Making Money - How an Author Does It and How YOU Can Help - Monday Musings - Monday, April 16, 2018

 Making Money - How An Author Does It and How YOU Can Help - Monday Musings

There's a common misconception that authors make a good chunk of change selling their novels. That assumption couldn't be further from the truth. Most authors have day jobs, and for good reason. It's very hard to be financially successful as an author

I'm going to give you a financial example from my newest release, Chase for Love. The financial and royalty specifications for my newest book are a pretty close average for most authors, especially self-published ones. So get ready for a glimpse into how an author actually makes money on their books.

So far (in the week it's been available), I have one print book order for Chase for Love. Most of the sales so far have been through eBook sales. Let me crunch the numbers for you:

A Chase for Love print copy retails for $10.99

After manufacturing costs, Amazon and CreateSpace take their cut, and I get the rest. Every print copy I sell of Chase for Love, I make $2.60. I make less than $3 for a print book that sells for $11.

A Chase for Love eBook copy retails for $4.99

Kindle and Amazon take their cut and I’m left with a payment of $3.43 for every eBook copy sold. I make just under $3.50 for an eBook that costs $5

If I’m selling print copies at a book signing or in person, I pay $3.99 for a direct-from-printer copy with a $3.59 shipping charge (For one book, mind you. Shipping costs go up significantly for each additional book I order). If I sell my books in person for $10 (I always lower the price for in-person sales), I make $2.42 for each in-person sale. 

Royalties the author receives depends on the length of the book (bigger the book, higher the manufacturing cost, less revenue for the author) but most authors receive 50-70% of their book’s cost AFTER paying the companies and publishers. I get 70% for both versions of my book and the above revenues are all I make from each sale. 

Another thing authors have to deal with is what print companies, like Createspace, set as minimum purchase price. They calculate pages, manufacturing costs, everyone that gets a piece of the pie, and tells you, before you publish, what your absolute minimum price must be. The cheapest print minimum I've ever had was over $8 and it was for my shortest book. EBook publishers have the same stipulations for minimum prices. With Kindle, for example, if you want 70% royalties, your eBook has to be AT LEAST $2.99. Want to sell a book for .99 cents? You can, but you'll only get 30% of that.

So when you see a print book price or eBook price and wonder what made the author set that particular price, it's usually only a $1, give or take, over the minimum price they are told they HAVE to sell it at.

Keep that in mind when an author releases a book, or when readers complain that it isn’t .99 cents, or even free. An author is making, if they’re lucky, a few dollars from each book sale, on a novel they might have spent six months to a few years creating for you. If the book is .99 cents, the author might be getting .20 cents from each sale. If the author has their book listed free for a promotion, they receive absolutely nothing. 
The author might have spent thousands of dollars of their own money on an editor or cover designer, as well as money on any promotional materials. Unless the author’s name is John Grisham, Nora Roberts, Nicholas Sparks, etc, the author is likely not even recouping what they put into their novel to get it published. An author would have to sell over 500 copies of a book, if not more, to recoup what they put into it. So when you buy that $5 eBook or $10 print book, remember, that the author is only receiving a few dollars from that sale. 

Another way an author makes money is by you doing something that is completely free. The more books an author sells, the more money they make. The best way an author can sell more books, is if YOU, the reader, tells someone else to buy it. This may come by word-of-mouth, or sharing a Facebook post, but most come from reviews left on Amazon and Goodreads. Both sites generate a lot of readers for an author so if you leave a review on one, try to leave on on the other as well. Reviews can be anywhere from a few words about how you liked/loved it, to a complete rundown of what made the book appeal to you. Reviews don't cost anything but a few minutes of your time. But they can have a huge affect for an author. 

Using my own novel's royalties on, say, an eBook, costs you $4.99, giving the author $3.43. Add the few minutes you put into a review and two more people decided to give the book a try. You just helped the author make a total of $6.86 (plus what the author made from your sale) from your review. Your review could get 10 more people to buy the book. That's $34.30 you just helped the author make. Imagine if one or two of those ten people wrote a review with the same results. 

It's a domino affect that is all up to you, the reader. You have the power, in just a few words, to make or break an author. You have the capability to change an author's life.

Here's another breakdown of how reviewing works. The average book only receives 1.5 reviews for every 750 (or so) books read. That's a lot of books read with hardly anything to show for it. And a lot of potential readers that never know what they're missing.

Amazon has made it doubly hard for self-published, indie, and new authors to gain a foothold with new readers already. We've all logged onto Amazon, looked at the book department, and been bombarded with top sellers/new releases/recommended for you adds in each category on the home page. But did you know that in order for an author to even be allowed on those lists, they have to have 50+ reviews on their novel? Fifty reviews is extremely hard to come by without paying a company thousands of dollars to write them. My novel, Dark Mountains was published in 2013, has an average rating of 4.3/5 stars, and still only has 36 reviews. Unless you're a big-name author, those lists seem unattainable.

But even worse for self-published authors, Amazon itself seems to be out to get them, by removing reviews based on a perceived bias. All authors have family and friends that will read their book and leave a review, most of the time, a favorable one, but sometimes, not so much, as was the case for me on my debut novel. See my post: Handling Negative Feedback for proof that a family member's review doesn't guarantee anything positive. But Amazon doesn't agree.

Amazon has, in recent months, begun deleting user's reviews if they get any hint of a connection between the author and reviewer. It isn't just family members and friends feeling the heat from Amazon. Even perfect strangers (to the author) that have liked their Facebook page, or followed them on Twitter or Goodreads, are feeling the burn. Amazon is currently on a witch hunt for any connection, regardless of how remote or above reproach it is, and is removing reviews from author's books. 

Currently it's a big scandal, as Amazon seems to only be removing favorable reviews and not negative ones, even when they are found to be an author's competing rival or vindictive family member. Amazon has also been having major issues with some authors cheating the system but purchasing reviews, creating fake accounts and writing their own reviews, padding books with extra pages to gain more revenue from KDP select/Amazon Prime, etc. It seems an uphill battle for self-published authors trying to be successful in the right way, with so little options given to them.

My advice for leaving a review is to make sure you don't link any of your social media accounts to your Amazon one. Even with Goodreads, it's best not to link accounts. Goodreads itself is not at all strict with its reviews and ratings, but Amazon will check the reviews on Goodreads to search for author/reader connections.  Don't mention that you know the author personally. But be honest about the book. If you didn't like it, say it. If you loved it, tell people, and let them know why you loved it. 

There is a silver lining to Amazon's review process. Amazon currently offers reviewers to 1) vote whether the review was helpful or not and 2) let the reviewer comment on other reviews. What's so great about that? 

If you took a peek at my Handling Negative Feedback post, you'll see that my debut novel, Dark Mountains, received a 2 star review (from a family member) because it had cursing and described sex scenes, although it is categorized as a romance novel and clearly states on the book's sale page that it's recommended for 18+ due to mature scenes. The reviewer also went as far to point out how my personal beliefs made her judge the type of book I had written. (My author bio page said I liked singing at church.)

I also have a one-star review from someone who was shocked at the graphic sex scenes halfway through the book. To be fair, there are some fully explained sex scenes (though I wouldn't consider them graphic... they're a lot more tame than erotica books, and even Shades of Grey), and they are about halfway through the book, but the story centers on two kids and their journey to fall in love as they grow up. Obviously two kids can't have sex in a novel, and as the story progressed to them being adults, so did their physical relationship with each other. Beneath that review was two comments thankful to be warned about the sexually graphic content.

Of course, I'm glad that potential readers are being warned of what they're getting into before they start a novel, as I'd likely have a few more bad reviews if they hadn't been made aware. But having a romance category that points out on the purchase page that it contains adult content and recommended for reading over 18, should have been clear enough. 

This is where the reviewer and Amazon account holder can save the day. A reviewer that had enough common sense to know what the novel was going to be about before starting it can comment and rebut a negative review. A reviewer that knows an author's personal beliefs shouldn't be held in account to the fiction they write, can defend an author's work. You, the reader and reviewer, can save an author's day.

So being a successful author isn't all about writing a great novel. Having readers and reviews plays a huge part in whether an author has financial success, or even breaks even, with the novels they spend so much time and money on.

My favorite analogy to use is this:

Most people would go to a coffee shop, say a Starbucks, and spend $5 or more on a cup of coffee. A barista takes a few minutes to make it and you shell out the money without batting an eye. You might even tip the barista for the few minutes of coffee making. There are some people that do this multiple times a day.

Yet a lot of readers complain that a book is too expensive, or even that the book isn't free. 

An author spends a bare minimum of six months on a book. Usually a year or more perfecting it for publishing. They spend hundreds or thousands on cover art, a cover designer, an editor, someone to format it, on ordering copies. Thousands of hours on a keyboard, researching, editing, rewriting. 

An author's book is that cup of coffee that makes you sigh on the first sip, that warms you on the inside, that makes you smile, that gets you through the day, that helps you to escape the world for a little while. An author's book is a one-time purchase for you, but one you can come back to and enjoy over and over again without having to pay any more money. As if that coffee kept magically refilling itself for you. And the review you leave is the barista's tip for a job well done. 

So please, don't shy away from buying that author's book and make sure you don't forget to tip your author.

New Book Release!

Today I released my sixth novel. It's my first foray into historical romance and the beginning of a new series that takes place at the tail-end of the Victorian Era. The planned novels won't necessarily follow a chronological order but will all be somehow related.

The first novel is called Chase for Love and centers on the late Victorian horse racing and steeplechase scenes. I've had a lifelong love for horses and have always wanted to incorporate that into a novel. 

Here's a blurb for the first For Love novel:

Harrison Stoke, the Duke of Guildford, has just hired the unknown son of Britain’s best horse trainer, to develop the prospects for his new racing stable. There’s something about Vic that Harrison can’t place, but the boy is a marvel with horses, and Stoke Stables has seen nothing but success since his arrival. 

Vic has a secret, one that he’s finding hard to keep from the attentive duke. Too many aristocratic men thought they could take advantage of a horse trainer’s daughter so Victoria O’Reilly began to dress like a boy for protection. She became Vic O’Reilly, and the plan had worked well until she was nearly raped by the son of her employer. Her father sent her to Stoke Manor, hoping his friend would keep her safe. 

But when her attacker unexpectedly arrives at Stoke Manor, Victoria is injured, and her true identity is revealed, changing everything. Harrison tries to keep her safe from the danger that haunts her while struggling not to form an attraction. Victoria tries to focus on training the duke’s steeplechase prospects, but finds herself constantly distracted by his presence, and the aristocratic world she is thrown into. 

Through danger, friendship, understanding, and victory, they learn that they weren’t just training horses for the chase, but had been chasing each other all along.

I have posted an excerpt on my website as well. You can find it here: AuthorAmandaMeredith.com

On the Amazon purchase page, you can click 'Look Ahead' and it will show you the first five chapters! Here's the link: Amazon

But since you came all the way to my blog for news of my new release, I'm going to give you an exclusive excerpt from Chase for Love that you won't be able to find anywhere else... unless you buy the book! So here we go:

“You cannot be serious,” Victoria whispered, her face pale as she sat at the breakfast table.

“I am,” Helena answered with a smile.

“I cannot be introduced to society,” Victoria spluttered. “I’m a horse trainer.”

“You are also the granddaughter of a marquess,” Helena reminded her. “Irish or not, that makes you a well-born lady, and entitled to a grand introduction in the ton.”

“Why?”

“Why not?” Helena countered. “You’re of age, you’re unattached, and you come from a highly respectable line of aristocracy.”

“I am a horse trainer,” Victoria insisted through clenched teeth.

“You can be both,” Helena assured her. “Just not in front of the ton,” she added with a snicker. Victoria snorted as she pushed the food around her plate with her fork. Her face paled and she looked up at Helena.

“Don’t young ladies have to be presented to Queen Victoria before their introduction to society?” Helena pursed her lips before answering.

“They do,” she murmured. Victoria set her fork carefully on the table. Her hand was shaking so badly that the silver rattled against the plate.

“You are quite mad,” she whispered, making Helena chuckle.

“The ton will love you,” she answered. “You’re mysterious, interesting, and something they’ve never seen before. Even the scandal involving your father…” She paused, seeing Victoria’s face turn green. “Victoria, you are a lady. Regardless of what has happened, that fact cannot be denied.”

“I am the daughter of a runaway lady and an Irish commoner,” Victoria answered, her voice quivering.

“You are a well-born lady, Victoria,” Helena corrected. “Your parents’ story will be seen as a Shakespearean romance by the ton. Being the granddaughter of an aristocrat trumps any scandal.”

“This is ridiculous,” Victoria grumbled, realizing Helena would not be swayed.

“It will be fine,” Helena soothed. “We’ll go visit the seamstress in the village tomorrow to see what she has that we can alter for your size. But we’ll have to make a trip to London for a new wardrobe. You’ll need a spectacular gown to be presented to the queen.”

“I know nothing of fashion, Helena.”

“Fortunately for you, I know everything about it,” Helena teased. “So, you’re in good hands.”

“I have no money to pay for such things,” Victoria stated but sighed with the look Helena was giving her. “I cannot rely on his grace’s charity.”

“Oh posh,” Helena interrupted. “It isn’t charity. You are my friend.”

“It’s still charity, regardless of our friendship,” Victoria pointed out.

“Nonsense,” Helena scoffed. “You won’t sway me, Victoria.” Harrison entered the breakfast room, nearly making Victoria jump out of her chair.

“Ladies,” he murmured, bowing to them. “Don’t fret on my account, Miss O’Reilly.”

“I wasn’t,” Victoria stuttered. “I mean, I’m not.” She put her shaking hands in her lap as the duke filled a plate at the buffet, before sitting next to Helena. She frowned at the wrappings around her arm. According to Doctor Stanton, she’d need to wear it another week.

“I’ve sent a letter to your uncle,” Harrison told her as he poured a glass of orange juice. “I had it taken by personal messenger. We shall hopefully hear back in a week or so.”

“Thank you, your grace,” Victoria whispered, her hands still shaking in her lap.

“Think nothing of it,” he answered, taking a bite of toast. Victoria squirmed in her chair, clearly uncomfortable. “Honestly, Miss O’Reilly,” he murmured between bites. “You act as if you’re sitting on pins and needles. Surely I don’t make you that nervous.”

“You are a man,” Helena pointed out, making Victoria blush.

“Really?” Harrison replied with a look of shock. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“Your grace,” Victoria spoke up, her voice trembling. “I am… unused to such a situation,” she explained. “I mean no offense.”

“None taken,” Harrison replied. “I understand your situation, Miss O’Reilly. I had hoped that by now, you would be able to trust that I mean you no harm.”

“I do,” Victoria stuttered. “Trust you, that is.” She sighed, carefully reaching for her tea, and taking a sip. “I do not fear your presence, your grace,” she explained. “Only the… environment. I have been a bit out of practice at…” She looked at Helena, struggling for an explanation. “At all of this.” She gestured at the table as she spoke.

“At eating breakfast?” Harrison questioned, giving her a smile.

“At being a lady,” Victoria murmured, blushing. Harrison set his toast down and took a drink of juice as he considered her.

“Did you not inform me that your father took great pains to see you educated?”

“He did, your grace,” Victoria answered. “But knowing and doing are two different things.”

“Indeed,” he answered with a smile. “I believe you only need a bit of practice, Miss O’Reilly,” he explained. “Helena would see to that best.” He inclined his head toward his sister and she smiled widely. “I believe I shall host a ball later this month,” He paused as Victoria’s face paled again. “With local families only,” he added. “It shall be good practice for London.”

“I can’t attend the season in London until I am presented to the queen,” Victoria reminded him.

“Of course,” Harrison answered. “And you shall be, after I hear from your uncle. If he is married, his wife will chaperone you. If he is unattached, Helena can.” Victoria blanched at this but held her tongue. She scowled, staring at her plate as her face reddened. “Is there a problem, Miss O’Reilly?” Harrison questioned with a grin.

“Only a hundred of them,” Victoria muttered, making Helena chuckle. “But I see that I have no say in the matter.” Harrison chuckled and finished his toast. “But I would like to talk to you about the horses.”

“The horses?” Harrison took a sip of orange juice. “What about them?”

“I’d like to be allowed to work with them again.”

“Absolutely not,” Harrison answered quickly.

“Why not?”

“It’s too dangerous,” he replied. Victoria gave a very unladylike snort, making his eyebrows lift.

“I worked with them for quite some time when I first came here,” Victoria pointed out.

“That was before I knew you were a woman,” he told her.

“That isn’t exactly true,” Helena interrupted. “You knew who she was after Cheltenham.”

“But she didn’t know that I knew she was a woman,” Harrison growled.

“It doesn’t matter if you knew I was a woman or not,” Victoria insisted. “I worked with the horses for months without issue.”

“Until you broke your wrist and nearly your neck,” Harrison pointed out.

“That was not my fault,” Victoria growled. “Besides, I’m fine. I need to work with the horses, your grace.”

“No.”

“Harrison,” Helena murmured, laying a hand on his arm.

“No,” he repeated firmly. “It’s too dangerous. Now that everyone knows who you are… It’s simply too dangerous for a woman to be in the stables.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Victoria argued. “You’re treating me as if I were prisoner here.”

“Now who’s being ridiculous?” Harrison asked, giving her a small smile. Victoria scowled, clenching her fingers in her lap. “You are not a prisoner here, Miss O’Reilly,” he told her gently. “You are a guest.”

“Will you permit me to ride?” Victoria asked carefully.

“Of course,” Harrison answered. “Provided you have a chaperone with you.” Victoria groaned at his answer. “And no racing.” Her mouth closed with an audible snap. She stood, making Harrison hastily rise from his own seat.

“I’ve lost my appetite,” she whispered, her voice shaking with emotion. “Excuse me, your grace,” she curtsied and left the room without waiting for his reply. He waited until the door shut behind her before taking his seat again.

“What was that all about?” he grumbled, taking another piece of toast.

“You are so obtuse,” Helena growled as she threw her napkin to the table and stood. Harrison rose again, nearly knocking his plate from the table in his haste.

“What did I say?” he complained, but his sister didn’t answer as she strode from the room. “Damn and blast,” he grumbled as he sat heavily in his chair. “Women.”

I hope you enjoyed some sneak peaks at my new release. The next For Love novel, Offer For Love, will be out by the end of the year!