I Will Reach $10,000 USD monthly in Self-Publishing.

[COSenior]

On other news, my first book had its first sale last night!

Way to go! Gotta take that first step before you can run. Now, go for it!

 

[Mark Anthony Le]

To be honest *money* isn't as big of a problem, as *accounting* for it. Also you do need a designated person who manages such a colaboration from their account since I don't think any of the platforms allows for multiple owners of a book (other than tagging someone as author). I think what some author groups do is create a legal entity that manages all that stuff and the authors are then part of that entity. It's quite nicely explained here for anyone interested:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DHPQGN0/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

It's a good read overall, too.

Wow that's interesting! I have to put that on my to read list after I finish off my current deadlines.

Answer honestly a few questions:
- Have you got any design background or at least a decent eye for design?
- Have you got any skills already in using something like Photoshop or Gimp?
- Realistically what is your budget

Hmm not much design background but I've tinkered with Photoshop and gimp in the past. I'm definitely trying to do it on a minimum budget. I currently try to keep my titles simple and to the point.

I've see some of the qualities for 5 dollars on Fiverr and it looks "ok" nothing I don't see why I couldn't do myself.

I could be wrong though.

Not much I can add to what joanna said.

I use Gimp and purchase stock photo licenses so everything is on the up and up.

What do you do with the stock photos? Do you combine it with multiple different stock photos, play with the coloring and then just slam on a title?

Way to go! Gotta take that first step before you can run. Now, go for it!

Yea definitely full throttling it now.



Update #6:

Just finished proof reading the book. Now debating on purchasing a cover or not. I've been playing with Photoshop and a old image I had that I felt related to my book.

I feel like it's taking away from my writing time though.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

What do you do with the stock photos? Do you combine it with multiple different stock photos, play with the coloring and then just slam on a title?

There's a little more to it than that, but yes.

 

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[Thriftypreneur]

As joanna has already mentioned, unless you have a strong desire to learn or a background in design already, your time is going to be better served just hiring someone to make covers for you.

If I didn't like that part of the creative process so much, I'd be hiring someone without thinking twice about it.

 

[Mark Anthony Le]

Any way. Here's some tips:
http://www.creativindie.com/8-cover-...-buying-books/

And that's an interesting read, even if you're not planning on having a custom photoshoot
http://www.orbitbooks.net/2013/07/10...wdance-series/

If you want a quick start here's a 6x9 standard sized psd I use as a starter for covers.
http://bookcovermasterclass.com/6x9-...int-bleeds.psd

Here's an extract from a presentation I did some time ago (sorry, just the slides, no commentary)
http://bookcovermasterclass.com/fonts-presentation.pdf
My favourite font site for free stuff is dafont.com, since it's easy to look for "free for commercial use" stuff.

Haha great tips! Thanks Already gave me some ideas.

Depends. If you're starting out and don't have the photo-manipulation skills, then it's better to stick to single photo with a few effect, or really easy blends. Otherwise it shows. Despite being a designer for a long while, I still wouldn't consider myself that great at combining multiple random photos, not to mention to do it well it takes a lot of time - you need to get the lighting right, shadows, proportions between the two photos, often different exposure, and so on.

As joanna has already mentioned, unless you have a strong desire to learn or a background in design already, your time is going to be better served just hiring someone to make covers for you.

If I didn't like that part of the creative process so much, I'd be hiring someone without thinking twice about it.

Yea, i'm thinking about seeing how great my cover turns out and then outsourcing it to Fiverr if anything.

 

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[Mark Anthony Le]

Update #8:

Just uploaded my stuff to Smashwords for a different venue.
I couldn't help but realize that my last novella is #8 in it's keyword for a sub niche. Yet still no sales. Perhaps it's because I priced it at 2.99 or it could be the cover.

Outlined about 5 books for a series of my last novella. Man, I can't lie but waking up everday at 4AM is starting to take a toll on me since I go to sleep around 11. Not enough sleep

I literally wake up with the fuel to work on the novellas, but then during the day I can feel my body at work. Literally shutting down. Falling asleep. Etc.

I'm not sure if increased Caffeine consumption would be ideal in my situation but ehh.

I'm trying to follow DWS's tips on not promoting my books, rather just keep writing. But I can't help but feel like my books aren't taking off



I'm going to leave it as is for a week and then use a different cover from Fiverr. Gotta split test.

 

[Mark Anthony Le]

Long time without an update I know.

So far I've gotten the first part of my outline for my next book. Pretty excited for the next book honestly.

It seems that my 2nd book has gotten a purchase with a refund immediately as well. Seems like they're finishing my book really fast and returning it. I'm going to see if longer books work.

We'll see. So far no promotion has been done. Simply just plugging away at writing.

How is everyone else dong?

 

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[Mark Anthony Le]

Aw, I'm sorry to hear that. I was devastated the first time someone returned one of mine. Seriously, who goes to the trouble to return a 99c purchase? But, don't take it personally. Some people are just cheap. Some people are scam artists. And some people just aren't going to like your writing--you can't please everyone. Shake it off and just keep writing.

Yea I realized. I noticed that my first book has gotten only 2 sales and 41 free downloads from my free promotion. 1 good review and 1 ok review. I know that many success writers have said to ignore it so I'm choosing to do just that. Regardless if it's a good review or bad review.

There can be a ton of reasons for that. Expect it, embrace it even. Wait until you start getting reviews slating your book..keep going and you'll have that to come

Haha yea I know. It's quite fresh for a beginning writer is all.

Otherwise, I don't recall if you've shared your genre at all but each one has its average return rates. In mine, it's around 5-7% on average. My personal average is around 5% most months.

I have two penpal names. 1 in the Mystery section. and 1 in the Romance section. How would I go about checking the average?

What I find is that whenever I put something new out, the return rates are usually about 3 to 5 times than what they average out to be a couple of weeks later. I have no idea why. Perhaps you are experiencing a bit of that phenomenon yourself.

I probably am. What I have trouble with is that, how do people find my books if my sales rank is high as all hell. I was thinking that maybe writing more books would probably be the best promotion method since it establishes myself as a on-going continuous writer.

you may want to take a look at the blurb, the title or possibly even the categorization you picked. The last one is less likely but still a possibility. In any case, if it's way out of whack, there might be a disconnect between what you are saying about the book and what your readers are getting out of it.

Wow thanks. I completely forgot about that. I'm going to analyze and reevaluate my stuff. I just changed the cover to a professionally done one from Fiverr. We'll see what happens.

Perhaps they are just the type of person who returns a lot of e-books or maybe they bought the wrong book or perhaps they don't want their husband seeing what's on the Kindle!

You see what I mean? Those are just some things to consider if you are taking it personally. There's no way to know.

Does Nike get mad when people bring shoes back? What about Nordstrom when people return clothes they've already worn? Or even you, think about what you have returned in your life and why. Sometimes it's a legit reason and other times, ehhh, maybe not so much.

Someday you'll have 20 or 30 books up. Wait until someone buys your whole catalog, reads it and returns it. It happens to everyone sooner or later.

At first, you're like

And then you're all

Although it's VERY HARD, it's best to detach yourself from all of these kinds of things you cannot control. It makes all the difference in the world over the long run.

Thank you so much HFR. You're the shining beacon at the end of the tunnel. When I do have a massive collection of books and a check to prove it, I dont care where you are, how far it takes, I'm going to hunt you down and personally thank you. (I hope that didn't come off creepy):thankyousign:

 

[Mark Anthony Le]

On the Kindle Boards, one author said you haven't really lived until someone's returned one of your FREE books. Somehow, that made me feel better about the couple returns I had, because this made no sense whatsoever.

I literally laughed out loud. Thanks man

UPDATE:
My writing schedule has been hectic as all hell. Damn. I've been trying to squeeze writing into every single second of my free time. I haven't even had time to visit you guys

So... Here are my realizations:

MORE TIME =/= MORE WORDS

My god did I learn this the hard way. The more time I squeezed into writing the more I felt like my writing was sloppy and terrible. It was almost as if my creative side was burnt out from the overload of the work I gave it. I'm going to figure out a way to make it work though. Perhaps one of my outlines in writing is wrong.

So far I'm working on a lengthier book just to see if I get more traction in my category. Even though the large majority of my category uses 200+ pages, I'm testing the waters to see if they respond more with different unique twists that are much shorter aka novellas or in general they stick with longer books.

All about testing and finding the right formula in my niches now.

How is everyone else doing?

 

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[Rainy_TX]

Mark Anthony Le - What are you doing to market your books? I am also curious to see what others are doing as well. I found the following article interesting: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jan/12/amanda-hocking-self-publishing The thing is, how many of us just have a blog we've had forever related to our genre with tons of followers?

Anyway, anyone with marketing ideas for marketing fiction? Would be greatly appreciated! I just received my first fiction novel back from my editor and am making the final corrections/edits to it. Being a professional graphic designer, I've already created a cover so... other than that, I just need to dive into marketing.

 

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[Rainy_TX]

Congrats!

 

[smarty]

Hey Hicks,

About the KDP Select, yea it's officially kindle only. I might be wrong but it's only for 90 days I think? Not home to double checks

And yea my book is in English. Albeit, I was never the greatest English student in my classes in college, practice makes perfect

Just trying to supply a demand in the market is all.

Great job! Why don't you include a link to the book here? someone might buy it or at least share and give you additional exposure.

 

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[Mark Anthony Le]

Poor guy! Hope you feel better!

Haha thanks

Hows your book coming along? I noticed your thread and was meaning to sub to it.

Way to turn a bad thing into a good thing. Congrats, by the way, Pop. Better get those titles out in a hurry!

Thanks Haha. Can't say i'm not excited but also looking down at the lack of down time i'll have working on the business. I feel like I have to work even harder now that I have a child coming.

 

[joanna]

I second the sentiment above. Way to make lemonade out of lemons

I think the most important thing is to find the best writing approach that works for you. There is no right or wrong way when it comes to process. Good luck with the other half of the book.

 

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[COSenior]

My 2nd book that I released earlier just got another two sales this week! PUMPED! But no review yet

Forgive me if you've posted the answers I'm about to ask for earlier in the thread. I'm now reading so many of these that it's cutting into my writing time, and alas, I have no time to go back looking for info.
So, my questions. Have you posted your book links? I do support and read books by authors I 'know' through social media, and although I'm a bit behind, would do that for you as well, unless it's a genre that just completely turns me off. Steam punk comes to mind.

If you're remaining anonymous, as I am, I understand. If you haven't posted and don't want to, but would be interested in my opinion, you're welcome to PM me. I have read and kept confidential several of the authors who post here.

 

[Mark Anthony Le]

FYI, I'm sharing more personal details in the INSIDERS section, such as marketing and the like. I basically moved my progress thread there.

What are your thoughts? Any significant improvment in earnings?

 

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[Breaking Free]

Yes and no. Mine is a definitely "in progress" journey, so I'm hoping to show the steps I take on what will eventually come a profitable venture.

 

[Lauryn]

An INSIDERS thread for self-publishing would be cool to have. This is a great forum - but there are resources we are all sensitive about - and trolling is greatly reduced on the inside.

I'm enjoying this post.

 

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[Rainy_TX]

Update on the sales?

 

[Lauryn]

It turns out that as I was taking off with my self publishing career, my offline service consulting project I had going from years before took off completely unexpectedly.
I'm in the midst of juggling both and I know MJ warns against breaking monogamy. So it's been kindve a juggling act for both sides of the project.

And that's pretty much what's happened to me. I work 2 jobs but as I focused on writing, freelance work came on its own out of nowhere. Even if it's just a brief project it's distracting, but it's okay because money calls. I just remember what the ultimate goal is.