Do I Stay on Smashwords?

D2D (aka Draft to Digital) merged with Smashwords in 2022. At the time, D2D said they'd move all publishers from the Smashwords database to theirs.

Two years later, none of my boos have been moved. Many friends, still using Smashwords, whose books were move were told that D2D could not be distributed for various reasons. But let's face facts, most of those books D2D would not accept were erotica or erotic romance.

*sigh* Sometimes, I feel like the 2013 Pornacolypse has never ended, and its spilled over to touch everything.

I'm currently making some changes to my business plan, and I'm looking at some new avenues to selling my books. There also avenues I've been using for the last thirteen-plus years that I'm analyzing the old avenues.

I know a lot of folks love buying their reads on  Smashwords, and D2D has signaled its going to keep the Smashwords storefront to sell books. But under my current plan, I'm no longer selling as much on Smashwords as I did before the merger was announced. In fact, I haven't broken $13 for the last two years for the Suzan Harden titles. The Alter Ego tomes do better, but they are also going downhill.

So, I'm looking at removing all of my books off Smashwords. And that's taking into account that Alter Ego's revenue that can pay for five pizzas a year.

However, I'm not looking to hurt any readers who rely on Smashwords to obtain their books. If anyone has an objections to this plan of action, add a comment or you can contact me privately, via the Contact Me page.

Writers Are a Surly Bunch

What is it about writers that we do things to sabotage ourselves? Why do we  focus on what we can't do rather than what we can?

A lot of things have been happening in the writing world lately. I've had my head down, trying to get the January release finished between getting really sick and GK coming home from the holidays. I'm still researching things, and I'll talk about the big events next week.

But my title comes from a personal level. I'm watching people I know give up on writing. Everyone has their various reasons, but they are merely excuses. Most of these people are focusing on what they don't have. They focus on what they claim they can't do.

And just because you can't do it RIGHT NOW doesn't mean you can't do something in the future.

Unfortunately, to some writers, everything is a hard "NO" instead of "I'll get to that down the line."

Don't have paperback out yet? Then make a plan to get paperbacks out.

Don't have audio books out yet? Then make a plan for that.

Don't understand online advertising? Then study it.

Not writing fast enough? Practice writing faster.

Don't have any ideas? Sorry, I can't help you with the last one. The only way I can shut off the fucking voices in my head is by writing.

Art is not just suffering. It's about the totality of human experience. Which means if you're not feeling what your characters are feeling, maybe it's time to step back and re-examine your reasons for wanting to write.

Because if you're producing stories because you think it's easy money, your attitude will show through your wring. Readers want to be entertained--not told they owe somebody a living.

No, that doesn't mean I don't think writers shouldn't be paid. But readers are paying for a particular experience when they pick up your story. If you can't supply that, then the readers will pass you by.

So do what you can. That means first you need to write a damn good story. Next, if you can only produce e-books for the next bit of time until you find a formatter or learn to format print books yourself.

But overall, you should be looking at the next step in your publishing career, not whining that you can't do the next step because of whatever flimsy reason you come up with. Life should always be "What's next?"

Keeping Your Head Above Water - Part 1

Yes, money's down for a lot of writers when it comes to fiction. I know I can't just put out a book and make some dosh anymore, but I expected that with a maturing system. A lot of folks seem to think the gold rush should have kept going forever. Those writers with business experience realized it wasn't going to and made adjustments. Those who haven't have seen a sharp decline in sales.

I'm in a weird position in that I've had to start over with my career this year. My sales gradually fell from 2014 through 2018 simply because I was lucky if I got one book out a year. When I did manage to publish, it was at random times during the year.

I can honestly say there are two things that work:

1) A new release triggers interest in all our other works.

2) Publish on a consistent schedule.

New books doesn't mean a new novel. It can be a novella or a short story. The new release doesn't have to be for sale either.

I posted a short story on my website about Justice's lead character's grandmother between the releases of A Modicum of Truth and A Matter of Death to keep readers interest.

Also, a consistent schedule doesn't mean releasing a novel every week or every day. (Yeah, I've heard of people doing that.) First, that's only going to fry your brain. A fried brain means no books.

Can you produce that often by hiring ghostwriters? Yeah, you can, but there's a couple of things to consider:

1) Can your ghostwriters match your quality? Or are you going to spend too much of your time managing them?

2) Are you going to burn out your readers? As much as readers love a series, there can be a point of diminishing returns. Either the readers get tired of the same thing over and over. Or the readers' attention or pocketbooks can't keep up with everything you release.

One of the cool things to come out of Amazon is being able to schedule preorders for your releases up to a year in the future. If you're a slow writer like me, it's reassuring for the readers to see when your next release in their favorite series is coming out.

On Wednesday, I'll talk about some of the issue with Kindle Unlimited and other changes on the Amazon retail store.

Promotion and Advertising Shock

It's been several years since I've actively promoted my books, much less bought advertising. I feel like I'm swimming in a sea of information with waves washing over me in their efforts to drown my tiny little books.

Back when I started publishing in 2011, e-books were the red-headed stepchild of the publishing world. So I didn't have to do a lot. People with e-readers were starving for content because the bigger publishers couldn't deign to put their products out in e-book formats. Print was king!

I sold a shit-ton of books simply by uploading them, then listing them on social media. Maybe a few friends would mention my work on their blogs. Blog tours were big back then. Or someone would put an excerpt in the back of their book. E-book promo sites were in their infancy, and there were a plethora to choose from. You had to have your ear out with those who worked and those who were looking to make a quick buck from writers.

Nearly nine years later, none of the things I did back in 2011 will work today. Plus, the big publishers have woken up. They now like to undercut indies by putting their backlists on sale. (Seriously, I picked up the first nine books of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series for $1.99.) So the competition has stepped up.

What does this all mean? We indies are now competing with the big fish on ad spend. Especially with ads on Facebook, Amazon, and Bookbub.

There's still e-book promo sites, though they are fewer, and the ones that survived have become bigger. Bookbub has become a monster in its own right. No longer is it just a daily e-mail newsletter, but paid ads on both its website and the newsletter. The bigger publishers realize what a difference a BB newsletter makes, and they now run regular promos with their backlists.

I'm tentatively dipping my toes in the new ad/promo pool. It's more expensive than it used to be. But I'm being selective about which companies I use, and I'm keeping a strict accounting of the money I spend. I've heard too many stories of people spending $25K to make $30K. That's way too much overhead for my tastes.

I've got some things lined up for the rest of the year. Hopefully, I'll have some good data of what works and what doesn't in January.

Math = Money for Authors

Y'all know I don't often plug other people's books, but if you're a writer, you want to make writing a full-time career, and you've never owned a business before, Math = Money for Authors is something you should read.

This isn't one of those self-proclaimed gurus who teach because they can't fucking write. E A West really does write fiction for a living under the pseudonym Elizabeth Ann West. She's also a single mom with two kids and a dog, so her fingers on the keyboard is what feeds her family and keeps a roof over their heads.

Despite my law and business background, she taught me a different way of thinking about my income. One that will help me in the long run. She just might help you, too.

Writing Workshop

For those of you in the vicinity of Findlay, Ohio, I will be at the Findlay-Hancock County Library on Thursday, October 11th, to teach a workshop called The Write Stuff: Creating a Business Plan for Your Writing. The workshop runs from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

How Many Times Do I have to Say Writing is a F***ING BUSINESS!

I'm late posting a blog today. I thought about not posting one at all because I'm at that lovely stage--the middle of writing a book where it feels like I'm slogging through a waist-high swamp, and I'm beginning to hate the damn thing.

And I wouldn't have posted at all if a few things hadn't happened this week that built into a crescendo when other acquaintances have asked for non-writing business advice.

Over the course of my life, I've been an IT project manager. I had to put together time and budget estimates for completing software. I've acting as a sounding board when my husband and his partners bought a software consulting firm. I've owned my own law firm.

Now, I own my own publishing company. I write up and spreadsheet sales and forecasts and projections and budgets.

And apparently, I'm the only one.

Or at least, I haven't anyone who truly treats writing and publishing as a business.

Let's talk about ROI again, that is a return on investment.

(If you want to see my rants concerning ROI in 2014 and again in 2015, feel free to do so.)

To review:

The return on an investment is when you divide the gain of the investment minus the cost of the investment by the cost of the investment. Or

ROI = (GOI - COI)/COI

I published my first novel Blood Magick in April of 2011. From then until August of 2016, I sold a grand total of 202 copies at $2.99/e-book across multiple platforms. To make the math easier, let's say I earned $2 per book. Therefore, my GOI is $404.

It's approximately 90K words. At the time, I wrote about 500 words per hour, so it took me approximately180 hours to write the story. Let's say I, the publisher, paid me, the writer, $10 an hour.

DH did the photography for free. I bought food coloring, corn syrup, a dozen white roses, and a pewter pentacle. My costs were approximately $45. Plus it took me a couple of hours to play with Paint.net to create alter the cover picture and add the text, so add another $20 for my time

A friend and I edited each other's novels over coffee, so throw in $10 for my Starbucks card.

I know just enough HTML to be dangerous so I formatted this myself using freeware.

My costs of investment? $1800 + $45 + $20 + $10 + $0 = $1875

Therefore, my ROI for this book is ($404 - $1875)/$1875 = - $0.78

Not good, right? What did I do wrong?

Well, it's an obviously homemade cover, and the formatting, while adequate, wasn't pretty. Competition grew over those five years. I undercut myself on pricing. Add to that a bunch of personal shit so I didn't pay enough attention to my business from the end of 2013 to 2016.

I took down the entire series from all retailers but Amazon in 2016. I hired a cover artist and a formatter. The additional cost for both was $240. (See? Sometimes cheaper isn't better.)

Then I uploaded the new version to Amazon about a year ago for a test run. I'll compile sales in January of 2018 so I have a healthy year's worth of data.

If you've noticed, I haven't added any numbers for advertising. Why?

Because advertising has been budgeted for 2018 once I have all the Bloodlines books released. Frankly, I'll treat advertising as a separate ROI calculation as well as a production cost ROI.

I see too many indie writers through good money with absolutely no fucking clue of what their ROI is. How do I know this? Because I ask.

So one more time--writing is a business. Treat it like one!

Trad Vs. Hybrid Vs. Indie

It's been a little over five years since I jumped into the indie pool. I don't regret a minute of it. I've made some mistakes, and learned from them. I've had some successes, and learned from those too.

Five or six years ago, author Bob Mayer coined the term "hybrid" to signify a writer with one foot in the indie world and one foot in traditional publishing. He still champions that duel path. As I was reading his blog yesterday, my first thought was "I'll NEVER go traditional--"

And the realization hit me like the proverbial brick between the eyes. I was WELL AND TRULY a hybrid writer.

I'd been sending out two short stories a year to various publishers for the last five years, more for the practice of writing blurbs than actually expecting a sale. This year, both shorts were picked up by the first anthologies I submitted to. That makes a total of four sales in three years.

However, the sales have been to small publishers where I get my exclusive right backs in three to six months and they aren't asking for the whole hog. Would I submit to one of the big five house any time soon? Probably not with the way their contracts are written these days.

On the other hand, the first short I sold three years ago ended up launching a new series.

Will I keep submitting short stories? Probably, as long as the contracts aren't too onerous. In the end, the decision comes down to what I want as a career path.

Your mileage may vary.

Know Your Audience!

Alter Ego has a large online presence through Facebook and Twitter. (Don't ask me why. She hasn't actively pursued the attention.) As a result, she belongs to a couple of private FB groups involving erotica and its subgenres.

A couple of weeks ago, a writer posted about their new religious thriller in one of these private groups. No sex. This is in a group that regularly discusses the pros and cons of buttplugs and vibrators. This is a place where we post steamy pictures and off color jokes. This is a group that discusses the worldwide legal implications of writing in our favorite genre.

This is not a place that discusses current politics, much less WWIII, the End Times and the Rapture.

I can name a dozen websites and FB groups where this book would be welcomed with open arms. I can also name a dozen where the writer shoots themselves in the foot. This was one of those times.

This is probably the most extreme example I've seen of misdirected marketing efforts.

Writers need to know their potential audience. What is the age? What is the primary gender? What are the audience's secondary interests that can be tied to the writer's book?

Let's stay with Alter Ego. Her audience is primarily female, ages in the twenties to the seventies. A majority of her audience, regardless of age and gender, have been in long-term relationships. By long-term, I mean twenty-plus years. These readers are looking to keep things fresh in their relationships, whether it be new things to try in bed or simply reading to each other.

How do I know all this? They tell AE these things.

However, AE already knew she was shooting for a primarily female audience with an interest in very hot romance. That's why she didn't market at hunting websites or weightlifting FB pages. While some folks at these sites might be interested in her books, the majority of people at these sites would not be. Those subjects are simply not naturals fits to erotic books.

So what am I really trying to say?

1) Don't spam places on the web.
2) Don't spam with books that have no relation to a particular place on the web.
3) If you're hard up for advertising money, check out places that are free and receptive to your pitch.
4) The hard sell doesn't work these days, especially if it's books and more especially if the writer is targeting the wrong audience.

That doesn't mean you can't experiment. But if you can get a Hell's Angels chapter to read a knitting-themed cozy mystery, I REALLY want to know how you did it!

Why You Need to Learn the Aspects of Self-Publishing Before Hiring Someone

Are you a writer? Have you noticed certain accounts following you on Twitter and/or Facebook after you've announced your intent to self-published? Or after you've announced the release of your latest book?

Then there's other spam. I keep getting e-mails from a company calling themselves Publish Wholesale. They will publish format my print book and create for ONLY $959! And for ONLY AN ADDITIONAL $200, they'll format my ebook!

I can't begin to tell you how many of these scam artists are popping up to prey on naïve writers. The incredible David Gaughran has made it his mission in life to document the worst of these abusers, Penguin Random House's Author Solutions.

Yep, that 's right, ladies and gentlemen. The absolute scammiest of the scam artist belongs to one of the U.S.'s Big Five publishing houses.

But I'm not jumping on David's bandwagon. I'm advocating a radical change in a writer's thought process.

Learn how to format and create covers yourself.

Now, someone out there is going to see this and start screaming either "I don't know how!" or "How dare you can't tell me what to do!" Let's break both of these down.

1) I don't know how!

This comes from a place in your head where fear resides. Maybe you're computer phobic. Maybe you think you can't learn new things. Maybe you are sure you'll screw up, and no one will ever buy your book again.

Now shove that fear aside. Research conversion software. There's a lot of freeware and low cost packages available. And by low cost, I mean less than $50, but personally, my cheap ass self prefers freeware.

Take a short story you've written and spend a few hours practicing on it. Start simple. No fancy fonts, pictures, graphics or whatever.

Now find some graphics freeware. I use Paint.Net for my erotica covers. If you're not a fabulous artist, there's a ton of stock photo sites. I generally buy a small package, so the cost comes out to less than $10 per photo. Also, there's fonts you can purchase if you don't have any on your computer that are appropriate.

I'm not talking out of my butt here. This exactly what I did with Seasons of Magic: Spring back in 2011.

By practicing, you'll also figure out what you are good at doing yourself and what you suck at. There's nothing wrong with that either. Every good businessperson needs to know where to cut costs and when to hire out work.

2) You can't tell me what to do!

I'm not telling anyone anything.

I'm making a suggestion based on a business need, so if you decide to hire somebody to do these things, you've got a rough idea of the time and effort involved. There're some incredible editors, formatters, and graphic artists who price their services reasonably. By learning the tools of the trade, you'll have a better idea if you're getting a good deal or getting screwed over.

For the record, I've started hiring out some of my covers and some of my formatting. Why? More demands on my personal time since our niece moved in with us are cutting into my writing time. And I was seriously juggling my writing time before that since I'm writing under two different names.


Now, if you just won the lottery or have a trust fund, none of this means anything to you. But for those of us building a career, a thousand dollars can mean rent, groceries, and doctor's bills. That's why I advocate making decisions that don't result in you living on the streets.

Why Kindle Unlimited Isn't Going to Matter in the Long Run

As I've said previously, I wrote very little and published only one thing in 2014. That doesn't mean I haven't been keeping up with industry news. By participating for little, I've gained a different perspective.

Some stuff I already knew. Like the fact that the publishing industry runs on fear. When you let fear overwhelm you, you're not going to make the best decisions.

Have you ever watched It's a Wonderful Life? At one point, the Bedford Falls bank is on the verge of failing. Potter, the richest man in town, bails out the bank. When the financial panic spreads to George's building and loan, Potter offers to buy the B&L's shares for fifty cents on the dollar.

George: "Don't you see what's happening? Potter isn't selling. Potter's buying! Why? Because we're panicking and he's not. That's why. He's picking up some bargains."

Amazon's launch of Kindle Unlimited (KU) has engendered a lot of fear in writers. There's all kinds of rants online about how Amazon turned its back in indies. There's a lot of glee from the Amazon naysayers too, in the form of "I told ya so!"

Let's break the business side down.

1) Amazon already had a lending function for the Kindle, i.e. if I buy an ebook from Amazon, I can lend it one time to one friend or family member for a maximum of two weeks. The writer/publisher only got paid for my initial buy, but it was a way for me to share really good books.

2) Amazon then started the Kindle Lending Library as part of their Amazon Prime program (currently $99). I can borrow one book per month from writers/publishers who put their books into the KLL program. In return, writer/publisher received a pro-rated payout based on the total borrows per month if they were in the KDP Select program. Bigger publishers that Amazon convinced to be included in KLL would receive their normal retail share per borrow.

3) In 2013, two companies, Scribd (which was notorious for pirated books and is trying to go straight) and Oyster, created subscription services. I could borrow as many books as I wanted for $8.99 to $9.99 per month depending on which service I choose.

4) Never one to be outmaneuvered, Amazon enfolded KLL into the newly created KU last summer. Amazon Prime members are still restricted to one borrow per month unless they cough up an additional $9.99 for unlimited borrows. Non-Prime members can enroll in KU only for the same $9.99. Again writers/publishers in KDP Select are paid from a pool of money and their share is based on their borrows vs. total borrows for the month.

I have no doubt that Amazon's creation of KU was in response to Scribd and Oyster's new revenue stream.

So, there's a number of concerns and fears:

1) Are subscription service viable in the long run?

That really depends on the readers. I currently have five novels in both Scribd and Oyster via Smashwords. The retail price of each novel is $2.99. If a reader borrows all five from Scribd, then Scribd pays out $2.09 per novel or a total of $10.45, which is more than their monthly fee from a reader.

Both Scribd and Oyster are gambling that each subscription holder will borrow less than that per month. In fact, in a recent press announcement concerning the $22 million on venture capital Scribd raised, the CEO stated that Scribd subscribers borrow less than one book a month.

Amazon took a different approach by pro-rating writer/publisher income shares that ensures that they make money regardless of the number of borrows.

2) Why do writer/publishers view borrowing and buying as equals?

Honestly, I really don't get this one because they are not equal. Just because someone borrowed or bought another book doesn't mean they will buy yours. A lot of readers are on limited incomes. If they perceive the subscription service as a better deal then they'll pay for that. For that matter, they may go to the library.

3) Is participating in a subscription service worth it?

I weigh the exposure I get from each retailer or service versus the payout I receive versus my time and money dealing with that retailer or service. I've donated books to libraries at their request. I have put my books in some subscription services and not others. I have put my books in some retailers and not others.

There's no right, and definitely no perfect, answer for every writer. I experiment because I've found I do well in areas where others don't. YMMV.

4) Is the income subscription services receive worth alienating the vendors?

I do think Amazon made a critical mistake in their rush to jump into the monthly subscription venue. They didn't raise the payment pool significantly when they went from one book/month/person to unlimited books/month/person. A lot of writer/publishers saw a massive drop in their per book share of income.

5) Is the drop in book sales over the last six months due to KU?

Yes, there was also a drop in book sales at that period, but I don't think it was all KU. KU launched in late July of last year. For the last four years that I've been publishing, my sales crash with the start of school in late August to Thanksgiving. That's because (1) my primary buyers (women) are busy as hell between kids and holidays, and (2) the BPHs release what they hope to be their bestsellers through Christmas. I'm not saying KU didn't affect sales, but I think its a minor reason for what is the normal seasonal sales slump.

6) Can putting only shorter works in KU help raise a writer's income?

There's been public statements from writers that they are pulling their novels off KU. if not pulling out of KU entirely.

In theory, shorter works would bring in more income, but the question you have to ask yourself is can you do without pissing off the readers. Too many folks are breaking up a larger work in order to make more money through more borrows. There's already a backlash in book buying with the numerous writers who end a novella or novel with a cliffhanger. Readers feel tricked into buying the next book, and many times will refuse to read that author any more.

Short stories are doable in KU, but again, are they complete and fulfilling?

* * *
I think the real problem is that too many writers/publishers rely on Amazon (and Amazon's exclusivity requirements) as their only means of income. Going all in with one source of income is never a good idea as a business. Often, these same people are ones howling the loudest about Amazon's switch from KLL to KU.

I also think that we need more data to determine how KU, or any subscription service, is affecting the market. There's also the factor that the BPHs are signing up with Scribd and Oyster, but not KU.

What else is going to change in the publishing arena in 2015? I don't know, and quite frankly, anyone who says they know are either lying or smoking some primo weed. KU isn't the end-all-be-all in publishing, so saying it's ruining the industry is right up there with e-book sales are stable at 25%.

I think all subscription services are going to help expand readership if used judiciously. If you don't like what they are doing, then there's always the option of removing your books from them.

Provided you can't because you signed away all your right to begin with.

Writing Is a Business; Treat It Like One

The title of this post has been my mantra since I decided to indie publish. I emphasized it when I wrote a few guest posts for other bloggers on developing a business plan for indie publishing. I was reminded of it during a discussion on the comments on Monday's post (definitely one of those cases where comments went off on a side tangent).

Regardless of whether you go the trad-published, indie published, or hybrid routes, you are self-employed. You are operating a small business.

I think that's where a lot of writers make their mistakes. Writing is not a business. To them, it's art. It's a dream. It's the lottery.

Which it may be all those things to you. But when you are offering your writing for money, it has now become a business, too

And like any business, you, as the owner, have to keep a handle on your overhead. Otherwise, your business is going to failure.

Statistics on business success/failure vary. Under some outdated information, the U.S. Small Business Administration estimated over fifty percent of new businesses failed in the first year. With the widespread use of computers and access to relevant information through the internet, the failure rate is probably much closer to Canada's four percent failure rate in the first year.

When it comes to a new business failing, the two biggest reasons are lack of adequate planning and lack of adequate capital. And believe me, the two go hand in hand.

So going back to Monday's discussion, here's part of how I planned for adequate capital. I don't NEED caffeine while I write, but my work habits are deeply ingrained from my days in IT. That means my brain goes into work mode if I have a caffeinated beverage sitting next to my computer, like the black tea sitting next to me right now. (Even with electric for the microwave and dishwasher, the cost of the mug of tea is less than $0.05.)

From a business point of view, it's not worth the time necessary to retrain my habits. (I generally assign $10/hr to my time because it's easy to calculate.) Therefore, I've added caffeine into my business budget.

Generally, I buy soda, tea and coffee from the grocery store. I search out sales and add in coupons to keep that budget under control. For example, even if I buy Starbucks coffee and sugar-free peppermint mocha creamer at the grocery store, it still comes out less than $0.20 per cup.

But I also budget for the occasional trip to a restaurant or café. Occasionally changing my work environment can trigger additional productivity. (YMMV on that one.)

However, there's the question of drinkability when I venture outside of the house, which is why I don't go to McDonald's. I swear the only time I've ever tossed a full cup of coffee in the trash, it was a McDonald's peppermint mocha. I shudder at the memory even now. Blech!

And if I'm not in walking distance, which I never am, I have to factor in gas money.

So in Houston in December, I would go to one of the closest Starbucks (2 miles away so roundtrip is 4 miles) and get a venti peppermint mocha. That's $5.25 for the coffee, $0.50 for the tip, plus gas at $3.00/gallon and a car that gets 20 miles/gallon.

$5.25 + $0.50 + $0.80 = $6.55

Lost writing time is only 10 minutes or $1.67.

$6.55 + 1.67 = $ 8.22

In Ohio in December, the cost would remain the same except for gas. Bowling Green, and the closest Starbucks, is twenty miles away. That adds an extra $6.00 to my overhead compared to the $0.80 for gas in Houston.

$5.25 + $0.50 + $6.00 = $11.75

Oh, and I lost an hour of writing time on the drive to and from Bowling Green.

$11.75 + $10.00 - $21.75

So my overhead has now nearly tripled for the sake of my peccadillo. Not good business, folks. Not good business at all.

To put it another way, I'd have to sell eleven books to cover my trip to Bowling Green compared to the sale of four books covering one trip in Houston.

This is exactly where most business people lose their way. These little costs add up. If you're not selling enough to cover your costs, your business will go under.

It's why I dreaded seeing statements from new writers about how much they spent on cover art, editing, etc., back when I put out by business planning series in 2012. So many of these folks are having to go back to their day jobs now because they spent way more money than they had coming in.

This is not to disparage one of DH's mantras, "You have to spend money to make money." However, I do believe it's in your best interests to find the best quality at the lowest price.

Remember, selling your stories means you are now in commerce, not art. If you want to keep writing full-time, you've got to keep that overhead under control. Writing is a business. Treat it like one.

Why Kris Rusch Is Super Smart and You Should Listen to Her

There's lots of people throwing advice left and right in the publishing world these days. Folks who've only put their first indie published book up last week. Folks who've worked for NY publishers for fifty years. Very rarely can you find someone who's a melding of both with a large dose of common sense.

If you don't know who Kristine Kathryn Rusch is, you should find out. She has written in so many genres under a variety of pseudonyms that you've probably read one of her books without realizing it.

In fact, I think the only position in publishing she hasn't held is illustrator.

Right now, she is posting a series on her blog about discoverability. I suggest you start with Part One. She's up to Seven and still going.

One caveat before you click over to Kris. This is NOT a "Three Easy Steps to Becoming a Bestseller" manual. If that's what you want, you need to go elsewhere. And frankly, if you believe writing/publishing is that simple, I have some land in Florida I want to sell you.

Kris's series looks at the long tail, i.e. how to create a career out of your writing. If that's not your worldview, nothing Kris says is going to help you. She also talks about where the industry has been in order to understand where it could possibly be going. You know the old saying about people who don't understand their history are doomed to repeat it.

I'm not saying Kris's series is the Gospel, nor should it be treated as such. But I am a huge believer in having a business plan if you want to make a living in this crazy industry, and Kris's thoughts are an excellent place to start.

And if you're reading my blog for business advice, remember that I'm only telling you what I've tried, what worked and what didn't.

I probably should re-title the blog to "Don't Fuck Up Like I Did."

Creating a Business Plan for the Indie Writer

Last August, I did a blog series over at Indie University on how to write business plan. Many folks were jumping on the self-publishing band wagon, but have never owned their own business before. So, Diane Holmes talked me into sharing my experience in business formation.

(Not that she had to twist my arm or anything. *grin*)

But so much has happened in the last eight months. There's been the free/$0.99 backlash by readers. The DOJ lawsuit against Apple and five of the Big Six. The rights grab by publishers forcing more established writers into the indie model.

So I've updated Creating a Business Plan for the Indie Writer by adding some new information, expanding on some sections, and adding some of my personal successes and failures over the last year.

The second edition of Creating a Business Plan for the Indie Writer is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.

You'll Need Minions to Write

No, I don't mean making the minions write your books.  I mean having minions do other jobs so You the Writer has time to WRITE.

Come read about Writer business plans at Pitch University and the NUMBER ONE THING that indie-published writers forget!

How to Dominate the World in Seven Easy Steps

Over at Indie University aka Pitch University, we're discussing the best business formats for You the Publisher. Trust me, it's not as terrifying as it sounds.  Come join us, and bring your big girl panties!

Want to Be an Evil Genius or a Despiccable Minion?

This week I'm over at Pitch Indie University with the basic tools of building your own weapon of mass destruction business plan for world domination, er, publishing your books.

Actually, world domination and indie publishing are the same thing, aren't they?

P.S. You'll want to do the exercises 'cause we have a cool prize package on Saturday.

Yog's Law in the New Universe

Jim Macdonald makes an excellent point about Yog's Law at the Making Light blog.  An indie author has to wear two hats, but the money (after legitimate expenses) still needs to go to the author.

In other words, you should have a line item in your business plan for paying yourself.  Otherwise, indie publishing is simply vanity publishing in disguise.

For the record, I don't agree with Jim's 10-15% per book for author share. Personally, I think that if you're paying 85% of each title you sell towards fixed costs, then you're paying way too much.

To break the numbers down further, here's what DH and I did for my business plan.  Let's say I hire Joe Konrath's cover artist, and he charges me $200 for the cover art.  I hire someone to format my e-book for $100.  I hire a freelance editor for $2000 (yes, that IS the going rate for legitimate editors).  I'd have to sell 1150 copies of Blood Magick on Amazon at $2.99 in order to cover my fixed costs.

Like any other business owner, I'm looking at ways to trim those costs and make a profit faster.  What if I hire someone looking to make a name for herself as an artist at half that cost?  What if I trade editing with other writers?  What if I do the formatting myself?  That bring my fixed costs from $2300 down to $150 (i.e. $100 for the cover art and $50 for the alcohol to my writer bud acting as editor).  Now I only have to sell 75 copies of Blood Magick to cover my fixed costs.

By the way, do you have a business plan?  Are you going indie?  Then you need one.  Trust me, it'll help keep you on track.