A year of self publishing (Sept '11 - Aug '12)

[Montero]

Funnily enough, Google provided me with £100 of free adwords. I've used it, but found it completely ineffective..! People tend to look at charts and recommendations from other people when choosing a book to read. Price points will also help people to risk a spontaneous purchase.

You might want to add in the old fashioned one of talking to your local newspaper. I would have thought there is a relatively high take-up on e-Books in the London area, but people do also still read their local paper. So an article on local resident writes book and what it is about. Might get you a few more sales.

 

[Scarfy]

Hi Gary,

1) Once you've edited your story (Say in Word.) How did you put it on Amazon.

It's as simple as going to,

https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signin/

and signing in using your Amazon account. After that, you can just upload your Word doc, your cover, and set your prices. There are some formatting considerations you want to make yourself with the doc (best to Google that, as it'll be more concise than I can tell you here).

2) Why £1.99. I notice alot of books, inc the bestsellers are £4-6?

I find that £1.99 is attractive enough for people to take a chance on a book by someone they've not heard of before, and enough to make a fair profit. The sellers at £5+ are generally from tie-ins of films, or have first been pushed up the charts with their £0.99 price point, before being changed to £4.99 (this happens a lot at the moment..!)

3) Of you sales, how is it broken down between book 1 and book 2?

75% book 2, and 25% book 1 (since the first edition of the first book is free, a fair number of people skip buying it).

4) How often do Amazon payout your revenues?

Once you make £100 or $100 they will pay out. The US will withhold 30% of your earnings if you don't submit an ITIN to them (again, you'll need to Google that, as that's REALLY complicated!).

Steve

 

[Scarfy]

You might want to add in the old fashioned one of talking to your local newspaper. I would have thought there is a relatively high take-up on e-Books in the London area, but people do also still read their local paper. So an article on local resident writes book and what it is about. Might get you a few more sales.

Right now, I think the best ad I already have going is the ability to read the first edition of the first book for free...

 

[Gareth Lewis]

Once you make £100 or $100 they will pay out.

100 (£/$/€) if you're getting paid by cheque, or 10 if you provide them bank details. Although for a UK bank you can't take payment in $s (which is all Amazon.com will pay in), but all the European Amazon sites allow you to select payment in £s.

The US will withhold 30% of your earnings if you don't submit an ITIN to them (again, you'll need to Google that, as that's REALLY complicated!).

It's intimidating, but not necessarily that difficult with help. There are a few places where people have described how they've gone about it, which I used as a guide, and I've written it out myself on another forum. Unfortunately I haven't posted her enough to be able to include a link, but if you google "gareth lewis" "itin" (with the quotes around them) it comes up on the first couple of results.

 

[Gary Compton]

Hi Gary,

and signing in using your Amazon account. After that, you can just upload your Word doc, your cover, and set your prices. There are some formatting considerations you want to make yourself with the doc (best to Google that, as it'll be more concise than I can tell you here).

What wording would you best suggest for the Google search on the formatting issues?

 

[Scarfy]

"Word Kindle Formating" or something like that.

You could also use the Smashwords guide, if you wanted. That's what I based mine off.

 

[Moonbat]

Wow, really cool thread Scarfy
I found that very interesting, might have to pop onto Amazon and look up your series.

 

[Gary Compton]

Who needs to self promote when you have people like me following you.

Here's Stephen's author page on Amazon here

 

[Scarfy]

Morning, everyone.

I sold 1,616 copies of HOTK:SE and TTS in January. The total is now 7,153.

That's the highest monthly sales I've had so far. January will always see high sales, as people spend their Christmas money to buy books and Kindles. I expect it to start dropping off a bit now

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Scarfy I have questions. Part of me is sick of writing my synopsis and it just not working. Also part of me is liking the idea of what I can write with self publishing. (If I want to toodle off and quickly do a horror or chick-lit etc) if I am not tied down to a specific timeframe for the next book in the series. I've accidently got elements to all my books that agents may struggle with.

1) Editing did you pay for that and who did you get to do it? How much did it cost?
2) The free edition - you definitely think that was worth doing, was that edited properly ?
3)How many books do you have out ?
4)Why did you opt to self publish?

 

[Scarfy]

1) Editing did you pay for that and who did you get to do it? How much did it cost?

The first edition was edited by John Jarrold, who advised that I make a significant number of changes. He charged me about £500 for a line edit on a book of about 128,000 words. He also provided me with two side of A4 on notes and reactions to the writing and the story. John's a very, very good editor and agent, but be warned that he doesn't pull his punches. If he doesn't like something he will tell you straight and won't coddle you or your writing at all.

The other two books I worked on with friends, who acted as proofreaders. They still needed work, however, and I have since enlisted the services of a professional editor.

2) The free edition - you definitely think that was worth doing, was that edited properly ?

I think it was worth doing, as it allows people to get an idea for the story and the writing. It does mean that I can expect less sales for the second edition of HOTK (which to me is the more definitive edition). Still, it manages a few hundred each month on its own.

3)How many books do you have out ?

Two paid for, one free.

4)Why did you opt to self publish?

Good question. Firstly, because the story meant a great deal to me. If you look at the trilogy's website:

http://www.battleforthesolarsystem.com

you can see all the information on the characters, the world and the events that I'd put there. I would have done this regardless of whether or not I received a commercial contract, as I am very passionate about this story.

The second reason behind the self publishing is that I also wanted to prove to myself that I could write something that would sell and people would want to read.

On the whole self publishing thing, I've a split opinion. I think that there are now two markets available to writers - the cheap ebook market and the traditional market. I think it's important to recognise these markets and know which one a book is best suited for.

I saw someone state on an article for SFSignal recently that if he thought a story was decent, but wouldn't sell more than 10,000 copies, he could self publish it himself. Otherwise, he would approach the agents and publishers to give it the best chance for success that he could.

Self publishing isn't easy, and you could end up finding yourself out of pocket at the end of the day - editors and cover artists cost money, and you could find yourself needing to recoup £800+ just to break even.

Once I'm done with my trilogy, I'm planning on self publishing one other book (non-spec-fic), and then pitching a couple of fantasy books to agents and publishers, citing my ebook sales to see if it increases my chances of getting a deal.

Hope that helps. I'm sort of reluctant to encourage people to self publish their books, in case it doesn't go too well... :|

 

[Gary Compton]

Morning, everyone.

I sold 1,616 copies of HOTK:SE and TTS in January. The total is now 7,153.

That's the highest monthly sales I've had so far. January will always see high sales, as people spend their Christmas money to buy books and Kindles. I expect it to start dropping off a bit now

Amazing mate. Well done!!

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I have cover artist and formatter covered My bestfriend is an amazing photographer and my husband does the formatting for work. It's the editing I don't so I'll get looking into that.

My main reason for considering it is I have three very different series of books. Part of me wants the freedom to work on them equally rather than when a publisher wants the book. Like yourself I'd write them anyway and the worst that happens is I don't sell many copies I'm not desperate to be published, but I have people who want to read it.

 

[TL Rese]

wow, great sales!! well done!

- hearing about all these numbers is so encouraging. i'm def looking forward to starting the self-pubbing thing myself - prob in the nxt couple months.

 

[Gary Compton]

A question if I may.

Once you have the book on Kindle. If you notice, or have pointed out a typo or plot failure. Can you change it?

 

[TheTomG]

You can, but I believe you lose all the reviews and ratings attached to it and start over. But, I haven't really researched it in detail so here, have a pinch of salt with that, and perhaps someone with more direct experience can confirm or correct.

 

[rdenning]

You can, but I believe you lose all the reviews and ratings attached to it and start over. But, I haven't really researched it in detail so here, have a pinch of salt with that, and perhaps someone with more direct experience can confirm or correct.

You can update kindle files at any time, make edits and upload new versions BUT when I last checked ONLY people buying the book NEW would get the new version. IE If you bought the book BEFORE the update it is not easy to get the updated version.

Odd that smashwords allows you to get the updated version (and any previous ones from the moment you bought it) and Amazon does not.

But no - you don't loose reviews or ratings. At least I have not and I did update mine.

 

[Scarfy]

Just to let everyone know that I won't be posting my totals for February until mid March, as I'll be away on holiday during that time. I'll post totals when I get back.

I hope people are still finding this thread informative and insightful.

 

[Dozmonic]

Certainly are ;-)

 

[Scarfy]

Morning! Back from Australia..!

Sales for February were 1,297. The total is now 8450.