A Very Small Fish Jumping Into a Very Big Pond

M. H. Lee

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Well, I did it. I took the self-publishing plunge.

My first short story, "The Price We Pay" went live on Amazon last night.

I'm not holding my breath for instant fame and riches on this one, because I didn't engage in any marketing efforts and I can't even find myself on Amazon. When I search for "M.H. Lee" it says there are no matches and then shows me search results for Lee.

Well, I'll do with AZN what I did with Google and my blog. Just keep posting new material until it has to acknowledge me.

I have six more original releases scheduled between now and December 19th and then I'm going to release higher priced collections of the stories in the week before Christmas.

I think I'm moving my timeline up a bit, though, because it took more than a day for this one to go live and I'd hate to miss that big Christmas Day bump.

I've discussed a lot of my decisions/thoughts on my blog, but figured I'd give a few highlights for anyone considering this route.

Covers: I decided to go basic because I wanted to do this as cheap as possible and I didn't have any stunning imagery to put on a cover. Plus, my writing is mostly speculative fiction, but it veers into contemporary almost literary fiction at times and I figured it was better to create a consistent brand for my publications instead of covers that are representative of each story but don't work together.

(Basically, someday I hope that I'll have readers who are willing to follow me wherever I go, even if that's outside of their chosen genre preference. Haha.)

Why: I've submitted about eighteen different short stories to the pro-paying markets over the last year and half and received almost sixty rejections. Some were very nice personal rejections and some were second round rejections, so I figure the stories are decent if not pro level quite yet. And I figured I could start submitting to semi-pro markets or I could self-publish. Self-publishing held more appeal for me because there's a higher upside if a story does do well.

What: Mostly speculative fiction short stories. My work breaks down into two different types. I'm publishing my stories that are around 5,000 words as standalones and then my shorter works in groups of about that length that I'm calling "Quirky Quickies."

This is how I described it on my blog: "The Quirky Quickies are going to be small collections of my shorter stories. Most of these are either “idea stories” or humorous. The standalones are generally character focused and have more fleshed out concepts. You can think of the quirky quickies as cotton candy–a little lacking in substance, but enjoyable if that’s what you’re looking for– and the standalones as a tasting menu at a restaurant–not necessarily what you would’ve ordered on your own, but interestingly complex and layered. (I hope.)"

So, there you have it. I'll try to update this thread once a month so people can have another data point on results, but it may be really depressing to admit how few copies I've sold. So, if you don't hear from me again, assume my sales numbers were less than ten per month.

(I figure I can coerce at least five friends or family members into buying it.)
 
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sarahdalton

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Wishing you all the best, MH! I had a similar experience with short stories I couldn't place for publication. I ended up putting them on Wattpad to try and lure potential readers to my novels. It didn't really work though!

Keep an eye out for anthologies in your genre. I've noticed more self-publishers teaming up to create anthologies to cross promote. It's a good idea for stories you don't mind letting go for free. I'm taking part in one in a few months. I'm not sure how it works for royalties as we're planning on giving ours away. But hopefully it will generate more readers for our existing books.

Anyway, it was just a thought!
 

ebbrown

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Good luck! No worries, 'zon will catch up shortly and you will be searchable. Did you set up your Author Central page? When I click your name, it does not send me there, so I am assuming no.
Go to Amazon and do that. It's easy and useful.
Wishing you many happy readers!
 

M. H. Lee

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Thanks guys! Excellent suggestions.

My Author Central page is now in the works.

(And even though I don't have many posts on here, I've been lurking this board for ages now. So appreciate all your advice in all the threads you post in.)
 

Ann Joyce

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I wish you well, MH Lee! I'll be watching your updates.
 

Penguin

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Good luck! :D. I was (still am) a tiny fish in a huge pond, so I know what you're going through :)
 

GinJones

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Is there a reason why there's no "look inside"? Readers expect to be able to read the first page or two, even of a short story, before buying. Even if you have an excerpt at your website, that's not enough, since many potential readers won't bother to leave Amazon (or wherever else it's listed), and expect to find all the necessary info at the retailer's site.
 

J. Tanner

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Good luck with it. I have a few opinions of dubious value... :)

I have six more original releases scheduled between now and December 19th and then I'm going to release higher priced collections of the stories in the week before Christmas.

I think I'm moving my timeline up a bit, though, because it took more than a day for this one to go live and I'd hate to miss that big Christmas Day bump.

I did something similar with my dark fantasy shorts, but I released them, and a collection, as quickly as I could get them formatted. I think that's a superior plan when you have no audience. No one is looking for us minnows, they just run into us by accident. The more space you take up, the more likely someone runs into you.

Covers: I decided to go basic because I wanted to do this as cheap as possible and I didn't have any stunning imagery to put on a cover. Plus, my writing is mostly speculative fiction, but it veers into contemporary almost literary fiction at times and I figured it was better to create a consistent brand for my publications instead of covers that are representative of each story but don't work together.

(Basically, someday I hope that I'll have readers who are willing to follow me wherever I go, even if that's outside of their chosen genre preference. Haha.)

I understand your situation. I was in a similar position for different reasons: as a challenge to myself my goal was to start self-pubbing with absolute $0 and always be in profit. That meant doing my first set of covers for free, myself, without paid stock art even.

While cover art can be really subjective, I think you've got some room for improvement here. The typography is a bit off, and the design does not convey genre well which can be a big barrier to attracting browsers.

Why: I've submitted about eighteen different short stories to the pro-paying markets over the last year and half and received almost sixty rejections. Some were very nice personal rejections and some were second round rejections, so I figure the stories are decent if not pro level quite yet. And I figured I could start submitting to semi-pro markets or I could self-publish. Self-publishing held more appeal for me because there's a higher upside if a story does do well.

Hm. Reasonable choice, but I think an alternative is typically superior for speculative fiction that has a rich semipro ecosystem. Submit to paying semi-pros too that put out a decent product, and don't require long-term exclusivity. You pick up 50 bucks here and there, get your name in another place, and still self-pub down the road. Many shorts don't earn that 50 bucks back for a long time, if ever, so might as well not skip the opportunity to get something out of it if it's there. Basically, you're rushing slightly, and by not rushing slightly I have a few more credits and an extra couple hundred bucks.

So, there you have it. I'll try to update this thread once a month so people can have another data point on results, but it may be really depressing to admit how few copies I've sold. So, if you don't hear from me again, assume my sales numbers were less than ten per month.

I think you need to revise your expectations down. 10 a month for short fiction in a niche genre when you're just starting out is asking a lot. (Unless you hit up your 10+ friends and family. Personally, I don't even bring it up which means my sales, barring one, are entirely to strangers. My dark fantasy stories were all published in pro and semipro venues, a couple recieved year's best honorable mentions, and I don't sell 10 a month TOTAL, let alone 10 each.)

One aside I'll throw in here is pricing. I noticed you went with $1.49. I tested it a lot and it doesn't seem to be worth it on Amazon. $0.99 for all items not long enough to charge $2.99. If you go with other markets over KDP Select, the mid-tier pricing can work better.

Seconds aside is that your blurb has some room for improvement. I recommend getting away from talking about the story as an author lecturing and focus on the basics of CHARACTER in SETTING experincing CONFLICT and if you're really good bait a HOOK.

And the last bit of advice I'll share is to remember it's a marathon, not a sprint. Don't get discouraged by a slow first month (or six, or ten). Keep putting your products out and keep improving your craft and packaging. It can take time, and short fiction, outside erotica, tends to be one of the longer trips.
 
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M. H. Lee

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Is there a reason why there's no "look inside"? Readers expect to be able to read the first page or two, even of a short story, before buying. Even if you have an excerpt at your website, that's not enough, since many potential readers won't bother to leave Amazon (or wherever else it's listed), and expect to find all the necessary info at the retailer's site.

GinJones - I could be wrong about this, but my understanding is that the Look Inside feature is under Amazon's control and it can lag the publication of the book by a few days. I was just over on Kboards and there were folks there complaining that it had been four days and their Looks Insides still weren't showing up.

J. Tanner - Thanks for the advice/thoughts. I won't respond to all of it, but there are two reasons for the staggered release. First, some of the pieces are still out at markets and I want to give them time to place if that's going to happen. Second, my understanding is that there's a big benefit to being in the category of "released in the last thirty days" so by staggering my short story releases, I'll be able to keep one of each kind of book in there for the next couple of months, which should help with discoverability.

Of course, most of the folks I've seen talking about that are publishing novels, so we'll see if that helps at all.

Penguin and Ann Joyce - Thanks for the encouragement!
 

J. Tanner

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Second, my understanding is that there's a big benefit to being in the category of "released in the last thirty days" so by staggering my short story releases, I'll be able to keep one of each kind of book in there for the next couple of months, which should help with discoverability.

The HNL lists that generate reader traffic generate sales (said captain obvious) which means you need to generate a certain threshold of sales within that 30 days to make the list. Sometimes you get on a very niche list with a very few sales, but the reason is the list has no traffic, and thus no further benefit in regards to sales.You aren't likely to generate that number of sales to get on a worthwhile list without a concerted marketing effort of some kind. So it's great advice for someone who has a bit of a following and it does work, but my experience is it will be a longshot when you're just getting started. There are plenty of exceptions though... some things just take off.
 

M. H. Lee

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Sarah - Another point on Author Central pages. You have to set up one for each country. So, the UK store and US store don't link to the same author page, you have to set them up separately. (I think there's also one for Canada, but I haven't done that one yet...)

And thanks to everyone I didn't already thank for all the encouragement! It's a slow slog, so glad to have the positive vibes.

The Price We Pay is currently #85 in Kindle Store>Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Metaphysical & Visionary. Not sure what that will do for me, but it's nice to see.

I also got my first review and it was five stars. So, yay!

Baby steps...

I'm currently setting up a new blog because I read a post on Books & Such this morning that really made me think: http://www.booksandsuch.biz/blog/the-trouble-with-tribes/

I've had a blog for a year and a half now, but since I didn't have anything published I had focused on writing-related issues, which means that most of my audience are either fellow bloggers or writers starting their careers. Which doesn't necessarily equate to readers of the type of fiction I write. (Case in point, I love the Books & Such Blog but do not read Christian books.)

So, I decided that it was easier to start a new blog targeted at my readers than to try to change the direction of my existing blog. Which means I'll now be maintaining three blogs. (I also have one for my non-fiction pen name.) Good times!

I think it'll be worth it, though. Already with my non-fiction blog that is targeted towards the audience for my non-fiction book I've seen at least one or two sales off of the blog.
 

Sarah Godfrey

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Oh! Thanks for the tip, M!

Also, I know what it's like to run multiple blogs. I keep meaning to make more interesting posts on the book blog, but the writing help blog tends to usurp my time for critical posts. Sometimes it feels like I'm choosing between children.

The writing help blog did give me a boost in platform when I started out, but ultimately did little more than that. If nothing else, I got my first few super fans this way, and tons of exposure through affiliated blogs!
 

M. H. Lee

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Baby steps

Just a quick update on the blogs.

I've only made two real posts to the new author blog, but I'm pretty sure that my post on the pervasiveness of terminal illness (that tied into my story The Price We Pay) generated a sale for me.

I don't have any fancy blog-tracking software, but I can see that someone read the post, clicked through to the book, and then I had a sale that same day.

So, yay.

My goal is to write a thoughtful post that ties into each of my stories. I also wrote a post on intelligent risk-takers vs. oblivious risk-takers and how that ties into my story The Darwin Act. No real hits on that one yet. But it took a few days on the last one, so there's still time.

Also, on the writer-focused blog I had offered a free copy of one of my stories to any of my blog readers who wanted one as a thank-you for following my blog. (May have been more of a punishment, really.)

Anyway. One of the blog readers who took me up on it went ahead and reviewed the story on his blog and posted the review to Amazon UK. And gave it five stars!

So, I now have a five-star review on both publications I have out. They're not driving sales, but it's a start. And I loved reading both of them because I find it fascinating to see what people find in my writing.

I may not make as many sales as I was hoping for this month, but I'm pretty pleased with the reviews and rankings so far.
 

M. H. Lee

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One of the things I had thought about, but hadn't really appreciated until I hit publish was the amount of time I would end up spending on non-writing activities.

For example, when I publish a new title or update the cover for an existing title, I have to update it on here, Kboards, and both of my blogs. (I also find myself fiddling with my keywords and blurb a lot.)

Also, as someone who primarily lurked forums before, I find that I'm doing a lot more posting than I had been. Often, because I have questions that need answered (like what symbol do you use for scene breaks - the consensus I came away with was three stars spaced or three tilde signs).

Once you post, then you feel an obligation to check back and make sure no one asked you a question in a thread or responded to your post and then you see some other interesting thread, and, yeah.

There's also just keeping up with blogging or whatever other way you interact with people, because now you theoretically have something they might want to buy.

And, of course, there's all the time spent on formatting and uploading files and covers. The less you hire that out, the more time you have to devote to it yourself.

I mention all of this because I haven't been hitting my writing/editing goals I set for myself. And today I looked in my "written, but need editing before going to Betas" folder and I had FIVE short stories just sitting in there waiting for attention.

Which is all to say that self-publishing is an interesting balancing act and anyone considering it should think about that before they take the plunge.
 

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Which is all to say that self-publishing is an interesting balancing act and anyone considering it should think about that before they take the plunge.


Totally agree. I have decided to focus on my plan to release two more books this year, and complete another mss. for my agent before I dive into more marketing. I find when I write, I really need to stay in that zone to get the word counts goals I set for myself achieved.
 

M. H. Lee

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Well, we're about at the one-month mark, so may as well provide an update.

I had twelve sales across three titles. Mostly people I know, but a stranger or two in there as well.

I discovered GIMP and have been playing around with my covers a bit. They're no longer generic or branded, but not sure if they're fabulous either. Unfortunately for my writing, I find it way too fun to play around with that stuff, so I've spent too much time this last month creating covers and reading up on design instead of writing new stuff.

Last night I dropped the prices of the books from $1.49 to $.99 just to see if that changes anything. (I don't think it will. There are SOOO many titles out at $.99 that you just get lost without some other form of promotion.)

What I have found interesting is the new KDP program: Kindle Countdown deals. I'm definitely going to use it for my non-fiction and may consider raising the prices of the short stories to $2.99 to take advantage of it. (DWS and others already advocate pricing all of your short stories at $2.99 and then I could drop the price to $.99, possibly get advertising from Amazon for those seven days, and still earn 70% on each sale.)

Right now, with the stories priced at $1.49 and earning 35%, I just don't see the point in really trying to drive sales. When I get the larger collections out at $2.99 and up then I may consider some advertising somewhere.

I think I will also be accelerating the release of my longer collections so that they can be in Select for at least thirty days before Christmas so that I can use the Countdown program for that period between Christmas and New Year's. (Although I need to look at which pieces I currently have out at markets to see if that's possible.)

So, there you have it. The great thing about self-publishing and not getting a lot of eyes on your work right away is that you can see what it looks like "out in the wild" and adjust accordingly.

Interestingly, I think I have learned more about writing from this experience. Just in terms of telling a story and presentation, but it'll take some more time before I can actually articulate that.

My author bio still sucks, but that's because I haven't yet decided that I'm willing to reveal too much about myself that publicly. I think that will have to change soon, but as someone who prefers to be very private (despite a blog with almost 500 posts...) that will be a big step to take. If I go that route, I'll also tell more than five people that I know IRL about my publishing, which is somewhat scary to do.

Anyway. I'm happy to be the example of how self-publishing is not overnight success and short story self-publishing is especially tricky to pull off. Be here all year. :)