Confessions of a Slow Writer

[David_G]

I was reading through the first writer's tale, only to have them throw in that her advertising budget was $250,000

I have the $250 part of that number. Or... was it $2.50???

 

[lizmonster]

Anthology update:

I had a bit of a back-and-forth with IngramSpark to understand what I needed to do (their support is nice, but s-l-o-w), but I'm now awaiting the republication of the anthology. I had to re-upload the files, and they're going to charge me $25, but it's going out under the same ISBN.

Once I see it show up on Apple and Kobo, I'll take it off KDP and see what the Amazon listing looks like.

I'm preparing to set up the WIP for preorder. Obviously KDP is the easiest setup (and is free), but if I'm going to end up working around them, I don't want to put work in that direction.

And hey, if sales suck, I can blame it on working around KDP, not on the book!

 

[lizmonster]

A few updates!

I've finished the novel (yikes) and handed it off to my book formatter. We're looking at a May/June release date. Unless he hates it and tells me not to publish it.

Marketing-wise, I'm still dithering. I could do an ARC giveaway on Goodreads, but I'm not sure if it's worth it. Depending on how the experiment with the anthology comes out (ugh, see below), the book wouldn't be on KDP, so I'd have to ship paper copies. Which I can do! But it adds to the cost, and given the probable ROI, I'm not sure it's worth it.

I do want to see if I can get into a BookBub New Releases newsletter. I don't know what the selection criteria is there, so they might not take it. It needs to be $6 or less, so I figure I'll go out at $5.99 and keep it there for a while. I may drop Arkhangelsk down to $3.49 or something around the release date, but I don't want to mislead people into thinking this is some kind of sequel.

I am also planning to take the opportunity to relaunch my newsletter. I wanted to wait until I could self-host, but until we know where we're going to move, I don't want to invest time in that. My old newsletter was at MailChimp. I know there have been shenanigans with them, so I'll probably look around (any suggestions welcome).

I figure I can give away a few chapters as a sweetener, at least until the book is actually out. I may also give away the anthology. It's currently free on Barnes and Noble, and I may just make it free through IngramSpark as well.

Speaking of which.

Since my last post, I have been back and forth with IngramSpark 3-4 times. I am still waiting. The book is now in "premedia," which is supposed to be a 3-5 business day process. It's been there 18 business days. My first inquiry resulted in a canned "we've told them to hurry up" response from support. I put a note on the ticket on March 7, asking for an update, and got no reply, so yesterday I opened a whole new ticket. Obnoxious of me, I know, but I don't know what else to do.

They're undoubtedly understaffed, but come on, guys. What gives?

 

[alexp336]

I am also planning to take the opportunity to relaunch my newsletter. I wanted to wait until I could self-host, but until we know where we're going to move, I don't want to invest time in that. My old newsletter was at MailChimp. I know there have been shenanigans with them, so I'll probably look around (any suggestions welcome).

I use Buttondown after someone I trust recommended it to me, and it's been solid so far. It's also easy to export all your subscribers, if/when you go self-host.

 

[lizmonster]

Woo hoo, IngramSpark has reinstated my anthology! I'll wait a few days for it to propagate, then take it off KDP and see what happens.

 

[lizmonster]

Sooo.

The antho ebook never reappeared on Amazon.

I'm wondering if it's because I already had a KDP entry for it, but regardless, I'm not going to take chances with the WIP. I'll keep trying to figure it out, and maybe I can extract myself further from Amazon for the next one.

And for now, despite the aggravation of getting the antho back up for sale, I'll keep using IngramSpark to go wide. The devil you know, and all that.

About the WIP! My book formatter has the source file, and we've got a contract. He said originally he wouldn't be able to get to it until May (pesky day job!), but as is common for him, he's started early. He thinks he might be able to get me ebook files by the end of next week.

Print will take longer. I am doing a paperback and a hardcover, and they're different trim sizes. With Arkhangelsk, there were a lot of nit-picky formatting things that came up. This one is simpler, but it's not just a bunch of chapters with scene breaks, so there will likely be some back-and-forths.

The TL;DR is that I'm thinking of a release date of June 3, which he feels pretty confident we can make.

It's a sentimental date, but if things start getting hairy, I can bump it out. We'll see how the ebook goes. I do want to apply for BookBub's New Releases newsletter, but I don't want to do that until I'm confident about the date - if they accept you, they give you the first available slot after your pub date, and I'd hate to mess that up.

Still dithering about a Goodreads giveaway. Like I said: good for mindshare, unlikely to recoup the cost.

I thought, too, about trying to contact the publisher of my first books, just to let them know, in case they wanted to drop the price on Book 1 (which is where lots/most of the sales will be driven). Honestly, though? Nope. I'm not sure who I'd even contact there. So I'm not expecting phenomenal sales on this book, especially right out of the gate. I just hope it doesn't get pummeled with 1-2 star reviews.

So ambitious, I am.

 

[JoeySL]

I am doing a paperback and a hardcover,

Do your hardcovers sell? I've only ever made a hardcover for a YA for younger teens (13-15ish), because that one usually goes out in print rather than ebook. All other books only ever sell as ebook, so the paperback is mostly for show.

 

[Introversion]

Do your hardcovers sell?

I bought one.

 

[Introversion]

I bought one.

Actually, I lied. I bought five.

First one for myself, and then four because Amazon had dropped their price to $11.55 which seemed too stupidly cheap to pass up.

Those four will probably become author-signed give-aways. Or doorstops? Author’s choice.

 

[lizmonster]

Do your hardcovers sell? I've only ever made a hardcover for a YA for younger teens (13-15ish), because that one usually goes out in print rather than ebook. All other books only ever sell as ebook, so the paperback is mostly for show.

For the novel, 96% of my sales are ebooks, and about 84% of those are via Amazon. Just shy of 1% of my sales are hardcovers.

But that's 84 books. 84 hardcovers out there in the world. (Granted, Spouse bought a few, but not 84!)

The hardcover is purely a vanity thing - trade pub never offered me a hardcover, and I wanted one. I liked how it came out, so I'll be doing it again.

The delta for producing it isn't that much. It may be less now, since IngramSpark has changed how they charge (I think? I've seen so many updates it gets confusing!)

 

[Introversion]

Granted, Spouse bought a few, but not 84!

So far as you know, anyway…

 

[lizmonster]

So far as you know, anyway…

You do understand that would Not Be Good, right?

 

[Introversion]

You do understand that would Not Be Good, right?

“And then Liz discovers that all those books in basement boxes are literally her book…”

 

[lizmonster]

“And then Liz discovers that all those books in basement boxes are literally her book…”

NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO