another thread about self publishing

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Rachael Lucas

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I thought as I'm stuck here in bed with a broken ankle and don't seem to have the concentration span to write or read I could do something helpful.

So, I wrote an epic post which detailed the last three months since the release of my book. It had loads of details about how I took a big risk and paid out over £500 on cover design and editing, how I launched it on twitter and through my blog, how after a month I did a free promo and got 25,000 downloads and no1. in the Kindle chart, how it went into the Amazon paid top 10 and how I ended up signing with an agent and it's now over 80,000 downloads. And then the forum gremlins ate it (somehow when I hit preview I got logged out and whoomph, it was gone).

So that's the very short version above. If anyone wants to ask any questions, I'd be more than happy to help. Just make sure you're logged in before you hit send. ;)
 

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That's awesome, Rachael. I'm impressed you got cover art and editing for only £500.

Did your agent sell your book to another press? 25,000 free downloads out of 80,000 total downloads? that's really great! I am really curious what you did to promote the free promo? I was planning on doing a free promo with my book next month.

Thanks for offering to answer some questions. It's great to hear of an author having success regardless of the path they take. I'm glad you shared your cliff-notes version :)
 
Rachael Lucas

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Hi Steven and thanks :) There was just NO way I could re-write it all again, it'd taken ages and my painkiller-filled brain is way too tired!

No, the agent has nothing to do with my book, she's just taken me on with a view to the future. I'm still enjoying being very much in charge of what happens (so much so that I'm wondering how it might feel to hand over control to someone else...).

To promote the free download period - well, first of all if you google it you'll come up with a list (I will try and find the link) of ALL the different places you can inform. I didn't know about that, but I do now. So you may as well learn from my mistakes! I wrote about it on my blog, and mentioned it on twitter, and the blog's FB page, and also contacted some of the free Kindle book FB pages and they mentioned it. But once it gets into the charts it does seem to snowball, and that helps. And I found that just going for it and doing the whole five days meant loads of exposure and a chance for it to make it up the chart. And brace yourself for snarky comments: my mother, when I called to tell her I was no1 in the Kindle download chart, said "Huh! How many of your books have you given away now?" disapprovingly! :-O
 

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Snarky comments I can deal with :) But your experience is why I don't talk about my writing with my family or close friends.

Thanks for the tips.

Do you still have your book in KDP Select? Or did you just do that for the 90 days? I don't think I like Select (aside from the five days of free), but I'm only 46 days into my self-publishing experience, so we'll see...

Good luck and I hope your sales continue!
 
Rachael Lucas

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M, Heh. :D My first epic post did explain that I'd been inspired by self publishing wondergirl, Mme Guillotine - and that I'd just discovered that you're here too. Only IT WAS EATEN. I haven't had an epic-post-being-eaten incident since the olden days of the internet on Livejournal.

Steven: I have, but mainly because I can't face trying to publish on iBooks and Nook and the technological stress last time was hideous. And yes on the family thing. I get far more support from fellow writers on twitter (and long time chums like Mme G!).

Sheryl - thanks! I am so whacked out on pain drugs that right now I can't write anything, or concentrate on reading. Am hoping it'll settle down soon once the bone fixes itself together!
 

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Rachael Lucas said:
I thought as I'm stuck here in bed with a broken ankle and don't seem to have the concentration span to write or read I could do something helpful.

So, I wrote an epic post which detailed the last three months since the release of my book. It had loads of details about how I took a big risk and paid out over £500 on cover design and editing, how I launched it on twitter and through my blog, how after a month I did a free promo and got 25,000 downloads and no1. in the Kindle chart, how it went into the Amazon paid top 10 and how I ended up signing with an agent and it's now over 80,000 downloads. And then the forum gremlins ate it (somehow when I hit preview I got logged out and whoomph, it was gone).

So that's the very short version above. If anyone wants to ask any questions, I'd be more than happy to help. Just make sure you're logged in before you hit send. ;)
Click to expand...

Good morning, Rachael. So sorry to hear about your poor ankle. And also sorry we didn't get to read the epic version of your journey thus far. It all sounds so interesting.

That being eaten by the forum gremlins has happened to me several times on longer posts. I've learned to do one of two things if I'm going to do a long post now. #1 Write it in word, then copy and paste it here. Or, #2 After I write it on AW, I copy it, then go to preview. Then if it gets chowed down, I can paste it again.

Big congratulations on all the great things happening for you!
 
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Rachael Lucas said:
So, I wrote an epic post which detailed the last three months since the release of my book. It had loads of details about how I took a big risk and paid out over £500 on cover design and editing, how I launched it on twitter and through my blog, how after a month I did a free promo and got 25,000 downloads and no1. in the Kindle chart, how it went into the Amazon paid top 10 and how I ended up signing with an agent and it's now over 80,000 downloads. And then the forum gremlins ate it (somehow when I hit preview I got logged out and whoomph, it was gone).

So that's the very short version above. If anyone wants to ask any questions, I'd be more than happy to help. Just make sure you're logged in before you hit send. ;)
Click to expand...

Oh dear, sorry to hear that, it sounds like that would be an interesting story to hear!

P.s My fail-proof plan is to copy my posts before I hit send/preview. The whole loosing the text due to not being logged in has happened to me occasionally on different boards/forums. Though sometimes pressing the back button saves it all.
 
Laer Carroll

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Rachael Lucas said:
I wrote an epic post which detailed the last three months since the release of my book. ... then the forum gremlins ate it (somehow when I hit preview I got logged out and whoomph, it was gone).
Click to expand...

I got bit by the same gremlins long ago. That’s why I ALWAYS WRITE OFFLINE and then cut-and-paste to post.
 
Norman D Gutter

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Hi Rachael:

Welcome to AW, and to the SP forum. You've had an impressive start. Keep up the good work, and may you have many sales.

NDG
 
RLMcKeown

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Sorry about your ankle and the gremlins, but I'm glad you're here! Congratulations on your success--I can't wait to hear more!
 
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Hi Rachael,

It's great to hear such encouraging news, I hope your star keeps rising. I hope the pain-killers are working too :D

Best of luck.
 
Rachael Lucas

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Hi all! Thanks for the welcome. The latest news: a young actress emailed, asking if I would mind if she used a couple of pieces from my book for her showreel. She has fallen in love with the lead character and I'm really excited because she looks *just* how I imagined her! She's gathering together a little film crew and hoping to sort something out soon. :)
 
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Just stopping by to say thanks for posting your experience--it gives the rest of us just a little bit more reason to keep writing. And I hope you're feeling better.
 
Rachael Lucas

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Thank you! It's been a very unexpected experience, all of this. I'm off to the hospital today to see if I need to have an operation on the ankle or just carry on with more bed rest. The good news is now I'm off the strong painkillers I'm going to be able to start writing again. I'm mid-chapter on the next book and dying to get going!
 
heza

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Oh! Broken ankle! That happened to me a couple of years ago. The immobility is the pits. Is it the right or left one? Even after I could stand on mine, I couldn't drive for months because I couldn't get the big honking boot (right ankle) under the dashboard. Hope you have better luck getting around.

And I hope you don't have to have surgery. :)
 
Rachael Lucas

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Heza - Yes! Immobility is driving me BONKERS. I'm so active normally that having to sit still all the time is making me quite deranged. Luckily I finally feel back to normal and today I'm getting paperwork sorted and paying bills, so soon it'll be time to get writing. I can't ever start writing until about 2pm, which is usually a problem because of the school run. I should be thanking my ankle for this opportunity, really.

Quick update: I finally got paid by Amazon (nobody ever mentions the two month delay, which is torture!) which means I can pay some bills and generally get life slightly more under control. It also means I've EARNED MONEY FROM WRITING MY BOOK :D

In other news, May results are as follows:

12,002 copies sold in the UK (and another 7231 during the free promo days)
346 in US (7026 free downloads)
Handfuls in .ca, .jp, .fr, .it etc.

I am still trying to work out how to make the book sell in the US. I note that I've sold 15 already this month which is, I think, better than I had done on the 3rd of last month. Reviews are all quite good, too, and in fact I've started to get a few of the "I love Brit chick lit" type which is what I was hoping for - that's got to be quite a big market - but I'm still trying to work out what makes a book sell over there. Besides having Lindsay Kelk or Sophie Kinsella fall in love with it, which would help. Ha ha.

I did have a really lovely review on the website of Emma Lee Potter, who has been a Costa awards judge in the past, in which she compares it to an early Jilly Cooper which is pretty much the highest praise I could ask for! So excited about that.

(the review is here: http://www.emmaleepotter.com/blog/friday-book-review-sealed-with-a-kiss-by-rachael-lucas)

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine. I'm still waiting on news of a possible ankle op so I may have spent three weeks in a cast for nothing. Argh.
 

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First off, love the wonderful news about the sales and review Rachael. :) I hope you get many more.

I'm also sorry about your ankle and I hope it won't come to an op. *Crossing fingers for good news on that end too*

I'm a newbie, so your thread (like everyone else's) is such a big help. I have a question, how long did your free promo last? Was it only for a day or did you use all five days?
 
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