I self-published my debut novel, No Heart for a Thief, two years ago: January 24, 2023.
This experience has been unique. Over the past two years, I have done a lot of things I never expected to. I co-hosted a podcast with Nathan Klembara called Dragonfire. I joined podcasts, YouTube channels, and various events as a guest panelist/interviewee. I met a large cohort of amazing authors, artists, and readers. I got inundated with all kinds of scammers in my various inboxes.
Overall, the decision to publish my stories has been a net positive. I have been amazed by the number of people who read, not to mention reviewed/enjoyed, my books. When it gets hard to continue to dedicate my time to my books, my readers’ wonderful comments help me remember that I’m not typing into the void.
2024 In Review
When I first published No Heart for a Thief, I knew I was going to have Only a Grave Will Do (Malitu Book 3) out by the end of 2024. Oh, what a sweet summer child I was. I wasn’t prepared for the amount of work that went into self-publishing outside of writing. I hadn’t planned on writing a novella. Most of all, I didn’t understand how different writing a final book in a trilogy was compared to writing the predecessors.
Only a Grave Will Do forced me to adjust my approach to writing. Instead of telling a story and making it up along the way, I had to take the various threads from the previous two books and make sure they found a conclusion in book three. It took more planning and reworking of the story than either of the previous books I had written.
For those curious, I am getting feedback from Beta Readers as we speak. I will be announcing a release date shortly, and I am really proud of this conclusion to a story I love.
This brings me to the first huge sales lesson I learned in 2024. If you don’t have anything new, you slip from the radar with ease.
I published my novella Don’t Bloody the Black Flag in January 2024, however, it was never meant to be a big seller. I gave it away for free for joining my newsletter the whole year.
Without a new book, my sales and my Kindle Unlimited reads plummeted, especially in the last few months of 2024.
Producing new books at a fairly rapid pace is essential for indie authors to stay afloat in a sea of amazing books. And I am currently floundering.
This is not to complain. I have commitments outside of writing that will always take priority, so I have to understand how my slower pace will affect my sales moving forward.
My second gamble of the year was to change my ebook prices. I took No Heart for a Thief, which had been $0.99 since its release in 2023, and increased the price to $2.99.
Quick note for those unaware: Amazon allows authors to take a 70% royalty from their ebooks as long as it is $2.99 or more. Below $2.99, authors get 35%.
Predictably, my new sales price led to a decrease in sales. However, it didn’t lead to a decrease in royalties due to the above-mentioned royalty rates.
I still don’t know if this was a good idea. My goal was to create a precedent for my readers. I cannot afford to continue to lose money at the rate I did last year, and I need to be able to bring in more royalties per sale to continue to publish high-quality books.
All of that said, if I were to pinpoint one of the biggest reasons my sales began to drop towards the later half of 2024, it would be my lack of participation in social media.
Keeping up with social media at the rate I was from January 24, 2023 to about March of 2024 was exhausting me. I wasn’t focused enough on writing, and social media drains me. I took an active step back for my mental health, and it had an effect on my sales.
Being actively engaged on social media is necessary for finding an audience as an indie author. In most cases, it’s necessary for tradpub authors too.
However, if I have to choose between loving writing and enjoying the experience of being an author or higher sales and feeling exhausted by writing, I will choose the lower sales every time.
Still, I am trying to get back into the flow of a healthy social media presence.
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Now comes the part of the blog post that most people are interested in: Sales and Expenses.
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Before I get into the sales, I am going to highlight some of the major expenses for the year. While I am not going to break down each expense for 2024, I will highlight some of the major expenses.
Book Purchases - Books for direct sales and sold through indie bookstores, some of which have sold. The remaining copies are for sale on jamesldulin.com.
$971.86
Ads - Amazon ads, Bookbub ads, mailing lists ads, etc.
$1,517.96
Cover Art
$1,250.00
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Total Costs
$7,704.85
Note: $2,852.63 of these expenses are for the unreleased Malitu book three and upcoming expenses related to attending WorldCon in 2025.
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This number hurts me to look at. The fact that it is lower than last year is both encouraging and depressing.
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Now for sales…
Sales Since January 24, 2023 – The release of No Heart for a Thief
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No Heart for a Thief
Released: January 24, 2024
KU Total – 352,969 pages
Amazon Sales ebook – 1,624 books
Amazon Free ebook Sales – 3,391 Books
Amazon Sales Physical – 78 books
Website Sales Physical – 44 books
Book stores – 120 books
Ingramspark Physical – 87 books
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Totals
No Heart for a Thief books sold – 1,953 books
No Heart for a Thief books sold with KU – 2774 books
No Heart for a Thief books sold w/Free – 5,344 books
No Heart for a Thief books sold with KU and Free – 6,165 books
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No Safe Haven
Released: October 24, 2024
KU Total – 122,606 pages
Amazon Sales ebook – 506 books
Amazon Sales Physical – 24 books
Website Sales Physical – 5 books
Book stores – 60 books
Ingramspark Physical – 16 books
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Totals
No Safe Haven books sold – 611 books
No Safe Haven books sold with KU – 869 books
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Don’t Bloody the Black Flag
Released: January 24, 2024
Amazon Sales ebook – 53 books
Amazon Sales Physical – 5 books
Website Sales Physical – 5 books
Ingramspark Physical – 13 books
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Totals
Don’t Bloody the Black Flag books sold – 76 books*
* I gave this ebook away for free all of 2024 - Uncounted
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Overall Sales Totals
Books sold – 2,640 books
Books sold with KU – 3,719 books
Books sold w/Free – 6,031 books
Books sold with KU and Free – 7,110 books
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Total Gross Profit since January 24, 2023 - $10,419.95
Total Expenses since January 24, 2023 – $22,075.32
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Net Expenses since January 24, 2023 - $11,655.37
It may take a while before I balance my account as an author. Having my entire trilogy out and available will certainly help. I also have several new projects I am developing, which will give people various entry points to my writing.
I am not writing to make money, although it would be great not to spend so much. I write because I love it. Hopefully, people find enjoyment and/or meaning in my stories. That is all I can ask for.
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