Sunday, December 28, 2014

Self-Publishing: What I've learned,and what I'll do different next time.


In the beginning of November a friend emailed me, asking if I had a holiday story to promote. I responded with a negative. My one holiday short story was no longer available because the publisher had gone out of business.

And then it occurred to me...I had an edited, formatted version of The Santa Drag sitting on my thumb drive, and I owned the rights. What if I found an image on Shutterstock to use as cover art? I could just put it up on Amazon and see what happened.

I chose an image, cropped it, and added text, and by noon that day, the story was live.

There were a couple reasons I only published it on Amazon. I've read that most authors find that's where the majority of their sales come from, so I didn't think I'd lose a lot by skipping other outlets for this trial. Also, I was already too late to send the story out to big review sites - and wasn't sure they'd take a 6000 word short story - and didn't want to waist more time figuring out the formatting. The process was incredibly easy, even though I had a couple false-starts with the cover art and back matter.

The official publication date was 11/10/14, and since then 500 -550 copies have been downloaded, between purchased copies, free promotions, and the review service I use. Seventeen reviews were posted to Amazon since then, and 13 reviews/16 ratings were added to Goodreads. I spent about $125 on the cover art and different promotional strategies, and I've had huge and gratifying support from authors I'm friends with. They've hosted me on their blogs, shared my posts on Facebook, and been generous with their twitter energy. Because the majority of the downloads happened during the free periods, I'm not close to breaking even on the money I spent, but I figure there are 500 people out there with the opportunity to read my work who wouldn't have otherwise seen it.

Hard to quantify the benefit of that, but I hope it's a good thing.

So what have I learned through this process?
#1 I like having control. I enjoyed choosing and making the cover art, and I really like being able to see my sales and KU downloads in real time.
#2 I have some really good friends, and I've appreciated their support over the last couple months.
#3 Between MFRW, Debra at The Book Enthusiast, and Mark Lee at The Masquerade Crew, I have a few tools for promotion that worked and that I'll use again.

     I'm going to drill down a little deeper here, because these are some great resources and I firmly believe in sharing what I know in the hopes it'll help someone else. MFRW stands for Marketing for Romance Writers. Founded by Kayelle Allen, the group's focus is on learning marketing and publicity. There's a Yahoo group, a blog, a twitter feed, and a Facebook page where members can interact. I've found the Yahoo group especially useful for connecting with people who are looking for guest bloggers, as well as people who are looking for blog openings. In addition there are some great educational resources, along with a healthy helping of support. You can contact the group for membership, and if you're a published/pre-published author, you're in.

     The Book Enthusiast is a book promotional service. Debra organizes cover reveals, blog tours, Facebook takeovers, and a variety of other packages. Her rates are competitive, and whenever I've worked with her she's been unfailingly professional, organized, and friendly. My favorite part is her book review library. For a fee, you can list your book with her, and her readers (she's got about 300 on her review group FB page) can request a free copy in return for Amazon and Goodreads reviews. The Santa Drag is the second book I've listed with her review service, and while I guess you could argue that I'm paying for reviews, I look at it as paying her to promote my work, with book reviews as a byproduct. I also believe I'm building relationships with her readers, which will help me in the long run.

     The Masquerade Crew is a blog, a promotion service, and a twitter army - and I'm not even joking. I haven't worked with them much, but to promote my free download days the weekend after Thanksgiving, I arranged for their Basic Package. That got me a post on their blog and a twitter barrage that easily hit triple digits. (Their promotional material claim they'll send out 500 tweets. I'm not sure I got that many - I tried to 'favorite' every one - but I was pretty much blown away by the number I saw.) That first weekend saw the bulk of the free downloads, and I'm sure I wouldn't have had nearly so many without this service.

So what will I do differently?
#1 I'll make use of the Masquerade Crew's twitter army, probably more than once, but organize my own blog tour. While I don't have access to the biggest blogs, I know enough people to put something together.
#2 I'll do more planning, both so I can learn formatting and publish with a variety of outlets, and so I can submit my work to review sites in advance of publication.
#3 I'm signed up for a class in GIMP, so I'll actually know what I'm doing when I make my own cover art.

The next couple projects I have in mind for publication have both appeared in anthologies, and neither is currently available. I want to repeat the process a couple times, to really work out the kinks, because I'm thinking about self-publishing Hell...The Story, my ABNA quarterfinal novel. Self publishing Hell would mean I'd need to hire a developmental editor and a line editor. I'd need to figure out the formatting thing, along with how to apply for a copyright and a myriad of other little details. I need to get a better handle on the up-front costs, but if things work out, I just might pull the trigger.

I'm enough of a realist to see that, while it was fun to be the #1 free download in Amazon's teen/YA category the weekend after Thanksgiving, I'll need to actually sell some copies to make the self-publishing venture worthwhile. I expect my budget to be between $1000 and $2000, and I'll need a business plan before I start. I'll also need a big scoop of luck.

But you know what? I've always been a bit of a gambler...
Peace,
Liv

Have you tried self-publishing, or are you still on the fence? What's worked for you? What hasn't worked? Share your experiences so we can learn from each other.

24 comments:

  1. Wonderful post, Liv. It sounds like it was a lot of work, but was worth it. Thanks for the info links.

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  2. That's great, Liv. I'm a member of MFRW but so far had not utilized their services. I'll check out the other two you mentioned. I'd love to venture into self publishing world, but seems like a lot of work and I simply don't have the time. However, I am planning to wet my toes with my next story.

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  3. I'm going indie next year, which coincides with the 25h Anniversary of Desert Storm. I have a book written on my experiences there and a contemporary fantasy novel. I'm working on a mystery and want to do 10 books by the end of the year. I might not get that high but if I get half of that, I'll be happy. Quantity gets sales, and I have an inventory of short stories I can also release.

    By the way, you can do the cover art much cheaper than $125. I think my first two might cost me about under $10. There was a CyberMonday sale where I could purchase credits for half off, so I bought 120 credits for about $60. Then I try to find one image that will work for the book, rather than blending together two (not just cost, but two means more graphic work for me). But I also knew I was going to making a lot of covers, I was willing to buy the bulk purchase for the credits.

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  4. Nana - It might be a bit more work than going through an ebook publisher - at least getting things ready to publish - but promo is promo. Your PM yesterday was part of my inspiration for this post, so I hope you find the info useful.
    ;)

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  5. Zrinka - that's great! I hope you find the experience as satisfying as I have.
    ;)

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  6. Linda,
    I'm awed by your ambition! Seriously, even five books in a year would lay me out. I wish you all the best in meeting your goal.
    Re: the cover art...I only spent $15. The rest of the money went toward the Masquerade Crew promo, a couple book blasts and the review library from the Book Enthusiast, a few gift copies I sent to people, and $10 to Vistaprint for postcard versions of the cover art & a few stickers for my business cards. I kept a simple spreadsheet so I'd know where the money was going, and will also record royalty payments when they come in. Thanks so much!

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  7. Well, you've been sitting in the sidecar for most of my self-pub journey :) I've learned quite a bit, but I feel there's a ton of information I don't know - and I don't know where to look for it, because I can't quite articulate what it is I'm missing. I highly, HIGHLY recommend joining Marie Force's Self-Publishing Info Swap Yahoo loop (I think that's the official name). It's got some heavy hitters on it - Marie Force, Courtney Milan, Anthea Lawson, and some names that are big in publishing but just starting out in indie (Nalini Singh and Lorelie James, to name a couple). There are also a number of authors who AREN'T romance writers, too, so there's a little something for everyone. And there's also the Indie Romance Ink loop, for indie romance authors. Plus Google. I use Google a lot :)

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  8. I'm saving this post for future reference. Looking to self pub this year and can use all the help I can get. :) Thanks for sharing your virgin experience with us. :D

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  9. I didn't know about any of the services you list so thanks for the tips. I always love to read people's self-pub stories so thanks for sharing. I have a children's Christmas story that I'm going to self-publish next year so I'll be watching your efforts closely.

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  10. Yeah, Amanda, I've been thinking about joining that loop, because you're right, I've been watching what you do and trying to learn from it. Joining the loop will be one of my New Year's resolutions. Thanks for the prompt...
    ;)

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  11. Prolly my only virgin experience you'll ever get to read about in a blog post, Jennifer...
    lolol
    Thanks!

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  12. For sure, Tessa. I'm happy to share as I go. Check out Amanda's comment about the Yahoo loops, and if you're interested, let me know and I'll post the info about the GIMP class I"m taking.
    ;)

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  13. Excellent post on self publishing. I went that route the first time and loved it. I used CreateSpace (Amazon) who set up a team for me. They were amazing. Now I'm with a couple of traditional publishers. There's a lot to be said for having all the control. I knew nothing when I went with Amazon.I'm seriously thinking about switching back to self publishing.

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  14. Great post, Liv, thanks for sharing not only your experience, but these sites. I have been a member of MFRW for years, but haven't been utilizing them. I also follow Masquerade Crew on twitter. They follow me too and often retweet my stuff and The Book Nook authors.
    My plan is to go the SP route in 2015. Your estimated budget is about what I'm expecting, so glad to know I'm on target. Looking forward to sharing my GIMP obsession with you!

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  15. Thanks for this post, Liv. I'll be dipping a pinky toe into the SP pool in 2015 with a group project, so I'm on the prowl for what is working.

    BTW - I loved The Santa Drag!

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  16. Tierney - In a perfect world, I'd have projects that I self-publish and others that come through traditional publishing. I've only used CreateSpace for the ABNA last spring, but it might be the way to go when/if I move forward with Hell. The projects I've got lined up for self-publishing this winter & spring are too short for a print version. You've given me a good reminder though - thanks for the idea!

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  17. Always happy to share resources, Sharon, because what you put out there will come back to you. All the best with your upcoming projects. I'm so looking forward to the GIMP action!

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  18. Cool, Irene! I'm glad you liked it. And does your group project have to do with hot boys and cooking? Cuz you know I'd be all over that...
    ;)

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  19. Oh, well done, Liv! And of course you can always count on me for a blog tour, or any other kind of promo... I'm self-producing a novel now and am amassing my resource list. Lots of good leads and great tips, but now I'm mulling over platforms for launch. Amazon only, for the promo perks, or wider release? Ebook only or print, as well? Argh. Some days, I just seem like I'm chasing my tail with so many options...

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  20. Ash - I think I'm going to try to shoot wider than just Amazon with my next short story, simply so I can learn the process - and also so my neighbor can download a copy, since she has a Nook.
    ;)
    I'm happy to do promo for you, too, so please keep me in the loop!

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  21. So great to hear about your experiences. It's nice to know you're becoming an expert in self-publishing... I'm a way off yet, but maybe some day.

    Just a comment on free downloads and breaking even -- Seems to me that 500 readers is awesome and maybe a good chunk of them hadn't already read your longer works and might have gone on to download. Certainly having free downloads (whether permanent or promotional) seems a fabulous way of enticing readers into your boudoir! :-)

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  22. Welcome to the trenches, Liv! It's a fun place to be. So don't hesitate to holler -- I am an editor, I think you know, and would be glad to work with you. I also can help with the formatting and do offer promotions, as you know 'cause you've shared them on Triberr.

    Whatever I can do to support, holler.

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  23. I'm pleased with the 500 downloads, Ellen, make no mistake, but I did recently see a post on the MFRW yahoo loop where an author mentioned her 39,000 downloads.
    So, yeah. Perspective.
    I'm sure there were differences in what she was promoting and when, so I'm not beating myself up or anything. It just shows me I've still got a ways to go.
    Thanks for checking in!

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  24. I will definitely holler, Susan! Thank you for the encouragement.
    :)

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