Joe Konrath on his recent sales figures.

[I. J. Parker]

I assume you may know this already.  Joe posted recently that he earned $ 100,000,00 during the past three weeks.  From his self-published books.

I kid you not.

 

He's been very good about sharing his sales figures for the past few years, so I don't doubt his good luck.  He's since explained that it's based on a lot of hard work.  I don't doubt that either.

 

But here's my problem: I don't write books that appeal to that many people. Still, his story is encouraging.  Check out his blog sometimes when you get depressed.

 

 

[Benjamin Sobieck]

I congratulate his success yet avoid his blog. Too many ways to lose touch with reality. About 100k of them. Most authors will never see 1/100 of that haul.

[EDWARD C MORGAN]

I agree Ben.

[I. J. Parker]

Well, he has more than 20 titles up.  Few of us have that many, or will have them any time soon.  He also plays with pricing and freebies.  And his presence on social networks is awe-inspiring.  Of those things, I can only attempt the second, and I expect he's much better at it than I am.

[EDWARD C MORGAN]

Regardless of what you think of his work, you can't argue two points:

1. Konrath is a tremendously hard worker.

2. He has approached his writing career with a real business mentality.

[Benjamin Sobieck]

No argument there. One caveat, though. You can afford to work hard at your writing career if you earn that much money. The kicker for writers has always been paying the bills. Success tends to grow on itself. Not so much when you spend most of your week on a full-time gig.

[Jon Loomis]

Konrath's story is very impressive--and the blog is great.  It does make you wonder what it is, exactly, that a traditional publisher does for you that Amazon doesn't.  The answer, in my experience, is not much.  I'm blessed to have a great editor, who's always been able to make very common-sense and, in retrospect, obvious suggestions that have greatly improved each of my novels--but I'm not sure the expense relative to what I'd make on Amazon is worth it.  Konrath's experience--no tours, no marketing to speak of, etc.--is close to mine, although the kinds of advances he made for his first six published books is pretty freaking staggering, so not exactly equivalent on that front.  It would be interesting to experiment, I think, if I had a title or two to try out.  Hmmm...

[Jon Loomis]

I would add that I find it amazing that after committing $150k to a three book deal, Konrath's publisher still wouldn't tour him or actively promote the books.  Astounding.  It kind of reinforces the case that, generally speaking, publishers have no idea how to successfully market their product. 

[I. J. Parker]

Publishers have changed since I got published (2001).  They used to groom their authors and support them with publicity.  However, my experience with book signings (Penguin paid for one memorable signing in NC, airfare, cab fare, and stay in a luxury resort) is that they are not worth the expense or time.  In NC I sold 2 books.  And book stores are breaking a new or midlist author's back by returning all unsold stock within a month or two.  After that, no more sales except via Amazon.

Now my books are always available and will remain available to customers.  And Amazon is very good about telling customers what other books prior customers bought.  That helps send people to your page.

And of course, your share of each sale is much larger.  Instead of 15 % of the 70% the e-book sold for (Penguin's contractual share allowed to the author), the author get the whole 70 %.  It was this arrangement that convinced me not to sign with another traditional publisher.

[Dana King]

I'm happy for Joe, without having any delusions I can duplicate his results. I've followed his progress off and on, and know this has been a mission with him. He's earned every penny, and I don't have than kind of single-mindedness (or energy) to have similar results. 

Now the hope is that other writers with his talent and energy take the leap, and that not too many who are more like me think they are like him and get their hopes too high. We should all be encouraged by Joe's success, but not blinded by it.

(Note to Jon Loomis: Yeah, I copied this from my comment to your Facebook post, but I have work to do in the attic and have to get busy. It's not plagiarism is you copy from yourself, is it?)

[I. J. Parker]

Funny.  I find I do the same while rewriting a novel from another character's point of view.  Hate to lose those inspired gems.

[Jude Hardin]

As a self-published author in digital, you now have equal distribution opportunities with the Big 6. But there's still the marketing issue, and with self-publishing there's a substantial upfront investment for editing, cover art, formatting, etc. You can easily spend a couple of thousand dollars per title, and it might take a long time to earn it back. Joe's results are astounding, but not typical at all.

[I. J. Parker]

Hi, Jude.  Have been following you on Joe's blog.  Much good luck to you on your publishing career.

As for spending money upfront:  yes, but for some this is entirely manageable.  Lots of authors don't need formatting help.  I do and I pay 150.00 per book.  I don't need editing, having done it most of my life.  I've taught myself to make simple covers for e-books.  If it comes to print editions, I'd probably have to pay.

For me this turned out to be the only option.  Publishers are either no longer interested in my subject or want it for nothing.