Basically, not sure I want to write multiple novels. I just had an idea and decided to write it. But I don't want to do it for nothing. Sure, I'm writing for me, but why can't I hope for some passive income along the way? Any of you guys have success on your debut novel? If I only sell 100 copies, not sure it'd be worth it to me. I already have the story in my head. I write so others can hear it.
You may need to define your terms - "successful" for sure, but also maybe "debut" - do you mean first published, or first written?
First published, I guess. I've never committed to writing a novel before, but I genuinely believe that my premise has tons of potential, and I don't want to waste it. I REALLY like my idea, but I fear that I'll write it, and no one will buy, wasting my best idea yet. Maybe I'm just overconfident and my idea sucks.
There's a lot of room between having a great idea and having a novel that will sell well. Have you done any writing before? Not necessarily a full novel, but... anything creative?
Nothing. And even if it means I have to keep editing as I become a better writer, I want this novel to be great.
I don't see any reason why your first novel can't be a success, as long as you are prepared to work at it and make any changes that are necessary to turn it into a compelling and well-written story. If it's the story you want to write, keep at it until it's of publishable quality. No reason you can't do that. Good luck! Some people believe that a first novel is always shit. I don't believe that. I do believe that first EFFORTS at writing will nearly always need lots of revision and editing. But that doesn't mean you have to ditch your original idea. Just develop it, be willing to admit mistakes and solve problems as they arise, and you'll probably end up with a better story than you originally envisioned. The more you get to know your characters and their dilemmas, the richer the story will become.
If you are self publishing (which I believe you are from other threads) it can be difficult to make a positive return on investment on advertising etc with just one book. (if you don't advertise and rely on organic sales you are likely to make significantly less than 100 sales. There also comes the question about editing, covers etc and your return on that) However let's not get ahead of ourselves if you've not written it yet do that first before you start worrying about success at publishing
I would like my debut novel to be successful. Who wouldn't? I think just about everyone who writes and wants to write a novel hopes for a success story. For me, it takes more time than I think it should and is harder than I think it should be. Wasting my time? I hope not, but I think writing is never really about one story. Write enough and the right story will come out is more of how I look at it.
Not sure if I want to self publish or not. I'll be happy either way, but that decision will be based purely on what will sell the most copies. Not trying to get ahead of myself, but I know it's something I'll be completing.
And what does "successful" mean for you? We have posters here who've self-published and sold quite a few books but who've spent quite a bit of money on the project so they're still not actually making a profit. Would that count as a success for you? We have posters who are taking a long-term approach and trying to build an audience, so they may not be selling many copies now but are hoping to sell more in the future. And we have posters who've sold reasonably well, but no one, I don't think, who's currently making a living off book sales. Do any of these sound like your version of "success"?
I want to be able to sell, say, 100 books a month, without spending all my profit on marketing. I'm not only doing it for money, but I like the validation that what I actually did mattered. Would give me a huge sense of accomplishment.
I am - combined with my wife's wages. All goes in the same pot. And not the 'sales' so much, more of the 'likes' on Twitter, and so forth. A longer-term strategy for 2050 knighthood.
Not saying I need to make a living off of it (would be nice, though). I'd like some nice passive income.
Passive in that it's not tied to an actual "job." Where most of the work is done upfront (but not all, obviously).
That's the problem, though. In order to maintain even a pretty moderate rate of sales like 100/month, you need to keep promoting, keep writing, keep working at it. If you let it go, it'll just sink beneath all the new releases.
It's [fekking] hard - living like a fantasist... 'How's that project...how is your writing, my honey?' 'Well there is that one story 'in progress' with Granta. If they publish my story then I am the new face of world literature - y'know only among writers and publishers and editors and screen-writers and thespians and reading folk and stuff but nevertheless impressive...' 'Oooh Oooh...' 'Yes exactly, or I might receive an anonymous e-mail tomorrow saying 'NO, no you prick,' and we maybe don't talk about it ever again. And maybe I do do do that 'driving instruction' course you mentioned? You can never say exactly, Mother.'
Well, if you're traditionally published you're pretty much guaranteed to sell far, far more copies than if you're self published. At one point I read that the average number of sales for self publishers is ten copies (not per week or month--forever), and I think that includes the copies your family and friends buy. If you try to be traditionally published and aren't accepted by a publisher, you'll of course sell zero copies. A few self published books sell decently. But it won't be passive--you'll be fighting and promoting and working hard for every sale.
end of the day trad publishing will sell more copies if you get a deal (whether it will make more money is debateable it depends very much on the deal). Of course if you don't get a deal you won't sell any copies. Self publishing you can sell more than 100 copies a month - if you have a good product (including a good cover , good blurb etc) and if you market it effectively, and you really shouldn't underestimate the amount of work that effective marketing entails Ignore the figures like self publishers only sell ten copies or self publishers only make X hundred notes - those are usually put about by people with no experience in self publishing. While they do have some basis in literal truth its an average that includes the thousands of books with no editing/cover design/decent blurbs/marketing which basically sold nothing. Its rather like working out trad average income based on including all the people who never got a deal. Lots of self published books make way more than ten sales but they are the ones where the writer worked at producing good product including investing money in editing etc, and then worked at marketing and promoting the book. When people talk about passive income in the book world they are generally referring to income from a back catalogue that goes on selling for years based on the marketing of their more recent work (especially where they are writing in a series), and/or leveraging other types of product from one manuscript ie selling ebooks/print book/ large print/ audiobook, work books (only relevant to non fiction), foreign rights and so and so forth … it does not imply that generating income from your current book is in anyway passive.
One thing I my to consider is that I know nothing about marketing. I'm not a short story kinda writer, so can't really blog /IG my way to a following. At least a targeted following. I have a small following of 70s metal music lovers.
I have a self-published book, written to my usual standard, with professional editing and cover design, for which I spent more time doing promo than I would usually do for five or ten books combined... and it has sold 18 copies to date. At least three of those were to my mom.
If: - Most of those five thousand people actually read it, rather than just downloading it - and they read it because they wanted to, and not because someone paid them or locked them in a room and only let them out if they passed a test on the book - and a decent percentage of them enjoyed it then if you called that a success I wouldn't tell you that you were wrong. I might not call it a success for myself, but I wouldn't tell you that you were wrong.
