Sheron McCartha is a science fiction author, reader, and reviewer who blogs over at Scifi Book Review. She does a great job keeping track of what’s happening in the indie publishing world and has stopped by to share some good news. Take it away, Sheron…
Numbers. Bah! I work with words. So what can a bunch of numbers tell me that could help with my writing?
Well…
The Written Word (Freebooksy, Bargain booksy and other ad sites for authors) surveyed 38,000 authors. They compared a group of authors who made $100k or more a year (called $100k Authors) to authors making $500 or less a year (called Emerging Authors). Note that their group of authors are skewed toward the romance genre. Also note that a portion of the blockbuster authors didn’t engage in the survey as they were out on their boats drinking champagne, but still some interesting facts emerged that you as an author can take to the bank.
What made the difference?
1. The longer an author has been writing, the more money they tended to make. So if you’re struggling with a book or two, have patience. Persistence is the key. (I needed that. I so needed to hear that.)
2. Publishing Indie is a viable way to success. Self publishers get a much larger percent of royalties. Does it matter how you publish? Most authors in the survey were Indie authors. Only 5% were traditionally published authors, and none of those made the $100K group. Of those in the $100K subset, 72% were Indie and 28% Hybrid.
Interestingly, another survey, May 2016 Author Earnings reports that “the vast majority of traditional publishing’s mid-list or better earners started their career over a decade ago. Their more recently debuted peers are not doing anywhere near as well.”
Within the hybrid subset, 100K authors are present at a higher percentage than Emerging Authors (28% vs 17%). This may be a result of traditional authors taking their books back from a house and self-publishing them, or a self-publisher getting a large platform that attracts a traditional publishing house. Many successful authors are taking advantage of both worlds. Confused by numbers and want a picture? Here’s a visual:
3. “Going wide” or limiting to KDP Select didn’t make a difference in how much money the authors made.
4. The $100K group spent more than $100 for a professional cover. None spent over $1000. Looking professional is important, but you don’t have to break the bank.
5. Also important is spending your money on a professional editor. In the $100K group, 96% spent money on an editor while half of those spent from $250-$500, at least 20% shelled out $500-$1000. In the Emerging Authors camp, 56% spent up to $50, but everyone admitted it was important to have another pair of eyeballs read over the work.
6. In both $100K and Emerging Authors categories, the author handles the marketing. Those authors making more money often hire assistants to help them with this fun chore. Also, everyone in the survey used ad sites as a means of marketing, so other forms weren’t really studied.
7. Don’t quit your day job. For Emerging Authors, 66% still have a day job and 28% of the $100K authors have one.
8. Finally—the more hours writing=more books=more payout. Emerging Authors wrote 19.8 hours per week while $100K spent 28.5 hours per week writing.
9. For you data hounds, here’s the link: Written Word Media Survey
All right, so surveys and numbers aren’t all that bad and may tell us something. Here’s another while I’m at it. Are you game?
Mark Coker does an extensive survey once a year. He is the founder of Smashwords that competes with Amazon and distributes books over a wide range of platforms. You go through his meatgrinder and he spits out your book to iBook, Kobo, the Nook, his own site and many others. This is what is called, “going wide.” Smashwords’ catalog is strictly eBooks and 127,000 authors make up his catalog of 437,200 books.
The fiction category makes up 87.5% of his sales with 45% of that going to the romance genre. Unfortunately for me, in the top 200 best sellers, 73% are romance while 3% are science fiction. Having said that, Mark talks about some new marketing innovations.
1. Pre-orders are appearing as a tool to launch a new book. However, only 12.23% of books at the time of the survey were born in a pre-launch. Yet, in the top 1000 sellers, 61% used the pre-launch to get things going.
2. Box sets are becoming popular with 90% as single author box sets. Multi author boxed sets aren’t as popular as yet and may have royalty tangles.
3. As to pricing, Mark urges Indie authors to up the cost to $4.99 from a lower price. $3.99 and $4.99 got more downloads than $.99 pricing. If you price it too cheaply do readers think the book is not as good and hesitate?
4. Average word count for the romance genre is 113,803. This may vary from genre to genre as fantasy is expected to be longer and maybe other genres are shorter.
5. Keep the titles fairly short. In the top 100 sellers, character titles were kept to an average of 24 characters while in the top 1000 range, the characters averaged 37.11.
6. Series sell. Top best sellers show that they are likely to come from a series. In the top 100, a free starter book increased sales of the series by 80%
7. Where did Smashwords sell the most? The United States garnered 69% of sales, far outdistancing Great Britain (8%), Canada (11%), Australia (5%).
Here’s the link: Smashwords Survey
Okay, so you have had enough of numbers, and your head is spinning, but some interesting facts have been revealed that any author can use in earning more and becoming famous. At least to your mother-in-law or distant cousin.
How about some words to even things out? I just released my 2nd book in the Terran Trilogy called Somewhat Alien. As an incentive, I’m offering the first book, A World Too Far for free for a limited time only…starting today for Diana’s amazing blog followers. (I read your comments and you are awesome). And remember Mark’s advice about offering the first book free in a series. We’ll see how effective that is.
To sweeten the pot, I will price the new release of Somewhat Alien for three days at a discount price of $.99 in the hopes that I will get some honest reviews from you all. As of now, I have none…none…and I would love to hear from you and how you liked this new series.
Enjoy.
More about Sheron:
I grew up with my father saying that he was going to write a great science fiction book one day. He talked a lot about it.
He loved science fiction, and often on a Sunday morning when we were all lined up and finally ready for church (three of us were girls which took a while), father would be missing. Mother would find him hiding in the bathroom reading like it was a forbidden pleasure.
After he retired and embarked on his great writing endeavor, he came to me and confessed that he had tried to write and couldn’t. He wanted to, but the words weren’t there. He threw the torch in my direction and became my inspiration.
My father has since passed away, but the day I proudly held that first book in my hands, I just knew, that while others were headed out to sing praises somewhere; he was ensconced on a cushy cloud, hiding out reading my book.
You can follow Sheron at @Sheronwriting
and her website: Scifi Book Review
Reblogged this on black CATastrophy and commented:
Some much-needed words (and numbers) indie authors must see to believe!
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Thanks for sharing! It’s good news for indies, and I think it’s going to get better, too. 🙂
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I think you’re right! Thanks for posting! 🙂
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Cogent overview, Sheron — thank you for this. And thanks, Diana, for hosting this discussion!
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Interesting info, huh? This industry is changing so fast that I suspect next year will look different again. I’m sticking with my plan, which is just to keep writing! 😀
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I think that’s all you can do. Thank God for folks like Sheron who monitor the trends in real-time, so lazy writers like me can just focus on writing, and trust that the information we’ll need — when we need it — will be available. Thanks, Sheron!
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Ha ha. Me too. I let her do all the work, and she’s so good at it!
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Au contraire, ma Cher.. You work hard as your many most excellent books attest.
Thanks for the comment, however. I need to yank my muse out of the hot tub and get her working a little harder. This last book in the trilogy has me gasping. I need the air of inspiration.
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Get that muse out of the hot tub! Ha ha ha. You only have a couple weeks before the Xmas season starts up… then all is lost until January. Yikes. Happy Writing, my friend. I know you’ll get that last book done. 😀
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Absolutely the right course. Too many writers get distracted by social media or pulled off track by what others say they should do. We must balance all aspects of the publishing life in this tetter-totter business of being an author.
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[…] in the US and UK J. A. Allen – 8 Things You Must Do Before You Write Sheron McCartha – Good News for Indies Dave Astor – Characters Who Make a Big Impression in a Small Amount of Time Ed A. Murray […]
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Hi Diana, I was trying to play catch up tonight. Hope you had a wonderful weekend and starting the week out like gangbusters. 😁
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I’m hoping the week smooths out. It’s been a whirlwind to start. All good though. Yes, you’ve been catching up a lot! 🙂
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Sheron, this was very informative and compelling to become a “ten years in, writing and self publishing machine.”
It was meant to sound funny and yet, sincerely appreciative. 🙂 💐
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Thanks. Keep the faith. It’s a long tail /tale business at best. I love the genre and love to create and read about new and unique worlds.
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So much to digest. I’m bookmarking. Fascinating info here. (Not surprised about the romance percentages but some of this was…wow.) Thanks for sharing your findings, Sheron. And, Diana, for hosting.
P.S. I LOVE the story about your father, Sheron. 💖
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Thanks for stopping by, Sarah. Great news for indies and I hope the trends continue. Yes, a sweet story about Sheron’s dad. 🙂
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Thanks Sarah. My father was very special and loved science fiction.
Also, I found the numbers interesting and encouraging. Let’s hope the market for Indies keeps improving.
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Very interesting to see all these figures and comparisons. I’d guess those in the top group are putting in a LOT more time than those of us who dabble. Their earnings and ratings are well deserved. Thanks for the post!
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Thanks for stopping by, Marcia. I have noticed that the more books I have available the better my reach – more ways for people to find me and keep reading once they do. It’s all sort of connected to having the time to write. And there are no guarantees. Best to just do what we love 😀
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Seems like the $100K writers have more time to write and market. Emerging writers have day jobs and find it hard to get the time. It’s an uphill battle for most people who are employed.
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Oh, I agree. I didn’t start writing until I was 50 because of jobs and kids, so I envy those who are carving out bits of time in their 20’s and 30’s. They’ll be that much farther ahead when the opportunity comes to invest more hours. It’s a good thing we love what we do, because we have to be in it for the long haul to have a chance at success. Thanks for the visit!
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Very interesting and informative. Thank you.
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The industry is changing fast, Jennie, and I like the trend. Sheron did a great job pulling all the info together into a post. Thanks for the visit and enjoy your Sunday!
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You are welcome, Diana. Happy Sunday!
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Great post for every Indies, lots of valuable information. thanks Sheron for sharing your research.
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Thanks for stopping by, Bibhuti. Yes, good news for indies, and I hope the trend continues. Keep writing, my friend. 🙂
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You are more than welcome. I thought the conclusions were interesting and Indies needed to know and take hope.
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[…] Good News for Indies (exciting news; informative posts) […]
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Glad you liked it
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Wow, this is great info. Self-pub/indie is looking better and better, but I want more books ready to release at once (kinda like how you did the Rose Shield, D) before I test those waters. Still, I’ll keep plugging away at traditional, at least for now until I get some of my other projects polished up. Thanks for the great post!
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The trends are looking good, Julie, and I think they’re going to get better as the industry continues to shake out the kinks. I have a feeling that traditional publishers who don’t give the author that something extra (particularly in high-quality editing and marketing assistance) are going to fall to the wayside. And I believe that eventually, Indies will develop a standardized process to vet books so that the quality is consistently reliable. It’s fun to watch how it all unfolds. Thanks for the visit!
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Wow, so much ground covered!
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Thanks for the visit. Sheron did a great job summing up the data! A nice trend for indies. 🙂
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Hi Jay. I like sometimes to step back and get a sense of what’s going on with readers and evaluate if I’m on the right track. Often the numbers surprise. Thanks to Mark Coker and the Written Word people for sharing their data.
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So much great information here from Sheron and I’ll absolutely check out her site too. This gives hope to any Indie who is struggling and makes me think that if I have more books then I’m more likely to be able to make a real go of this! I’m thankful to Diana for the guest post so I could gain confidence today 🙂
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I’ve definitely noticed that the more books out there, the less hard I have to work for every sale, Christy. So keep writing, my friend!
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Welcome on over. I’m glad it inspired you. We Indies all need encouragement because our job is so huge. But the world’s is wide and there’s lots of fellow support out there.
Thanks to Diana for sharing her community of friends.
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Thanks for the info Sheron and Diana…seems inspiring! 🙂
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Good news for us, Balroop. I hope the trends continue. 🙂
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Some days it is good to step back and get a wider view of trends backed by real data. It’s been encouraging, and Indies authors just learning about all this stuff (me, especially) need to see our progress and gain hope. Still takes hard work. Best of luck, Balroop.
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That was fun. I love the part about not needing to go wide and not needing an agent (necessarily). RT
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I do too, Jacqui. I don’t go wide partly because I’m lazy (seriously), but I also like Amazon’s promotional tools. Thanks for the RT. 😀
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You and me both, Jacqui. I like the control of my work that Amazon has afforded me. Wishing you great success.
Sheron
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Thanks for sharing, Diana and Sheron! Fantastic insights. 🙂
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It’s interesting what is happening in the world of publishing. I love to hear about the successes that are happening and what authors are doing to make them happen. More people are reaching their dream of being an author.
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So very true, Sheron. It’s wonderful to see!
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Thanks for the visit, Natalie. Hopefully, the trend will continue. Happy Writing. 🙂
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Reblogged this on Author Don Massenzio and commented:
Check out this great information for indie authors in this post on the Myths of the Mirror blog.
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Thanks for the reblog, Don. Happy Writing. 🙂
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You’re welcome. Same to you.
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My pleasure.
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Thanks for the reblog, Don. Indie publishing is coming into its own.
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You’re welcome. I’m glad to be a part of it.
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I’m not a numbers person either, but these are interesting, well organized metrics. Thanks Diana and Sheron. Best to you both. Hugs
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Writers’ brains are wired differently, Teagan. Sheron did a great job making sense of the stats. Hopefully, more good news ahead. 😀
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I just wish I had time to make a genuine effort at Indie publishing… I had to resign myself to the fact that with work, there is little I can do. So my “marketing” efforts are mostly limited to blogging. Great info though. Maybe one day…
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In my experience, Teagan, unless you’re with one of the big publishing houses, the marketing still falls to the author. But without control over pricing and promotion. I still believe that indie is the best choice for most of us.
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Thanks Teegan. Hope you found them as interesting as I did.
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Thanks, Sharon for all this helpful information. Thanks, Diana for having Sharon as a guest. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Sheron did a great job pulling this together, Suzanne. I’m so glad you stopped by, my friend. 😀
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Hello Patricia, Diana has been an awesome host and an amazing blogger. It’s been a pleasure to be her guest. She has a wonderful community of authors and friends.
Sheron
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Great Post! Thank You for the Insights Diana and Sheron ! 🙂
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Thanks for stopping by Reema. Have a wonderful day in the garden 😀
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Many thanks for sharing these findings with us!
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Thanks, Nicholas. Not news to you since you are another one who is on top of the latest developments, but I appreciate the visit! 😀
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You’re too sweet, but I was actually unaware of the Smashwords survey.
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More good news then. 🙂
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Hello Nicholas. Good to hear from you. I see you often and have bought your books. Hope the world is treating you well.
Sheron
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Thank you so much for the support, Sharon! Not too bad. It’s pretty hot in Athens and the beach is enticingly close by. If only I didn’t have to work 🙂
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I feel your pain, Nicholas. But a guy’s got to eat. Wishing you great success with your hard work.
Sheron
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Fantastic post. Thank you Diana and Sheron. Interesting statistics. So I spend well over $100 for book covers and well over $500 for editing, I”m determined to get out of that ’emerging’ category, lol. 🙂
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Ha ha ha. Me too, Debby. $100K feels far far far away, but you never know! Happy Writing, my friend. ❤
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Lol, thanks Diana. One day we’ll join the ranks! 🙂 ❤
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That focus and persistence is the key, Debby. Let’s hope we all move toward that goal. Right now it’s a long road, but a step at a time.
Good luck, dear author
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Thanks so much Sheron. We shall persevere. 🙂
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Hi everyone, but I do not know a lot about publishing books, but I have read it and understand that there is a lot going on at such field in every sides of the world, I wouldn’t have imagined so if I didn’t come to find this extract written by Sheron and Diana. Thank you for bringing them, from now on I will keep searching for this information for myself. Thank you girls. Have a wonderful week!
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Hi Juli, thanks for visiting 🙂 Sheron did all the work for this. I just get to visit with everyone. It will be interesting to see how the industry continues to change for writers AND readers! Have a great day, my friend.
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Isn’t the world exciting when you can talk to people the world over. I talk to authors and readers all over the world. Most exciting.
Sheron
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Very true Sheron. I loved it how WordPress has done its platforms that we hosts ourselves and we meet people from all walks of life. I love authors, it is great to be able to chat with them, I adore them all. I have Diana, Lana who are authors, and I also professional well know artists with whom I communicate. WordPress is amazing.
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Yes, it is amazing.
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Great info here. Thank you for sharing it.
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Thanks, Carrie. Sheron put together a nice summary here. It will be interesting to see how things continue to change. 😀 Happy Writing!
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Hey Carrie, thanks for your comments. Glad to spread important information. Hope it gave you food for thought.
Sheron
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Great post, appreciate the survey results and personal touch at the end .. good luck to all indies 🙂
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Thanks for visiting, Kate, and for the luck! Things do seem to be improving for indies, which is great news. We just need to keep churning out high-quality books, and hopefully, the trend will continue. Have a great day.
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you too 🙂
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Another P.S:
I’m adding a link for this to Story Empire’s Curated Content post on Friday. I think many writers will benefit from seeing this post!
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Thanks again. That’s awesome. 😀 ❤
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Thanks Mae Clair, I appreciate the comment and the link.
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Excellent information! I do agree that authors have to be patient–whether indie, hybrid, or traditional–it normally takes building a backlist to see some return. And (IMHO) editing is critical. If you’re going to invest all that time in writing a book, it’s important to turn out the best possible product at the finish. Even editors hire professional editors for their work.
Thank you, Sheron for the wonderful post and Diana for hosting.
P.S. to Diana: I started reading Sunwielder last night. It’s fabulous!
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Thanks for the comment, Mae. Sheron did a nice job in summarizing the survey results. I’ve noticed that building a backlist has made a big difference in sustainable sales, and of course, editing is crucial. Thanks so much for the note about Sunwielder. I have a little crush on Gryff. 😀
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Some very interesting information on Indie publishing, Diana. It is very encouraging as sometimes you do wonder if Indie is the right way to go.
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I think it’s encouraging too, Robbie. It seems that the playing field is leveling a bit with the traditional authors. I hope the trend continues, and as more indie authors enter the 100k club, they’ll be more opportunities for the rest of us.
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Thank you for a terrific insight on those publishing numbers. It was very enlightening. 😊
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Thanks to Written Word and Mark Coker. It’s important to get real data on some of the dizzying changes happening in the industry. Often what we think is true, is actually not the case. Having hard data clears the air.
Thanks for your comment.
Sheron
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I was encouraged by the post, Brigid. Sheron did a great job summarizing the findings.
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Yes. Me too. 😊
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Number 5 seems to be the point too many forget. A lot of the self-published books are in desperate need of an editor. That’s at least my humbled opinion. It’s money well spent.
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Yes, it is… but editors can be expensive and good ones not easy to find. Newbie authors don’t realize how easy it is to overlook errors they make. It is money well spent, however.
Thanks for your response.
Sheron
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You’re right, Bridget. It’s a bit of a catch 22, unfortunately. Emerging authors often can’t afford an editor until they have some sales momentum, and a poorly edited book is going to stymy sales. There are plenty of editing tools to fill the gap, but they can’t compete with the quality of an industry professional. Thanks for chiming in, my friend. ❤
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Great post Sheron, and thanks Diana. Very informative and encouraging.
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My thanks to Diana for the invite and the professional presentation.
Thanks to you for stopping by and commenting.
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Thanks, Ann ❤
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I took a class from an author who makes her living by writing novels. She had an interesting comment on income. She said that her friends who are not authors believe she makes more than she does and that her friends who are authors believe she makes less than she does.
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Anon:
Perception is interesting. Perhaps those not in the business read about the famous authors who make lots of money, while authors in the business realize those people make up a small percentage. Interesting comment. Thanks for the thought.
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You mean… you’re not rich? Ha ha.
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Rich in life experience. Monetarily rich due to my writing…not hardly…not yet. But I’m having fun, and fulfilling a life goal.
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There was recently a discussion in a goodreads group about the necessity of editors . In the discussion , three ’emerging’ authors put forth that ‘editing is not important ‘ because you could see the author’s only for real only in an unedited copy . While an argument was put forth that the readers actually pay and expect a good quality, they set out to argue that a responsible reader would read the preview and not ‘cry’ for editorial errors in the reviews . What do you think ?
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Seriously? My opinion is that no reader wants to keep stumbling out of a good story because of poor grammar or faulty story structure. Having said that, getting a clean copy takes hard work by those who know what they’re doing. Readers expect a well edited book…but it’s not easy.
Sheron
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I’d guess that the “Emerging Authors” who made the silly comments are going to have short careers. Thanks for the visit, Harini. 🙂
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Hi Diane! I was quite surprised by the findings! I expected just the opposite regarding self pub. and publishingif through the prof. houses. Good news! I agree so wholeheartedly that good editing is crucial. I have done some editing myself for writers whose first language is not English, I prefer editing persaonal writing. Thanks so much for your updates in what’s going in the world if books. So very appreciated. Much love to you.
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You are right. Editing is crucial. Keeping up with the changing landscape of self-publishing is also important. Best of luck, Sheron
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Thanks, Holly. The importance of editing is one of the biggest take-aways, I think, and a place where indies need to invest their cash when they can. Thanks for the visit, as always. ❤
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Reblogged this on Stevie Turner, Indie Author. and commented:
Thanks to Sheron McCartha, guest writer on Myths of the Mirror, for these interesting facts regarding Indie publishing.
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Stevie, you are welcome. Being an Indie author, there’s a lot to learn, but the journey is exciting. I wish you much success.
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Thank you Sheron – you too!
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Thanks for stopping by, Stevie and thanks for sharing! 😀
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You’re welcome!
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