Tag Archive for: indie publishing

Mystery and Romance Authors – How Many Books Should You Publish?

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Antique Underwood Typewriter and Calla Lilies

Social media has swept instant and fleeting tidings over
us – the expectation of continuous news snippets. I wondered how this impacts the work of authors. In doing research, I found
an interesting quote from Donna Tartt, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The
Goldfinch:

“There’s
an expectation these days that novels – like any other consumer product –
should be made on a production line, with one dropping from the conveyor belt
every couple of years.”

Every couple of years? I was astounded. Quite a few authors, including New York
Times bestselling ones produce at least one book a year, such as Stephen King, Danielle
Steel, Harlan Coben, and Jeffery Deaver. I also know writers who publish four
books a year – and happen to be USA Today bestselling authors. Probably none of
the ones I’m thinking of will be honored with a Pulitzer, but they are
satisfying their fan base by penning multiple novels per year.

 ca
Antique Printing Press

It gives the aphorism “publish or perish” a whole new
meaning. The impact on genre authors to keep
publishing new books increases
their fan base, improves their rankings on Amazon, and sustains their
visibility among readers within their genres.

Yet The Goldfinch author takes ten years
(that’s right – a full decade!) to write a novel. A literary genius, Tartt has
fans across the globe. Plus, she’s backed by big publishing houses and their
gargantuan budgets, here and abroad.

Most of us who write genre would “perish” if we only produced
one novel every ten years.

Selling novels boils down to two basic issues:

A. Storytelling ─ writing a compelling and fascinating
story.

B. Markets ─ how these “consumer products” that Tartt
mentions are advertised and distributed.

In 2018, more than 1.6 million books (both print and eBook
with registered ISBNs) were published in the US alone. You can dismiss a
portion of these as coming from aspiring writers or people doing a memoir for
family purposes. But the point is made ─ the diversity of choices for readers
contributes to the difficulty new authors encounter when trying to distinguish themselves
in a crowded market.

Despite the intense competition, I would not for a minute give
up my writing! It’s the most satisfying, and craziest, endeavor I’ve ever done.

Care to
share how you distinguish your novels in the crowded market?

***

Photo
credits: Kathryn Lane for Antique Underwood Standard Typewriter, Printed page
flying off antique printing press; Bobbye Marrs for Nikki Garcia Trilogy

Kathryn Lane started out as a starving artist. To earn a
living, she became a certified public accountant and embarked on a career in
international finance with a major multinational corporation. After two
decades, she left the corporate world to plunge into writing mystery and
suspense thrillers. In her stories, Kathryn draws deeply from her Mexican background as well as her travels
in over ninety countries.

https://www.kathryn-lane.com

https://www.facebook.com/kathrynlanewriter/


Book Birthday!

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A year ago – wow, that year went by quickly – someone at Amazon pushed a button and In It For The Money launched into the world. Of course, the release ended up more of a splat than a soar. I foolishly agreed that a pre-sale period was the marketing tool du jour and worked with my editor and cover artist to create the prettiest, shiniest book of the series, while the link sat online for people to anticipate the upcoming book.

Yeah, that whole planning thing? Didn’t work out so well.

The author (that would be me) has to put an “asset” in place when setting up a pre-sale. Due to a snafu, that dummy file went out on release day to everyone who pre-ordered the book. (Yikes! Cringe!!) One saving grace – I’d marked up the file like crazy: “This is a placeholder. If you receive it, contact Amazon for the actual file.”

So, what’s the best way to describe the book release process? Sorta like having a baby. (Many authors compare the book writing process to actual birth.) Except sometimes the “baby” arrives butt-first and there’s some uncomfortable adjusting to do.

But stumbles and all, the anniversary of In It For The Money’s launch rolled around – and I decided, why not celebrate? Let’s call it a Book Birthday! In It For The Money is on sale at 75% off (only 99 cents – first time ever)! Grab your copy now!

IN IT FOR THE MONEY


In It For The Money by Cathy Perkins
Holly Price traded professional goals for personal plans when she agreed to leave her high-flying position with the Seattle Mergers and Acquisition team and take over the family accounting practice. Reunited with JC Dimitrak, her former fiancé, she’s questioning whether she’s ready to flip her condo for marriage and a house in the ‘burbs.

When her cousin Tate needs investors for his innovative car suspension, Holly works her business matchmaking skills and connects him with a client. The Rockcrawler showcasing the new part crashes at its debut event, however, and the driver dies. Framed for the sabotage, Tate turns to Holly when the local cops—including JC—are ready to haul him to jail. Holly soon finds her cousin and client embroiled in multiple criminal schemes. She’s drawn into the investigation, a position that threatens her life, her family and her already shaky relationship with JC.

LINKS:

Amazon: http://bit.ly/InIt_AmazonUniversal
Nook: http://bit.ly/Nook_InItForTheMoney
Kobo: http://bit.ly/Kobo_InItForTheMoney
iBooks: http://bit.ly/iBooks_InItForTheMoney

Taxis, Uber and Career Path Choices

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By Cathy Perkins

I had to go to LA for the day job this week. At LAX, I
trotted out to Ground Transportation. I’d heard LA didn’t allow Uber drivers in
the ground transportation aisle (where the nine million shuttles and taxis
wait), so I grabbed a taxi to head to my meeting. The driver shot away from the
curb before even asking my destination. 

Who knows, maybe he was afraid his fare
would escape.
After pulling up the street address from my email and
sharing the location with the driver, I opened an app to track our path to the
destination. The driver was livid and told me in no uncertain terms that he
didn’t want me telling him where or how to drive. Or that I thought I knew
better than he did how to get where we were going. There might have been a few
other “rules” thrown around, but I’d quit listening by that point.
I’m still not entirely sure what his actual objection was,
but I muted the sound and left the app running. Okay, part of the reason I run
the route app is security. I’m in a city I don’t know well, with a person I
don’t know the first thing about.  And
he’s not exactly making me feel safe as he drives like a maniac, squeezing into
non-existent gaps in traffic, alternating between sixty and zero in shoulder
wrenching seconds. (Yes, I put on my seat belt!) The other reason for running
the app is to put names to the streetscape flowing past my window. Oh look.
That’s Marina Del Ray with all the fabulous boats. I didn’t know Loyola
Marymount University had a campus here. It’s lovely.  
Somewhere along the way this driver ranted about Uber. By
this point, I’d tuned him out and looked at the window (while keeping a surreptitious
eye on the app and the route). When the meeting concluded and I needed a ride
back to the airport, who did I call? You got it in one. I tapped the Uber app
and a driver appeared within minutes.
The Uber driver’s car was new and spotless. The driver
himself was charming. In spite of what you may have read about some
disgruntlement among Uber drivers, this guy loved his job. He drove full time,
but set his own hours and avoided the late afternoon crush of LA’s notorious
traffic. I got the impression he spent most afternoons at the beach before
returning to the streets for several more hours of evening driving. (Great way
to get home from a club or restaurant if you’ve like to have a glass of wine
with dinner.)
The other information he freely shared was his business
structure. Because he’s been with Uber for over four years, his percentage of
the fare has increased from 80% to 90%. With his portion of the proceeds, he
covers all his own expenses, including the decision to upgrade (and afford) the
car he was driving. His positive ratings from passengers apparently also move
him up in the ranking for notifications in his area when he’s looking for his
next fare.
In the waiting area at LAX, I couldn’t help but compare the
two transportation modes to the evolving status of publishing. Taxis and
traditional publishing seem established and “safe” while Uber and independent
publishing seem riskier. That risk level in the newer technologies drops,
however, as the concept grows and evolves.
So how does transportation compare with publishing? While a
few big names still pull in significant advances from traditional publishers,
midlist authors have been cut left and right. Royalty rates are puny and print
runs are decreasing. On the plus side, the publisher covers most of the
production costs for the book. Likewise for the taxi driver, the rate of pay is
reduced, but the cab company pays more of the expense—which sometimes means a
sleek towncar and at others, a rust-bucket you hope makes it to your
destination. The author may be assigned a top notch editor and talented cover
artist, and receive superb marketing placement. Or he or she may end up with a new
untested editor and little publisher support.
Like the Uber driver, the independent author can potentially
earn a much larger royalty but also must cover his or her business expenses.
The author has the choice of where to spend and how much capital to allocate.
New car/clean up the existing vehicle? Hire a top notch editor/ask a friend to
beta read? What can the author competently handle and where is it better to
hire experienced assistants? Each step has financial repercussions. And each
person must make the career choice they feel is correct for them.
The most important decision the author (and driver) must
make however? What will give the passenger/reader the best experience?
Because isn’t that what it’s all about?

By the way, I’m sure you’ll be surprised to hear that next
time I’m in LA, I take Uber rather than stepping into that taxi.

An
award-winning author of financial mysteries, Cathy Perkins writes twisting dark
suspense and light amateur sleuth stories.  When not writing, she battles
with the beavers over the pond height or heads out on another travel adventure.
She lives in Washington with her husband, children, several dogs and the
resident deer herd.

Visit her at her website or her Amazon author page.