I Got Paid!!!

It took awhile and it meant learning a few more things but I finally got some money in the bank....I am so good at banking...oops, the account I WASN"T expecting it in however that is just me!!!!

I know a good many new Indie publishers expect to put a book on Amazon and immediately see the bucks flowing in. Well, I am not one of them. I figured if I could make it to two digits in sales I would be doing good!

I also knew if I didn't put anything into marketing, I wasn't going to get found! And nope, I am not easily found! that is ok. I will work on that when I have time however it is nice to see a little action!

Now the other thing I do know is that Amazon doesn't care if you have a high spike in sales immediately. They would rather see a steady incline and not petering off or declining where mine is heading.

Frankly, I am in the middle of starting a new job which is hard, moving into a new place...(don't they say moving is a life change similar to death as is a new job!?!?!?), well, frankly by day's end, I am exhausted, coffee or no coffee!!!

Oh the upside (or downside) the TV here is not set up and I do believe isn't all there and capable of being set up so I am not doing much in the evening, so I can rise early and get some writing in or whatever along with my practice...all things I MUST do for this new job, I can see it being the sort of job you need to have outlets with...just the way she goes!

My long term goal is still to retire with enough money coming in from sales to write full time and really put my murder mysteries series out there, so I am going to give myself a deadline to be slack to adjust to the new circumstances in my life, then I am going to make time to do what I need to do in the marketing department. I have researched key words and I shall get the hang of it all and use the money from sales to look into other avenues to get the books promoted...such as getting reviews. I held off this until I had made sure I had all the bugs worked out!!!!

Also, I am dickering to myself about the cost. The colouring books are ok, but with shipping, I am not sure about price of the shipping when it is included. I use Amazon Prime (for now) and sometimes buy for others, however that doesn't help my search engine.

The way it works as I understand it, Amazon has a printing fee which they take after they take 40 - 60% (maybe 45% now) of the book's price.

It isn't a great deal really however, I have noticed Amazon has grown to be one of the those ugly monsters of corporate greed like so many successful businesses. Instead of being satisfied, they just want more and more and more. Even so, compared to getting it done in a traditional way where you can expect soooo much less percentage wide on your sales, that it is still a better alternative.

If I had the means, I would go through someone who would list and push the book for me, however I have not been able to look into it enough yet. So far all the ones I have found have their own packages for getting it edited, illustrated, etc and I don't want that. Just published and promoted. I think I read it was around 11% after other fees. which, if that was to be Amazon, would be off the percent they are already taking leaving me about 34% depending.

However I remember working for a woman named Alma Houston who ran and Inuit Art Gallery.

I was there when she explained to new artists she had in her gallery how it worked...her explaination went like this:

What Alma said makes perfect sense and I am still thinking about it. The good news is, if they do their job well, they get paid more also so it is a win-win! It will take more research!

Keep plugging away! Eventually you will aquire all the skills and the profits will increase! Also,I know I am doing a series which means, even if I miss the window for marketing my current children's books, that I still can do it with the next three in the series I have well under way!

Good luck!