10,000 Books Sold!

Blogger had technical difficulties, and they removed my post from the other day and it has disappeared completely. I am rewriting and this time I will save a copy on my PC. Sorry for the inconvenience of coming here and not seeing a post regarding selling 10,000 books. I'll start over. If my old message is restored, you might see two messages with the same header.

I have a pretty good imagination, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would sell thousands of books in such a short time! In under 10 weeks I have sold 10,000 books!

Amazon:             8,987
B&N:                   1,003
Smashwords:          13

On Wednesday night I hit the 10,000 books sold mark and I came to celebrate by writing a blog! Yay!

I also mentioned that I had received some emails from other writers who were interested in finding out more about formatting and publishing their book on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords. I'm just going to tell you how I went about self-publishing.

1. Write a great book! This is the easy part. Ha!

2. I learned basic HTML so I could make sure my ebooks would have smart quotes and wonderful looking m-dashes. If you hire someone to format your books, you can skip this part. I do think it would be helpful to download some ebooks on your PC or Ereader so you can look at various formats that other authors have used.

3. I learned a lot about self-publishing by reading Joe Konrath’s blog, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing at http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/ and I read a lot of articles on the internet. I also talked to other self-published writers. If you use Konrath's blog, I suggest you buy a few of his books because he is sharing a lot of great info over there.

4. I downloaded Derek Canyon’s, Format Your Ebook for Kindle in One-Hour

If you DO NOT want to spend time formatting, there are lots of people who will do it for you. Here is one place you can go for Kindle and Nook formatting: http://design.lkcampbell.com/

Here is another:  http://rikhall.com/

Do some research before you choose. Send them an email and get a quote.

5. My husband downloaded HomeSite5 on my PC so I could make changes in HTML and see those changes as I made them. He already had this software, so this did not cost me any money. You don’t need to do this. Many people use Notepad or Word to format their books and save as HTML for Kindle and Nook.

6. While your book is being formatted, I suggest you ready your bio, backcover blurb, pricing, etc.

7. Once my book was formatted and ready to go, I registered at KDP (this is where you go to download your ebook on Amazon): https://www.kdp.amazon.com/

8. I registered at PubIt (this is where you go to download your ebook on Barnes & Noble):  http://www.pubit.barnesandnoble.com/

9. I registered at Smashwords.com. Smashwords distributes your ebook to the Apple IBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony Reader Store, Kobo and the Diesel eBook Store. I have a lot to learn about Smashwords. Formatting was time consuming, so I hired Bryan Coker to format my latest book (bryansformatting@gmail.com), but I haven’t had time to download it yet. Email Bryan and tell him you would like a quote on having your book formatted for Smashwords. https://www.smashwords.com/

10. Promotion/Marketing: Use your blog to promote your books! Help other writers! Send out emails to your friends and family. READ Zoe Winters’ Becoming an Indie Author  This book is informative and interesting. I was wrong. There is LOTS of stuff on how to format, and Zoe Winters will also tell you what to expect when you self-publish. I found this to be a fun and informative read! I definitely use this book as my "how to" when it comes to being an indie author.

When you register with KDP, Pubit, and Smashwords, all of these places will provide lots of tips and advice on how to market your book.

11. Print on Demand. If you want to hold a paperback book in your hand, you can set up POD books with Amazon through CreateSpace. I plan to do this with all of my books before the end of the year. It’s FREE! Or you can go with their pro plan for $39. Read all about it right here: https://www.createspace.com/

That’s it for now. If you decide to self-publish, I wish you TONS of success!

If you have any questions at all, let me know and I will do my best to answer them.

Indie Author Sales Update

I've been an indie author for a little over two months now. I'm learning so much in such a short amount of time that I think I may be going crazy. Adrenaline is pumping through my veins giving me a constant high. This self-publishing indie author stuff is exciting to me. If you're jumping on the self-publishing train, you're probably going a little crazy, too. For me, this couldn't have happened at a better time. I've been writing for 19 years, and writing and whining for the past 5 years...Why me? Or should I say...why NOT me? I never stopped writing and submitting. I captured some interest from editors, I signed with agents, but selling the traditional way just wasn't in the cards for me. And guess what? I am sooo thankful. Self publishing in 2011 is turning out to be the best possible scenario for me. I love choosing my cover art. I love being in charge of my work. BUT, this is a lot of work.

I was warned. They were right.

How many books should I put out and how fast? Is this the right cover for this book? Should I change the title? Should I beg for reviews? How many beta readers will be enough? Did I catch every typo? I'm so busy editing and formatting my books, I don't have time to answer any of these questions running through my brain. I'm just taking one day at a time, learning all I can, editing every day and...writing! For now, other than a few tweets and emails, my website is the place where I talk to writers and readers and let them know what's going on.

At my last update (end of April, 2011) I believe I was selling 200 to 250 of the $.99 book (A Knight in Central Park) each day and about 20 of the $2.99 book (Return of the Rose) each day.

For the first week of May, 2011, I have sold an average of 150 to 175 of A Knight in Central Park (Amazon Sales Rank Averaging 240) and 45 per day of Return of the Rose (Amazon Sales Rank Averaging 1,300). 

So...the $.99 book is slowly winding down in sales...while the $2.99 book is slowly making it's way upward.  Interesting...

Taming Mad Max, a romantic comedy, started off like the others, selling one book a day the first week and five books a day the second week.

Finding Kate Huntley, a romantic suspense, was released on May 5th and has sold ONE copy...to me!

I have a thriller I am dying to release (pun intended) because it's my most recent work. I hope to release Abducted on May 14, 2011. After that happens, I plan to start blogging and doing a little FB promotion and maybe a few emails to my poor friends who will be thinking..."What the heck? Another book?"

A few people have called me prolific. That makes me laugh. My books are 400 pages and they take me nine months to write and then three months to polish. I wish I could write as fast as Amanda Hocking, but that's not going to happen. Abducted is 480 pages. I am trying to cut it down a bit, because as you can see, I tend to get a little wordy. I am just thankful I never stopped writing, even when I was whining I was still writing. That would be my advice to writers everywhere...keep on writing and enjoy the ride. I know I have!

I'm going to try and post twice a week. My next Money Talk Update will probably be posted after the second week in May. Next week I'll let you know what's happening at B&N and Smashwords.

Let me know if you have any questions. I'm off to take lots of pictures of my youngest daughter as she goes off to her Senior Ball. Happy Mother's Day to MOMS everywhere!!!