Thank you for this honest breakdown. Love that your job reimbursed the mileage to help you with that first conference. I honestly have not looked into live events like this in PA where I could drive to the location – maybe in Texas they are more prevalent?

And I absolutely agree that, without catering to the masses (who are the ones with the $$ we want) you’re never going to make back the money you invest. I wholeheartedly agree. Mostly, the ‘book of your heart’ is just that – for your heart. Not your pocketbook. I am coming to accept that, because I do not really like formulaic genres, I’m never going to make $$. 🙂

(BTW, is that YOU on the Smarter Artist Summit website, waving to the camera? Awesome!)

Keep plugging away and working hard; you are an inspiration!

One more thing about the money I made. I’m not the primary breadwinner, so I could afford to pour money back into my business, which I’ve done.

J

My cover for book one was $240, but the price has come down with every cover in that series because less has to be done to tweak the cover. The last one I got was $140.

My editing on an 80k book was $450.

I started with the $20 plan on instaFreebie.

I use MailChimp as a newsletter service. I sent an email out every week from the time I got subscribers (6 weeks before release) for six months. Then I went to twice a month. Most newsletters take an hour or so to put together. I offer book recommendations that are usually discounted in my newsletter. I’ve never done any giveaways for my books in my newsletter.

My first conference was The Smarter Artist Summit, it cost $499, which is pricey. I attended that conference a year before I put a book out. I got a mileage check from work and returned all my Christmas presents to pay for the ticket. Best $500 I’ve ever spent. I’ve also attended:

Romance Writers of America – $550
The Sell More Books Show Summit – $499 (with a payment plan)
20booksto 50K Conference – $100
Romance Author Mastermind – $600 (a more advanced conference on marketing)
And various smaller workshops that cost anywhere from $25-$75

Subtracting what I spent on ads, taxes, covers, editing, and various day to day expenses I’ve profited around 25K.

When I started, I had NO MONEY, that’s why I was selling plasma. I spent $50 on book one’s release, that was it. I did run AMS ads the first month that cost me $130, and I was freaking out about that because we didn’t really have it, but I more than quadrupled that money. But the point is that you don’t have to spend a lot in the beginning.

I want to address what you said about writing a formulaic/commercial book. Is it impossible to sell a book that isn’t written to a specific genre? No, but it is harder unless you can tap into an underserved or niche market. If you aren’t writing genre fiction, sci-fi, romance, fantasy, etc., then indie publishing can be difficult. You might try traditional publishing for something that is more literary.

You can write the book of your heart, but if you want to make money, then you should also write something that will appeal to the masses in addition to the book of your heart. I’m not at all trying to crush your dream at all. But the fact is you have to get your books in front of the right readers, and if you know going in that there may not be any readers for what you’re writing, then selling it will be difficult.

Please let me know if you have any more questions.

Jami

Lisa

I’m so sorry, I just saw this question.

I put up a three chapter preview on instaFreebie, but you can use BookFunnel as well, then I got involved in group promos where as many as 20 authors promoted the giveaway and people signed up to receive my newsletter in exchange for my preview. Most people used whole books as opposed to previews.

If you already have a book out then I would suggest putting a link to an extra epilogue at the end of that book. To get the epilogue, readers have to sign up for your email. This method has worked very well for me. I put the extra epilogue on BookFunnel and that’s where the link takes them.

Jami

*How much was the professional book cover?

*How much was the professional editing?

*Did you use the $20 or $50 per month package on Instafreebie?

*What newsletter service did you use, how often did you put one out,
how much time did you put into creating each one, and did you offer any giveaways while pushing said newsletter?

*You state you went to conferences to learn more – where were they and how much did those cost to attend?

If you’re down to selling plasma, then aside from the blood, sweat and tears it took to simply write the formulaic romance, a lot of $$ went into your final product. How much of the $74,000 was then profit? (That’s rude of me to ask, and I respect if you do not answer that!)

As a working mom of toddlers, I can’t jet off to conferences and I think I’m more coffee than blood right now, so not sure plasma is an option. (wink) As much as I want to force out a commercial product, what I’m really inspired to write doesn’t come close to what is on the market as a popular romance…

I want it badly, TOO, but some of us can’t dump $$ into books like we wish we could!!
God bless your efforts, they are obviously paying off.

Thank you, Aline. I hope something I shared encourages you.

I do, too, Aline!

Sandy