$100,000

One hundred grand. That's how much I've made on Amazon in the last three weeks.

This is just for my self-pubbed Kindle titles. It doesn't include Shaken and Stirred, which were published by Amazon's imprints. It doesn't include any of my legacy sales, print or ebook. It doesn't include audiobook sales. It doesn't include sales from other platforms.

This is from my self-pubbed books. The ones the Big 6 rejected.

Currently, my novel The List is #71 on the Top 100. It's been in the Top 100 for 66 days. It's the same one all those publishers rejected.

I am soooo glad I had so many books rejected.

Here's a screen shot of a portion of what I've sold since January 1.

This is missing 15 of my titles (some were cut off, some are on my co-writers' KDP accounts). It also doesn't show over 1500 sales I've had in Kindle foreign markets.

So far in January I'm averaging well over $3500 a day.

I'm having a very hard time wrapping my head around these numbers.

I'm also having a hard time trying to figure out what this means for the future. But I'll give it a shot.

In January of 2010 I made $2300 for the month on Kindle.

In January of 2011 I made $34,000.

Let's pretend that The List wasn't in the Top 100 right now and has only sold 1800 copies this month, comparable to Shot of Tequila. I'd still be selling 800 ebooks a day, making over $1600.

That means I'd make about $50,000 in January, just in US sales. Which means my income has increased by about 30% overall. I'm not sure this will last throughout the year, but it seems reasonable.

What intrigues me is the UK market. I may sell over 1000 copies of a single title in the UK this month. I price my novels at 1.49 pounds, which means I make $1.60 per sale. So I'm going to earn more in the UK this January than I earned in the US in 2010.

Remember back in April of 2009 when I first self-published on Kindle? I was giddy to have made $1450 in a month in the US on all of my ebooks combined. Now I can make $1600 in a month in the UK on a single title.

Amazon is continuing to introduce Kindles to more and more countries. The global market is happening. I can't see a limit. I can't see a ceiling.

This is no longer a question of choosing between accepting 17.5% royalties from a legacy publisher or doing it yourself. This has now become the best way in the history of mankind for a writer to earn money. It may be one of the greatest ways to ever make money, period.

We can directly and instantly reach hundreds of millions of consumers in a global marketplace. We can set the list price, and we get to keep the majority of that list price. Readers can buy our work instantly on devices that they love. They don't have to go to the store, the store is in their hands. Once a book is written and formatted it can sell unlimited copies, forever, without any costs to the writer other than the initial time investment and monetary investment (formatting, editing, cover.)

No other industry allows this. There are always continuing production costs and shipping costs. There are always middlemen who take cuts. There is always a limit to distribution. There are always times when something is sold out or unavailable.

Not anymore.

Imagine having instant access to every person's checking account in the world, and stealing one dollar.

Now imagine them willingly giving you that dollar.

We're not there yet. But I've been following the ebook revolution for three years, and I never could have predicted this would get so big so fast. I've consistently been surprised by numbers and sales, and have lost count of the times I've said, "This is unreal."

But it isn't unreal. It's very real. I know, because I just pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. For the fifth time today.

Books with foreign settings

With permission, I'm reproducing this email from reader Elizabeth Dunn: "Dear Nicola,I have just read Rachelle Gardner's blog [sorry, can't find it, but anyway] about books with foreign settings being difficult to place in the US market. It is rather disheartening as I am writing my upper middle grade book about a British boy being dragged off to a month long holiday in Venice. Most of the

Interview with Editor Susan Tunis

I get a lot of email from writers asking me to recommend an editor. Here's one I do. Years back, Susan read through my unpubbed novel Origin and gave me some great tips. She's now taking on freelance editing work.

Joe: How did you get started editing?

Susan: Back in the mid-nineties, a publisher acquaintance of mine offered me a job editing his magazine.  It was a successful four-color glossy sold on newsstands around the world, and I had no relevant experience.  It also happened to be April 1st and I thought he was joking.  He wasn't.  On my first day he handed me a reference book on copyediting and I learned on the job.  I later asked him why he had hired me and he said, “I thought you had the right qualities to do the job.”  He had good instincts and it changed my life.

After leaving Discover Diving magazine, I spent a few years freelancing and working as a columnist for other dive, travel, and in-flight magazines.  Subsequently, I worked as an editor in the film and television industry and in higher education.  On the side, I began doing freelance work with novelists as fiction was always my first love.

I’m an avid reader; I read 148 books last year.  I’m a successful book reviewer, book blogger, and book group leader.  I eat, sleep, and breathe literature.  I have no interest in writing a novel of my own, but nothing gives me more satisfaction than helping an author strengthen and refine his or her work.  Sometimes a little distance is required, and I can provide that.  Over the years I’ve worked with writers you’ve never heard of, writers you haven’t heard of yet, and a few you’ve probably read yourself.  Among them are James Rollins, Christopher Moore, Elle Lothlorien, Matt Richtel, Boyd Morrison, Lissa Price, and a guy named J.A. Konrath.

Joe: What services do you offer?

Susan: I offer full editorial services from basic proofreading to project development and substantive editorial feedback.

Joe: What do you charge?

Susan: I charge between $25 and $40 an hour, depending on the work required for a job and, truthfully, the means of the client.  I’ll give you an estimate of how many hours I expect the work to take, and am perfectly willing to put a cap on fees.

Joe: Do you accept all clients?

Susan: I won’t take on a client if I don’t believe I can help them.  It’s not one size fits all, and not every editor is the right fit for every project.  Before starting, I’d like to see three chapters of your work in progress (or more if the chapters are very short) and a synopsis of the project.

Joe: What's your expected turnaround time for finishing an edit?

Susan: Turnaround time depends on the needs of the client and my current workload and commitments.  Generally, some time between two days and two weeks.  If I’m not able to turn you around within two weeks, I’ll let you know before accepting your project.

Joe: What is your editing process?

Susan: If you have a completed MS, I’ll do an initial read taking notes on things like structure, plot, prose, and character.  Additionally, I’ll clean up the MS with regard to grammar, typos, and consistency as needed.  Once done, I’ll send you a marked hard copy along with detailed written notes.  In addition, I’ll want to discuss the notes in greater detail on the phone or face-to-face.  Once that initial feedback is offered, I’ll generally stay involved as changes are explored.

When an author has a work in progress, the collaboration tends to be more interactive and improvisational.  Basically, it depends on the writer and the project how we work together.

Joe: How can writers get in touch with you?

Susan: I may be reached at stuniseditorial(at)gmail(dot)com.

Interview with Jeff Strand

I've worked with Jeff Strand on the novella SUCKERS, as well as the full length horror epic DRACULAS. But apparently that hasn't hurt his career, because he's still churning out books. When I heard he just released a new one, I knew I had to interview him, because it was doubtful anyone else would.

Joe: So why have you written another Andrew Mayhem thrillomedy after a thirty year hiatus? Have you run out of ideas for stand-alones so you had to slum with the old series?

Jeff: I didn’t even WANT to do another Andrew Mayhem book. My fans FORCED me to write it. Everywhere I turned there was another Annie Wilkes, waving a sledgehammer (or an axe if they prefer the book to the movie) screaming “Mayhem IV! Mayhem IV!”

But, seriously, after promising readers a new Mayhem novel for seven years, I thought it was probably time to actually deliver on that promise. On my website, I swore that LOST HOMICIDAL MANIAC (ANSWERS TO “SHIRLEY”) would be published before the end of 2011, and I got it out a couple of days before that. I’m not planning to wait another seven years to write Book #5, unless sales of Book #4 are total crap, in which case I’ll wait even longer than seven years.

Joe: I hate that term "thrillomedy". It's really stupid. Why do you keep calling your books thrillodemies?

Jeff: I have never in my life called any of my books thrillomedies. You’re thinking of the movie ARACHNOPHOBIA. I remember my enthusiasm for ARACHNOPHOBIA fading a bit when I saw the commercial promoting it as a thrillomedy. If I ever feel the need to make up a word to create my own genre, you have my permission to stab me. Not hard, but enough to break the skin.

Joe: Maybe you could call them comillers, but that sounds kind of like a reptile. "The wily comiller lives in the desert climate of New Mexico, where it eats small children and spends lazy summer nights watching Fox News, searching in vain for liberal coverage."

Heh. That's kind of funny. You should make that the topic of your next thrillomedy.

Hey, did you know I've hung out with Harley Jane Kozak, who was in ARACHNOPHOBIA? She writes a fun mystery series about a greeting card designer named Woollie Shelley, and we were both nominated with the Anthony and the Barry award for best first novel. She beat me both times.


Thanks for picking the scab off of that old wound, Mr. Considerate. Don't you have better things to do than hurt me? Like kill innocent people in your thrillomedy books?

Jeff: How come when I kill off little kids in my books I always get e-mails from you sternly reprimanding me, but you can throw out jokes about small children getting eaten by reptiles during interviews? Do you think it’s FUNNY when small children get eaten by reptiles? What if you’d been eaten by a reptile as a small child? Would you have thought it was funny? Your son sure wouldn’t be laughing about it today.

Joe: I think it's funny when small children get eaten by anything. But I'm a hypocritical dick.

So I hear one of my characters has an extended cameo in SHIRLEY. Did you enjoy writing for Harry McGlade? And have you gotten the lawsuit papers yet?

Jeff: Writing Harry McGlade’s top-secret cameo scene that readers aren’t supposed to know about in advance was a lot of fun, until the SUCKERS flashbacks began, and I sat at my desk twitching and weeping. I was going to put Jack Daniels in there and kill her off, just to see if you would go “Well, phooey, there’s nothing I can do; it’s been officially established in the canon now.” I’m honestly not sure why the cameo went to Harry McGlade instead of somebody awesome like Repairman Jack.

Joe: Repairman Jack has made over ten cameos in my books.

Jeff: Really?

Joe: He's in my unpublished fan fic. I have this great scene where he's having sex with Uhura from Star Trek, in the back seat of the Delorean from Back to the Future. Then Boba Fett and Sam Beckett (Quantum Leap) kill Harry Potter with Gollum's ring. Then, more sex, this time on a trapeze.

Now I'm thinking of a color. Can you guess it?


Jeff: No. Everybody who reads your blog knows that you only think in black and white.

Joe: That's not true. But good on you for self-pubbing SHIRLEY, because anyone who goes the legacy route is no doubt a certified galloping dunderhead, and self-pub is clearly the only smart route to take.

BTW, I really liked SHIRLEY, and for less than three bucks it's a steal. I think everyone should buy it right now. Do you agree?

Jeff: A brand new novel for $2.99? There could be no better deal, except maybe $0.99, but everybody knows that 99-cent novels are self-published garbage.

(It should go without saying this late in the interview, but that was a joke.)

Joe: Now I'm thinking of another color. I'll give you a hint. It's bluish.

Jeff: Is it a turnip?

Joe: Yes.

As the undisputed king of the thrillomedy comiller genre, do you ever see yourself branching out and doing other, better things? Like sci-mance (science fiction and romance)? Or urbtate (urban fantasy merged with books about the prostate)?

Jeff: Though I call myself a “horror/comedy author,” my books have always slid around on the humor scale, from the totally over-the-top goofball tone of BENJAMIN’S PARASITE to something dark and serious like PRESSURE. My 2011 novel FANGBOY was a fairy tale, WOLF HUNT was as much of a crime/action novel as a horror/comedy, and KUTTER was a conscious attempt to tell a story that should have been a ridiculous comedy (a serial killer adopts a Boston Terrier and becomes a better person) and play it totally straight. I’m working on a bunch of different projects, some of which are departures and some of which are exactly what you’d expect.

Joe: SHIRLEY is both funny and flat-out disturbing in parts. There was one point where I actually put my Kindle down because it was getting so intense. So did you watch the Iowa caucus?

Jeff: No, like most citizens, I get all of my political information from amusing politically themed tweets. I don’t follow anybody who does amusing politically themed tweets, but the people I follow retweet them a lot. Thanks. Glad you liked the book.

Joe: I like pork. Do you like pork?

Jeff: Pork’s okay. It’s no beef. And it’s not as good as chicken in Buffalo wing form.

Joe: Have you done anything else noteworthy lately?

Jeff: Nah. I meant to, but then I got distracted. But your readers who have no interest in LOST HOMICIDAL MANIAC (ANSWERS TO “SHIRLEY”) may be equally uninterested in FAINT OF HEART, a novella of suspense, and A BAD DAY FOR VOODOO, a splattery Young Adult comedy, both of which will be out in 2012. Along with some other stuff.

Thank you for allowing me to pollute your blog again, Mr. Konrath/Kilborn/Kimball. TIMECASTER was awesome.

Joe: Yes it was.

Thank you, Mr. Strand. Everyone reading this blog needs to go out and buy Jeff's books, or I'll stop posting my self-pub numbers. Also, I will use my powers of alchemy (taught to me by Repairman Jack) to send the world into a new ice age, one that will will have no Ray Romano in it and will be very cold and unpleasant.

Don't make me do it. For Ray's sake.

Short listing and revealed preferences

Job hunting

Posted by Jean Adams 

Wow!  Fifty six people applied for the research post that Ihad advertised: "4 year research vacancy to support a series of studies on the acceptability and effectiveness of using financial incentives to encourage uptake of health promoting behaviours in the UK."

Four years is anice length of time for a research job.  But 56 applicants?  How's agirl supposed to do justice to the more than 600 pages of application stuffthat these generate?  Obviously, the solution is Newcastle University'sshort listing matrix grid.*  Tick here if your candidate has the qualitieslisted in the job description.

So of 56applicants, guess how many definitely looked like they had the rightqualifications and experience in an appropriate research area?  No, really- guess.  Wrong! 

Guess again. Wrong again!  

It was four. Including one person who didn't really but had such an outstandinglyimpressive academic record, and has run a successful business since the age of13, that I felt I couldn't not interview them.  Plus another six lookedpotentially like they might be good.

I don't have vastexperience of employing researchers, so I don't know if this is unusual. But I thought the general pattern was quite interesting.  The notshort listable fell into three, not mutually exclusive, groups:

1. People with aMasters in Public Health but no real-life research experience beyond their MScdissertation.  None of them had published a paper from their MSc - whichwould have counted as real-life research experience.  

2. Doctors andother health professionals from developing countries.  Some with vastclinical experience.  Some with Masters in Public Health (see 1 above). But still no research experience.

3. People withextensive laboratory research experience.  Lots of PhDs.  Even some muchmore senior people.  Some even said in their 'statement of intent' thatthey were looking for a position in Cell Biology.

Now as I writethis I'm wondering if I was too harsh.  How are people supposed to getresearch experience after their MSc if people like me won’t hire them?  Ibet you some of those foreign doctors are highly competent and could put theirhand to most things.  Why shouldn't research experiencebe transferable from lab to office?

But what really, really astounded me is that not one singleapplicant stated what their interest was in my particular researchproject.  They were all passionate about publichealth, keen to expand their skills and experience across a range of researchmethodologies, and excited to work in such a prestigious department asours.  But none of them had anything tosay about using financial incentives to encourage uptake of health promotingbehaviours.

Perhaps this is revealed preference at its sharpest.  Maybe nobody out there is interested in myresearch.

*Not quitetrade-marked yet.

Open letter to the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing

To Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing

Dear Ms Sturgeon, 
As the previous Chair of the Society of Authors in Scotland, I wish to draw your attention urgently to a matter that harms both patients and writers.

Until recently, the NHS Scotland held a copyright licence, enabling staff to photocopy important information and writers to earn income

New Blog and Updates

I'm going to be super busy this month on a personal project, along with finishing up the next Timecaster book.

I've created a blog for my project here:

http://30daybeerdiet.blogspot.com

As you can see by the URL, I'm going on a diet. A very special diet where I won't eat any food for 30 days.

Instead, I'll subsist on beer.

Yes, I'm serious. One unintended side-effect of the ebook revolution is that I spend 17 hours a day in front of my computer, and the only real exercise I get is sex, which amounts to about three minutes a week.

As a result, I've become a real fat ass. But there's no way I'd ever give up beer, which I love. So instead I'm going to stop eating.

I started today.

I think this is a really good idea, but that may be because I've been drinking all day on an empty stomach.

The Newbie's Guide will continue, mostly via guest posts. If you've sent me a a guest post, keep an eye out because I may post it without any warning.

I've gotten a lot of email about the KDP Select Program from writers asking if I endorse it or not. Though December ended, we won't find out how much each pro rata borrow share (of a $500,000 pot) is worth until later this month, so I can't comment on that. But those of you who were paying attention noticed I released most of my ebooks for free during the last week of December.

The ability to make your ebook free to all Amazon customers (not just Prime members) for a period of five days is a perk of the KDP Select Program. And quite a perk it is. Making my books free helped get them onto the free bestseller lists, and when the free period ended many of them got onto the paid bestseller lists.

But you want numbers, right?

I won't have the exact figures until I get my December totals from Amazon, but I'm pleased to say that from Dec 25 - Dec 31 I made more than $50,000.

It has slowed down a little since then. Yesterday I made about $5500, and today I'm currently (6pm) at $4000.

I'm curious to see what Amazon will give authors per Prime download, because I've had a few thousand of those.

I've seen a lot of grumbling over the fact that inclusion in the KDP Select Program means making the title exclusive to Kindle. Obviously, I don't see a problem with that. Besides, it is only for three months.

Ebooks are forever, remember?

I still can't give the program my full endorsement until more data comes in, but so far I'm thrilled with it. I also have to admit that even though I scored big with two titles, The List and Trapped, my many other titles aren't doing nearly as well. The List, which is still in the Top 100, has sold 2832 copies this year, with 1153 borrows.  Shot of Tequila is at 547 sales, and 167 borrows. Origin is 458 sales and 245 borrows. Trapped is 319 sales and 192 borrows, and Endurance is 207 sales and 154 borrows. So even if we take The List out of the equation, my other top-selling titles are earning me about $800 a day, or $300k a year, which ain't chump change.

How long will this last? I dunno. Perhaps I just caught the perfect wave, and this will be impossible to replicate.

But remember my New Year's Resolutions list, when I talked about doing experiments and taking chances?

I took a big chance, making my ebook free during the Christmas holiday week. I could have lost a bundle. Instead, I was lucky it paid off. No guts, not glory.

That said, in 2011 the months of January - April were very good months. I don't see why they won't be good this year as well.

Happy new year, everyone! I gotta go crack another beer.