This will be a short post with an update to the information posted previously about Royalties. It looks like on Amazon, I'm earning $1.02 for every $2.99, so that's about 34%. Dramatic difference, no?
Monday, September 12, 2016
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Royalties aka Getting Paid
Okay, totally blasé post title, but I'm not feeling especially brilliant regarding titles at the moment. The content, however, I'm much more passionate about... money!
How do I make money off of this eBook? It's actually very much the same as in traditional publishing - royalties. In my case, with the exception of Amazon, my publishing site is Smashwords. While they call me the publisher, the book is still on their site, they process the fees, and they also provide IRS documents, etc. This means that they are taking on some liability and a lot of accounting, so I won't receive all the money from my novel, I receive a percentage.
The difference here is the exact percentage. At Smashwords, I'm selling my eBook at $2.99. Of that $2.99, I receive $2.21! That's almost 74%. Of course, I've also priced the eBook at $2.99. I could have chosen a higher dollar figure and the amount per eBook would seem even more dramatic, why? In traditional publishing, most fiction authors receive somewhere in the neighborhood of a $1 per book sold (after the book earns back any advance money, if there was an advance).
Nice? I think so. This is heavy on my mind because if my account meets the minimum dollar figure, Smashwords will pay me royalties quarterly.
Note: The other sites that Smashwords has distributed to, such as Barnes & Noble, iTunes, etc. pay at different percentages. If a book is purchased as Barnes & Noble, they'll take a portion of the cost, and then send the rest back to Smashwords, who will also take a percentage. I'll receive the remainder. This is not a complaint; both sites deserve their cut for their work. I'm merely sharing with you how the electronic distribution and royalties are managed.
I'm so pleased to report that I actually made the minimum as of yesterday, so I'll get paid this quarter. Special thanks to my friends who talked about my eBook to other people. Word of mouth is my main sales driver.
Anyway, after the end of this month, I can expect to be paid for my work. That means I'm not just a published author, but a paid author. Will I ever be making living at this? I don't know, but the truth is, I very much hope so.
How do I make money off of this eBook? It's actually very much the same as in traditional publishing - royalties. In my case, with the exception of Amazon, my publishing site is Smashwords. While they call me the publisher, the book is still on their site, they process the fees, and they also provide IRS documents, etc. This means that they are taking on some liability and a lot of accounting, so I won't receive all the money from my novel, I receive a percentage.
The difference here is the exact percentage. At Smashwords, I'm selling my eBook at $2.99. Of that $2.99, I receive $2.21! That's almost 74%. Of course, I've also priced the eBook at $2.99. I could have chosen a higher dollar figure and the amount per eBook would seem even more dramatic, why? In traditional publishing, most fiction authors receive somewhere in the neighborhood of a $1 per book sold (after the book earns back any advance money, if there was an advance).
Nice? I think so. This is heavy on my mind because if my account meets the minimum dollar figure, Smashwords will pay me royalties quarterly.
Note: The other sites that Smashwords has distributed to, such as Barnes & Noble, iTunes, etc. pay at different percentages. If a book is purchased as Barnes & Noble, they'll take a portion of the cost, and then send the rest back to Smashwords, who will also take a percentage. I'll receive the remainder. This is not a complaint; both sites deserve their cut for their work. I'm merely sharing with you how the electronic distribution and royalties are managed.
I'm so pleased to report that I actually made the minimum as of yesterday, so I'll get paid this quarter. Special thanks to my friends who talked about my eBook to other people. Word of mouth is my main sales driver.
Anyway, after the end of this month, I can expect to be paid for my work. That means I'm not just a published author, but a paid author. Will I ever be making living at this? I don't know, but the truth is, I very much hope so.
Friday, September 2, 2016
Qualms and Quirks
In a previous post, I mentioned my concerns about supplying my bank account number to Amazon in order to self-publish my ebook. The concerns revolve around hacking, not Amazon, but I just don't want my numbers out there. My solution: open a new bank account
That's what I did today, and I have since submitted my ebook to Amazon. It should appear in their catalog in 48-72 hours. That will complete my distribution to the ebookstores that I consider most important. I'm quite certain that there are other ebookstores that do a great deal of business and I'll be missing them, but for the moment I'm accepting that. If you happen to have a favorite online store other than the ones I've listed, please leave a comment. My greatest limitation for distribution is lack of knowledge of all the outlets.
That was all for qualms, now on to quirks.
The theme for my day was upsets and embarrassments, though the majority of those had nothing to do with my writing or publishing. I found a monstrous error in my ebook, the Title Page had the title for my next book! This wasn't true in the early distributions (I updated it once due to a dislike in formatting) but I found it today. The only word I can think of is mortifying! The wrong title!
While I will puzzled on how this happened, I set to correcting it immediately. A fresh upload to Smashwords has been completed and hopefully will distribute rather quickly. I don't have a rush of sales right now, so I'm not too worried anyone will stumble on it. But still...
Another quirk I ran into was on Barnes&Noble. They don't use ISBNs for ebooks. Instead, they assigned an EAN to my book. Searching by title will bring up the book, as will searching by EAN... but not the ISBN. I'm more than a little befuddled, but there it is.
So future self-publishers, you've been educated... not everything in publishing uses the ISBN after all.
It's the Labor Day weekend, so I'll sign off by wishing you a good holiday. I plan to relax and write. :)
That's what I did today, and I have since submitted my ebook to Amazon. It should appear in their catalog in 48-72 hours. That will complete my distribution to the ebookstores that I consider most important. I'm quite certain that there are other ebookstores that do a great deal of business and I'll be missing them, but for the moment I'm accepting that. If you happen to have a favorite online store other than the ones I've listed, please leave a comment. My greatest limitation for distribution is lack of knowledge of all the outlets.
That was all for qualms, now on to quirks.
The theme for my day was upsets and embarrassments, though the majority of those had nothing to do with my writing or publishing. I found a monstrous error in my ebook, the Title Page had the title for my next book! This wasn't true in the early distributions (I updated it once due to a dislike in formatting) but I found it today. The only word I can think of is mortifying! The wrong title!
While I will puzzled on how this happened, I set to correcting it immediately. A fresh upload to Smashwords has been completed and hopefully will distribute rather quickly. I don't have a rush of sales right now, so I'm not too worried anyone will stumble on it. But still...
Another quirk I ran into was on Barnes&Noble. They don't use ISBNs for ebooks. Instead, they assigned an EAN to my book. Searching by title will bring up the book, as will searching by EAN... but not the ISBN. I'm more than a little befuddled, but there it is.
So future self-publishers, you've been educated... not everything in publishing uses the ISBN after all.
It's the Labor Day weekend, so I'll sign off by wishing you a good holiday. I plan to relax and write. :)
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Spread your wings, my darling...
Heavenly Matchmaking: Meant To Be is now available on Smashwords, Kobo, and (drum roll, please) iTunes. How awesome is that? And get this, the estimated print length from iTunes is 472 pages. I suppose 117K+ words could generate that many pages in print.
My next manuscript is currently at 257K+ words. Hmm, better wrap it up before it rivals War and Peace. (And then edit and edit and edit and edit.)
Observation of the day: Driving in the rain, in a vehicle I am unfamiliar with ... struggling with windshield wiper controls, softer breaks, steering uniqueness ... Nightmare. Taking father to pick up more loving family at the airport in that vehicle, same storm ... Priceless. Welcome home, Mom and Sis!
My next manuscript is currently at 257K+ words. Hmm, better wrap it up before it rivals War and Peace. (And then edit and edit and edit and edit.)
Observation of the day: Driving in the rain, in a vehicle I am unfamiliar with ... struggling with windshield wiper controls, softer breaks, steering uniqueness ... Nightmare. Taking father to pick up more loving family at the airport in that vehicle, same storm ... Priceless. Welcome home, Mom and Sis!
Monday, August 29, 2016
And the distribution goes on...
The distribution from Smashwords.com has begun. Heavenly Matchmaking: Meant To Be is already up on Kobo.com. More locations to come. I've also made a page on Goodreads.com, which is how I discovered the book was available on Kobo.
What I've learned:
1) Instant publication to a single site is possible, it just depends on the site. Instant publication to multiple sites requires a wonderful little thing called the pre-order. I'll be investigating in more depth when I publish again and will report back.
2) All sites follow their own procedures and therefore have their own cycle time before adding a book to their catalog. I'm also told it is possible to be rejected, but so far so good. Smashwords was instant to their site. I was told to expect up to 3 days for Kobo, it was less than 4 hours.
3) I'm still dragging my feet with regard to publishing to Amazon. Reading all the terms I have to agree to has made me reconsider. And on top of the many rights you sign away (I'm still not sure I understand that and will be rereading tomorrow), they also want a bank account to electronically pay me. Sounds good until you think about the fact that then my bank account number is sitting out on some server somewhere just waiting to be hacked. Yes, more thought must go into this one.
4) I thought my coupons would work at any retailer, but I'm having trouble using one on Kobo, so it may only be on Smashwords that I can give discounts. It's also possible that more time is needed for the coupons to be active on other sites. More investigation required.
5) Despite living in a world of "instant" gratification, there are still things that take time, and patience truly is a virtue. (Still waiting to hear back from Goodreads about my author page... patience.)
Best wishes in your current endeavors.
What I've learned:
1) Instant publication to a single site is possible, it just depends on the site. Instant publication to multiple sites requires a wonderful little thing called the pre-order. I'll be investigating in more depth when I publish again and will report back.
2) All sites follow their own procedures and therefore have their own cycle time before adding a book to their catalog. I'm also told it is possible to be rejected, but so far so good. Smashwords was instant to their site. I was told to expect up to 3 days for Kobo, it was less than 4 hours.
3) I'm still dragging my feet with regard to publishing to Amazon. Reading all the terms I have to agree to has made me reconsider. And on top of the many rights you sign away (I'm still not sure I understand that and will be rereading tomorrow), they also want a bank account to electronically pay me. Sounds good until you think about the fact that then my bank account number is sitting out on some server somewhere just waiting to be hacked. Yes, more thought must go into this one.
4) I thought my coupons would work at any retailer, but I'm having trouble using one on Kobo, so it may only be on Smashwords that I can give discounts. It's also possible that more time is needed for the coupons to be active on other sites. More investigation required.
5) Despite living in a world of "instant" gratification, there are still things that take time, and patience truly is a virtue. (Still waiting to hear back from Goodreads about my author page... patience.)
Best wishes in your current endeavors.
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Why Did I Indie Publish?
I'm so wound up after today, with too much excitement for the publication of my first book, that I can't sleep. (What better time for a blog post than when you're dead tired, but wide-awake?)
I thought tonight I'd spend a few minutes talking about why I chose to be an Indie author/publisher. I have some comments posted on my author interview at Smashwords, but I'd like to expound a little more here.
What lead me to consider the idea of Indie publishing was, of course, a bit of disappointment from the traditional publishing industry. I had a real struggle getting any kind of response from anyone. I will say that the few who were kind enough to reject the work or to reject the work with feedback are my heroes. Some of that feedback changed the book as you can see it today. It's hard to believe that with the massive pile of queries coming in to these individuals, that they can take the time to write back.
But plenty of them didn't. I sent in query letters and heard nothing. Some websites say things like "you will only hear from us if we are interested" and that's fair. But it's also very disappointing to an author. I liken the experience to trying to communicate with a Black Hole, everything goes in, but nothing comes out.
The number of queries I was sending began to drop off as life became busier and I was not only holding down a full-time job, working on my next novel - now tentatively planned for an Indie release in January 2017 - but trying to be a good wife and mother. Rewriting and trying to perfect the query letter dropped lower and lower on my daily priorities list and eventually I stopped altogether.
Fast forward, I was asked last week how my current book was coming along. I was proud to say that I'm nearly finished with the first draft. I'm working on the climax and really hope to finish in the next few weeks. Then there will be some monstrous editing and it will be ready for publication.
It sounded fairly good, apart from the writer's block I've been having lately, but the question of the publication had come back to the forefront for me. Did I really intend to finish another book and go through all that querying again? Probably with the same results?
I'd seen articles about Indie publishing via some of my writers' groups and had read many with more than a little casual curiosity. But it came on suddenly, after talking to my very kind friend who took the time to ask about the book, the need to publish.
It wasn't about the time it could take to start querying again. It wasn't about the querying itself or the disappointment. I just suddenly needed to have my book out in the universe.
A book can't be liked or hated if it's nothing more than bytes on my computer. It can't share a story when it's in storage. Nothing would happen if I did... nothing.
So for a few days, I went the last steps investigating Indie publishing, seriously considering platforms and distribution methods and late last night, I suddenly has a plan. The execution of the plan began today.
I've no idea yet if it's for better or worse, but I know that I finally made that step. People can read my work, if they choose. Yes, it's a little terrifying. I desperately want my work to be loved and I know that it won't be universally. But, it's also extremely liberating and exciting.
There are other things I really like about Indie publishing that are in my author interview, linked above, so you might take a glance there if you are considering such a step yourself.
Whatever your plans and whatever comes to you tomorrow, good luck and good night!
I thought tonight I'd spend a few minutes talking about why I chose to be an Indie author/publisher. I have some comments posted on my author interview at Smashwords, but I'd like to expound a little more here.
What lead me to consider the idea of Indie publishing was, of course, a bit of disappointment from the traditional publishing industry. I had a real struggle getting any kind of response from anyone. I will say that the few who were kind enough to reject the work or to reject the work with feedback are my heroes. Some of that feedback changed the book as you can see it today. It's hard to believe that with the massive pile of queries coming in to these individuals, that they can take the time to write back.
But plenty of them didn't. I sent in query letters and heard nothing. Some websites say things like "you will only hear from us if we are interested" and that's fair. But it's also very disappointing to an author. I liken the experience to trying to communicate with a Black Hole, everything goes in, but nothing comes out.
The number of queries I was sending began to drop off as life became busier and I was not only holding down a full-time job, working on my next novel - now tentatively planned for an Indie release in January 2017 - but trying to be a good wife and mother. Rewriting and trying to perfect the query letter dropped lower and lower on my daily priorities list and eventually I stopped altogether.
Fast forward, I was asked last week how my current book was coming along. I was proud to say that I'm nearly finished with the first draft. I'm working on the climax and really hope to finish in the next few weeks. Then there will be some monstrous editing and it will be ready for publication.
It sounded fairly good, apart from the writer's block I've been having lately, but the question of the publication had come back to the forefront for me. Did I really intend to finish another book and go through all that querying again? Probably with the same results?
I'd seen articles about Indie publishing via some of my writers' groups and had read many with more than a little casual curiosity. But it came on suddenly, after talking to my very kind friend who took the time to ask about the book, the need to publish.
It wasn't about the time it could take to start querying again. It wasn't about the querying itself or the disappointment. I just suddenly needed to have my book out in the universe.
A book can't be liked or hated if it's nothing more than bytes on my computer. It can't share a story when it's in storage. Nothing would happen if I did... nothing.
So for a few days, I went the last steps investigating Indie publishing, seriously considering platforms and distribution methods and late last night, I suddenly has a plan. The execution of the plan began today.
I've no idea yet if it's for better or worse, but I know that I finally made that step. People can read my work, if they choose. Yes, it's a little terrifying. I desperately want my work to be loved and I know that it won't be universally. But, it's also extremely liberating and exciting.
There are other things I really like about Indie publishing that are in my author interview, linked above, so you might take a glance there if you are considering such a step yourself.
Whatever your plans and whatever comes to you tomorrow, good luck and good night!
I'm e-published!
Yesterday, I made the decision to Indie publish and I've published Heavenly Matchmaking: Meant To Be on Smashwords. I'm excited and proud to have put this book out into the Universe. Read a free sample of 20% of the book, available in epub, pdf, lrf, pdb, and the on-line reader.
(Is it weird that I'm thrilled to say "I have an ISBN" out loud? I hope not. ISBN: 9781370893577)
The complete book is available in epub, mobi, pdf, lrf, pdb, and an on-line reader.
This novel is currently available as an ebook on:
Smashwords at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/661637
Kobo at https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/heavenly-matchmaking-meant-to-be
iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/heavenly-matchmaking-meant/id1148769514?mt=11
Barnes&Noble at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/heavenly-matchmaking-kelly-lopushansky/1124491299?ean=2940153703770
Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Heavenly-Matchmaking-Meant-Kelly-Lopushansky-ebook/dp/B01LGL6MK8
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