This looks surprisingly a lot like me. Except for the snow.
Before I became an Internet Marketer, I was an author. I had two traditionally published books in Australia in personal finance. All my life I wanted to write, and even though at times I wasn’t always very good at it, it was my dream to become a full-time writer.
It was a no-brainer then that I studied Journalism and Media Communication at University (actually I did have one year in Commerce first before I moved to Journalism but I digress). I never did get that TV job as a reporter though. In fact most of my jobs post University were fairly standard secretarial type roles that really didn’t need any writing (unless you count boring reports).
It wasn’t until I was older (and wiser?) that I figured it was now or never and I wrote a book on the stock market (as that was something I was interested in at the time). Fortunately it was easy to find a publisher and get it published and it went on to be a bestseller (which sounds far more impressive than it actually is: in Australia you only need to sell over ten thousand or so copies for a book to become a bestseller).
Chuffed with myself that I’d finally realised my dreams I sat back and waited for the cheques to roll in. And I waited and waited. A few cheques came but they weren’t all that impressive. I found out that from my $24.95 book, I made royalties of a little over two dollars per book. No wonder writers don’t make any money. I did however go on to write another one, but again, while it was successful in bookstores, I wasn’t exactly rolling in the cash that I thought all author’s received.
So I got disillusioned by the whole writing books game and gave up my dreams. It was a little after that I heard about this thing called internet marketing where you could write blogs and build websites and get paid commissions. Heck you could even write your own stuff and have OTHER people sell it for you. Could this be the answer I was looking for?
For a while it was. And to some degree it still is (it still is the way I make the majority of my money online) however twelve months ago I heard about changes in the publishing world. One of the biggest retailers in the world, Amazon, had opened up its Kindle Publishing arm to everyone. You no longer needed a publisher to get listed on the giant, you could write a book and upload it yourself directly to the book giant.
And even better, if you priced your book between 2.99 and 9.99 you got 70% of the royalties. Oh boy did this revelation make my heart sing again!
So around three months ago I started writing ebooks for the Kindle and published my first book on the Kindle, Nook and iPad (among others) and officially become a non-fiction indie author.
Now while book sales haven’t been breaking any records so far (I’m actually in the process or updating it AND releasing a second book) I can see the potential and with a background in internet marketing to help boost traffic and conversions I can see that this can be a very good way to make money in the future.
The world is only starting to move to reading digital books. I recently read a statistic that only 10-15% of readers own an ereader such as the Kindle. As ereaders and tablets become more mainstream then that number will rise. Amazon has reported it now sells more ebooks than printed books, which is probably due to the fact that ereader and tablet owners buy more books than regular readers. I know I buy AT LEAST one ebook a month now (often more) whereas before I’d be lucky if I bought two or three printed books a year.
With the rise in the number of readers wanting digital content the audience is only going to get bigger.
Do you have a book inside you just waiting to get out?
Doesn’t matter if it’s nonfiction or fiction (most of the self-publishing success stories so far have been fiction writers but I suspect that’s because most nonfiction authors are still quite happy to stick with their publishers at the moment).
If you’ve ever wanted to be a writer and get a book published right now is the best time to do it. You can upload it directly to Kindle, Barnes & Noble (if you live in the US) and Smashwords (to distribute to the rest of the ereaders & tablet devices).
And you can FINALLY be getting the lionshare of profits from your own work.
God I love technology.
I love this – you’re right it sounds very impressive that you’ve had a bestselling book, and I’m always impressed every time you mention it
But at the same time it’s very interesting to hear about the downsides of traditional publishing and the lack of royalties despite good sales.
Now I don’t consider myself necessarily a good writer, but I know I love to write and would like to dedicate whole days to just writing if possible – as long as I have something good to say. I am in the process of outlining some non-fiction Kindle books so I always love reading these kind of posts.
There’s definitely huge potential for this mode of publishing so I look forward to reading more about your success.
Bestseller is only impressive in name, it doesn’t bring in the money (or at least it doesn’t here in Australia where the market is a lot smaller than in the US). I just used to get angry that the publisher would make $12 per book, the bookstore $5 or $6 and I’d only get $2 something when I’d done all the work! It used to irritate me no end. I’m so thankful that we now have this opportunity to publish ourselves.
I’m really looking forward to hearing about your books! Keep me informed.
Tracey
Maybe the cash side of having a bestseller isn’t so great, but it must give you such a great confidence booster knowing you have one! Plus huge motivation to write more, since you can publish your own and grab 70% of the proceeds. Oh yeah, technology rocks!
When I went for my first job in the computer centre of one of the big banks, I was shown around the impressive floors stacked with big blue boxes and remember being told that “we have enough processing power to send a rocket to the moon, just not the right technology”. That was 1977.
I have more processing power in my laptop today than all those floors of IBMs back then. It impresses me no end. Not that I want to put a rocket into space, although that would be really cool.
But it means I can write, format and publish my own books and that is the best thing ever. I just need someone to invent some more hours in the day…
Where are thems dang sci-fi brain enhancing inventions when you need em?
Yeah, I love the new publishing world. But like you said, if only there were enough hours. Perhaps I can clone myself?
It’s those friggin’ middle men that make it rich, Tracey. And it isn’t just with writers but everyone within the “artistic” field.
Personally, I am glad that Amazon is cutting out the middle men and giving writers the “opportunity” to make more than a couple bucks a book. The hard part for most writers to realize is that it isn’t the writing part that is hard. Success all lies in the promotion and marketing part.
But the good news is if someone has a couple books under their belt in the same market, they could easily begin branding themselves (uh-oh…there goes that word again), collecting fans and promoting the beJesus out of it.
For most Internet marketers, the product is what they are missing.
Yes I feel I have an advantage over most authors in that I know the marketing side of things. And as for branding, you already know I’ve started branding myself as an author of ‘fun, simple finance books’. Well that’s the long term aim anyway. Fingers crossed I’ll be able to sell a book or two
I’m actually loving the new publishing world, and while who knows what Amazon will do in the future, right now is a great opportunity for distributing directly to the world’s biggest book seller and THAT’s amazing! Plus we now can reach audiences directly online rather than having to be filtered through a publisher will make things better for both the reader and the author.
So basically you are getting the same commission selling an ebook for $2.99 as you did as an author of a book that sold for $25 ! I see a future for literary agents and publishing houses as about as promising as that of travel agents and the dodo – thank you Amazon for removing the middle-man
I hate to admit it, but I am one of the 85% of the population that doesn’t have a Kindle or tablet…hmmm Christmas is coming up and the hubby owes me a gift. LOL
Anyways, that’s awesome that you can pursue what you have always wanted to do and that it is now much easier to do so. Plus you don’t have to hand over the majority of your earnings to some publishing company.
It’s only a matter of time Tiffany. The world will be Kindle-fied soon enough if Amazon’s plan for world domination succeeds
As for me, the truth is that I am not really what you can call a “writer born”, and I never thought about writing for a living, but writing articles and emails is what made me the most money to date (beside having a pizzeria in Paris).
I currently some good ebooks (according to my readers), and I wonder if it’s a good idea to get them on Kindle?
Franck
Hi Tracey, It’s great to be doing what you love, plus the advantage of all the potential that Amazon provides for writers. Finance topic with humor is a great combination. I love to write, though professionally, I’m a designer, illustrator, painter. How do books do that have lots of illustrations for Amazon? I read that Amazon can do black and white images, with grays. Can you publish the same book on Kindle, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords? Or is your book exclusive to Amazon? I identify with what you said about royalties. I designed collections for 5% of sales and always tought I deserved more. I also agree with the other writer who said promotion is a huge part of the success. The best success to you for all your writing.
Hi Joan,
Thanks for stopping by. Illustration books are just starting to take off on ebook readers so it’s definitely an emerging market. Especially as all the newer ereaders have colour screens (Kindle fire, Nook colour, iPad etc). The old Kindle’s are only b/w but they’ll be replaced eventually as colour becomes the norm.
You can definitely publish the same book at Amazon, B&N, iBooks etc. They don’t hold any exclusive rights, just the rights to list your book on their site – you still hold all the control (and all the royalties – yah) so you can publish where ever you like. This new publishing world definitely puts the control back to the author (or illustrator
).
Good luck with your books, let me know if you publish them on Amazon (or anywhere) so we can check them out.
Tracey
I’ve got two books published, one thru iUniverse, the other is out of print. I’m a former news writer and would like to write fiction (short stories, preferably). How did you contact Barnes & Noble and Amazon?
With Amazon you use their digital publishing platform kdp.amazon.com for ebooks, and with Barnes & Noble you can either upload directly with their nookstore (if you live in the US) or use a distribution service like smashwords.com if you don’t. For print books you can go with any number of POD publishers. I used Createspace but Lulu and Lightening Source are also popular choices.
You should definitely start writing your own stories. And if you’ve got a book out of print (has the rights been returned to you?) then you should publish that yourself as well.
t
Hi Tracey,
Love your story and your stance on taking control of your life as an Author.
I attended a Webinar that is charging way too much for instructions on how to market ebooks on Amazon.
Will you direct me in the right direction for obtaining Ebook Marketing Training for Amazon?
One of my categories will be Self Help Books.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Jim
Hi Jim,
Hmm, sounds like you’ve given me a great idea for some upcoming posts about marketing your ebooks on Amazon!
Thanks for dropping by,
Tracey
Well, can you send me something now?
Thx,
Jim
The best way to market your book on Amazon is to write more books. Seriously I’ve tried lots of things offline and the thing that makes the most bang for your buck is by writing another book. All past customers seem to buy the new book and then you find new customers that buy your old book. It’s the easiest way!
Hello from Montana,
What do you say we writers support one another? I have some Kindle books up but really need reviews and comments.
I would be willing to pay $5.00 per review, which would allow you to buy the book at $2.99 and still have enough left over to pay you to write a short (but 5 star) review.
Click on my name above and it will take you to my kindle page. Let me know if this is something you would be willing to trade or share.
Judy H Wright aka Auntie Artichoke, author and speaker
I’ve found the best way to get reviews is give your book out free to a bunch of bloggers. Good luck with your books.
Hello from Montana,
Thanks for your suggestion Tracy. I am going to do that today. As one of the posts mentioned above, the writing is the easiest part of getting a book out there and in the hands and hearts of those who want and need the message.
How do you find bloggers who would be willing to share your message and post a review?
Thanks and keep writing and I will keep reading..
Judy H. Wright, author and speaker
Most of the bloggers that I use I’ve built relationships with over the months, so find a few bloggers you like and just start chatting and saying hi. Building relationships with others really does pay off big time no matter what you are doing online as friends support each other.
But generally I’m not all that concerned over getting tonnes of reviews. It’s more a happy bonus if I do. I’m more concerned with just writing more stuff since that leads to more people finding you and that in turn leads to more reviews
But if you are really desperate then fiverr.com could be your friend if you want to go that way.