Tackling the Unwieldy Task

Virtuall Ideal is done.
Well, that is to say, the first draft is complete.
That is to say, I have most of the story, from one end to the other, 15 episodes, 200,000 words, even though I've changed bits part way through and know I have to chop/add scenes.

Now I just have to sit down with this behemoth and force it into some sort of order. I need to pull apart each scene like individual pieces of lego; line them up, discarding the unsightly ones and straighten out the ones that have accidentally been bent out of shape. Then I can start to rebuild my masterpiece.

Moving away from my lego metaphor, I then need to place each scene under the microscope, peer into its very cellular make up, to make sure it is perfect, that it is adding to my masterpiece, not detracting. A healthy, life giving scene, not a cancerous, death bringing one.

And that is pretty much why I haven't done anything on the manuscript since I finished the first draft. I'm scared. I'm overwhelmed by the sheer size of the project. My mind becomes blank in panic as I think of making that first dissection.

I have brained stormed. Written out nice to do lists. Given myself deadlines. And yet, still for 21 days I've done nothing. Well, that's not completely true. I've tried a lot of the great advice that I've given others; I've listened to podcasts, I've read books, I've sat down at my computer, only to get up a few minutes later.

Alone and by myself I could not get anywhere.

Then last night I was talking with a friend over sugar-free hot chocolate (yes, San Churro makes such a thing, and it's delicious. As long as you don't burn your tongue on the first sip) and he asked me how I was going with the story. So I started talking. And then I continued talking. And then I talked some more. And he very kindly asked intelligent questions such as: but why did that character do that? And what made that male unsuitable? The more I talked about it, the more excited I got, and the more I wanted to fix it up. I wanted to get it ready for other people to read, so that they could enjoy what I've already had fun with. Also, as I talked I realised that I couldn't just leave Laurie in the mess I've created. She deserves to have her story written out well.

So tomorrow I aim to summarise on the Scrivener cards each of the scenes. Well, start at least, I must have close to 100 scenes. Once I have that, I'm going to rearrange them and put in blanks to show me what new scenes I need to write.Then it will be onto the internal scene analysis.

Step one is worked out. And now that I've told you all, I have added incentive to do it.

So thank you.

Tune back in to find out if I've done.

Or, if you sign up to receive this as an email (see top left hand side bar), then you'll be automatically updated. Nifty, huh?

Anyone else have good advice on how to push yourself into an unpleasantly large task? Taking into account I've given up refined sugar so can't bribe myself with chocolate?

Writing Realities: The Truth About Self-Publishing Book Sales

Image courtesy of Sheela2010 at Free Images

I've decided to address the elephant in the room for most of those interested in self-publishing: book sales. The rumours around self-publishing sales range from the extreme of those who published a book and the next morning woke up to find $10,000 in their account to the thought that self-publishers only have their family buy their books. 

To give you a real insight into average self-published book sales, I'm going to show you mine. (Yes, it is as scary for me as it is for you). Each month I'll do a post on the sales for that month. I will detail it all; the number sold across different platforms (Amazon, Createspace, Smashwords), gross sales and net sales (ie. my percentage). I want to give you an account of the reality of being self-published, while also showing useful info such as which platforms have performed well for me.

Today I'm going to detail out my book sales so far, from my first ebook released in 2013. All figures are taken from vook.com which tracks my sales for me across the various platforms (except in person sales). Please note that the most recent sales are not always up to date as vook does take a while to register some.

At the moment I consider myself a very good indication of what an average person can expect. Before bringing out my first book I had no platform, and I have not done any particular feats of marketing or had any unlikely occurrences of good fortune. Everything I have is totally achievable by other people. And hopefully over the months and years my sales will support my thesis that all it takes to make it in self-publishing is to continue producing quality content. 

The Five Day Writer's Retreat:

My first book, The Five Day Writer's Retreat, initially came out as an ebook on my birthday 10^th March 2013 (though I used it as a sign up gift for my email for the first few months) and the print on demand version came out the week of the 29^th September, 2013. All sales are until 20^th July 2014. Below is a table with a summary of all sales in this period across the platforms, followed by a week by week break up (leaving out weeks where there were no sales).

Price of the book has changed over the time, and those registering sales with no gross are free promotions.

Summary:

Retailer	Unit Sales	Gross Sales	Net Sales
Amazon Kindle	23	$146.18	$85.62
CreateSpace POD	16	$160.08	$44.61
Smashwords	15	$11.14	$7.81
Total:	54	$317.40	$138.0

Now to look at how these sales have trickled in over the weeks.

Individual Weeks' Sales:

week	retailer	units	gross	net
28/07/13	amazonkindle	2	40.27	14.09
28/07/13	smashwords	13	6.19	4.84
25/08/13	amazonkindle	2	9.84	6.8
29/09/13	amazonkindle	3	15.55	10.76
29/09/13	createspacepod	3	30.11	8.88
27/10/13	amazonkindle	2	10.07	5.27
27/10/13	createspacepod	1	9.95	3.13
27/10/13	smashwords	1	0	0
24/11/13	amazonkindle	4	20.64	14.27
24/11/13	createspacepod	2	19.9	4.27
29/12/13	amazonkindle	2	10.38	7.18
29/12/13	createspacepod	1	9.95	3.13
26/01/14	amazonkindle	3	14.85	10.26
26/01/14	createspacepod	1	9.95	3.13
23/02/14	amazonkindle	2	9.9	6.84
30/03/14	amazonkindle	3	14.68	10.15
30/03/14	createspacepod	1	9.95	1.14
27/04/14	smashwords	1	4.95	2.97
18/05/14	createspacepod	1	9.95	3.13
25/05/14	createspacepod	4	40.42	11.54
1/06/14	createspacepod	1	9.95	3.13
29/06/14	createspacepod	1	9.95	3.13

On top of this I've sold 8 copies in person, for a gross total of $120, and a net sale of about $80 (don't have those exact figures on me).

Of all these sales, none of them were to my family who staunchly refused to buy my non-fiction (except for my wonderful brother and uncle who bought the very first ebook copies).

As you can see, even with a small/non-existent launch, the beauty of self-publishing is that books can continue to sell. Since July 2013 I've sold a few copies every month. A traditional publisher would take this book off the shelves after a year, and that would be the end of its run. I, on the other hand, will keep it there for years to come, slowly building its audience and writing more in the series. With each new book I bring out, my other sales spike a bit.

The Nice Guy's Guide To Online Dating Profiles

The second book I brought out first as an ebook in November, and then as a paperback in February. It has only been added to Smashwords in the past few weeks, having been locked into the Kindle Select Program prior to this. Please note the large Amazon sale numbers include free promotions, so see the dollar figures for how many paid copies were sold.

Summary:

Retailer	Unit Sales	Gross Sales	Net Sales
Amazon Kindle	217	$36.08	$24.98
CreateSpace POD	1	$10.10	$2.49
Smashwords	0	$0.00	$0.00
Total:	218	$46.18	$27.4

Individual Weeks' Sales:

week	retailer	units	gross	net
24/11/13	amazonkindle	80	0	0
29/12/13	amazonkindle	29	10.03	6.98
26/01/14	amazonkindle	2	5.98	4.12
23/02/14	amazonkindle	100	0	0
23/02/14	createspacepod	1	10.1	2.49
30/03/14	amazonkindle	2	6.03	4.18
4/05/14	amazonkindle	1	3.07	2.12
11/05/14	amazonkindle	1	0.99	0.66
22/06/14	amazonkindle	1	2.99	2.06
6/07/14	amazonkindle	1	6.99	4.86

After The Winter

My first fiction book came out at the end of April, and is yet to be loaded onto Smashwords (end of this month it comes off Amazon KDP select).

Summary:

Retailer	Unit Sales	Gross Sales	Net Sales
Amazon Kindle	24	$111.76	$76.98
CreateSpace POD	8	$103.60	$30.24
Smashwords	0	$0.00	$0.00
Total:	32	$215.36	$107.2

 I've also sold 2 copies in person.

Individual Weeks' Breakup:

week	retailer	units	gross	net
27/04/14	amazonkindle	9	44.62	30.74
27/04/14	createspacepod	4	51.8	15.12
4/05/14	amazonkindle	2	4.95	3.41
4/05/14	createspacepod	4	51.8	15.12
18/05/14	amazonkindle	2	9.95	6.87
25/05/14	amazonkindle	6	25.83	17.75
1/06/14	amazonkindle	3	14.95	10.3
22/06/14	amazonkindle	1	4.95	3.41
6/07/14	amazonkindle	1	6.51	4.5

For the time it's been out, this has been the best seller, but that was largely because I had built up my audience in the six months between my first book and it.

Overall Performance:

Sales for all my books (including the kindle version of my Dad's book Colostrum which I published) look like this:

Retailer	Unit Sales	Gross Sales	Net Sales
Amazon Kindle	365	$304.83	$194.75
CreateSpace POD	25	$273.78	$77.34
Smashwords	17	$11.14	$7.81
Total:	407	$589.75	$279.90

Thoughts:

It is interesting to note that both The Five Day Writer's Retreat and After The Winter have made significant sales with POD, while for The Nice Guy's Guide To Online Dating it probably wasn't worth putting in the effort to create the paper back (except for the value of having copies I can hold up and call my own, which should not be underestimated). It is something to consider when publishing your own books. 

So far Amazon has been my best platform (though only The Five Day Writer has been available on both the whole time).  However, as it takes little effort to load it onto Smashwords (once you know what to do), I see any extra sales on this platform as an added bonus. Therefore, I will continue to upload on both. 

Conclusion:

I hope this series gives you some insight into the realities of self-publishing. It is a very slow way to succeed, compared to a publisher offering you an advance for thousands of dollars. However, unlike traditional publishing you don't have to make it in the first year. At any point in the future I can re-promote these books and increase their sales. For now I want to get more content out there. 

I hope this hasn't put you off self-publishing! There are people out there doing much better, either because: a) they have a larger platform (people ready to buy their books when they first come out) or b) they have more books out there. These are the two things we are writers can control to get more sales. And I'm working on both of them. Slowly.

Because of the potential pessimism, I haven't shown you the actual profit and loss statements: how much it cost me to produce a book compared to how much I've made. But I have a long term view. Most small businesses make a loss for the first five years. You just have to look beyond that. My plan is 10 years as an apprentice, and then I expect to be making a full time income from it (if I've continued to work consistently for those ten years).

So, keep watching to find out if I can!

What are other people's experiences with sales? Does Amazon generally outperform other platforms for you? 

The Universal Law of Action and Reaction

How would you react to being punched in the face? (image courtesy of andysteel at Free Images)

Newton's third law of motion is that for every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction. This is a physical law of the universe. Unbreakable. Therefore, generally expected. Even when we aren't dealing with motion, we live in a world of cause and effect. I hit you, and it might be a hundred different things, but there are effects; you're pissed off at me, your nose bleeds, you realise you've been an idiot, etc.

Breaking The Rules:

Of course when writing we get to break the rules all the time. We can have people fly or jump over tall buildings in a single bound. But when we break these rules we always need to give an explanation. That explanation may be as simple as 'magic', but it is an explanation all the same. When we don't, our readers get annoyed. We accept Harry Potter flying around on broomsticks, but would get annoyed if Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice suddenly did, if we didn't give a good enough explanation.

So as writers we are usually pretty good at the big ones; they are flying because there's magic, they are time traveling because they have a machine. Simple. 

However, it's amazing how frequently even good writers break some of the more basic rules of the universe, such as cause and effect, without thinking there needs to be an explanation. Unfortunately, they are wrong. The audience always expects an action to have a reaction. 

Action and Reaction:

It is a rare thing for a man to walk into a room with a gun and absolutely nothing happen without some explanation. In some situations even standing up causes a reaction. 

'Where are you going?' The girlfriend pouts. 

The boyfriend sighs and sits down again. 

Action, reaction, re-reaction. That's how life works. 

So it is a lot more noticeable than obviously some writers think when we don't have a strong pattern of action and reaction. 

Today I started reading Dragonkeeper by Carole Wilkinson, which is an award winning YA book. It took me a while to work out why it was irritating me so much. Then I read this section and it finally dawned on me;

[We are following a young girl called Ping and the dragon Danzi (shape-changed to look like an old man) who are trying to get to the Ocean. They believe they have escaped the clutches of the dragon hunter Diao and have just accepted hospitality in a village only to find Diao is also there.]

She knew he had recognised her. He looked at the old man with the greenish face and the long side whiskers. His half-smile became whole.

"That girl is an evil sorceress," Diao shouted. "The old man is a shape-changing demon."

The villagers stared at him in surprise.

"Don't just stand there. Seize them!"

The entire population of the village left their chores to see what the fuss was about.

"I've come across them before," Diao contined.

The villagers looked from the young girl and her frail grandfather to the grimy man with the unpleasant voice. They gathered protectively around Ping and Danzi, blocking any chance of escape.

"Don't trust them because they look innocent."

Hua [Ping's rat] chose that moment to reposition himself in the folds of Ping's gown.

"See for yourselves," said Diao. "The girl has creatures living in her gown."

The villagers' eyes widened as they did indeed see something moving beneath the girl's clothing. They took a step away from Ping and towards Diao.

"And the old man can't stand the touch of iron," said the dragon hunter.

One of the villagers picked up an iron scythe and help it up against the old man's arm. Danzi groaned with pain. The villagers backed further away.

"I know their ways," said Diao. "I will protect you from these evil demons."

The dragon hunter lunged forward and struck Danzi with his sword. Danzi screamed and fell to his knees. His cry was like a screech of tearing metal.

Diao strode over and grabbed Ping. The villagers shouted encouragement to the foul-smelling man.

"We'll give you all our money if you get rid of the demons," they promised.

Diao was trying not to look too pleased. His mouth had returned to its usual sneer, but his eyes glittered with pleasure.

Instead of the comfortable house in which Ping had imagined they would spend the night, the villagers pushed them into a pigsty... [goes into long description of the pigsty]

So, anyone else see the huge problem with this scene?

What on earth were Ping and Danzi doing the whole time? Where was their reaction? The whole scene is action, action, action by Diao, disproportionately weak reaction, reaction, reaction from the villagers, and absolutely nothing from our protagonists. 

If you are anything like me, you'll want to shout at Ping and Danzi 'Do Something!', while also getting irritated at the author for being lazy. Because it is lazy writing. The author obviously had an end point she wanted to get to, and didn't take the time to properly plot out how to get there, or even consider whether her characters would get into such a situation.

Further, when we get to the point where so little reaction has happened that a new action cannot begin, a complete coincidence is brought in to make up the gap:

"Don't trust them because they look innocent." 

What exactly does Diao expect this accusation will accomplish? Oh, right, nothing, which is exactly what happens. So how do we move forward? Unrelated, coincidental action to kick start the scene again.

Hua [Ping's rat] chose that moment to reposition himself in the folds of Ping's gown.

"See for yourselves," said Diao. "The girl has creatures living in her gown."

This scene could easily have been remedied if the author had remembered that every action needs not only a reaction, but an equal and opposite reaction. To be of equal size, the reaction needs to be from the person with the most to gain/lose from the action. For us, it's Ping and Danzi, which is why it's so irritating they are mute and motionless the entire time. 

Not only is having no reactions unrealistic, it weakens the writing in two important ways. 

Conflict and Character:

As mentioned in the previous post (on creating a dynamic story) stories are moved forward by conflict. Actions that have no reaction are by definition 'conflictless'. Similarly, reactions which are just what the initiator expected are not 'opposite' reactions, and do not create conflict. Instead, they create dull reading, like listening to 'yes men' all the time. 

It is only when we have opposite reactions that we get into the meaty parts of writing. Opposite reactions open up opportunities. As seen in the scene above, with no reaction, no conflict, the story can't move forward. But when the characters respond in a way that the initiator doesn't expect, then there is another chance to react and keep everything moving forward. 

The other important consequence of good action and reaction is character portrayal. True character can only be shown by the choices the individual makes. Reaction is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate this. When faced with someone accusing her of being a sorceress, how she responds tells us a lot about who she is. It through these reactions that we can escape 'telling' the audience about the main character and starting 'showing' them the reality.

There Is Always A Reaction:

Maybe when confronted by the dragon hunter our main character is so scared and uncertain that she doesn't make a move, but there is still a reaction. She goes from feeling happy and welcomed to suddenly fearful and petrified. Her limbs have gone from moving easily to being locked into place, or weak and about to collapse. These are all reactions, and they all tell us something about the main character.

If you do manage to write a piece of action to which there is no reaction you have two choices: either explain why there is no reaction (he looks around and realises everyone has left the room), or delete it because it's a waste of space. 

Conclusion:

Action - reaction is the basis of all human experience. We expect it, so don't disappoint. 

When in doubt, use Newton's third law to guide you into conflict and character revelation, because it's the easiest way to make a great story. 

If you want to, why not try rewriting the scene above to see if you can make it more action packed. Can you give Ping different reactions which reveal her to be different types of person? Maybe in one she's aggressive and like a small terrier that never lets go, but in another she's wise and thoughtful, using knowledge of human nature to turn the villagers against Diao. It's all in how she responds.