Ben S Reeder, Author
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The Other Cost of Self-publishing (or How To Do it All Wrong and Still Get It Right)

1/15/2015

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​Recently, fellow Missouri author Lisa Medley posted a blog post about the cost to self-publish her first book. Now, some folks have given her a little flack for paying for things she didn’t have to, and the amounts she paid and so on, without understanding the context of her choices. They’ve claimed some of her expenses were mistakes. But while she made some different decisions than I did, I think I’d rather have made her mistakes than mine. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Lisa through a local writers’ group, and I was thrilled for her when Harlequin picked up her Reaper series a few years back, right around the time I was first published by Pendraig Publishing, a small press out of California. Oddly enough, we both had some similarities in our experiences, in that we both got picked up by publishers, and we were both disappointed by the results. And we BOTH went to self-publishing.

Now, here is where our experiences differ. First off, Lisa writes in the VERY competitive romance market, specifically in paranormal romance. I write urban fantasy and zombie fiction. Technically, the zombie novels are post-apocalyptic sci-fi. And I will tell you from a total lack of experience but from knowing folks who know the business…romance is an expensive genre to write in. Sci-fi and fantasy…not so much. So it stands to reason that though we’re both following a similar path to publishing, our costs were different.

Lisa broke her costs down pretty thoroughly for her first book, and I thought I would do something similar for my first self-published book. However, I’ll also break down some of the costs for one of my later books as well. Lisa chose to do a few things that I didn’t, mostly because she’s a class act and I’m a hack writer. So, where our paths differ, understand that my choices don’t reflect on a disagreement with hers or anything like that.

So, on with the show. Here’s how the expenses for Zompoc Survivor: Exodus played out.

Zompoc Survivor Exodus

Write the book: Time and energy, $0

Recruit beta readers in place of an editor: Time and energy, mention in acknowledgements, $0

Make cover myself: Time, effort, $0

Format myself on Smashwords & Amazon: Time, effort, headaches, stress, $0

Get ISBN number from Createspace for print copy: $0

Let Amazon assign ASIN instead of ISBN to e-book: $0

Createspace proof w/ slow boat to China level shipping: $6.36

Advertising via spamming on promo groups on Facebook: 2-4 hours daily, $0

10 copies from Createspace: $35.50

Prize shipping:  $30

Total cost:  Time, effort, Sanity, hair loss, $71.86

Now, notice one HUGE thing I did different from Lisa: I did a LOT of the work myself. Formatting, cover, editing, all me. Some folks might think this is a great idea. But while some folks have pointed out on Facebook that Lisa paid for some things that might not have been strictly necessary, I am here to tell you, she made the better decision!

First off, the editing. This is something no writer should try to handle on their own, in my personal opinion. Here, let me get on my soapbox and shout that out with a megaphone and some neon lights. DON’T DO IT! If you love your readers…if you want to ever HAVE readers, don’t edit your own work if you can avoid it. Even if you can’t avoid it, at least get some good beta readers. See, I was very lucky when I went searching for beta readers. I asked other successful writers who they had beta read their work, and I went to talk to those people. Best bad decision I ever made, that. One of those beta readers now has her own business as an editor and proofreader. So, I wasn’t smart, I was lucky.

Second dumb thing I did that ended up turning out okay: the cover. For my cover, I went through some of my photos and found one in my files that I could alter to the point you couldn’t tell who it was or where they really were with ease because of the composition of the photo. Then I took it from color to black and white and ran it through a water-color wash and BAM, instant iconic image for my cover. Then, I did one other smart thing. Remember how I talked to other successful authors about beta readers? Same thing here. I found out what worked and made the changes they suggested. And it worked. Of all my covers, it’s by far the most amateurish, and it shows. But again, luck favored me in many ways.

Finally, formatting. Dang, that was a learning process. I wish I knew then what I know now. The print version of ZS: Exodus doesn’t have page numbers because I didn’t know how to insert them. The front matter is painfully bare. It took several tries to get it to actually read the way I wanted to. And for the record: I still do it myself, and I still hate doing it. But I’m getting better at it.

So, my first book cost me less than $100 to self-publish, but as Lisa also points out in her blog, as the publisher, all of the responsibility for getting it done right was on me. And somehow, I was up to the task, even if it was entirely by accident. Because, like Lisa discovered, having the right people in your corner is crucial.

Now, here is another place where my experience differs slightly from Lisa’s. For ZS: Exodus, the bar to break even was low. So, I had some leeway to do something that I believe has had a tremendous impact on my career.

I practically gave my first book away. My initial price point was 99₵ and I kept it there for a month. Now, at that rate, I would have had to have sold just over 200 copies to break even. I sold over 2500 in the first month. Later on, when I raised my price to the full $2.99, my ranking was so high, I still recouped my costs several times over. However, even if I had spent more on the first book, I would have still done the same thing, because the high initial rankings got me sales at the higher price point. More importantly, the high volume made up for the loss in potential income with repeat readers.

In the end, ZS: Exodus ended up making me enough to hire professionals to handle the two things I should never touch again: editing and covers. When it came time to put ZS: Inferno out, I paid a LOT more for those two services, an easy $500-600 for editing and covers. I made that back in the first month it was out. In short, my second book presents (and thus sells) a lot better than my first book did because I spent more money on it.

So, the lesson here is that it IS possible to self-publish a book for less than $100. But it isn’t a good idea. Lisa’s initial offering presents a lot better than mine did. If you’re going to make mistakes, follow Lisa’s example and err on the side of quality. That’s the better decision. If you’re going to make my mistakes, you’re going to have to make them EXCEPTIONALLY well. As in the “you’re going to have to roll sevens three times in a row with loaded dice” kind of well. And trust me, you don't want to rely on luck more than skill.

Your first book is an investment, and truth be told, if I had to give one piece of hard to swallow advice, it would be this: Don’t expect to make a lot back on your first book. Your first book is an investment in your fan base, and your royalties from that book are an investment in your second book. Assume a loss early on that is going to pay off in spades in the long run.

What is that pay-off? Consistent sales. So far, I’ve self-published three books. Because of the investment in my first book with the low price point and high volume of sales (and a lot of luck), all three books have hit the top 100 in their genres in the first month they’ve come out. The first book attracted a strong fan base. The second and third got them to come back, and they brought friends.

In conclusion: Write a damn good book. Invest in it. Write another damn good book and invest in it. Repeat as necessary.
4 Comments
Lisa Medley link ( lisamedleauthor@gmail.com )
1/16/2015 10:34:18 pm
Great post, Ben. Like life, every author's journey is different. I love your succes story! Write on!

Lindsay Schlegel link ( lindsay.schlegel@gmail.com )
1/18/2015 04:20:46 am
Great post and insight. Thanks for sharing your experience with thoughtful perspective. All the best to you and your work!

Lorraine Reguly link ( lorrainemariereguly@gmail.com )
1/18/2015 04:58:40 am
Hiring an editor is crucial to success, especially if you're an Indie author. Trading services is acceptable, too, as you've so eloquently pointed out, and having trustworthy beta readers is a must, as well.

When I published Risky Issues (a book of short stories for people of all ages that bring to light issues such as identity, drugs, abuse, death and friendship), I did it on a shoestring budget, doing most of the work myself.

It's great to have the ability to pay someone else, but most Indies don't have that luxury. However, editing your own work is ALWAYS problematic, as you are too closely invested in your own words.

An objective viewpoint from someone who possesses an "eagle eye" is as necessary as breathing!

Ed Godwin link ( author@ejgodwin.net )
1/18/2015 11:49:43 pm
Thanks so much for sharing this! It's important never to use one author's experience as a guide. There are always exceptions to the rule, and the chance of yours being the same is small indeed.

On the other hand, the overwhelming number of available anecdotes make it very hard for an aspiring author to learn good business decisions. Hiring an editor, for example, goes far beyond genre and experience. Like any business partnership, you have to find someone you can trust, which includes believing in both you as an author and the story you've written, motivating them to apply the best of their skills to your writing. My first one was an enthusiasm- and wallet-sucking disaster, not so much because of her skills than because I simply chose the wrong editor. My current one is a gem, not least because she maintains a practical level of both criticism and encouragement, and doesn't get too caught up in the minutiae. Worth every friggin' penny!

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Building a Readership (The one thing I did right the first time)

1/15/2015

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  • In my last post, I talked about the costs of publishing a book as a response to how another author had invested her money and time in publishing a book of her own. In talking to Lisa, however, another topic came up, and that is in getting the best return on that investment. It has also been the subject of a couple of posts in other groups I participate in on FB.

    Now, usually, I would tell you that my example is the last one you should follow because I tend to do everything either wrong or backwards the first time and only end up getting it right from sheer luck. Somehow, that’s worked out for me, but this is one thing that I think I got right the first time, even if it wasn’t by design.

    The Obvious

    I’ll start with the one thing that is pounded into us as writers from day one, to the point that it’s the First Commandment Of Publishing: Writeth thou a Good Book. It’s something we hear all the time, and it’s irritating. It’s one of those trite sounding clichés that sounds like you read it off a bumper sticker. But, it’s a cliché because it’s true. If you write a crappy book, no amount of marketing is going to build a readership for you because no one is going to have good things to say about your book, no matter what YOU say about it. This also falls under a point I’ll be making later. Now that part is out of the way...

    Gilt by Association

    Back in the Eighties, those halcyon days of big hair, big glasses and boom-boxes, I worked with a woman from Colorado while I was in the Air Force. Now, at the time, I was considered a nerd and a social misfit. I didn’t hang out at the NCO Club, I didn’t smoke or drink and I didn’t do small talk. So to my co-worker I was not associated with anything interesting. Back then I was also active in the SCA, so I would spend my weekends off camping with a bunch of other cool folks in funny clothes. One weekend, after an event, I came in to work to pick up something before I went home, still in the clothes I’d been wearing at a camping event.  Almost immediately, Rene perked up and asked if I’d been camping. When I told her about the event I’d been to, she started talking to me about camping out in Colorado before she’d joined the military. Now, I had mentioned the SCA, and camping events, but until I walked in with my clothes smelling of woodsmoke, she had never associated me with camping. That one moment made the connection in her head, and suddenly, we had something in common, and my weekend hobby wasn’t quite as dorky to her.

    What does this have to do with publishing?

    Good question, I’m glad you asked. One of the first things I did when I started down the path to publish my first zombie book, Zompoc Survivor: Exodus, was to start talking to other fairly successful authors. Not schmoozing or fanboy praise, but actually talking to them. I asked questions, I talked up  their books, talked TO them, and acknowledged their help publicly. Some people might think of this as networking, but I approached it as becoming part of a community. As zombie authors go, I’m sort of a freshman as far as semi-successful authors go, one of the new kids who is just getting my name known a little.

    What that means to me is that on occasion, authors like Shawn Chesser and David Forsyth will engage with me or mention my name. And their readers see that. When I released ZS: Exodus in March of 2014, it was doing alright at first, but nothing special. Then, Shawn mentioned my book as a result of the release party I’d held online and my sales rocketed into the top 100 in my genre. I had become a part of the community that surrounds the zombie fiction genre, and people saw me as a good writer because of who I was associated with.

    Which leads me to the next important point…

    Truth In Advertising.

    On the one hand, people say “Perception is reality.” To a certain extent, that’s true. If people see you as a good writer, they will expect you to be one. If they see you as a jerk, you’re going to have a hard time shaking that opinion.

    That being said, if you paint yourself as the next Tolkien or Hemingway, and you’re really just a hack writer…no amount of marketing is going to fix the damage you’ve done to yourself. People hate being misled. Early on, my tendency was to under promise and over deliver. Writers are especially good about this, since we are constantly second-guessing our skills. Truth is, it’s the bad writers who praise their own work the most.

    So, as a writer, if you hang out with successful people, make sure your work is the absolute best you can put out and try to avoid singing your own praises too loudly. Be genuine, try to stay humble, and try to deliver the best story you can to your readers. Don’t brag…well, not too much, anyway.

    Make It Easy For Your Fans.

    My first book was a write off from the moment I hit publish. I came at it thinking I might never make a lot of money from it because I started it off with a price of $.99 for the first month or so that it was out. My return on that book wasn’t money. My return on my first book was readers. It’s easy to look back at the number of books sold that first month and say “If I had priced it at $2.99, I would have made so much more money.” But I also know that if I had, I might not have sold as many books. I priced my book low to make it easier for readers to buy it. And they did.

    Some folks will tell you that pricing a book low is a sure sign to readers that it’s not very good. I say that they are selling readers short. For an unknown author, a reader is going to buy a book on impulse if it appeals to them a whole lot faster if it’s cheap. For the reader it’s a low risk proposition. New author? Risk. New series? Risk. 99c price point? Not much lost. Buy now with One-Click.

    If you’ve written a good book, you just made yourself a loyal fan. They just paid 99c for a book they would have happily paid $2.99 for, so to them, they got a good deal and they’ve already made the decision to buy the next book you put out. By then, your hard core fans are already with you, and you've already established for them that your next book really IS worth the higher price.

    Engage, Engage, Engage.

    Really, this is something you have to do once you actually HAVE readers, but it’s important because it helps you keep them. There as many do’s as there are don’ts with this.

    Be nice to your fans. Pretty obvious, right?

    Do respond to your readers as often as you can outside of reviews

    Don’t turn into a spam bot.

    Do talk about things other than your book.

    Don’t push an agenda.

    Be interesting. Be friendly. Be helpful. (This last trait has landed me several speaking engagements and podcast spots). Be knowledgeable when you speak. Research the things that you say. As I discovered recently, the best piece of advice will automatically be ignored if someone can’t back up even the most minor of statements with their own truth. Likewise, knowing what you're talking about and sounding like you do can help keep you visible in your community in the right ways.

    Be positive. Talk about how things CAN be done, instead of complaining about problems. People like reading about success and how they too can have it. Don’t complain about how things are going bad, about sales slumping or  bad reviews. People deal with enough negative BS of their own every day. Don’t’ saddle them with yours, too.

    Randomly post cool stuff from other authors, too. It helps keep the sense of community strong, and that goes back to the beginning, be a part of the community you write in.

    Most importantly, be grateful to your fans. Don’t talk shit about them, not even the ones who act like jerks. Don’t respond to negative or positive reviews, except to highlight something good a fan said. Randomly thank folks for your success.

    Your Wordcount May Vary

    None of this is guaranteed, of course. This is just what has worked for me, and what I hope works for you. And remember….

    Do epic shit. Be a force for the Awesome.
​1 Comment
Steven Wolff link ( AuthorStevenWolff@gmail.com )
1/22/2015 03:47:46 am
Lots of great advice! Thanks for sharing and opening up my eyes. I can't wait to try the tips mentioned above. :-) 
1 Comment

Happy New Year!

1/1/2015

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Picture
​In Reflection:

At the beginning of 2014, I had this plan. I had three books I wanted to release about 3 months apart. One was dystopian, one was a zombie book and the third was portal fantasy. The genres are important, you see, because nothing went the way I planned for it to this year. Of the three I had planned, I had the dystopian book already “done” and close to publishing. Except the premise ended up being broken. So I scrapped that idea and sent it to the rewrite pile. That left the portal fantasy and the zombie story. Of the two, the portal fantasy was closer to being done, really. But, I went back to look at the zombie story, and said, “Well, let’s see if I can get this in a little better shape.” I also planned on a lot of other things. Things to do with my website, minor ideas I wanted to pursue. But most of all, I was still writing and still hopeful.

On February 28th, Zompoc Survivor: Exodus hit Amazon. My carefully crafted plan for the year was already scrapped, and I was sitting back trying to decide how to rescue or revise it.

Then, on March 6th, something amazing happened: ZS: Exodus exploded on the Amazon rankings. Suddenly, I was selling more books in a day than I ever had before. 2014 became all about getting the next book out, and suddenly, everything was coming together. It looked like, after years and years of writing, after two previous books, I was (and am) on the cusp of the life I have always wanted, a writer’s life. The one thing I didn’t plan for. I spent the rest of the year playing Xanatos speedchess.

It’s been a year of changes, of losses and gains. We saw family members return home after years away and the birth of a new grandson. I lost friends, but I gained new ones. I was blessed to see friends take the first steps into their own success. I got back one of my old books and released it anew.

Through it all, I think the biggest lesson from 2014 was that persistence pays off. You never know when you’re going to hit that moment where everything comes together. When suddenly, you are standing at the threshold of your dreams, and you realize that nothing is like you thought it would be. Some things are not so glamourous as you imagined, but other things are even better than you dared hope for. There are days in this writer’s life that are hard, when all I seem to do is work on the business of writing. But those are the moments when I stop and remind myself “It’s my business that I’m having to deal with. Not someone else’s. I’m working for me.”

Let me tell you, that’s an epic feeling.

So, as 2014 closes, I have one message for you: Keep fighting for your dreams, because anything worth dreaming is worth working hard for.

Never give up.

Looking forward:

Stepping into 2015, I realize that most of the year has already been mapped out for me. Some of it still needs to be refined, but it’s already looking like a good year.

That, I find, makes all the difference. I start the New Year off knowing the following:

I am Mighty. I am Epic. And so are you.

Go forth and do Epic Things! Be a force for the Awesome!
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    Ben Reeder
    Author of the Zompoc Survivor and The Demon's Apprentice series. Occasional wit. Constant smart ass.

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