It obviously is, given the progress ChickenHawk is making. However, I am talking about hiring a writer (on sites like Upwork) to make books. This method has a bad rap as it is often used to produce rubbish for a quick buck. But there is no reason why a quality writer can’t be used.
For the longest time, I thought fiction was a good choice, as readers consume a lot of books in their chosen niche, so you don’t need to worry as much as about outperforming the competition (as you do with non-fiction, where a reader will gravitate to the top books in a niche).
However, Luca De Stefani recently posted a video saying that fiction is no longer viable for the following reasons:
• Most fictions readers subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, where the payout is just under 1¢ per 2 pages. So you need a 215 page book to earn a single dollar.
• High price competition makes it hard to sell a book for more than 0.99
• Kindle book readers don’t tend to buy the higher revenue paperback or audio editions.
Obviously Lucs sells a Kindle non-fiction course, so his perspective will be slanted.
However, his comments do match up with my experience. Two months ago I released a book in the interracial romance niche. My book got strong reviews (as it was a quality product), but the earnings have been poor. I’ve struggled to make $80 in total over 3 months (avg $26/month) and the monthly earnings have been steadily dropping (last month it was $10).
As this was my first attempt, making a quality book was costly, as I had to fire poor performing writers midway. At the time, the cost seemed worth it as I was anticipating to make $200 a month and so could recoup in 3 months. But that doesn't seem likely now.
I’d love to make a second book and could probably produce it for $390 as I’ve now learnt how to spot the warning signs of a bad writer. But if $26/month is the most I can earn, it doesn’t seem like it will be a viable business.
I know with my first book I did make a few errors in the direction of the plot, but I've learnt from these, so I might have better success next time. But I can't see the earnings jumping up dramatically from $26/month.
I’d love to hear some opinions on the viability of this type of business!
For the longest time, I thought fiction was a good choice, as readers consume a lot of books in their chosen niche, so you don’t need to worry as much as about outperforming the competition (as you do with non-fiction, where a reader will gravitate to the top books in a niche).
However, Luca De Stefani recently posted a video saying that fiction is no longer viable for the following reasons:
• Most fictions readers subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, where the payout is just under 1¢ per 2 pages. So you need a 215 page book to earn a single dollar.
• High price competition makes it hard to sell a book for more than 0.99
• Kindle book readers don’t tend to buy the higher revenue paperback or audio editions.
Obviously Lucs sells a Kindle non-fiction course, so his perspective will be slanted.
However, his comments do match up with my experience. Two months ago I released a book in the interracial romance niche. My book got strong reviews (as it was a quality product), but the earnings have been poor. I’ve struggled to make $80 in total over 3 months (avg $26/month) and the monthly earnings have been steadily dropping (last month it was $10).
As this was my first attempt, making a quality book was costly, as I had to fire poor performing writers midway. At the time, the cost seemed worth it as I was anticipating to make $200 a month and so could recoup in 3 months. But that doesn't seem likely now.
I’d love to make a second book and could probably produce it for $390 as I’ve now learnt how to spot the warning signs of a bad writer. But if $26/month is the most I can earn, it doesn’t seem like it will be a viable business.
I know with my first book I did make a few errors in the direction of the plot, but I've learnt from these, so I might have better success next time. But I can't see the earnings jumping up dramatically from $26/month.
I’d love to hear some opinions on the viability of this type of business!
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