So I started writing this really involved blog post about
choosing self publishing but then realized it was all extremely boring. Okay,
so how about I lay out my feelings in one list that way if you don’t care you
can just skip over the boring bits because it’ll all be in a list. SO. THE
LIST.
Why I’m
choosing self publishing (a list)
1.
Because I had a good hard think and decided that
my goal isn’t simply to get validated by experts and wait forever then not make
anything. I want to make a living off my writing, which means making money, and
when it comes down to it, self publishing gives me better royalties and I can
publish more often, meaning I can make more money, giving me a better chance to
make a living. There’s still the occasional million dollar book deal, but it’s
far more likely that I’ll just get a couple bucks and a thanks for playing
postcard. If that.
2.
Because the only opinions that really matter to
me are the ones of the readers. Do I want to write books that are generally
considered to not suck? Of course! But, again, I’d rather be Stephenie Meyer
than broke and respected. Wait, is that bad?
3.
I like to write precisely what I like to write
and precisely what I like to write has no real market. Therefore it’s highly
dubious that a publisher would pick it up anyway. But other readers like me who
enjoy silly, contrary things might find it and enjoy it, and that’s what really
matters.
4.
I can still pursue traditional publication later
if I really want to. While some traditional publishing peeps might reject me
out of hand for having self published, those aren’t the ones I’d want to work
with anyway. (Why did I use the word peeps? I don’t know, it sounded good at
the time. Also, peeps are delicious.)
Anyway, boring list number one is complete! Now I must
torture you with some boring NUMBERS. See, I have a plan. I would make a chart
and everything, but it turns out I don’t know how to put a chart into a blog
post unless I turn it into an image and paste it in or something and I feel like
that would look really bad? I don’t know. I guess I could code it but that
would take really long and I’ve already wasted too much time with this
paragraph.
----BORING NUMBERS BEGIN HERE----
In order to accomplish my goal of living off my writing, I
need to make at least as much as I do off my job, which is 1-1.2k a month. So
if I sell books for $2.99, making two bucks a book, I need to sell five hundred
books in a month.
That sounds like a lot. But if I, say, write four books in a
year than by the end of the year I’ll only need to sell 125 copies of each book
a month! That sounds entirely reasonable and within the parameters that Self Printed talked about. (Yes, I’m
aware that book selling is not a steady paycheck and sales will fluctuate. I’m
assuming that is being budgeted for and this will be the monthly average.
Ksies? Ksies.)
Anyway, I figure building up by selling ten copies in the
first month and then ten more in every month after that sounds like a good plan
to getting there. Most importantly, these numbers give me concrete, achievable
sounding goals. I have no idea if any of this will turn out to be actually
achievable, but this is my plan. If it works out I will be making my living off
writing after a year. Unrealistic dreams for the win! High fives everyone!
----BORING NUMBERS END HERE---
Anyway, this blog post is already way too long and you’ve
skipped over most of it because it turned out to all be boring stuff. DON’T WORRY.
I haven’t forgotten about you, people who enjoy less boring things! I’m totally
going to do a tutorial post where I show you how I created my book cover! Won’t
that be exciting? If you said no then I may need to reevaluate.
Soooo…. Nano updates! I haven’t been writing much. The end.
Just kidding! About the the end part, not about the not
writing part. That totally happened.
Trying to shove myself back into writing after I ground to a
halt has been challenging. This is why it’s important not to skip days, even if
all you write is a couple words. Because it’s so much harder to pick back up
after you’ve completely stalled. JUMPER CABLES.
I’m not making sense anymore. I should go write more words.
I can’t decide whether I love this story or want to toss it in a blender and
repeatedly hit the mix button while laughing maniacally. Oh well.
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