authors not control the Amazon algos, they also don't know how they work.

The Need to Publish More Often: Many of the top sellers churn out new books all the time. It's not uncommon to see writers publish five or six novels a year. To maintain visibility, it's almost a requirement these days, which is a challenge for those of us who write more slowly. Which brings me to my usual mantra -- must write faster! (Now, I should probably add, "Must write the right things faster!")

Barriers to Entry: With every month that passes, I think it becomes just a little bit harder for new names to break into the business. It's certainly not impossible, but considering that many top authors now have huge mailing lists, big backlists of previous books, and a huge Facebook presence, the barriers to entry are feeling higher all the time. For those of us already in the business, that might be good news. But it does seem to be a bigger challenge for anyone looking to break into it fresh.

As usual, I feel compelled to end on a cheerier note: For all its downsides, self-publishing is still, IMO, a vast improvement over the traditional route. And I still think there's serious money to be made by writers willing to work hard and pay attention to the market. It's just that anyone expecting an easy gold-rush is bound to be disappointed. It takes hard work, talent, and increasingly, some financial investment, too.

The business is always changing. How it will change in 2017 is anyone's guess.

 

[Lex DeVille]

Awesome update! Thanks for sharing @ChickenHawk

What do you think you'll do differently for 2017 to regain your edge on the market?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[devine]

@ChickenHawk don't you think there is something inherently wrong about your situation?

More competition from the big publishers. The big publishers are getting smarter. They're advertising, becoming more competitive on price, and putting out books that are edgier, like self-published books. Back when the traditional publishers were still listing their books at $9.99 and doing everything the old-fashioned way, it was easier to pick off those sales by a simple low price. Not anymore, unfortunately.

Do people buy books because of the price?
No. Never did.

You still can sell a preamble to your primary book for a lower price.
"Entering the World of Narnia" > "The World of Narnia".
Create anticipation, get reviews, form email list, watch performance.

Novel in publishing is like album in music.
We never do this.
We release a single, then another one, then EP, then LP.

Success of any release is a cumulative effect, which starts long before the release.

More competition from other self-publishers. The competition is getting more fierce, and everyone is upping their game. Professionally designed covers, professionally edited books -- these are now the norm.

"Professional" is a bad word in 2016.
It's not enough for it to be professional.
It has to be inspiring.

Aim to inspire and pay even more attention to your covers. Nobody knows the best chapter in your book, but everybody sees your cover.

Kindle Unlimited:
Kindle Unlimited (where authors are paid for pages read, not for actual sales) has wreaked havoc on author earnings. It's true you can make a ton of money on Kindle Unlimited, and it can be a great way to launch a new pen name. But there is a downside, and not only related to lost sales. Currently, there is a technical glitch or something that is costing authors lots of money, because borrows aren't being accurately recorded. This hasn't impacted everyone across the board, but those who WERE impacted saw devastating decreases in their income seemingly overnight.

Please don't tell me you still rely solely on Amazon in 2016.

Advertising:
Two years ago, you didn't need to advertise to make a ton of money. Today, it would be much harder to get noticed without spending money on advertising. Unfortunately, advertising doesn't guarantee sales, so it's risky, especially if your book isn't compelling for whatever reason.

Create animated video chapters.
Narrate your books on different platforms.
Come up with a creative website.
Participate in communities.
Advertise physically.

"If your book isn't compelling for whatever reason"
If it's compelling or not is a science, not hit-or-miss.

Hire/ask cognitive psychology and cognitive linguistics specialists to review your introduction and the first chapter of the book.
These parts of your book must resonate with readers. Otherwise the book will flop.

Amazon Algorithms:
They can change in a heartbeat. Current speculation is that Amazon is heavily pushing their own imprints, which means there is less visibility for indies. This has wreaked havoc on the commandment of control, because not only do authors not control the Amazon algos, they also don't know how they work.

Means more underdog effect for you.
In a world where crap is pushed from all over the place, biggest hype goes to underdogs.

The Need to Publish More Often:
Many of the top sellers churn out new books all the time. It's not uncommon to see writers publish five or six novels a year. To maintain visibility, it's almost a requirement these days, which is a challenge for those of us who write more slowly. Which brings me to my usual mantra -- must write faster! (Now, I should probably add, "Must write the right things faster!")

No, it's not.
The fact that you have a spotlight only on release doesn't mean that you have to do more releases. I explained this above.

Come up with ONE, but good book. You can still release a preamble + afterwords in addition to your original book to get more spotlight.
But don't release even 2 books a year hoping that it will perform better that way. It won't.

Barriers to Entry:
With every month that passes, I think it becomes just a little bit harder for new names to break into the business. It's certainly not impossible, but considering that many top authors now have huge mailing lists, big backlists of previous books, and a huge Facebook presence, the barriers to entry are feeling higher all the time. For those of us already in the business, that might be good news. But it does seem to be a bigger challenge for anyone looking to break into it fresh.

Do you know how many people don't shop for books on Amazon?
How many people have bought only 1 book there?
How many people never saw a single book ad in their life?
Do your potential readers care about anything you just said?
Think about it.

All of it was obvious years ago. It's just people fell for easy money & cheap tricks and paid no attention to real marketing.
It was possible to get away with poor execution.
Now it's relatively not.

I hope it gets through.
Don't feel lost and good luck with your journey.

 

[COSenior]

As usual, I feel compelled to end on a cheerier note: For all its downsides, self-publishing is still, IMO, a vast improvement over the traditional route. And I still think there's serious money to be made by writers willing to work hard and pay attention to the market. It's just that anyone expecting an easy gold-rush is bound to be disappointed. It takes hard work, talent, and increasingly, some financial investment, too.

The business is always changing. How it will change in 2017 is anyone's guess.

With some reservations, I've seen the same discouraging trends in self-publishing, especially as regards KU. I was so disgusted with changes last February or so that I pulled all my books out, but failed to get them published wide due to first a political disaster in my professional writers' organization while I was a Board member and forced to deal with the fallout, and then family health issues. Sometime in July, I decided to return, but experienced the undercounting of page reads you mentioned. One thing after another kept me from publishing anything new, and I finally gave in to financial pressure to ghostwrite the last half of a book for my old friend and client, Mossie.

Meanwhile, a friend from the above-mentioned pro organization hooked up with a small publisher, who spent approximately $20k in advertising (each), resulting in two NYT top-ten hits in a row. Hence my contention that all it takes to get on that list these days is about $20k. The books weren't spectacular, by any means, though they were competently written, professionally edited and proofread, and had professional covers. I've done all that with my books. They've never even made the top ten Amazon list, much less NYT. I have no illusions that I'm the great American novelist, but my books average a 4.7 out of 5 rating among reviewers.

The biggest factors between my income this year and my income last year have been: no new books since February and virtually no advertising. Frankly, I'm tired. To quote an article I read yesterday, 'I like writing - I don't like the business of writing'. The time factor alone of all that must be done to support marketing and advertising tends to kill the creative urge.

My solution is to turn my backlist over to a marketer whom I know can make me more money than I can make on my own, even after a 50% royalty split. It's still better than traditional publishing, and it frees me from the nonsense, so I can write or not write as the mood strikes me. He's still making me more money on four books published almost three years ago than I'm making on the 22 titles I've published since leaving his fold.

Will I write more? I'm not sure. I've just this morning decided to abandon (for the moment anyway) the WIP I've started for NaNoWriMo. It isn't working, and I've got better things to do than force it. It's been a lovely ride, but I'm ready to take some time off.

 

[Unknown]

My wife said she enjoyed the 2 male perspectives and she's looking forward to reading the other. She said one author she read did a male perspective without doing an entire rewrite. Instead she just did certain scenes and then referenced pages from the original book. Something like that could save you time in the future.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[ChickenHawk]

Awesome update! Thanks for sharing @ChickenHawk

What do you think you'll do differently for 2017 to regain your edge on the market?

Thanks so much!

In 2017, I'm starting a couple of fresh stories and resisting the temptation to respond to most (all?) reader-suggestions. I get a lot of these suggestions, even now. Some of them I KNOW are bad ideas, such as sequels to stories that have run their course, or weren't top sellers in the first place. It's funny, because I do realize that not every book will be a top seller. But I'm going to work to boost those odds by writing books with the potential to not only satisfy the biggest fans, but also bring new fans into the fold. This, I think, is key. If you're not getting new fans, your audience for each book will naturally diminish. I need to stop that from happening by constantly adding to my base of fans.

Also, on a personal front, 2016 was a hugely distracting year. We had some other things that claimed a lot of our time and energy. Those things are winding down (finally!), which should greatly help on the writing front. It should also (hopefully) give me more time to spend here.

 

[ChickenHawk]

@ChickenHawk don't you think there is something inherently wrong about your situation?

Thanks for the insight. One note of clarification though... In that particular post, I wasn't speaking to my own personal situation, but rather to the general shifts in the market place compared to when I first started. My 2016 was less than stellar mostly because I made mistakes, not because of market forces.

Do people buy books because of the price?
No. Never did.

This is true. And in fact, my own books are priced higher than many. Here, as in the rest of my post, I was speaking to larger market trends and factors in the gold rush being over. A few years ago, the trad published books were priced $9.99 or higher. Indie books were $2.99 or sometimes lower. A reader could buy three indie books for the price of one trad-published book. This gave indie books a huge edge, which is now mostly gone. It's the old supply-and-demand curve at work. It used to greatly favor indies. Now, it doesn't, at least not to the same degree.

It's just people fell for easy money & cheap tricks and paid no attention to real marketing. It was possible to get away with poor execution. Now it's relatively not.

Exactly. This was the point of my whole post. The gold rush is over. It used to be easy for just about anyone to make money. This is no longer the case for the reasons I outlined above.

I hope it gets through. Don't feel lost and good luck with your journey.

Thanks. But I don't feel lost. I feel determined to correct the mistakes I made in 2016 and regain lost ground in 2017.

 

[devine]

Thanks for the insight. One note of clarification though... In that particular post, I wasn't speaking to my own personal situation, but rather to the general shifts in the market place compared to when I first started. My 2016 was less than stellar mostly because I made mistakes, not because of market forces.


This is true. And in fact, my own books are priced higher than many. Here, as in the rest of my post, I was speaking to larger market trends and factors in the gold rush being over. A few years ago, the trad published books were priced $9.99 or higher. Indie books were $2.99 or sometimes lower. A reader could buy three indie books for the price of one trad-published book. This gave indie books a huge edge, which is now mostly gone. It's the old supply-and-demand curve at work. It used to greatly favor indies. Now, it doesn't, at least not to the same degree.



Exactly. This was the point of my whole post. The gold rush is over. It used to be easy for just about anyone to make money. This is no longer the case for the reasons I outlined above.



Thanks. But I don't feel lost. I feel determined to correct the mistakes I made in 2016 and regain lost ground in 2017.

That was a comment on both of your posts.
You have 3 flops.
And the problem is not with writing on demand or anything else from your first post.

But apparently it doesn't get through the state of denial, so I'm not wasting more of my time on it.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[ChickenHawk]

With some reservations, I've seen the same discouraging trends in self-publishing, especially as regards KU.

Yeah. Kindle Unlimited. Ugh. I've noticed more writers pulling out. I released one book wide this year, but ultimately pulled it back in because Kindle Unlimited books have such an advantage as far as visibility.

I was so disgusted with changes last February or so that I pulled all my books out, but failed to get them published wide due to first a political disaster in my professional writers' organization while I was a Board member and forced to deal with the fallout, and then family health issues. Sometime in July, I decided to return, but experienced the undercounting of page reads you mentioned.

Oh jeez, that sounds awful on all counts! I'm really sorry to hear that.

Meanwhile, a friend from the above-mentioned pro organization hooked up with a small publisher, who spent approximately $20k in advertising (each), resulting in two NYT top-ten hits in a row.

Interesting. Do you know where/how they advertised?

The biggest factors between my income this year and my income last year have been: no new books since February and virtually no advertising. Frankly, I'm tired. To quote an article I read yesterday, 'I like writing - I don't like the business of writing'. The time factor alone of all that must be done to support marketing and advertising tends to kill the creative urge.

Very true.

My solution is to turn my backlist over to a marketer whom I know can make me more money than I can make on my own, even after a 50% royalty split. It's still better than traditional publishing, and it frees me from the nonsense, so I can write or not write as the mood strikes me. He's still making me more money on four books published almost three years ago than I'm making on the 22 titles I've published since leaving his fold.

That sounds like a great approach, all things considered, especially with how quickly you write.

Will I write more? I'm not sure. It isn't working, and I've got better things to do than force it. It's been a lovely ride, but I'm ready to take some time off.

I can see this. It's a lot easier to write when market forces are aligned with you, not against you, that's for sure. I hope you'll continue to keep us posted!

 

[ChickenHawk]

That was a comment on both of your posts. You have 3 flops. And the problem is not with writing on demand or anything else from your first post. But apparently it doesn't get through the state of denial, so I'm not wasting more of my time on it.

Yes. Please spend your valuable time elsewhere. I, for one, would welcome that.

 

[COSenior]

Interesting. Do you know where/how they advertised?

No, I'm sorry, I don't. Will update if I can find out. Interestingly enough, last I knew she was on track for a $100k year - nowhere near what some of the well-performing books did for some authors in the year you and I started indie publishing. I think she's only getting about a 15% royalty, if that. Pick your poison, I guess.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[COSenior]

Come up with ONE, but good book. You can still release a preamble + afterwords in addition to your original book to get more spotlight.
But don't release even 2 books a year hoping that it will perform better that way. It won't.

Pardon me, but BS. In indie fiction publishing as well as academics, it's publish or perish, at least until you have a tremendous body of work and many, many thousands of loyal fans. Otherwise, you are forgotten within weeks. Attempting to survive on one book is like trying to eat one steak and expecting to live the rest of your life on it. Not. Gonna. Happen.

This is common knowledge, proven over and over again in this particular niche, which is indie fiction. If you don't know this, then you have no business giving advice to people who have been in the trenches for years.

But apparently it doesn't get through the state of denial, so I'm not wasting more of my time on it.

How dare you? Who the hell are you to presume? You clearly don't know to whom you're talking. Did you happen to notice this is a Gold thread? Did you happen to notice that @MJ DeMarco himself respects @ChickenHawk 's contributions? Apparently not.

 

[Chazmania]

The Need to Publish More Often: Many of the top sellers churn out new books all the time. It's not uncommon to see writers publish five or six novels a year. To maintain visibility, it's almost a requirement these days, which is a challenge for those of us who write more slowly. Which brings me to my usual mantra -- must write faster! (Now, I should probably add, "Must write the right things faster!")

Barriers to Entry: With every month that passes, I think it becomes just a little bit harder for new names to break into the business. It's certainly not impossible, but considering that many top authors now have huge mailing lists, big backlists of previous books, and a huge Facebook presence, the barriers to entry are feeling higher all the time. For those of us already in the business, that might be good news. But it does seem to be a bigger challenge for anyone looking to break into it fresh.

@ChickenHawk Thanks for the update! I give all the credit in the world to you and the many other self pubs that got involved early. Even if your year didn't work out as planned my hat is still off to you. Maybe those books will gain momentum as new readers find your other work?

Regarding the quotes above, I read Russel Blake's blog and he touched on these topics as well. He's a machine when it comes to content, and a true fastlaner, and he also mentioned these facts. It's a more mature market now and the bar has been raised, but again, it's good for established authors - not good for others that want to break into it without a real value add.

To your continued success!

That was a comment on both of your posts.
You have 3 flops.
And the problem is not with writing on demand or anything else from your first post.

But apparently it doesn't get through the state of denial, so I'm not wasting more of my time on it.

That's not cool and totally unnecessary.

 

[ChickenHawk]

I give all the credit in the world to you and the many other self pubs that got involved early. Even if your year didn't work out as planned my hat is still off to you. Maybe those books will gain momentum as new readers find your other work?

Thanks so much! About the underperforming books, the third flop may yet break out. (Unlikely maybe, but hey, it could happen.) The nice thing, too, is that you're absolutely right in that, as I gain new readers, they find those previous books. Even my worst performers make something, and that adds up over time.

It's a more mature market now and the bar has been raised, but again, it's good for established authors - not good for others that want to break into it without a real value add.

Exactly! I really feel for writers who are just starting out. During the gold rush days, it was possible for a brand-new pen name to see massive success with no advertising, no mailing list, and no prior books. These days, it's much more unlikely. For those of us who got in early, this may be a plus. But for those who are just starting out, the barriers-to-entry are a lot bigger.

To your continued success!

Thanks for that, along with the rest of your comment. I really appreciate it!

It's my hope that by coming here and sharing my failures (and not ONLY my successes), that it will help others learn from my missteps without going through the pain of making those same mistakes themselves. It's not all sunshine and roses, but then again, no true Fastlaner would expect it to be. I really appreciate all the feedback and encouragement! THANKS!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MJ DeMarco]

Yes. Please spend your valuable time elsewhere. I, for one, would welcome that.

Don't you love it when someone who doesn't play football, tells you how to play football? Or when someone who has never owned a business or been responsible for a payroll, tells you how to create jobs?

How many books have you sold now? Approaching 2,000,000?

Well, I've sold NONE.... but here's some advice...

 

[COSenior]

Don't you love it when someone who doesn't play football, tells you how to play football? Or when someone who has never owned a business or been responsible for a payroll, tells you how to create jobs?

How many books have you sold now? Approaching 2,000,000?

Well, I've sold NONE.... but here's some advice...

Can I like this five times?

 

[devine]

Don't you love it when someone who doesn't play football, tells you how to play football? Or when someone who has never owned a business or been responsible for a payroll, tells you how to create jobs?

How many books have you sold now? Approaching 2,000,000?

Well, I've sold NONE.... but here's some advice...

Same principles apply.

Producing 5 piece of shit books a year doesn't work as good as it used to.
Selling on amazon with zero marketing efforts and zero ad budget doesn't work anymore.

"Wait! But I thought I'm a successful writer! I only have 3 flops in a year because I have no F*cking clue how to survive in actual business, but it doesn't matter!"

Success rises with time.
Shortcuts get cut every year. With every update of some platform. With every change of the algorithm. With every 1000 of new players entering the market.

This whole thread is based on shortcuts. Success of Chickenhawk is based on shortcuts.
On every page. Every comment. Every line of text by the author of this thread is nothing but seeking shortcuts.

Now, everyone here can circlejerk each other 24/7, but the truth doesn't care if it's too hard to swallow.

You either swallow it, or you choke on it.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[ChickenHawk]

Selling on amazon with zero marketing efforts and zero ad budget doesn't work anymore.

Yes. What worked two years ago no longer works. That was kind of the whole point. Is English your second language or something?

About shortcuts, I have no idea what you're talking about. Perhaps you can enlighten me. Where is your publishing progress thread? Surely, you've sold millions of books by now. Please tell us how you did it.

 

[Unknown]

Yes. What worked two years ago no longer works. That was kind of the whole point. Is English your second language or something?

About shortcuts, I have no idea what you're talking about. Perhaps you can enlighten me. Where is your publishing progress thread? Surely, you've sold millions of books by now. Please tell us how you did it.

 

[Lex DeVille]

Same principles apply.

Producing 5 piece of shit books a year doesn't work as good as it used to.
Selling on amazon with zero marketing efforts and zero ad budget doesn't work anymore.

"Wait! But I thought I'm a successful writer! I only have 3 flops in a year because I have no F*cking clue how to survive in actual business, but it doesn't matter!"

Success rises with time.
Shortcuts get cut every year. With every update of some platform. With every change of the algorithm. With every 1000 of new players entering the market.

This whole thread is based on shortcuts. Success of Chickenhawk is based on shortcuts.
On every page. Every comment. Every line of text by the author of this thread is nothing but seeking shortcuts.

Now, everyone here can circlejerk each other 24/7, but the truth doesn't care if it's too hard to swallow.

You either swallow it, or you choke on it.

Sometimes I enjoy your posts, and I get where you're coming from.

Right now you're crossing a line whether you realize it or not.

Whether your perspective is correct in this case or not, nobody will listen to you because of the approach.

In business there's hard truths, and there's relationships.

Chickenhawk's experience has drawn thousands if not hundreds of thousands to this forum.

She has a good relationship with the forum's moderators.

As someone who understands quite a bit about business I feel like you also understand when you're stepping on toes.

I'm not judging you for your views. How you're expressing them is inappropriate.

Like I said, I enjoy some of your posts and I think you know what you're talking about sometimes.

I'd like to read more from you, but many of us are friends here on a similar journey and we've been at it a long time.

Whether you're right or not, when you attack someone's friend, they're bound to stick up for them.

Your path isn't the only path, and we each walk our own.

I hope you see that before you push too far and get banned because I feel you do have value to share sometimes.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MJ DeMarco]

Same principles apply.

Producing 5 piece of shit books a year doesn't work as good as it used to.
Selling on amazon with zero marketing efforts and zero ad budget doesn't work anymore.

"Wait! But I thought I'm a successful writer! I only have 3 flops in a year because I have no F*cking clue how to survive in actual business, but it doesn't matter!"

Success rises with time.
Shortcuts get cut every year. With every update of some platform. With every change of the algorithm. With every 1000 of new players entering the market.

This whole thread is based on shortcuts. Success of Chickenhawk is based on shortcuts.
On every page. Every comment. Every line of text by the author of this thread is nothing but seeking shortcuts.

Now, everyone here can circlejerk each other 24/7, but the truth doesn't care if it's too hard to swallow.

You either swallow it, or you choke on it.

Ill choke on it while your a$$ gets my boot.

I'm tired of your armchair entrepreneuring and frankly, you've insulted the wrong person.

Insulting someone on this board who has sold MILLIONS of books and has been writing for decades is SHORTCUTS?

Get F*cking lost.

Our self-proclaimed second-coming of Elon Musk has been banned for two weeks.

 

[Get Right]

Oh jeez, now I feel ESPECIALLY guilty! I just came here to give an update, not even realizing that one was requested a month ago. (I stink! Sorry about that!) Anyway, onto the update...

Loved your update ChickenHawk! You identified the areas that needed improvement and you developed a strategy to move forward. Keep us posted on your "pivot".

Now, everyone here can circlejerk each other 24/7, but the truth doesn't care if it's too hard to swallow.

...ignore user in 3..2..1