It feels like it’s been awhile since I made an update on the self-publishing and writing process. It’s probably only been like a week, but here goes all the same.
First, Alex. This morning I sold my 200th copy! I totaled up my sales through the end of January, and it comes out to just around $350. Honestly, that is more than I expected to make in the first couple of months, so that’s great news. In the interest of full disclosure, I also had $300 of relevant advertising expenses during that time. So the profit itself is pretty slim, but it does show that it’s possible to start building a readership this way, at least. I’m hopeful that the gap between expense and income continues to grow. I think it will, because in addition to the actual income from the book, I made significant, though less tangible, strides in the form of Amazon reviews (up to 39!) and Goodreads fans and followers. The vast, overwhelming majority of feedback I’ve gotten has been immensely positive, and it feels really good.
I promised I would take half of my total royalties and give it to Child’s Play. Today, I was able to do that. The total contribution was $177. I’m planning to do it again in December. Hopefully by then I’ll be able to knock Jerry and Mike’s socks off. : )
Second, Rebecca.
It’s coming along, albeit slower than Alex did. Alex’s main character was very much me, and it was easy to fall into his head. Rebecca is very different. I’m 5 pages in, and it’s finally starting to gel a bit better. I’ve got pages and pages of notes and have the outline pretty well defined.
But there is a lot going on with this one that is out of my normal comfort zone. I see a lot of thematic elements to the story, but I also don’t want there to be so many that they drown each other out. That’s one thing I’ll have to watch for. The other thing I’m noticing early on is that the main character, Sarah, has a serious likability issue.
I had the same problem with Ian – he was kind of an asshole, but he had some pretty good reasons. Sarah is not an asshole, she just hates her baby. I know that sounds weird, but it’s actually true. The challenge is making the character sympathetic and disturbing at the same time. With Sarah, given the subject matter, it’s much harder to do than it was with Ian. Hopefully, I can pull it off.
Comments