Always Learning as an Indie Author
or why I may regret taking my books out of KU when I did (and why they're back)
Hi friends.
It's been a bit since we chatted. I was/am working on a more in-depth writing post (along with a writing vlog of draft 1 for Annie and Sam) but I've had some other thoughts on my mind that I wanted to share. So this is part of the behind-the-scenes of an indie author series, just not the update I originally planned to share today.
If you aren't interested in indie publishing, this post may not be applicable, but maybe you'll find it interesting.
About a week and a half ago, I put my book(s) back in Kindle Unlimited.
A part of me is really excited to be back in KU, and the other part of me is just kicking myself for taking The Luck of Finding You out in the first place.
And a quick reminder that this post is also available on my Patreon if you’d prefer to join over there.
So, I guess I should start with the why behind that choice I made back in February. Around that time, I kept seeing indie authors who were getting their KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) accounts terminated because their books which were exclusive to KU were being pirated and put up on other retail sites. Amazon can do this with basically no warning (which you know when you sign up for KU and promise to be exclusive to them.) So, that was making me a tad bit wary, but it wasn't the big reason for me taking my book out of KU.
I've always wanted to reach a wider audience with my books. I LOVE using my library apps to get ebooks and audiobooks when I don't have the budget to buy them and I do want this for some/all of my books at some point. So, I decided to just go for it. Everything I was reading and learning from authors who have been doing this a lot longer than I have is that if you want to go wide eventually, you should start wide at the beginning, even if it's slow-going.
So, I went with my gut and pulled TLOFY out of Kindle Unlimited and uploaded it to all of the other retailer sites.
Then, mostly crickets. An occasional book sale on a different site other than Amazon, but pretty much ONLY when I had my book on sale. Other than that, people just weren't buying my books on other platforms because I have 1 book out. Because I'm still a new author.
I also didn't have the time to figure out how to market to those other platforms, and by July, I knew I needed to do something different. I'd need to invest (more) in the ads that weren't really working or... I could come back to KU.
I've always been fascinated by the stats that come with publishing. When are people buying books? What books are they reading? I love seeing stats from other authors, top 100 lists, and my own numbers. So, I started taking a bigger look at my own stats to try and see if KU might be the right choice for me.
I haven’t made a ton of money from my one book this year. It makes sense. Most indie authors say that they didn’t really start making money until books 3-5, so the fact that I made some money (even if it was just a few dollars) each month this year is something that I’m grateful for.
But it also hurts/sucks/is hard because I want to make this a career. Yes, I love writing and would write even if I don’t make money, but I want to make money and I think that’s something that’s okay to say. I want to provide a second income for our family (even if it’s nowhere close to what my husband makes, that’s fine) it would help us get out of debt and allow us to do more fun things together as a family. And maybe it would ease some of my husband’s financial stress of being the only one with a paycheck.
Because of this, I’ve really started to re-evaluate things. I haven’t really looked at my writing and publishing as a business yet (I only have one book out, I didn’t really think I needed to) but I’ve been realizing that I need to start making some better business choices if I really want to make a career out of this.
Now, I know that this isn’t going to happen overnight. I am very aware that publishing is more of a marathon and less of a sprint (or maybe it’s a bunch of sprints that make up a marathon since you’re always working to write and share more). But I’m really ready to step into this role and start making choices that will help me find the success I’m seeking as an author.
Which is ultimately why I am back in KU.
Honestly, I couldn’t believe it the other day when I checked my stats for the year (and from last year). By January and February, my page reads were starting to trend upward, yet I pulled my book because I was anxious to be wide. At some point, I’d still like to go wide or have some books available everywhere and some in KU.
But, to no one’s surprise, my sales/royalties TANKED after I pulled my book from KU. I only have one book out, these other vendors don’t know who I am. I’m pretty sure I only sold ebooks not on Amazon when my ebook was discounted (which is fine, I’m so grateful people were still willing to give me a chance) but it also kind of sucked.
I jumped in head first way too early into something that I wasn’t ready for in my author career. Maybe I could have made it going wide, but as I'm still getting started, I need some sort of income to be able to write more books, and truthfully, KU is where I get a lot of that.
I learned a few big lessons about myself through all of this and that maybe I should trust some of the advice I’ve read but that always I should keep trusting my gut.
I did feel like I should pull TLOFY back in February. And I see now that maybe might have I needed to do that to help me learn this lesson. Maybe don’t mess with something that’s working, maybe trust it a little longer than 6 months, because KU was working for me, and now I feel like I have to build it completely up again.
Starting from scratch (well not exactly, but it kind of feels that way)
Which is okay, just hard.
And something that I may have been able to avoid if I’d just kept my book in KU the entire time, I’ll never know.
But for now, and probably mostly for always (though I don’t love that cause I don’t want Amazon to hold all the eggs in my basket) my books will be in KU.
Being an indie author is hard and fun and I'm sure there are going to be more choices I make that I might later regret (this could be one of them, you just never know because of how much this business changes). But I'm excited to see what happens in the coming year, with my second book releasing in 2 weeks and then book 3 coming next year.... and MORE books hopefully also coming next year.
I love writing. I love being an author. I really do want to make a career out of this, which means actually taking the time to think about the business part more than I have been.