Starting my Fastlane journey with Self Publishing!

[Namtab]

Hello all, I made my member intro a week or so ago and I think starting a process thread now will really get my motivation going!

So, I have decided to delve into the world of self publishing (Amazon/E-Books) and I am going to document my goals/ achievements (hopefully there are some!) onto this thread.

The quote from the TMF , 'Create something from Nothing' really struck me hard. I adore this quote and is the reason why I'm jumping on the self publishing bandwagon, even if that bandwagon is very crowded! So, here are my goals up to February 2016. (If anyone has any advice/opinions, please do comment)

So I have decided to write myself as well as hiring my teenage sister who can write surprisingly very well! (far better than me!) She is midway through a fictional thriller and will be paying her per book when complete. Outsourcing writers is something I am not focussing on at the moment.

My Initial goal for January 2016 was to create the Kindle Publishing account. I originally told myself 'yeah I'll just make it in the new year. New year, fresh start blah blah blah'. Taking action is used a lot on here so to hell, I fully created the account as of 20TH DECEMBER and ready to rock and roll:

BY 15TH JANUARY 2016:
- The first fiction book to complete, to be professionally proof-checked and to get in contact with a friend who is a graphic designer to create the cover. I can always outsource further if he for whatever reason can't do it. The book then published to Amazon for a respective price of £0.99.

BY 25TH JANUARY 2016:

- To get to work on a website which will be used for marketing purposes.
-Start a Wordpress site, nothing too fancy for now.
- I will start putting together a children's book I have been brainstorming.
- Sister officially starts the next fictional book.


BY 10TH FEBRUARY 2016

- Website is fully complete/designed and ready to be enrolled for marketing purposes.
- Create an Email List account - MailCheat(Chimp)?
- Children's book is complete with full original illustrations and published to Kindle.
- Fully research the kindle market. What sells and enrol on Amazon Marketing.


So they are the goals set up until February 2016! I am excited to give this a go and will be adding to this thread on a regular basis, even if it is just me reading

 

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

[Namtab]

UPDATE: 29TH DECEMBER:

Well I am ahead of schedule as the book is now fully complete and I hired someone to create a cover on Fiverr. The book will be up on Amazon before the years end. So far so happy with the progress. This means I can get straight to work on the next book!

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

UPDATE: 29TH DECEMBER:

Well I am ahead of schedule as the book is now fully complete and I hired someone to create a cover on Fiverr. The book will be up on Amazon before the years end. So far so happy with the progress. This means I can get straight to work on the next book!

I don't self publish, so maybe someone else can confirm. But it's my understanding that you want to price at $2.99. That way you get a higher royalty rate and more sales (because of the perceived value). Anyone else in this space that can confirm?

 

[Namtab]

UPDATE 2ND JANUARY 2016

So my first book is up on Amazon! It is currently on a free promotion and sitting at 10 downloads so far! If anyone has a quick five minutes, I would appreciate maybe some advice on the cover, category etc.

Really happy I am ahead of schedule by 2 weeks!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01A1GRQ1S?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

The file size is rather large but I knew everything wouldn't be perfect with my first book!

Thanks guys.

 

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

[Charnell]

I don't self publish, so maybe someone else can confirm. But it's my understanding that you want to price at $2.99. That way you get a higher royalty rate and more sales (because of the perceived value). Anyone else in this space that can confirm?

Can confirm, from $2.99-9.99USD you get a 70% royalty rate as opposed to the lower 35%.

Also, @Namtab, why are you waiting until February or so to create a mailing list? It takes only a few minutes and it's best to start that sooner than later.

Are you designing your website yourself, or going the WordPress + premium theme route? A lot of what you have as longer term goals can be knocked out in a few hours.

 

[Namtab]

Can confirm, from $2.99-9.99USD you get a 70% royalty rate as opposed to the lower 35%.

Also, @Namtab, why are you waiting until February or so to create a mailing list? It takes only a few minutes and it's best to start that sooner than later.

Are you designing your website yourself, or going the WordPress + premium theme route? A lot of what you have as longer term goals can be knocked out in a few hours.

Hi there, yeah I am getting all these things done on my time off work this week. Website, mailing list etc! I have no idea why I originally set these deadlines for months in advance!

 

[Mikhail Joseph]

Have you submitted them to the free book websites 1 week prior to your free promotion? - If not, you should really be taking advantage of this.

A free promotion alone wont get you tons of downloads unless it's supported by a few other methods of marketing your book.


Some ideas which may help you:

- Post in groups on facebook related to your niche
- Post in forums related to your niche
- Take advantage of the free website promotions ( do this 1 week, even 2 weeks before you schedule your free promotion on amazon )
- Tweet it at groups related to free kindle promotions
- Blast on your email list, if you have one

 

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

[Selfy]

Not to burst your bubble, but "create something from nothing" is not exactly correct in self publishing.

I, too, fell for this. But two years in, I'll tell you that even though you don't need capital to produce words, you need something else: skill.

How much does writing skill cost? Ask an outsourcer who has had to many bad writers working for him.

I'll tell you. You need to pay in time. This is the equilibrium for a business with little capital costs. It takes two years minimum to get a handle of things, to develop skill.

Granted I write romance, and children's book is different. But I caution that time is what you pay. Time alone, time in doubt, time writing.

It is a good business. And I wish you well. But I just wanted to dispel this notion of 'nothing to something.' Nothing is free. You have to pay years. I hope you stay.

 

[jameslague]

Hey I just wanted to drop in and say that I'm excited for your progress! It must be exciting to start from scratch and get this stuff rolling.

Best of luck!

 

[ChickenHawk]

Congrats on your progress so far!

About Your Book: I really like the cover. It's nice and professional-looking. I see you have it priced for free right now. I think that's smart, because it can help you get new readers. If/when you end the free run, I wouldn't price this book any higher than 99 cents, because of its length. At 18 pages, you'll likely get hate and bad reviews if you price it more than 99 cents. Sadly, you might get a bit of hate anyway, because, well, that's just how readers can be. Dang!

About the Mailing List: I'm with @Charnell. Sooner is definitely better. I use MailCheat(Chimp). The nice thing is you can get an account for free and don't even need a Web site to build your list. It's GREAT for authors just starting out. And honestly, I still use MailCheat(Chimp), and so far, I've been really happy.

About Kid's Books: I don't want to discourage you, but dang, that's a tough nut to crack. I wrote four kids books, and did fairly decent, ranking-wise in my categories. But it's a fairly shallow market, which means that even if you rank on your category, you don't see a ton of sales. Plus, once you add in images (assuming the book is illustrated), it costs more band-width to deliver, which means you make less money per sale. I don't mean to discourage you. Just giving you some thoughts to ponder. I ended up giving up on the kids' books to focus on adult novels, which has worked a TON better, at least in my case.

Good luck as you move forward!

 

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

[Namtab]

Have you submitted them to the free book websites 1 week prior to your free promotion? - If not, you should really be taking advantage of this.

A free promotion alone wont get you tons of downloads unless it's supported by a few other methods of marketing your book.


Some ideas which may help you:

- Post in groups on facebook related to your niche
- Post in forums related to your niche
- Take advantage of the free website promotions ( do this 1 week, even 2 weeks before you schedule your free promotion on amazon )
- Tweet it at groups related to free kindle promotions
- Blast on your email list, if you have one

Thanks for the tips! Definitely going to be putting some of these to use shortly!

 

[Namtab]

Not to burst your bubble, but "create something from nothing" is not exactly correct in self publishing.

I, too, fell for this. But two years in, I'll tell you that even though you don't need capital to produce words, you need something else: skill.

How much does writing skill cost? Ask an outsourcer who has had to many bad writers working for him.

I'll tell you. You need to pay in time. This is the equilibrium for a business with little capital costs. It takes two years minimum to get a handle of things, to develop skill.

Granted I write romance, and children's book is different. But I caution that time is what you pay. Time alone, time in doubt, time writing.

It is a good business. And I wish you well. But I just wanted to dispel this notion of 'nothing to something.' Nothing is free. You have to pay years. I hope you stay.

Thanks for the advice! I suppose that is why I am getting more into short stories. Quality written books but don't take an age to write. Currently testing out the markets!

 

[Namtab]

Congrats on your progress so far!

About Your Book: I really like the cover. It's nice and professional-looking. I see you have it priced for free right now. I think that's smart, because it can help you get new readers. If/when you end the free run, I wouldn't price this book any higher than 99 cents, because of its length. At 18 pages, you'll likely get hate and bad reviews if you price it more than 99 cents. Sadly, you might get a bit of hate anyway, because, well, that's just how readers can be. Dang!

About the Mailing List: I'm with @Charnell. Sooner is definitely better. I use MailCheat(Chimp). The nice thing is you can get an account for free and don't even need a Web site to build your list. It's GREAT for authors just starting out. And honestly, I still use MailCheat(Chimp), and so far, I've been really happy.

About Kid's Books: I don't want to discourage you, but dang, that's a tough nut to crack. I wrote four kids books, and did fairly decent, ranking-wise in my categories. But it's a fairly shallow market, which means that even if you rank on your category, you don't see a ton of sales. Plus, once you add in images (assuming the book is illustrated), it costs more band-width to deliver, which means you make less money per sale. I don't mean to discourage you. Just giving you some thoughts to ponder. I ended up giving up on the kids' books to focus on adult novels, which has worked a TON better, at least in my case.

Good luck as you move forward!

Thanks a ton for checking out the book! The book has been downloaded 45 times so far and climbing the rankings so pretty happy with the results so far (even if I am not earning just yet!) A mailing list is the next step on the agenda for sure!

 

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

[Held for Ransom]

Not to burst your bubble, but "create something from nothing" is not exactly correct in self publishing.

I, too, fell for this. But two years in, I'll tell you that even though you don't need capital to produce words, you need something else: skill.

How much does writing skill cost? Ask an outsourcer who has had to many bad writers working for him.

I'll tell you. You need to pay in time. This is the equilibrium for a business with little capital costs. It takes two years minimum to get a handle of things, to develop skill.

Granted I write romance, and children's book is different. But I caution that time is what you pay. Time alone, time in doubt, time writing.

It is a good business. And I wish you well. But I just wanted to dispel this notion of 'nothing to something.' Nothing is free. You have to pay years. I hope you stay.

Rep transferred. Excellent.

Thanks for the advice! I suppose that is why I am getting more into short stories. Quality written books but don't take an age to write. Currently testing out the markets!

There's actually a ton more wisdom in @Selfy post than you may realize right now. When you hit the wall, and you will, re-read it.

Good luck @Namtab

Nice to see you off to a solid start. Keep at it.

 

[Namtab]

UPDATE 9TH JANUARY 2016:

Okay so a week has gone by and I think I making fairly good process. I have now designed the bulk of my author-based website and have purchased a domain name in which I'm rather happy about!

I also now have a functioning mailing list set up on the site which is not major progress but again, I am fairly content. I stupidly set up the list when the book's free promotion ended so not the smartest move on my part. It was downloaded over 110 times during it's free run so I think I may have missed out there!

Of course staying positive and the second book is now well under way! Hopefully I will receive the same sort of download numbers for this one to get that list moving!

All for now, thanks!

 

[Namtab]

So the book has sold around 4 copies leaving me with around £1.00! (around $1.40)! It's not great but at least I've got the ball rolling.

I have been researching the Kindle store over the last few days and have come to the conclusion that short stories in the genres I am comfortable writing in simply don't sell well. A lot of the leading category book have an awful sales rank so I have decided to focus on full length novels! Yes they will take longer to write and the costs will increase (cover, editing), but I have found a genre in which I think I could be pretty good in and not overly competitive yet (hopefully) profitable. This will probably be the last update for a while. Gotta get some writing done

 

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

[Selfy]

Im excited for you! Following this.

You didn't say your writing background. I think it will put things in perspective for readers of the thread. But I don't think you're entering the game of publishing by writing full length novels??

It's a beast! But, like you said, that's where the dinero is. Good luck batman! I mean namtab.

 

[tonycanevaro]

Fascinating post. My wife is an author and has done three books, all self published into paper books and online.
Only thing I'll add to what's been said: get an editor. They aren't free but they help your work stand out from a lot of the very poorly written work out there. Best investment we ever made in her business.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Namtab]

Fascinating post. My wife is an author and has done three books, all self published into paper books and online.
Only thing I'll add to what's been said: get an editor. They aren't free but they help your work stand out from a lot of the very poorly written work out there. Best investment we ever made in her business.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi, yes an editor I imagine will definitely be needed in the future.

 

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

[CFLRider]

Please keep this going and keep us updated with details on your progress. This is my dream to follow through on this so I love reading about others that are doing it. You are motivation to me. I appreciate the details on the updates. (sales, dollars, etc).