Indie Publishing - Self Publishing - How to make a Million

NOTE THIS IS A REWORKED VERSION OF AN EARLIER Archive ARTICLE

The road to self publishing is paved with gold - yeah, sure!

There's an interesting article HERE on this very subject. It's a refreshing read since all we seem to hear about are the mega sales of folk like Amanda Hocking and J A Konrath, but for every big seller there are thousands of others struggling with low, often non existent, sales. So why is this? Well there's a lot of dross out there, of course.But even well established authors, with a proven track record are finding it difficult to shift units in bulk.

Raymond Benson, a well known  writer, the third official author of the James Bond series, recently wrote about his own difficulties in selling his back list as eBooks and Archive friend, Chap O'Keefe, a very well respected western author, has reported that sales are slow with his own eBook titles.

Is it all about promotion?  Take Joe Konrath for instance - he constantly preaches promotion while making claims of massive sales, often selling a truck load of books before dinner time. And yet I've tried to corner him for an interview with the Archive for some time and had no response. John Locke, on the other hand, has talked to the Archive -  he holds the distinction of being the first self published author to sell a million titles. Congratulations John - we're thrilled for you. I could make the outlandish claim that the Archive is responsible for Locke's success, but of course it isn't as the author is a bloody good writer and his work is addictive. He has also worked long and hard at promoting his books but the most important fact is that they are engaging books.  However  in the spirit of outlandish claims I'm gonna' make it anyway - APPEAR ON THE ARCHIVE AND SELL A MILLION!!!!!!!!
 
It took some time for my hugely popular Granny Smith series to find a readership, but now that it has sales are strong from week to week, and a fourth title in the series will be published at the end of March 2016. I've promoted the hell out of these books - indeed the first three titles are currently at a low low price on Amazon until the new book comes out- and I shall continue to promote the series. 


Maybe readers are reluctant to buy eBooks by new authors after being stung by some of the badly written, badly edited crap out there, but that doesn't explain why true craftsmen like Chap O'Keefe and Raymond Benson  are struggling to make the eBook model work. At the moment we live in a world where anyone can easily publish a novel to eBook using Amazon, Smashwords or Barnes and Noble, and believe me many do - some it seems bang out something in a matter of days, bung up a cover with Photoshop and then press publish and  their creation is soon available to the world.

I do strongly believe though that true talent will shine through - at the moment the self publishing craze seems to have levelled out, but as time goes on readers will soon discover what is good and what is not. Self publishing platforms like Amazon really do need to introduce some quality control if they are to ensure their eShop contains nothing but quality writing, still I fear this will never happen since money is made from the good as well as the bad, and the bad outnumbers the good by seemingly sixteen squillionwilliontwillion to one.

Though have no fear - writers will continue to write, since that is what they have to do, what they must do.

Indie Publishing - Self publishing - Traditional publishers warned to recognise the worth of self published writers

Hannah MacDonald, currently at September publishing, warned industry insiders to send out polite rejection slips or risk losing future best-sellers to self publishing. Hannah who has worked for HarperCollins was speaking recently to the Independent newspaper and she stated that traditional publishers could do more to nurture young writers.

'It is very difficult for editors to find the time to add constructive criticism to rejections,' she told the newspaper. ' But if we can't communicate with the authors of the future we risk losing them to self publishing. They will abandon the traditional industry.'

Publishing must not be seen as a closed fortress, Hannah warned.

Indie Publishing: Self Publishing Basics - Dealing with self doubt

No matter how well you work social media, or how skilled you are at producing blog posts that generate  serious traffic, none of this will benefit you as a writer if you don't, first produce a decent book. If you're not prepared to put in the work in, many many hours with little if any financial reward then you'd be better off giving up now. Sorry to be so negative but that's just the way it is. You need to write a damn good book. That is the single most important step in your career as a writer - getting published is hard work, staying published and becoming successful is even harder, but without first having written the best book you can then you've got no chance.

There is no easy route to success. In fact if you want to make money quickly then writing is not the way to go -  you'd be better off getting a regular job but there are some of us who positively need to write. Writing is buried in our DNA and no matter how hard it becomes we have no choice but to torture ourselves creating our fictional worlds, and although we are regularly visited by self doubt we simply work through this, trusting in the dream that one day someone will recognise our work. It is for those people, this poor multitude of which I am a member, those with a burning in their gut that can only be soothed by applying the fingers to the keyboard, the pen to the page, that this series on Indie publishing/self publishing is aimed.

Audiobook - find the book at Amazon/Barnes and Noble

Self doubt is natural, though dangerous - we all feel it from time to time but the only thing to do with it is give  it a good kick in the balls, and stamp all over it when it hits the ground. I, like everyone else, get regular visits from the self doubt monster -  whenever a passage is not going well, or I struggle with a plot point, that monster is there, leaning over my shoulder and whispering in my ear - 'Give up, call it a day. Give up.'

 I've kicked that beastie in the balls so many times that my foot aches. Now I'm lucky in that I'm a hybrid author and have and continue to be traditionally published, so whenever I fail to see any worth in my work I simply tell myself that my agent, my publishers and my readers see that worth.


 Self/Indie publishing is something I do alongside my other books - this year for instance will see two of my books traditionally published - Riding the Vengeance Trail, a western written under the penname, Jack Martin will be released in hardcover this May from Crowood Press, and Dark Valleys, a non-fiction look at historical murders commited in the South Wales valleys will be out in paperback from Pen and Sword Books.  And then on the Indie/Self publishing front next month will see the publication of the fourth title in my popular

Granny Smith series, and I've also got another project, provisionally titled, The Reluctant Terrorist in the planning stages. There are other things going on, of course. There has to be if I want to sustain and grow my writing - the first of the Granny Smith books, Granny Smith Investigates (20012) which has twice hit the top ten in the Kindle Cozy Crime charts will make the transistion to audiobook next month.

Now granted many of you reading this may not have the kudos of having a traditional publisher in order to soothe away self doubt, but that doesn't matter. If you are meant to write, then you'll do just that and with hard work, a lot of hard work, success is there for the taking. It may take awhile, a long long while to get there but real writers will get there, no matter how long it takes they will get there.

Below are a list of just three of the many authors who have made it big in the self publishing world, so when self doubt takes hold then take heart from the magnificent trio below. They've done it and so can you.

Kevin Bochaz

Kevin Bohacz -  Kevin saw his first two books, Immortality and it's sequel, Ghost of the Gods explode on Amazon, occupying high positions in the charts. His almost immediatel success surprised him -    “It baffled me,and I was really looking for the cause because I’d like to be able to repeat it.”   Though Kevin's sucess is no mystery. He simply write good, compelling stories and the readers found him.


Russ Colchamiro - in 2010 he published, Finders Keepers, and found success that many of us can only dream of. He wrote this book while balancing a full-time job and three-year-old twins, so dedication is it seems of paramount importance if you want to replicate this success. And since then he has built on the first novel and created a franchise that seems to gather fans at the rate of knots. Part Terry Pratchett, part Douglas Adams, Ross has given us a universe that we want to return to time and time again.

Joe Konrath

Joe Konrath - works in the thriller, mystery and horror genres and what is truly remarkable about Joe is that as well as churning out hugely popular fiction, he manages to maintain a Indie publishing blog that is a must read for anyone interested in indie writing - the newbies guide to publishing. Joe is outspoken and often seems to be on a mission to bring traditional publishing to its knees, but above all else he writes damn good books. I've not a fan of his horror work but his mysteries are favourites...I recently read his, Cherry Bomb and found myself both laughing out loud and gnawing at my fingernails. I may not always agree with what Joe has to say on his blog but I always return to read more...you should too.
 


 

Indie Publishing: 2016 - The State of Play

Looking back through the archives of this blog, the reader will discover that I've always supported digital publishing. Right at the beginning, when the Kindle was just one of the eReaders fighting for our hearts, minds and money - back in 2011 in fact, in an article entitled, The Times they are a'changing, I wrote, 'It's a new phenomenon and many in the publishing industry believe that the lunatics have finally taken over the asylum - only recently there was a stigma against self publishing, which seemed to be lumped under that dreaded term, Vanity Publishing. These days however things are changing - and rapidly. With the advent of eBooks and the ease in which anyone can publish to a platform like Amazon's Kindle, we are seeing newcomers outselling long established names.'

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

And now in 2016 the eBook market has, if not mutured, then at least entered it's troubled teenage years. The Kindle device now dominates the market, although there are other eReaders that have pretty solid user bases. Kobo eReaders for one have a strong following, as does the Nook but for the writer it is the Kindle which is the gold standard. Amazon have the best eBook store out there and for author's hoping to gain an audience it is the Kindle that  offers the best opportunities. Though that is not to say you should ignore the other platforms and it is a good idea when producing your eBook file to create an ePub version alongside the mobi for uploading to marketplaces other than Amazon.


I got into self publishing, though I prefer the term Indie Publishing, back in 2012 when I made the first of the Granny Smith series available to the Kindle and Kobo devices. I'm what you would call a hybrid author - I publish traditionally with Crowood Press and Pen and Sword Books, but I also publish my cozy crime novels under my own own digital publishing house, Red Valley Books. This year will also see two of my western novels, LawMaster and Wild Bill Williams published by the excellent Piccadilly Publishing. Sales of the Granny Smith series have been strong with both Granny Smith Investigates and Granny Smith and the Deadly Frogs going top five several times in the Cosy

Crime charts. The first book, Granny Smith Invetigates went as high as No 2.

Next month will see the publication of the fourth Granny Smith title, Mudrer Plot and in the build up to publication the previous three titles are on offer for the knock down price of 0.99c or equivalent. So now may be a good time for new readers to check out the books.

Now after several years of self publshing - no scrub that and start again - Now after several years of INDIE PUBLISHING I have learned one or two things, and I intend to share these hard learned lessons with readers of the Tainted Archive through a series of articles that goes under the collective  title, Indie Publishing. This article here is an introduction to the series, and I aplogise upfront if I mention my Granny Smith series several times in each article...hey, the importance of  self publicity is one of the things you'll learn during this series of articles.

Next: Writing that book