Making a Killing from Self-Publishing

[Paul Whybrow]

A success story from the Guardian, which shows that it is possible to make money from self-publishing.

From paying the bills, to £2,000 a day: making a killing from self-publishing

The article doesn't say how author Adam Croft went about publicising his books and himself, which is the biggest hurdle to gaining readers, though he was running an internet marketing company at the time so perhaps he used his expertise.

The issues he raises about how self-publishing is gaining ground in the best-selling ebook chart, with 40% being uploaded by the writers themselves is proof of the groundswell of dissatisfaction with traditional publishers.

I'm glad that the Guardian, and other papers with book pages, print such articles about self-publishing, but they're also hypocrites for they never review self-published books themselves. The only time that they pay attention to them is when a writer who's gone it alone makes huge sales and is then offered a publishing deal with a long-established book company.

Also, ebooks are never considered as contenders for literary awards. This leads to the bizarre situation where an excluded ebook may have sold 100,000 copies, but a highly-praised literary novel with paltry sales of 4,000 is shortlisted for the Booker and gets all of the attention.

 

[Patricia D]

Interesting - thank you for posting. I'd still really, really, really like to have a mainstream publisher, but I'd rather self-publish than go with a small, not particularly well established or active publisher. The latter entails a loss of control in exchange for not much.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

What I've realised is that I've got to get over my own bad attitude about self-published books before I can self-pub. I've got a novel out there in the self-pub world, and I'm really reluctant to market it, because I know exactly how I view self-pubbed books in general, so why bother trying to sell it? People will assume it's crap because it's self-published. And maybe it is...Because only a handful of people have read it, how would I know?

 

[Quillwitch]

I was just thinking about self publishing today. There are a lot of things i´m afraid we are not told. Like what percentage of writers make a living from it, how much does the avergae self-published writer make? How many books do you have to sell tomake a living and quit your day job? I wouldn´t mind doing it if I had a target in mind. Not one of those made a million over night targets, but something doable. What would be the average? I know some of you here are already selling books, wether through self pub or through small print, publishers ( like Carol Rose for example). What should we really expect? Anyone care to take an educated guess?

 

[Carol Rose]

I can only tell you what I know of self-publishing from fellow romance authors who do so. Don't quit the day job.

Stories like the one posted above are the rare exception, not the rule, for both self publishing and being published with a traditional publisher. Most published authors do not make enough to live on. That's the reality. Not trying to be depressing, only realistic.

If you're in this for the money, or because you have expectations of making the kind of money the author of the article posted above claims to be making, you're doing it for the wrong reasons. The lucky ones, the ones in the right place at the right time, or the ones whose book clicks for reasons no human can figure out are the rare exceptions. And those books aren't always written any better than the ones that don't sell millions, so please don't fall into that trap of thinking if only I wrote better, or if only I had better ideas, etc., etc., etc.

I write very well, if my reviews can be believed. And I'm not even close to making enough to live on, even after over five years of doing this, and 81 published books under my belt. But I don't do this for any other reason than because I love it. I do it because to not do it is unthinkable. I do it because I am a writer - period. The day job is merely a way to pay the bills. But my passion is writing.

Hope this helps.

 

[Quillwitch]

I can only tell you what I know of self-publishing from fellow romance authors who do so. Don't quit the day job.

Stories like the one posted above are the rare exception, not the rule, for both self publishing and being published with a traditional publisher. Most published authors do not make enough to live on. That's the reality. Not trying to be depressing, only realistic.

If you're in this for the money, or because you have expectations of making the kind of money the author of the article posted above claims to be making, you're doing it for the wrong reasons. The lucky ones, the ones in the right place at the right time, or the ones whose book clicks for reasons no human can figure out are the rare exceptions. And those books aren't always written any better than the ones that don't sell millions, so please don't fall into that trap of thinking if only I wrote better, or if only I had better ideas, etc., etc., etc.

I write very well, if my reviews can be believed. And I'm not even close to making enough to live on, even after over five years of doing this, and 81 published books under my belt. But I don't do this for any other reason than because I love it. I do it because to not do it is unthinkable. I do it because I am a writer - period. The day job is merely a way to pay the bills. But my passion is writing.

Hope this helps.

It helps plenty, thank you. That´s what I was afraid of. 81 books! Wow! That´s amazing. And to think you can´t live off of that effort, for me,is something to worry about. Thank you for sharing this information. And for your insight. I like what you say about no one really knowing what will make it big and what won´t and that most of the time it has nothing to do with how well you write. That´s a scary thought. It´s like playing the tables in Vegas, but with a lot more effort and no free drinks.
And for the record, you right write damn well!

 

[Patricia D]

What Carol Rose said: write because you want to; not to get rich. If you're writing for money, fiction is a loooong shot.

An old joke:
Q: What is the most lucrative form of writing?
A: Ransom notes

But there are legal avenues: newspapers, advertising; technical writing. More than a few authors started out as reporters or copywriters.

 

[Carol Rose]

It helps plenty, thank you. That´s what I was afraid of. 81 books! Wow! That´s amazing. And to think you can´t live off of that effort, for me,is something to worry about. Thank you for sharing this information. And for your insight. I like what you say about no one really knowing what will make it big and what won´t and that most of the time it has nothing to do with how well you write. That´s a scary thought. It´s like playing the tables in Vegas, but with a lot more effort and no free drinks.
And for the record, you right write damn well!

Thank you for the kind words.

Scary? Well, depends on how look at it. If you're banking it all on a book climbing the best sellers lists and making you rich, then it is scary. That's why it's best not to do this for that reason alone. I don't worry over the sales. I don't obsess over my Amazon rankings. I don't even look anymore. I do what I do, and I promote as much as I can without being obnoxious, and I try to write a better book with each one. That's really all any of us can do.

Do it because you love it. Do it because you can't NOT write. Do it because it's in your blood and your soul. Every artist, musician, and writer dreams of fame and glory, but 99% of them never achieve it. They don't, however, dream of quitting for that reason. Not if this is truly their passion. Because when you're pursuing your passion, nothing else matters. Passion is that one thing you'd keep doing even if you never made a dime off it. It's what you wake up thinking about, and it's what you think about doing while you're doing everything else. It's what drives you.

 

[Quillwitch]

Thank you for the kind words.

Scary? Well, depends on how look at it. If you're banking it all on a book climbing the best sellers lists and making you rich, then it is scary. That's why it's best not to do this for that reason alone. I don't worry over the sales. I don't obsess over my Amazon rankings. I don't even look anymore. I do what I do, and I promote as much as I can without being obnoxious, and I try to write a better book with each one. That's really all any of us can do.

Do it because you love it. Do it because you can't NOT write. Do it because it's in your blood and your soul. Every artist, musician, and writer dreams of fame and glory, but 99% of them never achieve it. They don't, however, dream of quitting for that reason. Not if this is truly their passion. Because when you're pursuing your passion, nothing else matters. Passion is that one thing you'd keep doing even if you never made a dime off it. It's what you wake up thinking about, and it's what you think about doing while you're doing everything else. It's what drives you.

I suppose you´re right but i am hoping that my passion will bring in some sort of money. Well, all I can do is, as you say, keep writing and keep hoping.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

The only people I personally know who live off their writing do it by writing technical or interpretive text during the work week (which you can charge $85/hr to do here as a consultant), and their novels after hours. Or they are journalists, employed by local newspapers. None is getting rich--when I was writing interpretive text, I was lucky if I had 12 paid hours per week, and I could go months at a time with no paid work, because of how the government agencies work here (which is why I ran 2 very different businesses at the same time).

 

[Quillwitch]

The only people I personally know who live off their writing do it by writing technical or interpretive text during the work week (which you can charge $85/hr to do here as a consultant), and their novels after hours. Or they are journalists, employed by local newspapers. None is getting rich--when I was writing interpretive text, I was lucky if I had 12 paid hours per week, and I could go months at a time with no paid work, because of how the government agencies work here (which is why I ran 2 very different businesses at the same time).

Forgive my ignorance but what is an interpretitive text?

 

[Robinne Weiss]

It's the sort of thing you read on those educational panels a historic sites or national parks. Heritage interpretation, it's called--it involves taking those huge, complex stories, learning everything there is to know about them, and then boiling them down to 225 words or less.

 

[Kitty]

Well he certainly knows how to blow his own trumpet. It seems to me that the main factor in self publishing success is being a good salesman. He certainly seems to be good at that!

 

[Quillwitch]

Well he certainly knows how to blow his own trumpet. It seems to me that the main factor in self publishing success is being a good salesman. He certainly seems to be good at that!

It´s not the first time I´ve heard it from a self-published author. I´m terrible with names, but there´s another man who spends hundreds of dollars on marketing, ads, etc just to get his books seen, and it seems to be working. I went to amazon to get a taste of his book and it´s not bad. I think it´s pretty good, so i´m guessing good product + good marketing is the key and should be considered equally.
I suppose that this is where traditional publishing fails. The amount of money and effort they put into each book is very limited.

 

[Kitty]

Agreed. If the book stinks the reviews will too and no amount of money will make it a success.

However any traditional publishers worth their salt will have decent marketing and publicity budgets with dedicated sales teams who will get your book out there without you spending a cent! If they don't then don't sign with them as you'll be no better off than if you do it yourself!

 

[Quillwitch]

Agreed. If the book stinks the reviews will too and no amount of money will make it a success.

However any traditional publishers worth their salt will have decent marketing and publicity budgets with dedicated sales teams who will get your book out there without you spending a cent! If they don't then don't sign with them as you'll be no better off than if you do it yourself!

Interesting...so do you ask up front before signing? What would be the question? How much are you going to spend on publicity, do you have a marketing team that will be looking after this book? What do you suggest?

 

[Carol Rose]

It´s not the first time I´ve heard it from a self-published author. I´m terrible with names, but there´s another man who spends hundreds of dollars on marketing, ads, etc just to get his books seen, and it seems to be working. I went to amazon to get a taste of his book and it´s not bad. I think it´s pretty good, so i´m guessing good product + good marketing is the key and should be considered equally.
I suppose that this is where traditional publishing fails. The amount of money and effort they put into each book is very limited.

The amount of money and effort an individual author puts into a book has to also be considered along with the money he/she will pay for cover design and professional editing. Those are two things a publisher does for their authors at no cost. Editing can run into the thousands, depending on how long your book is and how badly it needs editing to begin with. Covers can also get up there, and certainly you can't get a decent one for less than a few hundred dollars. And that would be from someone you know in the business who gives you a nice rate.

Unless you're a professional editor AND a professional artist/cover designer, doing either yourself will read/show like you did. Not going to name names, but I know of too many authors who believed they could be both editor and cover artist for their self-published books, and I wish to God they hadn't done either, for their sake. It's painful to see/read.

Yes, a publisher takes their cut, but where is the tipping point when you weigh spending hundreds to thousands for editing and cover design alone, on one book? Even with Amazon's Kindle Direct program, where authors can earn up to 70% royalties, you still need to sell a lot of books to recoup those costs.

Let's say for the sake of easy math you have an ebook that prices at $4.00. And let's say you've spent $300 for a cover and $1,000 for editing. You're already in the hole $1,300 before you sell one copy.

For my traditionally published ebook that also sells for $4.00, I have spent $0.00 up front, and I also have professional editing and cover design. Taking into account the lower royalty rate for third party sites, and the fact that it's net royalties on those sites, per my contract, let's make it easy and say I make $1.50 per book. I've actually done the math and that's about right for each of my books.

You're gung ho to do all the marketing, etc. you've read about, so you've also spent $1,000 in advertising/marketing. Again, this is not an unreasonable amount of money. Ads and lists cost money, and I know self-published authors who spend WAY more than that to market their books. So you are now $2,300 in the hole before you sell one copy.

I have spent nothing. My publisher markets and advertises as part of their services, to carefully selected sites and third party vendors that they've found give the most bang for their bucks, over the nearly six years they've been in business.

Now let's talk sales.

Let's say you sell 1,000 copies. Pretty damn good for a new author whom no one has heard of before. Based on your 70% royalty, you're making $2.80 a book. So for 1,000 copies sold, you made $2,800, but you're $2,300 in the hole, so you've netted only $500.

Let's say I also sell 1,000 copies. I'd be turning cartwheels in the street if I did, but let's say this book clicks and I sell that many. Remember, I've spent nothing up front yet. Those $1,000 copies will net me $1,500.

Let's get really crazy, and say we each sell an additional 1,000 copies. You've made $3,300. $2.80 a book times 2,000 books, minus the up front costs of $2,300.

I've made a total of $3,000 and haven't spent one dime.

To make more money at self-publishing, based on averages for editing, cover design, and money spent on advertising and promotion, you need to sell approximately 2,000 copies. Just to give you some perspective, I know very few authors who sell that many of one book. VERY few. But obviously some do.

What I'd love to know from the original article is how much money he spent on all this marketing and advertising. I'd like to see his actual figures. Very little of that is free, unless you're into spamming.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I'm currently at a Sci Fi and Fantasy con, and there have been a number of panels of Kiwi publishers (who are generally little more than a self-pubber who's also published some other author's books--we're talking maybe 7 books a year) and self-pubbed authors, and it's been very interesting to hear them talk about what they do and do not do. What is clear, however, is that those who do best are those with marketing backgrounds. They SAY they're doing 'very little' to market their books, but they are actually being very savvy about figuring out Amazon's analytics for getting their books seen, taking advantage of the money others spend on marketing (riding on their coattails, so to speak), and just simply getting out there and shoving thousands of business cards into people's hands. Maybe they're not spending much money, but they're working really hard, and they understand, at that gut-level I never will, how to market something.

With that said, over half of the publishers, and all the authors, on the panels say they have 'day jobs' to pay the bills.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

According to a recent British government poll, being an author was the most desirable job for people with 60% claiming they would like to write for a living. Contrast this with the reality of 90% of authors not being able to support themselves by writing alone, needing to have regular jobs to pay the bills.

Just one in ten authors can earn full-time living from writing, report finds

 

[Kitty]

Interesting...so do you ask up front before signing? What would be the question? How much are you going to spend on publicity, do you have a marketing team that will be looking after this book? What do you suggest?

The question you ask is "What is your marketing plan for my book?" They should be able to tell you where they will be selling it, where they see your main market and what sort of publicity they intend to have around the launch. For example will they be organising book tours or blog tours. What sort of reviewers they will be sending it out to. Will they be aiming to get it into bookstores? Whatever it is there should be some sort of plan.

 

[Quillwitch]

The amount of money and effort an individual author puts into a book has to also be considered along with the money he/she will pay for cover design and professional editing. Those are two things a publisher does for their authors at no cost. Editing can run into the thousands, depending on how long your book is and how badly it needs editing to begin with. Covers can also get up there, and certainly you can't get a decent one for less than a few hundred dollars. And that would be from someone you know in the business who gives you a nice rate.

Unless you're a professional editor AND a professional artist/cover designer, doing either yourself will read/show like you did. Not going to name names, but I know of too many authors who believed they could be both editor and cover artist for their self-published books, and I wish to God they hadn't done either, for their sake. It's painful to see/read.

Yes, a publisher takes their cut, but where is the tipping point when you weigh spending hundreds to thousands for editing and cover design alone, on one book? Even with Amazon's Kindle Direct program, where authors can earn up to 70% royalties, you still need to sell a lot of books to recoup those costs.

Let's say for the sake of easy math you have an ebook that prices at $4.00. And let's say you've spent $300 for a cover and $1,000 for editing. You're already in the hole $1,300 before you sell one copy.

For my traditionally published ebook that also sells for $4.00, I have spent $0.00 up front, and I also have professional editing and cover design. Taking into account the lower royalty rate for third party sites, and the fact that it's net royalties on those sites, per my contract, let's make it easy and say I make $1.50 per book. I've actually done the math and that's about right for each of my books.

You're gung ho to do all the marketing, etc. you've read about, so you've also spent $1,000 in advertising/marketing. Again, this is not an unreasonable amount of money. Ads and lists cost money, and I know self-published authors who spend WAY more than that to market their books. So you are now $2,300 in the hole before you sell one copy.

I have spent nothing. My publisher markets and advertises as part of their services, to carefully selected sites and third party vendors that they've found give the most bang for their bucks, over the nearly six years they've been in business.

Now let's talk sales.

Let's say you sell 1,000 copies. Pretty damn good for a new author whom no one has heard of before. Based on your 70% royalty, you're making $2.80 a book. So for 1,000 copies sold, you made $2,800, but you're $2,300 in the hole, so you've netted only $500.

Let's say I also sell 1,000 copies. I'd be turning cartwheels in the street if I did, but let's say this book clicks and I sell that many. Remember, I've spent nothing up front yet. Those $1,000 copies will net me $1,500.

Let's get really crazy, and say we each sell an additional 1,000 copies. You've made $3,300. $2.80 a book times 2,000 books, minus the up front costs of $2,300.

I've made a total of $3,000 and haven't spent one dime.

To make more money at self-publishing, based on averages for editing, cover design, and money spent on advertising and promotion, you need to sell approximately 2,000 copies. Just to give you some perspective, I know very few authors who sell that many of one book. VERY few. But obviously some do.

What I'd love to know from the original article is how much money he spent on all this marketing and advertising. I'd like to see his actual figures. Very little of that is free, unless you're into spamming.

Those are some excellent observations. Thanks for taking the time to get this all down. Food for thought. And, yeah, I´d like to ask him that too. From what i´ve read of other authors, it runs anywhere from the hundreds to the thousands--a month!

 

[Quillwitch]

The question you ask is "What is your marketing plan for my book?" They should be able to tell you where they will be selling it, where they see your main market and what sort of publicity they intend to have around the launch. For example will they be organising book tours or blog tours. What sort of reviewers they will be sending it out to. Will they be aiming to get it into bookstores? Whatever it is there should be some sort of plan.

Thank you. That is certainly something to keep in mind before signing with someone.

 

[Marc Joan]

I was just thinking about self publishing today. There are a lot of things i´m afraid we are not told. Like what percentage of writers make a living from it, how much does the avergae self-published writer make? How many books do you have to sell tomake a living and quit your day job? I wouldn´t mind doing it if I had a target in mind. Not one of those made a million over night targets, but something doable. What would be the average? I know some of you here are already selling books, wether through self pub or through small print, publishers ( like Carol Rose for example). What should we really expect? Anyone care to take an educated guess?

A few sources of opinions below; I am not recommending or endorsing them or their assertions, just providing the links for info:
Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing: Can’t Make Money in Fiction
The 7k Report – Author Earnings
10 Winning Marketing Strategies for Your Self-Published Book
How to Self-Publish a Bestseller: Publishing 3.0
The Technium: 1,000 True Fans

 

[Marc Joan]

A few sources of opinions below; I am not recommending or endorsing them or their assertions, just providing the links for info:
Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing: Can’t Make Money in Fiction
The 7k Report – Author Earnings
10 Winning Marketing Strategies for Your Self-Published Book
How to Self-Publish a Bestseller: Publishing 3.0
The Technium: 1,000 True Fans

Sorry, the updated author earnings report is here: May 2016 Author Earnings Report: the definitive million-title study of US author earnings – Author Earnings

 

[James Marinero]

An old joke:
Q: What is the most lucrative form of writing?
A: Ransom notes

But there are legal avenues: newspapers, advertising; technical writing. More than a few authors started out as reporters or copywriters.

Reminds me of the reporter asking John Dillinger why he robbed banks - 'Because that's where the money is"

 

[Skip W]

It depends whether you want to make a living from writing or just want to share your stories with people you've never met.

 

[Sam Salt]

Cover design isn't necessarily difficult or expensive if you learn a few skills with a photo editing program. A decent stock photo can be had fairly cheaply. I agree you have to have a bit of a flair for it but when I put together a cover for my self-published book I crowd-sourced opinion on different designs simply by asking people on Facebook to pick from several options what they thought looked best. (Of course you can end up with a great cover and a rubbish book too). Editing on the other hand seems much more difficult if your try to do it yourself - even after multiple read throughs I still kept finding small errors.