A New Map for my book, Rose of Par Kluhnd, and trying a new experience with going KDP Select

Rose of Par Kluhnd has a new map at the front of the book. The original was my own, but the new one is professionally done and looks terrific! I'm so pleased with it:

 

The map was created for me by Anna-Dawn at adawndesigns.com.

 

 It is already available in the eBook version exclusively at Amazon, and soon will be available in the print version, also available through Amazon. I'm so excited about this new map!

 

I am also trying a new thing. Thus far my books in electronic form are available pretty much through all eBook retailers, but for the next 90 days my book, Rose of Par Kuhnd: A Fairy Tale, will be available exclusively through Amazon. 

 

Amazon has a program for authors called KDP Select. In order to participate in KDP Select, your eBook must only be available through Amazon. My sales numbers have been stagnant so I've decided to give KDP Select a try. I don't like the idea of my books not being available for every type of eReader, but if no one is buying them from all of those other retailers anyway, why not give KDP Select a try?

 

So for the next 90 days, we'll see what, if anything, happens with Rose of Par Kluhnd. After being enrolled in the program for 30 days, I can do some nifty promotions through the program - discounts, etc., so that will be fun to try in about a month.

 

It'd be nice to see something happening with those sales numbers!

Halfway to a loom!

I'm saving up to buy a loom. A good used one can run anywhere from $300-$800, depending on what kind of deal you can find. I have over $400 socked away in my loom account, all earned by sales of my Christmas book over the holidays. I make $0.35 per ebook, and $0.22 per paperback. I sold somewhere around 1200 books over the holidays, so, yea, I'm on my way to a loom!

I'm hoping to find a good loom, at least a 40 inch weaving width, hopefully with a bench and some yarn thrown in. I don't want to pay more than $700, and I want to be able to drive to the seller and to pick it up. I'm willing to go anywhere in Ohio, and the parts of neighboring states that aren't too far away, and probably the closer parts of Maryland, too.

I'm happy about my book, and I'm happy I'm on my way to a loom!

Report on Self-Publishing eBooks Experiment

Several months ago (April, 2010) I began an experiment. I self-published two ebooks through Amazon.com to see what would happen. At the time, the self-publishing world was starting to really wake up to ebooks and Amazon has made it (relatively) easy to upload and publish your written works through their Digital Text Platform, and make them available for purchase through their Kindle ebook store.

You can do this in various other places, too. I, for instance, have also published one of my books through Smashwords.com, which makes your ebook available in many formats for just about any ereader. Through their premium catalogue, your book is also included in the iPad ebook store, the Sony ereader store, the Barnes and Noble Nook ebook store, and other ebook catalogues.

So, the big question, how have my books done? Am I a self-published millionaire yet? No.

A thousandaire? No.

A hundredaire? No, but almost.

Let me break it down for you.

My Twelfth Christmas was published in April, 2010. Since then, I've sold 194 copies, the majority during the months of November and December (it's a Christmas story). This short story sells for $0.99. I make a whopping $0.35 on each one sold. So this book, thus far, has brought me a total of $67.90.

The Witch of Starmont was published in July, 2010. Since then, I've sold 12 copies, half of those during the months of November and December (I think they were probably from people who liked the Christmas story and wanted to see what my other book was like). This is a novella and I've priced it at $1.99. I make $0.70 on each one I sell, so this book, thus far, has made me a total of $8.40.

So, together, thus far, I've made $76.30 from my little two-book self-publishing experiment. Oh, and over 200 people have taken a gander at my writing.

Success?

It's exciting when you see you've made a sale. And it was very gratifying to see my little self-published Christmas story ranked in the top 20 bestselling Christmas ebooks at Amazon, and often in the top 10 bestselling children's Christmas ebooks simultaneously during the holidays. That feels like success right there. But number-wise, it's hard to say.

I know of many self-published authors who sell hundreds of books per month, and several who sell over 1000 books per month. And then there are some who sell a book here and a book there over the space of several months. This last is exactly what my sales are like when it's not Christmastime.

For those of you wanting to know, I've done very little advertising and self-promotion for my books. This can make a difference, if you do it smartly, and well. I was thinking of doing some sort of advertising during the holidays for my Christmas book, but when I saw sales start to uptick in October on their own, I sat back and wanted to see what would happen without any advertising. I did make my presence known more than usual on the kindleboards and on a couple of amazon kindle holiday book threads, but that was the extent of my self-promotion (other than the obvious links I have on the blog here - which, by the way, rarely get a click-through).

And so the experiment continues.

Low-cost Ebooks

Continuing my experiment, I have now self-published a novella as an ebook through Amazon.com:


A couple of months ago I self-published a short Christmas story. The results so far? I've sold about ten copies, three of which were to relatives, and one to myself. The other six? Real customers. Not such an impressive debut.

I must point out, however, that I stink at self-promotion so I've not made all the rounds on the Kindle boards and elswhere plugging my book. I did run two facebook adds, one for two days and one for three days. That's where most of my six additional sales came from. I also must state that, not being the Christmas season, perhaps people aren't looking for a Christmas-themed book right now.

So. Here we are with self-published experiment #2, The Witch of Starmont. It's novella-length, and probably just right for summer reading. In fact, I'm running a facebook add over the weekend which states just that, "The perfect summer read!". It's got a little romance, a little contemporary fantasy, a cottage in New England, what's not to love?

I haven't told relatives yet, so thus far I've only sold one copy - to myself : - )

Let the experiment continue!

On the future of the publishing industry...

I found this quote in the June 7, 2010 issue of Time Magazine. It's by Garrison Keillor. It's almost too true not to repeat. It originally appeared in the Chicago Tibune (click here for the full opinion piece):

"I think that book publishing is about to slide into the sea. We live in a literate time, and our children are writing up a storm, often combining letters and numerals (UR 2 1derful) ... The future of publishing: 18 million authors in America, each with an average of 14 readers, eight of whom are blood relatives. Average annual earnings: $1.75."

To self-publish, or not to self-publish... Maybe through Kindle?

I'm not riding in the self-publishing bandwagon, but recently on the Galley Cat website, there have been a couple of posts about successful self-published authors. These authors were both self-published using amazon's digital text platform self-publishing tool for kindle. Their stories are interesting and worth a look, you can find J.A. Konrath's story here. And you can find Karen McQuestion's story here.

J.A. Konrath has something like 20 books available through the kindle store and sells something like 800 per day. Crazy, huh?

And Karen McQuestion sells tens of thousands of books per year and is the first kindle self-published author to land a movie deal.

Now, all of that success involved more than just uploading their books to the kindle store and sitting back. Konrath already had a book or two in print and so already had a following, and McQuestion made sure to keep her name, and her books, out there in forums and other venues.

After reading their stories, I decided to try my hand at the kindle self-publishing. Not with my major works, with which I am still going the traditional route and sending queries to agents and keeping my fingers crossed.

But I have two other works that I thought would make good experiments for the kindle platform. One is a short Christmas story. I actually recently turned down a real publishing contract for this story. I don't have an agent (yet) and the publisher was very small and very niche, and the contract was very bad (for me). They wouldn't negotiate, so I didn't sign. But this gave me confidence that this work was good enough to be published, so it has become my first self-published work on kindle. My Twelfth Christmas became available yesterday and I've already sold four! (One to each of my sisters, one to me, and one to my niece *grin*.)

But the experiment will continue. I have another work which was completed fairly recently. It turned out to be novella length and novellas are a hard sell through the traditional route, unless you are already a popular author. So once I've finished with revisions, The Witch of Starmont will be going up for sale on kindle, too.

I'm not that great at self-promotion, but I'll try. Because if you don't tell people about your stuff, no one will ever know it's there. And you want people to know it's there.

One key to high volume sales is low price. My Twelfth Christmas is priced at $0.99, and The Witch of Sarmont will be priced at $1.99. Right now, the royalty structure is such that I get to keep 30% of that.

They also give you an author page on amazon. Mine is still being created, but when it's up, I'll post about it with a link.

Let the experiment commence!

The Hobbit wouldn't cut it in today's market!

Over at literary agent Nathan Bransford's blog, there's a funny guest post - a rejection letter written to J.R.R. Tolkien for his children's book, The Hobbit.

I'm afraid poor old Bilbo would have a hard time seeing the light of day in today's publishing atmosphere.

The Art of Racing in the Rain

I just finished a book last night that had me sobbing at the end. Actually it had me fighting back tears at the beginning too. The first and the last chapters are doozies. But I highly recommend it.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. Buy it. Check it out from the library. But read it.

I first read about it on a literary agent's blog before it came out. I immediately put a hold on it at my library and was the first to get it when it came in. Here's what Jenn Risko from Shelf Awareness (a website about the book trade), is quoted as saying on the blog of Janet Reid (litereary agent):

"It's a compelling story told from a dog's point of view. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein is told from the point of view of a dog named Enzo who aspires to be a racecar driver like his owner, Denny. The TV is left on during the day while Enzo's owner is working, so he's learned a lot about the world. (He's often quite miffed at not possessing opposable thumbs.) Through Enzo, we learn the story of how his master fell in love with his wife, Eve, the addition of their daughter Zoey, and how it all tragically unraveled. Have a box of Kleenex near."

For a little insight into the publishing world and a bit of the journey this book took to getting published, click on this link to a post on Janet Reid's blog.