Nothing earth shattering has happened since Sunday. LOL. Good word counts the past couple of days. No exercise…my walking partner is on vacation…I’ve been a slacker. I haven’t felt very well, either, but I suspect exercise would make me feel BETTER. Silly me for not doing it.
I’m 2/3 through proofing Vampires’ Curse for print. A word about that. If it were just for my benefit, I’m not sure I would even put anything in print, although it’s nice to hold my book in my hands. But there are still readers out there who want a print book. It’s for them that I do this. It would be free if I didn’t want expanded distribution, but I pay $25 to do that. However, I make only about 50-75 cents per book when bookstores (other than Amazon) or libraries buy it (versus about $2.75 if readers buy it from Amazon). Is it worth it? I haven’t yet decided. I hate to limit where readers can buy my books, but it will take a long time, if ever, to make up that $25. It seems I spend a lot of time and money sometimes doing things to benefit other people. But…I sort of feel like that’s one reason we’re put on this planet. What do the rest of you think? Should I stop paying for expanded distribution? What would you do? It’s free to distribute to Amazon, since Amazon owns CreateSpace. But I have almost as many sales from the expanded distribution venues. I can’t decide what to do with this latest print book.
Hi Lauralynn. It’s smart to do the math and think about how long it will take you to recover the $25 at 50 to 75 cents per book. But you can’t just take a short-term view. If you’re making that back in sales within a year, I’d say that’s great. If you never expect to see it back, then those “people” you’re doing it for may be an illusion… So many decisions, eh? Some days that totally excites me, and sometimes I bury my head in the writing sands. 🙂
It’s so hard to know what to do sometimes. I hate to limit where my book is distributed. Plus…I can take the $25 off my taxes. 🙂
Okay, here’s the way I look at it: I’m an author and a publisher. In publishing, there are certain costs involved in doing the job right. Breaking them down individually and figuring out when each investment will return isn’t how I think of it. It’s more, will this book be able to pay back the investment, and can I afford it right now? So I’ll pay for expanded distribution because, to me, my decision to self-publish has already restricted my distribution. I need to make the book as widely available as I can if I can afford that $25. Which I can because the ebooks will pay that back pretty quickly.
Of the two books I have out, I make 44 cents on one and 59 cents on the other through EDC. But I never expected to make a lot of money on print books, and just consider it extra.
I’ll admit that I haven’t done audio yet because a) I never feel like I have enough money for that (even though it’s not that expensive and the ebooks would pay it back), b) I don’t see the demand for it and no one’s ever asked me to, and c) I’ve just been kind of avoidant about doing something new. But if I did, it would be the same idea. It would be costs incurred by the book as a whole to widen its reach and I would think in terms of the book paying back rather than the format.
HM made it’s fee back in the first year. HTC won’t. I still plan to pay it for HUS.
HTH
I like the way you’re thinking. My sales in ebooks will DEFINITELY pay for the costs for expanded distribution. So, looking at it as a whole instead of whether or not the PRINT book will make the money back, it’s not that big of an investment.
As far as audio is concerned, I DO think it’s expensive. LOL. I had a narrator quote me a price that floored me. But, at a website that had different pricing levels, the cost was much less. Still, it was more than I think I’m ready to pay right now.
Upfront costs are always a bummer, but there’s always the chance that you’ll make that much (and more!) from activating the service. (Remember that as long as you are making money off writing within the next three years, you can write it off on your taxes!)
And as Susan pointed out, I make a lot more on my ebooks, so I need to think of it as the whole business, not just each format separately. And you better believe I’ve been writing business expenses off on my taxes. 🙂
Ah, see, I wasn’t sure if you were thinking of them as a whole or separate. I completely agree with Susan – because that’s just how I assumed I would think of my sales.
Hah! Glad you’ve been doing that. I’ve been hesitant to start until I actually have a finished novel (since then I’ll be able to definitely claim income from it within 3 years) but I’ve taken so many writing courses… and the books… the books! *cries*
My book is available in ebook form only, but I would love to have it print also so people who dislike digital books can read it. Going forward, I’d like to make my work available in both digital and paperback.
Who knows. Maybe Vampires’ Curse will take off when it’s in print and you’ll make up the cost in no time. Fingers crossed.
There’s no reason not to offer it in print, especially since it’s free except for the expanded distribution. (I’ve decided to go ahead and do that since I make enough off of ebooks to pay for it.) It’s a little bit of work to format for print, but I kind of like doing it. 🙂 Yes, I do hope Vampires’ Curse will take off! Thanks for keeping your fingers crossed for me!
I opted for expanded distribution channels, but then enrolled in KDP Select. I’m not sure I equal the sales so I’ll probably un-enroll. I don’t know! I think I’ll decide after the year ends and I see how sales go through the fall/winter.
I do like the idea of books in print, my first novel is in print. If The Third Fate sells well, I will publish it in paperback also. But I’ve considered waiting until I write another in the ‘series’…they will be stand alone books, but use characters from The Third Fate….I think demand may be higher once there are more books in the series. ?? We’ll see.
Glad to hear the words are coming nicely! :}
The expanded distribution for ebooks, though, is free. LOL. I didn’t do KDP Select because I didn’t think it was fair to only allow readers with Kindles to read my books. What about my Nook readers? And iPad readers? I would have lost my B & N sales, as well as the sales through Smashwords (Apple, Sony, Kobo, etc.).Some authors seem to be doing well with Select, though. It’s a personal choice for each author.
You could wait until the next in the series is out. You have to decide. I can’t remember if your current historical is a novel or novella. But if it’s a novella, you could always combine two or three historical novellas into one print book. I did that with three paranormal romance novellas. Oh, the possibilities! 🙂
I have zero experience in publishing, but a LOT of experience in customer service, and generally speaking, making every customer feel like they matter is always a great idea.
Hi Mhairi! I agree about customer service. In my full time job, I deal with internet customers, and our company policy is to make the customer happy. Sometimes they call with a bad attitude, thinking they are going to have to fight for what they want. Then they’re surprised when we say, “Sure, we’ll take care of that for you.” Readers are the customers of the author. And I want to make them happy. 🙂
Not even being close on my personal journey to even think about this, I have to say I think Susan is on the right track. And I completely agree with you on KDP Select…I had a Nook first 🙂 I love your attitude that readers are an author’s customers. Best of luck with your decision.
Thanks, Raelyn. Susan always has good advice. 🙂
Without readers, writing couldn’t be a career, only a hobby. We have to treat them with the respect they deserve, right?
I would have to say that as a reader, I appreciate having as many choices as possible. I am a fanatic for ebooks now, but there was a long time that I didn’t touch them. I agree with Susan and everyone else that looking at it as a whole is a good idea. Without having actually had any experience, I feel like for 25 dollars which is essentially how much I’d spend for me and the boyfriend to eat somewhere like Panera, that I would do that even if I never made it back.
Geesh hit post before I meant to!! Glad you’re keeping up with the words, annnnd have a great rest of the week!
Hi Lauren. Yeah, $25 isn’t much anymore, is it? If you ate at a nicer restaurant, you might spend that just on yourself. LOL. I’m pretty sure I’m going to continue to pay for expanded distribution for all my print books.
I hope you have a great week, too! 🙂