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

ChickenHawk

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PS: That was a weird way to say: THANK YOU for sharing your successes and your failures!
Awwww!!! Thanks for your kind words about this thread! Sorry I took so long to respond. I've been hunkering down writing so I've been quite neglectful of this thread lately, but I really do appreciate it.

Hey @ChickenHawk, how is it going? Any updates?
Thanks so much for asking! I'm drafting the final few chapters of my current novel, and it feels soooo sloooooow. In happier news, I should have a first draft within the week, and will begin editing/proof-reading shortly thereafter.

And now, where I confess something embarrassing -- I haven't yet finalized a bonus book as an incentive for the list signups. I actually spent like a month putting something together -- a bonus book of deleted scenes, book-trivia, etc. But when I was done, I just didn't know about it. And the more I waffled, the less confident I felt in it. I also got distracted with some cover redesigns and advertising-training and found myself waaaay behind schedule. Finally, I set everything else aside to focus on writing my current novel, because I was falling so far behind. So now I'm hustling to catch up. I definitely need to revisit the bonus book, but I don't believe I'll be doing that until I'm done with this current story. (*Hangs head in shame...*)

I'm thinking of trying something new with my next release. I'm thinking of getting my current book ready to go, but NOT releasing it until I've drafted my next book. On the downside, this will mean a delay in my next anticipated release date. On the upside, this will let me capitalize on my current writing momentum and release my next two books much closer together.

Decisions, decisions...
 
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that I wanted to try a hand

"Wanting to try" is a prescription for failure because it denies process and the necessity of occurrences in expected value. Don't try -- commit.
 

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But when I was done, I just didn't know about it. And the more I waffled, the less confident I felt in it. I also got distracted with some cover redesigns and advertising-training and found myself waaaay behind schedule.

Kind of a drive by question, but since my work is not artistic/creative in nature, I'm curious about the spidey sense of creative types who have brought successful products to market:

Do you find that you're always confident in a book when you release it? Have you found correlation between your gut confidence and a book's success in the marketplace?
 

ChickenHawk

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Do you find that you're always confident in a book when you release it? Have you found correlation between your gut confidence and a book's success in the marketplace?
Embarrassingly, I've found nearly no correlation. When writing a book, I almost always waffle between thinking it's absolutely wonderful or it's absolute crap. Like my current book, I'm at the phase where I'm convinced it's a steaming pile. (I HATE that phase.) But then, when I read the whole thing, I'll probably (hopefully?) think, "Hey, this is pretty good!" And then at some point, I'll loathe it again. By the time I release it, I'll be so confused that I won't know what to think. Soon after, the market will let me know if it's a hit or miss. I'm not sure anyone can predict what will sell or not. Even the top publishers, so-called experts, get it wrong more than they get it right. Crazy!

With my bonus book, my feeling was more along the lines of, "Meh." And that was a big red flag to me. Hopefully, I'll feel differently when I pick it back up. If I don't feel differently, I have some ideas on how to spice it up -- so the work definitely won't be wasted.
 
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That 'this probably sucks..definitely....or its good?' is normal yo, you know almost all of us think it. Glad to see you working CH, I was worrying a bit since I didnt see new posts in awhile. I'm also in final edit mode myself, then on to writing next in the series. How big is your mail list now? I read that book where the guy suggests giving away a book (or making one perma free) and having a sign up list for it. He claims the free list still buys. If you're interested it's called "Reader magnets" I think its free. Definitely definitely want to grow my list as this seems like a must, I havent seen much growth when you give away books, when I was selling more thats when it really grew. Cheers
 

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Oh on the idea of two books written before editing - I like it! That way the creative muscle keeps strong.
 

ChickenHawk

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How big is your mail list now? I read that book where the guy suggests giving away a book (or making one perma free) and having a sign up list for it. He claims the free list still buys. If you're interested it's called "Reader magnets" I think its free.

My list is stuck under 4,500 subscribers, but mostly that's because I'm not advertising at the moment and haven't released anything new in months. Now that I have a few books out, I've been seriously considering the permafree model, both as a lead-in to a funnel, and to work on building audiences on other retailers.

First on my to-do list, though, is to finish writing my next two books. I say two, because it's a two-book series, and don't dare pause between books, lest I lose my momentum.

Thanks for the suggestion and "Reader Magnets" info. I really appreciate it, and I'll definitely check it out!
 
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ChickenHawk

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Quick Status Update: I ran into a problem with my current book, and I had to tear it apart and put it back together. Now, it's Frankenbook! And it's still not done. (I'm literally writing the last two chapters though.) In happier news, I've saved some of the parts of THIS book for the NEXT book, so the book-mangling hasn't been for nothing. But short-term? SO frustrating.

Another odd observation: By this phase in almost every book I've written, I've loathed it. "This story sucks. It's stupid. Who would want to read this drivel? OMG, this scenario is so ridiculous." But then, when I actually read my first draft, I'm like, "Wow, I actually like it." Hopefully, this one will be the same way.

And, more importantly, I just pray the readers like it. Of course, they won't like it if I don't finish it, so back to work with me. (*Beats self with stick...*)
 

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To @ChickenHawk and to all that have contributed to this thread over its long and inspiring lifetime I just wanted to say a huge thank you. Coming to it this late it has been a bit of a task working through the entire thread over the last few days but it is full of insight and the poetry of process at its finest. A joy and an inspiration to read.

Congratulations on all your success CH and thank you for sharing the insights to your mindset and hard work that have fuelled it.
 

ChickenHawk

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To @ChickenHawk Congratulations on all your success CH and thank you for sharing the insights to your mindset and hard work that have fuelled it.

Thanks so much for the congrats and for the kind words! It's always nice to hear that someone has gotten something out of this thread. I almost can't believe how long this thread is by now. Time flies!

Also, as long as I'm posting...a quick status update: Except for one scene that I'm planning to write during the editing process, I FINALLY finished a draft of my latest book. But alas, it's overly long at 95K words, so I'm looking to cut 5-10K words during my edit. If I'm really lucky, some of those words will be scenes that I can use for the second book in this two-book series. Crossing fingers!

In case anyone is wondering, here's why I'm looking to cut words:
1. My most successful books were in the 70-85K range. The longer ones were less successful. Maybe this has to do with pacing or reader-attention spans, but I think it's smart to provide what my customers seem to prefer. Thus, the cutting.
2. This is a two-book series. If book #1 is 95K words, then book #2 should be a consistent length. The thought of writing another 95K words this summer makes me want to throw myself off my balcony. My balcony is on the third-story. So it would probably be less painful to cut the words, hah!
3. Every extra thousand words costs me more money. The audiobook production costs more (without a corresponding higher price-point), the paperback costs more, the editing/proofreading time costs more (at least in terms of time). It's funny how all of these things add up. And while I do get compensated for every page read in Kindle Unlmited, I don't believe those extra funds offset the time or trouble.

Back to editing...I've already cut 500 words (out of approximately 8,000) by tightening some stuff up. It's a start!
 
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ChickenHawk

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By this phase in almost every book I've written, I've loathed it... But then, when I actually read my first draft, I'm like, "Wow, I actually like it." Hopefully, this one will be the same way.

Well, it finally happened. I HATED my first draft. Sometimes, it's hard to know if something's good, but it's a lot easier to know when something sucks. And this book SUCKED, at least compared to its potential. The beginning was strong. The ending was strong. But the middle was a convoluted mess. I had to trash almost 20,000 words and add 12,000 new ones. And then, during my final edit, I cut another 5,000 words to improve the pacing.

Now, I'm actually pretty happy with it. My husband is my first reader, and when I interrupted him yesterday to ask how it was going, he refused to even look up. "Go away! I want to know how this turns out!" Hopefully, this is a good sign, LOL!

Why Was My First Draft so Awful? Two Reasons Come to Mind:
1. Head-Health Issues:
I've been reluctant to mention it before, but I've been struggling with serious migraines over the last couple of years. I've always had headache-problems, but within the last 1.5 years, they've made it nearly impossible for me to write as well as I should. I'm not a wuss. I've written books with the flu, with a fever, with almost no sleep, in a car, on my lunch break, etc. But I can't write super-great with a blinding headache. It's like a runner, trying to win a race with a broken foot. The will might be there, but the odds of a strong performance aren't terrific. I'd already been seeing a headache specialist, but his solution was/is always the same -- more drugs, which might eliminate the pain, but unfortunately, dull that certain spark of creativity. As a result, I've been struggling either way. (Do I want to be in too much pain to write well? Or too dull-witted to write well?) The only reason I'm mentioning this now, is because I've finally got a much better handle on them, and have reduced these headaches from maybe 25-30 days a month to 5-7 days a month. HUGE improvement!!!!
2. I Didn't Stop To Read This Book When It Was Halfway Done: Generally, I try to stop mid-way through writing a book and read/edit the first half before writing the second half. With this book, I just plowed forward and kept writing, because I was already so far behind schedule. Big mistake. If I'd only stopped halfway, I would've recognized the problems sooner and thus, avoided a lot of rework.

Where Things Stand Now: I'll be releasing this book within the next few weeks. I don't anticipate it doing terrific on release, because it's a two-book series, and I'm planning to delay the biggest promotional push until Book #2 is out, hopefully within three months. This will allow me to get more bang for my promotional buck and gain added momentum as the books cross-promote each other. It will be interesting to see how this strategy plays out!
 

ChickenHawk

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@ChickenHawk --I just want you to know how much this thread has inspired me! I've toyed with the idea of self publishing fiction but never read such an in depth first hand account. :smile2:

That's so wonderful to hear @rollerskates, and many thanks for the encouragement! I know this thread is getting loooooooong now, so it's good to know it's still providing some value. About self-publishing, I think the market is harder to crack today than it was a couple of years ago, but IMO, a compelling story and strong writing still stands a good chance of breaking out. Here's wishing you lots of good fortune if you decide to pursue it!
 
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@ChickenHawk --I just want you to know how much this thread has inspired me! I've toyed with the idea of self publishing fiction but never read such an in depth first hand account. It really should be marked Platinum. :smile2:

There's also another thread on the inside about a man (not in the US/UK) who started his self-publishing journey 3 years ago. After a lot of struggles and internal battles (do I quit or go on!?) he's now at $100K/month. Yup, you read that right: $100K.
 

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That's so wonderful to hear @rollerskates, and many thanks for the encouragement! I know this thread is getting loooooooong now, so it's good to know it's still providing some value. About self-publishing, I think the market is harder to crack today than it was a couple of years ago, but IMO, a compelling story and strong writing still stands a good chance of breaking out. Here's wishing you lots of good fortune if you decide to pursue it!

Thank you!
 

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So sorry to hear about your headaches! You've always been harder on yourself about your writing than your many fans are. That seems to be a common theme among writers, even very good ones like you. I was forced to re-read two of mine last month (would you believe I forgot some of my characters' names? It's been almost two years since I wrote the last one in this series), and was pleasantly surprised that they weren't nearly as bad as I remembered, lol.
 
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I just wanted to say "thank you" for this thread. Seeing your progress from the beginning to now is very inspiring. I never thought I would dust off that old manuscript and give it a go until now. I also hope your health issues clear up and you keep cranking out the work.

Best regards,
Shepherd
 

ChickenHawk

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I just wanted to say "thank you" for this thread. Seeing your progress from the beginning to now is very inspiring. I never thought I would dust off that old manuscript and give it a go until now. I also hope your health issues clear up and you keep cranking out the work.

Thank YOU, @Shepherd for the encouragement on this thread, and for the well wishes! I really appreciate it!

About dusting off that old manuscript, that sounds like a wonderful idea. There's almost no downside at this point. If your book resonates with the market, you'll have a great start on a writing career. And if it doesn't, you'll have more information for future endeavors. Like for me, my first self-published books weren't huge successes, but in happier news, this led me to switch genres. More information is always good, and you'll never know until you try!

Best of luck to you!
 

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My brother and I are pretty familiar with migraines. He found that stretching out his neck muscles and working on posture helped him out. I found a hot rag with peppermint oil works for me, apply to temple areas and back of the neck.

We both found that they seemed to come from muscle knots in the neck. You can try hanging on a pull-up bar and see if that helps or try a massage (or both!).

Glad you've reduced their frequency...they can be debilitating, to say the least.

Congrats on your e-book success. :D

Edit: Almost forgot, a low carb high fat diet helps to reduce inflammation, thus stops your body from hating you as much.
 
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ChickenHawk

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A pricing update (99 Cents?)...
I'm preparing to release my next book, and I've come to a frustrating conclusion. Kindle Unlimited is wreaking havoc on the pricing in my genre. Almost everything in the top 100 of my categories is priced at 99 cents, compared to $3.99 or $2.99 when I last released. Basically, most authors are selling their books for 99 cents to "buy" sales-rank, and then making their money on the borrows. This led me to ask myself, "Should I do that?" Here's my list of pros and cons.

Pros for a 99-cent release:
  • Better odds of hitting one of the top-100 lists (such as the top 100 in a romance category, for example) and thus, more visibility, which might mean more borrows.
  • Would likely pick up more new readers.

Cons for a 99-cent release:
  • Less Money. An obvious thing, I know. But with the difference in royalty rates, this is a big deal. When you sell an ebook for 99 cents, you make only 35 cents a copy. When you sell a book for $3.99, you make $2.70 a copy. This means, I'd need to sell eight books at 99 cents to make up for one sale at $3.99. I doubt that increased borrows would make up for this.
  • Setting Expectations: Once you go the 99-cent route, it can be hard to walk that back. Already, I have lots of readers who are willing to pay $3.99. Going to a 99-cent launch seems a step backwards.
  • No Promos: If you price your book at 99-cents, this makes it harder to put "on sale" and participate in special promotions, like a BookBub 99-cent sale, for example.
  • Harder to profit from advertising: With a 99-cent book, it can be really, REALLY difficult to advertise and still make a profit. The margin is so slim, in fact, that it's nearly impossible to do Facebook advertising, for example, and not lose your butt in the process.
My Conclusion: I'm planning to split the difference and launch "on sale" for $2.99 to give my subscribers and early readers an incentive (and thank you) for buying early. I highly doubt I will hit any lists at this price, but this will give me the freedom to advertise and maintain my price-point, especially when I raise my price back up to $3.99. Plus, this is only book #1 of a two-book series, so my biggest push won't come for a few months yet (once book #2 is out).

I also researched some of the established names in my genre. Some of them are going the 99-cent route, but many others are sticking with their regular prices. I believe this is because they already have a built-in readership and make more money under their current (higher) pricing structure, in spite of the fact that their books aren't ranking as high as they used to. However, I should add that if I were just starting out, I'd probably feel more compelled to go the 99-cent route in order to gain a following.

A final word of wisdom: In the past, I've resisted certain trends, like chopping up my books into tiny chunks in order to tap into Kindle Unlimited. I didn't chop them up, and it certainly cost me some money for a few months. But when Kindle Unlimited 1.0 crashed and burned, I recovered and then some as the pendulum swung back to regular full-length novels. To me, the 99-cent trend seems similar. Short-term, I'd probably make some gains. But long-term, I believe I'm better-off sticking with the regular full prices.
 

ChickenHawk

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And Now, Back to My Sadly Neglected Mailing List..
At last, I'm taking action on the excellent advice by @MTF and others to more aggressively build my mailing list. Here are the two things I'm working on:

An Incentive to Capture the Email Addresses of Current Readers/Fans:
I'm finalizing a bonus book of deleted scenes and book trivia as a freebie to encourage mailing list signups. This "bonus book" ended up around 14,000 words, and I plan to have this ready within the next couple of days.

A Freebie Book to Lure in New Readers: This Fall, I'm going to begin offering a freebie book in exchange for an email address. I'm planning to use my first "breakout" book for this, because (1) I believe I've fully milked most of the paid sales through the normal avenues and (2) it gets readers into a sales funnel, where they can learn what happens next with the characters. Why Fall? Because this book, along with my others, is still under an Amazon Kindle Unlimited exclusive, which means I can't offer it elsewhere until then. Maybe this is for the best, since I've gotta get cracking on my next book, pronto!
 
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And Now, Back to My Sadly Neglected Mailing List..
At last, I'm taking action on the excellent advice by @MTF and others to more aggressively build my mailing list. Here are the two things I'm working on:

Does this mean you overcame the issue of your kids mailing list, or just sticking with the adult genre?

I'm also curious if you overcame the challenge of writing 2,000 words per day, many of them long-hand. That seems intense.

I finally "bit the bullet" and got a speedy Ultrabook (with a SSD) that I can open and close very quickly to tap-out some work.

Oh, and excellent thread! Thanks for sharing the journey!
 

ChickenHawk

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Does this mean you overcame the issue of your kids mailing list, or just sticking with the adult genre?
Alas, I gave up the kids books and never did do a mailing list for them, because once the adult books took off, I focused all of my energy there. About the kids' books, I loved doing them, but they only achieved a fraction of the success. Every once in a while, I still consider doing some marketing for them, but always conclude that my energies are better directed elsewhere.

I'm also curious if you overcame the challenge of writing 2,000 words per day, many of them long-hand. That seems intense. I finally "bit the bullet" and got a speedy Ultrabook (with a SSD) that I can open and close very quickly to tap-out some work.
Happily, once I quit my day-job, I didn't have to squeeze in writing on my lunch break, in my car, etc., so now I do all my writing on a regular computer. The ultrabook sounds pretty sweet though!

Oh, and excellent thread! Thanks for sharing the journey!
You're so welcome, and thank YOU for the positive feedback!
 

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Love this thread. You rock Chickenhawk. Every time I write fiction, it reads like the work of a five year old.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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ChickenHawk

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Love this thread. You rock Chickenhawk. Every time I write fiction, it reads like the work of a five year old.

Thanks so much for the positive feedback! Funny, I think we all have our writing-like-a-five-year-old-moments. :)
 

ChickenHawk

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A quick update... I've released another book, but am still unsure how this one will do. It's book#1 of a two-book series, and I held back on some of the launch activities, looking to save the biggest push for after book#2 is available. But of course, this means I'm frantically writing book #2 so I can tap into Amazon algorithms (which tend to favor newer books, especially in multiples). My goal is to have a draft of book#2 done in five weeks and release it approximately two months from now.

Looking at the above sentence, I'm pretty sure I'm nuts. But really, I just want to put this book behind me. I don't think this particular series will be a breakout best-seller, but I do think it will be another private in my passive-income army. Something I've figured out over the last few months is that I need to stop obsessing about each individual book. I need to write fast, get it out there, and release another one. Rinse, repeat. Not all of the books will be breakout successes. Some will hit. Some will miss. Some will no doubt embarrass me at some future date.

I've come up with my next goal: I want 20 books out there, earning for me in one way or another. I'm about a third of the way there. Must write faster!
 

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The series aspect is interesting to me. As I went through my old manuscript, I realized it could easily be stretched out as a series of at least one more book. With that in mind, I'm wondering if I should launch book 1 as the first of a series or wait to see how it does before committing. The first option seems like the smarter choice, but the commitment to this strategy brings a lot of indecisiveness into play.
 
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A quick update... I've released another book, but am still unsure how this one will do. It's book#1 of a two-book series, and I held back on some of the launch activities, looking to save the biggest push for after book#2 is available. But of course, this means I'm frantically writing book #2 so I can tap into Amazon algorithms (which tend to favor newer books, especially in multiples). My goal is to have a draft of book#2 done in five weeks and release it approximately two months from now.

Looking at the above sentence, I'm pretty sure I'm nuts. But really, I just want to put this book behind me. I don't think this particular series will be a breakout best-seller, but I do think it will be another private in my passive-income army. Something I've figured out over the last few months is that I need to stop obsessing about each individual book. I need to write fast, get it out there, and release another one. Rinse, repeat. Not all of the books will be breakout successes. Some will hit. Some will miss. Some will no doubt embarrass me at some future date.

I've come up with my next goal: I want 20 books out there, earning for me in one way or another. I'm about a third of the way there. Must write faster!

Look @ Nora Roberts. All 2,800 of her books? The same. Think she agonizes over each word?

Write faster.
 

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
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Kindle Unlimited is wreaking havoc on the pricing in my genre. Almost everything in the top 100 of my categories is priced at 99 cents, compared to $3.99 or $2.99 when I last released. Basically, most authors are selling their books for 99 cents to "buy" sales-rank, and then making their money on the borrows. This led me to ask myself, "Should I do that?" Here's my list of pros and cons.

Hearing this drives me insane.

What we have here is the deleterious effect of a lack of ENTRY in CENTS. Lack of entry has suppressed prices with saturation. The more competent writers are being muzzled and priced out. Suddenly the phrase "2 Es beats 1 E" comes into play. Executional excellence can defeat poor entry. In other words, with entry barriers gone, you NEED to be better than the rest so your cream can rise. "Better" can be the writing, more books, better mailing list, better marketing, anything, but the bottomline is the honeymoon is over as self-publishing being some kind of passive income machine for the newbs. Sure is, but it will take work like anything.

Thanks for the updates!
 

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