I have self published, and ordered just fifty copies of my book, an autobiography.They have all been sold but I havent made ay money at all.I would like to ask if marketing and distributing myself I did the correct thing and sold the books for the price agreed on the cover £ 8:99.The whole process has cost £1000 I may have had a return of £400, I didnt write for the money return, but because I enjoyed writing, but is this usual when self publishing.I had great help from my publishers, the book was turned out very well I am pleased with everything.Is there a better way of selling,I posted most of my books and everyone paid for th P+P would it be better to leave the distribution to the publishers even if it costs considerably more?Would appreciate help with this.
regards Bernie
Hi Bernie, I self published my memoir in May. So far I have sold 136 books through various outlets, self-selling, Amazon, YPD, Gardners, local bookshops and have made £1076.
Adding up all my costs to date for printing 500 books, eBook conversion, proof reading, editing, training courses/workshops (all in London), mentoring and miscellaneous comes to a total of £4260. I wanted to make sure that my book was a good as could be.
I have done Border TV and BBC2 interviews, local Radio, reviews and stories in my local press,
Also joined Facebook and Twitter, but I am not sure I sell many through these 2. There are hundreds of free web book selling sites.
If I sell all 500 books I may just about break even. So I try not think about profit and loss on material grounds
I just thought it was important for myself personally and society in general that I got my life story out there, as a warning to all how a traumatic childhood could lead to a lifetime of mental and phyiscal health problems.
I am proud of my achievement.
Hi Bernie,
It is almost impossible to advertise a self-published book widely without a decent budget. You could join Facebook groups that support writers, and let people plug their work, or if you have a Twitter account, plug it there; but how to bring it to the attention of the public is a challenge. Is there a paper in your area that does book reviews, and would be interested in a local author? Would your nearest bookshop sell it? (The one in the town where my novel is set wouldn't because I published through Amazon and they wouldn't make a profit, but your case is different.)
Does your publisher have an advertising budget, and what would they be prepared to do for you? You need to enquire. It's unusual for a publisher to spend much on an unknown author, even though that seems counter-intuitive to us lowly writers. How can we sell more books, and so add to their profits, if they don't publicise them? It's all down to the bottom line. Do you sell on Amazon, and have people left reviews? You can cherry-pick phrases and put them in your book's blurb on there.
Sorry I can't offer more help than this - it's a universal problem among us indie authors!
Lorraine