Self-pubbing a gritty fantasy romance

LBlankenship

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A note if you're planning to submit to iBooks on your own, rather than through Smashwords: make sure all the img's in your ebook have an alt designation.

It's also complaining about my link, but I'm less sure how to fix that. Will update.

And, since I'm crazy, I've set a date for releasing Disciple, Part II. Whee, let's do it again! :e2woo:
 

LBlankenship

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One month in

Disciple, Part I went live at Amazon on October 15th, so here's how the first month went.
  • I've sold six .mobis at Amazon, one paperback, one .epub at B&N. Hey, it's a start.
  • I'm halfway through a one-month blog tour at PumpUpYourBook.com and... I'm not impressed.
  • Gave away two paperbacks through Goodreads, which got me added to a bunch of to-read lists. At least I was interesting enough for a click.
  • Got some nice reviews from lovely people, a few of whom I don't even know.

On the to-do list:
  • I'm prepping the manuscript for Smashwords.
  • Thinking about the next Kickstarter project to fund the editing of Part II. Maybe the cover for Part III also.
  • Putting together a January blog tour using connections I got through the Blog Tour Exchange to promote Part I and the Kickstarter for Part II.
  • Writing, writing, writing. Part VI (the final installment of Disciple) is chugging along.

It's been stressful, but... life's stressful anyway. May as well do what I've been dreaming of.
 

Ann Joyce

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Good for you; you're off to a great start. I read your first chapter and it really does end with a good hook. I'll be following and expecting many future sales. Congratulations!
 

LBlankenship

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I bought a Bronze (ten-stop) blog tour package at Pumpupyourbook.com for the month of November. I wasn't impressed. Wrote about it in their thread over in Background Checks.

Last I checked, I've sold one ebook in November, and that was directly attributable to a blog tour stop that I arranged myself.

(pulls up bootstraps) Well, onward.
 

Sheryl Nantus

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I bought a Bronze (ten-stop) blog tour package at Pumpupyourbook.com for the month of November. I wasn't impressed. Wrote about it in their thread over in Background Checks.

Last I checked, I've sold one ebook in November, and that was directly attributable to a blog tour stop that I arranged myself.

(pulls up bootstraps) Well, onward.

Sounds like a big waste of $300.

Overall, how have your sales been from the start?

Thanks in advance!
 

Spell-it-out

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Best of luck LB, I hope it all goes well for you.
 

LBlankenship

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Just to get my reporting in line with everyone else's -- I'm happy to report TWO sales for November. Bringing my total for the first month and a half to precisely ten.

Next up: putting together a Kickstarter project for January (this will be my second) and prepping for a blog tour in January to support that.
 

LBlankenship

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This is unexpected, but I'm sure everyone here will be interested:

I heard about Storybundle.com a while back and I sent them an email to inquire. They asked for a copy of Disciple, Part I and took a couple weeks to decide... yes, they want to include me in the next bundle!

Wow!

In brief, what Storybundle does is offer a group of books and the reader picks their price. Some of the money goes to charity, some goes to the authors. There are incentive books added if readers pay above a certain price for the bundle.

It's an advertising opportunity more than a money-making one -- we'll see what happens. I'll keep everyone updated, of course.
 

LBlankenship

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So, about that Storybundle.com thing... I started a thread over in Promotions (here) and just updated.

Short version: they've sold 1,000 bundles so far. Three weeks of sales to go. My Christmas has gotten a whole lot merrier! :)
 

SamanthaLehane

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Congrats!

I'm glad that you introduced me to this website because I love the idea. Thanks!
 

LBlankenship

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Reporting on December a little early...

  • Sold two paperback copies and one e-book, through the usual channels. Total of 13 sales since mid-October. Yay.
  • Sales at Storybundle.com are past... 1500. :Jaw: The numbers I've seen gave me a ballpark of my cut being 75 cents per.

I am prepping to promote my second Kickstarter campaign to cover production costs -- editing for Part II (I have a proofreader who owes me a favor) and the cover artwork for Part III. That starts on New Year's and my blog tour supporting the same kicks off on the 2nd with the No Kiss Blogfest (since Part II contains a few No Kiss scenes.)

Has anyone else heard about character trading cards? Romance writers make them, I've heard, they hand them out at conventions and they get good response from readers. Well, there's printing costs for that of course and I haven't been to many conventions yet... I guess you could distribute electronic trading cards, but... why limit yourself to a little card, if it's electronic?

I commissioned some character portraits for Part I, and I'm going to put out a set of wallpapers. I'll post them with character interviews during my blog tour.

Question for you all: I made 4:3 wallpapers intended for desktop/laptop screens -- do you think I should make something sized for smaller devices? Phones or iPads?

(should I ask over in the Promotions forum?)
 
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swvaughn

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Wow, this Storybundle thing sounds awesome! Thanks for reporting on it. I'm gonna have to check it out. :) I hope you keep racking up more sales!

Also, back in this thread you mentioned possibly selling your formatting services. Are you still doing that? I'm looking for a formatter... :)
 

LBlankenship

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Hi, long time no see...

Not much to report for January. No sales outside of Storybundle.com -- but when the Storybundle offer ended, they'd sold 1850 bundles. My cut of the profits is pretty sweet.

I've been blog touring and running a Kickstarter project throughout January, and that's been going about as I expected. Which is to say, I'm gearing up to put Plan B in motion. If you're thinking about a Kickstarter, as a new self-publisher, here's my best advice: have a good Plan B.

Disciple, Part II will be going to my freelance editor in February, whether the Kickstarter magically succeeds or I have to use the Storybundle money for it... and now that I've done this once already, hopefully the release should go more smoothly. April 1st, here I come.

And, if it's not too self-promoty, I've hung out my shingle officially: I'm offering a menu of various creative services to self-publishers.
 

MmeGuillotine

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Congratulations on your great sales with Storybundle. :)

I love your book cover - it reminds me of the lovely dreamy and atmospheric paintings in the big book of art work from the Zelda game series which arrived this morning for one of my sons. :)
 

kenebaker

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Just read your post, and wow, well done on your success over Christmas. Really hope it continues - they say the first 10K books is the hardest. You've made a nice dent so far! Please keep the updates coming on your next strategies :)
 

LBlankenship

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(digs up old thread)

OK, what's been going on...

I have feedback from my freelance editor on Disciple, Part II, so I am still on schedule to publish that on April 1st. I've been setting up the print and ebook files ahead of time. Actually, I'm kinda jazzed about that. Since she was late getting back to me, I was of course imagining she'd send a blood-soaked file back or an email saying "I can't read this crap, sorry" -- but no. Thumbs up, with some very reasonable critique.

My April blog tour is scheduled and I'm writing posts for that ahead of time.

Dropped the price of Part I to $2.99 on Valentine's day, which sold one copy so far. Sales have been pretty dead in general. Keeping my nose to the grindstone, though.

I will be part of the Spring Equinox sale and giveaway at the Magic Appreciation Tour site -- Part I will be 99 cents and I'll give away bundles of both parts before the official release date.

(tips hat) I've been quiet, lately, I know. I've been feeling like I didn't have much to contribute. Feeling more talkative now. :)
 

SelmaW

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This forum has been on the quiet side recently. (I've been a bit of a lurker, but I'm trying to talk more now!) Sounds like you've got some good plans coming up. And that's awesome about getting good feedback from your editor - always a great feeling!
 

SDBmania

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That's awsome!

I just started a few fantasy series too and I found someone to do the cover art for each book for a very reasonable price.

I've sold a few copies of book one already and it's only been our about a week and a half, that's good for me! Maybe this is the genre to stick to.

I wish you great success!
 

LBlankenship

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Updates:

It's official! Disciple, Part II is on sale at major e-retailers. Official blurby stuff here.

This is going to be "interesting"... the ebook went up on the 25th and I tweeted one little "hooray!"... went back into KDP to check something and they'd sold five copies. Whut? Haven't had the guts to look since.

I began the search for book bloggers who are
  • currently taking review requests
  • have posted in the last 3 months
  • willing to look at self-published books
  • like fantasy
  • not averse to romance
(this knocks the list way down, as you can imagine) and started sending out inquiries. Got a request back from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and my heart just about stopped. They say it may be summer before they can get to it. Hopefully I will have forgotten all about it, by then.

In that same line of thought: does anyone know of an index of active, self-pub-reading book bloggers? Is there one here on AW? Should there be? (did I just volunteer?)
 

sarahdalton

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I think I might have one saved somewhere but I'm on my phone at the moment so can't check. I'll have a look when I'm back on my computer. PM me a nudge if I forget! :)

I put a link in the 'useful links' thread which linked to lots of different resources, there may be some review sites in there.
 

sarahdalton

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