Self-publishing numbers: dollars and cents

For the last few weeks I’ve been posting about my self-publishing numbers and, as promised, today I wanted to talk a little bit about what those numbers mean in terms of money earned.  Generally, I’m not a huge fan of talking dollars and cents.  Like most of us, I was taught that it’s not polite to talk about money.  So I’m not going to go into exactly what my income from self-publishing has been.  But the one thing that frustrated me the most when I first started looking at writing as a career was that there was no information about how much money I could expect to make.  No one was sharing.  Sure, everyone’s numbers were going to vary, but I knew there have to be some averages that I could expect.  So I do want to share some of my numbers, especially my first few months self-publishing, in hopes that it can give other authors looking at this option some idea what they can expect. 
When I first stepped into the digital self-publishing arena about 18 months ago, I wasn’t expecting much.  Up until then, self-publishing had pretty much been synonymous with selling books out of the trunk of your car - not my idea of fun.  However, I had a good friend, J.R. Rain, who was seeing amazing sales with this format.  I think he nagged me for a good three months before I finally agreed to give it a try with one of my unsold manuscripts.  But, like I said, I wasn’t expecting much.  A couple of bucks here and there.  Maybe enough to take the family to dinner once a month.   However, extra money is extra money, right?  So, what did I have to lose but a couple of days to make a cover and format my manuscript for ereaders?  So  I tried it out.

Month #1
I put two short stories up on Kindle in May 2010.  That month I sold 159 copies and made $82.68.  I was pretty pleased.  Clearly it wasn’t going to pay my rent, but it was enough to take my family out to dinner.  Twice even, if we used coupons. 
Month #2
In June I sold a total of 169 copies (yay, 10 up from last month!) and made a total of $128.69.  I could leave the coupons at home this month!
Month #3
In July I did a little playing around with pricing, upping the price of both stories.  I sold fewer - only 140 copies - but I ended up making more, a total of $271.80.  Not bad for some extra cash.  Hey, I could take my family out to eat once a week with that.   So, at the end of July I decided to add a some full length novels to the mix, manuscripts that I’d written but had never sold to NY that were just gathering dust on my hard drive.
Month #4
In August, with the addition of the novels, I made $973.42.  And, off of Amazon UK, which had just become a self-pubb option that month, $9.19.  Ohmigod, maybe I could pay some bills with this.  Electric?  Check!  Water? Check! Groceries?  Check!  Woohoo!
Month #5
And in September is where I started to see some real rent-paying potential.  I made a total of $4,944.42 this month.  I was blown away.  Instead of sales slowing the longer my books had been out (like I usually saw with print books), they were growing by leaps and bounds each month. 
And for anyone who is curious – I had done ZERO promo at this point.  None at all.  I didn’t even post about the new books to my newsletter/Facebook/etc.   These were all readers that had found me via browsing Amazon. 

Month #6
In October of 2010, two things happened for me. 
1) I got the rights back to all of my backlist, which included seven full length novels and one novella.  I put all of those books up for sale on Kindle. 
2) Barnes & Noble’s PubIt! came on the scene, so I quickly put all of my books up there as well. 
At both venues I made a total of $8,988.60 that month.  I was honestly sure there had been a typo somewhere in the vendors’ accounting.  No way was this for real. 

But it was.  And things just started snowballing from there.  The more books I added, the more sales for all of my titles grew.  In late 2010 I put some of my titles up on Smashwords as well, which distributed them to Apple, Sony, Diesel, and Kobo.  My sales started out small there (much like at Amazon), but slowly grew over time. 

In addition to the unsold manuscripts that were given new life and my previously published backlist, I’ve also added new, original titles to my roster of self-published books.  These have been amazingly well received by the ereading community.  My latest ebook, FEARLESS IN HIGH HEELS, is currently (as I type this) sitting at #10 on the Barnes & Noble Bestseller list!  It’s sold over 2000 copies in its first three days, so I couldn’t be happier.    
Obviously everyone’s sales are going to be different, but I hope that this info helps somewhat in knowing what to expect when you’re starting out in self-publishing.  I hear a lot of authors getting discouraged about slow sales to start with.  Don’t be!  Like I said, I made $82 in my first month.  It’s totally normal to start out slow.  Don’t worry.  Just keep writing.  :)     

~Trigger Happy Halliday

Indulge to your heart's content!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. Since one of the triplets had to work all night on Thanksgiving Eve in preparation for Black Friday and then go back to work Thanksgiving night, we celebrated on Sunday, the 19th with turkey and all the trimmings. As is customary, we all ate too much. Fortunately, the weather was fabulous and we took a walk to work off some of the calories we'd consumed.

I must admit I ventured out on Thanksgiving Night to the local Walmart. I didn't have anything I really had to have, but thought maybe if the line for the HP laptop wasn't too long, I'd give it a try. Wasn't happening. I couldn't even get to the line. Once I abandoned any hope of actually buying anything and the pressure was off, it wasn't so bad. I squeezed my way near the five dollar blu rays and managed to snare several good ones. One of my daughters wanted as many seasons of Bones and Supernatural as I could get and I was able to grab several of those. Next I sidled past the video games and nabbed a Wii game my son wanted. A work hoodie for another daughter, some chocolate for me and I was out of there. No big ticket items, but some success nevertheless.

How was your Thanksgiving? Did you venture out for Black Friday deals? Any Black Friday stories to share?

And speaking of the shopping season, for most of us, that can only mean one thing: 'Tis the season for book buying. And the next best thing to giving books as gifts is getting them. And just in time for the Christmas shopping season, I want to let you know about a fabulous opportunity to find out about some incredible ebooks for just ninety nine cents each. Beginning today, a number of indie and self-pubbed authors (including some of the Killer Fiction authors) are featuring specially priced digital copies of their books at the Book Lovers Buffet Holiday extravaganza at www.bookloversbuffet.com. All the sub-genres of romance fiction, women's fiction, and even some non fiction books are included so stock up in time for your holiday reading!

And happy shopping!

~Bullet Hole~

It's beginning to look a lot like...something

Bethany: Is your house on fire, Clark?

Clark: No, Aunt Bethany. Those are the Christmas lights.

I can't tell you how excited I am that the holiday season is here - I love the lights, the decorations and especially putting up the tree (taking it down is another matter). And so begins the annual Fox family debate - what kind of tree to get.
My husband grew up in an "artificial tree" family. He believes in economy - grab that puppy from the basement, have it up in under a half hour, maybe spray some pine-scent and start decorating.
If only it could be so simple.
For, you see, I tend to channel the spirit of Clark Griswold during the holiday season. And worse, I come from a real tree family. And not just a "tree lot" tree family - my dad had us out early the weekend after Thanksgiving, hoofing it across massive Christmas tree forests, looking for the perfect one. We'd spent all morning walking - and goofing around - but all in search of the not-too-tall, not-too-short, no-bald-spots, does-it-have-the-right-kind-of-needles, long-enough-trunk, my-brother-did-NOT-see-it-first masterpiece of a tree. We'd take turns chopping it down and then my dad would haul it back out of the woods.
The first year we were married, I tried to re-create this tradition with my husband, the spray-on pine scent guy. He was cautiously optimistic. I picked the wrong tree farm. It was literally a long field flanked by other people's backyards. He laughed. And finally, I did too. It was fun. The tree was pretty. And we vowed ... next year would be spectacular.
Then we had one kiddo, and two. My husband began to point out ads for artificial trees - on sale! (Yeah, I'm a sucker for a sale.) But, no. While I'm not going to channel Clark Griswold to the point of dashing out to the woods with two small children and a hack saw, I still need a real tree.
So we head to the lot up at church. My husband talks with the guys, we all pick out a tree and it's just as pretty as the ones we dragged home years ago. But someday...one day...I'm going to get these people back out into the woods.

Now what about you? Are you an "artificial tree" person or a "real tree" person? And do you know any good tree farms?

Wild Thing is Out!

By Robin "Red Hot" Kaye





I should be more excited--my fifth book is being released today, making me a confirmed career author! Did you hear a lack of enthusiasm despite the exclamation point?

Now don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled about Wild Thing. I think it's my favorite book so far. I love Toni and Hunter. I had such a hard time doing my galleys because I kept forgetting I was supposed to be working and ended up getting so sucked into the story, before I knew it I'd read three chapters and had to go back and re-check them.

My lack of excitement stems from the fact that now, with five books under my belt, I'm considered a career author. Did you know it takes five published books to be considered a career author? Well, supposedly it does, I'm just not sure who is doing the considering. In my mind, I was a confirmed career author the day I finished my first book--after all, I had a product to sell and was actively selling it. To me, telling an author they're not a career author until after they've published five books would be like telling Ray Kroc he wasn't a career restauranteur until after he sold a billion burgers.

Now that I'm a confirmed career author I thought I would feel different. I thought people take me more seriously. Yesterday I dressed seriously, I had the whole black on black thing going (a black turtleneck, black jeans and an awesome long sweater I picked up at Chico's.) It didn't work. I might as well have been running around in sweats--I still had to go to the pharmacy and then to the school to drop off the prescription to the school nurse in case Mini-Me has an allergic reaction to her new antibiotic. Unfortunately Mini-Me is also Worst-Case-Senario-Girl, something else she picked up from me. After that I had a lovely meeting at school to go over some testing. No change there either. I had an hour to kill and went to a restaurant to have lunch--I ate over my computer while desperately trying to get my email. It was the same-old, same-old. No sign of a Nora-esque moment. My life hadn't changed a bit (well, except I didn't end up with a spot on my new black turtleneck, but that I think was more dumb luck than a sign of the change). I also ran Mini-Me to the doctor's office. The nurse mentioned that she buys my books for Christmas presents and heard one was coming out. I'm thinking cool! Here's my moment! She asked who the hero was and seemed upset it was Hunter and not Trapper. A total crash and burn. No Nora-esque moment there either.

So I ask you, am I expecting too much now that I'm a career author? Should there be a change? The only change I see are the few coins ratting around in the bottom of my purse. And if there were a change what should it be?

I'll give away a couple copies of Wild Thing to lucky commenters (US only please--which is not my decision but that of my publisher, just so you know) so be sure to leave your email addresses--just spell out the at and the dot so weird people don't get them and send you spam.

Bad News for Writers

In talking recently to medical professionals, I was enlightened with some bad news for writers and anyone else who spends a bunch of time sitting all day. The bad news is, sitting is really bad for your health. Well, we sorta already knew that, but here's the even worse news - even if you ran 10 miles every day, you still won't be as healthy as someone who doesn't sit all day.

Wow.

Okay, typing is sorta sedentary work, but it's how I pay the bills. I don't think my job would appreciate it if I got up every ten minutes to run laps between the cubicles, and I certainly wouldn't get much work done that way - there or at home when I'm trying to write novels. So I went online and started poking around.

And I found the Air Desk.

It's a portable stand that allows me to work on my laptop standing. The height is adjustable on the model I got up to six feet, so I can also use it while walking on the treadmill. Can you believe that even just the act of standing will make you a ton healthier? Not running until you collapse. Not suffering through aerobics with Bambi and her g-string leo. Just standing.

Here's a pic of my air desk with the laptop hooked up to the wall-mounted television in my office. So that way, I type on the laptop but can see everything on the big screen.

I've also purchased a wireless headset and as soon as I get Dragon Naturally Speaking all configured, I'll be able to pace and dictate while viewing it on the television.

Every little bit helps, right?

Deadly DeLeon

Writing the Male POV with guest blogger Rita Henuber

Happy Thanksgiving!

Amanda is taking the next month or so off while she settles back in to life with a newborn. The new little man hasn't arrived -- yet -- but he's due shortly, so her buddy Rita Henuber is here today instead.

Male and female brains are hardwired differently. When it comes to love and relationships men are lousy communicators. Guys express themselves differently than gals and are not as complicated as women want to make them. Therefore writing Y chromosome dialogue can be challenging.

Take it back a million years. Females were driven to search out a strong mate to protect and provide for her and her offspring. The little woman stayed home and home schooled the kids teaching them not to play in dinosaur poop, to stay away from the fire, and quit rolling the family's only wheel down the hill. To relax, she painted her life on the cave walls and depicted how much she missed her guy.

Males were driven to spread their seed, pound their chest, protect their offspring from the dinosaurs, make the fire, and grump when the wheel got chipped. When he came back to the cave from a hunt and the little woman asked how it went, he grunted. To catch up on what happened while he was gone he checked out the cave wall and he found out how much she missed him and what she liked. -eyebrow wiggle here- .
So what's changed? Women still look for a protector and provider. Men are still driven to spread… well, we know, and they still grunt when you ask them a question. Each species has evolved and wants more from their mate. Men and women both want to be in a good relationship and find true love.

They still communicate those needs in different ways.

We as writers have to remember to put that difference on the page. Don't mess with the hard wiring and make your heroes so perfectly fit the mold we women want that they no longer fit the male species mold.

Start with the differences in the way we talk. Have you noticed we women tend to qualify what we say be ending the sentence with a question? "This color looks good on me, don't you think?" Guys do not do that.

Ask a guy a question that requires a yes or no -Do you want to ride into town with me?- men will answer yes or no. Ask a woman and she may say: "yes, but can we stop at mall first cause I want to exchange these pants I bought the other day. They're too long. If you don't want to stop it’s a no."

When writing dialogue for a guy the less words used the better. Men cut to the chase. They don't hem and haw and beat around the bush. They say what's on their mind. "Nice dress. Take it off." (From a Janet Evanovich book)

Then we have feelings- whoo O-O feel….ings.

Does your hero tell your heroine how he feels? Does he answer her when she asks how he feels? If the answer is yes then take a break and let's talk.

Even though you want your hero to be the man we gals want, having him talk about feelings early on could be asking your reader to suspend beliefs a bit too far.

Guys will gladly tell you what they think, but what they feel…? Try this experiment. Ask you DH, SO, any guy what they feel about a topic you know they are interested in. A couple of days later ask them what they think about it. In my tests the- how do you feel- got blank stares, a "huh?" and "that sucks." On the- what do you think,- I had a five minute monologue and way more information than I wanted.

What's the difference to a guy? The survey says: a guy is sure about what he thinks, but with his feelings he doesn't want to look like a fool to his woman. Men are intimidated by the fact women are born with a masters degree in talking about feelings. Also, they figure if everything is okay in the relationship she won't want to talk about feelings. Talking about feelings when things are going well, throws a guy out of the game. He gets nervous. Only after a relationship grows and he wants to make her happy does he begins to open up about his feelings. He doesn't exactly like it, but when she lets him know how worthwhile he is he becomes more willing to expose his own insecurities and sacrifice his comfort zone for her. Like, TALK about how he FEELS.

In general,a man feels his sacrifices show his love. Men love that power struggle, love to be in control and those sacrifices, big or small, will mostly center around that. It can be something as simple as letting his woman pick the radio station in the car when he wants to listen to the game. He derives great satisfaction when she acknowledges that sacrifice with a simple thank you, or a smile. I'm not saying a guy should forgo flowers on her birthday. I'm saying write smart. Show love in more than one way.

To wrap up. When writing the guys POV, use less words. Get to the point. Cut through the unnecessary. Consider subtle ways of him showing his love and showing her understanding that's what he's doing. Sounds like romance to me.

______________________________________

Rita Henuber is the author of UNDER FIRE, released this summer by Carina Press.

Coast Guard helicopter pilot Olivia Carver is on a very personal mission. Her twin brother, an undercover officer, was murdered by a drug cartel and she won’t stop until she finds the man responsible for his death.

In the course of her own investigation, Olivia meets informant Rico Cortes. He’s mysterious and sexy and despite her reservations, the two share a night of passion. But Rico turns out to be more than a one-night stand. He’s a DEA agent, deep undercover in Miami’s drug world, and possibly the one man who can help Olivia find the justice she seeks.

When Rico realizes his cover is blown, he isn’t sure whether it was someone in the cartel or an inside agent. Olivia is the only one he can trust and together they venture on a dangerous, rogue mission to infiltrate a drug lord’s inner circle…with Olivia as bait.

Thankful For Tidepools & Oceans

This Thanksgiving I've come home to Santa Cruz.  Santa Cruz is the city where I grew up and my mother now lives in the same house that my grandparents used to live in; a house my grandfather designed and built himself. The house and the town holds lots of wonderful memories for me but even as a child I knew Santa Cruz wouldn't be my home forever. Filled with surfers, self-proclaimed hippies and little shops selling crystals and tarot cards the city has always been unique but it isn't my scene. While I was a resident here I longed for the museums, department stores, restaurants, clubs, urban culture and ethnic diversity that can only be found in the larger cities of this country. It was my longing for those things that prompted me to move to San Francisco when I was only seventeen. It's what brought me to New York and now LA. Despite spending almost all of my childhood years in Santa Cruz I have always identified much more with San Francisco. Over the years Santa Cruz has grown considerably. There are condos where there used to be communes. But it's still Santa Cruz and I still know that I will never want to move back here.

And yet whenever I do come for a visit I remember what there is to love about this place. There is no denying its beauty. I love the way the seals and otters play in the harbor. I love the way the air is so crisp and clean. I love the sense of peace that permeates this place with the quiet roar of the ocean. Two Thanksgivings ago I took my son (then 10) to see the tide-pools by the beach and he pointed out a small crab who had made his home in one of them. "For that crab living in that tide-pool is like living in Santa Cruz," he said. "The crab's whole world is that tide-pool, he's totally sheltered and protected from the ocean and everything that's in it! He might not even know the ocean's there!"

"But," he said, looking up at me with a sweet little smile, "it's a very pretty tide-pool. Plus it's not like any of the other tide-pools around it. It's not a bad place for him to live."

As usual my son summed up my feelings in a metaphor that is much more accurate and poetic than anything I could have come up with myself.

Personally, I love living in my metaphorical ocean and I can't see myself ever giving it up for anything smaller or more tame. But I do enjoy visiting my old tide-pool every once in a while and I understand why so many of my childhood schoolmates have chosen to stay.

It's incredibly pretty here.

Kyra "Fasionista Fatale" Davis