- by Tara Maya
Quote of the Day
“The times are such that one should think carefully before writing books.”
– Antonio de Araoz,
Spain, 1559
(during the Spanish Inquisition)
“The times are such that one should think carefully before writing books.”
– Antonio de Araoz,
Spain, 1559
(during the Spanish Inquisition)
I’d like to address the idea that Joe’s ebook success is directly linked to the fact that he was traditionally published first, and therefore had an established name/platform. While I’m sure that his name recognition didn’t hurt, my experience and that of others like me, proves that being established isn’t necessary to finding success in ebook publishing.
I was agented (twice) and had some close calls over the course of nearly 10 years, but never sold a book, and never had any fiction published, not even a short story. I uploaded my first self-published Kindle book in July 2009, and over the next several months uploaded five more. I estimate that I’ve sold over 75,000 ebooks combined.
Because of my steady sales and reviews, five of my books are now under contract with AmazonEncore and one of my novels has been optioned for film.
In the last year I’ve been living a dream. My first AmazonEncore title, A Scattered Life, was included on a bestseller list on Good Morning America recently. My story has been covered on NPR and the Wall Street Journal. I’m speaking to library groups and book clubs. And best of all, I have an income and readers.
The ironic thing? These are the exact same books that didn’t make the cut with New York.
I have no secret formula for selling books. I just took Joe’s advice: good stories, solid writing, professional-looking covers, good formatting, low price, and an enticing description. At least that’s what I aimed for. 🙂 I spent time on message boards and left blog comments to get my name out there. It did take some time, an hour or two each day, but was it worthwhile? Oh yes.
My sales really took off when posters on the message boards starting recommending my books to others. A very lucky turn of events for me.
This is a great time to be a writer. A year and a half ago I was a failed novelist with a hard drive full of rejected books. Now I’m doing what I love and getting paid for it. I had lost the joy associated with writing, because really what was the point if no one would ever read my books? Believe me when I say the joy is back.
Aaron Patterson said…
I know I am not really anyone in the book world but I have a little story to tell you.
I wrote my first book and it came out in November of 08. I didn’t even know or understand what a Kindle was. I created a Amazon DTP account and priced my book at 14.99. This left my mind and 8 months later I spent 2 days looking for the account password.
I found that I had sold 12 or so eBooks a month and I thought to myself, “Hmmm I wonder.”
I had book 2 coming out so I just wanted to reach people. I set book 2 at 8.99 and it is still at that price. I took book one and set it at 4.99. Figured if I hooked them they would buy book 2.
That month I sold 48. I made more cash because I sold more. Now the little wheels in my head began to turn.
I did the unthinkable… the mad the insane! I dropped book 1 to .99! I know… Crazy and making my art worthless.
However… I sold 120 that month, just on book 1. Month after…250… after that…350…after…550…800…1000! Now I was also watching book 2 numbers go up along with it.
This was the tipping point. The time I no longer thought eBooks were just to market or a way to get free money. Here was a real business plan, real money and
I was on the verge of making a living.
This was about the time Amazon changed their royalty rate. But horror of horrors I had to up the price to 2.99 if I wanted the sweet 70%. I could see my numbers cutting in half and had a ball in my gut.
I decided to give it one month and if I fell to far I would take the lower rate and stay at .99.
Guess what happened?
2600!
Yes… 2600 sold from 2 titles! What does this mean to the bean counters? 5600 bucks baby!
Now I was in a weird sort of I don’t believe it mode. I feared Amazon would stiff me or maybe not give me a check that month. It had to be a mistake.
That was my best month but I still average 1800 sold each month between 2 titles making about $3600. Not bad and if I run the numbers and add the two books I will have live in the next few months that will double my income.
This is no longer a dream, I am making a living writing. I am 31 years old and if I do 3 books a year and can hold my average and write to 60… where can
I go?
This is retirement… 401K and Amway all mixed into one.
I now speak to groups all over about ebooks and help authors see the power it this new wave of publishing. I just released a eBook only book called, “The eBook on eBooks.” This is a real future, not a fad, not a scam but a real way to make a living no matter who you are.
Ok… rant over… carry on.
I decided to write introductions to each story in the anthology, because the anthologies I like best include the author’s behind-the-scenes comments. However, I had a problem because in some cases what I wanted to say risked spoiling the story.
I moved the “introductions” to the end of the story and made them “comments.” Some of the comments are fairly neutral, discussing the techniques and inspiration for the story; others speak a little more personally.
Although I’ve kept the Comments short, my word count for the anthology as a whole is a little longer than expected: 47,000 words.
Argh. I am down to writing the last introduction to a story in the anthology. I saved it for last because it’s a hard sf story, and probably the least accessible in the anthology. It takes place in the fraction of a second after the Big Bang before the hadronization of quarks took place.
What is driving me crazy is that I did a TON of research for this novella. I read physics papers, pop science books on the Big Bang, philosophical musings by scientists on the nature of the cosmological constant, and on and on. Most of that, I left out of the story, of course, but I wanted to talk about it in my comments. But, because I was writing fiction instead of an academic paper, I just tossed all good academic instincts out the window and did not keep a bibliography. In fact, I can’t even find my notes. I know that I have — or should have — many of the papers I read on my computer, but lord knows where.
I am so mad at myself for not keeping better notes. I am tempted to yank the story, but I’ve already mentioned it will be in the anthology to numerous people, so…. *sound of me kicking myself*
Harriet Hayes: I don’t even know what the sides are in the culture wars.
Matt Albie: Well, your side hates my side because you think we think you are stupid, and my side hates your side because we think you are stupid.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Nevada Day, Part I
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/201003/why-liberals-are-more-intelligent-conservatives