Speculations : The Rumor Mill : Anonymous : Electronic Novel Profits

Topic 88 was started on 1998-03-07. There are 497 messages available to read.

Okay, we all want to know whether publishing a novel electronically can be profitable. Right? Right! In the furtherance of learning this, I'm going to post a short statement in this topic each month detailing what, if anything, I've earned from the electronic sale of my novels. Hopefully I'll be posting both the dollar and quantity sold amounts for Washout, The Aliens Is Coming!, and Rust Bucket. Washout and TAIC! were both released in Nov. 98 and neither has earned anything yet though it's possible that I won't receive a statement or check until six months pass. RB is scheduled for release in Mar. 98, so it will definitely be awhile before anything is known about it.

Previous First

Message 497 was left by DaveK on 2000-01-18 01:40:43. Feedback: 0/0 Just got the latest Hardshell Word Factory royalty report which catches everything up on two books of mine there. Over the last two quarters, Witness Protection and Beasts Are Us each sold 20 copies. :)

Message 496 was left by DaveK on 2003-04-28 21:58:31. Feedback: 0/0 Good quarterly report from New Concepts for Bullets and Lasers and its sequel, Arrows and Lasers. BaL sold 34 copies and AaL sold 35 which marks the first time it's outsold the first book. ;)

Message 495 was left by Jamie Rosen on 2003-04-22 12:06:23. Feedback: 0/0 Received my first-quarter royalty statement for Vessel of Heaven today. Nothin' doin, but it only came out in the last month of said quarter.

Message 494 was left by Geoff Nelder on 2003-04-03 17:28:38. Feedback: 0/0 Has anyone else tried e-booksonline.net ? based in the UK. One of my novels was accepted a couple of years ago. The royalty to authors is only 1 GBP or $1.5 per book sold but even though I hardly promoted it I had a few dozen sales before my agent told me to remove it in order to hawk it around the mainstream publishers. Since my agent has had no more luck than I did I am considering putting it back with e-booksonline.net or go through the torture of finding another agent! BTW POD sales were far higher than download sales.

Message 493 was left by DaveK on 2003-03-27 19:08:17. Feedback: 0/0 Fourth quarter results for Bullets and Lasers was 35 sold and Arrows and Lasers sold 8.

Message 492 was left by TomW on 2003-01-18 21:17:11. Feedback: 0/0 "Terra Nova" is still selling. In fact, it's still increased sales after 3 years of release. This tells me e-books ARE starting to pick up (though not as quick as any of us would like). 18 copies in 3rd qtr of 2002; 31 copies in 4th qtr of 2002. All up: approx 350 copies. FYI, POD hard copy sales have been poor (might have been a mistake - the truth is, with the current exchange rates and shipping costs, I can't ask friends to part with $Aus30 for a paperback!).

Message 491 was left by Gregory Koster on 2003-01-13 13:46:12. Feedback: 0/0 For Maren: Glad to see you around again. So far as the price of Wildside books, they show up in the middle of the "regular" SF press, whose prices seem to be in the $22-$29 range. Also true that other Wildside books have gone up to $37.95. You are right, it isn't that much more, but it is enough to start up the chair of our selection committee, who is President of the Against Science Fiction League. So I, the President of the Against the Against Science Fiction League have to crab and squawk at her. She throws lightning bolts at me, even while the rest of the committee ducks into the foxholes, pray, and settle down with popcorn to watch the show. For awhile, I could win by hitting the lightning bolts back at her with a baseball bat. But darn her, she switched my Louisville Slugger for an aluminum baseball bat that made the ghost of Ben Franklin smile as the lightning rod conducted the bolt through the bat, cracking my glass eye, snapping my suspenders, and setting my hair on fire. The rest of the committee thought this was the best part of the show, but they still wouldn't go against the chair, and the Wildside book lost. Still, post it in the "Help This Librarian..." topic. I've got asbestos suspenders, and a rubber eye instead of a glass one these days. Maybe that will make the difference. Best regards, Gregory Koster

Message 490 was left by DaveK on 2003-01-12 22:32:16. Feedback: 0/0 I don't expect this to generate anything until late in the year, but Will Fight Evil For Food is being picked up by Double Dragon Publishing.

Message 489 was left by Maren Henry on 2003-01-10 13:56:20. Feedback: 0/0 How much does a regular hardcover cost? (I never get to buy them!) I'd thought it was in the upper $20s -- maybe $27.99 or so -- so $32.95 doesn't seem that much higher to me. Libraries have deep pockets, right? ;) Gregory, you know I'll be hitting you up in the library topic soon. I found out yesterday that I've got a review coming out in Publisher's Weekly, and they've gone and given ANISE a star, no less! Not sure what it says about my confidence in my own work to say that I am amazed! But then I thought of Wildside as a small press, and my book as a small book, and so I didn't expect reviewers to take notice of it. I haven't been here at the Rumor Mill much lately. I've got a six week old little girl, born in November, who is stealing all my time and energy but repaying me with smiles, which seems a fair enough trade to me. :) Re. the John Scalzi book, that seems a complete fluke, and the book must have been of considerable quality -- though then you'd think an editor would've snapped it up if he'd submitted it the regular way.

Message 488 was left by Christopher Stires on 2003-01-03 13:41:39. Feedback: 0/0 Gregory: What happened to John is very cool. I wish him the best success. But I think the posting of his novel on the Web and selling it to Tor will be ranked along with self-publishing then selling it. It happens but don't count on it. Weren't Caputo's Rumor of War and Waller's Bridges of Madison County orginally self-published? (Don't quote me on those facts.) Anyway, it's a great story because it rarely happens like this. I wish it were easier. What a terrific idea. A web-site where novels are posted and editors can check them out and make bids. I like this idea. Now I just have to get all the editors to agree. I think, for now, the old-fashioned method of submission will prevail. Chris

Message 487 was left by Gregory Koster on 2003-01-03 11:42:10. Feedback: 0/0 Just when it seemed clear (to me anyway) that putting your work on your website was NOT the way to promote it and get a publisher for it, here comes John Scalzi: http://scalzi.com/w030103.htm Note the special circumstances. Yet, by golly, someone read it and offered him a contract complete with dough up front. Open up the discussion again. Best regards, Gregory Koster

Message 486 was left by DaveK on 2002-12-25 21:33:37. Feedback: 0/0 Fresh quarterly reports arrived yesterday from New Concepts showing that I had 34 more sales of Censored by Earth Command: Bullets and Lasers and six more of its sequel, Arrows and Lasers.

Message 485 was left by Amy Sterling Casil on 2002-11-20 17:48:19. Feedback: 0/0 Ooops! Re: prices. Yes, they're high, but discounts do help, plus coupons. Due to our basic costs, they will always be higher than "regular" books. However, there's no "waste" or very little, so over time, this will bring the prices down, and in fact, Maren & Russell's books are $5 less than mine was. OOWWWWW. Yeah, I know. LORDS OF DUS was $49 and it's selling great.

Message 484 was left by Amy Sterling Casil on 2002-11-20 17:45:27. Feedback: 0/0 Greg, those are great points. The web site thing is due to organization - as in "one head talking to another" and that includes the Winston Churchill snafu. I have just now begun to do a "new releases" actual press release - and I don't do the web page. It's "organizing itself" one step at a time. However, Winston Churchill was ALREADY misplaced before - it's sad to hear he's slipped back once again. And the next project will be to have the new releases on the web page ASAP. Thanks for the feedback. When you're working day to day, it's hard to see these very obvious things (Winston Churchill - yes, however ). > Amy :)

Message 483 was left by Gregory Koster on 2002-11-18 12:16:21. Feedback: 0/0 For Amy: The books are nicely done, and I have no doubt that they are well manufactured. But the prices! $32.95 for Maren's book. Yipe! That makes it hard to get for libraries, and I expect a lot of customers will gulp at said price. Also, the wildside siite persists in not having its current or soon-to-be-published titles. F'rex, neither Russell nor Maren's titles are on Wildside. This is mildly annoying when they ARE on Amazon and Books in Print. The odd classifying is puzzling too. Putting THE RIVER WAR by Winston Churchill in fiction will disconcert anyone who buys it thinking Churchill wrote a novel (he did, it just isn't THE RIVER WAR) and finds herself reading a fine account of one of Great Britain's later colonial wars. As for Fictionworks: after 19 months, laziness starts looking more and more like con artistry, particularly when it seems to be happening to so many of Fictionworks's titles. Best regards, Gregory Koster

Message 482 was left by Amy Sterling Casil on 2002-11-15 10:35:11. Feedback: 0/0 Yes, and it is even written in Engrish! (It will change today - every Friday). http://www.wildsidepress.com/newsletter.html

Message 481 was left by Amy Sterling Casil on 2002-11-15 10:30:18. Feedback: 0/0 It's just dawned on me that . . . December and January are the release months for two original first SF/F novels in hardcover: TOUCHLESS, by Russell Davis ANISE, by Maren Henry I prepared their publicity materials and they are "long gone" as we say, but both are gorgeous books, beautifully-written, and I know Russell and Maren will do well. There are not that many first novels in hardcover on Wildside's list, but these are two recent ones. If you have not, go to the Wildside site and look at the catalog (it isn't complete - Vera adds books to the store every week) and you will see the great variety, as well as the "look" that the books share. www.wildsidepress.com

Message 480 was left by Amy Sterling Casil on 2002-11-15 10:24:27. Feedback: 0/0 I looked at the Fictionworks site. All I can say is that I did the first five Ethshar novels for Palm yesterday because John was in a pinch and people have been asking for them. Not all of Wildside's books are in any organized e-book format order (some are available in all, some only through Amazon, some through Powells, etc.) Taking 19 months to put out an ebook with THAT cover is just too scary. All the covers are scary and awful. If they take that long, too, it means they're just plain not working. (The 2nd editions of LWE's Ethshar books all have an extra short story and material at the end, and beautiful covers by a talented artist who loves his work - they were released in an organized way as trade paperbacks in 2000-2001). Also - was paid for switch.blade yesterday (not complete, but most copies sold since it came out). I'm sure everyone who's had things on Fictionwise can say that they are selling well, esp. for a new product (we were picturing it as a very large bookstore in terms of customers & volume). And Palm sells more! So, this is slowly developing and growing - but . . . I feel badly for John. That's not a good "learning experience" and I don't think he deserved that horrible cover and the extreme unprofessionalism l/a/z/i/n/e/s/s. Hang in there and wait and work with people who know what they're doing. Maybe you CAN tell a company by its covers! (Those were sooooooo bad - that first one? EEK! "Is it a gay romance?" Looked like a gay S&S; BDSM "new age" romance to me.) Also, February will be the launch for Betancourt & Co., the new imprint for original hardcovers - women's fiction, general fiction and selected classics.

Message 479 was left by Shanahan on 2002-11-08 12:06:56. Feedback: 0/0 So much for that. Severed relations with Fictionworks. Done with e-publishing. Hell, if you want a copy of my book, send me five bucks and I'll e-mail a Word doc. ;-)

Message 478 was left by DaveK on 2002-08-29 17:48:11. Feedback: 0/0 Quarterly results for New Concepts arrived today: Bullets and Lasers sold 45 copies, Arrows and Lasers sold 6.

Message 477 was left by DaveK on 2002-08-17 10:52:08. Feedback: 0/0 Quarterly statement arrived from Hard Shell Word Factory: Beasts Are Us sold 22 downloads and 7 paperbacks in its first quarter. Witness Protection sold 10 downloads.

Message 476 was left by Shanahan on 2002-08-16 14:16:35. Feedback: 0/0 Grunting forward...now TFW says they're going to get in touch with an artist who specializes in fantasy. Well, jeez, there's a novel approach for a fantasy novel... By the by, for them what have seen what passes for Cumor on the TFW cover, here is what the original artist, Bob Hobbs kicked out for the original story, without the benefit of a description. (I supplied a description of the two characters I want on the cover, in physical and, shall we say, attitudinal description, and am being told that, given that info, it would be a "hard" job for any artist to tackle. Funny...Hobbs did okay...with less info. (And no, sadly, he's not available to do the book...)

Message 475 was left by Jennifer St. Clair on 2002-08-16 08:11:44. Feedback: 0/0 Good luck!

Message 474 was left by Shanahan on 2002-08-15 15:07:53. Feedback: 0/0 I must say this, though...through an e-mail conversation with someone at TFW, there's a chance that they may re-do the "Fabio with a sword" cover--same artist, but perhaps with a better understanding of what the book is about... Hold not thy breath, friends, for it may be unwise.

Message 473 was left by Jen on 2002-08-15 13:25:42. Feedback: 0/0 Yes, I know. :) But I've had good experiences as well as bad, myself. And just seeing my book as #15 (recent, top-rated) at Fictionwise was almost enough to make it worth it. (Even if it only needed five good ratings to get there.) Yes, small things make me happy.

Message 472 was left by Shanahan on 2002-08-15 09:35:23. Feedback: 0/0 Heh heh. My first response would be: Don't. ;-)

Message 471 was left by Jen on 2002-08-14 14:31:51. Feedback: 0/0 Hey, this might be the right place to post this... I'm compiling a list of "What to look for in an epublisher." Or, at least, I'll compile it if there's not one already out there somewhere... anyone got any suggestions?

Message 470 was left by Jen on 2002-08-14 14:22:33. Feedback: 0/0 You know, John, I'm really happy that my other publisher has sales reports online... They're updated about once a month, and I can see exactly how many books I've sold. (Although TFW has said something about implementing something like this, I think.)

Message 469 was left by Jen on 2002-08-14 14:20:51. Feedback: 0/0 Well, it's out. Finally! Eighteen months after acceptance.

Message 468 was left by Shanahan on 2002-08-13 15:43:18. Feedback: 0/0 Asked TFW for sales numbers. Got a reply that smacked of macro, advising that until a book has made $10 in royalties, they don't send anything out. (But remember to promote your book!) Wrote back that I didn't care about the money, I was curious about the numbers (I know of 2, maybe 3 for sure). Resisted the urge that I'd be glad to promote the book if it didn't still have a cover that smacked of gay porn.

Message 467 was left by Jen on 2002-08-02 17:50:10. Feedback: 0/0 Found it! ha. This new folder thing is tricky. This topic wasn't where I thought it would be.

Message 466 was left by TomW on 2002-08-02 10:13:20. Feedback: 0/0 19 copies for Terra Nova in the last quarter. Still ticking over slowly after 2 1/2 years. Total sales: 23 POD paperbacks, about 276 electronic copies. 300 all up.

Message 465 was left by DaveK on 2002-08-01 22:11:28. Feedback: 0/0 Royalty figures came in from Boson Books. These are all electronic versions only. Not available in paperback like my others: Rust Bucket - 20 copies Attack Butterfly - 13 Dust Bunny - 15 Space Rescue One - 19 Paravoid - 3

Message 464 was left by Shanahan on 2002-07-03 08:56:02. Feedback: 0/0 "Bust regards"....is that when you stare at someone's boobs?

Message 463 was left by david khalil on 2002-06-19 20:34:17. Feedback: 0/0 Dear Sir/Madam: Please visit my website: www.mosaicarts.5u.com assess my mosaics and contact me for Possible Publishing work. Bust regards David Khalil

Message 462 was left by TomW on 2002-05-07 08:02:24. Feedback: 0/0 16 copies of Terra Nova sold in the first 1/4 of this year. A bit down, but I'm told the colder (northern hemisphere) months always result in poorer sales (what do you guys do up there when you can't go outside much? Not read, obviously!)

Message 461 was left by DaveK on 2002-05-06 18:22:36. Feedback: 0/0 Royalty figures came in from Hard Shell for two books. Witness Protection sold 10 copies in the last quarter. Beasts Are Us hasn't sold any in its first quarter, but I have faith that it will do well. In other fronts, New Concepts notified me that two of my books with them will become available in print as well as electronic versions. No date set on when. Also, I've sent them a new manuscript, so I have hopes for that as well.

Message 460 was left by DaveK on 2002-05-03 19:22:22. Feedback: 0/0 Royalty statements for two books broken down by quarters arrived today with a nice check. Bullets and Lasers sold 11 and 13 copies in the previous two quarters. Arrows and Lasers sold 6 and 22 copies respectively. :)

Message 459 was left by Jen on 2002-05-02 20:11:47. Feedback: 0/0 lol, John.

Message 458 was left by Terry Hickman on 2002-05-02 18:32:41. Feedback: 0/0 John: [hee hee] Of course not.

Message 457 was left by J Shanahan on 2002-05-02 16:39:54. Feedback: 0/0 Isn't this like putting a dress on a pig? Not that I'm bitter.... ;-)