That's what I feel like I'm taking right now--baby steps. With my mom here, the relatives are coming and going so much, I might need to install a revolving door. Plus, it seems like we take an awful lot of impromptu trips to town for whatever. Then there are the functions. Nephew's graduation, huge family gathering at the cemetery to decorate graves (people drive in from out of state for this), birthdays (hubby, mom, and my niece), and a first time ever family reunion next weekend. I know I've said this before but, I am NOT a social person. I just want to be left alone so I can write, not to mention THINK. I guess that makes me an old stick-in-the-mud (or so I'm told).
Would you be surprised if I told you, progress on the current manuscript is going painfully slow? No? Didn't think so. I recently read someplace that if you want to do something badly enough, you WILL find a way. So, that's what I've been trying to do. Find a way. To write. Even if it's only a few lines a day. I want to get this second book out there. I'm tired of being asked when the next book is coming out and having no answer except, "I'm working on it."
Meanwhile, even with everything around me in chaos, I've been trying to get my name out there. Trying to network. Very time consuming. Time I should be spending working on the ms., I suppose. Like now, instead of writing this blog post. But it's so much easier to click a few buttons on Facebook than write sparkling dialogue when it's 3:00 in the morning and my mental faculties turned to mush an hour ago. Speaking of Facebook. I got a friend request from some porn queen tonight, complete with racy photos. I declined, but thought it was interesting because that's never happened before. Heh. And now I'm rambling...
It was my intent tonight to get on here and give you a progress report. Even though I've had a few twinge moments for one reason or another, (lots of despicable author shenanigans from the self-published on Amazon forums) I'm still happy with my decision to publish on my own. I'm not burning up the rankings, but sales have been a steady trickle. The key word here is "steady" and I can now report that since publishing on April 26th, I've already surpassed my royalty earnings that I made for the entire year of 2010 while I was under contract with a small press/epub. WITH THE SAME BOOK. THAT'S ALREADY BEEN ON THE MARKET FOUR YEARS. I think that's pretty remarkable. It gives me hope for the future. And that's a good thing. :o)
Sweet dreams, and my apologies for the occasional shouting.
Devon
So exciting to hear your sales news, Devon! That's got to be very very gratifying, to surpass your previous yearly sales in just over 6 weeks!
ReplyDeleteHi Amy! I guess I need to do a blog post on this, but the difference is in the percentage of the cover price that I end up with. Amazon = 70%, B&N = 65%, Smashwords = 85%. With my publisher, I was getting 30% AFTER they took out the middlemen cuts. I think it ended up being something like 17%. That's a huge difference. So I make much more from my current $2.99 book than I did from my previous much higher priced book. Plus, I can actually see my sales in real time as they happen. That's great for this old bean-counter. So, I may not have surpassed my sales numbers yet, but the difference is in the royalties that end up coming to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by! I always enjoy your comments.
Oh Devon! I'm so tickled to see a new post from you and thrilled to hear about what's been going on with the sales.
ReplyDeleteAngel is SUCH a great book and it deserves way more attention! So glad it's getting it!
I know what you mean by the dredge of distractions of family and gatherings, and the whole social networking pandemonium. It does drain the juices. I need a good swift kick in the britches myself, but right now- bone-deep in edits for my historical- the writing itself is on the back burner until I get that m/s turned in to the editor.
I'm starting to feel that urgent need to write again though and need to finish the one WIP, do more edits and write more stories. So much to do so little time!
If you ever need to chat, you know how to reach me!
Hi Taryn! So happy to see you here. Thanks so much for the compliment on Angel. I know there are lots of western romance readers out there who haven't read it yet, so I'm hoping the sales will continue to trickle.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about the urge to write. Now that I'm in control of my destiny, so to speak,(g) I feel like I need to hurry, hurry, hurry and finish up the mss. I've been sitting on for so long.
Thanks for the friendship! You know how to reach me, too, if you ever want to talk about anything. Best of luck with the edits! I'm sure you're doing great. Can't wait to see your cover. I also wish you'd do a teaser about your upcoming book on your blog. Or is it too soon for that. :o)
Honestly, I'm not sure if it's too soon, but I do know I haven't even selected my "excerpt" to submit to the pub yet. I'm waiting until my editor has at least read through and sent it back for another round of edits, just in case something changes. Here's hoping by the end of the year, I'll be posting a lot of info about it, i.e. cover, blurb, excerpt. I'll keep you posted.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to it, Taryn.
ReplyDelete