So you’ve written a book, revised it, revised it some more, had it edited, proofread. You’ve selected a cover, formatted the word file, uploaded it to Amazon. Now it’s up on the internet and available for the whole world to buy. You’ve done it. You’re published. That’s it…right?
Not quite.
In the past, in the legacy world, being published was a finishing post of sorts. A writer picked up the advance cheque and got to say they were Published. The book might flop right on its ass and sell squit all, but the writer could still say they were Published and—more importantly—keep the advance cheque.
In the modern, free-wheeling, self-published world, being published is more like the starting post. A self-published writer might have more freedom and keep a much higher percentage of each sale, but that’s worth nothing if they don’t sell any books.
This is where management of expectations becomes important. That initial euphoria on seeing your work out there in the big wide world can quickly become despair as you watch your Amazon rankings spiral down into seven figures and wonder if anyone out there gives a damn about your book.
Don’t panic!
It happens to most of us. Think of your favourite bands. Most of them started out playing in little pubs with about five people in the audience. This is the same. Unless you’re enormously talented AND lucky, a massive audience followed by bestseller status doesn’t happen overnight. In the meantime stay grounded.
1. Don’t spit in the boss’s eye and quit your day job. You’re likely still going to need it for a while. If my earnings from writing creep past my salary I might consider writing full-time. Until then I’m turning up for work at 9am same as everyone else.
2. Don’t plan to rely on the money coming in. It might not. I don’t factor royalties into my financial planning at all. It’s bonus money. I can use it for savings or splash out on a luxury item, but I don’t want to be in a situation where I’m sweating on whether it will be enough to pay the electric bill.
3. Keep writing.
4. Keep writing! Yeah, I could repeat this one ad infinitum. I have three books out and in each case a new book coming out has boosted the sales of the previous book. Don’t sit back on the first book. Work on the next ones and get them out. Doubts don’t have a chance to take hold if you’re already concentrating on getting the next book out there.
I’m not a massive success story and might never be. Since starting out last October with my first short story collection, A Succubus for Christmas, I’ve seen my Amazon sales creep up from around a book a week to a book a day. That’s still a long way off fame and fortune, but it’s movement in the right direction. It’s encouragement to keep at it and search for more potential readers.
Most of all, I’m enjoying the writing. At the end of the day, does anything else matter?
M.E. Hydra
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
The Thanks You Get
Thank you to those of you who have tagged Dr. Cockburn's Medicine on Amazon.com. I really appreciate the help. I don't have an Amazon account so I can't reciprocate the favor. My credit cards are maxed out. So no more buying for me. I really thought that writing was going to be my ticket out. I thought so because everything that was happening happened in a magical sort of way. I wrote a novel. It got published. I wrote four more. I was full of ideas that came to fruition. I mean, it was like a dream come true. I have had nothing but positive feedback and I made some friends along the way.
But it doesn't pay the bills. I remember reading this article about Sheryl Crow and how she quit her job as a music teacher to become a music star but after six months of struggling she hadn't achieved her dream and she fell into a deep depression. But then she bounced back and within a year she had an album out and I think started winning Grammys.
Tom Cruise had a similar story. He'd said that he moved to NYC and gave himself six months to make it in the acting business. Or maybe it was Hollywood? No - I think he got a Broadway show and within months got his first movie and basically achieved success in less than his self proposed time limit.
So when I started writing, I had that same approach - not that Tom Cruise was my role model or anything, but I started seeing a pattern developing. It was something that seemed to come up in interviews with many celebrities. Don't continue if you don't make money.
Writing is another financial dead end.
Art isn't something I will ever give up since I do it because I have a need inside of me to create, which is not motivated by money. And anyhow, there are thousands of success stories out there about artists who struggled their whole lives before making it. Like Louise Nevelson who was in her 80s when she finally made it. And Grandma Moses didn't even begin painting until she was 70 years old.
I hate the fact that I have all sorts of success except the financial kind. It's killing me. No matter how you try to spin it, right now that is the only kind that counts.
Thanksgiving is coming up, so I want to take this opportunity to thank you all so much for your support.
Three other books won't be released until December, March and May so technically it could still happen. But as of now I'm contemplating bankruptcy so no matter the outcome it will be too little too late. It just sucks because this has been fun. I liked being a part of the erotica world and I liked having a secret life.
The end.
But it doesn't pay the bills. I remember reading this article about Sheryl Crow and how she quit her job as a music teacher to become a music star but after six months of struggling she hadn't achieved her dream and she fell into a deep depression. But then she bounced back and within a year she had an album out and I think started winning Grammys.
Tom Cruise had a similar story. He'd said that he moved to NYC and gave himself six months to make it in the acting business. Or maybe it was Hollywood? No - I think he got a Broadway show and within months got his first movie and basically achieved success in less than his self proposed time limit.
So when I started writing, I had that same approach - not that Tom Cruise was my role model or anything, but I started seeing a pattern developing. It was something that seemed to come up in interviews with many celebrities. Don't continue if you don't make money.
Writing is another financial dead end.
Art isn't something I will ever give up since I do it because I have a need inside of me to create, which is not motivated by money. And anyhow, there are thousands of success stories out there about artists who struggled their whole lives before making it. Like Louise Nevelson who was in her 80s when she finally made it. And Grandma Moses didn't even begin painting until she was 70 years old.
I hate the fact that I have all sorts of success except the financial kind. It's killing me. No matter how you try to spin it, right now that is the only kind that counts.
Thanksgiving is coming up, so I want to take this opportunity to thank you all so much for your support.
Three other books won't be released until December, March and May so technically it could still happen. But as of now I'm contemplating bankruptcy so no matter the outcome it will be too little too late. It just sucks because this has been fun. I liked being a part of the erotica world and I liked having a secret life.
The end.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Ebook Pricing - Redux
I’ve always been a proponent of higher ebook prices.
Not
the crazy $12.99 more-than-the-paperback prices that legacy publishing
is so fond of so they can continue to pay Manhattan rents—but higher
than $0.99, certainly. Even for a short story.
That’s right, once upon a time, my short stories were selling for $2.99. And yes, they were selling.
But
things changed. The indie market got more crowded. Authors started
selling their full-length novels for $0.99 and some even gave them away
for free. Blogs popped up everywhere telling Kindle owners where to
find free and cheap ebooks.
So
I decided to experiment with my prices. I lowered the prices on all my
stories to $0.99—that was everything from 3K-15K. Everything else
(some of which was priced as high as $5.99) I lowered to $3.99. And I
left them that way for three months. A full quarter of ebook sales.
What did I discover?
At first, I found that lowering my price to $0.99 shot me up on a few bestseller lists. That increased my exposure,
which was great. And I also found that my sales of those $0.99 titles
doubled. Stories that had previously been selling 50 a month were now
selling 100.
Sounds good, right?
But,
of course, at $0.99 I was getting a 35% instead of the 70% royalty I’d
been making when I was selling them at $2.99. I was now making roughly
$35 a month on a story that had previously been taking in about $100 a
month—a loss of $65 a month in income. Multiply that by twenty-five
short stories (which is about what I have out there) and that’s a $1650
a month loss.
Worth it?
At
first, I thought it might be, given the exposure. The higher you are
in the rankings, the more people see your name, the more sales you
make, right? But over time, more and more (and more!) indie authors
started selling their stuff at $0.99 too, and those lists became
overrun with cheap books.
I’d
pretty much decided to quit the experiment when I read a comment from Konrath on his blog confirming my suspicion—that authors don’t make
money at anything less than $2.99. Which meant, and I’ll quote Joe here:
“My data also shows
that novels outsell short stories, even though I've priced my shorts
at 99 cents. It stands to reason that if I switch shorts to $2.99, I'll
sell fewer, but I bet I make more money. So the next step is to raise
novels to $3.99-$4.99 and short stories to $2.99 and see what happens.
Assuming I have the guts to do so...”
I’ve
now changed all my short story prices back to $2.99, and raised my
novel prices to $4.99. I imagine I’ll run this experiment for another
three months and see what happens. If logic prevails, I’ll sell fewer
books, but make more money.
But
as Joe pointed out, doing this takes guts. Moving beyond the magical
$2.99 price-point for novels, pushing those higher, to make room for
short stories at that price, is a risky proposition. Will the market
bear it?
Honestly,
I think it will. And here’s why—Kindle readers are tired of $0.99
cheapies. The shine is off the new toy, people have stopped loading
their Kindles up with freebies and cheapies, and have started getting
more discerning about what they download. Many Kindle readers are
starting to shy away from the $0.99 price point because they’ve read
some stinkers and don’t want to travel down that road again. What was
once a huge draw for Kindle readers—oooh, look, cheap books for my new
toy!—has now become the opposite.
Of course, I could be wrong.
Which is why it’s a scary experiment!
Apropos for Halloween, don’t you think?
So let’s kick off this frightening new price point with a $2.99 story very fitting for the season, shall we?
For
those of you scratching your heads, wondering how in the heck the pair
of us ending up writing together, given that our genres are so vastly
different, I’ll explain. Back at the beginning of the year, I’d posted
some of my sales numbers on Joe’s blog, which at the time were
astronomical (I was making $30,000 a month at Barnes and Noble alone!)
and Joe jokingly said, “If you ever want to collaborate, let me know!”
I’d just finished reading and reviewing DRACULAS
– and being the huge horror fan that I am, how could I resist? I
emailed him to say, “I know you were kidding, but I’d love to
collaborate with you guys.” And to my surprise, Joe Konrath and Blake
Crouch actually took me up on the offer! They were planning a sequel to
DRACULAS called WOLFMEN, and wanted me on board, along with a fourth
writer (who has yet to be disclosed).
It made perfect marketing sense to cross-pollinate their audience and mine, which were both large, but vastly different.
Of course, no one knew if this great idea would work in practice…
So
Blake Crouch agreed to take me out for a test run, and that’s how this
story was born. The collaboration process was, I must say, an amazing
success, and I couldn’t be prouder of the result. I really think this
story is something special—but I’m probably a little biased!
If you want to know more about how HUNTING SEASON: A Love
Blood Story was written, what the process was and how things
developed, there’s an interview between myself and Blake included as
bonus material at the end.
It’s available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble for… you guessed it.
$2.99.
Is it worth it?
You be the judge!
HUNTING SEASON – A Love Blood Story by Blake Crouch and Selena Kitt
This
8,000 (approx) word collaboration by thriller/suspense/horror writer
Blake Crouch and erotic romance author Selena Kitt includes bonus
interview material with the authors about the upcoming sequel to the
Konrath, Crouch, Strand and Wilson bestseller DRACULAS.
-------------
He’s a butcher.
She’s the trophy wife of a trophy hunter.
They used to be high school sweethearts, but that was two decades ago, and times have changed.
Meet Ariana Plano...40 years old, miserable, stuck in a loveless marriage to the worst mistake of her life.
Meet Ray Koski...40 years old, miserable, a lonely butcher who can do nothing but immerse himself in the drudgery of his work.
Once
a week during hunting season, she brings her old teenage flame game
meat for processing.
They do not speak. They rarely make eye contact.
Some histories are just too painful.
But this week will be different.
This week—a shocking encounter twenty-two years in the making—will change everything.
Erotic Fiction You Won't Forget
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Sophomore Effort a Go!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0060GBTEY/spea06-20#customerReviews
Please help me tag it - BDSM, bondage, married man, erotica, what else? menage? I don't know.
http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html
http://www.excessica.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=469
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1104318398?ean=2940013225268&itm=1&usri=dr%2bcockburn27s%2bmedicine
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/99869
http://www.bookstrand.com/dr-cockburns-medicine
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b128669/Dr-Cockburns-Medicine/Mia-Natasha/?si=0
In paperback - http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Cockburns-Medicine-Mia-Natasha/dp/1466324562/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319896601&sr=1-2
Thursday, October 27, 2011
The Tidal Wave of Choice and a Deceptive Cover
One of the fears about the rise in ebooks and self-publishing is that the world will be buried in a tidal wave of crap writing. It’s a familiar argument—there will be so many bad Twilight knockoffs and other rubbish uploaded to Amazon no one will be able to find anything worth reading amongst the great steaming piles of ordure.
It’s one way of looking at it. Personally, I think it’s just as easy to turn it around and see the positive aspects.
The problem when creativity is commodified is that the bottom line suddenly becomes the number one consideration. It’s not enough to be good; if someone has stumped up cash in advance, they’ll want to see a return on their investment, which means the work needs to be both good and popular (or failing that, just popular, hey, Hollywood ;) ). I suspect more than a few writers have run into, “It’s good, but we don’t think there’s a big enough audience”, before the gate slammed down on their foot. As a result niche, interesting, challenging is often overlooked in favour of safe, bland, reliable (Hey, hello Hollywood! ;) ).
The beauty with ebooks and self-publishing is that the initial outlays are so small. Writers can take risks. Even if they only find a niche audience appreciative of their work, that’s still profit (providing you don’t think too hard about the time spent creating and polishing your work!). It’s also good for readers. Yes, there are going to be a lot of bad books that shouldn’t have seen the light of day (and these too might find fans—taste is subjective), but there are also going to be a lot of quirky, interesting books that might not have made it out of the slush pile under the old system. Personally, I think more choice is better than less choice.
Take short stories. I love short stories, especially horror stories. Mainstream publishing houses seldom publish short story collections. They don’t sell very well. There was even a recent tweetathon to save the short story.
I’ve put out three collections of short stories. They haven’t found a massive audience, but they have been found by readers who’ve enjoyed them a great deal. Publishers have to worry about the cost of print runs and marketing budgets. I don’t. I’m free to write what I want. It doesn’t take many sales to cover the initial costs and everything after that is gravy. That’s good for me, good for the readers who like my writing, and good for short stories, as there are plenty of bloody-minded fools like me that still enjoy writing them.
I suppose this would be the appropriate point for the blatant book plug:
I love the cover Selena and the people at eXcessica came up with. It’s totally inappropriate. This is either the darkest collection of erotica you’re likely to read this Halloween, or the most twisted, sexy-perverse collection of horror tales you’re likely to read this Halloween. Someone is going to pick up this book thinking it’s another cutesy paranormal romance with fashion-conscious demonesses, and get the shock of their lives.
I’m more in love with that idea than I should be. I can’t help it. I’m a horror writer. We want to scare people. It’s in the blood. While marketing-types would be aghast, I’m sitting here and grinning like a Cheshire Cat as I go, “open it… open it…”
It’s Halloween. I’m going to have fun. Bottom line be damned.
Enjoy the book. She’s as cute and adorable as her cover. Honest… ;)
M.E. Hydra
It’s one way of looking at it. Personally, I think it’s just as easy to turn it around and see the positive aspects.
The problem when creativity is commodified is that the bottom line suddenly becomes the number one consideration. It’s not enough to be good; if someone has stumped up cash in advance, they’ll want to see a return on their investment, which means the work needs to be both good and popular (or failing that, just popular, hey, Hollywood ;) ). I suspect more than a few writers have run into, “It’s good, but we don’t think there’s a big enough audience”, before the gate slammed down on their foot. As a result niche, interesting, challenging is often overlooked in favour of safe, bland, reliable (Hey, hello Hollywood! ;) ).
The beauty with ebooks and self-publishing is that the initial outlays are so small. Writers can take risks. Even if they only find a niche audience appreciative of their work, that’s still profit (providing you don’t think too hard about the time spent creating and polishing your work!). It’s also good for readers. Yes, there are going to be a lot of bad books that shouldn’t have seen the light of day (and these too might find fans—taste is subjective), but there are also going to be a lot of quirky, interesting books that might not have made it out of the slush pile under the old system. Personally, I think more choice is better than less choice.
Take short stories. I love short stories, especially horror stories. Mainstream publishing houses seldom publish short story collections. They don’t sell very well. There was even a recent tweetathon to save the short story.
I’ve put out three collections of short stories. They haven’t found a massive audience, but they have been found by readers who’ve enjoyed them a great deal. Publishers have to worry about the cost of print runs and marketing budgets. I don’t. I’m free to write what I want. It doesn’t take many sales to cover the initial costs and everything after that is gravy. That’s good for me, good for the readers who like my writing, and good for short stories, as there are plenty of bloody-minded fools like me that still enjoy writing them.
I suppose this would be the appropriate point for the blatant book plug:
I love the cover Selena and the people at eXcessica came up with. It’s totally inappropriate. This is either the darkest collection of erotica you’re likely to read this Halloween, or the most twisted, sexy-perverse collection of horror tales you’re likely to read this Halloween. Someone is going to pick up this book thinking it’s another cutesy paranormal romance with fashion-conscious demonesses, and get the shock of their lives.
I’m more in love with that idea than I should be. I can’t help it. I’m a horror writer. We want to scare people. It’s in the blood. While marketing-types would be aghast, I’m sitting here and grinning like a Cheshire Cat as I go, “open it… open it…”
It’s Halloween. I’m going to have fun. Bottom line be damned.
Enjoy the book. She’s as cute and adorable as her cover. Honest… ;)
M.E. Hydra
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Dead Sensei
Am gearing up to do promos - on those yahoo sites and wherever else I can. I hope people want to read a Halloween tale on Halloween. It's my favorite holiday. I have two parties to go to so far and I haven't decided what I want to be. Usually I have my costume planned by summer's end. I hope it isn't a cold Halloween. I wish it wouldn't snow at all. I'm not a fan.
When Dr. Cockburn's Medicine comes out on Amazon.com, I hope you will help me tag it. Tags are the keywords that help readers find books in their favorite categories. The more tags a book has, the higher up the search engine it goes. Cinderella Club has about five keywords tagged about three times each, which isn't many at all. People tend to find it because it has six really good reviews.
But poor Doc Cock will be all alone out there in the BDSM world fending for itself without your help. Excessica takes care of sending it out to get reviewed but I am not sure which review sites they use. Am not that worried. I'm confident people will love the story.
I feel like I'm giving birth to my second child and I actually have none of the anxiety as with the first. CC didn't get reviewed for weeks and then the first review was scathing. That was such a bleak time for me. It was actually the only review like that and I'm still wondering if that woman actually read it or skimmed the first chapter. Oh well, I don't really care.
It would be nice to have good reviews right out of the gate, but I will try not to stress about anything. Can only do what I can do. And I have to remember that it's about the fun of writing. I cried this morning listening to that speech that Steve Jobs had given at a college graduation ceremony. Something about feeling more free to live life once he'd discovered that he was going to die from cancer.
I'm not a free spirit - I mean, as much as I'd like to be. If I could be and be able to pay my bills, I would be. But mama just bought another pair of shoes. (I'm not a mother - what the hell is wrong with me?) Help me sell this novel so I can make a dent in paying my debts. Once I become sensible, I'm sure that will free me up to be that person Steve Jobs wants me to be.
When Dr. Cockburn's Medicine comes out on Amazon.com, I hope you will help me tag it. Tags are the keywords that help readers find books in their favorite categories. The more tags a book has, the higher up the search engine it goes. Cinderella Club has about five keywords tagged about three times each, which isn't many at all. People tend to find it because it has six really good reviews.
But poor Doc Cock will be all alone out there in the BDSM world fending for itself without your help. Excessica takes care of sending it out to get reviewed but I am not sure which review sites they use. Am not that worried. I'm confident people will love the story.
I feel like I'm giving birth to my second child and I actually have none of the anxiety as with the first. CC didn't get reviewed for weeks and then the first review was scathing. That was such a bleak time for me. It was actually the only review like that and I'm still wondering if that woman actually read it or skimmed the first chapter. Oh well, I don't really care.
It would be nice to have good reviews right out of the gate, but I will try not to stress about anything. Can only do what I can do. And I have to remember that it's about the fun of writing. I cried this morning listening to that speech that Steve Jobs had given at a college graduation ceremony. Something about feeling more free to live life once he'd discovered that he was going to die from cancer.
I'm not a free spirit - I mean, as much as I'd like to be. If I could be and be able to pay my bills, I would be. But mama just bought another pair of shoes. (I'm not a mother - what the hell is wrong with me?) Help me sell this novel so I can make a dent in paying my debts. Once I become sensible, I'm sure that will free me up to be that person Steve Jobs wants me to be.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Ya Chat-tat-tat-tatty-hoo
I've scheduled a chat for Thursday, October 27th, 2011 from 6:00-9:00pm. I'm telling you now because if you want to join the fun, you have to sign up for the yahoo group.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/karendevinkaren/
I think you need to have a yahoo email account. Then you go to the link and ask to become a member. Once you are accepted, make sure you post something. A hello or whatever, just to make sure your posts are received. Then on my chat night, we can have a conversation about stuff, including my new book, Dr. Cockburn's Medicine, which launches the next day - October 28th.
The way a book launch goes - it doesn't happen all at once, because the various ebook sites have different days of the week when they accept uploads. And the print book never coincides with the ebook launch. It's weird. Not with a bang but a whimper.
But it's still very exciting. I think I'll do a couple giveaways during the chat and maybe share some excerpts. Unless, of course, I end up talking to myself. That won't be such a big deal. Been there, done that. I can just post and eventually someone will read it. Coffeetime Romance does have regulars who enjoy the chat group aspect and do it regardless of whether or not they know the author. But it would be nice to chat with people who have read Cinderella Club or may have read an earlier version of Doc Cock before it became a 50,000 word novel.
It's so exciting to finally have another book on the market. But I sort of know what it must feel like when an actor has to do talk shows to promote their movie. Usually the movie was made the year before and they're currently working on something else. And that's what's so strange. It was a while ago since the last time I read Dr. Cockburn's Medicine. So I have a month to brush up on it before the chat.
Oh, I hope you decide to join me. It really will be fun to "meet" you all.
Check out the website then get a yahoo account and click on the link to the yahoo group. It's pretty simple to prepare to chatty-kathyfy yourselves.
Here's the link to my blog, in case you want to follow it - and please do! http://mianatasha-erotica.blogspot.com/
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