POD success

Define "successful" as you understand the term. Do you mean:

1) You have a copy in your hands?

2) You've made back the money that you invested on the profits from sales?

3) You've made back MORE than the money you invested on the profits from sales?

4) You could quit your day job on the profits from sales?

Some success with POD publishing ... I think!

• How did you publish? self, agent, or unsolicited? Self. I formed a sole proprietorship, obtained a business checking account, and purchased a block of ISBN numbers.

• How did you find your publisher/agent? See above.

• How long did it take you to find your agent( if one)? publisher? total? See above.

• Was this your first book published? How many have you written total? This is the first that's "all mine", I did work for hire in the same field (medical reference) in the 1990s.

• What sort of investments did you make to your book(s) on the shelf, if any? ISBN block purchase, POD setup fees, business license -- less than $500. I didn't have to pay to put books on the shelves, and don't know if any are on the shelves.

• How many times were you rejected? None. What kind of rejections? Constructive?
  
  

• What were your expectations of the publishing process? What did you expect Pretty much what I got ... I studied it for a long time first.
  
  

• Is there anything else you’d like to share that I haven’t asked? Any part of the journey that stuck to mind?

Hi Jewel101! I don't know if these answers will be relevant to your project, since mine is medical reference. Although I don't have the official sales figures yet from Lightning Source (the printer/distributor), today I found this page which gives me some idea of how my book is selling: http://tinyurl.com/b7fo4

I did the typesetting and the cover myself. The typesetting wasn't a problem since I used to work in that field. The cover was more of a challenge, but it turned out very nicely, and you can see a better image of it at my main website at http://www.medicalese.org .

I burned everything to CD & mailed it to Lightning on 11/17/05 and signed off on the proof copy on 11/29/05.

I don't know how many books I have on the shelves at brick-and-mortar stores. Right now, I can't get the car out of the driveway to go look!

Good luck!

Jewel, your questions are non-questions. If you pod you don't have an agent. Your books won't ever see a bookstore shelf. And you'll never get rejected.

Jewel101 said:

quite frankly, i don't care. All of the above.

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What way do you want to measure success? How much money you make? How many people read your book? Or is the fact that you actually wrote the book and had it printed and bound enough success?

The great philosopher Yogi Berra once gave ou a warning that you ought to pay attention to: "If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up somewhere else."

MadScientistMatt said:

The great philosopher Yogi Berra once gave ou a warning that you ought to pay attention to: "If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up somewhere else."

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I like that. I like that a lot.

If you aim at nothing...

In the same theme as Yogi:

If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it.

expatbrat said:

In the same theme as Yogi:

If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it.

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So... if I'm on the road to nowhere, how long will it take to get there?