My Self Publishing Experience

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Old Hack

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I once saw someone banned on AW by a moderator (can't remember who) for "being an asshat." That's a direct quote.

I tread lightly here.

But I will say that I think that maybe there was some overreaction to Mary's comments?

Ehh...maybe I'm the second flounce.

Sorry for derailing your thread, christwriter. Best of luck with your writing!

We have been known to ban someone for being an incurable tosspot; being an asshat is also a bannable offense. Both tosspottedness and asshattery constitute being rude to our membership. It all comes down to the same thing.

You don't need to tread lightly here: you just need to respect your fellow writers and ignore any urges you might have to make sarcastic or pointed comments to anyone. And if you want to comment on mods' decisions again, take it to PM.

Note that no one forces you to spend time here if you find it an unpleasant place to be.

And what is it with all these weak flounces? I'm sure you could have done better if you'd put your mind to it. I'm very disappointed in you.
 

Old Hack

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Yeah, it's a shame to have lost Mary. She's given me some really great advice whilst on here.

She's not gone anywhere. She's not been banned, and she's logged on to AW again since she made her last post in this thread.

If anyone would like to comment about any mod's decisions then PM Mac about it. If not, then I suggest that various members stop trying to stir up trouble, stop sniping, and get back on topic.
 

christwriter

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** sending you e-cookies **

Yay! *breaks out milk*

Oreos and milk=better than popcorn.

old hack said:
She's not gone anywhere. She's not been banned, and she's logged on to AW again since she made her last post in this thread.

...uh, yeah. Well, maybe she just meant the self-publishing forum. Hopefully everybody can take enough time to cool off.

old hack said:
And what is it with all these weak flounces? I'm sure you could have done better if you'd put your mind to it. I'm very disappointed in you.

It's still a first stage flounce. Second stage involves the cursing, incoherence and entitlement. Experienced flouncers know to combine the two stages for best effectiveness.

In other words, they just need to channel their inner Anne Rice.

(Nothing against Ms. Rice. Her internet history is just sometimes...epic.)
 

MacAllister

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Now she's flounced, for real.

I'm happy to hold the door, frankly. We don't keep anyone here against their will, you know. You're not handcuffed to the board.

And if anyone else needs a link to the Kindle boards where they might find the discussion more to their tastes, I'll be happy to send it to you. It's a great big internet.

You should fly and be free, if you're not happy here.

Otherwise, let's just move on, okay?
 
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christwriter

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And here I thought I had my stat addiction was at a manageable level. The kdp reports have been down all day.

I am twitching. It's not that I think I've sold a million copies since last night. I just like looking at it.
 

Old Hack

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Instead of checking those statistics a few times a day, go and write some more.

*stern glare*
 

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And here I thought I had my stat addiction was at a manageable level. The kdp reports have been down all day.

I am twitching. It's not that I think I've sold a million copies since last night. I just like looking at it.

Me too!

The worst is when you see your rank go up, but you don't know how many copies you've sold. Then, when the reports are fixed you see it was only one after all. Pfft!
 

christwriter

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This week did not do as well as last week, not by a long shot. We are now stagnant at 32 copies for the month. I know why the blip exists, and it's due to a free promotion I did.

I know the free things are bad, but again...so far they are the ONLY thing driving sales for me. And that sucks.
 

christwriter

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And we did a little bit better this week than last. Broke 40 sales for the month (44 as of last count) which means I've also broken 150 sales total (154). Not bad.

So it's time to set my goals for next month. There's several. I have a new book on the 15th (urban fantasy) that is nearly done (Editing counts as part of the writing process IMHO. "Nearly done"=the pages don't look like the editing pen exploded on them anymore). I had a little trouble hitting my release deadline last month but I don't think I'll have the same issues this month.

I'm also trying to shift away from using KDP Select as my primary sales option. I don't think I'm ready to drop it just yet, but I do want to move off from it ASAP. Getting my act together and getting a Pubit account took longer than I thought it would. (Long story short: Fill out their form with your latest tax return right in front of you. It will save phone calls.) but it is there and I think I know what I need to do.

And I'm going to try to break 200 sales total in Feb. As of right now that'll mean 45 sales in 28 days. Hey. It's a goal. I might make it.

And last but certainly not least: publish at least one new short story. My goal would be two. That's the part that might be a pain in the ass. I HATE short stories. I don't think in shorts. Every once in a while there will be an idea strong enough to get a short story done, but most of the time it don't work out.

Ah well. This has been the best month so far. I am still not excited--there's still too much work for this to be anything remotely like momentum--but it feels really good.

So next month will tell me a lot. First and foremost...if I understand the mechanics of what I'm doing well enough to start setting goals and meeting them. If it works, it works, if not...well, we'll see.
 
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christwriter

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Well, I had my first sale for the month yesterday. Also my only sale so far. So it brings me to 156 books total, and as my goal is to break 200 this month that means I only have to sell 44 more.

My optimism is shrinking rapidly. But I will keep trying.

The new release will be February 15th. I ought to make it by then. Just need to have my beta reader finish (...or at minimum, start) reading it, final edits, and do cover art. I have to say, sales goal aside, I am stoked about this release. Sales wise, I have no enthusiasm, but artistically? I love these characters. I love getting to play with them the way I did, I REALLY love the conflict I've set up, and I don't think there's enough capslock in the world to express how much I love the romantic triangle I'm building. It's not a healthy thing. Everybody's keeping secrets, one of the male leads is a very bad man, and part of the female lead's character arc involves learning that you cannot fix bad men, no matter how pretty they look. It's not going to be pretty at any stage, and I'm probably going to get a lot of flack for how I play the main characters for a while, but oh holy GOD is it fun to write about manipulative bastards.

I think this, more than anything, is why I feel satisfied. Sales aside, THIS is the story I wanted to tell, and I was so tired of getting hung up on the first part of it. I'd like to go on a big long thing about the craft and readers and mutual enjoyment, but it basically boils down to even if I only have two loyal readers? I get to f*ck with them for a while. I can't do that if all I'm working on is the set up.

I suppose the greatest ambition a writer can have is to tell the great, timeless classics that are upheld as beloved and adored centuries after they die, but I just want to make readers rush to buy the next book and stop to key my car.
 

christwriter

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Sales have been relatively so-so so far this month. 8 total, I think, since the last time I checked in. Including my first sale on B&N! Worth a sort of woot on its own, I think. That's 9 for the month, and that puts us at 164. That's not 200 but who knows? I could still make it.

Are we allowed to show off our covers? Because I'm going to:

grayfox2+small.jpg


Maybe the art isn't THE most polished in the universe, but I think it looks alright...and hey, it was free. :D

I've also noticed that every month, traffic on my blog goes up right before releases are...well, released. For a little while I thought the upsurge wasn't happening, but the release date IS this month and I'm seeing that upswell again. Which shouldn't be there, because I didn't update the blog over the weekend (I...uh..."discuss" terrible books on the blog. Kind of like Mark Reads Twilight only it's not Twilight. People like it, which is why I do it, but I haven't been able to update over the weekend due to work)

The only real promotional work I've done for the new book so far is to give my blog readers a coupon to grab the other copy for free to see if they'd like the new book. Because they're my blog readers, damn it, they're finally talking to me and some of them are awesome people.

*coughit'soverhereandthecouponis(TU68W)cough*

Sorry. Allergies. Anyhoo...Yeah. Just gearing up for the new book, which will be Thursday, which is a terrible idea on my part because Valentines Day and I work at a restuarant and OH HELL but that's what I said a month ago when I wasn't thinking, and I don't break promises to my readers. I don't.

Yep. There's your update for the week.
 

christwriter

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Great! Sounds like it's really coming along for you.

ANYHOO: Hit publish on the next book. Smashwords, of course, went live almost immediately. Will be waiting for Amazon and Barnes and Noble to kick in.

I hate doing formatting. It's like HTML, which is like Algebra, which are both things I know I need to understand, but I hate them both with passion.

Also: Next time I schedule a release, it's on a non holiday monday when work is CLOSED. I scheduled this release to correspond with Valentines day and I work at a restaurant. I know I have mentioned this more than once, but OH HOLY GOD was I out of my mind when I decided to do this Feb. 15th (I worked on the 14th from 3pm to 10:30. Was it busy? Let's put it this way: WE RAN OUT OF CONDIMENTS. There was also going home at 10:30 when somebody has been robbing upscale restaurants at knifepoint lately, and I ride a bike because I can't really afford a car--car itself? Sure. Insurance, gas and "what's that noise" mechanic's bills? NO-- so I locked the door after my last table about three seconds after it closed, and I demanded everybody go out through the side door so I would not have to lock it again. The first thing I did when I got home was a straight shot of vodka. Otherwise I would not have been able to eat for another hour. I am SO GLAD tonight is over)

I do not know what will happen re: the new book, and I do not care. I survived valentines day 2013. I deserve a t-shirt. And another shot of vodka.

I'm going to go curl up in a corner and rock for a few hours play Minecraft. Mindless entertainment fixes everything.
 
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christwriter

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February was...interesting. To say the least.

I've figured out that being dramatic to the point of melodrama is actually important during a book release. I have a countdown that initially I got just for my own self esteem (and so that every time I visit my blog I am reminded to get off my ass and go write more. Because I'm starting to have lots of awesome conversations with cool people and it is eating WAY too much of my time). But I've found that when the numbers on the countdown get small, the numbers on the blog visit counter get big. So my rule will now be to throw a big fuss. Not overly much so--as in, still maintain entertaining non-book related blog material, but mention that the book is coming, the book is coming, here's a cover, here's a sample, here's today's whatever, and oh yeah, did I mention that the book is coming?

I sold less of Sci-fi book 2 than I expected (one. copy.) given that Sci fi book one is my bestseller. Right now, I'm blaming it on front matter that I haven't updated in six months. It is now updated. We will see if that works out.

That said...I sold more of the new release than I expected, given that I didn't pull any of my usual tricks (KDP Select giveaways, mostly) when I have a new release. I'm SLOWLY migrating everything over to other platforms as well (as soon as the KDP period runs out). My expectations were four sales. I sold six. Three of which were on either Smashwords or Barnes and Noble.

That said...I did not make my sales goal. :( 24 sales in February brought me to 179 sales total so far. That said, my first sale in March happened before I even woke up properly. No brown bar of shame this month! (seriously. Am I the only person who hates that?)

I fully expect this month to suck. I have no release planned for March because I am tired. Six releases in seven months. Yes. They're only 30K a pop or so, but that still feels like a lot, and my job decided not to have a slow season this year. April will be the third installment of the Sci-fi book and I want to get that right without having to deal with the usual ungodly rush to publication. The only good news is, I will FINALLY get the first sci-fi book off of KDP Select, and also a couple other titles I can pop into Smashwords and use as free giveaways on every platform except Amazon. (Because I can't get a straight answer re: the pricematch thing. So I'm not screwing with it.)

It's kind of funny, though, when you announce to everybody "I'm taking a break this month" and you don't actually take a break. But "I can't meet any goals this month because I gave myself unrealistic deadlines" doesn't have the same saucy ring to it.
 

christwriter

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Well, I knew March was going to suck. No new book + attempt to ween myself off KDP as a primary sales platform=slow sales.

That said, I finally got to do what I wanted to do from day one and make this book over here completely free. It just took until the end of the month to do it. Up until then I think I had like, ten sales for the month? Put it up free on the 25th (the day the Select contract expired) and since then I've had about 9 sales. (and nice ratings. WOOT!)

Also the next Sci fi book is coming up, I'm excited, it looks like my readers are also excited because I'm seeing that pre-book-release upswell on my blog. We go live on the 2nd so I am killing myself to try to get it done.

If I've done my math right I've sold 198 books so far.

Also my experiment with Deviantart has had mixed results. No sales THERE, but the advertising campaign I've been running over there shows a little interest and activity (It's cheap. 20 bucks for 500 clicks, and I pointed it at the little chunk of my DA account set aside for my books and my book-related artwork. This part over here.) I still do not know how effective it is, but radio silence on DA for the past year didn't help me much.

And finally, in a moment of pure self-indulgance...Cover art. I loves it.

Overseersownsmall.jpg


Yeah. So that's my month. :D
 

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You may want to double check the Smashwords and Amazon KDP Terms of Service. They both state that a title needs to be the same price at all sales channels. Since the lowest price Amazon KDP allows a title to be listed at is $.99 cents, you may be in breach of your contract. Amazon KDP has not been a stickler for this clause, but they would be within their rights to remove the title and close your account, making all your titles unavailable at Amazon. Many authors take the risk anyway. I just wanted you to be aware.
 

christwriter

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So, it looks like April will be better. Eleven sales so far this month.

Sold three copies of the new book so far, three of the first book in the series and one of the second book. I give up on reading buyer habits. But the happy-making thing is the five star review I got on the new book when it had been out a day and sold one SINGLE copy. Either I got the most loquacious reader in the history of Amazon on my very first go or they really liked the story. I'm stunned.

I usually run a free promo on saturday on my "I don't give a sh*t" titles (There are two short stories that exist because the plot bunnies attacked, and one moderately long short story that exists because it's a part of the we-will-publish-it-someday book. It is its own thing, with its own story arc and its own characters--one of whom has changed just about everything, and to get THE BOOK out I now have to finish getting their story on paper, which has pushed my ultimate goal back about a year. Which is fine. When I plotted everything out I did it so I could stretch this phase out as long as I needed to. So yeah. I love these books, they do stand on their own, but they work better as sacrificial lambs in free promotions than anything else because I honestly and sincerely don't care what happens to them now that they're done. That said, I need to get some fresh blood into that part of the equation...) anyhoo, sales were pretty meh (Fits and starts, one, then nothing, then three, then nothing, then one) and then today it's like everybody lost their mind because of the promo.

As for March...21 copies of various things sold, with the sci-fi series leading the pack yet again. Moving off of Amazon as a primary sales platform has been a success, as I only sold eleven books there last month. Also, because I am lazy, I have gone through Smashwords for everybody who isn't Barnes and Noble, and the reports aren't in yet. So there might be a couple other march sales lurking out there that I don't know about.

Best news is, if I've done my math right. I broke 200 sales on the very last day of March.

Now I'm in planning mode. I'll hit the one year mark in July. Yep, one solid year of self publishing things. I'm going to try a bigger push over the summer, and I'm also going to serialize a YA novel I've had on my harddrive forever, and drop it in three parts. It'll be my celebratory book. We made it a year. The urban fantasy series will wrap up its current arc in May, the sci-fi series will wrap up in June, and both will be on hiatus until the fall, probably september or october.

My new goal is to break 300 by July (It's MY plan. I can shoot for the moon if I want to) and serialize the YA novel.
 
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