I'm turning the blog over to Pete Sortwell today. So, Pete, why are you quitting after selling 10,000 books? Are you mad?
I’m not really quitting, but I couldn’t think of a bigger headline. I did, however, sell ten thousand e-books in one year. Here’s how it happened …
One year ago, on October the 1st 2012, I hit publish on Amazon’s KDP self-publishing program. I’d spent the month before getting The Village Idiot Reviews together. It’s written in the front of the book, but for those of you that haven’t read it, I’ll tell you how and why I came about the idea in the first place.
I’m not really quitting, but I couldn’t think of a bigger headline. I did, however, sell ten thousand e-books in one year. Here’s how it happened …
One year ago, on October the 1st 2012, I hit publish on Amazon’s KDP self-publishing program. I’d spent the month before getting The Village Idiot Reviews together. It’s written in the front of the book, but for those of you that haven’t read it, I’ll tell you how and why I came about the idea in the first place.
Sadly, in August of that year I lost a very close friend, Dennis Roper. His death was something, that although not wholly unexpected, shook me and, at that time it felt like everything had changed. I wasn’t sure how I was going to move forward without my mate there by my side. I wanted to feel better and I knew that Dennis wouldn’t have wanted me sitting about miserably. Throughout the month of August there was what can only be described as uproar in the online writing community with the outing of several authors that had been caught either writing their own reviews or promoting their own work under different names, or to term it correctly ‘sock puppets’. The writing of fake reviews reminded me of the funny ones that had gone viral. (Check out Veet for men.) One evening I decided that rather than jump into any arguments (which would have been my reaction in the past, but I figured that whenever I’ve done that in RL, I usually end up in the shit myself somehow) I’d do something I’d never done before and keep my big mouth shut. I did more than that, in fact: I wrote some fake reviews of my own, The Village Idiot Reviews being the first book to link all those reviews together into a story.
I’d been watching other people on the writing scene for a while and I’d got an idea of what I didn’t want my book to look like. I knew I wanted it to look really professional both inside and out, so the only option was to use pros. Which is what I did. I’d already hooked up with an editor and proofreader, Julie Lewthwaite, while working on other, unreleased projects. I’m lucky that she’s more than just an editor, she’s also very experienced in most things I want to know and was able to point me in the right direction to find an artist. I knew I wanted something fun, so when I managed to get the services of Graham D. Lock I was over the moon. One thing though, I couldn’t afford him. So I asked to make a deal, Which was basically me saying ‘Please help me, I promise if this works I’ll use you for everything that comes after and pay your going rate.’
In fact this was the same deal I cut with everyone I worked with on TVIR. Luckily, all saw more promise in it than I did and agreed. I still thought it would be a disaster and that I’d never have to come good on my promise – not that I didn’t want to, I just wasn’t that confident in my work. I need to shout out to my mum here, also, as she actually covered half of the costs. Another thing I paid for was a decent product description; this helped, and it’s something I’ve used as a template for my other books. For no other reason than the career of the chap who did it, Mark Edwards, had taken off and his publishers think his time is better spent working on his own books. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to bring him in to my little project, though.
In fact this was the same deal I cut with everyone I worked with on TVIR. Luckily, all saw more promise in it than I did and agreed. I still thought it would be a disaster and that I’d never have to come good on my promise – not that I didn’t want to, I just wasn’t that confident in my work. I need to shout out to my mum here, also, as she actually covered half of the costs. Another thing I paid for was a decent product description; this helped, and it’s something I’ve used as a template for my other books. For no other reason than the career of the chap who did it, Mark Edwards, had taken off and his publishers think his time is better spent working on his own books. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to bring him in to my little project, though.
I pressed publish and just hoped that before I died it would recover the small cost it had taken to put out. It took less than a week to cover costs and by week two I’d had an 80 sale day and been the highest in the Kindle ranking that I’ve ever been: #314. I was just short of the top ten in humour and I was made up. If that wasn’t good enough, I started to get reviews, and some from people I didn’t know either. There was nothing for it, it was time to write another one. So I did. The Office Idiot Reviews came out in November, followed by The Idiot Government Reviews in December. By the end of 2012 I’d sold my first thousand.
The bug had got me by then and in January I started a romcom; large market, I thought, lovely. However, large market means large competition. Dating In The Dark: sometimes love just pretends to be blind has done OK, though. In fact, my other works this year, More Village Idiot Reviews, The Diary Of An Expectant Father, and The Diary Of a Hapless Father have all done OK. All were put out with the hope that they just wouldn’t lose me money, which they haven’t, and the ones I’ve just mentioned all paid for themselves within the first month, (except for Dating In The Dark: sometimes love just pretends to be blind, which took two, but it’s a longer book).
The bug had got me by then and in January I started a romcom; large market, I thought, lovely. However, large market means large competition. Dating In The Dark: sometimes love just pretends to be blind has done OK, though. In fact, my other works this year, More Village Idiot Reviews, The Diary Of An Expectant Father, and The Diary Of a Hapless Father have all done OK. All were put out with the hope that they just wouldn’t lose me money, which they haven’t, and the ones I’ve just mentioned all paid for themselves within the first month, (except for Dating In The Dark: sometimes love just pretends to be blind, which took two, but it’s a longer book).
I’ve since experimented with box sets, or boxed sets; I don’t know which one is correct, but I have put them out and they’ve worked. I did decide something about pricing early on, and that was that I wasn’t going to be flogging 100k words for $1.99 when I could write something tight, for 30k and get the same money; as a result, most of my books are shorter than people’s who’ve got a deal. I don’t think this takes away from them, though. DITD is 51k, so is a novel, and it works. It’s my longest self-published work. I suppose in a way there is a reason why I am not big on fluff and filler; I don’t need to be, I’ve no one telling me that I need to submit between 70 and 90k, so I don’t, it’s as simple as that. I can also get more product out there if I stick to the lower word count. That isn’t to say if a story needed it, I wouldn’t go further; I’m working on DITD2 at the moment and it’s going to go over … how far? I don’t know yet, as I’m still working on it and I let the story dictate to me when it’s done. I don’t plan that much.
I’ve put all my books into paperback and although I haven’t sold that many, I think it adds something to the Amazon page when there is a choice. DITD will soon be an audiobook too and again, the deals been done, with the view of more to come if it works. That is something I’m really excited about as I listen to more books than I read.
People ask me lots of times, what’s your secret. There isn’t one. I’ve done the same have others have done and people have liked my work. I would say to anyone thinking of self-publishing though, put some time, money and hard work into your project, if you don’t you can’t expect anyone else to. (Well, hopefully, it won’t be hard work for the reader, but you know what I mean.) One thing I’ve learnt is that I don’t always need to make my own mistakes. If I see someone run across the road while a lorry's coming, I won’t do that. Likewise if I see someone link-dropping their book every time they comment, I won’t do that either. In fact, in recent months, I’ll only post my paid for books links once, then I’ll only share the free ones on Facebook. Maybe I’m going about that wrong, but I would much rather give people I know the books for nothing than charge them, then expect them to share the link when it goes free. I’d be pissed off if someone did that to me. Maybe not once, but I’ve now got ten products.
I’m lucky enough to have people contact me on Facebook to tell me how much they enjoyed reading something of mine. This is something I never thought would happen. It’s nice, though, and I always try and give people who take the time to contact me something for free. There really has been little more to my success than writing a book people wanted to read, investing my time (even when I’d much rather have been talking about writing than doing it), my money, and being nice to people, both fans and the people who work for me.
People ask me lots of times, what’s your secret. There isn’t one. I’ve done the same have others have done and people have liked my work. I would say to anyone thinking of self-publishing though, put some time, money and hard work into your project, if you don’t you can’t expect anyone else to. (Well, hopefully, it won’t be hard work for the reader, but you know what I mean.) One thing I’ve learnt is that I don’t always need to make my own mistakes. If I see someone run across the road while a lorry's coming, I won’t do that. Likewise if I see someone link-dropping their book every time they comment, I won’t do that either. In fact, in recent months, I’ll only post my paid for books links once, then I’ll only share the free ones on Facebook. Maybe I’m going about that wrong, but I would much rather give people I know the books for nothing than charge them, then expect them to share the link when it goes free. I’d be pissed off if someone did that to me. Maybe not once, but I’ve now got ten products.
I’m lucky enough to have people contact me on Facebook to tell me how much they enjoyed reading something of mine. This is something I never thought would happen. It’s nice, though, and I always try and give people who take the time to contact me something for free. There really has been little more to my success than writing a book people wanted to read, investing my time (even when I’d much rather have been talking about writing than doing it), my money, and being nice to people, both fans and the people who work for me.
So KDP Select? Yep, I use it. Have done for almost a year and it seems to work, although – and this is the hard thing to understand – a successful free promotion (where you give your books away for free on Amazon) actually costs money. With all the free books that are out there the grabber won’t find my little effort if they’re just browsing, so I rely on their favourite website to email them and tell them about it, and that costs. However, I’ve seen the results, so it’s something I’ll continue to do until I don’t.
I’ve learnt so much over the last year, It’s like being a project manager when you’ve got three guys doing four or five jobs for you, giving feedback on work is something I struggle with if I’ve not made myself clear in the first place, however it all just comes down to being nice about it and working with people rather than moaning or placing blame. One thing overall that I’ve learnt is that dialogue helps most things. Not speaking doesn’t. The other thing I’d like to say is that most of my problems on this front have been my own, where I’ve been trying to do too many things at once and don’t explain myself well enough rather than anyone that I’ve worked with. I’m surprised they all put up with me, to be honest.
There really isn’t much more to it than that. I’ll stop short of saying I’ve been lucky and go with fortunate. The reason I say this is because sitting tapping away on a keyboard at 2a.m. when everyone else is in bed doesn’t feel much like luck, it feels more like hard graft.
I don’t like to forget the people that have helped me get where I am now, which is slightly better off and slightly more tired than I’ve ever been, with a pile of books I’ve written myself. This time last year I had a pile of books that I had short stories in. so it’s nice to see all my effort sitting on my shelf.
That’s about it for now, like most things I’ve left this to the last minute and have probably forgotten about something, but if I think of anything I’ll come back to it. I wanted to write this because during the first couple of months I was desperately looking for blogs that spoke about the experience of others. If I hadn’t been so busy writing the books in the last year I might have kept one myself, but unfortunately I would never have kept it up and I knew it, so I did what I always do when I know I can’t give it my all, I didn’t bother. That’s the difference between writing a blog and writing a book, deep down inside, with the little bit of my ego that I didn’t want to tell people about, I knew I could write a book that people would like. My low self-confidence stopped me trying for a long time, but in the end, and after Dennis going, I knew it was time to start and time to prove to myself I could. What’s next to prove? I have no idea. Maybe a sitcom. There, I’ve said it now, it’s out of the little part of my brain that cares what people think.
That’s me.
I’ve learnt so much over the last year, It’s like being a project manager when you’ve got three guys doing four or five jobs for you, giving feedback on work is something I struggle with if I’ve not made myself clear in the first place, however it all just comes down to being nice about it and working with people rather than moaning or placing blame. One thing overall that I’ve learnt is that dialogue helps most things. Not speaking doesn’t. The other thing I’d like to say is that most of my problems on this front have been my own, where I’ve been trying to do too many things at once and don’t explain myself well enough rather than anyone that I’ve worked with. I’m surprised they all put up with me, to be honest.
There really isn’t much more to it than that. I’ll stop short of saying I’ve been lucky and go with fortunate. The reason I say this is because sitting tapping away on a keyboard at 2a.m. when everyone else is in bed doesn’t feel much like luck, it feels more like hard graft.
I don’t like to forget the people that have helped me get where I am now, which is slightly better off and slightly more tired than I’ve ever been, with a pile of books I’ve written myself. This time last year I had a pile of books that I had short stories in. so it’s nice to see all my effort sitting on my shelf.
That’s about it for now, like most things I’ve left this to the last minute and have probably forgotten about something, but if I think of anything I’ll come back to it. I wanted to write this because during the first couple of months I was desperately looking for blogs that spoke about the experience of others. If I hadn’t been so busy writing the books in the last year I might have kept one myself, but unfortunately I would never have kept it up and I knew it, so I did what I always do when I know I can’t give it my all, I didn’t bother. That’s the difference between writing a blog and writing a book, deep down inside, with the little bit of my ego that I didn’t want to tell people about, I knew I could write a book that people would like. My low self-confidence stopped me trying for a long time, but in the end, and after Dennis going, I knew it was time to start and time to prove to myself I could. What’s next to prove? I have no idea. Maybe a sitcom. There, I’ve said it now, it’s out of the little part of my brain that cares what people think.
That’s me.
Thanks goes to (and this isn’t exclusive as I’m a scatterbrain)
Julie Lewthwaite
Graham D. Lock
Craig Douglas
Darren Sant
Luca Veste
Danny King
Andy Rivers
The Ayris Brothers, Ian & Stu
Graham Smith
Ruth Jacobs
Mark Edwards
Jack Dean
Chris Grant
My mum & dad
My wife, Lucie
My brother and sister
My mate, James Vickery.
Everyone who I know personally, from Facebook, and fans who’ve bought my books and then told others about them.
So, that’s about it.
Cheers, Pete – here's to the next 10,000!
About the author.
Pete is 32 and lives with his wife, Lucie, and their pet sofa, Jeff. He's been writing for just under three years and they've been pretty eventful; well, more eventful than he thought sitting on Jeff, typing, would be, anyway.
First published in the Radgepacket anthology with a story he'd written during month five of his new hobby, Pete's now featured in a total of ten different anthologies and has been amongst some very fine company. (Although I've been the best in all of them, I know that because both my Mum and Jeff told me and they're both honest-to-God Christians ... possibly.)
Author of comedy e-books The Village Idiot Reviews, The Office Idiot Reviews, The Idiot Government Reviews, and More Village idiot Reviews. These books sell more than he ever thought they would, and he's hooked. Dating in the Dark is Pete's first self-published novel. His traditionally published novel, So Low, So High, was published by Caffeine Nights in June 2013.
Books:
Diary Of A Hapless Father: months 0-3
UK: http://amzn.to/17Gmx56
US: http://amzn.to/1fGnsaB
Diary Of An Expectant Father
UK: http://amzn.to/16wiM3Q
US: http://amzn.to/14mH41a
So Low So High
UK: http://goo.gl/tZqGK
US: http://goo.gl/pr3QR
More Village Idiot Reviews
UK: http://goo.gl/EgNHa
US: http://goo.gl/H2qdk
The Idiot Government Reviews
UK: http://amzn.to/X0oZOP
USA: http://amzn.to/WIDDPk
The Village Idiot Reviews
UK: http://goo.gl/mLyPW
USA: http://amzn.to/ROuSz5
The Office Idiot Reviews
UK: http://amzn.to/WI6sga
USA: http://amzn.to/Xs8SfM
Dating In The Dark: sometimes love just Pretends to be blind
UK: http://amzn.to/XD8y1S
USA: http://amzn.to/ZEwJHI
Julie Lewthwaite
Graham D. Lock
Craig Douglas
Darren Sant
Luca Veste
Danny King
Andy Rivers
The Ayris Brothers, Ian & Stu
Graham Smith
Ruth Jacobs
Mark Edwards
Jack Dean
Chris Grant
My mum & dad
My wife, Lucie
My brother and sister
My mate, James Vickery.
Everyone who I know personally, from Facebook, and fans who’ve bought my books and then told others about them.
So, that’s about it.
Cheers, Pete – here's to the next 10,000!
About the author.
Pete is 32 and lives with his wife, Lucie, and their pet sofa, Jeff. He's been writing for just under three years and they've been pretty eventful; well, more eventful than he thought sitting on Jeff, typing, would be, anyway.
First published in the Radgepacket anthology with a story he'd written during month five of his new hobby, Pete's now featured in a total of ten different anthologies and has been amongst some very fine company. (Although I've been the best in all of them, I know that because both my Mum and Jeff told me and they're both honest-to-God Christians ... possibly.)
Author of comedy e-books The Village Idiot Reviews, The Office Idiot Reviews, The Idiot Government Reviews, and More Village idiot Reviews. These books sell more than he ever thought they would, and he's hooked. Dating in the Dark is Pete's first self-published novel. His traditionally published novel, So Low, So High, was published by Caffeine Nights in June 2013.
Books:
Diary Of A Hapless Father: months 0-3
UK: http://amzn.to/17Gmx56
US: http://amzn.to/1fGnsaB
Diary Of An Expectant Father
UK: http://amzn.to/16wiM3Q
US: http://amzn.to/14mH41a
So Low So High
UK: http://goo.gl/tZqGK
US: http://goo.gl/pr3QR
More Village Idiot Reviews
UK: http://goo.gl/EgNHa
US: http://goo.gl/H2qdk
The Idiot Government Reviews
UK: http://amzn.to/X0oZOP
USA: http://amzn.to/WIDDPk
The Village Idiot Reviews
UK: http://goo.gl/mLyPW
USA: http://amzn.to/ROuSz5
The Office Idiot Reviews
UK: http://amzn.to/WI6sga
USA: http://amzn.to/Xs8SfM
Dating In The Dark: sometimes love just Pretends to be blind
UK: http://amzn.to/XD8y1S
USA: http://amzn.to/ZEwJHI
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