- Joined
- Sep 9, 2009
- Messages
- 73
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I just wanted to chime in my own thoughts. I self-published the last week of July 2012. I really don't know if my sales are considered good to other people or not, but to me, I'm happy and I am the only person that counts.
So these are my numbers so far:
July - 16 copies in the US * 5 in the UK.
August - 83 copies in the US * 20 in the UK.
September to date - 1182 copies in the US * 218 in the UK.
It is a novella, roughly 25,000 words for $0.99. I did it because I had been writing and not writing the story for 2 years, if you can believe that or not. I would write and decide I suck at writing, then put it away for months. I'd bring it out again and go through the whole process time after time. The last time I put it away, I read something written by one of the AW member's here. It had to do with three types of writers. One was the writer who will write, but convinced they aren't any good, will never have anything published, because their writing will never see the light of day. It was an eye opener. He was talking about me! Me! Here I am, over here, I'm that person. So one night I said to myself, it is now or never and I formatted and uploaded and held my breath and waited to see what happened. I didn't tell one soul, not family or friends. I used a pen name and just waited. I was waiting on the reviews. I know they say not to read them, but it was the only way to find out if I sucked as bad as I'd thought. Guess what? I didn't suck, not to the reviewers. After the first seven or eight reviews, I had stopped reading them. ****As a side note, I did pay a professional editor and I did pay for a professional cover.****
The reason I am telling you all this is because I am happy with my sales from self-publishing and the money I am making is going toward the one dream goal of mine. Next year I am going to my first writer's convention, its one I have always wanted to attend. It is expensive and I have dreamed of affording to go, and guess what? My self-published novella is paying the way. Once there I am pitching the novel I am currently writing to agents at their pitch sessions and hope to one day be trade published.
Will I stop self-publishing under my pen name? Nope. I plan to keep writing novella's and shorts.
You see, I don't want to do one or the other. I want it all. Why not? No one can tell me I can't have my cake and eat it too, unless I don't get trade published, but I won't know until I try. This one novella that I self-published has given me more courage and understanding then I thought possible. I might not write like my favorite author's, but it doesn't matter, because I write like me. And there are people out there who liked it.
Sometimes money isn't the only thing that comes out of self-publishing. Anyways, that's it. Thanks.
So these are my numbers so far:
July - 16 copies in the US * 5 in the UK.
August - 83 copies in the US * 20 in the UK.
September to date - 1182 copies in the US * 218 in the UK.
It is a novella, roughly 25,000 words for $0.99. I did it because I had been writing and not writing the story for 2 years, if you can believe that or not. I would write and decide I suck at writing, then put it away for months. I'd bring it out again and go through the whole process time after time. The last time I put it away, I read something written by one of the AW member's here. It had to do with three types of writers. One was the writer who will write, but convinced they aren't any good, will never have anything published, because their writing will never see the light of day. It was an eye opener. He was talking about me! Me! Here I am, over here, I'm that person. So one night I said to myself, it is now or never and I formatted and uploaded and held my breath and waited to see what happened. I didn't tell one soul, not family or friends. I used a pen name and just waited. I was waiting on the reviews. I know they say not to read them, but it was the only way to find out if I sucked as bad as I'd thought. Guess what? I didn't suck, not to the reviewers. After the first seven or eight reviews, I had stopped reading them. ****As a side note, I did pay a professional editor and I did pay for a professional cover.****
The reason I am telling you all this is because I am happy with my sales from self-publishing and the money I am making is going toward the one dream goal of mine. Next year I am going to my first writer's convention, its one I have always wanted to attend. It is expensive and I have dreamed of affording to go, and guess what? My self-published novella is paying the way. Once there I am pitching the novel I am currently writing to agents at their pitch sessions and hope to one day be trade published.
Will I stop self-publishing under my pen name? Nope. I plan to keep writing novella's and shorts.
You see, I don't want to do one or the other. I want it all. Why not? No one can tell me I can't have my cake and eat it too, unless I don't get trade published, but I won't know until I try. This one novella that I self-published has given me more courage and understanding then I thought possible. I might not write like my favorite author's, but it doesn't matter, because I write like me. And there are people out there who liked it.
Sometimes money isn't the only thing that comes out of self-publishing. Anyways, that's it. Thanks.