Greetings, readers! Don’t worry, in spite of the circling rumors I have not yet left for the Caymans, managing my overwhelming stream of income from my bestselling book WIE DU MIR, which was published last November.
Although I came quite close to that scenario, in some regards. My publisher and I have actually managed to sell out the first modest batch of printed copies within 6 weeks of publication (Thanks so much to all you readers and promotors of the cause – thank you, thank you!!). And I also now live on an island that allows writers 40k of non-taxable income for their published books. Now that’s a tremendous relief, you know? Because for all I know that is an estimated 50 times more than I might ever earn in a lifetime with my first born love child. So frankly, if I had a proper non-writing day time job – now would be the time to cling to it for dear life!
But as we all know it is not about the money, right? It is about the journey and the learnings from your experience that count, exactly! So apart from an income staggeringly lower than the benefits for the long-term unemployed, these are the insights that I have gained over the first 10 weeks as an author, published with a micro-publisher:
create your own on www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk 
Blessed are those with a loyal circle of friends & a big network
They are the ones willing to give you and your little brainchild of yet questionable quality the benefit of the doubt. They are more likely to make an additional effort to get their hands on your book even with a weak distribution structure like mine was. They are the ones who will force your opus on all their friends and family in form of Christmas gifts. And they are the ones who will canvass for you. The book itself always has to stand its own ground nevertheless. But it makes getting a foot in so much easier. Thanks again so much to everyone that made WIE DU MIR’s birth easier in that way. Many wet kisses, mwah, mwah!
Damn you, amazon!
I used to be one of amazon’s faithful clients since 2000. That won’t change entirely. But I also have to admit, as a writer I got to see the less fluffy side of their great price deals. Like gracing small publishers (and through that, writers) with business practices that are anything but ethical. For instance taking 60% discount on the selling price of each book (the usual discount for book stores is appx. 35%) and then asking you to take over the postal fees to send you the books on top. You don’t agree? Tough! Then you will just have to charge outrageous shipping costs to anyone who is ordering your book and in general will be cut off a distribution channel that is used by a huge amount of people nowadays.
Size Does Matter
“This isn’t the hardest one to figure out Missie”, I hear you say. Yes, and I thought I went into this adventure being prepared and having set my expectations realistically. But of course I underestimated the sheer amount of worms that can creep out of that particular can. Because as first (and so far only) book of a small publisher you won’t be able to make it into the index of the 2 book wholesalers on the German market. Meaning whenever a person attracted to the book by relentless plugging and emotional blackmail but with no access to amazon wants to order it, will be told that the book is “not in the system”, meaning, it is not in the wholesaler’s system, which is a different thing but only a determined client/bookseller will go the extra mile to get it over the alternative route. All the others drop off. So size matters, mainly in the possibilities to distribute your work.
Readings are Great
There is no way denying it. Although I am a writer I so much enjoy being around people, and my extraversion brings me in all sorts of trouble. But after my extensive experience of 2 readings I can already tell readings are my favourite thing! I normally dislike talking in front of people. Turns out I LOVE reading my stories to them. The way you establish a relationship to strangers just over your story and they are (gasp!) really ready to discuss it with you. Amazing. (note to self: should write a separate post about readings soon)
Christmas – A Blessing and a Curse
The decision to publish before Christmas all in all was a good one for me. Loads of my lovely friends have decided to shower their loved ones with my books, deciding that bleak stories about Northern Ireland is just the perfect gift and thereby multiplying my sales. On the other hand, we competed with all these bells and whistles from the big publishers who are hosing the readers with book adverts and trailers and posters and literature supplements and what-not to get hold of their book spending money. Or those 100 readings (no joke!) that happened in Berlin on the exact same evening as mine did. Try to stand out there with your niche book, bitch!
So that’s my initial 5 cents on the topic of being finally published. What do you think guys? Does it sound worth it to you? Any comments or questions or solutions? I am all ears!
6 Comments
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Enjoy these slower times, is all I have to say. Because when you’re surrounded by Hollywood producers, casting schedules, promotion tours, agents, Nobel committee, Irish Revenue commissioners charging for your over-allowed creative income, etc, you’ll miss the quieter times.
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Haha, thanks so much for your vote of confidence, Isabel! Remind me again when I start the whining about my stardom, will you?
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Congrats on selling the first batch of printed novels. It must be a wonderful feeling to have your novel ‘out there’, even if it’s not making you a zillion pounds (yet…)
I look forward to the day my boy is ‘out there’ making girls swoon
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Thanks so much, Alannah! It indeed is a very nice and satisfying feeling, you are right. And – we both know that Julian’s time is going to come!
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Worth it! Worth it! Worth it! Your baby is out there for others to enjoy, and these things take time. I’ve witnessed my sister’s experience with a debut novel and see her working her arse off to arrange local readings, get her book in libraries, local media, book clubs, etc., and it still only pays back modestly. However, she’s held her own in consistent monthly sales versus others with her publisher that do back-flips in social media, which has shown me that that isn’t necessarily the way to go – it’s very time consuming and doesn’t seem to really generate sales. So it’s perfect that you love the readings because, really, in-person author promotion looks to be really important to promotion (actually, I need to blog on a study I found supporting that…to-do for today, perhaps?). Oh, I love following your process, dear! I’m so, so proud of you.
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Aw, thanks so, so much for flinging those words of encouragement! Funny you mention libraries, as German libraries are one of my book’s main takers, after a good review of their central purchasing department. All happy about that.
You are very right about the alternative distribution. That’s what my publisher also tries to do, as we won’t be able to compete against the biggies anyway. We’ll count on the slow growing merits of networks. And it’s great to be part of it. If you’re in for the money, you’re doomed anyway. And btw – if you want to keep following the process – you could become Liker no 180 on facebook.com/ellendunne.autorin and won’t be dependent on my unreliable blog posts anymore 
Keep in touch, monkey!