Is there room for one more author? I'll have something by Friday

Great questions!
1. That's tough to answer as this will vary from person to person greatly. For me, it was probably about 20 (not all full length, many novella's). But again, it all depends on when you find your audience. It doesn't need to be that one "bit hit" (something I still have never had. I've hit the USA Today list a few times, but each time was due to a Bookbub). I think the key is to write a specific audience and work to develop "fans" that become repeat buyers. So instead of a new fan being worth a single sale (or 2 bucks), a new fan could be worth 5-10 sales! (10-20 bucks). I think that's when your income really starts to grow.
2. Two things. Building an email list that I could launch too, and focusing on QUALITY over QUANTITY. If you really focus on every aspect of your books and build them up to be great, then you have a much easier time getting great promotion slots (such as BB, ENT, etc).
3. No erotica! Not a fan. I write mainly Thriller and Action Adventure. But dabble in Romance, Mystery, and Science Fiction.

Thanks for the tips. I learned something today: I need to write more books.  How long is a novella?

For what it's worth, I appreciate the anonymity.

Nevermind the doubt for a second. I'll take his offer.

1. How many books did you write before getting steady 6-figure sales?
2. What did you find to be most helpful in your advertising?
3. Are you an erotica author (please say no), romance, sci-fi, or fantasy?

Please note that I'm cheap so I don't have disposable income for purchasing advice. But I will thank you for any free advice you have to offer.

Keep in mind that free readers generally tend to be harsher, they're not as picky about downloading as the folks buying books because they enjoy certain genres.

Then again, I personally read the 3-star reviews before the 5-stars when buying books.

Are they still $50 a piece?

Purely venting here.

In the two scant years that I've been tapped into the at-large indie community, it seems that a big segment has shifted from information sharing to one concerted effort to part other indies from a whole lot of cash. The free webinar that provides a tantalizing promise of some self-publishing holy grail--IF one wastes no time signing up for the Very Expensive Course That Will Teach You All The Tricks.

I'm not referring to any one person or group or course in particular, and I'm sure some of the courses are amazing. But there are days recently when I feel like I'm watching one gigantic hustle, and it's kind of burning me out.  /vent

Pure venting with useful pieces of truth

I think these "holy grail" courses are designed to leech off the desperation and impatience of struggling authors. Like every other field, literature is competitive, and barring connections to the publishing world or extreme luck, there are no shortcuts. Like every other consumer industry, publishing requires marketing, quality control, resources, technology, labor, etc... These "courses" you're (rightfully) upset about are designed by business folks who recognize authors as dreamers (like every other type of artist) and have plans to capitalize on the dreams; they offer alleged short-cuts to help people "speed up the process the best-seller."

In other words, they're like the guys who sold "gold detectors" back during the gold rush. Most miners made an aggregate nothing off the gold they found, but the "gold detector" sellers got rich.

Tell me I'm not the only one who struggles to write, because life just seems to get in the way.

I started a new job in September, which is proving to be workload overload.

I love writing, but at the moment it's just a hobby, and by the time I've done a full day's work, then brought home work to finish, I'm exhausted!

In the last 5 days I've only manage 2,500 words feel like Book 2 in my trilogy might never get finished!

What's your day job? It sounds like you struggle with finding time. Don't be too hard on yourself. Things get done when they get done

Looks interesting, but I think I'm going to wait and see. The pitch looks likes it's another marketing session.

Looking for plot holes

Last year, I had a couple promotions and managed to hold a book on the "top-20 genre list" for a couple months. It kept the sales going, though it's starting to taper off now. So this isn't a permanent solution, but it could buy you a year of steady sales

I think it depends on length of novel, type of story, and what else you have going on. It takes me half-a year to a year to write a novel too, so you're not alone

For those of you who write under a pseudonym, do you use a photo? That seems like it might defeat the purpose, although I guess it would depend on exactly how much anonymity you really want and your chances of being recognized. Do you talk about your life in your About The Author section? Do you have a website or blog?

I do, but I try to keep mine vague. I think you should be okay keeping a blog without diving too much into the personal life

 

Good luck! I'm definitely interested to see the results. Out of curiosity, what was the timeline of your momentum since publication? A good few months of sales before slowing down or a sudden drop?