I saw an interesting article on the web about the realities of being an Indie Author. The guy is a little cynical, but I have to agree with a lot of what he says. See below what he says:
Regarding Sales…1.) Your first book will sell 5 copies in its first month. If you’re very lucky.
2.) Your first book will sell 50 copies in its first year, if you’re even luckier.
3.) Your second book will cause your first book to sell slightly better. If it’s a sequel.
4.) If your second book isn’t a sequel, both your first and second book will sell…probably nothing.
5.) You might start seeing an uptick in your overall sales numbers…once you hit book 5 or 6.
6.) More likely, you won’t see any sales increase until you get somewhere around book 10. If you ever see a sales increase at all.
7.) You will see sales when you run ads with certain popular ad sites (like Kindle Books & Tips and Ereader News Today).
8.) Unless all of those sites are Bookbub, the sales tail won’t last but a few days. And then everything will go back to “normal.”
9.) Odds are, Bookbub will not pick your book up. If it does, it will be after you submit it to them about 8 times. They only accept same book submissions every 30 days.
10.) If Bookbub blesses you with an ad, your sales will spectacular for a few days. Then they will be quite good for the next few weeks. Then they will be okay for a few weeks more. Then…
11.) If you’re very, very lucky, a Bookbub ad will cause a permanently sales increase. Perhaps from 0-5 a day to 5-10. Perhaps less. Perhaps more.
12.) It is almost pointless to run a Bookbub ad if you have one book (or even two). Bookbub is best when you have larger backlist (think 5+ books) because Bookbub ads often result in “sell through” to books not advertised. An ad with only one book out might get you some fans, but in the long run, the net gain is MUCH smaller.
13.) A Bookbub ad will cost you several hundred dollars. If you do not have that much to invest, you are out of luck.
14.) Remember, most people who subscribe to ad sites are bargain hunters. The majority don’t care about your quest to sell a bajillion books and be famous. They care about books being cheap.
15.) A minority of the minority who are looking for great new authors to read might care about you…if they like your book.
16.) Running ads inevitably attracts people who HATE your books and will tell you so. On Amazon. With scathing low-star reviews.
Regarding Reviews…17.) There will be people who love your books and say so in wonderful 5-star reviews.
18.) There will be people who love your books and say so in wonderful 4-star reviews and who will not explain why they took off a star.
19.) There will be people who love your books and say so in wonderful 4-star reviews and who will mention they took off a star for the weirdest reasons you can imagine.
20.) There will be people who like your books and say so in great 4-star reviews.
21.) There will be people who dislike your books and give you a 4-star review anyway for unstated reasons.
22.) There will be people who think your books are average and say so in 3-star reviews.
23.) There will be people who like your books yet give you 3-star reviews for reasons they do not explain.
24.) There will be people who like your books yet give you 3-star reviews and who will mention they took off 2 stars for the weirdest reasons you can imagine.
25.) There will be people who don’t like your books and give you 2-star reviews.
26.) Some of the 2-star people will say they intend to read your sequels, even though they hated book 1.
27.) They will then proceed to give all your sequels 2 stars as well.
28.) There will be people who hate your books and give you 1-star reviews.
29.) There will be people who hate your books despite NOT reading them and give you 1-star reviews.
30.) There will be random trolls who drop 1-star reviews on all your books because they think it’s funny to hurt you.
31.) No matter how much any of your reviews hurt, you should NEVER reply to any of them. EVER.
32.) Replying to reviews is a surefire way to get labeled a “bad author.” Better to be safe than sorry, even if you’re frustrated.
33.) Some reviews will contain legitimate criticisms that upset you but you must make peace with.
34.) Some reviews will spoil your entire books and there’s nothing you can do to get them removed or rewritten.
35.) Some reviews will contain criticisms that sound like they were written for another book. You can’t get these removed or rewritten either.
36.) Some reviews will contain wildly inaccurate information regarding your plots, characters, and world-buiding. You can’t get these removed or rewritten either.
37.) You can only get reviews removed under very particular circumstances and at the convenience of the retailer where they are posted.
38.) The only circumstance that tends to work for removal is TRUE abuse.
39.) Even if a review IS abusive, the retailer may not remove it. Either because they don’t care about you, because they are overworked, or because the particular person who receives your complaint hasn’t read the retailer’s TOS (and never will) and thus doesn’t believe your complaint is legitimate.
40.) If you publicly complain about a review, two things will happen. 1) Some people will sympathize and comfort you (probably other authors who have been abused in reviews). And 2) Some people will have no sympathy whatsoever, tell you to shut the fuck up, and label you a “bad author.”
Regarding Self-Promotion…41.) People will say you must be present on “social media” in order to gain a following.
42.) They will then list off more social media sites than you can possibly utilize efficiently at the same time.
43.) You will join and attempt to use most of them anyway because you are desperate to gain a following.
44.) The result will be that some of your profiles end up more developed than others. Some will be overused. Some will be neglected.
45.) And you probably won’t gain much of a following on ANY of them, no matter how hard you try.
46.) Because people are tired of author self-promotion and now tune most of it out.
47.) People will then tell you a way to gain followers is to have a blog.
48.) They will conveniently leave out what you should blog about to get these followers.
49.) You will create a free blog and then try to post stuff you think people might like.
50.) People will ignore most of what you post.
51.) Because there are already 50,000+ other blogs posting on the exact same subjects.
52.) Blogging will start taking up large amounts of your time, even though you should be using that time to write.
53.) After several months of social media and blog-based self-promotion, you will be very disheartened at your low follower counts.
54.) People will then tell you to continue working your ass off anyway because it’s better to be active on social media and on your blog than to not be.
55.) These people are, unfortunately, correct.
56.) Because self-promotion is VERY difficult, often fruitless, and seemingly pointless at times. But if you don’t do it, you guarantee that your readership growth will be extremely slow.
57.) In other words, social media and blogging as self-promotion is an incredibly tedious tactic to capitalize on the slim off-chance more potential readers find you than would otherwise find you without self-promotion.
58.) These VERY FEW people who find you via social media and blogging will likely be some of your first fans.
59.) Cherish them — you may not get any more for a very long time.
Regarding Expenses…60.) You will spend more money producing your books than you make from selling them for a LONG time.
61.) If you don’t spend “enough” money on producing your books, elitists will point to this as a reason why your books aren’t selling.
62.) If you spend more than the average author spends producing books, people will shake their heads and ask why you bothered to spend so much if you didn’t know your books would sell.
63.) People will tell you that you MUST spend hundreds/thousands of dollars on proofreading and editing services, or you are damaging the industry with your “shitty” products.
64.) If you do not pay (ALT: pay “enough”) for these services, do NOT tell anyone you did not pay for these services, and produce a well-liked book anyway, people will assume you did PAY and that’s the reason the book is good.
65.) If you do not pay (ALT: pay “enough”) for these services, DO tell people you did not pay for these services, and produce a well-liked book anyway, people will either 1) say you got lucky, 2) say there must be something wrong with it “dumb” readers haven’t noticed, or 3) reverse their opinions that it is good and point out arbitrary “issues” with the writing, claiming it would have been stronger if you’d paid for these services.
66.) If you pay a lot for a cover for a book that doesn’t sell, people will say you were foolish to spend so much on a cover for a “lost cause” of a book.
67.) If you pay a lot for a cover for a book that DOES sell, people will say “good job” on buying a cover that HELPED sell your book.
68.) If you don’t pay for a cover and instead make one yourself for a book that doesn’t sell, people will say you were 1) foolish to think your skills could ever produce a good cover and 2) your “shitty” cover is the reason the book isn’t selling.
69.) If you don’t pay for a cover and instead make one yourself for a book that DOES sell, people will say 1) you got lucky or 2) “Wow, you have good design skills AND writing skills? Impressive.”
70.) If you say how much you spent producing a book, someone will say they spent less and got the same/better results, thus you spent too much.
71.) Someone else will then come along and and say they spent much more and got better results, thus you spent too little.
Regarding Authorhood…72.) Some people will say you published too young (even if you are NOT young) or before you were “ready.”
73.) Some people will say this even if/when you are successful.
74.) Some people will say you are not “good enough” to be an author and will never be.
75.) Some people will say this even if/when you are successful.
76.) At the end of the day, the only surefire way to achieve your goals is to NEVER give up on them. Even if all the crap in this list happens to you daily.
77.) Being an indie author is hard (as hell), but that doesn’t mean it can’t or won’t be rewarding for you. :)
78.) If anyone tells you to give up because you’re doomed to fail, you should take it as a challenge and prove them wrong. :P
79.) No matter how much you spend, how many sales you get, or how many readers review, the true measure of an author is simply this: that you write and keep writing.
80.) You can’t succeed if you don’t try — and that is why you should. :)
Regarding Sales…1.) Your first book will sell 5 copies in its first month. If you’re very lucky.
2.) Your first book will sell 50 copies in its first year, if you’re even luckier.
3.) Your second book will cause your first book to sell slightly better. If it’s a sequel.
4.) If your second book isn’t a sequel, both your first and second book will sell…probably nothing.
5.) You might start seeing an uptick in your overall sales numbers…once you hit book 5 or 6.
6.) More likely, you won’t see any sales increase until you get somewhere around book 10. If you ever see a sales increase at all.
7.) You will see sales when you run ads with certain popular ad sites (like Kindle Books & Tips and Ereader News Today).
8.) Unless all of those sites are Bookbub, the sales tail won’t last but a few days. And then everything will go back to “normal.”
9.) Odds are, Bookbub will not pick your book up. If it does, it will be after you submit it to them about 8 times. They only accept same book submissions every 30 days.
10.) If Bookbub blesses you with an ad, your sales will spectacular for a few days. Then they will be quite good for the next few weeks. Then they will be okay for a few weeks more. Then…
11.) If you’re very, very lucky, a Bookbub ad will cause a permanently sales increase. Perhaps from 0-5 a day to 5-10. Perhaps less. Perhaps more.
12.) It is almost pointless to run a Bookbub ad if you have one book (or even two). Bookbub is best when you have larger backlist (think 5+ books) because Bookbub ads often result in “sell through” to books not advertised. An ad with only one book out might get you some fans, but in the long run, the net gain is MUCH smaller.
13.) A Bookbub ad will cost you several hundred dollars. If you do not have that much to invest, you are out of luck.
14.) Remember, most people who subscribe to ad sites are bargain hunters. The majority don’t care about your quest to sell a bajillion books and be famous. They care about books being cheap.
15.) A minority of the minority who are looking for great new authors to read might care about you…if they like your book.
16.) Running ads inevitably attracts people who HATE your books and will tell you so. On Amazon. With scathing low-star reviews.
Regarding Reviews…17.) There will be people who love your books and say so in wonderful 5-star reviews.
18.) There will be people who love your books and say so in wonderful 4-star reviews and who will not explain why they took off a star.
19.) There will be people who love your books and say so in wonderful 4-star reviews and who will mention they took off a star for the weirdest reasons you can imagine.
20.) There will be people who like your books and say so in great 4-star reviews.
21.) There will be people who dislike your books and give you a 4-star review anyway for unstated reasons.
22.) There will be people who think your books are average and say so in 3-star reviews.
23.) There will be people who like your books yet give you 3-star reviews for reasons they do not explain.
24.) There will be people who like your books yet give you 3-star reviews and who will mention they took off 2 stars for the weirdest reasons you can imagine.
25.) There will be people who don’t like your books and give you 2-star reviews.
26.) Some of the 2-star people will say they intend to read your sequels, even though they hated book 1.
27.) They will then proceed to give all your sequels 2 stars as well.
28.) There will be people who hate your books and give you 1-star reviews.
29.) There will be people who hate your books despite NOT reading them and give you 1-star reviews.
30.) There will be random trolls who drop 1-star reviews on all your books because they think it’s funny to hurt you.
31.) No matter how much any of your reviews hurt, you should NEVER reply to any of them. EVER.
32.) Replying to reviews is a surefire way to get labeled a “bad author.” Better to be safe than sorry, even if you’re frustrated.
33.) Some reviews will contain legitimate criticisms that upset you but you must make peace with.
34.) Some reviews will spoil your entire books and there’s nothing you can do to get them removed or rewritten.
35.) Some reviews will contain criticisms that sound like they were written for another book. You can’t get these removed or rewritten either.
36.) Some reviews will contain wildly inaccurate information regarding your plots, characters, and world-buiding. You can’t get these removed or rewritten either.
37.) You can only get reviews removed under very particular circumstances and at the convenience of the retailer where they are posted.
38.) The only circumstance that tends to work for removal is TRUE abuse.
39.) Even if a review IS abusive, the retailer may not remove it. Either because they don’t care about you, because they are overworked, or because the particular person who receives your complaint hasn’t read the retailer’s TOS (and never will) and thus doesn’t believe your complaint is legitimate.
40.) If you publicly complain about a review, two things will happen. 1) Some people will sympathize and comfort you (probably other authors who have been abused in reviews). And 2) Some people will have no sympathy whatsoever, tell you to shut the fuck up, and label you a “bad author.”
Regarding Self-Promotion…41.) People will say you must be present on “social media” in order to gain a following.
42.) They will then list off more social media sites than you can possibly utilize efficiently at the same time.
43.) You will join and attempt to use most of them anyway because you are desperate to gain a following.
44.) The result will be that some of your profiles end up more developed than others. Some will be overused. Some will be neglected.
45.) And you probably won’t gain much of a following on ANY of them, no matter how hard you try.
46.) Because people are tired of author self-promotion and now tune most of it out.
47.) People will then tell you a way to gain followers is to have a blog.
48.) They will conveniently leave out what you should blog about to get these followers.
49.) You will create a free blog and then try to post stuff you think people might like.
50.) People will ignore most of what you post.
51.) Because there are already 50,000+ other blogs posting on the exact same subjects.
52.) Blogging will start taking up large amounts of your time, even though you should be using that time to write.
53.) After several months of social media and blog-based self-promotion, you will be very disheartened at your low follower counts.
54.) People will then tell you to continue working your ass off anyway because it’s better to be active on social media and on your blog than to not be.
55.) These people are, unfortunately, correct.
56.) Because self-promotion is VERY difficult, often fruitless, and seemingly pointless at times. But if you don’t do it, you guarantee that your readership growth will be extremely slow.
57.) In other words, social media and blogging as self-promotion is an incredibly tedious tactic to capitalize on the slim off-chance more potential readers find you than would otherwise find you without self-promotion.
58.) These VERY FEW people who find you via social media and blogging will likely be some of your first fans.
59.) Cherish them — you may not get any more for a very long time.
Regarding Expenses…60.) You will spend more money producing your books than you make from selling them for a LONG time.
61.) If you don’t spend “enough” money on producing your books, elitists will point to this as a reason why your books aren’t selling.
62.) If you spend more than the average author spends producing books, people will shake their heads and ask why you bothered to spend so much if you didn’t know your books would sell.
63.) People will tell you that you MUST spend hundreds/thousands of dollars on proofreading and editing services, or you are damaging the industry with your “shitty” products.
64.) If you do not pay (ALT: pay “enough”) for these services, do NOT tell anyone you did not pay for these services, and produce a well-liked book anyway, people will assume you did PAY and that’s the reason the book is good.
65.) If you do not pay (ALT: pay “enough”) for these services, DO tell people you did not pay for these services, and produce a well-liked book anyway, people will either 1) say you got lucky, 2) say there must be something wrong with it “dumb” readers haven’t noticed, or 3) reverse their opinions that it is good and point out arbitrary “issues” with the writing, claiming it would have been stronger if you’d paid for these services.
66.) If you pay a lot for a cover for a book that doesn’t sell, people will say you were foolish to spend so much on a cover for a “lost cause” of a book.
67.) If you pay a lot for a cover for a book that DOES sell, people will say “good job” on buying a cover that HELPED sell your book.
68.) If you don’t pay for a cover and instead make one yourself for a book that doesn’t sell, people will say you were 1) foolish to think your skills could ever produce a good cover and 2) your “shitty” cover is the reason the book isn’t selling.
69.) If you don’t pay for a cover and instead make one yourself for a book that DOES sell, people will say 1) you got lucky or 2) “Wow, you have good design skills AND writing skills? Impressive.”
70.) If you say how much you spent producing a book, someone will say they spent less and got the same/better results, thus you spent too much.
71.) Someone else will then come along and and say they spent much more and got better results, thus you spent too little.
Regarding Authorhood…72.) Some people will say you published too young (even if you are NOT young) or before you were “ready.”
73.) Some people will say this even if/when you are successful.
74.) Some people will say you are not “good enough” to be an author and will never be.
75.) Some people will say this even if/when you are successful.
76.) At the end of the day, the only surefire way to achieve your goals is to NEVER give up on them. Even if all the crap in this list happens to you daily.
77.) Being an indie author is hard (as hell), but that doesn’t mean it can’t or won’t be rewarding for you. :)
78.) If anyone tells you to give up because you’re doomed to fail, you should take it as a challenge and prove them wrong. :P
79.) No matter how much you spend, how many sales you get, or how many readers review, the true measure of an author is simply this: that you write and keep writing.
80.) You can’t succeed if you don’t try — and that is why you should. :)