How To Self Publish A Book And Make Money

Sometimes when you blog, it can feel like you're blogging into ether because it seems like no one is listening.

But then there are times I'll get an email that blows me away. And I'll know someone is.

It reminds me that there are some listeners; that people are not only listening, but actively taking the advice and using it to change their lives.

The following is one such email; received from a self-published author who broke the six-figure mark.

And, she credits posts she read on this blog for that, and for getting her into self-publishing in the first place.

The dawn of a New Year is when many of us turn our attention to goals we want to accomplish.

And while "now" is always the best time to start anything in my opinion, if the calendar turning to a New Year is what spurs you, then I hope this post inspires you to get going.

Following is part of what this reader said, and why I wrote this post.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate link(s), which means the site owner may earn a commission/referral fee — at no extra cost to you — should you make a purchase.

A Self-Published Author Breaks the 6-Figure Mark (You Can Too!)

First, I want to let you know – again – how much I appreciate your blog. You've inspired me on so many avenues about writing and kept me moving when things weren't so good.

As you know, it's easy, as a writer, to undercharge for our services and/or give it away for free and you have encouraged against this so many times. You were so right.

I struggled many years and I've done it all – copyediting, academic ghostwriting, transcription, article writing (for pennies) – but it didn't all click until about five years ago when I actually sat down and wrote my own book. BAM!

I would love someday to be like you and live in the Caribbean where I can live and work:)

Many years ago, the first article you wrote about doing that…you were either thinking about it, planning the book – caught my attention and I've been reading your blog ever since.

[Earning] $100k only happened once and hopefully I should be close this year [2019] as well. It's been going up and up and, like you, I'm all about making multiple income streams. That's the fun part!

I added coaching sessions based on my blog and book and it was THEN that things took off.

Next will be an online course and I'm recording podcasts for that right now which I am excited about. I will likely take YOUR course about it to learn more.

Also, about once or twice a year, someone that I coach will have a great book idea (for themselves) and I will encourage them to do it and then help with that. …

I'll do all the editing, some ghostwriting, and all areas of self-publishing. This has really proven to give my income a boost. So, although it's not all about the self-publishing, everything I do has come to pass because of that.

I've got several fiction stories half written and plan to do that too…. THIS is why I've got to break down and get the help for the tasks that bog me down…lol. Now you've motivated me to do that as well…thank you!

Working for ourselves just rocks and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
###
Super inspiring, right?!

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How to Make Money in Self-Publishing in 2021: 11 Tips

I was floored when I read that email and actually got a little teary. So if self-publishing is something you've been wanting to do, following are ten of my best tips on how to make your indie-publishing dreams a reality.

I. Prepare Mentally for the Slog

I start with this because I firmly believe that if your head is not right, you'll give up before you even get started. So prepare for this to be a marathon, not a sprint. Your first book might do well or it might bomb, but don't even worry about it.

Celebrate the fact that you finished a book, then get going on the next one, which is always your best marketing tool by the way.

My first romance novel bombed, and it took almost a year before I wrote the next one. But I'm glad it happened, because as I explained in this guest post on HorkeyHandbook:

Well, that first flop turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it's what made me do some research on exactly what it takes to make money writing romance.

Over 50 romances later – some with goo-gobs of sales; some selling not a single copy in months — I'm still writing. Money in self-publishing is made in volume for the most part, no matter your niche. So be prepared for this – and keep writing.

II. Decide on a Niche/Genre

I write non-fiction and fiction (romance). My fiction outsells my non-fiction by a landslide.

Because I write in the number-one selling book genre of all time (romance), it's hard NOT to get sales.

If you're a decent writer (you don't even have to be a very good one); and can create characters readers can relate to, you can find an audience as a romance writer.

That's just the truth.

I've seen some horrible self-published stories on Amazon – but you can tell by the numbers, they're selling.

Now strive to be better, of course. But don't think you can't make money writing romance if you're no Nora Roberts.

You can! But, I digress.

Staying true to the title of this post, if you want to make a full-time living as a self-published author, do your research on niches.

Choose one where it's easier to make money; notice I didn't say easy; I said easier.

For example, I happen to know that it's harder to make money writing horror than it is to make money writing romance.

Now I'm not saying that if horror is close to your heart and that's what you love to write, don't go for it. You can never, ever discount passion.

But maybe make that your second niche — for now. If making money is important to you, go the easier route. Select a popular niche where it's easier to find an audience and start earning.

Related Post: Which Sells More — Fiction or Non-Fiction?

III. Have Prolific Output

Once you get your niche down, then it's time to put the pedal to the medal and start pumping out titles.

I once wrote 44 novellas (short fiction romance) in 22 months. I don't advise that, but I also know of authors who've written 100 titles in a year (also shorties). And yes, short fiction sells.

For 2021, my goal is to hit the $10,000 mark in earnings. This is totally doable as my books tend to be novellas (in the 25,000 to 35,000-word range). Rocket Keyword Research

I've written them as short as 10,000 words, and as long as 55,000, but my comfort range is 25,000 to 35,000 words.

Also, I have a huge back catalog (almost 60 books). When you put out a new one, it drives sales of the older ones.

Again, in my experience, money is made in self-publishing by volume, especially in romance. So pump those titles out.

Tip: Write sequels. If book 1 does well, do a sequel. Readers love them (if they're written well) and it's an easy way to make more money seamlessly as a self-published author.

Four of my best sellers are sequels: A Lover for Beth, Ruthless Love, A Taste of Tara and Priced Out of Love. None of them were planned. I waited to see if the first book was going to sell well. Why?

Because there's nothing more soul-draining than writing a sequel to a book that did poorly in sales. It saps my creativity. So I wait for sales on book 1. If it does well, then I know that a percentage of its buyers will buy book 2, and so on.

FYI, here's an easy way to distribute your books in lots of places to maximize your self-publishing income.

IV. Daily Word Count

As in, hold yourself to a daily word count. This will ensure that your output is consistent. Consistency is key to being prolific.

"Make Writing a Habit" Tip: Commit to a low, daily minimum. In my private, Facebook romance writing group, I ask students to write at least 50 words/day (5 days week). Why is this so effective?

Because getting started is often the hard part. Once you start writing, 90% of the time you'll write much more than 50 words.

But if you don't, you won't need to feel bad about it and beat up on yourself (and possibly quit altogether), because it's so easy to bang out just 50 words.

In essence, you trick yourself into writing more!

V. Line Up Help

Sites like Fiverr make it hella easy to find things like affordable proofreaders, copy editors, ebook cover artists, etc.

Don't even get in the habit of trying to do everything yourself. I did it for years and it's one of the biggest mistakes I made as an indie author.

Hire help.

Even if you set aside just a $100 to $200 budget initially, it can be used to get some cover art done and hire a proofreader.

This way, you can outsource these functions and get started on your next book.

This also means you're much more likely to treat your self-publishing career like a business from jump. Businesses spend money to make money. And if you're spending money, trust me, you'll work like hell to make it back!

So plan to spend a few bucks. It's an investment that could pay off bigger than you ever expected.

VI. Don't Worry about Sales

I know this may sound counter-intuitive, but don't worry about sales early in your self-publishing career.

Yeah, keep an eye on them to see if you should, for example, write a sequel or do a spin-off (another great way to sell more books by the way), but don't stress about them. It makes it too easy to talk yourself into giving up.

Here's why? Most of your sales will come from just a few of your books. In the research I've done, this holds true for almost every author – self-published and traditionally published. What this means is a couple of things:

(i) You're much more likely to have a "hit" the more you publish; and

(ii) A lot of the books you write won't sell well.

If you know and accept this going in, writing will be much more fun because you're more likely to take the long-range view of "Maybe this will be the one."

Another thing you should know is, you can't predict what the breakout book(s) is going to be. When A Lover for Beth took off, I couldn't for the life of me understand why.

I didn't think it was my best book (I think my first one is better – 3 Weeks til Forever), but readers like what they like.

If everybody knew the formula, trust me, the Big 5 or 6 New York City publishing houses would never publish another dud. But nobody can predict it, so don't rack your brain trying. Just keep writing and let the chips fall where they may.

Related Post: How to Write & Self-Publish an Amazon Best-Seller

VII: Publish in Different Formats

Paperback Books

I published my first paperback in 2019. I used to say that I'd never publish in paperback. Most of my sales still come from ebooks, but paperbacks are still popular with readers.

In fact, stats show that paperback books still outsell ebooks. This may come as a surprise for many, especially with the popularity of e-readers like the Kindle.

And, since sites like Draft2Digital make it easy to format and publish paperbacks, I got on the paperback bandwagon. After all, it's like found money because I earn for books I've already published.

Audiobooks

I still haven't published an audiobook, and am in no rush to. Why? Because I go where the money is, and it's still in ebooks for me. But, I will get around to it one day, because audiobook sales are growing.

Here's a self-published author who earns $50 to $100 per month from just one of his books. And, it cost $0 to get it done. He explained, saying:

Putting out your own audiobook used to be an expensive gamble and it took a long time. Amazon changed all that when they bought Audible and incorporated a new business model into their existing system.

Now you can do a royalty share arrangement between you, the narrator that you pick, and Amazon. …

Audible's pricing is variable between purchases and subscriptions, but I get between $50 and $100 a month from the audio version of A Better Life for Half the Price and the narrator is getting the same.

One finished book + three versions produced (ebook, audio, paperback) = more money from one product!

And this is why self-publishing is so cool.

VIII. Promote Your Books

At the end of 2018, I tried Amazon Ads for the first time. I can't believe it took me so long to get on this bandwagon!

However, to be honest, I'm kinda glad it did because now that I know about them, I have a HUGE catalog to promote.

As I said above, I've self-published almost 60 romance novels as of this update. So if readers discover me via one of my Amazon book ads, a percentage will check out other titles. #BookMarketingWin!

Despite having some success with Amazon Ads, I still haven't gotten consistent with them. Why?

To be honest, it's because I just don't have the time to devote to learning how to become highly sufficient. Because I have several writing incomes streams, I haven't felt pressured to hop on that bandwagon consistently.

But I'm sure I'll get around to it; maybe in 2021.

My goal this year is to hit $10,000 in sales — per month — with my romance writing. And while Amazon Ads may help me reach that goal sooner, my goal is to just continue to publish.

I have a large enough back catalog that I can reach this milestone without Amazon Ads, but I'll definitely be devoting some time to learning how to do them once I hit that milestone.

Book Marketing Tip:Wait until you have a few titles published before you start to spend money on marketing. I'd say three to five books at least. Why?

For the reason I stated just a little bit ago (more books for readers to buy once they discover you).

This way, the money you spend on marketing really works for you, instead of having just one title — and nothing else for readers to purchase if they like your book.

IX. Start an Email List

Do this from day one. Why? Because it's like money in the bank.

If readers like your books enough to subscriber to your email list, every time you release a new book, a certain percentage of them will automatically buy; in my estimation, anywhere from 30 to 40 percent roughly.

Imagine having an email list of 5,000. If 30 percent of them (1,500) bought a new release of yours and you were earning $2 per book, that's $3,000 right there in sales.

So start this from day one, seriously.

FYI, I use AWeber to manage my email list. You can get started with them for free.

Free Webinar: Make Money Writing Romance

X. Keep Publishing

Keep writing and publishing, for all of the reasons discussed here.

I took a break from publishing romance for almost two years; taking almost all of 2016 and all of 2017 off. Part of the reason was, I was burned out from writing 40 books in 22 months.

What added to my decision to stop was when Amazon starting offering its subscription service in 2014. This killed sales for a lot of self-publishers. I was discouraged, and I let that affect my business decision-making.

Big mistake!

Companies (especially giants like Amazon) are gonna do what they're gonna do. I should have taken some time off to assess with a cooler head (instead of my "creative" heart) because romance sells – a lot. It always has and always will.

I had built up an audience; my income didn't depend totally on my romance sales; and even though my sales tanked, they held steady after a while.

My best month — to date — as a self-published author of romance was in December of 2018. I earned almost $3,500. I remember the first time I hit the $2,000 mark; it too me four months to do it once I started publishing regularly. That was in 2014.

I tend to write romance in a stop-start pattern; meaning, I'll publish regularly for a few months, then won't publish anything again for four or five months.

Hitting the $2,000+ Mark AGAIN — within Just 6 Months

I repeated the $2,000 mark success in 2018; hitting that mark just six months after I started publishing regularly again (in June 2018).

In my opinion, I would be earning five figures (or more!) per month if I hadn't stopped publishing romance in 2016. That's why I started writing and publishing regularly again in 2018; I published six novellas that year.

I published 5 novellas in 2019; not as much as I wanted. In spite of my limited output, I hit the $2,000+ mark twice in 2019.

In 2020, I published five more books.

My plan is to publish at least 18 titles this year (one every three weeks or so). The overall point is, now that I'm back on the romance writing bandwagon, I'll never quit again.

XI. Create a Business Plan

When I first started self-publishing in 2002, I had no plan — because I didn't know it was going to become a career. The first book I self-published was just to easily dispense some information that people kept asking me about.

I didn't create a business plan for my self-publishing business until years later.

If I had, I would have been much mores successful, much sooner. And, I wouldn't have published probably half of the books I published. Why?

Because I would have known to things like market research to see if they would sell. I've made a ton of mistakes as a self-published author. But I learned from them, so I look at it as it all evened out in the end.

The bottom line is, if you approach self-publishing as a business from the start, you'll be much more likely to do things like:

Track sales;
Market research;
Set and meet deadlines;
Learn the most effective marketing outlets;
Know which titles NOT to publish;
Etc.

I'd argue that many self-publishers fail because they don't treat their self-publishing efforts as a business. Don't make that mistake. Self-publishing can be very lucrative, especially if go into it with a "business map," which is all a business plan is.

Bonus Tip

Create multiple streams of income as a writer/self-publisher, eg:

write for clients, or
do affiliate marketing, or
become a Facebook ads consultant,
add virtual assistant services to your list of services.

The reason is, if you have steady money coming in, you'll be less stressed and more likely to stick with your self-publishing dreams through the tough times.

Conclusion

I've been self-publishing since 2002. To date, I've self-published over 100 (fiction and non-fiction).

The reason I do it is because it's a way to make money practically on auto-pilot – separate and apart from client projects. And ebooks (especially fiction) can sell forever.

Here's to achieving your self-publishing dreams in 2021 – and beyond.

P.S.: Start Making Money Self-Publishing Non-Fiction in 7 Days

Note: This post was originally published in February of 2018. It has since been updated.