Reflections After 3 Years of Self-Publishing

So I was just sitting here thinking about my upcoming writing schedule (ie, the order in which I'm going to write the next few books, when they'll be released, etc.), and it suddenly occurred to me that I had just passed my 3-year self-publishing anniversary. Yep, it's been three years since I launched my scifi/fantasy writing career (some time around end of April/beginning of May - I don't remember exactly), and I have to say it's been a blast.

First of all, readers have been great. They have warmly embraced both me and my books with an enthusiasm that was unexpected but incredibly rewarding, as evidenced by the reception that my most recent release, Coronation, enjoyed:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #257 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Superhero
#1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Superheroes
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Metaphysical & Visionary

Also, other writers have been extraordinarily helpful in terms of sharing their knowledge and experience. For just about any idea that occurs to me on the business side - marketing, using pen names, etc. - there's already another author who's tried it and has a wealth of information to share on the subject.

So, after three years of doing this, what exactly have I learned?  Quite a lot, to be honest - more than I could fit into a single blog post.  That being the case, I'll try to single out a few of the items I felt have been instrumental in my success.


1) Outsource What You Can (or Time is Money)
I'm a writer, so I always figure my focus should be on writing. That said, there really aren't enough hours in the day for me to do all the writing I'd like, so I'd prefer not to spend time doing other tasks that might be writing-related but are really outside my wheelhouse.

Take book covers, for instance.  There are some authors who do their own covers and are quite good at it.  I'm not one of them - a fact that I knew the second I started down this path and one that was never debated.  Moreover, I have no interest in learning this particular skill.  Frankly speaking, time is money, and my time is better spent being an author rather than trying to master the nuances of every skill relating to publishing.

In short, I think it's better to outsource as much as possible: editing, book covers, formatting, etc. Focus on the writing.


2) Write the Book That You Want to Write
When I first started writing, it wasn't with a goal in mind to become rich or famous (not that either of those have happened).  I did it because I had stories to tell and a burning desire to get them out there.  I'm just blessed in that my work resonated with readers and I was able to find an audience.  However, I'd like to think that I'd still be churning out books even if that wasn't the case.

Basically, writing provides a sort of personal fulfillment for me, probably in the same way that a professional athlete gets pleasure out of playing his particular sport.  Sure, it's great to "win," but at the heart of it all is a love for the game that makes you want to be a participant in the sport at any level.  That's the high I get out of writing.

However, to get to that point, I think you have to write the story that you want to write.  I know that a lot of writers are pursuing fame and fortune by trying to write to market - quite often in genres that they don't care for. I would think that has to be exceedingly difficult, akin to working a job you don't like.  I think you need to write the story that's burning a hole in you, even if it doesn't fit the standard categories or tropes.

By way of example, there's my Warden series.  I wanted to write a series about monsters - but not the typical ones that you find in most books (eg, vampires, zombies, etc.).  I wanted to write about creatures that don't get much air time for the most part:  wendigos, lamias, aswangs, blemmyes, revenants, and so on.  From a commercial standpoint, it's been my least successful series.  However, everything's relative; the books have actually sold thousands of copies and are indeed a profitable venture.  More to the point, I got to write the series I wanted to write - the one that I simply had to get out before it ate me alive.

In essence, I think you have to write the story that's eating you up, rather than the one you think is commercially viable. There's nothing that says you can't do both, but I think only one of them is actually a requirement.


3) Pursue all Revenue Streams
I always thought it was odd that some writers completely eschew putting their work in print and only pursue the ebook market.  To me, that's the same as everybody trying to live on Manhattan Island when the entire mainland is in sight and wide open.

Admittedly, most indies tend to sell more ebooks than print copies.  However, it costs almost nothing - nothing! - to make a print version.  And if print only earns you fifty bucks a month, well, that's fifty bucks you didn't have before.  Thus, I've never understood this deliberate stiff-arming of another revenue stream.  (Plus, since I grew up poor, I don't like to simply assume that everyone has access to some type of e-reader.  Therefore, by putting it in print, I'm at least making it possible for a reader to request my book through their local library.)

That said, I've been guilty of this same type of behavior myself.  I've known about audiobooks since I first started, but I've never made any effort to pursue that market.  I just didn't think it was worth the time, effort, or money.  However, it recently occurred to me that - if I'm really going to be in this writing business - then I needed to pursue all potential revenue sources. With that in  mind, I bit the bullet and made my first audiobook for Sensation, the first book in my Kid Sensation series.

The audiobook has been out for close to four weeks now, and I'm excited to report that I seem to have been dead wrong about audio. (And if you let my wife tell it, it's probably the only time I've ever admitted to being wrong about something, or been happy about it.)  Since its release, the audio version has sold almost 200 copies. (You can find the audiobook here.) Now, of course, I want to kick myself for waiting so long to move in this direction, and find myself over-eager to produce audio versions of everything else.


Anyway, those are just a few of the things I've learned after three years of putting my nose to the writing grindstone.  There are, naturally, quite a few other maxims to abide by, but - like so many other industries - this is a field that is constantly expanding and changing.  You have to stay nimble, and be willing to embrace change and accept challenges in order to continue to thrive.

Delusional Authors: They're Out There...

It's hard to sell books. That's a simple truth.  You can do everything right in terms of genre tropes, expectations, etc., and still have a dud. In some cases, it's a true mystery: the author will have a well-written story, a fantastic cover and a killer blurb...and the book won't sell a single copy.  It's a real head-scratcher.

In other instances, however, it's plain as day why the book is struggling: the author will have done a terrible job on all three fronts - cover, blurb, and story - but will marvel at the injustice in the universe when readers fail to fight tooth and nail to purchase copies.  In those instances, the author can come across as somewhat delusional in terms of both their sales expectations and how readers will react to their work.  By way of example:

I have a friend who has written a book. I offered to help them with the self-publishing process since they had never done it before. I also offered to help edit it so that they wouldn't have to pay for that particular service.  When I get the manuscript, it's essentially one huge block of text: no separation of paragraphs, no chapter breaks, no nothing.  I tell them this has to be fixed.  No, no...they'd rather just publish it as it is.  I apply some arm-twisting, and they agree to put in some chapter breaks, separate paragraphs, and so on.

Also, when I first take a look at the manuscript, MS Word opens up a window I've never seen before - one that I didn't even know existed, in fact: 

"This document has too many typographical and grammatical errors to continue showing them all."

Seriously. Once I get over my shock and surprise, I tell them all of this [feces] has to be fixed.  No. no...they'd rather just publish it as it is. I apply some more arm-twisting, and they agree that that these are things that need to be addressed.

As I read the manuscript, I immediately notice that it's incredibly choppy - eg, characters will be talking to each other outside, and then in the very next sentence (not the next paragraph, chapter, or the like - the very next sentence), one of them will be in a restaurant, at the movies, in the can, or something like that, with absolutely no indication of how they got there, when they got there, why they're there, etc.  (And no, this is not SF/fantasy, so there's no teleportation, materializing, and so on.)  I point out the lack of transition in scenes and say that all this [mf'ing feces] has to be fixed.  No, no...they'd rather just publish it as it is.  ("Readers will understand what's happening," they say.) I again apply some arm-twisting, and they agree to address these issues.

Adding fuel to the fire, the story is rife with inconsistencies. For instance, two characters drive to a city in another state that is described as being at least two hours away by car; later, one of the characters states that the drive only took an hour.  There are also a couple of siblings who, at the beginning of the story, are two years apart in age. By the time you get to the last page, the difference in age is seven years. I point out that these (and the many, many other inconsistencies) have to be fixed. No, no...they'd rather publish the story as it is. ("Readers aren't going to care," they say.)  By this time my hands are [eff'ing] gnarled from all the previous arm-twisting, so I invent an arm-twisting machine and put my friend in it and crank it up to high.  They agree to fix the inconsistencies.

I could go on, because the list of poor choices my friend wants to make in terms of publishing this book goes on forever.  (For example, they initially chose a cover for the book that is completely unrelated to the story; in fact, the cover at issue would actually make a reader think the book was related to an entirely different genre.)  They think that the things I've pointed out are much ado about nothing.  My response was that we should publish the book - as is - but under a pen name.  That way, my friend could see the kind of reaction/reviews the book gets and whether the issues I've highlighted are really of concern to readers.  But no, no...if the book gets published, they want their real name on it, regardless of whether it's fit for human consumption.

In short, based on this experience, I've learned that some of us really are delusional.  There are some authors who publish things that really aren't ready for prime time.  They simply believe that the power of their story is so great that readers will overlook glaring errors, but (as we all know) that is simply not true.

More to the point, I think it shows a certain level of disrespect for the reader. Yes, readers are kind, generous, and willing to overlook the occasional fault if the overall product is good. But you can't just shove anything out there and expect readers to flock to it. They deserve better than that, and any author who thinks its okay to offer readers anything less than their best work really is delusional.

Experiences Producing My First Audiobook

For some time now, I've been hearing about the many benefits of creating audio versions of one's books: a chance at greater revenues, reaching a wider audience, etc. Up until now I've avoided doing so - basically because it meant having to learn an entirely new area of indie book-publishing. (What can I say? It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.)

Nevertheless, as I was finishing up the most recent novel in my Kid Sensation series, it occurred to me that I really needed to be pursuing all of my publishing options, including audiobooks.  With that in mind, I set about learning as much as I could about the subject (and believe me, there's a lot to learn).

The 800-pound gorilla in audiobooks appears to be Audio Creation Exchange (ACX), which sells audiobooks on Amazon, iTunes, and Audible and - big surprise - turns out to be owned by Amazon. ACX has done a great job of streamlining the process of publishing audiobooks, creating a platform that connects authors and narrators/producers and allowing them to collaborate quickly, easily and effectively. Still, the process can almost be overwhelming.  

For starters, you have to claim your book and acknowledge that you have the audio rights to it, which is easy enough. Next, you create a title profile describing your book, and also provide a couple of pages to serve as an audition script for potential narrators.  You also have to state how you plan to pay your narrator.  For instance, you can choose to split royalties from the audiobook sales 50/50 with the narrator, or pay them outright and keep all royalties for yourself.  Needless to say, most narrators prefer to be paid upfront.  However, the price of an audiobook per finished hour (pfh) can be upwards of $400 or more. Thus, a 6-hour audiobook could easily run you $2400 if you're paying.  (Of course, some narrators charge as little as $50 pfh or less, so the price of producing one audiobook versus another can vary greatly.)

Describing your book for the title profile is a lot like crafting a blurb. You want something that's going to attract narrators to your project, entice them to work with you.  If everything goes as planned, after you finish the title profile, narrators will start submitting auditions for you to listen to.

I left my title profile up for a week, during which time I received over 50 auditions. 50!!!  (This is where the process truly becomes daunting.)  That was far more than I ever expected to receive; I had been hoping to get 15-20.  It was an embarrassment of riches, to be honest, because almost all of the submissions were quite good. (Yes, I listened to them all.)  At the end of the day, however, I selected a narrator that I thought was right for the project, we negotiated a fair price (I offered to pay upfront), and he went to work.  

Within a few weeks he had completed the project. I then had to listen to the audio files while reading along with the book to make sure everything was okay. Once I was satisfied, I approved the audiobook and it was submitted to ACX quality control. It took them about a week approve the audiobook for (which I'm told is rather fast compared to how long it traditionally takes). And now - voila!  The audiobook of Sensation is available! 

It only went on sale today and no one's purchased a copy yet (you can be the first!), but I'm really happy I took the plunge. I've had a couple of people ask me previously - several this week, in fact -  if/when I was going to release my works as audiobooks. I'm happy to now to be able to comply with that request, and I'm looking forward to turning all my books into audiobooks.

Update on Coronation:  I'm blessed in that the latest Kid Sensation novel had a spectacular debut, as evidenced by the following:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #474 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Superhero
#1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Superheroes
#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Metaphysical & Visionary


Thanks to all my readers for your incredible support!

New Book Release: Coronation (Kid Sensation #5)

It is with great pleasure that I announce that Coronation (Kid Sensation #5) is now available!  It took a little longer than expected in terms of getting it ready, but I will say that Amazon appears to have made the book available in record time. (Seems like it was up within 2 hours or so of me hitting the "publish" button.)

I've never had a book published that swiftly.  Honestly, I didn't expect the book to be up that fast, so they kind of caught me unawares in terms of my marketing. (I was still putting together the message for my mail list, among other things.) 

I'm thinking maybe there's an automated process on weekends - as opposed to human reviewers - so it got published a lot faster.  (Hmmm.  Making a mental note to only publish on weekends in the future...)

Regardless, I'm extremely happy with the speed of the process, as I know that readers have been eagerly anticipating the next book in the series.  I had a lot of fun writing it, so I hope fans will get just as much enjoyment from reading it.

Anyway, no rest for the weary, as they say. On to writing the next book!  (And the next, and the next, and the next...)  My thanks to all my readers for your support.

Author Earnings Sales Rank Chart

At this juncture, most indie authors know about the Author Earnings Report - the brainchild of indie authors Hugh Howey and Data Guy. The reports dive deep into the issue of (drumroll please)...author earnings, and does an excellent job of presenting information on that subject. 

In the February 2016 edition, the downloadable spreadsheets - containing the raw data on which the report was based - appear at the bottom of the report itself. That data contained the following sales rank chart (which I have since incorporated into my Kindle Sales Rank page):

Now, suppose that you, as an author, wanted your book to break into the Top 100 on Amazon. Per the chart above, you'd need to notch 994 sales in a single day (almost 1000 books!) to achieve that. Maintaining said ranking would appear to be much easier, as you'd only need 497 (just under 500) sales per day to keep that spot. 

In short, it appears that selling a particular number of books will help you obtain a certain ranking (say, 1900 to reach #35), but thereafter you only need to sell half that number (950 in our example) in order to stay in that position. (Not that selling 950 books is easy by any stretch of the imagination.) All in all, I think this is a fascinating chart that - if nothing else - gives you something to shoot for. (And my personal philosophy in this situation is that you should aim high...)

Coronation Cover Reveal

I was tempted to post another excerpt from Coronation, but figured that fans might want a different version of a sneak peek.  So, with that in mind, I decided to go ahead and do a cover reveal:

As usual, this cover was done by Isikol (who, in my opinion, has once again done a,great job).  

With respect to publication, I'm still shooting to get it done as soon as possible - hopefully around mid-April.  At the moment, though, I'm struggling to get met my test copy of the print version to load properly. However, I think I've finally figured out what the problem is, so hopefully that will go off without a hitch.

Anyway, I'm excited about this next installment in the series, and I hope readers are looking forward to it as well.

Another Excerpt From Kid Sensation #5

Bowing to requests from readers , here's another excerpt from Coronation (Kid Sensation #5). As always, I have to post a disclaimer that my editor hasn't gotten her hands on this yet, so any typos must be forgiven.


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In retrospect, there was only one truly untoward thing that happened that afternoon, and it occurred just a few minutes after Myshtal apologized. The other three at the table were discussing some trip they had made together in the recent past when I felt something brush against my ankle. 

For a second, I thought it was Nylerin playing footsies. It had become blatantly obvious very early on that Vicra was infatuated with Myshtal, and I picked up on strong romantic undercurrents almost every time he looked at her. To the extent that this could be viewed as a double date, she was with him while Nylerin was paired with me. That was seemingly why she had been flirting with me throughout lunch, giving me sly winks every now and then from across the table, as well as making a few double entendres during the course of the meal. At the moment, however, I wasn’t sensing the same coquettish buzz from her that I typically picked up whenever she batted an eye in my direction. Confused, I casually glanced under the table, and got one of the worst surprises of my life.

There, nuzzling up to my leg, was something that looked like a cross between a tarantula and a penguin – a furry, eight-legged monstrosity with four eyes and a beak. 

My reactions all went on autopilot. I immediately teleported about ten feet away. My vanishing and reappearing so surprised everyone else at the table that all conversation came to an immediate halt, and Myshtal let out a slight gasp. I then telekinetically grabbed the creature that had been under the table and slammed it into the trunk of the tree we’d been sitting under, causing it let out a painful squeal. I then flung it out into the lake.

“Maja!” Nylerin suddenly screamed. A second later she had leaped away from the table and was running towards the lake like there was a man-eating grizzly chasing her.

“What the…?” I muttered as Nylerin went plunging into the water.

By this time, Myshtal and Vicra had stood up as well and had come over to join me in watching Nylerin’s antics, which I still hadn’t figured out.

“Thanks,” Myshtal said, giving me a smile.

“For what?” I asked, clearly confused.

“I hate that gnuglebbin,” she replied, obviously referring to the thing I had tossed into the lake. “But Nylerin insists on taking it everywhere. Maybe next time she’ll leave it at home.”

I blinked, as the truth suddenly became clear. “That thing’s a pet?”

It was,” Vicra said, also without a great deal of sympathy. “Unless by some miracle you didn’t kill it.”