Floating on the Amazon

I'm a self published author. There I said it. Five years ago when I published my first book 13 Nightmares it was akin to saying I'm a talentless hack. First of all this is not my first go around at self-publishing. In the early 90's I published my own role playing game system and marketed myself. I wasn't interested in letting anyone else publish my game. It was mine and I had control over it. Still do. When I jumped into publishing my first book I realized that self-publishing was the bastard stepchild of the publishing world. I heard nothing good about it. Published writers said I would be destroying my writing career. or that no one would buy my books. I've been to writer conferences where they didn't take self published authors seriously. There are sci-fi conventions where they refuse self published authors on panels and writing websites where they don't allow self-pubs into their little clique. The list goes on and on. Some of it is quite laughable. I've heard traditional publishers say we are the "maggots" of the written word or that self-pub is "literary masturbation". Things have changed in five years. That change can be summed up in one word: 

Amazon. 

Not only is Amazon by far the largest seller of books in the world, it is totally geared for self published authors. They charge nothing for you to format and upload your books on their website. The process is easy and quick. You get 70% royalty for your sales, which is unheard of in the traditional publishing world. You are in control over everything from marketing, pricing, and content. You know exactly how your books are selling and you get paid royalties straight into your bank account each month. I decided to skip my POD publisher and upload my zombie novel Undead Flesh straight to Kindle and CreateSpace. It was a smart decision. In one month I made almost a $1000 dollars in royalties while my other two books through the POD publisher did nothing. It was an eye opener for me. I've since taken control of 13 Nightmares and Ebon Moon and re-released under my imprint. Another smart move. Now all three books are working for me. I figured that my average royalty over the last six months is $281 per month and looks good for that number increasing at the end of this month now that I've added the other two books.  It's not bestseller money, but it is very nice supplemental income. I plan on having two more books on the site in the next few months and have them bringing in money as well. Books are money earners on Amazon and the more you have, the more you make in sales.

All this talk of money earned makes it sound like it is the reason why I write. It's not. But it is nice to have some funds coming in to fuel the cost of publishing and life as a part-time writer. I haven't quit my day job which provides me all the needed benefits of retirement, health coverage, dental, etc. The stigma of being a self-published writer isn't over, but its diminished greatly over the last five years. Fortunately, that stigma doesn't apply to readers. I never had one reader who cared if the book was self-published or not. Readers are mostly interested in what the story is about then who is the publisher or editor. I think that's where traditional publishers miss the mark. Traditional publishers are more focused on distribution and shelf-life of a book than who reads it. Self-pub authors appeal directly to the reader and build their readership over time.

Self publishing works for me, but that doesn't mean its for everyone. If you can find someone to publish your work by all means go for it. It's a sweet gig if you can get it. I never really tried.  To me it makes more sense for the Traditional publishing houses to look at authors who prove that they can write and sell books on their own. I think that times are changing and it may very well be a requisite for an author in the future. For me I'm going to continue to float down the Amazon river. I've painted a rosy picture for self-publishing with this blog post, but In my next post I'm going to talk about the problems and pitfalls of self-publishing. Talk to you then.