# Six-Figure Backlist Write to Market Strategy



## sela (Nov 2, 2014)

So, folks around here know me as a romance author who has been writing for a living full-time since November 2013. I keep my pen name private to minimize any drama. Believe me, I've seen a lot of drama in the indie space and ain't nobody needs that! People in my romance mastermind group (closed to new members) know who I am, and that's good enough for me. 

It can be done. Not everyone will succeed who tries. For those who want a career as an indie author-publisher, if you have a plan and implement it, not giving up when things don't first succeed, and if you keep trying to understand the market and master marketing, you have a chance!


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## It&#039;s A Mystery (Mar 14, 2017)

Amazing. Thank you so much for posting.


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## GP Hudson (Sep 16, 2013)

Great post, Sela. Thanks for sharing.


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## T E Scott Writer (Jul 27, 2016)

I love hearing these kinds of stories.  How brave of you to change genre too, best of luck with the scifi (all the best people write it    )


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## ketosis (Apr 19, 2013)

Great post!  What do you mean when you say wide distribution but cycling into KU?  Do you release KU to start, then go wide after three months?  I have a romance pen name, as well as my regular name, and I've been contemplating taking my main romance trilogy wide next month.  I've had two Bookbubs in the far past, and they both resulted in my biggest months ever.  The first book has always done well with any free runs, and thinking of permafree in also hopes of getting another Bookbub.  I'm starting to feel as if KU isn't doing as much for me as it once did.


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## ThirdWish (Sep 30, 2017)

Thanks for posting. Very inspiring


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## PermaStudent (Apr 21, 2015)

Thank you so much for this post.  

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk


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## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

Thanks, Sela, and congrats on passing the $1m milestone.

Nick


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## Indiecognito (May 19, 2014)

Thanks for this, Sela, and congratulations on all your success!

Question: If you had one piece of advice for AMS users, what would it be? I'm still fidgeting, I've taken Dawson's course, and I have some decent results but am still wondering if the simple fix would be to tweak more, more often. Would love to hear your thoughts.


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## DrewMcGunn (Jul 6, 2017)

Thanks for sharing your success. It's nice to know that hard work and an attention to detail, coupled with a strong understanding of who your market is, can pay off.


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## Mark Dawson (Mar 24, 2012)

Great post. Kudos. So pleased for you.


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Thanks for sharing, sela! I hope your thriller/romantic suspense books hit it out of the park.


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## dianapersaud (Sep 26, 2013)

Thank you, Sela. Your posts are always helpful and a great morale booster.


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

sela said:


> It can be done. Not everyone will succeed who tries. For those who want a career as an indie author-publisher, if you have a plan and implement it, not giving up when things don't first succeed, and if you keep trying to understand the market and master marketing, you have a chance!


Very true. Congratulations on your milestone. Great post!


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## The one with all the big dresses on the covers (Jan 25, 2016)

Congrats, Sela! Just out of curiosity, will you be starting new pen names for your various new genres?


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## levolal (Apr 13, 2018)

Woah, I can't even imagine writing 8 novels featuring the same couple. It is hard to do 3 novels for one couple for me. Very interesting post. Thanks for taking the time to write it out! Writing to market is both the easiest and hardest thing. For those of us who consider ourselves "above" the market (in terms of liking 'classier' books), it can be frustrating. But if I gotta churn out the millionth badboy romance novel for a fraction of the pie... well, I'll build a bridge and jog over it!


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## VLH (Jun 18, 2015)

Just awesome. Thank you for sharing.


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## KinkyCat (Dec 27, 2017)

I can vouch for Sela's method.  I didn't quite break the six digit mark last year, but doing the same as she did (publish regularly & write to market) got me that far.


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

levolal said:


> Woah, I can't even imagine writing 8 novels featuring the same couple. It is hard to do 3 novels for one couple for me. Very interesting post. Thanks for taking the time to write it out! Writing to market is both the easiest and hardest thing. For those of us who consider ourselves "above" the market (in terms of liking 'classier' books), it can be frustrating. But if I gotta churn out the millionth badboy romance novel for a fraction of the pie... well, I'll build a bridge and jog over it!


Writing to market and writing to trend are two different things. You don't have to write to trend in order to write to market.


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## Pandorra (Aug 22, 2017)

Very encouraging post! Thank you!

Sometimes it's hard to stay focused on the big picture rather than counting the words and minutes in between... this helps!


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## Secret Pen Pal (Dec 27, 2013)

Inspiring. Thanks and congrats!


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## sela (Nov 2, 2014)

ketosis said:


> Great post! What do you mean when you say wide distribution but cycling into KU? Do you release KU to start, then go wide after three months? I have a romance pen name, as well as my regular name, and I've been contemplating taking my main romance trilogy wide next month. I've had two Bookbubs in the far past, and they both resulted in my biggest months ever. The first book has always done well with any free runs, and thinking of permafree in also hopes of getting another Bookbub. I'm starting to feel as if KU isn't doing as much for me as it once did.


I have never released in KU before but I will with the thriller series, the SF and the High Fantasy since they will all be under new pen names and I will be starting from scratch.

What I have done is release wide and wait until the tail starts to dive on iBooks (which is my second biggest market) and then put the books in KU for a 90-day term. Then I take them wide again and try for a Bookbub. If successful, I keep the book / series out for whatever time it takes, which is usually 30 days or so, for the Bookbub. When the Bookbub boost dies out, I will put the books back in KU for another 90 days. My steamy contemporary romance series does well wide, especially on iBooks, but my paranormal romance doesn't seem to ever gain traction. I tend to pull it once or twice a year for Bookbubs but keep it in KU the rest of the time.

KU works well for some -- just look at Mark Dawson's recent experience putting his books in. He's killing it!

If you can time it right so that you get a Bookbub soon after you take your books out of KU, you can get good results and gain traction as Bookbub has a big audience on those non-Amazon markets. Good luck!


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## sela (Nov 2, 2014)

Indiecognito said:


> Thanks for this, Sela, and congratulations on all your success!
> 
> Question: If you had one piece of advice for AMS users, what would it be? I'm still fidgeting, I've taken Dawson's course, and I have some decent results but am still wondering if the simple fix would be to tweak more, more often. Would love to hear your thoughts.


Thanks! I'm still learning AMS. I honestly haven't focused on it as much as I should have, due to everything going on in my life, but I intend to really focus in the next month or two. I'm re-watching Mark Dawson's AMS for Authors video series coming up soon because I will need that refresher when I start marketing my new thriller series.


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## sela (Nov 2, 2014)

MelanieCellier said:


> Congrats, Sela! Just out of curiosity, will you be starting new pen names for your various new genres?


Thanks and yes, most definitely! I will really need a pen name for my SF and High Fantasy series since I don't want my also-bought to get influenced by romance readers. I love my romance readers -- don't get me wrong! But I've read Chris Fox's books and watched his video series and know that it's important to get the Amazon algorithms trained to show my books to the right kind of readers and get those all-important also-boughts so the system works to sell my books.


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## sela (Nov 2, 2014)

levolal said:


> Woah, I can't even imagine writing 8 novels featuring the same couple. It is hard to do 3 novels for one couple for me. Very interesting post. Thanks for taking the time to write it out! Writing to market is both the easiest and hardest thing. For those of us who consider ourselves "above" the market (in terms of liking 'classier' books), it can be frustrating. But if I gotta churn out the millionth badboy romance novel for a fraction of the pie... well, I'll build a bridge and jog over it!


First off, writing to market is not the same as writing to trend, as usedtoposthere points out. One is style and the other is fashion, if you think in terms of the world of clothing. Style is more general and long-lasting. Fashion is seasonal and changes a lot. You can make a lot of money writing to trend -- designing fashion -- but you have to publish faster, and you have to nail the tropes because the trends move quickly. If you want to capitalize on a trend you have to write fast and publish in volume or else the readers will have moved on by the time you get your next book out.

When you write to market, you are able to publish less often because the readership is evergreen. Your books have a chance to be as well. They will keep selling when trendy books disappear from the ranks. Last year, the first 3 books in my main series still earned me high five figures and they were 4 years old.


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## sela (Nov 2, 2014)

And I just want to say a big thanks to everyone who posted who didn't ask questions. When I was starting out in this biz, I really appreciated when successful authors posted their stats and advice and experiences. It's tough to be an author-preneur -- there's a lot to learn, but thankfully, the indie crowd is very generous. We truly believe that a rising tide lifts all boats and that our products are different enough that we truly don't compete with each other. Besides, readers can read a lot faster than we can write! And luckily, self-publishing isn't rocket science! Most of it is being a good reader (so you understand story), a good marketer and of course, writing commercial books.


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## Vale (Jul 19, 2017)

Thank you so much for the update! I found it really interesting. Weaving books in and out of KU isn't something I've heard other authors talk about.


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## sela (Nov 2, 2014)

Vale said:


> Thank you so much for the update! I found it really interesting. Weaving books in and out of KU isn't something I've heard other authors talk about.


I do it because I never figured out how to really promote books on Apple or the other retailers. Maybe it's because I never really tried but it seems that it's becoming easier to target readers on those other platforms now. I find KU is good for my sales for a month or month and a half but then they fall off and I've found that KCDs and free days aren't quite as good as a Bookbub, and Bookbubs are harder to get for books in KU vs. Wide.

So I rely on Bookbub promos to keep my sales up on the wide platforms. As long as Bookbub keeps taking my books, I'll keep putting them wide when they're eligible. I imagine I'll run out of fresh eyes on Bookbub soon, though, and so it's necessary to keep writing new books.


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## Michele Brouder (Jun 13, 2011)

Thanks for sharing your insight and congratulations on your success! I love reading about other people's success because it inspires me and gives me hope.


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## LittleFox (Jan 3, 2015)

Thanks for sharing! Congratulations on your milestone and best of luck with your new ventures.


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## MKK (Jun 9, 2015)

Congratulations and thanks for posting. Always enjoy these 'how I got here' posts—and almost always find something to learn from them. Good luck reaching the next milestone.


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## DaniO (Oct 22, 2012)

Fantastic post, Sela. I hope you find the same great success with your new thriller. 

Cycling between wide and KU seems pretty smart to me. Do you know if there is an Amazon list for new KU content? I wondered if there was a specific list or a way for readers to find "new to KU" books even if they have been released wide and been out for a while.


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## 91831 (Jul 18, 2016)

Usedtoposthere said:


> Writing to market and writing to trend are two different things. You don't have to write to trend in order to write to market.


This is what I always confused! It's taken me a long time to realise that these two things are not the same--and only now am I getting the hang of what 'market' means.

ETA to include:



sela said:


> First off, writing to market is not the same as writing to trend, as usedtoposthere points out. One is style and the other is fashion, if you think in terms of the world of clothing. Style is more general and long-lasting. Fashion is seasonal and changes a lot. You can make a lot of money writing to trend -- designing fashion -- but you have to publish faster, and you have to nail the tropes because the trends move quickly. If you want to capitalize on a trend you have to write fast and publish in volume or else the readers will have moved on by the time you get your next book out.
> 
> When you write to market, you are able to publish less often because the readership is evergreen. Your books have a chance to be as well. They will keep selling when trendy books disappear from the ranks. Last year, the first 3 books in my main series still earned me high five figures and they were 4 years old.


This is the kind of description I wish that I had seen when I started looking at writing to market. Thank you for explaining it very well and clearly.


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## 91831 (Jul 18, 2016)

Congrats, Sela. I always enjoy reading your replies on k-boards. They're usually well thought out and level-headed and I appreciate quietly learning via such things.

I'm glad that you're moving into what you really want to write and I hope that even if it doesn't pan out for you the way that your romance does (although I don't see why it wouldn't!) that you keep at it. Everyone deserves to write what they love and have a passion for


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## My Dog&#039;s Servant (Jun 2, 2013)

Congratulations, Sela, and thank you for your amazing generosity in sharing your journey. Here's to the same or more success with your "passion" books!


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## Elizabeth Barone (May 6, 2013)

Congratulations, Sela! Thank you for your always generous, encouraging, and insightful posts.


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## RScott (Nov 8, 2017)

Thanks for this Sela. It was a real inspiration and encouragement to me. I am trying to written to market route after a lackluster series debut and the results are exactly as you have experienced. It's great to know that if I keep going the potential is there to earn more and more.


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## Guest (Apr 15, 2018)

Congrats! And great post Sela. Thanks for sharing; it's tremendously helpful to we noobs, both from an info pov and an inspirational one. 



RScott said:


> ... after a lackluster series debut and the results are exactly as you have experienced. It's great to know that if I keep going the potential is there to earn more and more.


Rick Scott, re the "lackluster series debut", I assume you mean a series under a penname? Or one unpublished now? Because your Crystal Shards Online series is doing great! &#128077;  and seems to be very to market as far as I can tell (not being a litrpg guy but dabbling in it because I read everything except erotica)


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## RScott (Nov 8, 2017)

Luke Everhart said:


> Congrats! And great post Sela. Thanks for sharing; it's tremendously helpful to we noobs, both from an info pov and an inspirational one.
> 
> Rick Scott, re the "lackluster series debut", I assume you mean a series under a penname? Or one unpublished now? Because your Crystal Shards Online series is doing great! &#128077;  and seems to be very to market as far as I can tell (not being a litrpg guy but dabbling in it because I read everything except erotica)


Hi Luke. Yes, that was under a different penname. It wasn't successful commercially, but going through the process taught me all the skills I needed to write to market. Financial success it seems is far more dependent on genre and market than the product itself.


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## pwtucker (Feb 12, 2011)

Congratulations, Sela, and kudos on all the hard/smart work. It's great to see that you're still thriving and making it work, and very inspirational, too. Cheers!


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

Congrats Sela. Look forward to "seeing you" in fantasy and sci-fi.


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## sela (Nov 2, 2014)

RScott said:


> Hi Luke. Yes, that was under a different penname. It wasn't successful commercially, but going through the process taught me all the skills I needed to write to market. Financial success it seems is far more dependent on genre and market than the product itself.


It's great to hear you're having more success with the write to market method!

Publishing under a test pen name is one way to learn about the business. One an author has some sense of how their writing and stories are received, they can alter course if necessary as I did with the contemporary steamy romance novel and then series. Some people -- very few and very rare -- have success with their first book. Most of us either flounder around trying to find something that sticks, or at least have a few near misses before we have a hit. Patience and persistence is key.


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## P.T. Phronk (Jun 6, 2014)

This is my favourite kind of post ... the concrete information about how you succeeded is great, but I think just knowing it’s possible, with enough hard work, has an even bigger effect. On me, anyway. Thank you, Sela, for sharing! And I hope your journey into other genres is wildly successful.


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## Writer&#039;s Block (Oct 29, 2014)

Love these posts. Practical and straight up. Thank you.


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## Talbot (Jul 14, 2015)

This was the pep talk I needed. Thank you!


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## VanessaC (Jan 14, 2017)

Always love these posts, thank you for sharing.


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## VonC (Apr 16, 2018)

Good stuff!  Can I ask how many are on your mailing list, and how you built it?


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## Jack.Hardin (Jun 20, 2017)

This is terrific...thank you for posting.


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## Chinese Writer (Mar 25, 2014)

Thank you for posting. I’m glad things are still working out well for you Stella.


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## EC Sheedy (Feb 24, 2011)

Thanks for the enlightening and inspirational post, Sela. What you've accomplished is remarkable! I love everything you post. Again, thanks so much.


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## sela (Nov 2, 2014)

VonC said:


> Good stuff! Can I ask how many are on your mailing list, and how you built it?


My mailing list is about 8,000. Part of that came via several group promos I did with several romance authors back in 2014. About 2500 I think. Maybe 3000 came via a call to action at the back of all my books offering a free story (sometimes a novel, sometimes 3 novels and sometimes short stories related to my series depending on what is in KU at the time). A couple of thousand were obtained via Facebook ads following Mark Dawson's approach in his course. I offer a novel or short story as a lead magnet. Also, I get some off my website home page which has a free book offer for subscribers.

The contest entrants are the worst of the bunch. They really only signed up for a chance to win a free book. I've had the worst conversion from them and wouldn't recommend contests as a strategy. The next warmest are the ones obtained via Facebook ads. They convert reasonably well - better than the contest entrants for sure. The warmest are the ones who read my books and subscribe because they liked my book.

I didn't start a mailing list until 2014 and wish I had done more work on it sooner because I really rely on it during release week to get the word out about my new book. I send out emails to my list based on their rating (2, 3, 4 or 5 stars based on open rate) as a way to build the book's sales curve and hopefully tickle Amazon algorithms.


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## Maia Sepp Ross (May 10, 2013)

Huge congrats, Sela. And thanks for posting this.


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## VonC (Apr 16, 2018)

sela said:


> My mailing list is about 8,000. Part of that came via several group promos I did with several romance authors back in 2014. About 2500 I think. Maybe 3000 came via a call to action at the back of all my books offering a free story (sometimes a novel, sometimes 3 novels and sometimes short stories related to my series depending on what is in KU at the time). A couple of thousand were obtained via Facebook ads following Mark Dawson's approach in his course. I offer a novel or short story as a lead magnet. Also, I get some off my website home page which has a free book offer for subscribers.
> 
> The contest entrants are the worst of the bunch. They really only signed up for a chance to win a free book. I've had the worst conversion from them and wouldn't recommend contests as a strategy. The next warmest are the ones obtained via Facebook ads. They convert reasonably well - better than the contest entrants for sure. The warmest are the ones who read my books and subscribe because they liked my book.
> 
> I didn't start a mailing list until 2014 and wish I had done more work on it sooner because I really rely on it during release week to get the word out about my new book. I send out emails to my list based on their rating (2, 3, 4 or 5 stars based on open rate) as a way to build the book's sales curve and hopefully tickle Amazon algorithms.


Thank you! Great info. If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone say "I wish I had started an email list sooner...."


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## Keith Ward (Dec 19, 2016)

Thanks Sela, very encouraging and informative post.


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## Don7 (Apr 17, 2018)

This was one of the most motivating posts I've read since I started exploring the whole writing-for-Kindle thing... thank you!


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## lenawhite (Apr 17, 2018)

Thanks for the post and especially for all the answers to questions. If you don't mind another one, I'd love to know how you sold 5000 books in the first month for your first write-to-market novel. What was that secret sauce? Thanks again.


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## sela (Nov 2, 2014)

lenawhite said:


> Thanks for the post and especially for all the answers to questions. If you don't mind another one, I'd love to know how you sold 5000 books in the first month for your first write-to-market novel. What was that secret sauce? Thanks again.


No problem!

I published a written-to-market book after studying the big selling series at the time and trying to understand what it was that readers liked about them. Then, I wrote my own version, trying to fulfil those reader expectations. I got a decent cover (still cheap at $99) and had the book edited for a cost of about $800. I posted about it on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads. I paid for a $25 sidebar ad on a popular book blog. That was it. It was in a new romance sub-genre - contemporary romance / erotic romance versus paranormal romance, which was what I started out writing.

It just sold pretty much organically.

Back then, the Amazon algorithms really seemed like they did most of the heavy lifting with a book, especially one that it calculated had an audience.

I think the whole playing field is different now and can't tell you what would work today. My most recent book that did as well was released in July 2017, which sold 5,977 copies in its release month, but because it was released at $2.99 instead of $4.99, I made less. In total, I made $11,761.22 on all retailers in its release month. That was my mistake but I didn't feel I could release at full price because the market is different now. I second-guessed myself. If I had it to do over, I'd release at $3.99 but I put it on pre-order and wanted a special pre-order price for my most ardent readers.

ETA: I paid $200 for the cover for the recent book, plus $800 for editing and about $200 for a release week Facebook ad. I had a Bookbub new release email go out on release day, plus I had my 8,000-plus mailing list to help get the word out. Draft 2 Digital also sent a new release email to my followers on that platform. A lot more work and effort went into its release, and cost, but because of my pricing strategy, less profit overall. I'm writing a sequel to it -- and I should have done that last year -- but it won't come out until July, a full year later.

Live and learn!


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## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

> This indie author gig is great if you can find a niche that works for you and that you love to write. If so, who needs traditional publishing? There has been a lot of negative press lately about book stuffers and scammers on Amazon. It can seem disheartening for those of us who aren't into the whole black hat/grey hat publisher approach, that focuses more on hacking Amazon loopholes versus being an author doing what we love.


This is the part I like the best. Thank you for sharing your story.


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## SA_Soule (Sep 8, 2011)

Congrats! That's an amazing success story. 

May I ask, are you wide or exclusive with Amazon KDP? 

How many books do you currently have published?


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## Van Argan (Nov 10, 2017)

Sela, thank you for sharing!  Your post is inspiring.


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