Tom's self publishing extravaganza

I'm starting this a little late, mostly because I've been busy as hell in my real life. However, over on an author's blog last week, I kind of got goaded into publishing one of my stories on Amazon.

Looking at what I had that wasn't being submitted at the time, I came across a novelette I wrote a while back. It wasn't my best work, but it was serviceable. So, I figured, what the heck.

I went to the Kindle Direct Publishing site and set everything up. So, After the Blast went live a week ago today.


In that time, I've sold 68 copies, which I'm pretty pleased with. I didn't think I'd sell that many in a month.

About all I did was share the link on Facebook (both in my timeline and a group or two I was a member of) and Twitter. My friends and family shared it as well.

So far, so good.

I'm now kind of hooked on the self publishing thing as it stands, so I figured I'd go ahead and share what I've done so far, that way I can share what I'll do in the future as well...

...and maybe beg for help on other stuff related to this thing.

Thanks, Norman. I have to agree. With the sales being what they are, I'm very encouraged going forward.

And the fact that this is a novelette, rather than a full novel, actually makes this more encouraging. I'm excited about what an actual novel would do.

Thanks folks.

As for right now, I'm at 109 copies sold.

In addition, I went over to CreateSpace and poked around. You see, some folks asked about getting autographed copies. As a result, I went through and set up a print edition.

I proofed it a little earlier today and it should be available on Amazon in 5-7 days. I honestly don't expect to sell too many of those. Instead, I actually plan to buy what I'm able and sell face to face. Then I can give a bit of a discount.

If nothing else, selling this novelette is a really good lesson in what it takes to work with CreateSpace.

Unfortunately, I have concerns about the costs of print-on-demand. After all, books have to compete on multiple levels, and actual dead tree books have to compete on not just premise, but price. The costs for print-on-demand gives me some concerns. After all, the cost for a 43 page novelette isn't that much less than my son paid for the copy of Ender's Shadow he bought me for Christmas.

So, while I'm letting this run its course, I'm also interested in any suggestions anyone's got regarding alternative POD services.

A few days ago, one of my short stories got a rejection. In the past, this would kind of be one of those downer moments. Just for a moment though, because I would immediately resend the story out.

These days though, it's a bit of a relief. You see, it's now time to prep this story for ebook sale.

Right now, I'm trying to decide if I should upload it as a KDP thing, or go with something like Smashwords. Decisions, decisions.

For what it's worth, if anyone reading this has any suggestions, I'm willing to listen.

Yeah, I've only got a grand total of two borrows though. Oddly, one was my father. Man's too cheap to buy his own son's $.99 story.</shaking his head>

Still, it's always something worth thinking about. I had at least one person ask me if I was going to publish at B&N as well.

Of course, my next story is straight science fiction rather than post apocalyptic, so it will attract a different crowd for the most part. I'm not sure how that would impact anything or not.

As for sales, as of this moment, I'm at 136 sales so far. I'm extremely pleased with how this is going. Not too shabby for my first publication.

In addition to that, I've had at least one person tag me on Facebook, bragging that they bought the print copy, so there's that. On those, I'm mostly planning on buying them and selling them directly at a much reduced discount. My cost from CreateSpace is so much less than what I kind of have to sell them for, so it kind of makes sense. I'm also kicking around putting ever story I publish together into an anthology. I might sell fewer of the stories, but I'll end up with a greater percentage of those sales and may well come out making more money.

I have to be honest. For a long time, I wondered if indie publishing was really worth the hassles that come along with it. Most of the prominent self publishing writers (Hugh Howley, J.A. Konrath, etc) seem so evangelical, I was skeptical. However, what I'm seeing is that it's actually pretty damn cool!

I'm not saying that if Baen called me up and offered me a deal that I'd turn them down. What I am saying is that if anyone calls me up, I can be picky about what kind of deal I take because I know I can make it without them.

That's CW. I'm taking more of a shotgun approach for my next short story. I figure I can then compare the results and see what's what going from there.

Of course, all of these are to wet the appetite for the book I hope to have finished soon. We'll see how well that works.

It's been a little while since I updated, so I figured it was time to share my experiences up to date.

On 5/20, I released my latest story, Drift.

In six days, I've sold exactly one copy. I'm really not sure what the difference is, but there is a difference. My guess is that part of the issue is I didn't promote it in some of the same places.

Another issue is subject matter. Post apocalyptic is very, very different than near future story taking place in a space station. They often attract different types of people, so a lot of people who bought After the Blast aren't going to be interested in the new story.

At least, that's my guess.

However, all is not desolate and sucky. Oh no. This morning, I saw that my story was in the top 100 for dystopian fiction on Amazon. It was 74 at the time, and that made me so incredibly stoked. I was actually on a best seller list!

Yeah, it ain't the New York Times or anything, but I'll take it at this point in my writing career!

benluby said:

Congrats Tom. I'm fixing to be publishing mine on Amazon shortly as well, (have the shoot this weekend) and I am also planning on the Amazon and the POD feature with Createspace.
My only concern with POD is the cost, but I know I have several copies that are sold to friends and family simply because they want the book.

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Yeah, the cost is pretty high. However, I have managed to sell a couple copies of my novelette POD. If people want them, they want them.

There is some good information out there about how to price your POD books on CreateSpace. I'll see if I can dig it up for you. I know I've got it around here somewhere, but I can't put my finger on it just yet.

FWIW, I didn't do any of this when I priced my novelette. I just did it enough that I could make some money regardless of where it sold. Honestly, that might not be the best method for pricing your books.

BC11 said:

Congrats Tom. Keep us updated

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Thanks, I will!

I know I haven't updated this since the end of May, so sorry about that. Sales of "After the Blast" are still continuing on, and even got a little bit of a bump with Amazon launched their Short Reads section. I've pretty much been in the top 100 of both Literature and Science Fiction since then, and it's helped. In fact, since the end of April, I've only had one day when I didn't sell a copy. Pretty good for a novelette if you ask me.

Well, with all of that going on, I knew I needed something more. In fact, several of the reviews mentioned they would love to see what I could do with a longer story. Fair enough, since Blast was written for magazines and it could easily have been longer.

So, I wrote a follow-up. 61,000 words down, a few edits, beta reading, copy editing, and it's now available on Amazon!

It's only been there for a matter of hours at this point, but I can already see a few things.

First, pricing. I've sold two copies of the new book, Bloody Eden. At $5.99 per book, I've made as much as if I'd have sold 24 books at $.99, so I see Dean Wesley Smith's point on that quite easily.

Second, I was anxious to get this book out, and I shouldn't have been. My cover was rejected by CreateSpace, and I was counting on having trade paper available for purchase today as well. Oops. It's best to give yourself a little bit of time. Of course, it makes even more sense to do this since Amazon now has a pre-order button for KDP.

Third, I am loved. I've gotten a huge amount of support from my friends and family. Honestly, I'm tearing up right now just thinking about it. They might be fans, but they're more than that because they were there for me before I'd ever written a word. I am truly blessed.

So, I thought I'd drop in and let folks know what I'm up to in case anyone wondered.

Thanks. So far, the new book isn't selling anywhere near as well as the novelette did, but that's not really all that surprising. A $5 price difference will do that. A lot of people will take a chance at .99 but won't at 5.99, obviously.

However, I can easily see how indie writers can make a living off of their writing with just a few books out, provided the books are good. Based on the sale for the first couple of days, I can see a potential income for a few hundred dollars per month, per book and that's with very little following. As following grows, so will that income, and the next thing you know, you're working full time as a writer.

Of course, as any writer should, I'm taking it easy and relaxing and...oh, who am I kidding? I started the next book in the series.