Over the next few months I discovered other authors who were in the same situation I was and they were feeling the same as me. I got the rights to my contracted novel back and knew it was time to take my career into my own hands.
Continued to do the basics: write, edit, and write some more.
KDP PUBLISHING FREE
I'm working my dream job, and I'm so pleased I chose independent publishing because it set me free to be the novelist and businesswoman I wanted to be. I'm deeply satisfied with the direction my career is moving.
My confidence and creative energy have grown. Now thanks to generous royalties, strong sales, and monthly payment schedules, we could live solely off my writing. When I began writing, I relied almost entirely on my husband's income. The site is easy to navigate, and the immediate feedback on sales is invaluable for evaluating marketing and advertising choices. I have always received prompt responses to any technical problems. Originally, I planned to continue trying for traditional publication as well, but by the time I'd released my third novel a year later and began to see a surge in sales that exceeded my wildest dreams, I abandoned that idea and focused entirely on independent publishing. I took the leap and put querying agents and editors on hold to self-publish my first book in the spring of 2011. In less than two months, Bound has exceeded the sales goals I set for the first few years, and it's thanks to Amazon and KDP. More reviews started rolling in, proving that the validation that's most important to me comes from readers, not from publishers. The little book I'd worked so hard on started selling to people I'd never met, and kept climbing those lists.
It made it onto Top 100 Best Seller lists in a few sub-categories and climbed Hot New Release lists in the same. Once the book gained a few sales and reviews, and Amazon started recommending Bound as an also-bought, things took off. It seems that I underestimated how well Amazon's recommendations work. I uploaded to KDP (a simple process even for someone like me, who's not great with computers), I had an on-line launch party, and I then expected things to stay quiet. I hoped to break even on costs, but knew that could take some time. I knew that it could take a few books before a new author found an audience, but I had faith that if I kept producing high-quality stories, I would eventually get there. My expectations were low when I published. Spending money on that felt like a gamble at the time, but I think it's the best decision I could have made.
KDP PUBLISHING PROFESSIONAL
I hired an excellent editor to make sure that the book was up to professional standards. I wanted to choose the cover art, and I wanted to keep the rights to my work. I wanted creative control of my work, to be able to write the stories I loved rather than what a publisher thought would sell. I quickly realized that this was exactly what I was looking for. I had always thought of it as a last resort for writers who didn't have success with traditional publishers, but I learned that a number of fantastic authors were making it their first choice. It wasn't until about two years ago that I started to consider independent publishing.
0 kommentar(er)
