Making a Living Selling 3 Books Per Day

In a previous post, I described books as perpetual motion machines with respect to earnings, because once you publish them - especially ebooks - they have the potential to keep garnering sales forever. Furthermore, it's truly amazing how much (or rather, how little) your books have to accomplish in order to help you be successful financially.

Let's say, for instance, that you consider $50,000/year a comfortable income and would like to earn that from writing. That means you have to earn roughly $137/day from your books.  Using KDP as the standard, if you sell your books for $2.99 you'll earn a 70% royalty (that's $2.093) from each sale.  Thus, you need to sell 65.45 books per day to get to that $50K you want.

Now, if you only publish one book, 65 copies per day is probably a lot to ask of a single tome. Moreover, even if it does come out swinging and can hit that target initially, it may not be able to sustain that pace. However, if you publish two books, each only has to average 32.7 copies. Still a high hurdle, but a lot better than 65 for one novel.

Going a step further, imagine that you have 10 books published. At this juncture, your daily sales need only average a much more manageable 6.5 copies per book.  And if you have 20 books out? The average number of sales you'll need per day for each book drops down to 3.27 - just a little over 3 books per day!

Selling books, however, is not a particularly easy chore, and I don't mean to make it sound as though it is. The entire process - from writing a novel to finally hitting the publish button - is an extremely challenging endeavor, and it only gets tougher as you try to find an audience for your work. In addition, publishing 10 or 20 books is likely to take a bit of time. It's not something you can do overnight. 

Still, as the number of books in your backlog increases, the workload that each has to bear in terms of sales decreases. This, to me, is one of the essentials that indies must grasp: volume matters, and I think the odds favor someone who can get more of their product out into the marketplace. 

Of course, I'm not saying that you should churn out trash just to ramp up the number of books you have for sale.   Instead, my point was to show that you don't necessarily have to be at the top of the best seller list (or even on a best seller list) to earn a comfortable living from being an author. Once you get enough books out there, just averaging a couple of sales per day for each one will do wonders. 

So, depending on what your goals are, if your books are selling something like 3 copies per day each, you may be well on your way to earning a good living from your writing. (Moreover, while it may not be easy, obtaining that level of sales is something that is certainly achievable.) You may never be a household name with that sales volume, but your own household is likely to be well taken care of - and you really can't ask for more than that.

Bookonomics 101: The 7-Day Work Week

Last night I called my parents and gave them a gentle reminder that I had released a new book. My Mom was excited, as always (and promised to tell all her friends to look me up), but when she put my Dad on the phone, the old man got down to brass tacks almost immediately.

"How many are you selling these days?" he asked.

I told him.

"And at what price?"
I told him the price ranges of my books, what the average roughly was (based on current sales), and the royalty rate. He did some quick math, and said, "So you're making about $_____ per week."

"To be honest," I said, "it's a little more, since I actually sell seven days per week."

My Dad laughed at that. He had actually calculated his estimate of what I was earning based on a 5-day work week - as if my books were only available Monday-Friday. I had to remind him that my books are actually out there hustling seven days a week (not to mention 24 hours per day). Which is really kind of amazing when you think about it.

Basically, as an author, you write a book and then put it out there for sale. At that juncture, your book is available all day, every day. For all time. It's a literary perpetual motion machine, requiring no more input of energy or effort on your part.

Moreover, it's passive income. You did all the heavy lifting on the front end in terms of writing; now, everything you're earning comes from that initial creative endeavor. 

Frankly speaking, I've tried other ways of earning passive income from writing (like posting articles at sites like Squidoo and Hubpages) but outside factors - e.g., Google's constant algorithm changes - essentially cut me off at the knees every time I would start gaining traction. It occurred to me then that, rather than post hundreds or thousands of articles (many of which required in-depth research), I could follow an earlier dream and put that same energy into writing novels. 

Needless to say, I'm glad I did. Not only does it appear that my work has found an enthusiastic and supportive audience, but I'm doing the type of writing I always wanted to do. And, while I still have to deal with algorithm changes from platforms like Amazon, I'm finding far more success with novels than I ever did with articles.

In short, my books are out there working tirelessly for me around the clock. Of course, it helps if I give them an occasional boost through marketing, but the truth of the matter is they are going to continue charging relentlessly and non-stop out into the world, working every hour of the day, seven days a week, for my benefit. In truth, that's more than most of us do for the day job - in fact, we'd probably quit if our boss demanded it of us - so I feel quite blessed to be the benficiary of any progress on their part.

Pacing Yourself As A Writer

When I published the first Warden and Sensation novels around May of 2013, I was more than a little nervous. I really didn't know what to expect and was completely unsure of the reception my books would receive. Fortunately, audiences seemed to like my work (which was very encouraging, to say the least), and I was blessed to have a moderate amount of success early on. Moreover, that success continued through the release of additional books - six in all - through the end of 2013.

In retrospect, releasing 6 books (3 novels, 2 novellas and one short story) over an 8-month span sounds fairly productive on the surface. However, I can't help but notice that it's taking me longer and longer to write books. Prior to releasing Infiltration in late December, my previous release was the second book in the Warden series in early October. That's almost three months between releases. For me, that's just way too long.

Of course, I'm not saying that every author has to crank out a new book every four weeks or anything like that. In fact, there are people who will only put out one or two per year and that will be plenty for them. For me personally, however, a new book every three months will probably mean that I'll never get to tell all the stories that I want to, and I guess that's what it's really about. I feel like a-book-a-quarter won't let me get out all of the novels that are runing around in my head.

Bearing all that in mind, I think it's important to establish a pace as an author. Whether you define that as writing 1000 words per day, typing 60 words per minute, or something else, I think it's vital to your success to find a consistent approach to writing. In fact, it's probably less about pace and more about routine. Writing needs to be an ingrained pattern, like waking up at the same time every day, always having your morning cup of joe, etc. It needs to become a habit, whereby you are unfulfilled if you don't do it on a daily basis.

Needless to say, there will be barriers to establishing a routine. A day job can often play havoc with your schedule, as will other personal and professional issues (illness, work-related travel, etc.). However, if you are trying to establish writing as your career, you will have to treat it like a business and prioritze it in such a way that - despite almost anything else going on in your life - it still gets done.

In essence, if being an author is your dream, you have to find a way to make it come true - which may require extra effort on your part. Maybe you need to get up an hour earlier and go to bed an hour later. Maybe you need to invest in a laptop. Maybe you need to type on your lunch break. Whatever it is, you need to figure out what's going to work for you and allow you to operate at a pace and within a routine that will encourages you to be as efficient as possible.

This Is How You Become Great...

...You hang your balls out there.

For those who don't recognize it, that's a near-quote from the Tom Cruise movie Jerry Maguire. (The actual quote is "That's how you become great, man. Hang your balls out there.") Of course, the movie is best known for the catchphrase "Show me the money!" but it's this lesser-known line that has always resonated with me.  It's uttered in a scene when Jerry is picking up copies of this manifesto that he's written from the copier, and the guy who works there has seemingly read it and is singularly impressed:

For me, that line has always meant that in order to reach your full potential, you have to risk failure - and often a huge, embarrassingly public failure at that.  But let's face it: there's risk inherent in almost everything that we do. You want to play basketball for your school? Then you have to go out for the team and risk being cut. You want to be a lawyer? Then you may have to take on mind-boggling debt to make it happen, knowing it might take you decades to pay it back. You want a beautiful wife? Then you've got to have the stones to ask her out in the first place and possibly get rejected.

In short, very few of us are going to be able to play it safe and get everything we want out of life. It simply doesn't work that way. It's certainly true in terms of writing. After you finish writing something, you have to be willing to put it out there - let the world see it, smell it, critique it, etc. Lots of people will probably call it awful. Some will say they hate it. Others will say they had to finish reading it at gunpoint.

But guess what? Someone will say they liked it. A few people may even say they loved it. And at that point you'll be grateful that you didn't let fear of failure (and the accompanying risks) keep you from personal and professional fulfillment - or at least striving for them.

In the old days, they would say, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." You've got to be willing to let it all hang out there if you're going to get where you want to be (or anywhere at all, in some instances). No one's saying it's going to be easy, but few things that are worthwhile in life are.

In retrospect, don't be afraid to take risks, accept the challenge, or run the risk of failure, because that's how you become great...

New Book Release: Infiltration (Kid Sensation #3)

At long last, Infiltration: A Kid Sensation Novel (Kid Sensation #3) has been released! (As usual, I released both a paperback and ebook version.)

This is, obviously, the third book in the series and has been the one that has taken me the longest time to complete. I had originally planned to have this one done months ago, but life got in the way. As the old saying goes, "If you want to make GOD laugh, tell him all about your plans..."

Truth be told, I had a lot of things going on personally and professionally that made it difficult to get this one done. At times it felt like I would never get it completed.  Thankfully, that was not the case, and hopefully fans will enjoy this installation in the series.

As has become the norm for me, I once again neglected to do almost anything to give anyone a heads-up that the book was coming out (other than state in a comment on this blog that the book would be released before year's end - and I barely made the cut). I keep telling myself that I'm going to start doing a cover reveal (or something of that nature), but usually by the time I get the artwork it's essentailly time to publish, and I'd feel silly revealing the cover one day and then using it again in a blog post a day or so later.

Speaking of the artwork, the cover was once again done by Isikol. He really is a great artist, and every time I see his work I'm thankful that our paths crossed. 

Finally, for those interested in such things, I need to point out that the print version of the book is 301 pages. For some reason, KDP always shows the initial page count on the ebook edition as being significantly less than what it actually is. (It's showing 219 pages for the ebook edition at the moment.) They eventually correct it, but in the interim someone usually points out to me the discrepancy in length, so this time I just decided to address the issue head-on.

Other than that, I just want to say thanks once again to everyone for their support, and I hope you like the book.

Bad Books, And Why They're Good For You

Recently, I was drawn into a discussion about bad books and the policy that some people have of returning them. Personally, I've bought thousands of books over the years and never returned a single one. Moreover, even when a book is absolutely horrid, I generally make it a point to slog my way through to the end once I've started.  (There are maybe three books that were so bad that I couldn't finish them, but in each of those instances at least part of the reason for my failure to finish was that they were actually library books that were [thankfully] due back.) From my perspective, the bad ones that I own add to the diversity of my collection. However, the more I think about it, the more it occurs to me that reading bad books can actually be good for you from the standpoint of being a writer.

First of all, books can be bad in a lot of ways. From cover art to editing to plot development, there are a million ways for the written word to leave a terrible taste in your mouth.  That said, I think that reading awful books can be a learning experience, because there's a lot they can teach you. For instance, a book with a bunch of typos will probably cause you to associate the author's name with crap. Assuming you don't want the same type of reputation with respect to your own work, reading such a book will teach you to never settle in terms of your own writing; you'll realize the value - and necessity - of proper editing. It's sort of a bookish version of Scared Straight:

  

In short, there are some places that you just don't want to go with respect to being an author, and reading bad books will firm up for you many of the things you definitely do not want when it comes to your own writing, whether it be bad storylines, underdeveloped characters, what have you.   

In addition, reading terrible books can be help you by being an inspiration, after a fashion. Have you ever been to a movie and left the theater thinking, "Egads, what a crappy film! I could have made a better movie than that - and for less money!"

Bad books can provide that same emotional spark. If some hack can get a traditional publishing deal and sell a bunch of books that are basically crap, surely you can eek out an existence as a writer of quality material, right? (It may not necessarily work out that way, but we're talking inspiration here - something to keep you motivated and enthused while writing - not the end result.)  Thus, every time you start to doubt, you can look at that awful book and - knowing that you can do better - feel encouraged.

In essence, I see reading bad books as a character-building exercise, the literary equivalent of having to eat your veggies.  I'm not necessarily saying that you have to go out there and actively seek out bad books - one or two (quite likely more, if I'm being honest) will eventually cross your path in the grand scheme of things - but don't just toss them aside as if they have absolutely nothing to offer. 

They say that experience is the best teacher, that you learn best from your own mistakes. However, I say that the best student is the one who can learn from the mistakes of others. Learn from the bad books around you; they can help make you a better writer.

Continuing Your Education As A Writer

A few years ago, the New Orleans Saints won their first Super Bowl in dramatic fashion. Although leading the Indianapolis Colts 24-17 with roughly three minutes left in the game, victory was by no means assured. The Colts were marching relentlessly down the field under the leadership of future Hall of Fame QB Peyton Manning, and looked on the verge of tying the score. Then this happened:

In essence, Saints cornerback Tracy Porter intercepted a pass from Manning and ran it all the way back for a score which sealed the victory. Porter later credited his pick of Manning's pass to intense study of game film; he'd seen the play the Colts were trying to run over and over again on film, and when they did it during the Super Bowl he was ready for it. In short, he put in the effort to study his craft, and now he has a Super Bowl ring to show for it.

In a similar vein, writers need to study their craft. In my opinion, that means continuing to read lots and lots of books. Personally, this is one of the more difficult aspects of my being a writer; every second that I spend reading a book is time that I could actually spend writing something. However, there's value in continuing my education as an author by stepping away from the keyboard every now and then and opening a book.

The idea of ongoing or continuing education in a chosen field isn't new. In fact, it's fairly common in certain professions. Doctors, for instance, are required to have Continuing Medical Education (CME). Likewise, lawyers must regularly obtain a certain amount of Continuing Legal Education (CLE). The idea, of course, is that continuing your education will increase your competence and make your more knowledgeable in your field of expertise.

Thus, while not formal or required, continuing your writing education (CWE?) is something you should give serious attention to. You're not likely to win a Super Bowl ring, but maybe becoming more proficient in your craft will help you win new fans. (And as far as I'm concerned, getting new fans is a Super Bowl in and of itself.)