Guest Blogger: Ian Hocking (again)

Hocking's Progress: Part II

Previously, on Me and My Big Mouth: I threw a hissy at the end of last year and decided that I didn't want to play with publishers any more because they were just beastly. Then Michael S Fuchs told me to publish my book on the Amazon Kindle. I did so directly; he knows guns.

Last week, I completed the nine-month-long (steady) process of putting out unpublished manuscripts on the Kindle. The first of them, Déjà Vu: A Technothriller, has been in the top twenty list of science fiction bestsellers since its publication in March. Nobody, least of all me, is quite sure why.

I now have four books published for the Amazon Kindle. Two of them represent the first instalments of The Saskia Brandt series: Déjà Vu: A Technothriller, and Flashback. The third is literary fiction: A Moment in Berlin. The fourth, and newest, is a comedy called Proper Job.

Déjà Vu is also available for iBooks and - via Smashwords - Barnes and Noble, and the myriad smaller players that make up the ebook market. Let me say right now that I can count the sales for those non-Amazon outlets on a Muppet's fingers.

For the Kindle, I have sold 8121 books. The numbers break down as follows: Déjà Vu (March - present) 6002; Flashback (May - present) 2085; A Moment in Berlin (August - present) 34; Proper Job (November 5th - present) 14.

That's for the big wide world. Broken down by region, I've sold 7518 books in the UK, 583 in the USA, and 20 in Germany.

Sales profiles have been approximately similar for the science fiction novels. They began selling two or three copies per day. After some marketing, they increased to about 25 per day for Déjà Vu and about 10 per day for Flashback. Déjà Vu hovers around the 400th ranked book (paid) in the UK store, whereas Flashback holds around 1000th.

In terms of income, pre-tax, the books earned out their initial, fixed costs some time ago. Total earnings are £2072.11 and $222.76, excluding October's sales, which will probably be about £220 and $55. (Interestingly, the US figure will be subject to a 30% tax deduction from the IRS unless I can secure a personal US tax ID. Wish me luck.)

Generally, I've kept the price of the books the same: 86p in the UK and 99c in the US. There are several reasons behind this choice, but I want to concentrate on data here.

How much money have I spent? Well, my expenditure is somewhat random because I have no idea what I'm doing. Plus, like any good gambler, I've only gambled with my winnings. I pay as little as possible for an advert and tend to repeat it if there is an impact on sales. Facebook represents a good opportunity for the advertiser because people tend to be both explicit and truthful about their tastes. So you can target people over the age of sixteen and like Iain M Banks. Otherwise, I've made sure to have industry professionals edit and proof the books. I hired Clare Christian (Flashback, Proper Job) and Olivia Wood (Proper Job).

Thus far I've blown through £1,768.40 in the UK and $434 in the US. This breaks down as follows: Flashback cover £699.13, editing £425, advertising $50; Déjà Vu advertising $343 in the US, £40 in the UK; Proper Job editing £500. I've also bought a couple of essential bits of software: VMWare Fusion and the Shorter OED.

So outgoings right now are £1768.40 and $434 (about £270). Call that £2038.40. Incomings are £2072.11 (plus £250 for October) and $222.76. Swipe the 33% US tax off that last figure and you get a total of about £2368.

Money £329.60; sales 8121.

Them's the data.

Comments

[Peter Jones]

The best bit is that now those expenses have been covered it is all profit from here on in :) No reprints to pay for as with a paperback. Ebooks are such a good source on income. Well done!

[Elizabeth Moss]

I've had three Regency romances on Kindle since July and August, and one of those is also now on Smashwords (The Earl & His Tiger), since yesterday.

I've sold about 19,000 copies to date, mostly at 99 cents but also more recently at the princely sum of $2.99.

Regency romances is where it's at, sales-wise. Perhaps if you could just work in a few comedy-of-manners moments, and perhaps a cravat?

I have not yet obtained my ITIN either, so Amazon is living high on my earnings until I apply for one. But my advice would be, try to use the Smashwords 'this person needs an ITIN' letter (available once you've sold $10 worth there) rather than the Amazon one, which I have heard is a bit dodgy in the eyes of the IRS.

[Stella Deleuze]

Yeah, self-publishing is a bitch if you don't sell thousands per months, but then how many people do you hear saying, 'I just want to be read?'

All false. I want to be read, too, but I also want to earn money. By the way, I'm self-published with two books and sold just over 3500 since March. Third book to come out in December (a sequel); remains to be seen how it will sell.

Still, I never regretted doing it. My books are read, I receive great reader-feedback, particularly on twitter and I can move on to the next project. Why wasting time to submit when you can put it out there? Not saying not to submit at all, but if it's not successful after a few months, why not test the market by self-publishing? You never know what happens.

[Ian]

@Peter

That's definitely one of the nice things about the enterprise. I believe I'll continue to plough profits into the next books (since they'll take a few hundred pound to prepare in terms of editing, etc.). Thanks for your comment.

@Elizabeth

Excellent work! That's great. As you read above, I haven't had any success with Smashwords (or iBooks)... Part of me is glad because the Smashwords parser played hell with the layout of my books. I prefer them on the Kindle right now, where I can control the final product more readily.

Re: the ITIN, I've been dragging my feet on this one because it seemed like such a pain; plus, I make so little in the US it's hardly worth the bother. Thanks for your comment.

@Stella

Well done on your sales. It's great to receive reader feedback, isn't it? Makes the whole thing worthwhile. Do you see the Kindle as a stepping stone to a traditional publishing deal?

[Maria (BearMountainBooks)]

Although they withhold the 30 percent you can still apply to get it back, right? And the person who said to use the smashwords letter--give it a go. Mark at smashwords blogged about it and they fought a good battle to get things straightened out. May as well use the expertise.

Congrats on the sales and success. That is awesomely wonderful!!!

Thanks also for sharing numbers and data with us!

[Ian]

Thanks, Maria - hello again! Yes, I believe that the US tax situation can be sorted (in terms of a reduction) if I apply for it within a year. However, the revenue has been so small I'm not sure I will...

[Philippa Davies]

Just want to say Ian - this is such useful content and many thanks. Resending to young writers needing encouragement and inspiration.

[Ian]

Thanks for your comment, Philippa. I hope the data are useful...

[Frankie S.]

This is a super interesting post. I rarely see people talking about how much they spend on getting a manuscript ready for self publishing.

I have a question about professional editors--what exactly do they do? Is it proofreading and line editing, or do they make suggestions for massive changes? (Like: cut this character, combine these ones, this whole secondary storyline makes no sense, etc.)

[Clark K]

Give or take a few %. Kindle take 70% of total revenues so far. You make just short of 5% of total sales after you have taken off 25% of costs. Your 5% is not profit either if you chooses to charge your time out 1) for the time spent writing the book, and 2) for the time spent marketing editing and so on.
On the face of it no sane businessman would put pen to paper, he would be buying shares in Amazon and hoping enough authors think a couple of hundred bucks clear for 500 hours work is a great pay-off.

[Ian]

@Frankie

Thanks for your comment. In terms of editing, there is a defined hierarchy of editing (that I forget), but basically follows from large changes to medium changes to small changes. I had two editors for Proper Job because I probably introduced errors when I entered changes based on the first editor's report. Then I had a proofreader scour the text for typos (being human, they can't get all of them, but they'll do enough to it in the same category as a traditionally published book). Essentially, in terms of editing, you do whatever your book needs to make it better.

Hope that helps,
Ian

[Ian]

@Clark K

Thanks for your comment. That's true enough, though remember that the initial costs are fixed, so it's more than 5 per cent. However, the numbers don't matter too much. The take-home message is that I was able to get my book to readers without a publisher (treating Amazon as a distributor for the moment) and without having to pay anybody. The money that's come in has paid for the editing and covers of the next books.

As for an hourly rate, it's best not to think of these things! You do what you have to do to make the book work - a fast process for some writers, a slow process for others. It's better to thing of the Kindle situation in contrast to the situation without out - that is, with the books still on my hard drive, read by no-one.

[Stella Deleuze]

Hello, Ian

Thank you. Yes the positive feedback is balm for a writer's soul. One reader has my novel in her all-time-favourites folder now. Which made me shed a few tears, and another told me on twitter he had his mum (82) reading my short stories and she pissed herself with laughter (his words).

Do I think e-publishing is a stepping stone? Yes and no.
- Yes, because a book can take off without the author doing anything at all if it's a popular genre. If it sells well, one can use the money to get it into print and in the shops. The problem is that if your book isn't in the top 20 -- meaning visible -- your sales drop. You need constantly high sales and that means a lot of work re promoting, etc., and even that doesn't mean you'll 'make it'.

- No, because if you don't write in a popular genre, but still have a beautiful, wonderful, interesting, gripping, whatever it is that doesn't fit into the shoehorned genres, you are not likely to succeed.

If you are with one of the big six you have your book out there in the shops in the reader's face. Often in the section of new books, recommended by staff, three for two, etc. If you have that in all shops around the country, you're more likely to succeed. Although it's still no guarantee.

I give all my books a fair amount of time to be 'picked up', if not, I'll self-publish. My shorts were picked up, but I decided to go ahead with self-publishing anyway. Didn't like the 'format' they wanted to publish it.

By the way: self-publishing didn't cost me anything. I edit myself, have Beta-readers to give feedback pre-editing, have friends who help me correcting/proof-reading (I'm not English), a friend who does the covers for me. So self-publishing is a good way to get your writing out there for zilch.

[Ian]

@Stella

I laughed about the 82-year-old wetting herself - great stuff.

I think it's too early to know for sure what the best route forward is. Maybe there's version of me in a parallel universe who banged on more doors and got a traditional deal out of it.

> - No, because if you don't write in a popular genre, but still have a beautiful, wonderful, interesting, gripping, whatever it is that doesn't fit into the shoehorned genres, you are not likely to succeed.

For the Kindle store, the opposite could well be true here. Since bookshops don't cater for niches, and need high rate of churn, they simply don't do very well at stocking books that attract a small percentage of their customers. But that small percentage could still be a high absolute number, so you could see decent sales on the Kindle for a niche book. In the book shops, it wouldn't even be stocked.

> If you are with one of the big six you have your book out there in the shops in the reader's face. Often in the section of new books, recommended by staff, three for two, etc. If you have that in all shops around the country, you're more likely to succeed. Although it's still no guarantee.

That's true enough, but you have be attached to one of the big six! Very few good writers are.

> By the way: self-publishing didn't cost me anything. I edit myself, have Beta-readers to give feedback pre-editing, have friends who help me correcting/proof-reading (I'm not English), a friend who does the covers for me. So self-publishing is a good way to get your writing out there for zilch.

I've yet to read a good book that wasn't edited by a third party - but maybe yours is the one!

Best wishes
Ian

[Anita burns]

I also can count my sales on Muppet fingers. However, at this point, I do very little promotion. I have a boatload of manuscripts that I am converting to epub via Adobe InDesign and uploading to B&N and Amazon. I am thinking about purchasing a bulk of ISBNs and uploading to Apple I-Tunes too.

I am one of the lucky ones. I was a professional graphic designer and editor, although I use another editor for my books. Lucky again, my best friend/ex husband is an editor and my current husband is a genius at catching things like incongruities, inconsistencies, etc. as for art, I do most of my own illustrations and all of my own covers. My years of professional work taught me Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, plus Poser, Vue, Carrara, etc.

So,, with the high end Mac equipment and software costs balanced against my low sales, my books are pretty expensive to produce even with me doing it all. It doesn't matter, I will keep writing anyway.

[Stella Deleuze]

Ian

If you bought my short stories you'd be massively disappointed. ;-) There was a communication problem with my friend who proof-read it for me (same with my novel) and she 'kept my voice' by keeping my awkward phrasing and syntax. I had no idea, because I had to trust blindly. None of the readers complained, only the novel recieved that one review complaining about it and you have no idea how embarrassed I was. The novel is fixed, but the shorts need some more time. I'm with you, though, I too, have yet to find a self-published book that impresses me. There's a lot of drivel out there. I wish more people would care about their books. Being an author is a profession; at least, that's how I see it. Hence my having others to cast an eye over my writing.

Anyhow, as to the niche market: yes, it might be a great way to get your book out there, but it's hard work to promote it. I consider humour, thriller, crime, chick lit, romance and paranormal romance as commercial; maybe I'm wrong, but that's what sells rather well. Biographies or misery lit, literary fiction, that's what sells rather well if published through a publisher with a name. (To get away from the big six, as I agree, not many are with them and even if, sales might disappoint.)

I once said something that upset people: if your book doesn't sell despite all efforts, then maybe you have written something nobody is interested in; and the 'you' includes myself. I'm rather rational about the publishing business.

[Ian]

@Anita

Sounds like you have a dream setup... With regards the marketing, it needn't be onerous. By which I mean that you do small things that have a big effect. For instance, if you post on the US-based Kindle Forums website, your post can be read by several hundred people in an hour. That's free. Facebook adverts are also quite cheap (fifty quid will get you a good couple of days' exposure at exactly the people who want to target).

Nice website, by the way...

Cheers
Ian

[Ian]

@Stella

> I'm with you, though, I too, have yet to find a self-published book that impresses me.

Actually, I've read a few that have impressed me - but they were professionally edited.

> I consider humour, thriller, crime, chick lit, romance and paranormal romance as commercial; maybe I'm wrong, but that's what sells rather well.

I think you're right. These are popular genres because there is plenty of interesting fiction out there under this heading. Interestingly, science fiction seems to do very well, and it might have something to do with the uptake of Kindles among first-adopting gadget lovers (in the UK anyway). An unfeasibly large portion of the people who get back to me about my books comprises Linux developers! Weird.

> I once said something that upset people: if your book doesn't sell despite all efforts, then maybe you have written something nobody is interested in; and the 'you' includes myself. I'm rather rational about the publishing business.

It's quite possible, but I think I'd read a book about screwdrivers if the writer was enthusiastic and talented. I'm in the middle of Simon Garfield's 'Just My Type' - about fonts - for that reason. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1846683025/theaardvarboo-21

Best wishes
Ian

[Stella Deleuze]

Oh, I think I'd love to read a book about screwdrivers ;-) Bit into DIY, me.

And you're right re Science Fiction. It does do well, which is fantastic. I used to read it a lot when I was younger. Must get back into it.

As for the talent: it's hard to nail down; what I think is great talent, you might not like. However, it's great that we can reach our readers directly. I don't regret to have self-published and it seems you don't either.

Best of luck to you and your future. It was superb discussing with you. I'll take a look at the above mentioned book.

Best,

Stella

[Ian]

I think Scott's next book should be 'The Screwdriver' :-)

Take care
Ian

[Stella Deleuze]

It would be hilarious. POV Screwdriver and how he's treated by the various people and complaining what he's used for, like opening cans, poking in various gaps and holes(bathroom/kitchen), etc.
Could be rather funny. I once did a POV frying pan. :-)

Have a great weekend; the both of you.

Stella

[Randy Attwood]

Would love to hear more comments about the hows of using facebook and twitter for marketing.

[Ian]

@Randy

That could easily be a post in itself... The main thing to do is set up a Twitter account, use it regularly, respond appropriately to readers, and try not to do anything that looks like traditional marketing (i.e. if you're going to share a link, do it when the link itself has intrinsic value). As for Facebook adverts, they are straightforward and - given the amount of private data they collect! - easy to target.

Best wishes
Ian