Print Books and Royalty Rates - Authors (or Readers?) are LOSING

Welcome back, good people of the blogosphere! I'd say happy Friday, but it's been a challenging day so far. Today, I'm going to show SO many of you a side of Indie publishing you may not be aware of and what the current economy has done. I invite you all to join me on this adventure with your warm coffee and sunscreen, because it's HOT outside, and I don't want you getting skin issues. Now, let's dive RIGHT on in.

This should piss EVERYONE off. My issue: I have several books that I make very little on when they sell in print. Here's MY list, but I also have some printed through a different account (one of the other collaborators). I'm sure she hasn't logged in recently, so she probably knows nothing about it.

Right now, let's focus on The Indie Author's Guide. That book is currently listed at $2.99 for an ebook and $6.99 for a paperback.

When I sell an ebook, I make $2.07. Delivery costs are low because the book is small (around three cents), and I get 70% of the profit. Now, when I sell a paperback priced at $6.99, I make $0.50 as of today. That's right, FIFTY CENTS. I kept that number small to keep the cost for other authors LOW. Most people want the print book because you can write in it. Today, I log in and see this:

So either I raise my price for YOU, or I make nothing. How is this okay? As you can see, the book is only 54 pages, because I wanted to keep the fluff to a minimum and sell you a book you can actually use that has relevant information in it that doesn't cost you a ton of money.

My at-cost price has also increased, so I'd have to charge $5 minimum in person just to recoup what I paid to have the book printed and shipped to me.

You don't see them on the list because they're not published under me, but this will also impact the War and Pieces ~ Frayed Fairy Tale series books. Those are also priced as low as possible so you guys don't have to spend so much to get a copy with pretty artwork that I literally spent MONTHS on creating.

So, my solution is: You can just get the information FREE right here on the blog. Yep, that's right, we'll bypass the Zon completely, and I'll post each section of the book here for you to read as you wish. I'm already giving it away after June 10th, so why not?

If you guys can't tell, I'm angry. Grr.

I feel like I need to buy at least one copy of each book just so it doesn't cost ME an arm and a leg to shelve them in my own library (which I haven't done yet). I keep giving them to friends. I know. Don't lecture me.

Readers should be pissed, too. After all, when we start losing money, we have to raise prices or not get paid for our craft. That falls on y'all.

What do you guys suggest I do about the others? All of these are only $6 for a print book right now because I wanted low costs for my readers.

I'm ready to scream.

Deep breath. Release. Cripes on a cracker.

Drop me a comment below with your ideas, so we can all benefit from them, and keep an eye on the blog for that book. ;)

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Serials - What Now? 7 Ways to Repurpose Your Serial Novels

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! I know it's been super quiet around here the last TWO times I was supposed to be here, BUT I have the best reasons ever. 

My house is now packed and ready to move. That's the first thing, and it happened over the last five days. We were so close, but we were also so far away. Our movers will be here Saturday, and then it's on to Florida. Goodbye weird Georgia weather! :D 

Second, my buddy from NZ was in Atlanta due to a layover on her flight home. If you haven't read any of Tee Ayer's books, you simply MUST. Find her on Amazon here. I spent the day with her. How often do you get a friend in town from halfway around the world? Exactly. My schedule was cleared right away when she told me she'd be here.

Those things meant no blog posts. Talking about those serial novels you have scattered all over your computer that have now gone the way of useless is what was planned, so I'll be diving into that now. I've wasted enough of your time up here. Let's get into the nuts and bolts. Grab that coffee and get to scrolling!

We all heard the collective sigh when Kindle Vella decided to shutter. Now there are all these authors with all these serial novels screaming for a place to go. Here are some ideas to get your novel repurposed and out to the world:

1. Hire an Editor and Package It as a Full-Length Novel or Novella

Combine your serial episodes into a cohesive standalone eBook and/or print edition, save a few of those, and offer the chapters as exclusive bonus chapters or new content to attract previous readers.

2. Host It Independently on Your Website or Blog

Offer chapters one by one via your website or blog to build direct reader engagement. You can monetize through reader donations, subscriptions, or membership tiers (like Patreon or Ko-fi).

3. Create an Email Newsletter Series

Serialize your novel via email, offering weekly episodes to subscribers. This options would build your mailing list and reader loyalty simultaneously.

4. Podcast Serials

You could record and release episodes (chapters) weekly or monthly in audio form via podcast platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Audible, and you can monetize them with sponsorships, donations, or ad revenue. You can also do this with the first book in a series and offer a discount code for the others by selling direct to consumer from your website.

5. Publish on Alternative Serial Fiction Platforms

• Wattpad: Yeah, it's still there! Crazy, right? You can leverage their large user base and active reader communities via Wattpad though.
• Radish: It seems great for monetizing romance or drama serials through reader micropayments.
• Royal Road: New to me, but this one is more for fantasy, sci-fi, or litRPG serials.
• Ream: Ream is specifically designed for authors offering serialized fiction and supports direct reader subscriptions. It seems to be the replacement platform for Vella.

6. Exclusive Content on Patreon or Substack

Offer serialized chapters as exclusive content for paying subscribers, or provide additional incentives like author Q\&A, behind-the-scenes, early access to content, or special editions of other books.

7. Interactive Fiction or Game Adaptation

Turn your already serialized novel into an interactive narrative! I just found out this is possible by using platforms like ChoiceScript or Twine. Pretty cool if you ask me. It might be better if the story isn't done yet, but what have you got to lose? You can engage readers by letting them shape the story as it unfolds.

Many of you might've already uncovered a lot of these, but I truly think it sucks when they yank a carpet you've been riding out from under you. I thought this might be a helpful post, anyway.

Did you get anything out of it or find something you didn't know about? Was there something in there you hadn't considered doing? Do you have something else that's working? Drop a comment so other readers can find it. A rising tide lifts all boats!

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Instagram Book Spotlights: Pretty Posts, Zero Sales

Hellooooo! Welcome back to the blog! I'm so excited you're here today because we're talking about Instagram spotlights. Like many of you, I’ve dabbled in book promotion strategies from blog tours, to Facebook ads, to the ever-tempting Instagram book influencer. This post will be a reflection of the latter. You all know I'm out there trying the things so you'll know if they work or not. Yeah, I may lose a little money, but it's a business writeoff for me, and it gives me a ton of first-hand information to pass along to you. You all know how I feel about money. That's probably the most serious topic you'll get from me here. No, I won't name anyone, so don't ask me to. I'm not that guy.

If you're interested in reading more, grab a coffee or a tea, and let's dive right into it.

So, it all started with a DM from an IG account, asking me to DM yet another account (fishy already) and inquire about a book spotlight. I bit. I figured there wouldn't be any sales of my book over that period, but I thought "what the hell" and gave it a go. It at least got me blog fodder. Ha.

That account promised a gorgeous spotlight post and potential visibility to thousands of readers. Man, I was dying at this point to know how much all this was gonna cost me, so I asked. Book promo packages started at like $29 and went up to $99.

For $99, you got a month's worth of posts, one per week, on their page plus one story per week and one highlight that's permanent. Okay, I did that one.

THEN they asked if I also wanted ads. I was like, sure! I mean, why not? We're on a roll.

Remember, I'm prepared to lose this money ahead of time.

Ad sets were an additional $49. We're up to $148, if you're keeping track.

It looked amazing. It got likes. It got comments. It was beautiful. After all, this account had several thousand followers.

Know what it didn’t get? Sales.

How do I know?

Well, like any good writer does when they run a promo, I tracked my sales from day one to day thirty. There wasn't a single sale during that period.

Wanna know what did happen?

SPAM. I got hit from a million sides with requests from accounts offering to host my book on their pages. DMs, comments on images, aggressive people that didn't give up when I politely said no thank you.

I'm talking 15+ messages a DAY.

Guess who followed that account I promoted with? All the people sending me DMs, leaving comments on my stuff, and being aggressive with their marketing. Also probably all previously featured authors. You know that's a pet peeve of mine.

Now, I'm not saying everyone was a total ass when I said no. There were quite a few people who just thanked me and moved on, so that was nice, but the others? Oh. My. Lanta. It was like fending off a herd of starving cats while you're holding a salmon. Sadly, I ended up reporting them as spam to IG.

You all know me. This post isn’t about blaming or shaming influencers. It’s about empowering authors with information. A beautiful spotlight doesn’t guarantee results, especially if the audience isn’t primed to buy. I highly doubt there are 1k+ people who enjoy reading thrillers who are following that account.

As I've always said, put your money where your readers are. Places like Amazon, for example, but pretty much anywhere you can target your readers yourself. So remember:

• IG engagement ≠ book buying behavior.
• Most bookstagram followers are other authors, other influencers, or casual readers, not high-intent shoppers.
• There’s rarely targeting by genre, niche, or intent.

Would I do it again? No. Am I glad I tried it? Honestly? Yes. Because now I know what (for sure) doesn’t work, and I get to share that with you lovely people.

Save your money. Save your sanity. Promote with purpose.

I hope you learned something from this post, and I hope I'm able to save you money you didn't need to spend in the first place.

Have you ever tried a spotlight promo? Did it work for you? Drop your experience in the comments so others can see what you learned and get some info from it.

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

A Thriller to Add to the PPSK Series

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm telling you all about a new psychological thriller I'm working on. I hope everyone is looking forward to the week ahead (I know I am), and I also hope all the moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. I got flowers from one kid, lunch and time spent from another, a visit from one, a text, and a phone call. It was an awesome day! Anyway, let's dive into the reason I'm posting, shall we?

So, if any of you have read Innocent, you'll know it's about a woman who ends up in a psych ward after she kills three people (or does she?). It's told from her POV, not something I usually do in my books, and she's speaking directly to the reader throughout.

Well, this book is the continuation of that story. Y'all are finally gonna find out if she's guilty or innocent. Or will you?

If you haven't read it, check it out here. It's free!

I've decided to title the new book Fabrication, and I know the beginning and the end, which is what I need, personally, to craft the middle. I suck at plotting, but I know where the story needs to go and which characters from other books in the series will make an appearance. I'll tell you two of them:

Nicky Moretti - Hank's partner from Intensification and the officer investigating Warren Vanderhorn's death in Manipulation.

Shelley Whitaker - She's back under an assumed name after the police started looking into her background when her husband, James, disappeared.

Both these characters will play pivotal roles. Ms. LeBrague's first name is Casey, and her bestie in the institution is Tina.

I'm seriously considering holding a drawing for a rather large Amazon gift card for folks who can give me an outline of all my crossover characters throughout the series. haha

I also devised a cover, but I'll save the showing of that for later so you guys can all ooh and aah once I have more of the book written.

My pivotal character is Silas. He's the ice-blue-eyed orderly Casey thinks is the killer. I guess only time will tell, right?

Well, I'm gonna get back to writing while you guys get back to thinking about the book and what it may entail. :)

I hope you're all excited! I know I am. Any guesses on whether she's innocent or guilty?

That's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Author Website Options

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Welcome back. If it's your first time here, be sure you poke around. I have tons of tips, tricks, and advice for authors. Today, we'll be talking about website options. I know a lot of you already have a site, so today is about where you might want to go to level up or start anew. We'll also be talking a bit about design, so hang in there with me.

Ready? Grab that notepad and a cup of coffee, and let's dive on in.

We'll start with: Hosting Options

Wix

Wix is the host I use, and I find it simple because it's an add, edit, drag WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. It can be expensive if you opt for the higher tier packages, but most folks need the Pro plan. That gives you enough storage to upload book cover images and link them unless you have 5k+ books. If you want a shop, it costs more, and if you want an email, that's monthly (they have no way to bill it yearly) on top of the site cost. They have some cool features I really enjoy, like the slider on my homepage. Be sure you catch them on a sale weekend because you can get a whole year for half off.

WordPress

This is one I have zero experience with, but I did try WP one time for my blog, and I found all the little apps and buttons crazy confusing. That being said, I do know several people who have beautiful WP sites, and the prices are fantastic. Not a ton of storage space, but there again, do you have 5k+ books? No.

GoDaddy

I've used their builder in the past for clients, and it's similar to the one on the Wix platform. Their prices go up fast depending on what you want and if you're a renewing customer though, so keep that in mind. It's extra for a custom domain (like anywhere else), but their basic plan includes a website chat that syncs with your inbox. That's pretty cool!

SquareSpace

I've built a site here, and their interface is complicated, IMO. It's not the drag-and-drop editor most sites give you, but the pricing seems pretty fair, and from what I hear from others (don't quote me on this), they do a bit of advertising on your behalf. I believe that's only about a Google rank, but I'm not sure. I didn't end up moving forward with them because of the interface, but their pricing isn't terrible if you pay by the year. Something to consider.

Author Websites by BookBub

This is NEW. Now, because I'm me, I'm all about being able to brand myself as I'd like to. I did dive in and check it out because that's what I do, but I did find a few issues in the beta version: I could NOT get it to load all my books OR allow me to highlight more than one on the homepage. Their editor is clunky and hard to figure out right now. Do I see a lot of promise with upcoming features? Yes, I do. Price wise, they're amazing, but I believe that's because it's still in beta. I've been giving them feedback on my experience, so I'm hoping they take it and run with it. It's free to try, so if you're looking for something new, check it out.

Now we'll dive into: Design

First of all, you need to brand yourself with colors and an icon of some kind. This can be a logo, a wordmark, or a lettermark, but it needs to be consistent across all of your everything. When you stumble upon me elsewhere on the web, you'll know it's authentic because of my color scheme and look and feel. Any host that won't allow me to customize that is off my list right away. You can think about how you want to do that by reading my free PDF. You can download and print it from here.

Keep it clean and consistent. Assure people know they've gotten the real you when they come upon your page.

There's a second section in that PDF that goes over websites. It tells you everything you need to know, but if you don't feel like wading through the other stuff, I also posted about it here.

Because of course I did. :)

Printing it, however, will give you somewhere to write down all your observations as you go through the process.

Did you learn anything from this post? I strive to bring you all the most relevant, up-to-date information I can, so I hope I'm doing a good job!

Thanks for reading, and if you find yourself interested in all the stuff I do here, visit my Linktr.ee to follow me on socials. I do try to always share my posts there.

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Bookish Gifts, Merch Trends, and the Rise of the Sprayed Edge

Howdy, y'all! Welcome back to the blog on this nasty, rainy Wednesday. It's kinda chilly here in Georgia (soon to be Florida!), and I'm hating on it hard. I love warm weather and warm rain, and I despise the cold. Yuck. Anywhooooooo... Today, we're talking about things. All the newfangled bookish gifts, merchandise, and how the sprayed edge has taken over the special edition. Why that last one? Because I feel like it goes with the others like mushy peas go with fried fish.

So, grab something awesome and warm to drink, strap in, get those mouse fingers warmed up to scroll, and let's get to it already!

***NOTE: Nothing here is an affiliate link. We don't do that on this blog. I may add a donation button at some point, but I'm still thinking it over. WDYT?

First up: Bookish Gifts

There are a ton of bookish items on shelves nowadays, and I feel, with all the books by Hoover now being made into movies, the stock and options therein have exploded. Let's look at a few I happen to just love.

Storiarts is a super cool site that offers book-themed merchandise at a nice cost. Link here. They have fingerless gloves (I own the ones with lines from The Raven on them), scarves, tees, headbands (I have one of those, too), baby stuff, blankets... There's too much to list here, but all are quality. I've given them as gifts, too.

Of course, there's always the bookish things on Amazon, but CafePress is amazing if you're an author who wants to create their own gear. Link here. Before they got serious about their licensing abilities, I made an Emancipation Monopoly game there. It was hella cool. Kinda wish I'd kept one. hahaha 

Anyway, dive on in and see what you can make! These would be awesome gifts, and there's a wide array of stuff to customize. Wouldn't you love to be wrapped in Tobias's face at the beach? *evil grin*

Next: Merch Trends

This revolves around influencers, mostly. I don't know if you're up to speed on this, but a lot of times, new release ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) are being sent with items around the book's theme. Historically, we sent ARCs for reviews, but now, it's become the norm to send items alongside to help the promoter do his/her/their job.

This also includes coloring books, which we did with our War and Pieces ~ Frayed Fairy Tales series. Feel free to download, print, and color this one. :)

Is this a good idea in this new world we find ourselves in? Well, I will say that several of the items sent cause quite a bit of discussion to start, so maybe it's genius.

On the other hand, when you have a book like Emancipation, what the hell do you send? Rope, Duct tape, and perfume that smells of murder? I'm not sure that would go over so well... I may be wrong, of course, but it seems to me this would make romance, sci-fi, and contemporary a much easier sell. 

Thoughts?

Last: The Rise of the Sprayed Edge

You can find a TON of books with sprayed edges over on Etsy. Link here. Some of them are mouthwateringly beautiful, and some have custom covers rather than sprayed edges.

I see special editions in the bookstores all the time, and if there's a decorative edge, I'm all over it (usually only if I don't already have it, but there are a FEW exceptions). I also may, or may not, have a few pretties of titles I already owned because they came out with a special one that made me swoon. Lightlark was one of those. haha I mean, have you seen it? It's gorgeous. No clue if it has sprayed edges because I haven't removed it from the box. Yet. :) Hey, I'm waiting on my library to be finished, okay?

All that being said, I have a theory on why the sprayed edge became a thing. Wanna hear it? I know you do! I'm gonna tell you anyway. :P

You know all those designers that put the books on the shelf so the spines are to the wall so there's this weird, white, lined aesthetic when you look at it?

I know you can see where I'm going with this.

I think this is what started the sprayed-edge craze. No one wants their book on a shelf so the title is hidden. Not only is it terrible for the book (they're meant to be taken off the shelf by the spine), but it crushes all advertisement for the title. Do you browse someone's bookshelf at their house to see the white edges of the pages? No. You do it to see what titles they're reading and if you might want to read any of their stuff. Plus, hours are spent agonizing over the cover and assuring series are numbered correctly on the spines.

Enter the sprayed edge. It's like a huge screw you to those designers. hahaha! I love it.

What do you think? Have you come across unique bookish gifts, to-die-for merch, or a sprayed edge that knocks all others out of the park? Tell me about it!

I hope this post was educational and fun for you all. My fingers are starting to hurt from all this typing, so I'm gonna go! Thanks for reading. :)

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Finally, an Author Platform Just for Men

Hello, and happy Monday, everyone! I suppose you can kind of tell what today's post will be about, mainly, but I'm going to take a quick moment to catch you all up on what's been going on and why I didn't post last week. Boo! Let's just dive right into it, shall we?

So, a few weeks ago, hubby and I were in a car accident. We were rear ended and pushed into the car ahead of us (double slammy). I felt okay after a little bit, though I was a tad lightheaded, and my left shoulder was sore for about an hour. I'm well aware it sometimes takes a few weeks for things to show up, so I was hesitant to say I was good.

Well, last week, my left hand swelled between my ring and pinky fingers, and the fingers got so big, I took my wedding ring off and put it on my necklace for fear it would make things worse and end up needing to be cut off. That was a long sentence, but you see where I'm going with this.

I ended up on the couch with an ice pack, Aleve (don't tell my neurologist--she'll unalive me), and a remote control. Of course, I had my phone, so I was still browsing with my right hand (which is where I came across the linky that's the topic today). Now, it's still slightly painful, but I can type, so I'm back!

Not something I planned for, stupidly, so I missed posting all last week.

Now you know.

TODAY, however, I'd like to talk about this website that was just launched. News article here.

According to a poll I conducted a long (long) time ago, men dominated the reader preferences, so I have to ask myself: Why do they need a new website focused mainly on them?

Are you asking yourself the same question?

It appears women have taken over the publishing industry. According to the man in that article, " ... Most of the excitement and energy around new and adventurous fiction is around women authors ... "

My takeaway from reading the article is that it's believed that this needs to be corrected for some reason or another. Why is this a problem? Are women not allowed to have a bigger voice after being shushed for so long? Why do the males in this industry feel threatened in such a way?

I've seen some real stinkers and read some beautiful masterpieces by both sexes. In my humble opinion, more women have simply gravitated toward publishing the last ten years.

Could that have something to do with the Indie boom? I believe it has everything to do with it. Before, there were gatekeepers in the "Big 7" (now the Big 5) who were more likely to give those contracts to men. Now, a woman can simply write down her thoughts and publish them. Perhaps the female voice is what was missing in a mostly male-dominated industry, and it corrected itself.

I say it's about damned time the playing field was leveled in such a way. Perhaps it's not that males aren't being heard, but maybe it's that they don't tend to become writers these days as often as women do.

Label us bored housewives if you want, but we're crushing this publishing thing. I just can't believe a whole sex feels threatened enough by it to create a website focused on them and them alone.

What do you guys think about this? Is it a good thing? Pop on over, read that article (it's not long), and let me know your thoughts!

I, for one, am so excited to read more about how her boobs bounced boobily down the stairs. They say it's for masculine themes, but don't we just need more escapism? Books are entertainment, after all.

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo