# Update:My Experience with the DWS Method...(August Numbers on Page 4)



## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

So a few weeks ago, TattooedWriter posted about his results with the Dean Wesley Smith method. As an experiment, I too have been using it with surprising results, especially when the books are in a series. In today's KDP report, my series titles far outsell my standalones. But under one particular pen name where I've had some significant success, my series seem to be lifting my standalone titles.



















I have three pen names currently. One is Contemporary romance (22 titles), a pen name which has shown the most success. The other is a thriller pen name (Five Titles) and finally I write under the name I have posted under here. (Paranormal Romance, 12 titles)

Discounting my own name under my pen names everything is 2.99 and ranges in wordcount from 10-35k. Nothing is at 99c

I have to say it hurts the ego when the pen names far outsell your own name but it certainly helps the bank balance.

Bilinda

ETA Six weeks royalties have been posted on page 2.


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## AmberC (Mar 28, 2012)

Thanks for posting. We just starting putting up some shorter backlist stories and I've been unsure about price. I'm at 99 cents right now for promotions but I might try 2.99 to see how that goes too.


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Congratulations & thank you for sharing, especially in the light of the previous thread!  I appreciate you doing that & I'm sure others do too.  

It's even more encouraging to see it working out for both of you.  Long may it continue to do so!  

Now, if only I can step up a gear once the little one starts going to nursery for a few hours a week...


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## Boris Guzo (May 31, 2012)

Thank you indeed for sharing. I hope this doesn't attract a lot of negativity like TW had to face.

If I may ask, and of course you don't have to answer:

About the top 5 sellers (#1-#4 and #6), how many are in a series?
Also of these, how many are 0.99, how many 2.99? Sorry, just noticed you wrote nothing is 0.99

Congrats and good luck in the future.


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

Sweetapple .99c is good for a promotion I've never tried it myself although under my name I have one story (Lissie) price matched to free and that brings a little interest. 2.99 can be tough but once something takes root it grows and grows. 

Zelah you're welcome I thought I'd bite the bullet and do a little sharing 

Boris the top four are in a series. Number 6 is the first in a series and I'm hoping to release part 2 in the next couple of weeks.

7,8,9 and 10 are also in a series and 18,19 and 20 are too. I've literally just released number 20 and judging by the emails I've been receiving looking for it that number should grow.


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## Boris Guzo (May 31, 2012)

Thank you!
=)


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## righterman (Jul 27, 2012)

How many of these are in KDP select?  How often do you do free runs?  GREAT job, I am really impressed with these numbers!  Do you have any of these books on B&N or other platforms?  I agree that $2.99 is the best price, .99 cents is a waste of time.


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

Righterman none of them are in KDP Select and I don't do free runs. I get  as many of them on B&N and everywhere else as I can but I'm in the UK so I can't go direct which is a pain. I tried select with one of my own around christmas time with some very limited success and since then I've haven't gone back. I really do think getting on as many platforms for me is the best route I can take. I'm making nice money from Amazon but I don't want to cut off other revenue streams either. Money is money


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## williamvw (Mar 12, 2012)

This is outstanding information. Thank you for posting, Bilinda.


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## Lisa Scott (Apr 4, 2011)

Congratulations!  What genre/s are you writing with you pen name?


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## Ann Chambers (Apr 24, 2011)

Wowzer, that's a lot of titles! Good for you! Thanks for sharing. I love seeing these kinds of threads. I just released my first fiction title and it's just laying there. Plan on some promotion, but mostly hoping that once I get books 2 and 3 out, sales will come on their own. Very inspiring to me. Hope sales continue to escalate!


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## H.M. Ward (May 16, 2012)

thanks for posting this. u rock! i've been playing around with this idea as well. 

it makes sense that your romance series is doing the best since romance seems to dominate the market. can i ask how long those books are (word count)? i have a new romance novel thats coming out soon and i was seriously thinking about breaking it up into 40K word sections, but i think my readers will kill me. my last romance novel was 60K words and has great reviews, but a few ppl docked it a star b/c it was "too short."

decisions, decisions.


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## A.R. Williams (Jan 9, 2011)

> under my pen names everything is 2.99 and ranges in wordcount from 10-35k


I've heard this before and gave it some serious thought before deciding to keep my books at $1.99. Now I'm thinking about it once again--should I try and move the prices up. If I do, I will have to totally rethink my pricing strategy.

Thanks for the information. It always makes me happy to see that shorter works can sell despite some of the price disparities between them and novels.


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## Cege Smith (Dec 11, 2011)

Thank you for sharing this info, Bilinda! As always, seeing this type of info keeps me motivated to keep on writing at my furious pace (despite my husband complaining  ).


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## Mike Dennis (Apr 26, 2010)

Bilinda--When did you publish your first title? And what did you do to get such impressive sales? I know more titles helped, but surely you had to do something to get the whole thing off the ground, after starting from zero.


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## H.M. Ward (May 16, 2012)

A.R. Williams said:


> I've heard this before and gave it some serious thought before deciding to keep my books at $1.99. Now I'm thinking about it once again--should I try and move the prices up. If I do, I will have to totally rethink my pricing strategy.
> 
> Thanks for the information. It always makes me happy to see that shorter works can sell despite some of the price disparities between them and novels.


SW posted a study on selling trends and found that the $1.99 price point sold the least number of units. It was interesting. It was like a cursed price point.


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## A.R. Williams (Jan 9, 2011)

Callalily6 said:


> SW posted a study on selling trends and found that the $1.99 price point sold the least number of units. It was interesting. It was like a cursed price point.


That explains my lack of sales


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

Callalily6 My romances are in the 10-18k range so far. I'm trying to increase the length with each release in the series and the next part will be over the 20k mark.

Mike I published my first title under my romance pen name last year. I put out about 12 maybe thirteen titles I think and nothing really seemed to happen so I took a little break from it. I wrote short thrillers and worked on building titles for my own name. Then in June of this year I decided to give it another go with my romance name. I started several series at once and began putting out a title a week. The pace is tiring and sometimes it is a little hard to keep track of. But I've found writing it like a novel and then breaking it into smaller parts to be a big help.

As for what I've done to get it off the ground I can honestly say nothing. I've done no interviews. No giveaways. I've only recently set up a twitter and facebook and blog for the pen name etc because I viewed that as extra work I couldn't afford to do outside of trying to get out a story a week. However, as more and more people contact me I've found I needed somewhere else they could go to, to interact with me and with each other. Hence the blog facebook twitter etc...

A.R Williams I tried the 1.99 price point but I do think its an odd price for customers. I don't know why but nothing I ever did sold at that price. Like everything else though YMMV


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## teashopgirl (Dec 8, 2011)

Based on this discussion, I just changed all my non-selling $1.99 titles to $2.99. Thanks! We'll see if it helps at all.


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

TeaShopGirl I've got my fingers crossed for you


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## teashopgirl (Dec 8, 2011)

Thank you, Bilinda. I really appreciate the info you've shared! I'm following a similar tactic (lots of short titles), but most of them are non-fiction. I really need to think about fiction a little more.


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## H.M. Ward (May 16, 2012)

thanks for the info!


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## Bone Bard (Aug 1, 2012)

I love it, thanks so much for sharing.

You seem to be having quick and great success with this approach.

It is the way I am writing too, though I am putting out 2 shorts
of about 6 - 9k per week while I can.

I love to see folks showing how it is possible to make sales and
decent money by writing shorts and charging a reasonable amount
for them. I also love it that you're not in Select or giving your stuff
away for free.

DWS is right on the money. It seems there is a traction you gain
after getting enough content out there.

I know you said you put your first out there last year, can you 
elaborate about when you started, or how long you've been going
with this approach in months?


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## Cheryl Douglas (Dec 7, 2011)

Thanks so much for posting this. I have a novella series under a different pen name that's finally caught on, but they're in the 30K range, and it's tough to find the time to work on them with the full lengths taking up so much of my time. This shorter length is definitely do-able though. Great info!


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

Wow Bone Bard I admire anyone who can do that kind of pace!

As for the rest of it. I started publishing the beginning of April 2011 under this name. Then the end of June/July I started the Contemp Romance name I worked on that for a few months but I wasn't really serious about it. If I'm honest I was treating it more like a hobby than a career which is a bad move for me at least. I saw some very limited success and I do mean limited when I was publishing those titles in the beginning. Once I stopped putting stories out what little amount of sales I had dried up. Talking maybe 130 sales total a month. I stopped putting out Romance titles in October/early November and began putting out a few thriller titles. Also selling just a few copies of those. 

Then this year I decided to treat it as a business. I put more titles out under my own name but they are all on the longer end so therefore take longer to release. In June I decided to focus completely on the Romance name. One story every week without fail. Longest I've put out in a week is 18k. The stories seemed to catch some traction mid June and from there began to build. I'm attempting to make every release longer as I go along. I'm now practically chained to my desk between answering emails, writing, twitter, facebook and blog. My readers want each installment to be longer and so that is what I'm trying to give them.

My ultimate goal is to continue putting out shorts very regularly but also have longer 40kish pieces maybe every two weeks/once a month alongside it.


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## teashopgirl (Dec 8, 2011)

Wow! That is super-impressive. For Bilinda and others who are able to write a short each week: where do you turn for your ideas? I have the time and the discipline, but I don't always have an idea that really captures me. I'd love to write more novelettes, so thank you again for this thread!


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## Bone Bard (Aug 1, 2012)

Bilinda Ní Siodacaín said:


> Wow Bone Bard I admire anyone who can do that kind of pace!


Thanks, it is grueling and as you said, I feel like I'm chained to my laptop
at the moment.

I'll see how long I can go with it, but I definitely plan on a minimum of 1
per week... under 10k, so shorter than yours... I'm lazy 

Thanks for the rest of your input and answering my questions. I wish you
the best of continued success.


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## Bone Bard (Aug 1, 2012)

teashopgirl said:


> where do you turn for your ideas?


Ideas are everywhere. A dime a dozen.

As an example. I just opened up Yahoo and there are probably a dozen
story ideas there just today.

"World's smelliest man has gone 38 years without bathing"
"B.C. man found guilty of Yukon drunk driving death"
"B.C. man found guilty of pimping stepdaughter"
"Early Man was not alone"

I can come up with a few story ideas taken from these headlines just off
the top of my head.

The last one makes for a great sci-fi or fantasy or even horror story. Once
I start writing with an idea, the characters often take over and take the
story in ways I couldn't have managed.

Anyway, that's just me. Hope it helps.


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

TeaShopGirl I get ideas everywhere. I'm constantly mulling something over in my head or several things at once. But really for me I'm lucky in the sense that I'm writing series not having to constantly create new characters can be a relief. It frees me up for the times when I do have a brand new idea that requires new characters settings and scenarios.

Same to you Bone Bard I wish you lots of success!


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## Lady TL Jennings (Dec 8, 2011)

I just like to say thank you so much for sharing and congratulations to your sales, well done! 
Very interesting and deeply encouraging! 
_
/ Lady T. L. Jennings _


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## jackz4000 (May 15, 2011)

Thanks for sharing your experiences Belinda--go girl go.


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## H.M. Ward (May 16, 2012)

Bilinda Ní Siodacaín said:


> Longest I've put out in a week is 18k. The stories seemed to catch some traction mid June and from there began to build. I'm attempting to make every release longer as I go along.


Ah. I'm sitting on a MS that I've been debating breaking into multiple books. It feels like it would flow better that way, and make more business sense, but I'd be shrinking my novel size. My other romance novel is 60K words and they were complaining that was too short. (I get docked stars b/c of that on a few reviews). This is a different series, but I'm still worried that they'll be mad b/c I made these new books shorter than my other novel. Think it matters if it's a new series? I already learned the hard way that going from 90K words in book #1 to 60K words in book #2 pisses ppl off. Adding more totally makes them happy. U r right about that.

*slams head into desk* I hate this part!

Okay, one last question: Did you release books in your series at the same time? I could release book #1 and 2 together. Not sure if I should.

Most insane thing I ever did - wrote a 60K word novel in 6 days. BAM! I can't do that every week. It'll fry what's left of my brain. lol.


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

Callalily6 If it was me I would go with what was best for the story. If breaking it up makes it flow better then that in my opinion can only be a good thing. I think the fact that it is also a different series helps. Different series, different approach.

I've been releasing one part of the series each week. But I have several series on the go at the minute so one week I release part 1 of series a, week 2 = part 1 of series b, and so on. I've never released books from the same series together. I want them to have as much time to build their own momentum get onto the charts etc so that when I release part 2 there will be a bigger platform for it to land on to. By doing it this way for me its allowed each story to build momentum from the one that came before.

Lol 60k in 6 days that is impressive, I'd need a holiday after that!


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## Lisa Scott (Apr 4, 2011)

Bilinda, when you say a series, do you mean stand alone stories featuring the same cast of characters, or are these stories cliffhangers, to be continued in the next installment type stories?  Thanks for sharing your info.  I'd be thinking about doing a to be continued type series, but wasn't sure if readers would be upset by that format, feeling strung along.


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## dalya (Jul 26, 2011)

Callalily6 said:


> .... my last romance novel was 60K words and has great reviews, but a few ppl docked it a star b/c it was "too short."
> 
> decisions, decisions.


I KNOW, RIGHT?! You can post the word count and page count, and people will still say it's too short. I found this with my romance novel (other name).

Do you just suck it up and accept that a % will feel that way? Is there SOME special magical wording that makes it okay?


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

Thanks for sharing your numbers, Bilinda. It's always nice to see someone doing well above the $0.99 price point and without needing to do the free promos. Impressive stuff.


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## lynnfromthesouth (Jun 21, 2012)

dalya said:


> I KNOW, RIGHT?! You can post the word count and page count, and people will still say it's too short. I found this with my romance novel (other name).
> 
> Do you just suck it up and accept that a % will feel that way? Is there SOME special magical wording that makes it okay?


I would so much rather read a short book than another book with a long, soggy middle. There's a lot of big name authors whose middles sag pretty badly because it was obvious they were just trying to reach a publisher word count.

Thanks for the info Bilinda! Congratulations on your success!


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

Lisa I have a mix of stand alone stories in a series and also to be continued type stories. My biggest selling series are all to be continued stories. 

Dalya from what I have seen there is no magic wording or really anything you can say or do to appease the readers who want to read longer pieces than you have put out. Some like it and others don't. It's just luck of the draw really.

Cheers Dara, I know it's not for everyone but I think it's important that people do know that it can work


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

dalya said:


> I KNOW, RIGHT?! You can post the word count and page count, and people will still say it's too short. I found this with my romance novel (other name).
> 
> Do you just suck it up and accept that a % will feel that way? Is there SOME special magical wording that makes it okay?


If there is, I'd love to hear it. My single short story has ":a Short Story" in the title. The description leads with word and page count, and I think all but one of its sparse 7 reviews complain that it's too short. It makes me want to take the thing down and just leave it as a free download on my website for people who like my books enough to look there. It definitely gives me no urge to write more short stories.


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## Sybil Nelson (Jun 24, 2010)

Thanks for posting! In 2013, I'm going to be focusing on this method. By the end of this year, I'll have 20 titles out under two pen names. In 2013, I'm going to start a ten part series of Priscilla the Great episodes about 10k-15k in length. And a series of ballet inspired romance shorts for my Leslie DuBois pen name. I want to have 40 titles out by the end of 2013. I'm also raising all the prices of my novels to $4.99 and above and then my shorts will be $2.99.


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## Kalen ODonnell (Nov 24, 2011)

dalya said:


> I KNOW, RIGHT?! You can post the word count and page count, and people will still say it's too short. I found this with my romance novel (other name).
> 
> Do you just suck it up and accept that a % will feel that way? Is there SOME special magical wording that makes it okay?


I would love to know the answer to this too! I'm in the middle of preparing the release of a new epic fantasy series under a new pen name, and I just know I'm going to get complaints about the lengths, but oh well. Each story is intended to be about 50K or so....longer than novellas, really, but still definitely a very short novel - but I modeled the books and series off of fantasy series of twenty, thirty years ago - stuff like Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber and Michael Moorcock's Elric novels. Zelazny's ten book Chronicles of Amber series probably has a shorter word count altogether than one of George R. R. Martin's books, but it worked for what he was doing.

When did readers all become such size queens?  LOL. As long as the price reflects the length, and you're clear about how long it is in the description, you'd think that would be enough, but apparently there's just no pleasing some people.


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## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Thanks for the information and the numbers, Bilinda.

My approach is similar to yours and Bone Bard's. Lots of short stories, novelettes and collections in various genres. I just published my 19th book. And sales do indeed add up after a while.


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## TWGallier (Apr 21, 2011)

Well done.  Very inspiring.  Thanks for sharing.


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## H.M. Ward (May 16, 2012)

dalya said:


> I KNOW, RIGHT?! You can post the word count and page count, and people will still say it's too short. I found this with my romance novel (other name).
> 
> Do you just suck it up and accept that a % will feel that way? Is there SOME special magical wording that makes it okay?


No. They're crazy, but I guess it's good. That book has several THIS WAS TOO SHORT! I WANT MORE! I think its the ppl who want more books. They aren't ready for the story to be over yet.

I like on the short stories how you can put that in the title, description, give a word count and page count - I even said "best to be read in one sitting" and they say the same thing. "This was a great story but it's too short. Shoulda been a book." wth? Dude, it makes my eye twitch. How do you downgrade a book that u <3 b/c you want more? It should have like 6 stars then, right? We should proposition Amazon to make a sixth star that means I WANT MORE. lol.


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## Someone (Dec 30, 2011)

Thanks for sharing and much kudos to your success. Always nice to see.
I write shorts in a particular niche and it has been very kind to me. I also know many others who have done fantastic with shorts. IMO it makes sense; sometimes people have limited time and they want a short read.

But girl
There is one thing you have to share
Oh please, please, please, and yet another please with hot fudge, whipped cream, and sprinkles on top.
Who does those smackingly awesome covers?
Seriously, they are very eye catching. One great one after another


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

Someone you are totally right about their being an audience for short fiction and some writers finding quite a lot of success with it. As for my covers I have a live in cover designer TattooedWriter has done all of my covers that you can see in my signature and under my name on Amazon. He is the photoshop wizard. I come up with the concept and then sit and moan at him until he agrees to do it exactly to my spec  I'm very demanding but he is fantastic at what he does. 

Bilinda


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

In the spirit of sharing more numbers this is what my six weeks royalties look like today. It's amazing what can happen when you price your shorts at 2.99


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## AmberC (Mar 28, 2012)

Congratulations! That's wonderful.


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## The 13th Doctor (May 31, 2012)

Nice amount there, Bilinda! (just noticed that number is more than I used to earn in a year, before I became a stay at home mum!  )

I have a question, and apologies if it's already been asked and answered, but what is the average wordcount for the books you price at $2.99?

I ask because so far my books are between 1000-14000 words but I'm pricing them from 99 cents and $2.49.


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## Andykay (May 10, 2012)

That is an amazing result. Congrats!


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

Garam81 My average is 10-35k for my pen names. I charge it all at 2.99. It's almost more than I make at my dayjob for a year


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## teashopgirl (Dec 8, 2011)

This is awesome! Thanks again for sharing. I love finding out what really works with KDP.


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## TJHudson (Jul 9, 2012)

Thank you for the information. Very helpful as I will be following a similar route.

I notice you are from the UK, have you gone through the process to claim the 30% tax held by american companies back? Did you go the ITTN or EIN route if you have? I'm just about to have a go at it and not looking forward to it!


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

I'm in the process of trying to get it sorted  but its a pain! Going the ITIN route.


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## Someone (Dec 30, 2011)

Well you know, I just have to ask
Does TW do any covers for hire?
If not, is there any interest there?
I know you are both busy, but a girl has to ask:

Hey, I just met you, 
And this is crazy, 
But I love your covers. 
So let me hire you, maybe? 

My covers don't look right, 
Cheers to yours baby, 
Here's my number, 
So work for me, maybe?


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

You're probably aware of the option - but I thought I'd mention the EIN route in case you weren't: http://catherineryanhoward.com/2012/02/24/non-us-self-publisher-tax-issues-dont-need-to-be-taxing/

That's an impressive sales report! Good for you! 

P.S. I love your covers too.


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## Rachel Baum (Jun 5, 2012)

Bilinda thank you for sharing all of this information with us.

When I was working as a full-time painter I was turning out 4-6 large decorative abstracts and illustrative paintings per week. I found that I became a better painter - more efficient, better at executing ideas and better at coming up with new ideas. I could definitely see the progress I made over time. Do you feel this is what has happened with writing at such a quick and consistent pace? Its what I'm hoping will happen with my writing since I've decided to try this method out. 

And yes - I agree with your comment about the ego getting a little wounded when the pen names are doing better. However, you produced all of the works so you can always have that satisfaction


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## Bone Bard (Aug 1, 2012)

Bilinda Ní Siodacaín said:


> In the spirit of sharing more numbers this is what my six weeks royalties look like today. It's amazing what can happen when you price your shorts at 2.99


I like it, thanks for sharing.


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## A.R. Williams (Jan 9, 2011)

Thanks again for the information. I've gone ahead and changed the prices to $2.99. I'll see how it goes from here on out.


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## MosesSiregarIII (Jul 15, 2010)

EDIT: I decided to start a separate thread on the stuff below, rather than derail this thread.

**************



Callalily6 said:


> SW posted a study on selling trends and found that the $1.99 price point sold the least number of units. It was interesting. It was like a cursed price point.


The first two stories I googled on this had contradictory info.

This information appears to be at least partially wrong, particularly on $5 - $5.99 books (see third link below):



> And it turns out that while you may see the most downloads if you set your books at free (or up to $0.99 per book), Smashwords authors saw the most sales when they set their e-book prices between the $2.00 - $2.99 range and the $5.00 - $5.99 price range. (As compared to sales of the books that were $1.00 - $1.99 or $3.00 - $3.99.) And said Coker, e-books set at the $4.00 - $4.99 price bracket actually do quite well as there is a percentage of readers that shy away from e-books priced beneath $2.99 as they believe these books to be of lower quality writing.


And this Forbes interview with Mark Coker published earlier this month says that $1-$1.99 sells better than $2-$2.99.



> We then looked at the other prices: 99¢, of course, moved more copies than $1.99, which moved more than $2,99. As price increased there were fewer sales. But what price yields the greatest income? And that was really interesting: We found that the $2.99 to $5.99 price band appears to be the sweet spot for indie authors, those prices over-performed the average in terms of income for the author. But 99¢ and $1.99 under-performed.


But then look at slide 52 and slide 56 here. This shows a lot of the SW data, and this shows that $2.99 outsells $1.99 easily. Interestingly, slide 56 shows a similar graph, but for a very different thing.

But there's definitely contradictory info coming in from the Forbes Coker article on August 3rd, 2012. It says that higher prices=fewer sales, including $1.99 vs $2.99. Was the earlier info wrong? Or did he misspeak more recently?


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## Jeff Shelby (Oct 2, 2011)

Bilinda - I'll echo everyone else and say THANKS for sharing all of the detailed information - very much appreciated.

I have a question about your covers for the romance series, which if I've read correctly, is the continuing series where you're putting out about one a week - how much are you changing those covers each week?  I'm assuming there is some continuity, but I'm curious as to whether you're doing completely different covers each week or just tweaking them each week.

Congrats on the success


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## Someone (Dec 30, 2011)

Re your verse of the song 
Well boogers  
I figured as much, knowing you both do shorts at the pace you do. Definitely keeps one busy I know 
Now if you ever have an opening, you call/PM me. And that's not a maybe, lol

BTW, you seem like a great couple. Best to both of you


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## Michael Kingswood (Feb 18, 2011)

ellenoc said:


> If there is, I'd love to hear it. My single short story has ":a Short Story" in the title. The description leads with word and page count, and I think all but one of its sparse 7 reviews complain that it's too short. It makes me want to take the thing down and just leave it as a free download on my website for people who like my books enough to look there. It definitely gives me no urge to write more short stories.


I think you're looking at this the wrong way. To me, with no other data to go by, if someone says it was too short, it sounds like they liked it and want more. That's not a bad thing. Give them more.


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## ChrisWard (Mar 10, 2012)

Great thread, thanks for sharing your info. I currently sell bugger all but it's through reading the info on threads like this that help me come up with a game plan. Happy writing!


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

Zelah Meyer said:


> You're probably aware of the option - but I thought I'd mention the EIN route in case you weren't: http://catherineryanhoward.com/2012/02/24/non-us-self-publisher-tax-issues-dont-need-to-be-taxing/
> 
> That's an impressive sales report! Good for you!
> 
> P.S. I love your covers too.


Cheers for the link Zelah, I will admit to being curious about the EIN and I'm looking into that one too but it will depend on what the other half says, he knows much more about the ins and outs than me


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

I apologise for not replying to the questions sooner. It's amazing how back pain can knock you utterly out of the loop. If I miss a question don't hesitate to knock me across the head 



Rachel Baum said:


> Bilinda thank you for sharing all of this information with us.
> 
> When I was working as a full-time painter I was turning out 4-6 large decorative abstracts and illustrative paintings per week. I found that I became a better painter - more efficient, better at executing ideas and better at coming up with new ideas. I could definitely see the progress I made over time. Do you feel this is what has happened with writing at such a quick and consistent pace? Its what I'm hoping will happen with my writing since I've decided to try this method out.
> 
> And yes - I agree with your comment about the ego getting a little wounded when the pen names are doing better. However, you produced all of the works so you can always have that satisfaction


Yes. I think the amount of time it takes me now to plan out and plot something is shortened. Not only that but I write much much faster and improve each time I do. I think initially with the shorts I was afraid to take chances. There was a formula I had to follow. There are a lot of rules in short story writing. It wasn't until I let go a little and followed what I really wanted to write by taking risks etc that I properly fell into the groove.

Not only that but because I know I'm putting out a story every week my brain is constantly mulling things over now so that I have something to work on whenever I sit down in front of the computer.



A.R. Williams said:


> Thanks again for the information. I've gone ahead and changed the prices to $2.99. I'll see how it goes from here on out.


Good luck!


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

Jeff Shelby said:


> Bilinda - I'll echo everyone else and say THANKS for sharing all of the detailed information - very much appreciated.
> 
> I have a question about your covers for the romance series, which if I've read correctly, is the continuing series where you're putting out about one a week - how much are you changing those covers each week? I'm assuming there is some continuity, but I'm curious as to whether you're doing completely different covers each week or just tweaking them each week.
> 
> Congrats on the success


I currently have four romance series running. Two are almost complete, well this part of their story is almost done. Two more just have the first in the series. As for covers, each one is different. I keep continuity with the titles and series title, numbering etc but that is it. Each cover is different. I keep a colour scheme and font type the same going for each series but the stock art itself is always changing. I want to give my readers something nice to look at each week 



Someone said:


> Re your verse of the song
> Well boogers
> I figured as much, knowing you both do shorts at the pace you do. Definitely keeps one busy I know
> Now if you ever have an opening, you call/PM me. And that's not a maybe, lol
> ...


Cheers 

P.S Now I can't get that bloody song out of my head


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

headofwords said:


> Great thread, thanks for sharing your info. I currently sell bugger all but it's through reading the info on threads like this that help me come up with a game plan. Happy writing!


I'm a big fan of these sorts of threads too. It always served to give me the kick I needed to mould my own plan, one that would work for me. I just hope this will help others to work out one that works for them and helps them get where they want to go


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## yomatta (Jun 29, 2012)

Bilinda, thanks for this thread. Just curious when this year you actually began producing 1 short per week? You said you dabbled a bit in Romance last year and then returned to it this year, just curious that return actually occurred and how long it's been since your work has begun to snowball.

Thanks again!

Matt


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

June I returned to it and late June/July it started to take off.


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

For what it's worth, I am a sole trader (registered as self-employed) and told them that when I rang up just now for my EIN.  I got it with no trouble at all.  If you are registered for self-employment alongside your day job, then that should be sufficient to allow you to apply for an EIN.  You don't have to have a registered company.

I got straight through, spoke to a lovely and very helpful woman, and got my EIN in 5-10 minutes.


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

Really? Now that is interesting and helps a lot! Thank you for that Zelah


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## merryxmas (Jun 21, 2012)

Echoing all the other statements here, thanks for posting this, it's very inspirational.  Best of luck to you both TattooedWriter and Bilinda.


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## Sharebear (Sep 25, 2011)

Bilinda Ní Siodacaín said:


> In the spirit of sharing more numbers this is what my six weeks royalties look like today. It's amazing what can happen when you price your shorts at 2.99


WOW! I am so impressed.
You're living the dream!


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

brinacourtney said:


> WOW! I am so impressed.
> You're living the dream!


Yep! That's pretty impressive.


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## Decon (Feb 16, 2011)

Forgive me if this has been mentioned before, but the returns on a few of the screen shots for both you and on Tatoo's seem higher than you see normally reported on threads. I think your results are fantastic, but I just wondered if there is an explanation. 

Are you making clear they are short stories, if in fact the ones with the high returns are short stories?


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

Decon said:


> Forgive me if this has been mentioned before, but the returns on a few of the screen shots for both you and on Tatoo's seem higher than you see normally reported on threads. I think your results are fantastic, but I just wondered if there is an explanation.
> 
> Are you making clear they are short stories, if in fact the ones with the high returns are short stories?


When you calculate it out, the return rate is less than 4%. TattooedWriter's is 5.8%.

I don't think that is particularly high.


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## H.M. Ward (May 16, 2012)

What kind of romances are they? I wanna c!


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## Rachel Baum (Jun 5, 2012)

Thank you for the response to my question Bilinda. I'm sorry you are having back problems and I hope you are feeling better!


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

Bilinda Ní Siodacaín said:


> When you calculate it out, the return rate is less than 4%. TattooedWriter's is 5.8%.
> 
> I don't think that is particularly high.


I would say that range is about average in my experience, perhaps even a little low for e-book sales of any volume. In my better sales months, I usually run about 4 to 7 percent on returns, and that's mostly sales of novels, not short stories (though I do sell a few of those). Oddly (or maybe not), in my lower sales months I usually only run about 1 or 2 percent on returns. I'd gladly trade for the better months and the slightly higher return percentage.


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## H.M. Ward (May 16, 2012)

Ty Johnston said:


> I would say that range is about average in my experience, perhaps even a little low for e-book sales of any volume. In my better sales months, I usually run about 4 to 7 percent on returns, and that's mostly sales of novels, not short stories (though I do sell a few of those). Oddly (or maybe not), in my lower sales months I usually only run about 1 or 2 percent on returns. I'd gladly trade for the better months and the slightly higher return percentage.


sounds about right. last year mine hung b/t 1-2%. its higher now. ppl found the return button.


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## Hopeful Writer (Jul 24, 2012)

Thanks so much for sharing your results Bilinda! They're so inspiring   and it helps me dream  

One question - how much are you making off SW? I find it so much easier just to put my books up in Select... I want to set one of my books as perma-free but I'm worried about the hassle, etc ... is it really worth all that?


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

H.M. Ward said:


> What kind of romances are they? I wanna c!


Contemporary romance probably a bit on the sensual side.

As for the returns I think a lot of people are seeing a slightly higher return rate this year. I know for me this month is slightly higher than last month but because of a higher sales volume the rate is lower/the same. Roughly speaking.



AliciaWrites said:


> Thanks so much for sharing your results Bilinda! They're so inspiring  and it helps me dream
> 
> One question - how much are you making off SW? I find it so much easier just to put my books up in Select... I want to set one of my books as perma-free but I'm worried about the hassle, etc ... is it really worth all that?


I'm making a few hundred dollars off smashwords itself every month and from what I've seen of the updating from the other sites when this quarter ends it should be over the 1k mark. The only pity for me is that I have no control over how fast a book feeds through to the other sites from smashwords.

As for your other question putting my books into smashwords for me was a definite. Select didn't work for me as it did for others and because I make a nice chunk of change from them I can't afford to ignore it.

If you think perma-free is the way to go for you then you should go for it. Some people have seen success with it. But with free comes the risk of more 1 stars from people outside your audience picking it up. I would say to try out smashwords don't expect over night results but you never know, your book might strike a chord with readers on other venues. If it doesn't and you don't think it is worth it for you then you can always go back to select.


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## Hopeful Writer (Jul 24, 2012)

Thanks for the details, Bilinda. It sounds to me like SW is a hassle and since I'm new to the whole thing I might give it a pass. My select promo went relatively ok, so I might try one book on SW just to test it out and I'll keep the rest in Select.

Thanks again for sharing your experience so generously!


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## TJHudson (Jul 9, 2012)

Zelah Meyer said:


> For what it's worth, I am a sole trader (registered as self-employed) and told them that when I rang up just now for my EIN. I got it with no trouble at all. If you are registered for self-employment alongside your day job, then that should be sufficient to allow you to apply for an EIN. You don't have to have a registered company.
> 
> I got straight through, spoke to a lovely and very helpful woman, and got my EIN in 5-10 minutes.


That is very interesting and helpful! I am already registered as self employed as a sole trader.

Did you create a (non-registered) company name or were you allowed to use your name (or variation of)?


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

I have deleted this post as I do not consent to the new Terms of Service that Vertical Scope are attempting to retrospectively apply to our content.  I am forced to manually replace my content as, at time of editing, their representative has instructed moderators not to delete posts or accounts when users request it, and Vertical Scope have implied that they will deal with account deletion requests by anonymising accounts, which would leave personally identifying information in my posts.

I joined under the previous ownership and have posted over the years under different Terms of Service.  I do not consent to my name, content, or intellectual properties being used by Vertical Scope or any other entity that they sell or licence my data to.


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

After all the talk about serialized fiction, I thought I'd do an update with August figures:

US Sales









US 6 Weeks Royalties









UK 6 Weeks Royalties


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## teashopgirl (Dec 8, 2011)

Amazing numbers! Well done!

I really need to write some more. 

Thanks again for sharing with us.


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## AmberC (Mar 28, 2012)

So happy for you! That is so inspiring.


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Well done!  Those are some healthy looking figures!


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## The 13th Doctor (May 31, 2012)

Wow! Congrats! (I had to look a couple of times to check I wasn't mis-reading those six-week figures, lol)


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## Cege Smith (Dec 11, 2011)

Yowzer!  Congratulations!!  

I must go write more....


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## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

Bilinda, great results!


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## Susan Kaye Quinn (Aug 8, 2011)

Those are some awesome numbers! Congrats!


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

Thanks for sharing!


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## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Great numbers. Congrats and thanks for sharing.


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## EC Sheedy (Feb 24, 2011)

Bilinda, thanks for sharing and huge congrats on achieving such wonderful sales results. My guess as to why you're so successful? You're doing something _very, very_ right. (Writing good stories, maybe?) 

Again, thanks for the update.


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## Rachel Hanna (May 7, 2012)

Awesome results! Gives us all something to shoot for.  

Can someone point me to the link for the DWS method? I know I have seen it before, but I could not find it while searching.

Thanks!


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

Here's the link, Ghostwriter: http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=7143


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## Rachel Hanna (May 7, 2012)

Thanks a bunch!


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## Midnight Writer (Jan 4, 2011)

Congrats! Thanks so much for sharing and the update.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

What is your percentage of each genre (i.e. 10% erotica, 15% erom, 25% SF, etc)? You have been very coy about what you've been writing, so can at least provide a ration. Numbers are rather useless in terms of data collection if people are comparing apples and pool tables.


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## AJCooper (Sep 9, 2012)

Bilinda Ní Siodacaín said:


> After all the talk about serialized fiction, I thought I'd do an update with August figures:


The stuff of dreams. Congratulations, Bilinda!


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## Midnight Writer (Jan 4, 2011)

Hey, Bilinda, how do you and TW handle having multiple pen names on Smashwords to keep all the names separate (and secret)? Do you have multiple accounts on SW? Or are the other, secret names connected to each under a publisher name umbrella?

I'm thinking about publishing under different pen names, not connected to me. I've been trying to figure out how to do SW without having a bunch of separate accounts to keep the pen names separate from me and each other. Just wondered if I'm missing something.

Thanks!


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## Jnassise (Mar 22, 2010)

Krista - Back the beginning of the thread Bilinda said she had 22 Contemp Romance titles, 5 Thriller titles, and 12 Paranormal Romance titles.


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## Midnight Writer (Jan 4, 2011)

Yes, I have an account for each of two names that were created before SW had publisher accounts. I created a ghost account through the publisher account for my third pen name. I was hoping there was an easier way than having an account for each name, but good to know I haven't just overlooked something that was staring me in the face.   As it is, I'm overrun with e-mail accounts, SW accounts, other retailer accounts, and all the passwords that go with them. (I have an address book to keep track of them.)

Thanks so much, TW!


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## 54706 (Dec 19, 2011)

EC Sheedy said:


> Bilinda, thanks for sharing and huge congrats on achieving such wonderful sales results. My guess as to why you're so successful? You're doing something _very, very_ right. (Writing good stories, maybe?)
> 
> Again, thanks for the update.


Most of this thread is about the method, which is obviously working, but let's not forget this!! ^^^ If the books weren't very well-written, they wouldn't have this kind of audience. So kudos to your talent at writing compelling stories!! You've inspired me to try this method myself. Fingers crossed I can have even a fraction of your success. 

Thanks much for being so generous with your experiences.


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## Writerly Writer (Jul 19, 2012)

ellecasey said:


> Most of this thread is about the method, which is obviously working, but let's not forget this!! ^^^ If the books weren't very well-written, they wouldn't have this kind of audience. So kudos to your talent at writing compelling stories!! You've inspired me to try this method myself. Fingers crossed I can have even a fraction of your success.
> 
> Thanks much for being so generous with your experiences.


Agreed, I think that authors have to have well written stories with very few noticeable errors in those stories. Seriously, to produce that much written content in a, dare I say, a mid-high level of quality just blows my mind. Well done.

After trying various indie author ebooks. I certainly prefer those ebooks that have obviously had a copy editor go through them. Even though it costs money I think it's best that new authors go through the process of having their stories professionally revised/edited and produced.

My 2 cents.


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## JHarte (Jul 10, 2012)

I've been to DWS site and read this thread, but I'm still not clear on the method. Is it to have lots of short works for about $2.99 and expand distribution (i.e. use Smashwords)? 

Thanks!!


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

Jnassise said:


> Krista - Back the beginning of the thread Bilinda said she had 22 Contemp Romance titles, 5 Thriller titles, and 12 Paranormal Romance titles.


Ah, I didn't see that! Thanks.


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## Shelley K (Sep 19, 2011)

Krista D. Ball said:


> Ah, I didn't see that! Thanks.


It's in the original post. Later when asked for more detail about the romances, she said they were on the sensual side.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

shelleyo1 said:


> It's in the original post. Later when asked for more detail about the romances, she said they were on the sensual side.


That's the post I was looking for! I was sure there was talk about erotica somewhere in the thread, but I went back and couldn't find it. So no erotica, but "sensual" side. Hmm ok.


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## Shelley K (Sep 19, 2011)

Krista D. Ball said:


> That's the post I was looking for! I was sure there was talk about erotica somewhere in the thread, but I went back and couldn't find it. So no erotica, but "sensual" side. Hmm ok.


http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,122949.msg1830099.html#msg1830099


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

shelleyo1 said:


> http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,122949.msg1830099.html#msg1830099


Thanks. It's no big deal. I mean, I don't care if Bilinda is writing step-daddy stuff*, billionaire BDSM, or sweet contemporary romances where the most anyone does is blow a kiss across a church pew at each other. I was just curious at those numbers for short fiction without a clear imagine of the genres/subgenres.

Without a really clear breakdown, I'm not sure if I can take anything away from this thread, other than she's doing better than me (and good on her!) So that's why I was looking. No worries. She doesn't want to out herself for whatever reason, and I get that.

*ok, maybe I would. I might judge a little. I'm a step-parent, after all.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

TattooedWriter said:


> Bilinda doesn't write in any of the genres you mention. She writes Romance. Neither of us feels there is anything wrong with erotica and we have both toyed with the idea of trying it. (maybe someday soon) Your assumptions are false.


a) I didn't make any assumptions. I asked a question, it was answered, I said it wasn't that I cared what she wrote if she didn't want to share it, but that it wasn't helpful to learn from FOR ME since there was no way to verify, check, examine, watch, etc. c) I said I didn't care if she wrote erotica!

All I'm saying is that you can't compare short stories based on things like Birthhouse (lit fic) with 50 Shades (romance? billionaire fantasy? bdsm? I have no idea what it is other than making her a billionaire). Without that information, it's difficult to examine her success to see if there is any meaningful way to replicate it by someone else. That's all.

That's all. Lower shields, unarm the photon torpedoes. I surrender.

ETA: I skipped from a to c. lol


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

Right.



> Hmm ok.


Meaning, hmm ok, so she's doing the sexier short stories, but not erotica, and is still doing this well. Hmmm ok. I WONDER HOW SHE'S DOING IT.

You took that as an attack? From someone who publicly says, repeatedly, that she writes short fiction? Come on. But since this thread isn't apparently about learning, I'll bow out.


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## MonkeyScribe (Jan 27, 2011)

I haven't read carefully through the entire thread, but congrats on the great success. Could you share the pen names you're using so I can dig in a little deeper? Thanks!


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## Shelley K (Sep 19, 2011)

I can understand the defensiveness given the way TW's similar thread was derailed because he wouldn't reveal every detail. I'm not saying you were going to derail it--benefit of the doubt here--but it seemed a possibility, that's all.

Personally, I've gotten a lot out of both threads. I'd hate to see the day when writers stopped sharing their stories. Thanks, guys!


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

TattooedWriter said:


>


Dude, you got me all excited posting a starship, and then it's NCC 1701-_A_?? Come on.


----------



## MonkeyScribe (Jan 27, 2011)

shelleyo1 said:


> I can understand the defensiveness given the way TW's similar thread was derailed because he wouldn't reveal every detail. I'm not saying you were going to derail it--benefit of the doubt here--but it seemed a possibility, that's all.
> 
> Personally, I've gotten a lot out of both threads. I'd hate to see the day when writers stopped sharing their stories. Thanks, guys!


I missed that. It's a long thread and I haven't been on the board the last couple of days because I've been trying to meet a writing deadline. Which details aren't being shared? Can we know the names of the stories, at least? I thought it would be helpful to check the release dates, the presentation, the writing samples themselves, etc.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Folks, 

Let's not derail another one of these threads.

And, trust me, if you're not sure Krista's on the attack, she's not.  

Betsy


----------



## Shelley K (Sep 19, 2011)

MichaelWallace said:


> Which details aren't being shared? Can we know the names of the stories, at least? I thought it would be helpful to check the release dates, the presentation, the writing samples themselves, etc.


The point really is that we don't need those details.  And I don't blame them for not offering them up, for many reasons.


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## 54706 (Dec 19, 2011)

shelleyo1 said:


> The point really is that we don't need those details.  And I don't blame them for not offering them up, for many reasons.


While you might not need those details, I do believe they could make the picture much clearer for those comparing results among authors or their own work. But like you, I can understand why they wouldn't want to reveal their secret selves. That's too bad that there's such a perceived stigma about this kind of book because it does make it harder to learn things.


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## Shelley K (Sep 19, 2011)

ellecasey said:


> While you might not need those details, I do believe they could make the picture much clearer for those comparing results among authors or their own work.


Oh, it might be a little helpful. But it's the general trend that I think helps most people. The fact that you can write a series and do well, etc. His site has information about how to structure the stories, in fact. That's more useful than comparing dates and blurbs, IMO of course.



> But like you, I can understand why they wouldn't want to reveal their secret selves. That's too bad that there's such a perceived stigma about this kind of book because it does make it harder to learn things.


About what kind of book?


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## 54706 (Dec 19, 2011)

shelleyo1 said:


> Oh, it might be a little helpful. But it's the general trend that I think helps most people. The fact that you can write a series and do well, etc. His site has information about how to structure the stories, in fact. That's more useful than comparing dates and blurbs, IMO of course.
> 
> About what kind of book?


Romance with somewhat explicit sex scenes.


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## 54706 (Dec 19, 2011)

shelleyo1 said:


> Oh, it might be a little helpful. But it's the general trend that I think helps most people. The fact that you can write a series and do well, etc. His site has information about how to structure the stories, in fact. That's more useful than comparing dates and blurbs, IMO of course.


I think it's naive to think it's just the method that's selling the books. It seems like that's what you're suggesting here when you say that it's not helpful or necessary to be able to read samples of the work, which we cannot do unless we know what the titles are. When I'm evaluating whether what someone has done would work for me, that's one of the first things I check.

I mentioned this in an earlier post - it's a mistake to discount the writer's talent when looking at "systems" like this.


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## Shelley K (Sep 19, 2011)

ellecasey said:


> I think it's naive to think it's just the method that's selling the books. It seems like that's what you're suggesting here when you say that it's not helpful or necessary to be able to read samples of the work, which we cannot do unless we know what the titles are. When I'm evaluating whether what someone has done would work for me, that's one of the first things I check.


Thinking it's the method that's selling the books _is_ naive. Fortunately, I don't think that. I just don't think seeing the specific titles will help anyone with the method of publishing.

The whole point of DWS' method is that most people writing good stories and doing the right things--good cover, snappy blurb, etc.--can sell stories this way. Everybody's results are going to be different according to that person's talents and other factors. So beyond basic genre, which they've given, the specifics don't matter that much.



> I mentioned this in an earlier post - it's a mistake to discount the writer's talent when looking at "systems" like this.


I'm not sure how I've given this impression. I'm not discounting their talent at all. Quite the opposite. Which is_ why_ I don't think looking at their specific titles is all that important. Say I'm just starting out. If I don't write good stories, the method of publishing isn't going to help. If I do write well, I don't need to see their stories either. I'm not going to start writing what they write to try to duplicate the process. I'm going to apply the method to my own stories. The tips about how closely to release together, whether to release a series at once or spread out, etc. can be immensely helpful no matter what the genre. Lots of information along those lines here, DWS' blog and TW's blog.

BTW, I'm not saying looking at the stories wouldn't be helpful for you. If you feel it would, then it would.  It's just that following the method doesn't require any specific genre or type of story. I think a lot of people (maybe not you) think that the trick is in something specific, when it probably isn't.


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

Stepping back in here. I've spent the day writing and I'm going back to it again in a few minutes so it's not that I'm ignoring anyone 

Will I give my pen names? No. Will I give titles? No. Have I said this previously? Yes. 

There has always been huge contention around the DWS method and whether it works or not. Luckily for Dean he is a big enough player to be able to brush off whatever petty jealousies he might incur as a result of what he does. (I'm not saying it has happened to him but if it has or does he can brush it off.) I on the other hand am not that lucky. My writing is my career. I'm starting to have some success and it has come about since I started my pen names and began using the DWS method. By which I mean I put out short works, serialised some of them, (for me that works best, I have discovered.) Maybe in the future it won't matter anymore and I will be able to out myself with my pen names. But as it stands right now there are people I know personally who would love to find out my pen names and sink me.

To address the level of writing. I am confident in my writing abilities. I wouldn't be publishing if I wasn't. I have been offered publishing deals in the past and have turned them down in favour of going "indie". That is not to say if the right deal came along with the right price tag I wouldn't go that route. I'm sharing my success and my experience under this pen name. I currently have 12 books under this name that for now are going nowhere. Maybe in the future when I have more time I will work on getting this name back up to speed but I shot myself in the foot with a schedule that was more than lacking and just not getting enough out there in front of readers. That aside if people want examples of the way I write by all means knock yourself out I have 12 titles to sample my style of writing. 

I did not start this thread as a learn from me post. I started it because oddly enough number 1. I am bloody proud of what I have managed to achieve. The level of sales/income is beyond my wildest dreams. All I ever wanted was to earn more than I do at my day job and I would have been happy with that. And I wanted to share it with my fellow writers. Other people who truly understand the joy of succeeding at what they do be it in any form. Also the way my fans have connected with me humbles me every single time I receive an email from one of them. And number 2. I shared this thread to show that it is possible to make money writing short fiction/serialised fiction using the DWS method. That is it. I am not holding myself up there for people to look at and try and learn from. Everyone is different, we all write differently. Therefore how you think you could learn from seeing exactly what I write kinda baffles me, maybe I'm naive. When I started the DWS method I didn't start out by buying and reading Dean's books. I didn't see how that would help me. I simply had an idea that I knew would fit into a short serialised format and I ran with it.

As for what I write in the genre. I write romance. Yes I have described it as being sensual. Is it erotica? No. Erotica readers would be sorely disappointed to pick it up and would more than likely crucify me for it. Is there sex in my stories? Yup is it particularly explicit, no, I'm an emotions girl. I love describing the emotions in the scene rather than the actual mechanics. Simply because I'd be pretty rubbish at writing anything else. If I could write erotica I totally would. But I'll leave it to those writers who excel at it.

I think I've addressed everything I was thinking about. Have I missed anything?

ETA: Cheers to everyone who congratulated me it means a great deal to me


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## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

I know we've talked privately but I wanted to give you a big public THANK YOU for sharing all of this information over the last month.

I wish you continued happiness and success!


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## Morgan Curtis (May 15, 2012)

Congratulations and thanks for sharing.


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## Someone (Dec 30, 2011)

Well since TW resisted my oh so powerful serenade for covers, I am only going to say you have done a great job when I actually feel you have done a super duper job. 

JK. Gotta send some ribs your and TW's way for not falling for my Call Me Maybe jingle. Those kinda fun lyrics and all for naught.   
Not giving up yet though. Gonna see how a heavy metal request will do. LOL

Seriously a big congrats. I am thrilled for your success. And you didn't waste time achieving it either. Bravo!


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## Robert A Michael (Apr 30, 2012)

Belinda & TW,

I appreciate that you shared your successes with us.  I understand your goals here, and applaud your achievements.  Both of you are great examples of work ethic and talent.  

I understand the desire for some folks to have more information.  I get this sometimes when I am working my sales job.  Some people see what you offer, see how it benefits them, and they make a decision.  Sometimes, though, a customer will want to dig for more information. Most times, that information is irrelevant to the decision process.  I usually lose those customers.  They are focused on factors that do not pertain to the solution to their problem.  There is nothing I can do for them.  I certainly don't want to lie to them. 

I think when you lay bare income and sales figure statistics with only partial information, there will be some whose curiosity gets the best of them.  In their minds, that withheld information is the key to their success.  Not the final figures, not the constant references back to Dean's system, not the plethora of other questions that are answered specifically.  Only the withheld information holds the key to whether they can "duplicate" what you have done.  I understand this curiosity, this persistence.  Writers desire success with a passion.  

So, I appreciate your candidness.  You shouldn't have to hire someone to find your stolen tax returns (that's a US joke, there), you needn't feel encumbered to provide information that you deem unnecessary or hurtful to your cause.  You also do not need to feel responsible for our success.  That is our responsibility.  Sometimes, we overstep our bounds and ask for more than we should.  

You have done much, Belinda and TW, just in the sharing that you have.  You have inspired others to duplicate what you have accomplished.  What a compliment!  Someone once said that imitation is the highest form of flattery.  Good on'ya!


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## merryxmas (Jun 21, 2012)

Tattooed Writer has a blog where he goes into a lot more detail on how he writes episodic fiction. If you're interested in writing serials you should check it out. Free shout out because he linked to it in another thread and it has a lot of good info. Thanks for sharing you guys.

Congrats to you both in raking in the dough.


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## DelilahFawkes (May 11, 2011)

HUGE congrats on your success, Bilinda!!!  I'm so excited that things are taking off for you!

Thank you for sharing here, too. For myself, I've learned that volume works wonders, too (the DWS method--write a lot of stuff). When you have a story that's a breakaway hit, you have the backlist to really ride the wave, and I think that's so important. When you see one take off, you can see it boost the others, and that's where the real momentum builds.

Thanks for being an inspiration!  You rock!


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

merryxmas said:


> Tattooed Writer has a blog where he goes into a lot more detail on how he writes episodic fiction. If you're interested in writing serials you should check it out. Free shout out because he linked to it in another thread and it has a lot of good info. Thanks for sharing you guys.
> 
> Congrats to you both in raking in the dough.


Thanks for the link to TW's blog. Good stuff in there.


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## Giselle London (Apr 24, 2012)

*Belinda shouldn't reveal any titles or pen names*. She's helping us out with as much information as she can, without risking the possibility of one-star backlashes from jealous writers. I'm not saying anyone posting on this thread would do that, but it _has_ happened to other writers who have come out in the open with their successes. She has a right to protect her income, and absolutely _no _obligation to bare all to any of us. (Yes, I'm dying from curiosity, but I'll just have to quell it.)

If anyone feels they can't take anything from this thread because she won't reveal all, that's unfortunate, but it's not Belinda's problem. I've taken away plenty of information from this post, and even more from TW's posts and his blog, and I appreciate all that they've done in sharing. If nothing else, they've provided inspiration to get our butts into gear and TRY it! What do you have to lose?


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## authoryallen (May 4, 2012)

merryxmas said:


> Tattooed Writer has a blog where he goes into a lot more detail on how he writes episodic fiction. If you're interested in writing serials you should check it out. Free shout out because he linked to it in another thread and it has a lot of good info. Thanks for sharing you guys.
> 
> Congrats to you both in raking in the dough.


thanks for posting this. I have a few series in mind and this information on TW's blog is much appreciated!!


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## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

Yay Bilinda!  
Rump dance!

(__\__) (__|__) (__/__) (__|__) (__\__) *cha cha cha!*


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Good for her.    

Well done Bilinda!


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## Diane Patterson (Jun 17, 2012)

Wow, that is great news! How very exciting.


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## JeanneM (Mar 21, 2011)

Bilinda has been really kind to me.  I couldn't be happier for her!


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

Thank you Nathalie, I love your rump dance!

Cheers Zelah! 

Thank you Diane  

And Jeanne I wasn't being kind, I was being honest, you're amazing! Thank you


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## notrealauthor (May 6, 2013)

Congrats!


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## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Congrats to Bilinda.


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## pamray83 (Mar 20, 2012)

Hoping for an update from Bilinda


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## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

Me too!  
Rump dance of encouragement!

(__\__) (__|__) (__/__) (__|__) (__\__)  *cha cha cha!*


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## Bilinda Ní Siodacaín (Jun 16, 2011)

I'm absolutely up to my eyes in a book at the minute but once I'm a little more free I will do a new post. What sort of stuff are you looking for? It'll give me an idea of something to work on


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## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

Bilinda Ní Siodacaín said:


> I'm absolutely up to my eyes in a book at the minute but once I'm a little more free I will do a new post. What sort of stuff are you looking for? It'll give me an idea of something to work on


Thank you Bilinda! 

I personally would like to know a few things, if it's not too much too ask.

- Are the number of sales constantly growing or do you have to go on releasing a lot to have a steady stream of sales? Did the number of sales you had then grow with more titles out, or is it on the same basis each month?

- Do you think that if you slowed things down about releases the momentum would still be there, or is the constant releasing the key?

- You said in another thread you're starting to see sales also in Thrillers, are there other genres where you've seen success as well?

- How are you doing personally? I know it's a lot of work (at least in my eyes!) and imagine it can sometimes be tiring. Do you go on strong and push yourself, or do you have times when you can't look at your books for a while? If so, do you have tips and tricks for those of us who contemplate trying the experiment one day?

- Have you since then build on social media or is it still something you don't have time to do/see value in/ignore altogether?

Thanks a lot for everything. These kinds of threads give me hope!


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## WG McCabe (Oct 13, 2012)

Nathalie forgot to ask your favorite color


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## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

Patrick Szabo said:


> Nathalie forgot to ask your favorite color


 

Patrick... You should know by now that everyone's favourite colour is Unicorn Fart.


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## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Just adding that I'd like to see an update from Bilinda as well.


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## WG McCabe (Oct 13, 2012)

Nathalie Hamidi said:


> Patrick... You should know by now that everyone's favourite colour is Unicorn Fart.


I thought it was Puppy Dog Smile. Live and learn.


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## dalya (Jul 26, 2011)

Nathalie Hamidi said:


> Patrick... You should know by now that everyone's favourite colour is Unicorn Fart.


It's what's for dinner!


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## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

Dalya said:


> It's what's for dinner!


Yum yum! 
http://hilarity.chickennation.com/comics/019_worst_unicorn.png <----- Not Suitable for Anyone. You've been warned.


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## Faye Hunter (Jun 5, 2013)

My question is - how do you afford editing and covers for all these manuscripts?  I realize once you start making enough you can reinvest, but it seems like you would need a big chunk of money behind you to fund all the covers and editing needed for all the stories required to build your base.

I see the OP has a free cover artist, but for the rest of us?


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## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

Faye Hunter said:


> My question is - how do you afford editing and covers for all these manuscripts? I realize once you start making enough you can reinvest, but it seems like you would need a big chunk of money behind you to fund all the covers and editing needed for all the stories required to build your base.
> 
> I see the OP has a free cover artist, but for the rest of us?


Premades, or fiddling around in Photoshop/The Gimp.


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## Chris1962 (Jul 18, 2013)

Hello.  I'm pretty  new around here, and have just discovered and finished reading this and TW's thread abut their successes.  It appears the PhotoBucket screenshots with your sales data are missing.  Not sure if that was intentional or not, but it would be great if the OP could put them back.  Thanks.


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## oliviamadone (Jun 16, 2013)

Chris, another author that is following a similar method posted her results here: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,162157.0.html


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## LBrent (Jul 1, 2013)

Thank you Bilinda and TattooedWriter for the great kick in the butt to write, write, write!


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## Chris1962 (Jul 18, 2013)

oliviamadone said:


> Chris, another author that is following a similar method posted her results here: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,162157.0.html


Thanks Oliva. I was already reading that post ... it's how I ended up on this one


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

Faye Hunter said:


> My question is - how do you afford editing and covers for all these manuscripts? I realize once you start making enough you can reinvest, but it seems like you would need a big chunk of money behind you to fund all the covers and editing needed for all the stories required to build your base.
> 
> I see the OP has a free cover artist, but for the rest of us?


If you really want to try this, you really do have to read what DWS said on the subject. Two things are kind of important that get overlooked in these success stories; 1.) Dean proposed this as a likely SLOW starter, with an estimate of 5 sales per title across all channels, and you've got to keep that in mind when you consider the next; 2.) You don't edit (as per Heinlein's Rules) and you do your covers yourself with the cheapest or fee stock art.

That's also probably why some folks want more details; your mileage _will_ vary. But here's the thing: we don't have enough people doing this to say "This won't work for X genre." We only know that three of four people reporting here who did well with it were doing "hot" romance and related genres.

And while some of them will say "Oh, I did way better with erotica than I did with my (other genre)" they don't give us figures, and more importantly -- they chase their successes, so they haven't really tested out how well the method works for those other genres.

For all we know, the other genres are doing just as well or better than DWS predicted. We need more people to try this -- for reals, not just for a dozen books and give up -- before we have real data on other genres.

But it's a real commitment, and I suspect most of us only make that kind of heavy commitment when they expect the higher end returns.

I'm trying to do something like this a little bit slower. My writing is very much non-commercial. Even when I write in a hot genre, I write midlist works in those genres. (Best sellers really do aim at a different audience than midlist.) But I do think having more works out there for your readers to browse through and try and follow up with is always a good thing.

I also think that we need to find lengths and price points that work for us in terms of return and productivity. Novelettes and novellas work for me creatively. Now I have to see if they'll work for my readers.

But the results are not going to be anywhere near as fast as they are for the OP and others reporting here. I do think it might start to work more like DWS had in mind, though.

Camille


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## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

daringnovelist said:


> If you really want to try this, you really do have to read what DWS said on the subject. Two things are kind of important that get overlooked in these success stories; 1.) Dean proposed this as a likely SLOW starter, with an estimate of 5 sales per title across all channels, and you've got to keep that in mind when you consider the next; 2.) You don't edit (as per Heinlein's Rules) and you do your covers yourself with the cheapest or fee stock art.
> 
> That's also probably why some folks want more details; your mileage _will_ vary. But here's the thing: we don't have enough people doing this to say "This won't work for X genre." We only know that three of four people reporting here who did well with it were doing "hot" romance and related genres.
> 
> ...


I also do a variation of the DWS approach, albeit somewhat slower (I aim for one publication per month, though I'm slowing down as I run out of backlist). I usually do two proofreading/editing passes (sometimes more), but since my first drafts are fairly clean, I usually don't change much. I do my own formatting and all of my own covers and have only paid for stock art for five out of 39 covers (plus I bought two pieces of stock art for future projects). I even do my own translations (which is not recommended unless you actually have the skills). I don't bother very much with promotion beyond announcing a new book on my blog and mailing list. I've never taken out a paid ad. I write in various genres, though I'm not an overly commercial writer. So far, all of my published works or short stories, novelettes, novellas and collections.

My experience is that I don't see growth from month to month (because there are seasonal downturns) but from year to year. And yes, it is a slow process, but it is steady.

Unsurprisingly historical romance and historical adventure fiction of the damsel in distress, hero to the rescue (or vice versa) variation sells best for me. I don't write erotica per se, but two of my best sellers are stories that match certain erotica kinks, namely a harem girl story (of course, sheikhs and harem girls are also popular in romance) and a story about whipped Russian dancing girls. I don't write any of the really popular historical romance settings, i.e. no highlanders, no vikings, no regencies (and my lone regency era set story, albeit set in Spain during the Napoleonic wars, is my worst selling historical romance by far), but instead more offbeat historical settings such as Czarist Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Germany in the 16th and 17th century, 16th century France and the like. I do have a humorous sort-of contemporary romance (actually it is a period piece, set in the early 1980s in West Germany), which sells very little. In generally, humor doesn't sell very well for me.

I'm apparently the only indie author who cannot make series work, because my two series, a pulp style thriller series set in the 1930s and featuring a masked vigilante, and a 1960s set series of groovy, world-spanning spy novelettes, just don't sell very well. A cover make over didn't help either. I guess genre and setting may have something to do with it. Apparently, there aren't a whole lot of people who appreciate period fiction. Both are series of otherwise standalone stories featuring the same characters, not serials with a defined arc. I will write more, when the muse strikes me, but they're not a priority.

I had very little success with my first two SF stories (both republished stories), but then I published a space opera novella which sells pretty well (though not as well as the historical romances). And my latest SF release, a post-apocalyptic novelette, does decently as well, considering it has only been out for a few days now. My fantasy results are mixed as well. One sells rather well, the others not so much.

Short crime fiction has never sold all that well for me. My collection sells occasionally, the standalones don't sell very much. I suspect the reason is that continental European crime writing is quite different from Anglo-American crime writing and so my stories don't neatly fit into US/UK genre classifications.

I have one western. It is one of my bestselling stories.

In general, harem girls, pirates, executioners, whippings and lesbians sell really well.


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