Self Publishing: the Conversations in Romance

Love Me, Love My Man Titty First up: the link that sent listservs on fire and had everyone pulling that old manuscript out from under the bed. Bella Andre, kicking ass and taking names.

I wish the headline were a little less “Anyone can do this!” because I don’t necessarily believe that anyone can make a $100,000-go at digital self publishing. I think Bella Andre was a perfect example of Seneca’s definition of luck: when preparation meets opportunity. It’s not as if it’s as simple as tossing your self published work up on the wall and having spaghetti and hundred dollar bills rain down on you – but regardless it is an epic opportunity for those with the preparation and the opportunity. Way to go, Ms. Andre. Go on with your bad self.

So we know that money can be made by some – but what else don’t we know? A lot, according to Jennifer Crusie and Barbara Samuels.

To add to the conversations happening in other genres, Cruise and Samuels are talking digital self publishing (which I tend to call DSP) in a two part blog conversation this week.

Jenny: So now all of a sudden, e-publishing isn’t just viable, it’s taking over the place. Half of the sales of my first week hardcover sales were e-sales. That settled down to about 20% later, but that’s still a huge chunk. We were surprised (g).
Barbara: That’s an amazing percentage, and illustrates how fast things are changing.
Jenny: The thing is, we still don’t know if those who bought the e-version that first week are people who dropped the hardcover purchase to buy, or people who would have bought the paperback and went for the lower price, or people who just like e-books. Which is why this so fascinating. NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING.
Barbara: Absolutely. Nobody knows ANYTHING. Which makes it all terrifying and scary and exciting and confusing, especially for people who have been in the business a long time and don’t have any other marketable skills.

Oh, the opportunities, the possibilities. There’s a lot of options – and a lot of scary potential for not as much of a success as has been reported by so many.

So here’s my question: have you thought about digitally self publishing? Do you have a book with rights reverted or a book you couldn’t sell that you’re thinking would be a good test case for self publishing? Readers, are you finding more self-published books by romance authors that you love?

 

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  1. Marie Force says:

    I have self-published four previously unpublished books in the last eight months and have been thrilled with the response from readers who’d been asking for more. When people ask me why I did it, I like to say that no one was interested in these books except my lovely readers—and boy were they ever interested! 🙂 All my self-pub books have made Kindle genre bestseller lists, with two of them cracking Amazon’s vaunted top 100.

    MAID FOR LOVE, which I published on April 29, was rejected everywhere even though I was certain my readers would love it. Judging from the robust sales, awesome reader reviews and wonderful emails I’ve received since it was released, I was right. At the moment, it’s sitting at no. 215 on the overall Amazon list and no. 17 on the contemporary romance list. Who could’ve imagined the day when rejections would turn into such a blessing? Books 2 and 3 in that trilogy are coming in June and July with more books in the series on tap for later. This year, I will make close to what Bella has made self-publishing. While the money is lovely (especially with a child heading for college soon), the most thrilling part of the equation is being able to give my readers what they want—right now at a price they can afford during these tough times.

    All my books were professionally edited with professionally designed covers—two steps that are absolutely essential for anyone considering this option. I’m a copy editor in my day job, and I still paid to have my books edited. Not having them edited would be on par with walking through Times Square in my undies! (I’m running on fumes at midnight, so I hope this message is well edited!)

    I want to add that I’m still a big fan of traditional publishing, and I’m thrilled to be publishing my Fatal Series with Carina Press. I have other books I’d love to see conventionally published, and I still hope that happens. As for people who replied earlier about the advantage of having previously published books available before wading into self-publishing, I totally agree. Having been traditionally published gave me a significant leg up in the self-pub world, and I’m grateful for that.

    I worked on these books for years. Three of the four were written in 2006/2007. I was ready when the opportunity presented itself, and I’m grateful every day to have found such a receptive audience for all that hard work.

  2. I’m traditionally published in Regency Historical, but I’ve always had a hankering to write contemporary. 

    The first book I self-published, NEED TO KNOW has gotten good reader reseponse, but got rejected mulitple times for being unmarketable.  You cannot sell a book to a major publishing house, or even an epublisher, if you cannot guarantee a large enough audience to make it worth their time. 

    But now that it is my own project, I can set my own definition of success and failure and keep the lion’s share of the profits.  There is a great deal of satisfaction in that, if nothing else. 

    I’ve just come out with a rom com novella with a royal wedding theme, which is another project that would have fallen through the cracks, had I tried to sell it traditionally.  The market for comedy is soft right now, and the majority of my audience is historical (which is a strike against me when trying to sell a contemporary).  but I liked the story and didn’t want to miss the Wills & Kate train which I figured would generate sales.  By doing this myself, I could make the decision to publish in the space of a few weeks.

    Really, it’s not so much a matter of being ‘good enough for New York’ anymore.  It’s niche marketing.

  3. SAO says:

    I think there’s plenty of room for books that fall through the publishing world’s cracks. Books that are between niches. Or that have too small niches.

    But, the amount of crap out there is phenomenal. And the number of writers who think their plotless wonder is a work of literary genius.

    I’d assume over time reading clubs would spring up and maybe groups of readers will figure out how to write reliable reviews.  A new way of sifting for gems in the slush pile has to be found.

  4. Sophie says:

    As just a plain ole reader, I have pretty much switched to ONLY ebooks. It has to be pretty special to make me want to buy it in print. Saves time, space, trees, ditto to others re covers and taking it with me wherever I am. Which is really awesome ‘cuz I read a LOT.

    So, I can’t really tell if something is self pubbed or not. Its pretty obvious in a store and sometimes you can tell by cover art. But I wouldn’t have guessed that Bella book was self pubbed.

    Hate is a strong word but I really really really don’t like badly edited books.  And self pub does tend to have a lot.

    Which is why I like samples!  If I’m interested in a book, I read the first chapter or exerpt or whatever.  You can usually tell if the writing is going to suck or if it’s got too many dialog tags etc right away.

    So, low price point (especially for new authors I haven’t heard of, decent cover art and a good exerpt and I would prob not even notice and click it straight into my cart.

    Good reviews from others also help. But I will admit I judge the reviewer by how well their review is written too.  😉

    Paper38: I have waaaaaaaay more than 38 paperbacks on my shelves.

  5. Suzannah says:

    I’ll admit to assuming that self-published books weren’t “good enough” for the traditional publishers, but this article was really interesting, and I can see now that there might be cases where a book is perfectly fine, but just not what a publisher is looking for at that particular time.  Of course, the difficulty is distinguishing between those books and the people who simply can’t write.  And that can be hard to do based on just what’s available on websites (although Sophie makes a good point about samples).  I read a traditionally-published book recently that was one of the WORST things I have ever picked up (in terms of writing style), and yet had rave reviews everywhere, so I’m wary of reviews.  It also reinforced my belief that if something so bad had been picked up by a publisher, the stuff they reject must be totally abysmal.  Maybe I need to think again.  I would certainly read a self-published book by an author I already knew, because I would assume that that author wouldn’t publish anything that was going to damage their reputation, particularly if they continued to be published in the traditional way for other books, but it’s all the new ones that are harder to choose from.

    about84:  I have about 84 things on my Kindle that I should read before I even think of buying anything else!

  6. RachelT says:

    Is there some way that the blog can be persuaded not to eat an entry if there is a small error in the way it is entered -it would be nice to be able to go back and correct when I mistyped the image word rather than lose everything I had taken some time to put ogether coherently. I doubt I can recall everything I had previously written but here goes.

    Like many here I used to think that self published books equalled books that were failures, but then I read Moriah Jovan’s brilliantly written, edited and formatted books. I then started picking up recommendations from readers and more recently blogger such as the Indie Book Hall of Fame (https://sites.google.com/site/indiehof/the-books) (sorry link dialogue not working) and Big Al (http://booksandpals.blogspot.com/)

    As well as enjoying back lists I would really like to see authors taking the opportunity to complete cancelled series. Those I would like to see completed are Eve Kenin’s speculative romance trilogy (Driven/Hidden) and Selena Montgomery’s Hidden Sins trilogy. I would aalso like to see Laurie Breton publishing more of her romantic suspense stories

  7. Tamara Hogan says:

    NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING.

    As someone who has a day job in technology, who is used to having data at hand with which to make better informed decisions, can I say that this aspect of our business drives me absolutely batshit.

  8. SarahS says:

    Sorry, did you guys say something?

    I got just a TINY BIT DISTRACTED by that cover.

  9. Estara says:

    Can I just point out to all the authors who might publish a book like this, but are not sure about how to layout for the various ebook formats themselves that author Moriah Jovan also offers exactly that service for other authors. Her books look very nice in all the formats she offers, them, too.

  10. I’m an author with reverted backlist. So far I have two of those books on sale at the various digital vendors. I also have two shorter works up there. My experience has been been eye-opening.

    For the book I got out there first, I’ve now made many times what that book made while it was in print (and it earned out). In a month, I made more than I take home in my day job. To date, I’ve made more than either of my print publishers offer me per book.

    I don’t have to sell as many copies to make FAR more money than I’d make in print. I do pretty much the same kind of promotion for those eBooks as I do for my print books.

    The DIY aspect of ePubbing my backlist takes a LOT of time. It’s not trivial to do it right (Which Bella Andre has done. As she says, it’s hard work). I already have a day job, the print-publishing is my 2nd job, and now I have a 3rd. It’s overwhelming at times, hell, most of the time.

    Interesting times. But at least now there’s somewhere for the dying mid-lister to go and at least we can make money there.

  11. Jill Myles says:

    I started self-publishing when I put up a few free stories that I had on my website. I kept getting requests from fans to put them on the Kindle/Nook so I did. I actually sold a fair amount and so I uploaded a few other things I have had sitting on my hard drive.  I never submitted these to NY. One was a novella and two were short novels (55k) that were either weird (the hero is a conquistador stuck on an island full of dinosaurs) or just not that hot at the moment (reality TV romance) so I put them up as e-books.

    I did actually submit to an e-publisher but backed out at the last minute because I wanted to see how I could do on my own. Still entertaining the thought of approaching an e-publisher, but haven’t pursued it hard yet.

    Self-publishing some of my stuff allows me to fill the gaps between releases for readers and allows me to write some off the wall stuff that I really enjoy, or pursue odd-length stories. I really like that aspect of self-publishing. In addition, my 4th book in my Succubus Diaries series was turned down by my publisher, but that’s unfair to fans. So as soon as there’s a gap in my schedule, I’m going to write it and (most likely) self publish it simply to wrap things up for fans – and myself. Because nobody likes a series that is left hanging.

  12. Jill Myles says:

    I’d also like to point out that if you’re looking at self-publishing, Nadia Lee has a flat-out terrific guide to formatting your books. I’ve been recommending it to everyone, because it’s shaved off a lot of the time that I used to spend on formatting and my books look better than ever.

    http://www.nadialee.net/bookshelf/how-to-format-your-manuscript-for-kindle-and-nook/

  13. Despite my award wins & shortlistings, my agent couldn’t sell my 4th novel, HOUSE OF SILENCE because it belonged to no clear genre. So I self-published it on Kindle, emphasised the mixed-genre (“REBECCA meets COLD COMFORT FARM”), gave it a gothic cover and sold 3000 copies in 6 weeks. It’s currently #8 in the UK Kindle Romance rankings.

    This success has relaunched my stalled career and is finally making me some money. I’m now wondering what kind of an offer a publisher would have to make me to lure me back!

    Meanwhile I’m getting my o.o.p. backlist ready for Kindle and I’m planning to put 2 new books out if – as seems most likely – UK editors continue to reject my mixed genre novels as – hahahaha – “uncommercial”.

    If anyone’s interested in more detail, see my article, “Selling well is the best revenge”. http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Selling_Well_Is_The_Best_Revenge_by_Linda_Gillard

  14. edieharris says:

    I found the WashPo story on Bella Andre incredibly inspiring, though I recognize that it’s a rare thing to achieve the same level of success she has.

    A few weeks ago, I self-pubbed an historical novella—“Ardent”—that originated as a “weekly serial” feature on my website. Considering the fact that I’ve done nothing to promote it outside of mentions on Twitter and my blog, it’s done fairly well; then again, I’m not looking to strike it rich with “Ardent”—it’s intended to give prospective readers a cheap Try-Me option. My new, current weekly serial (“Spring Heat”) is a contemporary novella that will also be self-pubbed through Amazon’s KDP in early July.

    I’m really lucky in one respect when it comes to my noveling, though: The chief complaint among authors and readers alike is that self-published work tends to be riddled with typos, because finding a legit editor-esque person is très difficile. Lucky me, my mother is a professional copy editor with over thirty years in the business. She very graciously agrees to read, edit, and critique all my writing—even the naughty bits I’d prefer she never read. I never have to worry about glaring grammatical errors in my finished product because of her, and I’m beyond grateful.

    Still, my only goal when it comes to self-publishing (at this point) is to “build my brand.” I’m young and driven, and I have a day-job that not only pays the bills but makes me happy. Because of that, I’m more than willing to play the Slow-&-Steady game when it comes to my dreams of being a full-time romance author.

    But Bella Andre and her amazing success story? That’s the kind of inspirational tale I bookmark, copy-paste, and send to everyone I know…which is totally what I did. 😛

  15. Isobel Carr says:

    I have no unpublished backlist. *weeps loudly*

    But I must have anything described as Rebecca meets Cold Comfort Farm!

  16. S.A. Hunter says:

    I’m a self-published author who knows her work isn’t stellar, but I wanted to put my story out there and not obsess over it for the next five years like the previous five years. Anyway, what I wanted to contribute is this: My book Scary Mary was up on Amazon’s website for nine months for .99. I didn’t promote it outside my website and a few online reviews. I sold less than a 100 copies, and I was happy with that. Yesterday, Amazon made it free, which is fine, it’s free on B&N and other sites. Since they made it free, it has been downloaded over 6000 times. !!! That is amazing to me. I know not every person who downloaded will read it, but even if only a thousand people read it, that’s incredible because I did no work to get those readers. Also, I don’t have uptodate date for B&N, but I know the free version has been downloaded at least 5,000 times.

    Some of you may be thinking, so what? Well, when I do eventually charge for an ebook, there are a lot more readers who are likely to take a chance on me because they read one of my free books. I think many indie authors will have to go this route. Offer the first book free and develop some good will and reap the financial rewards with their 2nd book.

  17. rebyj says:

    I read daily. If I’m sitting down there is a book in my hand of some form or another. Sadly, I got my kindle about the time agency pricing kicked in.  Took me months to save up for it and I’ve been tempted to send it back for a refund because of agency pricing. If I’m out of books to read I will buy what I can afford.

    I pretty much only buy indie books now. There’s no way I’m spending half my budget on one e book. And NO WAY am I paying $1 – $4 more for an e book than a paperback/hardback copy. 

      The most I spend on an e-book is 4.99 . Usually though I stick with 2.99 or less.  20 seconds of glancing at the comments can warn me away from badly edited/formatted books so I rarely come across anything worse than a misspelled word or two.

  18. I hawked my novel around to agents and got the same reply from about 5 of them (after they’d read the full): “Love it, love the voice, great story, can’t sell it, sorry.” So yeah, I’m self-publishing that puppy. “War Games”, an f/f space opera romance, coming August 2011…once the editors have had done with it.

  19. Jenn LeBlanc says:

    I recently self published my first novel, THE RAKE AND THE RECLUSE, not because of rejection but because of the type of rejection. In my day job I’m a professional photographer and (long story short) I decided to illustrate my book and market it as an eBook only. The rejections I got were along the lines of the “great voice, great story, we don’t know what to do with it.” Make no mistake I also got the form letters as well.

    I worked with content and copy editors as well as design and photo editors to complete my book. I did all of the layout and design myself for every version of the book, an insane amount of work. I can’t believe the amount of work that has gone into this one book.

    The manuscript took about 8 months, the photography / design rounded that up to two years. Now that I’ve done it, the next book, which is complete and I’m currently casting, will be much easier.

    It has been difficult, so many review sites say right off the bat they will not review self-pubbed books regardless of the work that has gone into them. They require the vetting of a big pub house to read. That is frustrating when I read stories of ridiculously egregious errors in books by established authors with big pub houses.

    My book is no doubt far from perfect, but as much work has gone into it as a traditional house. It is doing well, crawling steadily up the charts with little to no advertising beyond Goodreads and a few blogs.

    I just hope that with this article the stigma attached to self-publishing can be lifted, even just a bit. You can download the first chapter to check out the quality of the book, many sites will let you return digital books fairly quickly if you are unhappy as well. Don’t let the self-published moniker stop you from finding the next greatest read of your life.

  20. Keely says:

    Hey there – late to this party and not entirely on topic, just wanted to point out that Barbara Samuel does not have a second “s” in her name. A common mistake that you might consider correcting. Peace, Keely

  21. Carly M. says:

    I’m curious about how self-pub/indie-pub authors think readers find their books if they don’t have brand power already. I found Bella Andre through her trad-pubbed books on a reviewer site. I ended up buying her e-books after having read her popular print books. I can see this working for authors in similar positions, but what about completely new authors or ones without reverted rights? How am I to find your completely random romance novel?

  22. Jenn LeBlanc says:

    @ Carly, I can tell you how people have found my novel. There are tags on the sales sites that help random readers find it when shopping on those sites, I have advertising on romance sites and blogs, and a few very dedicated bloggers who are in love with my book.

    I’ve also done a blog tour this month to promote the book, I have an author page on Goodreads and on Amazon. Now nobody is going to search for my name necessarily, so I have to make sure my tags are effective, and that searches come to my links.

    I also have a website and blog just like a mainstream author.

    There are a few reviewers that do read self pubbed novels (as long as it has been professionally proofed and edited) Dear Author does, Smart Bitches doesn’t specify and only turned me down (she said) because her pile was overflowing.

    So there are ways to get out there without brand recognition but it takes hard work and dedication and a LOT of promotion and marketing.

  23. I sometimes get 70 hits a day on my blog, and I haven’t even published (yet).  And Jessica Faust said a twitter account gets many more hits (like ten times more?) than just blogging.(I don’t have one.)  Tagging is important and Amazon does that ‘if you like this you might like this. .  .’ thing without discriminating between freebies and 9.99’s.  Some people hate Amazon, but I have had good experience with them on many levels and their forum network is huge.  In previous posts, people have mentioned websites like GoodReads that provide good returns.

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