# Full-timers: How Consistent is Your Income From Month to Month?



## 3rotic (Mar 28, 2013)

Just a question from a curious prawn for you full-timers:

How consistent is your income from month-to-month? Do you make $10K one month and then $900 the next? Are such volatile swings frequent, or even possible?

Are you wide, or all-in with KU?

How often do you release new titles, and how do promos/ads play into keeping sales more stable? Do you find yourself constantly promoting your work just to stay afloat?


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

Wide, full time, 16 books out and 6 figure income, BUT at the end of last year 50% was Amazon, 50% everywhere else combined (Audible was a mega share though) This year, Amazon is down to 43% and the others haven't picked up the slack. Audible is only 25% of what it was last year as well, due (I think) to loss of those Amazon sales and visibility with them.

Outside vendors, tend to be slow to change. They are very good at filling in Amazon lows. The problem is, when Amazon tanks (in sales) the others don't cover the loss. They don't surge up and down.

So, is my income consistent? Not to the last dollar or pound, but it IS consistently more than I earned as an engineer of 32 years experience. Also, I downsized my life where expenses are concerned. I paid off my mortgage etc. So I live on about 30% of what I did before going full time, but earn consistently 3 or 4 times what I earned back then (before tax)

EDIT: I haven't released a new book in 2 years. That isn't a good thing. I've lost the habit and I'm trying to get it back. I think when I started to see really good sales, I became too comfortable. I would be happy with 2 books per year. I have six mailing lists, run Facebook ads constantly, do multi-author boxed sets, and run paid promos like ENT, Bookbub, Robin Reads, and Freebooksy now and then.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

No consistency at all. The major determinant is did I have a release that month?
Peaks happen with releases. The month after is well down. If still no release, the next month is well down again.
But as Mark said, my 3rd month after a release, is still a quite livable amount.

I wouldn't call it a volatile swing. Its more like a mangled sine curve. The top of the curve is when you release. After release, you get a couple of very good weeks, and then it slides into oblivion again. How far down you go depends on the next release. I've been pretty low several times now, but its because my releases haven't been on target. 

I'm all-in with Amazon, with KU making up about 2/3 of my income.

I aim to release 6 weekly, but the last 2 have been 3 months, due to ill health.

I dont do any promo of any kind, so how well I do is entirely Amazon rank dependent.


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

I'm mostly wide. 91% of my income is from Amazon anyway (and Amazon owned things like Audible etc).  I try to release something every 3 months at least, but last year that didn't happen. I only released two books. Months with a release and the month after are good. After that, it's down about 50% each and every month until the next release or a Bookbub pumps it up. So I've had swings from 46k down to 9k within a few months.  There's no steady about this biz.  If I am not releasing or doing effective promotions like Bookbub etc, income falls in half each month. I don't know what the floor would be, I haven't waited around to find out. I imagine it would take a while to drop to 0, but it could probably happen.


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## Craig Martelle (Feb 6, 2016)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> Wide, full time, 16 books out and 6 figure income, BUT at the end of last year 50% was Amazon, 50% everywhere else combined (Audible was a mega share though) This year, Amazon is down to 43% and the others haven't picked up the slack. Audible is only 25% of what it was last year as well, due (I think) to loss of those Amazon sales and visibility with them...
> 
> EDIT: I haven't released a new book in 2 years. That isn't a good thing. I've lost the habit and I'm trying to get it back. I think when I started to see really good sales, I became too comfortable. I would be happy with 2 books per year. I have six mailing lists, run Facebook ads constantly, do multi-author boxed sets, and run paid promos like ENT, Bookbub, Robin Reads, and Freebooksy now and then.


I retired fully on September 17th last year and started writing full time the next day, so I retain multiple income streams without counting on the one from writing. That being said, the product is the most important thing you can offer. If your book is good, it'll be read timelessly. If your book has a flashy cover, but isn't a good read, you'll get a reader one time. I have the opposite. My multi-book series is getting great reviews (more than what you see on Amazon or Goodreads), but the covers are a turn off. I'm having that fixed and then I'll start the big advertising campaigns anywhere and everywhere. You need to have great elevator speeches (Mark Cooper does a great job at this with the graphics and short statements that grab your attention) regarding your work. And then for the newer people like me, you need to have books out there. I will publish my fourth book of the year in April. There are millions of readers out there. That first 30 days of free advertising on Amazon can get your foot in the door, but you won't get them all to buy in. Keep advertising and keep giving the people something new to read. When I finally found Anne McCaffrey, she had some 23 books published. I read the first and bought the rest the next week. At the time, she was retired and writing only one book a year.

Enough rambling. Consistent income? Not yet. I think I'm averaging about 18 cents an hour for my time, but that's right now where I haven't pushed hard to get my books in front of people. I want readers to know that I'm not one and done.


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## Some Random Guy (Jan 16, 2016)

My income is volatile, but based on my releases.  The first month of a release is high (a rising tide lifts all of my backlist), the second month about 75% of the first month, the third month about 50%, the fourth month about 25% and after that, it remains relatively stable at about 15% of the release month.  I'm all in with KU after trying wide for six months with thoroughly disappointing results.  My goal is two full length novels a year, something I'm on track to do for the third year in a row.  I've done AMS, Kindle countdown - neither have done much of a difference.  I have a blog which probably helps me a lot more than the marketing I've tried.


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## Ann H (Jan 9, 2016)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> EDIT: I haven't released a new book in 2 years. That isn't a good thing. I've lost the habit and I'm trying to get it back. I think when I started to see really good sales, I became too comfortable. I would be happy with 2 books per year. I have six mailing lists, run Facebook ads constantly, do multi-author boxed sets, and run paid promos like ENT, Bookbub, Robin Reads, and Freebooksy now and then.


Wow. That means that you are a full time marketer of your books, not so much a full time author (right now). That's great, because it means that with a good backlist, it is possible to hit the pause button on writing for a while, and still make a living. I did not think that was possible - there is a constant push on this forum to keep on releasing or die a quiet death, and it did worry me slightly. I love to write, but I can see a day when I will just want to take a proper break.

Thanks for sharing.


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

Annie B said:


> There's no steady about this biz. If I am not releasing or doing effective promotions like Bookbub etc, income falls in half each month.


Exactly this.

I get so tied up in new drafts that I sometimes forget to promo my permafree and then wonder why my monthly figures are starting to drop.

You gotta keep swimming or you sink.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Most of my income is NOT from Amazon. It's quite steady. No huge swings. When I have a Bookbub, Amazon swings like crazy, the other venues just step up a level and stay there.

B&N is awesome.
Google Play is awesome
Kobo is awesome
Apple is awesome

Amazon... meh. It's like freaking yoyo.


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## kathrynoh (Oct 17, 2012)

I was going to say that my income is up and down but I just checked and it's actually pretty consistent apart from months where I've had a big promotion. I'm wide with most of my books but I'd say Apple is as up and down as Amazon for me and luckily, that's balancing things at the moment.


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## Sara C (Apr 30, 2014)

I agree with the others, there's nothing steady about this business, but keeping up with releases and promotions helps (to not only stabilize income, but to build it). In Dec. I went up $200, up $400 in Jan., back down $300 in Feb., and March looks about the same as Feb., if that gives you any idea. In April I'll have a bookbub and a new release, so I expect things will go back up for a month or two. While I do think it's absolutely necessary to save up for a rainy day (I hadn't saved up when KU1 hit, and it was a major bummer), I tend to assume my income won't drop by more than a few hundred any given month as long as I keep up with things.


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

I release every 1-5 months. (Because of trad pub and indie schedules.) it does swing but not as you suggest. Swung more when I was wide. Audio, Amazon Publishing, and German books give me more consistency so it's not all KDP swings. 

It's ranged in past year from 20k to 70+k. So it swings and that feels bad, but it doesn't drop way down.


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## RBK (Nov 28, 2014)

Pretty stable for the last year or so. Although I've seen a dip lately, which probably comes down to my own laziness with promoting/releases recently.

D-C is right. Keep on swimming.


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## Crystal_ (Aug 13, 2014)

I've been making a full time income since last September. My income swings quite a bit. It's ranged from 6-13k (profit after expenses) but I'm expecting quite a bit more this month (haven't checked numbers in a while) as I had a  BookBub and a new release and my main series is doing awesome. I try to release every two months, on average. My income peaks with new releases and with promos.

My last release before this one was a dud, but I managed to keep my income at a mild decline rather than a drop by promoting my backlist like mad.

The borrow rate also makes a big difference as I'm all in with KU. My KENPC dropped 10-20% a book with 2.0. Feb looked ugly until I started FB ads. Then the borrow rate went up and it looked much better.

I started doing Facebook ads last month. Those have been great for sales but not as impressive for income/ profit. My ROI is probably around 120%, so I'm not making s ton of extra dough but I am getting new readers.


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## X. Aratare (Feb 5, 2013)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> EDIT: I haven't released a new book in 2 years. That isn't a good thing. I've lost the habit and I'm trying to get it back. I think when I started to see really good sales, I became too comfortable. I would be happy with 2 books per year. I have six mailing lists, run Facebook ads constantly, do multi-author boxed sets, and run paid promos like ENT, Bookbub, Robin Reads, and Freebooksy now and then.


Mark - this is incredible! You must have not only written some awesome books, but really are excellent marketing them. Go you! Can you imagine how things will jump with a new book?


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

X. Aratare said:


> Mark - this is incredible! You must have not only written some awesome books, but really are excellent marketing them. Go you! Can you imagine how things will jump with a new book?


I'm seriously hoping for a huge jump of say 10-20%. I plan to do simultaneous release of paper, ebook, and audio of Merkiaari Wars 5


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## George Saoulidis (Feb 2, 2016)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> I'm seriously hoping for a huge jump of say 10-20%. I plan to do simultaneous release of paper, ebook, and audio of Merkiaari Wars 5


Have you noticed any patterns in readers as you release new books in the series? Do they read the latest and then get hooked on the series?


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

George Saoulidis said:


> Have you noticed any patterns in readers as you release new books in the series? Do they read the latest and then get hooked on the series?


Yes, very much so. In fact, they're getting very testy with me. I'm starting to get comments about how slow I am. R.R Martin slow


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## George Saoulidis (Feb 2, 2016)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> Yes, very much so. In fact, they're getting very testy with me. I'm starting to get comments about how slow I am. R.R Martin slow


Kill off some main characters, that'll teach 'em.


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## Chris Fox (Oct 3, 2014)

As a lot of others have stated you can count on a steady downward spiral, until you release another book. That can be staved off temporarily with promo, but I haven't yet achieved what Mark has with advertising keeping him consistently selling.

I do find that the more books I have out, the more steady my income seems to be. Non-fiction have a much, much, stronger tail than most of my fiction. 

I've released a new book every month for the past five months, and the last three have all been record months.


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## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

Annie B said:


> I'm mostly wide. 91% of my income is from Amazon anyway (and Amazon owned things like Audible etc). I try to release something every 3 months at least, but last year that didn't happen. I only released two books. Months with a release and the month after are good. After that, it's down about 50% each and every month until the next release or a Bookbub pumps it up. So I've had swings from 46k down to 9k within a few months. There's no steady about this biz. If I am not releasing or doing effective promotions like Bookbub etc, income falls in half each month. I don't know what the floor would be, I haven't waited around to find out. I imagine it would take a while to drop to 0, but it could probably happen.


Not full time yet (counting the days....patience, Rick, patience), but soon. However, this echos what I saw most of last year. Some huge months, followed by declines until a new release.

The one outlier was I was able to turn a downswing around with some Facebook advertising that managed to catch on. Had a few really decent months with that, that really helped keep things moving until the next launch.

Oh, and started last year wide, but have since pulled back to all Amazon properties (audible included)


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## Thallewell (Dec 19, 2011)

Mine very consistent. Consistently nothing... but hey! At least I know what to expect (head in hands weeping...)


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2016)

This is why I love Kboards. People are so generous with their information. Great answers to this post.


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## SidK (Jul 7, 2015)

Mark E. Cooper said:


> I have six mailing lists, run Facebook ads constantly, do multi-author boxed sets, and run paid promos like ENT, Bookbub, Robin Reads, and Freebooksy now and then.





Boyd said:


> Since then I've learned about facebook advertising and making look-a-like audiences. Made a world of difference. I maybe spend $750 a month with just facebook.





Crystal_ said:


> I started doing Facebook ads last month. Those have been great for sales but not as impressive for income/ profit. My ROI is probably around 120%, so I'm not making s ton of extra dough but I am getting new readers.





Rick Gualtieri said:


> The one outlier was I was able to turn a downswing around with some Facebook advertising that managed to catch on.


From many of your posts, it seems that Facebook Ads work the best for advertising Ebooks.

Is it the general collective wisdom of Kboards that Facebook Ads are better than Amazon/Goodreads/Google/Yahoo Ads? I am planning on trying out ads for the first time starting in a month and am heavily leaning towards Facebook seeing how that seems to help a great many writers here.


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## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

SidK said:


> Is it the general collective wisdom of Kboards that Facebook Ads are better than Amazon/Goodreads/Google/Yahoo Ads? I am planning on trying out ads for the first time starting in a month and am heavily leaning towards Facebook seeing how that seems to help a great many writers here.


My opinion, for the moment FB ads have the most potential bang for the buck out of that group. Goodreads ads are a good way to stretch your dollar, but I haven't found them to be particularly good for a positive ROI. Google has potential to work really well, but you need to learn it and work it like a champ. Amazon - there's potential there, but so far it's an immature ad platform. Yahoo...honestly haven't even considered them.


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## TAGrey (Feb 24, 2016)

Personally my income has dwindled since early 2015. Amazon still holds the majority of sales being around 50%. Audiobook sales are up though (I need more of those) as are iTunes sales. Nook seems to be going away. My B&N sales used to make up ~38% of my earnings in 2012, '13, '14 but now it couldn't even pay one month of rent for me. 

As others have said releasing a new title always give a boost in sales for about a month or two, but then it'll go away. I can no longer write as quickly, but when I was releasing 3-4 titles a year I made the most money. 

My Amazon sales are dipping ever since Kindle Unlimited changed to KENP. Even a Bookbub ad doesn't seem to have the power that it used to. However, I'm still earning close to six figures, some years above it. It's not bad by any means.


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## Anarchist (Apr 22, 2015)

SidK said:


> Is it the general collective wisdom of Kboards that Facebook Ads are better than Amazon/Goodreads/Google/Yahoo Ads? I am planning on trying out ads for the first time starting in a month and am heavily leaning towards Facebook seeing how that seems to help a great many writers here.


I can't comment on the general collective wisdom regarding which ad platform is considered "best in class" by KB. But I can tell you this: Facebook trumps the others when it comes to targeting options.

That doesn't mean your ads will produce a positive ROI, of course. Marketing via FB ads - or any ad platform - is a science unto itself.


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## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

My income on non-Bub months is very steady even though I haven't released a *novel* in 5 months (I have released some short stories which feed into my two series.)

Bub months, are, of course, all sorts of awesome, but I mostly pretend they don't happen and invest the extra cash into my business. 

I made 60k last year and that is my goal for this year, along with trying to finish my second series. Next year I hope to see the returns for audiobooks that are currently being released, and hope it climbs to 90k. Besides audio, I'll also have TWO series to run ads on. I am *SOOOO* excited about that.

As to Facebook ads ... yes they work, but they are darn expensive and maybe only worth it if you have a six part series and change. Also, they can be very expensive at certain times of year.


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## juliatheswede (Mar 26, 2014)

Thanks all for sharing your income info. Especially appreciate all the details ppl give as to why they see ups or downs.


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## ScottCarlson (Jul 23, 2015)

I think I need to write more. These stories are amazing!


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## TheBehrg (Sep 18, 2015)

Huge thanks to all those sharing. It's great to see successes out there and realize what can be done (with maximum effort).


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## John Van Stry (May 25, 2011)

Personally things were going well for me until I became a fav of the pirates. Now I can tell when my new books are pirated because the sales drop dramatically (even though KU continues to go up). Yes, it's sad that so many people do a search to see if they can get it for free before buying your book, but that's where we are these days, and there isn't anything you can do about it.

This morning when sales of the new novel dropped off to -two- copies I went and looked, and sure enough, the new book hit all the torrent sites and wares sites this morning. Maybe if I was better at promoting myself and advertising I could overcome the drain, but right now it looks like I'm gonna have to find a new job.


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## DanaG (Feb 13, 2011)

I publish a new book every 4 to 6 weeks.  If I let too much time go by, my sales figures plummet.  If my latest book isn't a hit - sales plummet.

December - $34,000 and change. Published a book, it did great.  January - $24,000 and change.  Published new book towards the end of the month - book did not do well, because the unwashed masses do not appreciate true genius. (Or, I failed to hit genre expectations.  That could be it too.)  February - $14,000 and change.  This month - new book - doing great - about a thousand bucks a day so far.  What unwashed masses? I love everybody!

You'd think after 4 years of doing this I'd have figured out the $$#@! magic formula, but I clearly haven't.  Believe me, I intend for EVERY book to be a hit.  

I generally put my new books in KU and then pull them out after 90 days and go wide.  Amazon is 90 percent of my income.  All hail the mighty Amazon. It is Bezos' world, we merely live in it.


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

*How consistent is your income from month-to-month? Do you make $10K one month and then $900 the next? Are such volatile swings frequent, or even possible?*

I've been doing this for 3+ years and find earnings fairly consistent. That said, I sometimes lose as much as 20 % from one month to the next. So if sales stay on a downward trend, that can add up after a few months. As far as upward trends, I tend not to have slow upward builds, but spikes during new releases or special promo months. Those sales will slowly slide downward over the following months, until the next new release or ad run.

*Are you wide, or all-in with KU?*

Most of the time I'm wide. But I've currently got a series in KU.

*How often do you release new titles, and how do promos/ads play into keeping sales more stable? Do you find yourself constantly promoting your work just to stay afloat?*

In the beginning, I released 3-4 titles per year. But last year I released only 2. Sales (predictably) plateaued, so don't do that. On ads, I stack together a half dozen or so ads every three months, grouping the smaller ads on the same day and spacing the bigger ads. I've been doing that for a couple years and credit it with some of my stability. On promo, I participate in multi-author boxes and send out a newsletter about once a month. I'm on social media but mainly just for networking with fellow writers and hanging out with my existing readers.


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## 3rotic (Mar 28, 2013)

Thank you, everyone, for your answers!

I already know the answer, but I've gotta ask anyway because it's just so damn mind-boggling: There are really people out there who make $30K+ a month? $70K? I'm just throwing out a couple of numbers I've seen in here, and I'm pretty sure they're monthly profits, not yearly. That's both incredibly inspiring and kind of intimidating. My mind is literally blown by what's possible!

Thanks, guys!


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## Chris Fox (Oct 3, 2014)

3rotic said:


> Thank you, everyone, for your answers!
> 
> I already know the answer, but I've gotta ask anyway because it's just so damn mind-boggling: There are really people out there who make $30K+ a month? $70K? I'm just throwing out a couple of numbers I've seen in here, and I'm pretty sure they're monthly profits, not yearly. That's both incredibly inspiring and kind of intimidating. My mind is literally blown by what's possible!
> 
> Thanks, guys!


There is a massive, massive pool of readers to draw from. We're talking millions of people. If you get fifteen thousand of them to for over $3 for a book, your cut is $30k that month. That sounds daunting, but it's economy of scale. Put out good, consistent content, and build your platform. Six figures is very achievable.


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

3rotic said:


> Thank you, everyone, for your answers!
> 
> I already know the answer, but I've gotta ask anyway because it's just so damn mind-boggling: There are really people out there who make $30K+ a month? $70K? I'm just throwing out a couple of numbers I've seen in here, and I'm pretty sure they're monthly profits, not yearly. That's both incredibly inspiring and kind of intimidating. My mind is literally blown by what's possible!
> 
> Thanks, guys!


Yes. It's certainly possible.

I was just thinking about the answer to this question. It does fluctuate monthly, but on a yearly basis, it's been pretty consistent the past couple years, for me. I've made a consistent mid-six figures, and this year looks like it's off to a really good start as well. I'm pretty middling as a good-selling romance author. There are certainly a lot of folks who do better.

Of course, if my last two books hadn't been 135K and 145K words, I could probably publish more than four or five books a year . . . that might help! Alas, I keep getting longer. People who really kick butt are publishing shorter stuff every month, but it's also important to me to write what I want to write, and I seem to want to write more complex stuff as I go along.

I do think it's important to know your priorities. If I start whining that somebody else is doing better, I have to give myself that steely-eyed look in the mirror and remind myself that "somebody else" made different choices. You can really get sucked into the comparison trap.


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## SidK (Jul 7, 2015)

Thanks guys for the feedback on the Facebook ads question. Look's like that is going to be my first experiment with ads once I save up some change for it.



3rotic said:


> I already know the answer, but I've gotta ask anyway because it's just so damn mind-boggling: There are really people out there who make $30K+ a month? $70K? I'm just throwing out a couple of numbers I've seen in here, and I'm pretty sure they're monthly profits, not yearly. That's both incredibly inspiring and kind of intimidating. My mind is literally blown by what's possible!


Exactly my reaction!


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## jazzywaltz (Jan 3, 2016)

It's been really interesting reading all the different answers on this thread! I'm full-time but consider myself too new to really be able to give a good answer - this February I was down from $8500 to $7500 from January despite KU going up, whereas this March I've made something like $21000, largely due to releasing my second book. My current pace seems to be aroound a book every three months, and I suspect I'll probably hang around the 8k mark during months that I don't have a new release out. But that's really hard to say so early on in my own self-publishing journey since my first book only came out at the end of December. After all, the more books I put out the more I should theoretically be making each month all else being equal. But I could always plummet down in the rankings too and end up breaking even simply by virtue of having multiple books out instead of just one.


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## Maysage (Feb 18, 2016)

TAGrey said:


> Personally my income has dwindled since early 2015. Amazon still holds the majority of sales being around 50%. Audiobook sales are up though (I need more of those) as are iTunes sales. Nook seems to be going away. My B&N sales used to make up ~38% of my earnings in 2012, '13, '14 but now it couldn't even pay one month of rent for me.
> 
> As others have said releasing a new title always give a boost in sales for about a month or two, but then it'll go away. I can no longer write as quickly, but when I was releasing 3-4 titles a year I made the most money.
> 
> My Amazon sales are dipping ever since Kindle Unlimited changed to KENP. Even a Bookbub ad doesn't seem to have the power that it used to. However, I'm still earning close to six figures, some years above it. It's not bad by any means.


Well done! I'm delighted to know that you're doing well, despite the dip, because chain of Frost was pretty damn awesome  I'm pretty sure I've read the three sisters as well. Great job.

Personally, I wouldn't say that my income is consistent, but what it is, is predicable: for example, I didn't spend a huge amount on marketing in January, and I didn't have any release, so January was slow. In March, I had two releases and did a promo run every weekend, so I killed it


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## A. N. Other Author (Oct 11, 2014)

jazzywaltz said:


> It's been really interesting reading all the different answers on this thread! I'm full-time but consider myself too new to really be able to give a good answer - this February I was down from $8500 to $7500 from January despite KU going up, whereas this March I've made something like $21000, largely due to releasing my second book. My current pace seems to be aroound a book every three months, and I suspect I'll probably hang around the 8k mark during months that I don't have a new release out. But that's really hard to say so early on in my own self-publishing journey since my first book only came out at the end of December. After all, the more books I put out the more I should theoretically be making each month all else being equal. But I could always plummet down in the rankings too and end up breaking even simply by virtue of having multiple books out instead of just one.


Your first book was the end of December? Wow, what are you doing for that? I take it you had a solid plan before releasing?


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## jazzywaltz (Jan 3, 2016)

ADDavies said:


> Your first book was the end of December? Wow, what are you doing for that? I take it you had a solid plan before releasing?


I did. I've posted quite a bit about my release strategy and such on KBoards including two dedicated threads on the matter -- I'm sure if you stalk my posts you'll find something of interest.


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## lilywhite (Sep 25, 2010)

Rosalind James said:


> If I start whining that somebody else is doing better, I have to give myself that steely-eyed look in the mirror and remind myself that "somebody else" made different choices. You can really get sucked into the comparison trap.


I have to say, Rosalind, you always talk such good sense. I love your posts.


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

lilywhite said:


> I have to say, Rosalind, you always talk such good sense. I love your posts.


Well, thanks! Usually trying to talk sense to myself, that's all.


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## Decon (Feb 16, 2011)

Mine is pretty stable. I haven't sold a book in 30 days apart from 2 pre-orders and they haven't shown up yet, only in the ranks.


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## Thetis (Dec 23, 2015)

John Van Stry said:


> Personally things were going well for me until I became a fav of the pirates. Now I can tell when my new books are pirated because the sales drop dramatically (even though KU continues to go up). Yes, it's sad that so many people do a search to see if they can get it for free before buying your book, but that's where we are these days, and there isn't anything you can do about it.
> 
> This morning when sales of the new novel dropped off to -two- copies I went and looked, and sure enough, the new book hit all the torrent sites and wares sites this morning. Maybe if I was better at promoting myself and advertising I could overcome the drain, but right now it looks like I'm gonna have to find a new job.


This is OT from the OP, but this post jumped out at me... I think every author is subject to being targeted by pirates, regardless of how well or poorly they are selling, and it's maddening.

I try not to jump to conclusions, but the only sales I've had from one particular country end up getting promptly returned... every time. And I've wondered if that's the reason. Is there really anything we can do though?

Like you, my page reads haven't been affected but given how little Amazon is paying for page reads, we can't count on KU to keep us afloat.

I don't generally check returns, so I can't say how many returns I get on sales and if people are treating Amazon like a huge digital library or are just outright pirating the e-books. Some, if not most, returns are obviously just people who don't like the book. But I've thought it odd that every sale from this country has been promptly returned (which I've only noticed because of the negative balance for that region in book report). Based on the amounts, they are different books, too. :-/


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## Maia Sepp Ross (May 10, 2013)

Thanks so much to everyone who posted. The answers are fascinating - and generous.


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## DanaG (Feb 13, 2011)

3rotic said:


> Thank you, everyone, for your answers!
> 
> I already know the answer, but I've gotta ask anyway because it's just so damn mind-boggling: There are really people out there who make $30K+ a month? $70K? I'm just throwing out a couple of numbers I've seen in here, and I'm pretty sure they're monthly profits, not yearly. That's both incredibly inspiring and kind of intimidating. My mind is literally blown by what's possible!
> 
> Thanks, guys!


When I release a new book, I put it in Kindle Unlimited and announce it to my mailing list of approximately 7000 and my Facebook page of approximately 2000. I get about 1200 to 1800 sales on my first day ( which is actually kind of a sad percentage of the overall mailing list and Facebook numbers combined - 9000 people, as little as 1200 sales? I can't math, but that is not a great percentage.)

I charge 99 cents on release, and the book usually makes it to anywhere from 20 to 50 on the top 100 Kindle bestsellers list. (Paranormal romance is my genre.) After the book stops climbing in rank, I raise the price to $2.99, and then the number of sales drops, but my profit increases.

So, the first few weeks of a new release, I am generally earning between $500 a day to $1800 a day just from that release (depending on whether also boughts have populated, and whether the book was a success or not.) And I also have more than 30 books in my backlist.

Therefore, new release month generally means about $25,000 to $35,000 these days. When I let an entire two months go by without publishing, which happens occasionally - it's down to about $12,000. By that point my sales have dropped down to about 80 to 120 books a day (at $2.99 per book), and my page reads are about 10,000 to 15,000 a day (during first few weeks of new release they're much higher - highest ever was about 200,000 page reads in a day.)

So, no such thing as passive income, that's for sure. My backlist clearly is not worth anywhere near as much as it used to be. Then again, I do just about zero promo other than newsletter and Facebook author page announcements - I do nothing but write.

Also, I do have my books on all platforms after the first 90 days in Select. I make a steady $2000 to $3000 a month on all other platforms combined - Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.


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## WDR (Jan 8, 2014)

People often assume when you are a full-time writer that you are "rolling in the dough." (e.g. "Making a lot of money," for those of you not familiar with that idiom)

The truth is, an author's income is very much boom or bust.

Put out a new book and-BOOM!-you get a bunch of sales and a sizable lump of money gets dumped into your bank account very quickly. Then, while you are working on your second book, sales die off after a period of time-and so does your income.

Finally, you put out your second book and-BOOM!-you get a bunch of sales and another sizable lump of money gets dumped into your bank account. As a bonus, as your second book shoots up the lists, people who may not have noticed your first book may see your second book and go and buy the first. So, you may see a secondary boom in sales of your first book. Even better, because sales restart on your first book, it, too, begins to climb up the bestsellers lists again. The two books can boost each other a little.

Third book- Same thing. As well as secondary sales on the other books. And Fourth, fifth, etc. The more books you have out there, the more money you will see come in with each release. Also, the more books you have available, the longer you will see constant sales.

But if you are releasing once every two years, then you will only see this inflow of money every second year. During the period between releases, you will see little or no income at all. So, if you see $100,000 in sales this year, but you only release every two years, then your actual annual income is only $50,000 per year. Just to add insult to injury, the retailers pay you 60 days from the last day of the month in which sales were made. This means whatever you sell in March, you won't actually see the check/deposit until the first couple days of June. That's a long way away when you need the money now.

Budget yourself accordingly!

What I stated above is merely a simplistic example being put forward to make the point. As painful as it is to say, not every author is going to experience success to the point of being able to shirk off all other employment and become a full-timer. I myself still work part time in order to pay the bills. On the other hand, those who approach their writing profession seriously and continue to work at it, still have a very good chance of making enough income to write full time.

The more books you have on the market, the more money you will make each time you release something new. Partly because with that many books, you probably have a sizable readership built up. Partly because you have a lot of books out there and that increases visibility among readers. Each new reader buying just one of your books is likely to buy your other books if that reader likes the story you wrote.

Is there a magic number of books when things start to happen? Yes, there is. It's roughly three or four books. Mainly because readers-particularly readers of Science Fiction and Fantasy-are conditioned to watch for trilogies in books. Readers are reluctant to buy a new book if it is part of an as-yet-uncompleted series. Most will look and say, "Hey that looks interesting, but I will wait until the story is complete before I invest myself into it." (Throughout my life, I have caught myself doing this many times.) Think of how the fans of George R.R. Martin feel&#8230;*

For those who live in the US, because of the Boom & Bust nature of writing income, you should seriously think of creating a LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) declared as an S-corp (Schedule S corporation). You pay lower tax rates as a W2 employee of your LLC than you would as a Self-Employed individual. Also, because your LLC S-corp is a passthrough corporation, it protects you from being penalized for underreporting self-employed income. A writer's income is boom and bust: if you estimated you would only make $12K this year and your book suddenly took off during the summer and made $300K, the State and Fed governments could come after you saying you underpaid your estimated tax payments and hit you with fines. An S-corp pays taxes via tax withholding from its employees. In other words, when you have an S-corp, you don't prepay estimated taxes with money you don't have, you pay taxes with the money you just made.

Seriously, it is worth the money to sit down with a good Certified Public Accountant and work this stuff out. If the above paragraph is a tad confusing, it's because I am again oversimplifying.

_*On G.R.R.M.: For his _Game of Thrones_ series, Martin has already sat down with the HBO producers and writers of his TV show and has gone over his extensive notes on the series. They know how the story ends and how to get there. Should the unmentionable happen-Martin is not a young man-they have his notes and the well-coached writers working on maintaining his style to finish the series for fans. There are only a couple more books to finish in the series as it is._


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## EvanPickering (Mar 8, 2016)

I appreciate everyone sharing their experiences and info!!

For the sake of transparency, I'm almost 3 months in to having my first book self-pubbed. I'm averaging around 20-30 books sold a day and 15k page reads on KU. I'm making like 3k-4k a month.

I'm really not doing a lot of marketing aside from posting in forums and social media, the sales are pretty consistent though. I'm hoping they stay that way! It's going to take awhile before I release the next book, unfortunately.

What is bookbub and should I be doing it? Still kind of a noob at a lot of the marketing stuff. Also, do people find facebook Ads worthwhile in the ROI sense?

Thanks!
Evan P


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## vkloss (Sep 22, 2014)

I write middle grade fantasy, which I think is a bit of a tough sell sometimes, but I'm doing okay. In Jan I released my third book and made about 7k. In Feb I made 5k, and in March it's looking like around 3k. I'm hoping to release the forth book in April. Sales have only really held up this month because I'm running a fairly successful Facebook ad on book 1.


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## Matthew Stott (Oct 22, 2014)

vkloss said:


> I write middle grade fantasy, which I think is a bit of a tough sell sometimes, but I'm doing okay. In Jan I released my third book and made about 7k. In Feb I made 5k, and in March it's looking like around 3k. I'm hoping to release the forth book in April. Sales have only really held up this month because I'm running a fairly successful Facebook ad on book 1.


I have a middle grade series out, and looking at those numbers, for that market, you're doing a little better than 'okay'...!


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## vkloss (Sep 22, 2014)

Matthew Stott said:


> I have a middle grade series out, and looking at those numbers, for that market, you're doing a little better than 'okay'...!


Thanks. =)

The series was intended to appeal to both adults and children. Most of my readers are adults, and the story has a Harry Potter type feel, which I think appeals to people.


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## dragontucker (Jul 18, 2014)

Wow. This is one of the best threads I have ever read  It really has me pumped up to release more often.


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## John Van Stry (May 25, 2011)

Well everyone else is sharing numbers, so I will to.
last year I sold 27,000 copies. I had some very good months, and I had a few slow months.
I grossed $60K
No I didn't do as well as some of the people here who have multiply 5 dollar months, or the ones making 6 digits a year. I had hoped to do better this year, though at this point I know that's not going to happen.


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## ShadyWolfBoy (Sep 23, 2015)

Last year I released four books. From June onwards, evenly one every three months. This year, I'm looking at every two months.

Each launch month is better than the launch month before it.

The month after is about 50% of that. The month after that is about 60% of that (so about 30% of the launch month). Hoping to get rid of that third month by launching more often!

I don't like to talk exact numbers, but I'm clearing six figures a year at this point.


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## AYClaudy (Oct 2, 2014)

I love this thread and all the valuable information! It's very motivating as my goal is to be a full time writer soon. 

I'll add my stats. I started publishing last January, had my trilogy completely published by July and made about 2-5 thousand a month consistently. The market liked my most recent stand alone considerably more, and I've had 5 figure months since Novemeber. But I got pregnant and my writing took a hit (seems I need to sleep before work instead of write now) and I haven't put out anything new since. It took a lot of marketing to maintain the five figure month (and moving my first book in my trilogy  to perma-free greatly helped keep up my sales). 

I hope steady income is achievable. As a newb, only a couple months in to what could be full time writing worthy income, my theory is steady work should help to keep steady income. I think I'll ensure I have a good backlist before I actually make the plunge though. And this maternity leave will hopefully help with that (if the baby co operates  )


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## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Not consistent at all for me. Basically, I've managed to get two BookBub ads per year for the past two years, which means that I made over six figures both years. But without that...I don't think that I'd even be full-time. I had my last BB ad last July, so I've been in a heavy slump for the past few months. I hate that, though, because 1) it's hard to get BB ads and 2) even BB is not guaranteed. I'm just waiting for the BB ad that flops hard, leaving me kinda out of options.

Lesson learned. I have another BB ad coming up April 12. If it does as well as the others, I'm banking that money and I'm not going to have the same spending problem that I've had the past couple of years. I know how lean it gets for me when I can't score one of those. 

Not that I'm going to be complacent. I'm starting to think that E-rom and NA is just too saturated. Or something. And I'm wide. While that's done well for me, I haven't actually tried KU with a brand-new series. I tried it out with two series that had been out for awhile, and didn't get anywhere with them. So, I might try out a new pen name and put the books into KU and see what happens. I might change genres too. Whatever, I need to figure out some way to make good money without having to rely on BB all the time.


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## harker.roland (Sep 13, 2014)

Bumping cause I'm selfish and love reading about the success of our fellow Kboarders.


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## Shaw (Dec 27, 2014)

TheBehrg said:


> Huge thanks to all those sharing. It's great to see successes out there and realize what can be done (with maximum effort).


I agree. I love seeing real talk about success.


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## Crystal_ (Aug 13, 2014)

I had a BB and a new release and it looks like I'll make about 4x what I made last month (in profit). Definetly not steady.


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## ronvitale (Mar 11, 2011)

Great to see the information shared here. I'm not full-time and had an extremely rough 2015 after releasing two new books in a brand new series. I've found that without promotion it's been really challenging. I've spent some money on Facebook ads (it's already been mentioned here how expensive that can be) so that I can build my mailing list up. And I've tried and tried for a BookBub, but no luck yet. Still, with how the industry is evolving, I'm spending my money on building my own mailing list. I'm not confident that BookBub and the like will be as effect in the future. 

It's great to see all the information here. 

Though I do have a question for the full-timers, sharing their figures:

I'm curious what is that one thing you wish you would have known before going full-time? 

Create a better budget? Focus on cutting expenses and living more minimally? Consistently knock out a new book at least once every 6 months?

I'm curious.


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## Lisa Blackwood (Feb 1, 2015)

I got rejected by BB again (20+ rejections and counting. One day I'm going to get a BB, I really am!) I'd love to see what I could do with a Bub. Sigh.

However, you can still have success without them. Ishtar's Blade peaked at #64 in the paid store, and that helped my backlist get discovered. Finally.

Here, have some numbers. In 2015 I made $2900 <--- for the year, before expenses. Sad, I know. Then I applied a few things I learned here at kboards. This year Jan was $1200, Feb $5600, Mar $20,000 (estimate depending on KU payout. A whopping 60% of this would be from KU page reads.). I'm a slow writer so I expect to see a fast decline until the next release.

I have to admit, it was nice to see Ishtar hold her own for a week against all the werebears on the fantasy romance list.


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## jazzywaltz (Jan 3, 2016)

Lisa_Blackwood said:


> I have to admit, it was nice to see Ishtar hold her own for a week against all the werebears on the fantasy romance list.


Looks like it still is holding its own! #5 is pretty damn good considering you're going up against T.S. Joyce and the like.


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## Lisa Blackwood (Feb 1, 2015)

jazzywaltz said:


> Looks like it still is holding its own! #5 is pretty damn good considering you're going up against T.S. Joyce and the like.


You're right. I just checked and she's surrounded by a sea of naked men. lol.

Sorry for the thread de-rail. You will now be returned to your regularly scheduled...er...Investment show.


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## Chinese Writer (Mar 25, 2014)

Lisa_Blackwood said:


> I got rejected by BB again (20+ rejections and counting. One day I'm going to get a BB, I really am!) I'd love to see what I could do with a Bub. Sigh.
> 
> However, you can still have success without them. Ishtar's Blade peaked at #64 in the paid store, and that helped my backlist get discovered. Finally.
> 
> ...


This is a huge jump. Good for you!


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

ronvitale said:


> Great to see the information shared here. I'm not full-time and had an extremely rough 2015 after releasing two new books in a brand new series. I've found that without promotion it's been really challenging. I've spent some money on Facebook ads (it's already been mentioned here how expensive that can be) so that I can build my mailing list up. And I've tried and tried for a BookBub, but no luck yet. Still, with how the industry is evolving, I'm spending my money on building my own mailing list. I'm not confident that BookBub and the like will be as effect in the future.
> 
> It's great to see all the information here.
> 
> ...


I DID live pretty minimally my first year of full-time, because I went full-time one month into writing my first book. (Crazy.)

My husband supported me in doing that, and we COULD live on his income. Plus I had health coverage through him, and so did our adult sons.

The really scary thing was once he was semiretired, and I had to carry our health insurance as well as the other stuff. Even though I made enough money, the responsibility of it was very scary. I'd say, have a Plan B. Whether that's a move to a cheaper area, getting a day job, supplementing the writing income with blurb services, whatever.

But I also write 400-600K/year. If I couldn't put out four books a year, I'd be pretty nervous about going full-time. Also if I didn't have faith that I'd keep plugging away and producing consistently.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Rosalind James said:


> I DID live pretty minimally my first year of full-time, because I went full-time one month into writing my first book. (Crazy.)
> ......
> The really scary thing was once he was semiretired, and I had to carry our health insurance as well as the other stuff.


I've come from very minimalist, so there was no adjustment. After 11 out of 12 years with no money, suddenly I have some again. After doing without health insurance for many years now, I'm suddenly grappling with should I go back into it or not. (not getting any younger, and currently watching my father being in and out of hospital regularly.)

The problem is, its my first year still, and will this actually continue indefinitely? Health insurance is something you want to be sure the income will be there into the long future, to pay for. And as yet, I dont know if I'm a one series wonder or not.

So while I'm doing well, spending money on going to a healing retreat to see if I can get healing for what slows my writing down, and putting it away, I cant yet say I'm more than a one hit wonder yet.

My boom is from each new release. I'm not sure I've seen bust yet, but I've managed to keep releases at not more than 3 months apart, which stops the slide into oblivion before it really gets momentum going. But I've seen what happens when you release 6 monthly or yearly, and its a motivator to avoid.


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## ronvitale (Mar 11, 2011)

Rosalind James said:


> I'd say, have a Plan B. Whether that's a move to a cheaper area, getting a day job, supplementing the writing income with blurb services, whatever.


Rosalind, this is great advice and I appreciate your honesty. In the past, my wife has worked full-time as a consultant and I had the steady income from the day job. The instability of freelance/consultant work is a hard ride to stay on with kids, mortgage, etc. You gave some great advice. Thank you.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

Since I release at least one title a month (sometimes it's only a short, other times it's up to three books) I honestly have a number my income hasn't fallen beneath in more than a year. The window after it is fairly large ($40,000) depending on what kind of book I'm
Releasing, but I have been able to apply a baseline and my income hasn't dwindled beneath it in quite some time.


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## DanaG (Feb 13, 2011)

ronvitale said:


> Great to see the information shared here. I'm not full-time and had an extremely rough 2015 after releasing two new books in a brand new series. I've found that without promotion it's been really challenging. I've spent some money on Facebook ads (it's already been mentioned here how expensive that can be) so that I can build my mailing list up. And I've tried and tried for a BookBub, but no luck yet. Still, with how the industry is evolving, I'm spending my money on building my own mailing list. I'm not confident that BookBub and the like will be as effect in the future.
> 
> It's great to see all the information here.
> 
> ...


If I wrote a book every six months I'd starve.

If I could go back in time and give myself advice, it would probably be more like, study the market, write to market consistently, don't experiment with other genres unless you can afford to lose a huge amount of money.

Oh, and I know - I would say to myself, "Self," I would say, "Pay your estimated taxes monthly instead of quarterly, because I frequently end up spending the money and then end up scrabbling to pay the IRS on time."

Oh, who are we kidding, if I could talk to myself four years ago I'd tell me the winning lottery number. Then I'd still write - but probably a book every two months, and whatever genre I wanted.


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## ronvitale (Mar 11, 2011)

DanaG said:


> Oh, who are we kidding, if I could talk to myself four years ago I'd tell me the winning lottery number. Then I'd still write - but probably a book every two months, and whatever genre I wanted.


Great advice. Thank you (and the lottery ticket make me laugh!)


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## Wayne Stinnett (Feb 5, 2014)

You definitely have to be able to budget and ignore impulse spending. Retained earnings from a good month can make a bad month a lot more bearable. March was a slow month for me and April will be even slower. A new release in May will refill the coffers, though. The swings aren't as drastic as the OP outlines. March income was about 30% of November, when I had my last release. When the next book launches, whatever retained earnings I have left will be thrown at the mortgage.


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## KaiW (Mar 11, 2014)

Haven't released anything since September but have kept earnings at a reasonably consistent per month across 3 diff series. Happy with that as I haven't managed to get a bookbub for five months whereas I used to get one per month but now it's much more difficult. 😟 Prob best to be weaned off them in any case!


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## Craig Martelle (Feb 6, 2016)

cate the writer said:


> My earnings have been consistent for the last year and a half. I hit a new level in sales, and it holds steady, then I move to the next level and it holds steady.
> 
> I write in several genres, release at least one book a month, and I have a good-sized backlist, with three of the series connected to each other.
> 
> ...


Not sure it can be said any better than this. Thanks for the insight of your experience and best wishes for continued success. Soul-sucking cube farm. I expect that's somewhere in your books, right before someone gets slaughtered...


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## Briteka (Mar 5, 2012)

My income isn't what I'd call consistent, but I never fall below five figures a month. Some months I can be right at the five figure mark and other months I can be much higher. Most of my books are wide while active series are in KU. Most of the vendors, such as Play and Apple, are very, very stable. They grow by a small percentage each month, never falling. Most of the fluctuation comes from my Amazon income because their model is set up to push older books down, so I never really know what to expect.


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

Thallewell said:


> Mine very consistent. Consistently nothing... but hey! At least I know what to expect (head in hands weeping...)


I know the feeling! I know it well.


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## harker.roland (Sep 13, 2014)

Wayne Stinnett said:


> You definitely have to be able to budget and ignore impulse spending. Retained earnings from a good month can make a bad month a lot more bearable. March was a slow month for me and April will be even slower. A new release in May will refill the coffers, though. The swings aren't as drastic as the OP outlines. March income was about 30% of November, when I had my last release. When the next book launches, whatever retained earnings I have left will be thrown at the mortgage.


That signature keeps getting bigger Wayne 

Love seeing the numbers from everyone.


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## chalice (Jan 5, 2013)

Thallewell said:


> Mine very consistent. Consistently nothing... but hey! At least I know what to expect (head in hands weeping...)


*Don't feel too bad. You and I are in the same boat.

Gorgeous Lucky B,
Shana Jahsinta Walters.*


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

How would I describe my book income...

*Fiverr* is too expensive.


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## WDR (Jan 8, 2014)

Thallewell said:


> Mine very consistent. Consistently nothing... but hey! At least I know what to expect (head in hands weeping...)


<hands you an extra tissue> I'm right there with you!


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## BeMyBookBaby (Apr 18, 2016)

I am loving reading this thread. It's giving me the motivation to finally finish my plot holed outline and get writing. I'm going to bookmark it for the next time I decide to surf the web instead of writing. You guys rock! <3


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## Abalone (Jan 31, 2014)

Steady. High 4 figures to mid 5 figures. I wasted a lot of time in the beginning, but then built up steam.


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## horst5 (Aug 9, 2013)

Thanks for sharing


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## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

geronl said:


> How would I describe my book income...
> 
> *Fiverr* is too expensive.


I love this Looney guy! 

You said income? Nevermind, oh wait, you're asking full-timers... I have a day job. Hmm, thank goodness I have a day job 

Nevermind, nothing to report here... 

Edited to spell Loony as Looney


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## Tim C. Taylor (May 17, 2011)

To make a point about consistency that I don't think has been mentioned yet, I am mostly all-in with Amazon for eBooks and I find that KU2 has a big impact on smoothing my income between releases because I'm being paid when the pages are read and not when the reader first acquires the book. If I relied on paid sales alone, I think I would be nervous at the variation from month to month. I'm fairly new to audio, but I'm finding audio releases of old titles are also good at income smoothing.


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## Mzink (Jul 20, 2015)

I've been full time since last August and haven't dropped below five figures in a month since. My income is fairly steady, although some months are awesome (classified as extra money to spend and stash) and other months are just decent (classified as money to live comfortably but not a lot extra to spend or stash). A Bookbub in January went a long way toward stashing some money for a rainy day. I released my first series of three books one month apart, which helped me build momentum out of the gate. Now I release a three book series 8-12 weeks apart. I do spend A LOT on FB ads, but its still ends up netting me a 300% return most months. 

I have always been wide, and after a slow start on iBooks, I now make about 1/3 of my income there most months. Nook is next, but only with about 1/20th of my income, and Kobo sales are negligible. Amazon is still the bulk of my sales, although iBooks was by far the best performer with my Bookbub, probably because iBooks readers tend to be more loyal about reading series and are willing to pay more (I raised the price on books 2 and 3 of my series when I made the first book free). That's something I've heard lots of authors say, and it's been my experience as well.


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## Ana Spoke (May 10, 2016)

I got nothing, other than to say "Holy cow" and "Please quote a few more figures". Does not get old


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## celadon (Sep 12, 2015)

Ana Spoke said:


> I got nothing, other than to say "Holy cow" and "Please quote a few more figures". Does not get old


Same here! Please, please, give more figures! I am enjoying this thread very much!


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## CelinaGrace (Nov 20, 2013)

I've been full time at this indie publishing game for two years now. My first year, income swung wildly, probably because I did really stupid things like stop writing in my most profitable series and fanny about doing sod all for a few months over the summer. Second year was more stable. This year alone, I'll have released four books in six months (3 full length and a novella) and my income is now a pretty stable five figures (in sterling/GBP, not US dollars) per month. Very grateful for that.


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## anotherpage (Apr 4, 2012)

3rotic said:


> Just a question from a curious prawn for you full-timers:
> 
> How consistent is your income from month-to-month? Do you make $10K one month and then $900 the next? Are such volatile swings frequent, or even possible?
> 
> ...


So far mine has gone up every month. Touch wood.


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