Self-publishing by the Gutter

Norman D Gutter

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Norman D Gutter

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2 sales in November, both paperbacks: one self-sale and one at Amazon. I also had an e-book sale, but it was returned.

I also had one additional sale in October, an e-copy of a short story, reported late at Kobo via Smashwords.

And I finally completed and published a professional essay in November. No sales yet; lots of samples downloaded at Smashwords.
 

Spell-it-out

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And I finally completed and published a professional essay in November. No sales yet; lots of samples downloaded at Smashwords.

Congrats on publishing the essay, Norman, well done. Best of luck this month.
 

Ann Joyce

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2 sales in November, both paperbacks: one self-sale and one at Amazon. I also had an e-book sale, but it was returned.

I also had one additional sale in October, an e-copy of a short story, reported late at Kobo via Smashwords.

And I finally completed and published a professional essay in November. No sales yet; lots of samples downloaded at Smashwords.

Thanks for the update, Norman. Congrats on the essay, and here's hoping we all have good December sales.
 

Norman D Gutter

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A sale in Italy, my first there. And it was of my professional essay, the first of that title. Growing up in Rhode Island, most of my schoolmates were of Italian descent. I take back every mean thing I said about them.
 

Norman D Gutter

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December 2013, and the year 2013 reports:

- 5 sales in December, except those venues that report late via Smashwords. All of my sales were before Dec 17. No after-Christmas sales.
- The one e-book sold in Italy was returned, so that's back to zero.
- 65 sales in 2013, down from 156 in 2012.
- Dean Wesley Smith's rules aren't working very well for me so far, or I'm not doing them right, or not writing and publishing fast enough. I'll carry on with that strategy for another year, then see what I should do.
- The graph isn't hardly large enough to read, but I'm already a little over the AW size limitation. See a larger size table here:
http://davidatodd.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2013-12-Book-Sales-Table-852x336.png

2013-12-Book-Sales-Table-426x168.png
 

Ann Joyce

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Thanks for the update, Norman. It's rather amazing what we go through in this process of brand building. It's challenging to try to figure out what we're doing wrong and to determine what we're doing right.

Quote:
"Dean Wesley Smith's rules aren't working very well for me so far, or I'm not doing them right, or not writing and publishing fast enough. I'll carry on with that strategy for another year, then see what I should do."

My self-talk is up and down so much, sometimes I feel like I'm on a roller coaster. LOL I hear a good comment and I'm up for awhile; there is no feedback for a couple of weeks, and I begin to doubt myself.

So, we write another book; make it as clean as possible; get some good betas; decide if we need to get an editor; obsess over our cover, our blurb, our pricing, and everything else a writer obsesses about. The only thing I do know for sure is that we can't write or publish any faster than we can write or publish. I'll be lucky to get one novel out a year, with one or two short stories thrown in.

I'm just wondering: If Dean Wesley Smith's rules aren't working for you, why you would spend another year on his theory. Maybe what seemingly works for him isn't a blueprint for everyone. Out of curiosity, have you done any better at all since you've employed his method?

Well, my friend, I wish you well in 2014. Hopefully, it will be much more fruitful and gratifying for both of us. Write on!
 
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FionnJameson

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Keep writing, Norman and I'm sorry about the Italy return. I didn't really get any after-Christmas sales either. :) I'm rooting for you.
 

Norman D Gutter

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Thanks everyone for the replies. Sarah: Yes, I took back what I took back in regards to what I said about Italians. In other words, I said them all again. If that makes sense. :)

I had a triumph of sorts today. A woman writer I mentored through writing her book and the query and proposal status had her niche book accepted by the niche publisher we targeted, for publication in 2015. She's up in the clouds now, and I'm happy. She's trade published before I am. Although, since I've given up on trade publishing, I never will be unless they seek me out.

Now, if I could just sell more books than the present 1 sale I have in January, maybe I'll reach the clouds.
 

Norman D Gutter

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My self-talk is up and down so much, sometimes I feel like I'm on a roller coaster. LOL I hear a good comment and I'm up for awhile; there is no feedback for a couple of weeks, and I begin to doubt myself.

It is that, for sure.

I'm just wondering: If Dean Wesley Smith's rules aren't working for you, why you would spend another year on his theory. Maybe what seemingly works for him isn't a blueprint for everyone. Out of curiosity, have you done any better at all since you've employed his method?
My sales have been more or less the same since I've started. They are somewhat declining on a per book basis, though a decline from a small number is just another small number. I suppose I'm not convinced I have enough things published yet. I have 13 items up for sale. I've seen discussions that you need to be up in the twenties for the long tail strategy and cross-sales to begin working effectively. I have an aggressive writing/publishing schedule planned for 2014. It seems right for me at the moment. After that, I'm going to see what more I can do to promote my work.

I suppose I follow this strategy because it works best for my disposition, which is averse to self-promotion. Someday hopefully I'll overcome that.

NDG
 

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I agree with your thought that perhaps your catalog is a bit small at the moment to be thought of as an implimentation of the DWS method.

In a quick look, it appears to me your output was one thriller novel, one thriller short, one lit-fic short, and one non-fic short.

That's not really falling into what I consider an attempt at the DWS method. Of course, there's absolutely nothing wrong with writing at the speed at which you are comfortable producing the best quality you can produce. But I think the DWS method requires a bit more speed and perhaps more focus as well.

The people reporting the most success from following DWS concepts are publishing more words in 5-20K packages, generally in tightly focused serials or series, often leading into them with freebies. Parametric's thread here is a perfect example in the romance genre. Platt & Truant, Platt & Wright, Adam Wright (different guy) and Annie Bellet are some examples in other genres, though Annie seems to have drifted more into novel length releases.

It looks like you may have mini version of that with a recurring thriller character and you may be able to improve your branding/marketing there to pay it off a little better than you're seeing now in conjunction with some focus on getting more material out in the series.

Or maybe the strategy isn't really for you. Every writer is different and maybe following your own interest is more satisfying that trying to follow someone else's publishing strategy.

Best of luck for 2014.
 

Norman D Gutter

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J.T.:

No doubt I have G.I.D.—Genre Identity Disorder, exacerbated by writing as the spirit moved me. I hope to bring a little order to my works this year, by adding things to currently started series. But, having said that, I have to get two unrelated things out of my system. Then I'll concentrate on the Danny Tompkin short stories (3 published) dealing with teenage grief; the Sharon Williams short stories (unconventional CIA agent); a sequel to my baseball novel; a sequel to my biblical era novel; and a non-fiction followup to my first non-fiction book. And, hopefully, the next volume in my workplace humor novella series. If I can get through them, I hope to have a better idea of what I'm best at writing, what excites and energizes me rather than draining me, and maybe even what's selling.
 
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Ann Joyce

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Congrats on the great review, David. All three are quite wonderful. Write on!
 

AgathaChristieFan

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Hey Norman,
I want to write in different genres as well, so I'm in the same boat as you. Congrats on your sales so far and hopefully there's many more to come :)
 

Norman D Gutter

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A few posts up-thread, on January 10, I posted about a woman I coached through the book writing and submittal process, and that her book was accepted by a niche publisher. To give a bit more information: the woman is a retired lay-missionary. She and her husband went to the field rather late in life, and spent 20 years in various Pacific islands. The publisher is our denominational publisher, and the book is a missions memoir. They publish six books a year in a missions reading program. I told her the stories she was writing would make a good one of these books, and that she had a unique story that only she could tell, and that our people needed to hear her story. She hesitated at first, but finally wrote enough of the stories in a thread, and, as I said above, the book was accepted.

She recently received the contract for signature. The book is considered a work-for-hire, and the payment she's receiving is very nice. I can't say what the payment is, but both she and her husband are in shock. Tonight at the public library (she doesn't own a computer) I helped her polish a few things, and she turned in the manuscript. I told her that the payment she will receive is more than the sum total I've earned from my writing since I first received a check for an article in 1993.

I'll count her success as my success, and use it to keep on going for a while, a little envious, perhaps, but thrilled for her.

About my sales, the less said the better.
 

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Norman, if the book is considered work for hire, does she realise that she's signing away all rights to her book? That she won't get any further payments for it, and that the publisher will be able to sell it on elsewhere and not share those proceeds with her? That the publisher will be able to alter her text in any way they want and she won't be able to stop them?

I'm being the voice of doom here, I know: I just wanted to ensure she knew what the implications were of signing such a contract.
 

Norman D Gutter

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Yes, I explained it all, although she seemed to already be aware of it. That's the only way the pub house contracts for these books. They sell only through our churches and on the pub house website; the probable number of sales is known; royalties aren't a consideration. The pub house will work with her on the text. We've been in touch with other writers of books in past years, and have learned how they work.