Self-Published: my journey

Next week will mark the 90 day benchmark since I took a step into the world of self-publishing, and I thought I’d share my experience here so far.

First, as far as sales go, which is what most people wonder about, I’ve sold just over 300 copies of one title, the bulk of which were physical books ordered through the various retailers who order from Lightening Source/Ingram. I use Createspace too, but only about 50 print books have come from that source.

eBooks account for the smallest part, but I write for the 9+ age group, so I don't find that all that surprising.

I enrolled my first book in KDP Select, and I have to say, that was a big mistake. None of my new titles will go the select route again. It’s just very limiting to readers, and I can’t see the benefit. Add to that the fact that I’m Canadian, and Nook is very popular in Canada. I can’t tell you how many people contacted me to ask why they couldn’t get the eBook from Chapters or B&N… live and learn, right?

My first book is free right now, as part of the KDP Select promo, and I’m hoping it has some impact on reviews. That (generating reviews), I have to admit, is the hardest part of the process. But I am very patient, and I do see the process as a marathon, not a sprint. I will start doing actual promotion once book four is in the pipeline; I think readers want to know a series is complete before they invest time and money in it (I know I do).

These threads have been very helpful to me, and I’d love to pay it forward. I am a total newbie at this (90 days in) but I’d be happy to answer questions about my experience.

I am very glad I took the SP route with this series. It's been such a positive experience that I’ve decided that I’m going to self-publish any book my agent isn’t able to sell to major publishers.

sarahdalton said:

Have you managed to get your books in any shops?

The covers of your books are really nice, by the way.

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Thanks guys.

And no, I haven't tried yet to get them into shops, but I did have some success getting them into elementary school and public libraries. I think I will once I get the other books in the series out (hopefully by years end) but it's just been word of mouth at this point).

Thanks, too, about the covers. I'm really happy with them. The last two, book 3 and 4, require a bit of tweaking, but I'm really pleased with the artist I worked with.

shelleyo said:

Congratulations on the success you've had so far! Your covers are awesome.

Be sure to uncheck the default checkmark that will continue your Select run. It will happen automatically for another 90 days if you don't uncheck the box.

If I can offer a couple of tips, the best use of free is to lead people to the other stuff you have for sale. When there's nothing else for them to buy, the only benefit you can get is reviews, but personally I don't think it's worth that. YMMV, of course.

And the best use of Prime free days is within the first 30 days of publication, when your book can show up on new release lists and get more exposure, with less benefit coming at the end.

The best way to leverage free would have been to release the first one, then within the first month release #2 just as you're making the first one free. Something to keep in mind if you decide to try it again.

Your covers are really great, and if you're selling that many paper copies it sounds like you're on your way.

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Thanks, Shellyo, those are great tips (and thanks for the kind words about the covers). I think I should have used the free days in the fist month, that would have been a good plan. I was thinking about perma-freeing book 1 once the series is out.

And I have unchecked the renew box. But I'll be double checking in the next couple days just in case there's some glitch that re-checks the box... :\

I have a number of books I'm working on at the same time. It feels a bit like a juggling act at times, but I'm trying to get a system together so that I can build a backlist. If all goes as planned, and I hope it does, I'll release 6 or 7 books this year. The hardest part is spending the money before money comes in. I'm not willing to cut corners on book production (editing/design) so it's the other side that has to be done on the cheap (promotion/advertising/etc).

Thanks for the well wishes everyone, I really appreciate it!

As far as sales go, I think the next 3 months will be telling.

AgathaChristieFan said:

Congrats on your sales, Profen4! It sounds like you have a solid plan. Looking forward to reading your journey

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Thanks! Actually as a free book, it's doing pretty good right now on the sales lists. It's taken the top spot the YA Supernatural Mysteries sublist, and is right now at #81 for all Young Adult eBooks

Not sure that's going to translate into any actual sales, but I like that people are at least downloading it. Hopefully it leads to some more reviews.

Sunwords said:

Count another download, although it will not show - means, I tried it but Amazon is as usual not willing. Long story - has to do which place you live in and which of Amazon's sites you can use.
But I agree that the covers look good and I like the way you can regocnize that the books are related to each other.

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It should be on all the sites - I know Amazon.ca has it free, as does Amazon.co.uk.... but if it doesn't work for you, Sunwords, please email me at [email protected] and I'll send you a mobi or ePub or PDF, whatever you'd like to read. Thanks for trying!

Update*** It's now 6 months (well, close to it anyway), book two is out, book three will be out in a few weeks. As for sales, nothing impressive that's for sure. I have just below 2000 units paid sales. I have some plans for marketing efforts once book 3 is released, and we'll see how that goes.

Thanks guys. I'm pleased so far, and hopeful that the promotion stuff I'll get into in a few weeks will pay off.

Cheers

WriterBN said:

Those are amazing numbers! All the best for book #3.

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Thanks, WriterBN, I appreciate that.

It's a new year, and 9 months into the journey. I have to say it's been a learning experience. I'm about to release book three in my series (IMPACT - image in signature) as well as another book in a new series (I'll likely post the cover in the coming days - it's getting some tweaks).

I will say that the hardest part so far has been time management. When to write, when to promote, when to ready a title for self publishing, research... etc. One of the things I've learned, however, is that you CAN have success with children's books in the self publishing world, but getting traction takes serious time and effort.

One thing I tell anyone who is thinking about self publishing books for young kids (I write for MG and lower YA readers - so that's the market I'm talking about when I say "young kids") is that it's a mistake not to do print. I do understand that eBook is king for a great many self published folks, but kid-lit is a different beast (in my opinion). I started out selling more eBooks than print, but that's not the case anymore. Some months Print outsells eBooks 5 to 1.

The other thing I tell people is not to underestimate the importance of design beyond the cover. I credit the layout design for securing a great many sales.

Thanks for reading

Thanks! I'm really pleased with them too. The designer I use is a beast.

I knew I was going after a few markets where print was necessary but I was pretty surprised how many print copies have been purchased. What's even more surprising is that most of the print copies sold have not been sold through Amazon. The bulk of them have been through The Book Depository or direct through Ingram.

Mclesh said:

This is what I've observed with other MG/YA books. I was recently able to get my rights returned on my two as-yet unpublished lower MG books. The main reason is that my publisher is e-only, and I just haven't seen YA/MG books do really well as ebooks only.

I'm feeling better about my decision now. This just confirms what i was thinking. I felt like if my two books were released as e-only, they'd disappear quickly (unless something miraculous happened).

Kids would still rather hold a book in their hands, from everything I've heard.

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You got your rights back? Good for you. That can be a challenge sometimes. I think there is a market for MG eBooks, but you really have to find a way to get the word out. As a SP author, the way to do that is with print. Librarians in schools have been the biggest help to me. If you can make meaningful connections in that regard, I highly recommend it.

If you ever want to talk more about strategy, don't hesitate to contact me (that offer goes out to anyone).