It Ain't the Money

It takes me roughly 400 hours to write, edit, proof, design and create a cover, and get a novel ready for publishing. That doesn’t count time thinking about the work when I’m not actively writing it – like when I’m at my job, driving, lying in bed, etc., and have a few minutes to consider what’s happening, what I want to happen. That’s a fair investment of time and effort.

It has now been a month since I published Book 2 of the Yrden Chronicles, “Trading for a Dream.” The first month of a book’s sales on Amazon is usually the best month. For those who are interested, I ‘sold’ 37 copies of it on Amazon in that month (it’s exclusive to Amazon for the first 3 months), and had the equivalent of about 10 copies read through Kindle Unlimited. Give or take, this means a ‘profit’ to me of about $90 – or about $0.23/hour’s work. I’ll need to sell another 1950 books to get me up to what I’d make in a minimum-wage job. Book 1, “Trading For the Stars”, has sold about 430 copies in the last 18 months, meaning I worked on it for about $2.25/hr. At its present rate of sales, it’ll take another 12 years before I ‘break even’ (in other words, before I’ve earned what I would have made if I’d used those 400 hrs to work a minimum wage job).

Those are the realities for a lot of us independent self-publishers. What makes us do it? Well, for me, right now, it’s Mr Telford.

I conceived of him as an intermediary between Colleen Yrden and Alan McLean in "Pelgraff". He was just there to provide a link – after all, a woman in Colleen’s position wouldn’t go visiting Mr McLean on her own. No, she’d send somebody. That somebody was Telford. He had a bit part at the beginning of the book, and I had no intention of him ever being seen again. Then, at the end of Pelgraff, I had a thought – something to tie him and McLean together. They both loved Colleen, and they both had no chance. So, Telford got a few paragraphs at the end of Pelgraff.

When I went to write “Trading for the Stars,” Telford didn’t occupy a thought. That was Clay and Colleen’s story. But when it came time for the sequel, I knew that somehow, somewhere, I’d have to introduce Mr Telford. So, recalling that McLean had seen him as a dangerous man, I decided to introduce him to Colleen early on. Thus, he got a good deal of time in “Trading for a Dream”. And now, suddenly, he wasn’t just a bit character on the side, he had become a driving force in the story – something I hadn’t expected at all.

And that’s part of the joy of writing the way I write – seat of the pants. I don’t outline, and have every detail down before I start; I just start and see how I get to the end. I know how and where the story will basically finish, but not where the journey in-between will take me – and you, the reader.

So, now, Mr Telford has become a major character, and I’ve a lot of ideas for him. I also know where he will end up, but not how he’ll get there – and, of course, there’s always the possibility of a change, should the story warrant it. But, I’m pretty sure I know the end of his story in this series.

At present, I’m working on Book 3, “One Trade too Many”, which will take us to within a stone’s throw of Pelgraff. And I’m enjoying Mr Telford’s place in that book. I’ve come to quite like the man – and I had no idea he’d even have a role when I first came up with the idea of the Colleen Yrden story. But it’s fun.

So, as long as I have my health and imagination, I’ll get to see the story take shape, develop and end. I hope that I’ll have others who will take the journey with me and read the words I write. It doesn’t look like there will be too many of them.

I’m not a great (heck not even a good) marketer. Even this blog is really more than I’m comfortable with. But, if I write well enough, those who need to find my books will find them and enjoy them, as I’ve found and enjoyed books and authors I’ve needed to find.

What keeps me going? The joyful surprises that I get by writing keeps me going. It’s certainly not the money. I admit, that I’d enjoy a little greater remuneration, but I’m stuck in the story and I want to see how it plays out.

PS: You might check the 'news' page to see where I am. I'll try to better keep it updated.