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How Much Money I Made Self-Publishing in 2011

January 10, 2012 by in category Archives

Happy Monday! As part of the changes this year at Routines for Writers, I am now starting the week there with news and information about my self-publishing journey. Since it’s tax time and time to finish planning out the new year, I thought I’d compile my revenue and expenses and share them with both my friends there, and here as well. 

In the following list, I did not include any revenue or expenses for 2011 that were not directly related to self-publishing. All the things I bought or paid for that I would have spent money on anyway – books, DVDs, conferences/speaking events, online classes, web site, software, etc. – are in addition to these numbers. 
EXPENSES
In April I started thinking I would probably self-publish if I didn’t hear good news about my genre at the Romance Writers of America national conference, so I started buying books and ebooks on how to publish ebooks. (That still sounds funny to me!) I spent $12.74 on five ebooks between April and August. I self-published Little Miss Lovesick [link] in September. Then I spent $67.59 on three books and three ebooks between September and December. I also bought a copy of my book for $0.99 at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble so I could double-check the formatting.
My husband is a former graphic designer so I paid $9.99 for the photo we used to create the cover, and my husband gained a lot of points to leverage against chores in the future. 🙂  I spent $15 on an online class where I learned how to format my book for Kindle, then I did all the formatting myself. 
I decided that I wanted to own my ISBNs, and I wanted enough of them to continue publishing years into the future with consecutive numbers assigned to my “publishing company.” So I paid $575 for 100 ISBN numbers. I also paid $57 to file a DBA (Doing Business As) form with the State of California to use Daydreamer Entertainment as my company name. (It’s not a corporation or an LLC, it’s just permission to use a name that is not my own.) 
PUBLISHING THE BOOK
I uploaded the book to Amazon on September 17. But I was pretty sure I had a formatting problem, so I asked all of my friends not to buy a copy until I fixed it on September 22. I decided I wanted to price books the way I like to buy DVDs at Best Buy and Target: on sale when they first come out, and then full price after that with occasional sales. So I set the price at $0.99 for 30 days…which really means 5-6 weeks by the time you wait for your changes to take effect across all venues.
The book went up on Barnes & Noble on September 22 and Smashwords on September 21. If you aren’t familiar with Smashwords, they distribute my book to the iTunes store, Kobo, Diesel and more. There are a couple other venues I want to use, but with the move and the holidays, I haven’t been able to complete the work yet.
SALES AND REVENUE
I think the minimum that you have to earn before getting paid (on all three sites – Amazon, B&N and Smashwords) is $10. You can download a spreadsheet showing your sales and revenue from Amazon and B&N, which I have done every month. I’m not sure about Smashwords; I have a spreadsheet with all of my sales across all their distribution channels, but I’m still reading it over and figuring it out. It looks like their spreadsheet is only available by quarter, but it includes what countries you’ve sold to. Cool.
For September through December, 2011, I’ve earned $5.39 on 17 sales from B&N, and $8.11 on 8 sales from Smashwords (for sales to Smashwords and Apple customers only, so far). Again, I won’t get paid by either of them until they owe me at least $10. As seems to be so often the case, the biggest sales are from Amazon. I’ll break it down by month.
September – $13.65 in earnings on 39 sales, paid on November 29th; $0.26 on 1 sale in the Amazon UK store, unpaid until I reach $10.
October – $12.15 on 33 sales, paid on December 23rd; no non-U.S. sales.
November – $22.05 on 9 sales, not yet paid; no non-U.S. sales. (The price from the end of October on is $3.99.)
December – Reports are generated on the 15th of the month (next week), but it looks like Dec numbers are approximately $9.65 on 4 sales. That means I won’t get a check in February. 
THE BOTTOM LINE
My total earnings for 2011 is $71.26 on 111 sales. (Of course, that’s not what I’ll report to the IRS. That number would be $25.80, the amount I actually got paid in 2011.) Total expenses for 2011 per the above is $739.30. (That is the number I’ll report to the IRS, in addition to other expenses, because I really did spend it in 2011.) That gives me a net loss of $668.04 for the year. (Again, not the number that will appear on my tax form because I had other writing-related income from teaching online classes. I just want you to understand the difference between the numbers as I’ll be presenting them to you throughout the year, and the way you report a cash-basis business.)
You can look at these results from a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty perspective. People who have been doing this longer than me seem to agree that it takes about a year for you to really see progress, and it’s quicker if you have multiple books out. I’ve heard that nonfiction sells better than fiction; I’ll let you know if that’s true for me when I put out my nonfiction ebooks. In the “corporate” small business world, common wisdom is that it can take up to five years to start seeing profits and have a business that supports you financially. I expect I’ll be closer to the one-year than the five-year mark, but only time will tell.
On days when I feel despondent about the numbers, my awesome husband reminds me that a few months ago I’d sold zero books and earned zero money from my fiction. This, from a self-proclaimed pessimist, so you can see why it cheers me up so much.
Today’s a new day, it’s a new week, a new year, and I’m feeling optimistic. I have a lot to do and some days I don’t know how I can possibly do it all. But every journey is one foot in front of the other, one mile after another, so I have to focus on what to do NOW and what to do NEXT and leave the rest of it on my To Do List.
Again, ask any questions you want and I’ll try to answer. And if you’re interested in planning out your 2012 writing year with me, sign up for my online class. We start next Monday. 
Until next time, Happy Writing!  🙂


Kitty Bucholtz decided to combine her undergraduate degree in business, her years of experience in accounting and finance, and her graduate degree in creative writing to become a writer-turned-independent-publisher. Her first novel, Little Miss Lovesick, was released in September 2011 as an ebook and will be available soon in print format. Kitty has also written magazine articles, devotionals, and worked as a magazine editor. She is the co-founder of Routines for Writers where she blogs every Monday. Her next novel, Love at the Fluff N Fold, will be released in Spring 2012.
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Meeting Reminder: January 14, 2012

January 1, 2012 by in category Archives tagged as ,
Doors open at 9:00 AM

Ask –an-Author: TBA
First Chapter Critique: TBA

Online Class: 
Going the Distance: Goal Setting and Time Management for the Writer 
with
Kitty Bucholtz  
For information Click HERE
Time to renew your OCC/RWA membership! You may renew at the meeting or online http://www.occrwa.org/joinocc.html 

2012 Orange Rose Contest for Unpublished Authors Information will be available at this meeting.

Even more meeting information can be found on our website. 

Hope to see everyone on the 14th.
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Western Witches: Calls for Submission

December 31, 2011 by in category Archives tagged as , ,

Want to start the new year off with some creative inspiration? Why not kick it off with a short story? Here are the latest Calls for Submissions … perfect for helping meet those resolutions.
Hex Appeal
Ellora’s Cave is casting a magical spell for all things Wiccan. Charm readers with stories about wanton witches, lusty warlocks and sizzling spells! 18K – 70K words Deadline for internal submissions: June 15, 2012.  Deadline for external submissions: May 15, 2012. Stories will release in October 2012. For more information, http://www.jasminejade.com/t-writerscircle.aspx
Western Escape
Decadent Publishing is accepting pitches for their new series, Western Escape.

If you have a tale of a hot cowboy, or a cowgirl who can hold her own in a man’s world, we want to hear about it. Give us lariats to tie up desire, a beautiful sunset over an open prairie to weaken inhibitions, or even the slow rocking of a horse to spark things off. Decadent Publishing’s Western Escape follows the lives of Freewill’s residents and visitors. Heroes and heroines can be locals or tourists, but they must all pass through or connect to Freewill in some way whether interacting with the town ghost or locals, attending a conference at the Misbegotten Gaines Ranch and Resort, or something only you have thought of.
All submissions must have a Western theme. Tell us of the city boy roped by the hottest cowgirl in the West. Show us the wild or simple joys of a trip to the rodeo. Offer a plea to the ghost of Pierre Dauville and demonstrate the power of believing in what you cannot not see. For more information about Freewill look around the blog and make yourself at home or contact us.
Due to the somewhat conservative nature of the setting, all stories should focus on heterosexual relationships with a satisfying HFN or HEA ending. If you have a wilder cowboy in mind, please send it through general submissions.
Genre: A Western connection is a must, but we are open to any sub-genre including but not limited to Historical, Time Travel, or BDSM, as well as some paranormal elements such as psychics or reincarnation themes. No sci-fi or extreme fantasy please. Although a little implied magic is acceptable, we would prefer our cowboys on horses rather than riding dragons or space ships. 12K -50K (We will consider longer works on an individual basis.) Sensual to Hot (2-4) See submissions link below for taboo subjects. Remember this is romance so no straight erotica please. For more information, visit http://westernescapedecadentpublishing.blogspot.com/p/submission-guidelines-for-decadent.html
Coming Out Stories
Loose Id wants Coming Out stories — Thoughtful, authentic erotic romances featuring men and women who come out. The coming out theme must be integral to the story. All stories must follow Loose Id submission guidelines. Final deadline for full submissions will be June 15, 2012 but the earlier, the better. Those accepted may be included for release in conjunction with Coming Out Day.
Coming out refers to the expression “coming out of the closet” meaning to tell others about your sexual orientation.
http://www.lasionline.org/the-issues/coming-out.html Note: Coming Out Day is observed in many countries, usually on October 11. In the UK it is celebrated on October 12. For more information, visit http://www.loose-id.com/submissions.aspx
Faery Rose
The Faery Tales at Wild Rose Press are not for children. The Faery line is a fantasy world where you can allow your imagination free rein, a place to enjoy romance with mystical or mythical characters.  We are looking for a sensual hero who knows what he wants and who goes after his leading lady. The heroine should always be a female we can identify with—someone we want to see achieve her dreams with strength she draws from inside.
Here are some possible scenarios:  
  • Dragons in the mist that turn into mortal men and women while overcoming obstacles to their love may have a little lust on their minds as well.
  • Elves with challenges to their emotions could be looking for love with a bit of mischief thrown in. 
  • Ghosts may come back for the love of their life—or serve as the conflict keeping hero and heroine apart
  • Wizards, warlocks, and witches crank up the romance like they spit out a spell. 
  • Futuristic worlds reveal heroes and heroines capable of wielding a sword or a laser, who fearlessly go after what their  hearts desire.
  • Time travels moving through centuries with the hero and heroine seeking not the secrets of the ages but of love.   

And because our line is limited only by your imagination, if you have any other mystical creatures you think might be a fit, we will certainly look at those also. For believable romantic interaction, the hero and heroine must be of the same species or both humanoid. Your work should be a Romance above all, and every story should have clear goal, motivation, and conflict no matter how long or short.  â€œShow” us the trials and tribulations of your hero and heroine—make them suffer.  We want to “see” their emotions, don’t tell us; put the reader in the story rather than telling a “bedtime story” to a friend. For more information, http://wildrosepress.us
Compiled by Louisa Bacio
See something that piques your creativity? Louisa Bacio will be teaching Writing a Short Story for Anthology Call-Out on SavvyAuthors.com in January, and for OCC/RWA in November 2012. Make publication a goal. For more information, visit http://louisabacio.com

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“Going the Distance: Goal Setting and Time Management for the Writer” with Kitty Bucholtz

December 26, 2011 by in category Archives tagged as

Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassJan12.html
COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
If you have specific questions, email occrwaonlineclass@yahoo.com

ABOUT THE CLASS:
Back by popular demand!

If you missed this class last year – or need a refresher – “Goal Setting and Time Management for the Writer” offers everything you need to make 2012 a banner year for achieving your writing and personal goals.

Kick-start the year with a personalized approach that works for you. Use these tools throughout the year and build your confidence knowing you CAN reach your goals. It doesn’t matter if you are a plotter or a panster, this interactive class helps you design a plan for the year and gives you the tools to know how and when to make adjustments.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Kitty Bucholtz, author of Little Miss Lovesick, combined her business background and a MA in Creative Writing to build a career – and she wants to help you do the same. She is also the co-founder of Routines for Writers where she blogs every Wednesday.

Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassJan12.html
COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members

Coming in February 2012:
Kiss Me or Kill Me: Writing Cozy Mysteries 101 for Romance Writers with Linda O. Johnston

Discover the similarities and the differences between romances and cozies, and learn how the best cozy mysteries use the suspense of romance to further a series’ development.

Check out our full list of workshop at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html

Want to be notified personally two weeks before each class? Be sure you’re signed up for our Online Class Notices Yahoo Group! Sign up at the bottom of http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html or send a blank email to OCCRWAOnlineClassNotices-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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The Santa Shop Entertains & Inspires

December 15, 2011 by in category Archives tagged as , ,

This morning (Sunday) I was supposed to work on my new book – the one I intend to complete for a December release. Instead, I snuggled down in my warm bed and finished an e-book called The Santa Shop (The Santa Conspiracy) by Tim Greaton.

The Santa Shop is a short novel, but it was epic in its affect on me. This wonderfully crafted work held my attention, played on my emotions (yes, I wiped away a few tears at the end), made me think, and made me want to be an author just like Tim.

After I got over the heady reader-delight of having just read a good book, I also realized that I had been given the gift of professional inspiration. I realized that if I was agonizing over my work, maybe there was something wrong. If I had a good story, it should unfold; if I couldn’t figure out which direction to go, perhaps I was trying to fabricate a story where one didn’t exist. The Santa Shop was a story waiting to be told. It really was as simple as that and here’s why it worked.

I was instantly invested in the main character, Skip. I knew his circumstances, the joy and tragedy of his backstory, the pain of his current situation, and the torture in his heart and soul within the first chapter. I went with Skip on a journey that was equally spare and eloquent in the telling. I saw through Skip’s eyes. I felt with his heart. I worried that he would not survive. I wanted a happy ending. I longed for a happy ending and, as anyone who reads my books knows, I am not a happy ending, ribbons-and-bows kind of gal.

However, it wasn’t until I reached the last page and read the very last word that I realized it was not Skip who was leading me on, it was Tim. If this author agonized about word count, it didn’t show. If he struggled to find just the right turn of phrase, it didn’t show. If he edited this baby for a year, it didn’t show. Therein lies the brilliance of what he accomplished. I never had to work for my literary pleasure. For a reader, there is no better experience; for a writer, there is no better lesson.

So, on this chilly Sunday morning, I want to thank Tim Greaton for reminding me of the very simple lessons to creating a good book:

1) Have a story, not an idea.

2) Know your character, not just his or her name.

3) Write as if you are pointing the way not giving directions.

4) Stop when the story is told.

Finally, no matter how complex the plot, no matter how many characters are in a book, no matter how intricate relationships we create for our fictional friends, we, as authors, should not be present in the books we write. Simplicity – whether natural or hard won – is the key to writing a wonderful book.

Thanks, Tim, for the gift of The Santa Shop.

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