So I have shared the entire journey of Pentecost with the readers of this blog, and I have tried to be transparent along the way. I have shared the triumphs and also the difficult times in the hope that we can learn together. You can read/skim the entire journey here => First Novel.
Yesterday was very exciting because I received my first royalty cheque from Amazon since Pentecost was released on Feb 7th. They have payment terms of 90 days and pay by cheque to people outside the US for Amazon.com sales (which I have had a lot of questions about lately). So to round off the story, I thought I should share it with you in the spirit of honesty. Here it is.
I think there’s a lot of smoke and mirrors in the publishing world. People are secretive and keep things behind closed doors which can skew our perception of reality. Joe Konrath shares his numbers and encourages us all, so I’m sharing my (far more modest) sales in order to show you it can be done on a smaller scale. This cheque is a representation of a level of publishing success – very small, but for a new author with a first novel, it’s encouraging to me. I will make my costs back within a couple of months and then we’re into the happy times!
I sold 578 books on Amazon between February 7 – 28 and the total sales = US$1003.06 and GBP33.90. Because of the with-holding tax from the US Kindle store as I’m not a US tax-payer, I received a cheque for $702.14. The GBP royalties aren’t enough to warrant a cheque yet! (They have a threshold of $100 before payouts) No, this is not going to pay a mortgage but it will pay a couple of weeks rent and is not insignificant for a first month.
The exciting thing is that Pentecost continues to improve sales and ranking, so although I have lowered my price to 99 cents, the sales numbers are going up (as above).
I’ll forfeit the higher price for this first book and the next one in the series, Prophecy, will be back at $2.99 so the cheques will get bigger again after December. As I write this, Pentecost is at #277 overall in the Kindle store, #2 in Religious Fiction and #12 in Action/Adventure.
It’s also exciting to see my future as a pro-writer, blogger and speaker slowly coming more into focus. I fully intend to make it my full-time living in the next few years and move out of the day job. A few more books will mean the cheques will get bigger. I can aim for the success of Konrath, Hocking and Locke – and so can you!
Does this encourage you? What success are you aiming for?
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{ 57 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for sharing this! Yes, it’s certainly encouraging, but I also found it grounding. My inner grump said: “Yes, smart arse, you still have to wait three months for the royalties. Dial the expectations of instant fiduciary reward back a tad, okay?”
But regardless: Congratulations, Joanna! That’s a great piece of news!
Thanks Rob! I know a lot of people have been wondering where their cheques are but yes, 90 days is pretty shocking payment terms… but where else do you get a list that that? But I should get cheques monthly now as long as sales keep up.
Go Joanna!
Any cheque that comes from writing what you love is an absolute bonus. Our approach is to invest in Chris’s first love, writing old-school action thrillers, and while a new Jaguar would be a nice perk, I suspect seeing the book in print (and on Kindle) in all it’s glory will be the sweetest success.
Congrats!
Sarah and Chris Allen
http://www.facebook.com/intrepidallen
http://www.twitter.com/intrepidallen
http://www.facebook.com/brightseapublishing
Congratulations, Joanna, that is so fantastic! For a new author with a first novel these figures are brilliant. Imagine having 6 or 7 books out there. The average sale numbers of them will be larger then, I guess. That really could make a living. That is absolutely encouraging as I have the same aim that you have. But until now I have only written short stories and just started to plan my first novel, so I am at the absolute beginning of the journey.
Thanks so much for your honesty and all the information!
All the best with Pendecost and Prophecy and may your dream come true!
Kerstin
Exactly Kerstin – I need at least 5 more books and then I will have a more viable income – it’s exciting that I can actually see that happening. I understand the process – now I just need to do the work
Congratulations! Nicely done, Joanna. Thank you for your transparency in sharing this. And thanks, too, for all that you do via your blog and videos/podcasts for us “indies.”
Much success as you go forward with your dream to write full time.
I’m glad you enjoy the site Andy – I love sharing the journey with other writers.
The world is shaking beneath the feet of the traditional publishers. This is an incredible success story for a first novel – your first cheque is well-deserved. It’s great to feel a part of this self-publishing community and your honesty helps us all. I’ve just worked out that your book is selling at least one copy every hour!
ooh, that is exciting
John Locke sells one every 10 seconds I think – which is a great aim! The numbers will only go up over time – now the Kindle is selling in Walmart, sales should be massively boosted!
Here in Germany you can buy the Kindle since the 21st of April – three weeks now. Perhaps this will increase numbers, too, but I don’t know how many people will buy english books.
I hope I’ll get my Kindle in June as a birthday present. If not, I’ll buy it myself. The first book I will buy will be Pentecost. Can’t wait to read it.
Congrats and thank you so much for sharing your writing success — very happy for you and it’s inspiring to other writers.
Interesting tidbit about changing the price — are those who initially payed the higher price annoyed to see it go down to $.99?
It’s not such a big difference – but I hope I didn’t annoy anyone
actually, publishers play with prices all the time, right? Hardback, then discounted hardback, then remainder table … then paperback, then 3 for 2 special etc…. I think we are all used to changing prices.
Wow. That must be so exciting for you. I have been considering publishing my first novel which I am finishing up as an ebook so it’s encouraging to me to see someone else who has done it and has seen some tangible results.
Tangible results are the only ones that matter!
Although my personal interest is more in business and non-fictional writing than fiction writing, what you have achieved is simply amazing and is further proof that most traditional publishers will be put out of business within this decade unless they get a wake-up call. It also shows that, thanks to non-traditionalists like Amazon and Smashwords, independent authors and writers need not depend or worry about what traditional publishers think anymore.
The idea of a .99 book that can make hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars a month without any involvement from traditional publishers has got to scare them.
Thanks for being an inspiration to me and so many people.
Thanks Matthew – I am trying to pass on the inspiration that I get from Hocking, Konrath, Locke, Winters and others – it’s an exciting world right now!
Congratulations, Joanna. You are an inspiration.
One Love,
Geoffrey
Well done, Joanna. And you’ll soon have the withheld tax back, I presume, so you can hand it to the ATO before you leave our shores
Many congratulations, Joanna – though it was a long wait for payment! I hope Pentecost continues to sell well and the cheques keep rolling in!
Wow, thanks for sharing this with us! Helps us all learn! CONGRATS
Joanna,
Thank you for so openly sharing your journey, and congratulations on your much-deserved success.
Brilliant! Well done.
Congratulations! Your results are very encouraging to me as I launch my own indie publishing ventures. I have no doubt you’ll have increasing success, because you appear to treat your writing and publishing as a serious business. Thanks for your transparency.
Hi Candice – absolutely. This is very serious for me. I intend to be a professional writer in the next few years i.e. make the bulk of my income from writing, publishing and speaking. It’s a slow growth curve but I WILL get there!
Joanna,
Congratulations and kudos (or the British equivalent for informal affirmation)! I launched Unthinkable about the same time as you launched Pentecost, and I got my first payment from Amazon a few days ago. (I don’t have a big web presence like yours, so my payment was more modest.) I’m still looking for something from BookBaby (nook, iBookstore, Sony).
In the meantime, I continue to work over the draft for the first followup and the rough, minimalist outline for the second.
Keep writing!
Well done Jim and having the draft for the next one done is something I have to work on next!
Thanks for sharing! I love the way you have taken the publishing business head on and are sharing what you’ve learned along the way. I’m struggling with completing the edit of my first novel and wondering what I’m going to do with it once it’s complete. I’ve learned a lot since discovering your website a couple of days ago. It’s an unfair world for writers, but you have successfully blazed a trail through the wilderness. Kudos.
Thanks Linda. I’m certainly not anti-traditional publishing. I still think there’s a place for it. It takes a certain type of personality to want to do it all yourself (control freakery!)
So just assess what you want for yourself, and for your book before you leap either way. You can still pitch agents and publishers while you continue writing the next one and self-publish if that’s your choice. For me, the key is freedom and the ability to choose what I do with my creative works. Exciting times!
Congratulations Joanna! That’s fantastic. I love how you shared everything in such detail, and it’s definitely useful for those of us about to start on this path ourselves
Awesome! Congrats on your first check Joanna and many more to come! Am sure you will have a steady stream of income coming in (enough to say good bye to your day job
) once you have more quality books out in the market.
It is encouraging to see that you can make a pretty decent income with a quality self-published book. I also share the dream of having the flexibility to opt out of having a day job (which I still enjoy but is slowly becoming a distraction), and focus on things I am most passionate about. So this is encouraging
Best wishes,
Kannan
Woo-hoo! Congrats Joanna and thank you for sharing your numbers. You’re getting revenue, you’re getting sales, and you’re working. It’s a good start
Joanna, congratulations! Excellent start for a first-timer. Your dedication, commitment and early success are an encouragement to all of us. I applaud your transparency and I send good vibes for future, even-bigger cheques! Andrea
Congrats! I’m so excited for you Joanna. You hope you are very proud of your accomplishments, because we all are. Don’t know you personally of course, but I know from experience that the writing journey is difficult. Thank you for offering us some encouragement!
This is great, Joanna! How exciting to see your novel’s sales ranking going up, rather than down. And, a little pocket change never hurt anybody. Hopefully, one day it will get to large for your pocket.
Thanks all for your encouragement. I won’t post cheques every month, but wanted to share this first one as a representation of the end of one part of the journey and the start of the next steps! I love our author community – it’s so supportive!
Wow Joanna!
May I put my publishing consultant hat on for a moment and just tell you that, from the Australian perspective at least, that is an absolutely STELLAR first royalty cheque for an unknown novelist. And it was only one month’s sales!
It gives me cause to hope that one day, if I do it right, I might be able to change to the writer hat full-time as well. *goes off into momentary daydream*
You have worked hard and smart, and managed your campaign very, very well. Congratulations.
Wow, again. And double wow.
Thanks so much Belinda. I did think that it was pretty good after I heard at Sydney Writer’s fest that most authors get $5000 advances now, which basically I should get within the next 7-9 months, whereas most of those authors don’t earn out. Not sure it would sell so well in the AU market though, I really wrote it for a US market.
All the best with your writing!
Thank you so much for sharing! It’s definitely encouraging as a new writer, and it seems like you’re doing phenomenal! Enjoy the good things coming your way!
Congratulations, Joanna! I’m one of those who bought your book (paper version) through Amazon, solely because I happened upon your wonderful website. Your website even inspired me to start a blog at womenthrillerwriters.com. What’s great about writing is you can influence people in positive ways that can expand exponentially. Can’t wait to read Pentecost. It’s next on my list. If you want to post a guest blog on womenthrillerwriters.com, with a link to your website and a plug for Pentecost, let me know. Thanks for all you do for us!
Thanks so much Pamela, I really appreciate your support and I’m so glad you started a blog. It sounds like we write the same type of thing as well!
Joanna, I call this significant and exciting to see you are planning to quit the day job sometime. You’ve achieved so much doing this part-time, full-time will be phenomenal!
I am totally in awe of your progress and very excited for you. Hope to get together for a glass of bubbly soon:)
That is AWESOME!! Congratulations!
Congrats Joanna I am happy for you.
It’s not enough to make a living from yeah, but it’s still a great achievement to get the first royalty check for this experience which I am sure you enjoyed. It was all worth it in the end.
Imagine how things will be once you write the follow up to Pentecost. I am sure sales on both books will begin to rocket.
Hi, Joanna
Thanks for all your information and honesty. It does help and open our eyes to things we just might not have known about otherwise. Personally, I do find your blogs encouraging and realistic at the same time.
Congratulations on your sales. It is a great feeling to know hundreds are reading something you have written. I have been lucky with the sales of my children’s book, with over 600 copies out, and hope that once my novel is ready I can find my way through Amazon for some success also.
I have never looked at this as a means to getting rich. It has always been a journey to become a better writer and share what I have written. Anything beyond that is a bonus.
Thanks Cheryl, I see the “getting rich” thing as something that might happen when we have 20+ books selling well. I read that Nora Roberts has 140+ books out there, no wonder she is so wealthy!
but as you, I am doing this for an experience right now, and the income will come later!
I think it’s incredibly honest of you to post this, but I’m not sure we have a right to know. The internet seems to make the world so much smaller and in turn, those within it, so much braver. So much so, that they feel they have a right to know everything. They don’t.
I’m pleased your sales are going well and wish you all the luck in the world. I’ve recently downloaded the ebook of Pentecost and it’s sat waiting to be read. I’m really looking forward to it.
Thanks Rebecca. I did hesitate but I have blogged the entire journey and this part of it is just as important as other steps along the way. I set out to write a novel that was commercial, and this shows that it is. I hope you enjoy Pentecost!
Congrats Joanna, and thanks for sharing your journey.
You’re so amazing–thank you for sharing that with us! It is encouraging, and you deserve every bit of success.
(And it’s sad to say, but 90 days isn’t *too* bad–some of my corporate clients have started paying on 60-day cycles, even though I request 30!
)
This is encouraging to many people and it should be. This should come with a warning, however. If an author is not willing to promote one’s work, the results might not be as impressive. What’s more, as the Kindle Store gets flooded with more and more ebooks, it may be a lot more difficult to get these results. And for people who may think I am being negative, I am just being realistic. I self-publish traditional books and still do very well, having earned an income better than 95 percent of people in society for the last 7 years. I will eventually self-publish ebooks on Kindle but I am not betting that I can make a great living strictly from Kindle ebooks.
Ernie J. Zelinski
Innovator, Best-Selling Author, and Unconventional Career Coach
Author of “How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free”
(Over 125,000 copies sold and published in 9 languages)
and “The Joy of Not Working”
(Over 250,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages)
Thanks so much for sharing. I am so glad that you are seeing results. It gives me hope to know that there are so many publishing possibilities today. It gives me hope for my own upcoming novel. I wish you much continued success.
Thanks for sharing. That’s very inspiring in so many ways. I’ve been working my way through some of your audio and it’s great to see that the hard work on your paying is paying off for you. As Ernie said, the key is promotion and getting the word out. It’s kind of easy for us on the outside looking in to just see your success, but this website is a testament to the hard work and effort you’ve put in building your base. Best of luck going forward.
Joanna,
Thanks for posting this. I find it inspiring when people share the details of their successes with the public. I’m sure many aspiring authors wonder about the rewards of self publishing.
Good luck to you.
Bryan
Congratulations Joanna! Well deserved.
$780 is some pretty good coin.
I use Lightning Source and they have the same 90-day delay.
Well done Joanna, and best wishes for the future. A mutual friend Colin told me about your work, and it’s encouraging to see that there are successful UK self-publishers out there. Hopefully you and a number of us will soon start to have sales figures as large as the most successful of the American self-publishers.
I note that you had US tax withheld from your royalties. This is higher than UK corporate tax and is also inefficient in terms of cash flow. If you have not already done so, it is a simple process to claim for no US tax to be withheld, as the taxes are actually due in the UK. It took me 3 weeks to get my claims approved by Amazon.com and Smashwords – after getting a tax code from the IRS. If you get your claim approved before 31 December, then Amazon will also have to refund any withholding tax they have taken off in the current year. If you let Colin know if you have a Ltd company and how many shareholders, I will send you copies of the forms you need to complete and details of how to do so.
Thanks George – I have emailed you directly about this.
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