I made a decision about three months into self-publishing that lowered my sales. I knew it was going to, but it was a choice I needed to make for myself.
What many people don't realize is that just completing a full-length novel is an accomplishment, never mind publishing it.
Parametric, your sales numbers are great too!
Don't tell anyone, but I'm so proud of all of AW's self-publishers, no matter what your sales. You've all done brilliantly, no matter what your sales. Having worked in trade publishing for so long I understand how much hard work and knowledge is involved in bringing a book to market, and I doubt that I could do well if I had to do everything myself. I am in awe of every one of you.
And if anyone so much as hints that I'm being nice or kind I'll deny it and ban them. So there.
Would you mind sharing that decision here? I know you've probably mentioned in your own thread, but that thread is looooong now.
Couldn't agree with you more.
Coming up with an awesome and original idea? That's the easy part. Turning that idea into a full length, well developed, and interesting novel complete with fully developed characters and surprising plot? That's the challenge.
Don't tell anyone, but I'm so proud of all of AW's self-publishers, no matter what your sales. You've all done brilliantly, no matter what your sales. Having worked in trade publishing for so long I understand how much hard work and knowledge is involved in bringing a book to market, and I doubt that I could do well if I had to do everything myself. I am in awe of every one of you.
See, I think that coming up with an awesome and original idea, or an awesome new take on a not-so-original idea, is impressive. Gathering the courage to even start writing a book is difficult, and to be commended.
I understand people being interested in sales numbers, and the size of advances, and so on and so forth: but there's a lot to be said for finding satisfaction in the process of writing, and in making your writing the best that it can be, and I wish there were more focus on that and less on these other things which are, after all, out of our control.
On the one hand, it can be very inspiring and lays the groundwork, lets me know where I fit in the grand scheme of things and helps me reach farther and strive for that elusive fruit just beyond my reach. OTOH, it could easily squelch other writers from reporting their one-two sales a month, thinking it is somehow less important. It is not.
The fact that we are creative beings expressing ourselves, and then sharing that deep part of who we are with others, is amazing in itself. Let alone the skills that need to be learned to do it well and carry a book from thought to physical form (and digital availability).
Merrihiatt, you expressed EXACTLY what I have been feeling! I get so discouraged when I read about how much more other self-published writers are selling compared to me, even though I know that it isn't (entirely) about the sales. You are absolutely right in saying that being creative and expressing ourselves and sharing that with others is amazing in and of itself. I have to remind myself daily that the number of books I sell is not as important as the fact that I am doing what I love and pursuing a dream. I'm actually doing it! Thank you for reminding me of that. I guess I needed to hear that tonight!
And...Old Hack....you're wonderful!
I'm very interested in the notion of success, and how it's defined--both for and by writers. I've been considering doing some proper research about it, in fact.
Those who are intrinsically motivated--motivated by the process of the writing itself--tend to have more satisfaction and feel more successful than those of us who are motivated by things like money, and trade publication. The problem with those things is we have no control over them and so if we're motivated by them and feel we can only be a success if we achieve them, we're almost certain to end up disappointed and demotivated.
So, if we try to focus on writing process, completing the books we write, and remember to reward ourselves with kindness when we do our jobs well we're going to be far happier than if we focus purely on chasing things we can't control.
Fact: We have never signed a contract with any of the Big Six/Five publishers.
Fact: We have never hit the USA Today or New York Times bestseller lists.
Fact: We split just over $100,000 in 2012, and our money was divided pretty evenly between books published by a digital first publisher (mostly Samhain Publishing) and books we self-published on our own.
Fact: We’ll each make that in 2013, which is our fifth year as published authors.
In 2012, we self-published 15 backlist and 2 new stories* as Moira Rogers. We sold 56,486 books. One sold 300 copies for the year. One sold 10,000. None of those broke huge or made news. What they did do is quietly earn a combined $50,000. People who claim to make money in ebooks are usually dismissed as outliers. But with an average of 3300 sales per book, which breaks down to 275 sales per month across all retailers…we’re not talking about breaking down doors here.
He says he has sold more than 435,000 copies of his books, at around $5 to $6 each,
and under Amazon's self-publishing program, he keeps 70%.
Melissa Foster, a 47-year-old mother of six who lives in Maryland, self-published 11
novels in 2013, mostly romances, and says she has sold more than 400,000 copies.