Publishing and Self-publishing: Advice for Writers

Publishing can be sustainable (not just about getting lucky)

As of today (because I only checked today, had forgotten to check this earlier huhu), First Time for Everything has earned back what I had spent on it. A little under 4 months after release.

My main expenses are editing and art/design. I don't have significant printing costs because I do print on demand. I only order prints when there's a confirmed/paid order, and only order enough copies to sell at events or update the stock at the indie book shops that carry the book.

The way of most of the publishing industry is that popular books "carry" or fund less popular ones. I went with another approach for the last 6 books I published (including this one), and started tracking when a book "earned out." I'm more comfortable thinking of this industry as professional and "learnable" ie we aren't just throwing stuff out into the world and hoping for the best. We can use what we learn and create a sustainable process.

Chart attached is where it all came from. While I think this is cool and all, you should know that there are authors who "earn out" on Day 1. How that happens is also a fascinating thing but also not the point of this post haha and not my lane. Maybe we can get someone whose lane that is to talk about it.

Edited to add: I mentioned that my main expenses are editing (2 human editors) and art/design (1 human artist and 1 human designer). I don't think the books improve when we cut costs here as many publishers already do. Even when working with human editors and artists, there are people who are just more skilled than others. Or who "get it". It matters! There are people who just do not get it.