For those of you wondering, I’m currently 23k into Conquest’s Hammer, the third and final Revelations book. With any luck, I’ll have it out this month. If you haven’t picked up Death’s Mantle, you can do so today for free on Amazon.
The reason for this post is a little different though. I wanted to talk about my progress a little bit. For those of you who didn’t know, I started in September 2014 self-publishing my books. January 2016 marks my sixteenth month.
It seems like so much longer ago than it is. I still remember being completely overwhelmed by formatting Kill It with Magic for Kindle, and now I can format an entire book in 15 minutes. It’s sort of funny.
So, how is it going thus far? Well, to date I’ve sold 5,097 books and have made approximately $8,500. Not too bad, if I say so myself. It’s hard to believe so many people gave me money for my writing. You guys are awesome, and I truly hope you enjoyed what you bought from me.
Still, it’s been an incredible amount of work. I’m definitely taking the hard slog uphill with no shoes method.
Why do I say that? Well, to date, I’ve published approximately 886,000 words across 15 novels, 1 novella, and 3 short stories with over 700,000 of those words written in 2015.
It isn’t just about writing, either. Each one of those volumes has been through at least three drafts by me before an editor even looks at it. Then there’s more revision based upon what the editor says. Sometimes this might mean 4 additional drafts. Yikes!
That said, I have already made more money in January then I made in all of 2014. Still, I would like to do a little better. This led me to having a hard conversation with myself. I need to do something different. Really different.
I had a few outlines for stories I want to write this year, but I’m not sure how well they will sell. To say every series besides Lillim has been a staggering disappointment is a major understatement because I would say Lillim accounts for 80% of my sales. It’s really hard for me as a person to write book 3 of a series that just isn’t selling, especially when you consider the fact that it takes so much time and energy after writing.
I started writing a Dirge book. And, I’ll be honest, I think it’s great. I think the people who read Lillim will like it. Still, I’m deathly afraid of it crashing and burning.
Right now, Lillim is paying for Abby, Thes, and Revelations in a big way. Unfortunately, I think Lillim may have hit its limit as far as earning potential goes. It’s hung pretty solid at around 500 copies a month for the last 7 months or so despite all my attempts to cajole it upward, and the other books haven’t moved to push up that number significantly.
So, here’s my plan going forward. I’m going to finish up Revelations. That’s gotta happen, and it will. After that, I’m going to try something I haven’t done before.
I’m going to write a book centered around an adult male in his late twenties that takes a page out of my Jet novella and evaluate. If it hits, I’m going to write more. If not, I’m going to pivot again.
In 2015, I learned a great deal about writing and publishing. Now, in 2016, it’s time to show that. Hopefully, it works.
That said, if everything stays as it is right now and I continue selling ~500 copies a month, I’ll still be happy. But hey, I want to sell more. Guess I’m greedy, who knew?