Okay, so I haven't posted for a while - been waiting for something momentous to talk about. It was supposed to be completion of the next book (Kid Sensation #6), but I haven't been able to wrap it up yet, despite my best intentions. And then this happened this morning:
That's 10,003 audiobooks sold. Obviously not a bad way to start the day. Of course, I knew it was coming, and had been watching for a couple of days to see when I'd go over the 10K mark. Needless to say, there are others who have done a lot better than me, but I feel blessed to have cleared that hurdle just a little more than 2 years after getting into audio.
The weird thing about it is that, initially, I didn't even think about making audio versions of my books (and it was years before I actually did). Now, of course, I'm incredibly thankful that I took the plunge. (That's me taking my own advice - as stated in another post on this blog - and deciding to pursue all possible revenue streams.) The goal at this juncture is to get audio versions of all my work, but I'd really like for Kid Sensation #6 to be the next audiobook so I've held back on getting any more done.
For those interested, I will say that getting to 10,000 audiobooks was much more of a chore than doing so with ebooks. For starters, there are few avenues for marketing audiobooks, so promotion opportuities are limited. (If you're lucky, maybe you'll have a book selected as the Audible Deal of the Day. Hasn't happened to me yet, but I keep hoping.) I did get a book selected for a different Audible promotion last fall (Warden: Book 1), and it helped me move a few hundred copies. For the most part, however, it's been difficult finding a way to get audiobooks in front of the right audience. That being the case, I count myself fortunate to have obtained this level of sales.
As always, I'm grateful to readers (and now listeners!) for their support. If you don't yet have an Audible account, you can get a free trial (and a free copy of one of my audiobooks) by clicking on any of the relevant links on my Books Page. And for those waiting on KS6, I'm working on it and will try to get it out as soon as possible.
I read all of you books as soon as they come out. I get the audio versions of KS fairly soon after they are released but there's not as big of a rush to get them. That being said I usually do a listen through of KS every month or two your book s being some of the few i can stand reading or listening to multiple times.
ReplyDeleteThanks. That's incredibly high praise and I appreciate the compliment.
ReplyDeleteWhat about that new series you mentioned in the last post comments could we see that now?
ReplyDeleteIt's actually a couple of new series, but I'm not sure yet whether to stamp them as Kevin Hardman or publish them under a pen name. Of course, if I put an excerpt here that's pretty much a giveaway. Anyway, I'll shift through the manuscripts and post something in short order.
DeleteIn this new environment of getting less per book or other item you sell, what level do you need to reach to dump the day job?
ReplyDeleteA few KS questions:
1) his new power in book 1 does not seem to have made an appearance in other books. For example, giving him dream warnings about the time traveler or meta gene virus. Will it return, or have I just missed it
2) Smokescreen’s powers were greatly enhanced by the virus. Jim got a much higher dose. Why weren’t his powers enhanced even more? For example, he avoids telepathy but why can’t he sense people’s thoughts from greater distance or why isn’t he now the fastest metahuman? I guess you could say he cured himself
3) why doesn’t his grandmother communicate with his grandfather since they likely have the technology to do so. Especially after decades.
4) can’t wait to see what new powers Jim gets, under what circumstances he can use his healing power, how the triple girl issue plays out
5) when Jim gets superdense, shouldn’t he have super strength and be impervious to harm, the one power he so misses?
Your question about the day job is a good one, but the answer is a function of a combination of variables. It's not just a level-of-income question; it also involves preparation and planning. For instance, I believe that quitting your day job to become an author requires some degree of savings in case you hit a few rough spots during your publishing career. You'll also have to pay for your own insurance. There are also other obligations, like college if you have kids. (My oldest daughter - who hasn't even graduated high school - recently asked me if, in addition to college, I'd also pay for grad school.) In short, it's an algorithmic combination of what-are-your-earnings, what-are-your-savings, and what's-your-spend-projected-to-be. For me, it's not really about having a specific number in mind; it's about reaching that level where I'm comfortable enough with the decision that I'll be able to focus on writing and not worrying that I'd made a mistake or left too soon. In essence, it's one of those things whereby you just know when you know.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'm confident I could be much more prolific if I left the day job. I wrote the first Kid Sensation book in about 3 weeks (and that included setbacks, such as when I lost an entire chapter when the file failed to save); I wrote the first Warden book in about 1 week. I wrote 6 books during that first 9-month publishing period. Basically, I can write pretty fast - that hasn't changed. I also have plenty of ideas for books (eg, Kid Sensation #7 already has the working title "Incarnation," while Kid Sensation #8 is "Isolation." Warden #4 is, of course, in the works, as is Fringe Worlds #3 - not to mention a bunch of other books.) The problem now - as I always say - is simply finding the time to write, because the day job has become far more demanding in that regard than it's been in the past. (Of course, if I dump the day job, that problem sorts itself out, but that brings us back to the question of when is the appropriate time to leave.) As to your other questions:
1) Basically, as shown in Book 1, Jim can't distinguish between that power and actual dreams. Thus, it's a sure bet that the power is still active, but Jim has decided that it's not worth his time to run down each of them to see if they have a basis in reality.
2) The virus in Book 2 was a controlled mechanism, and Jim already had it out of his system when the decision was made to fully activate it (which is what seemed to rachet up everyone else's powers).
3) Indigo was basically under house arrest, and not only were her movements restricted and monitored, but apparently also her communications. She was forbidden to return to Earth, and I'd argue that the same applied to contacting people there. More to the point, it was pretty clear that reaching out to her family on Earth would have put them in danger, and she woud have avoided that at all costs.
4) Hopefully readers will find it interesting.
5) I don't think he's been superdense on many occasions, and he already has abilities that allow him to mimic super strength (eg, if he hits a baseball with a bat at superspeed, it will go a mile). However, what Jim wants is super stregth in what might be called his "resting state" - without having to turn anything "on," so to speak.
So basically #1 was a plot device and nothing else is that what your saying.
DeleteOuch! That hurts...
DeleteYeah I don't see it as a plot device. A lot of super heroes has various powers and don't use them because they choose not or can't. Example Jessica Jones can fly but you dont see her doing it cuz she sucks at the landing part. So she just does big hops sometimes.
DeleteI think is the same with Jim. He can't distinguish what's a real precognition dream or when he's simply dreaming of idk kissing Electra. So if he encounters a situation where he's living something he dreams he will treated like we all do with a sense of déjà vu. Which is what happened in book 1 he didn't know the dreams were real until he saw Mouse's lab.
Yea but now he does know that it might not be a dream so if he does start living it he should immediately realize what's happening you know like when a certain mad doctor let's out a hero killing virus or when a bunch of virus aliens threaten to blow up the world or when a alien noble decides to try to kill you because your a threat to him getting the throne what I'm trying to say is all these life threatening things happen and not a single peep from his precognition ability that kinda leads me to believe the power was only created as an excuse to have a good reason to know about the bad guys plans in the first book and that's it.
DeleteBut that's on the premise that he dreamt about it. What if he didn't. And not only that look at it from these two points of view.
Delete1)A super power is like a muscle if you use it then it gets stronger and you're more familiar with how it works. Like when Jim told the speedster love puppy kid. Don't worry you're young you'll get faster and that you're only power is speed.
Jim has so many powers he needs to develop and focus on he might forget and ignore the fact that he has precognitive dreams. And if you go a long time without using your powers they get atrophy and stop working. He is still a kid so he has a lot on his mind. It has been shown that he forgets to use the powers he constantly uses like with Gorgon. And that's with powers he uses daily.
2) The other point is screen time...page time whatever you get my point. Jim has so many powers it's probably a hard choice for KH to choose which ones he would feature in any given book and it's natural that if the person who has the power doesn't think much of it that power gets less page time. I mean what would you prefer couple of scenes or chapters of Jim mumbling about a dream he had and didn't pan out or wasting the AL resources on missions than Jim zipping around Mouse's lab driving him up a wall or pulling pranks on his uncle. (I really want to see him pranking Megaton)
Btw just an after thought. We really need a fb group or something these discussions are fun.
I do enjoy reading them
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DeleteOk I think your second point is valid but I just feel like not seeing it at all when jim is in far more dangerous situations means it was a one off thing to get the story moving along that's how I feel about it.
DeleteAlso ps personally I won't join any dba groups I have to many nosey relatives who give me grief over anything they don't approve of.
Delete*fb groups stupid auto correct what does dba even mean?
DeleteDBA? Dodgeball Association? Dragon Bell Alumni? Dance Barcelona Ahora? I could go on lol.
DeleteNow seriously. Noisy relatives are hard to deal with. I recommend extra spicy tacos.
Back to Jim, just take it one day at time. Dude still in puberty and he might get or lose powers because of it. That actually might be a fun concept. Once puberty ends loosing a power because it was only active during the hormonal surge of puberty.once the surge is over power goes dormant.
Have you ever thought about patreon? May be a good balance of releasing teasers like the ones you do and get some support for all of your projects.
DeleteI know that DBA in a business context usually means "Doing Business As." It's what people use to register a business name without going through the formality of setting up a corporation or other business entity. So, if I were a plumber, I could be "Kevin Hardman dba AAA Plumbing."
DeleteI know about Patreon, but to be honest my books earn enough to fund themselves. Or are you saying use Patreon as a way to quit the day job and write full time? Hmmm...I hadn't really considered that. They pay me pretty well and I actually like what I do - I'm just swamped at the moment. That said, I'm trying to think how I'd go about setting it up and how I'd reward patrons. Naturally there would be early access to the books - probably on a chapter-by-chapter basis. Maybe access to stuff published under pen names for those who support me at a higher level. However, if we're talking about replacing income/benefits from the day job, the amount I'd have to set as a goal might be a turnoff to potential patrons. But maybe we'll try it and see...
You may be surprised at how much you can earn from patreon. I know other authors who do web serials that earn quite a bit around 5k a month. Now not that I know what your current salary is so I dont know how it would compare. Also web serials lend to having more patrons stay longer as they pretty much go on forever if planned in such a way. There may be an opportunity there.
DeleteIn all honesty, I'd need 4x that amount. That's the real number if we're talking about something like leaving the day job tomorrow and writing full-time (as opposed to what I mentioned above about accumulating savings to cover any shortfall, etc.). Just seeing it on paper, though, makes me think people will look at it and be turned off, without realizing that it's not some kind of windfall for me.
DeleteYeah lol havent seen anything on patreon that high but I'd be down to support it if you start. Love to get more content and support authors.
DeleteThanks, I appreciate that. Assuming there are others who feel like you do, maybe I'll look into setting something up there.
DeleteI think there would be definite drawbacks to Jim increasing his density. If I remember correctly it seems more like he gains mass rather than just becoming more compact (i.e. stays roughly the same size instead of shrinking like Antman), so he would also be getting a lot heavier right? There would be a ton of day to day situations where weighing 1000 lbs (or whatever we could assume "superdense" would take us to) would be a drawback. Like trying to ride in a car or elevator, using furniture etc. I agree that if he could still move at superspeed while superdense it would be awesomely powerful... it does seem like something Jim would have thought of/worked into his fighting technique. Day to day it seems like as hassle to keep on all the time so at best it would only be super strength in specialized situations rather than constantly or without thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely love to see more tricks and techniques though :) Especially more about how Jim is apparently super intelligent? It would be cool to see that angle more, especially if he is on the same level as Mouse who is such a great character. Scenes with Jim and Mouse are probably my favourite parts of the books.
Death to waffles. Viva la pancakes.
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