It’s certainly been an exciting few weeks as the word is
slowly getting out about my debut novel.
I can’t begin to describe the thrill I felt when I held my own copy in
my hands. No matter how many books I might be lucky enough to write, I don’t
think I’ll ever get over that feeling of accomplishment! As far as the royalty
factor, with self-publishing, you name the price you want to place on your
novel. That can be a little hard to
determine, because obviously the higher the price, the higher the royalty. But you do have to consider some things. If you price it too high, no one will buy it,
or at least few will. If you price it
too low, first of all, the royalty will be very low, but also people might get
the impression you don’t think your book is very good if you set the price too
low.
I did a little research on both my textbook and my
novel. I went to various book sites and
took a look at similar books (type of book, number of pages) and determined a
basic average of pricing. I figured as
long as I was within the averages, I would be okay. 
No matter what you charge, the royalty is not all that
high. It’s frustrating because there is
so much time that goes into writing. My
MT textbook took me literally years and lots of research to write, and even my
novel took me about a year, although I did have times where I was not working
on either book, so it was not continuous full-time work. I
honestly don’t know if royalties are higher if you go with traditional
publishing, but I felt I did not have the time to explore that. I was too anxious to get my book out there,
so self-publishing was the way to go for me.
Keep in mind, part of the reason why the royalty is low is
because I’m not printing my book, shipping it, or making it available in
digital form. All of that has to go into
the percentage the publisher is going to take.
If you want to make a living as a writer, unless you get very lucky and
actually sell millions (I can dream, can’t I?), then you have to just keep
writing. Luckily, I enjoy doing that, so
novel #2 is at its beginning stages. I
love trilogies, so I plan to write two more novels that are related to the
first one. Then after that, I’ll have to
dream up an entirely new type of trilogy, maybe a mystery. Right now, it’s a mystery where all this
writing is going to take me, but I can tell you part of the fun is the not
knowing what lies ahead!
I also have to market myself because I am a new writer. Family and friends are very supportive,
buying my book, and thankfully, they feel it is a good read. I want more than just family and friends to
read my novel, especially since I plan to write more. I don’t expect to sell millions of copies or
even thousands, but I would like to see if I can reach a goal of maybe in the
hundreds. So to that end, again I’m doing the research. I have some reading to do on how to use
things like Facebook to help get my name and novel out there. I have been looking at other Facebook author
pages to see what they are posting, although so far most of what I have found
are established authors, so right now I am focusing on getting myself
established as hopefully a readable author. I’m also taking a look at message forums
devoted to writers. Some of them have a
monthly fee, or you can sign up by quarters or yearly. I have not decided yet if I’m going to do
that, but it is nice to know there is so much information out there to get
the help you need. I would love to
attend a writer’s workshop and will be looking to see if any might be coming to
my area.
I did have one unfortunate incident on a site with a message
forum that very much came as a surprise. I found a Facebook page devoted to
older women, facing retirement or new jobs, various challenges and the
like. I thought it might be perfect for
me, since I fell naturally in that category.
I posted, asking if I could announce my novel, and the owner of the page
suggested I post my book on the forums located on her website and even sent me
the link. So I joined up, introduced
myself, and then posted about my book. I did not want to just post about that
and nothing else (there are several topics on this forum), so I also posted in
a few other places. Mind you, this all
took place over about one or two days. I
was checking in often to make sure I would thank anyone who congratulated me on
the book, and the next night while in bed reading, I went to check in, and I
get this message that says I have been blocked from the boards. I contacted support, and they said someone
complained about my posting about my book.
I was absolutely floored. I was not contacted or even given a chance to
explain that the site owner had actually given me permission to post. Apologies were sent to me by both support and
even the site owner, but I decided to withdraw.
Obviously someone on that site did not like me, so I was not about to
have to walk on egg shells any time I posted or gave any hint to my writing
career.
The reason I am sharing this with you is because, if you
come across negativity, nasty comments, rudeness, or anything that makes you
feel uncomfortable or even makes you doubt yourself, then walk away from
it. As I said above, there is literally
tons of information and support out there, so there is no need to force
yourself on anyone. I certainly don’t
expect everyone to like my style of writing or my stories. I definitely have read books that I didn’t
like and even a few I didn’t finish.
Focus on the positive, the good comments, the congratulations, the excitement
of reaching your goals, whether it’s writing or some other adventure.
Oh and one last bit of advice. If you do self-publish, try your best not to
check out your account page every 30 minutes like I do. Even if you know your book is selling, the
sale does not get posted right away. It
can take several days after the sale for it to appear on your account. I’m going to try very hard to take my own
advice, but I have a feeling I won’t follow it!
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