World, Writing, Wealth discussion

So I've written a new book. The first in five years.

On the Rim of the Sea: A Journey in Books is a collection of my best pieces from the last ten years. I am a history buff, so it is in effect a journey through the 20th century in books.

Not the obvious classics, though; I have included books that reflect the lived experience of the century. What was it like to crew a windjammer in the 1910s? How did the First World War look to enlisted men? How did the rise of Fascism seem to a Jewish writer? How did Germans fare under the British occupation? And how has it all looked to a cyclist?

Available as an ebook or paperback. Come and join me on the rim of the sea.

Congrats and best of luck with it, Mike! Interesting questions to know answers to.
Opened a bottle of beer to cheer and because it's Thursday night

Nik wrote: "Congrats and best of luck with it, Mike! Interesting questions to know answers to.
Opened a bottle of beer to cheer and because it's Thursday night"

Thanks Nik, that's very kind. Hope your books are selling like hotcakes as well!

Mike wrote: "...Thanks Nik, that's very kind. Hope your books are selling like hotcakes as well! ..."

Not even close, but I do see an increase in sales in the UK and US with zero advertisement since the beginning if the war, the latter obviously being the reason. Since I don't want to earn from war, I donate the proceeds and beyond to Ukrainian armed forces...

Nik wrote: "Mike wrote: "...Thanks Nik, that's very kind. Hope your books are selling like hotcakes as well! ..."

Not even close, but I do see an increase in sales in the UK and US with zero advertisement sin..."

Do you! That makes more more anxious to read your work, which I have been meaning to do for a while.

I retire at the end of this month and have a feeling some binge-reading, as well as writing, will take place.

I proudly do and wish it was more..
I share the feeling, since I read anyway, I'd rather order friends' books, but since I read paperbacks delivery is usually much costlier than the book itself.

Nik wrote: "I proudly do and wish it was more..
I share the feeling, since I read anyway, I'd rather order friends' books, but since I read paperbacks delivery is usually much costlier than the book itself."

I avoid that by having Amazon Prime, which does save me money - but that does not work everywhere.
I read a mixture of paperbacks and ebooks. The latter can be a good option when you are unsure as to whether a book is any good, but would like to give it a chance.

Doesn't work here :(
Usually I spend a lot of time in front of a computer screen, prefer reading in paper to divert.. Yeah, to check something out an e- is a good option.

Mike,

Regarding avid readers' preference pertaining to the format they prefer, I offer the following information. Admittiedly, it does not meet the criteria required of a scientific evaluation, but it may serve as a sampling of general preferences.

My one and only published novel was commercially available from Aug. 9, 2011 through Dec. 31, 2016, when the publisher filed for bankrupcy and went out of business; perhaps from signing too many authors like myself.

Although not a commercial success, my novel did sell 1,029 units during its approximately 5 1/2 years of availability, earning me the magnificent sum of $2,358.34 in royalties (before taxes!).

What follows is the breakdown of total sales by format.
Paperback - 485 (47.1%) - $1,547.34 (Royalties)
E-Book - 480 (46.7%) - $584.43 (Royalties)
Audio Book on CD - 36 (3.5%) - $134.17 (Royalties)
Audio Book Download - 28 (2.7%) - $92.40 (Royalties)

The literary field is extremely competitive. Literally millions of novice authors compete for readers' attention every year. Very few ever achieve significant commercial success or even widespread notoriety. That said; some have. There is no reason why you might not eventually become one of them. I wish you success!

Jim wrote: "Mike,

Regarding avid readers' preference pertaining to the format they prefer, I offer the following information. Admittiedly, it does not meet the criteria required of a scientific evaluation, bu..."

I'm not expecting big sales for this, Jim. If I get back the (modest) production costs I'll be happy. My big seller is a very different sort of book, an urban fantasy called Dog!.

Your stats are interesting. My own experience has been that I sell far more ebooks; with Dog! it's about 90% (there's no audiobook). I think that's how it is for a lot of people nowadays, if their main market is Europe/North America; in fact your % of paperbacks is pretty good going. But a lot may depend on the type of book. A lot of indie-author sales are romance/fantasy/erotica and I'm guessing ebooks predominate in those areas. In other genres I'm sure it's different. The market does evolve. For the Spanish edition of Dog!, all the ebook sales were from Spain until recently; Latin America did not figure. But that is starting to change.

Interesting that for you, the royalty per sale is higher on paperbacks than on ebooks. I find that the production costs, plus Amazon's cut, make it hard to price paperbacks competitively so I cut my profit margin to the bone; I make what money I do make on ebooks. I'm also struck by the differential in royalties between retailers. Amazon is actually not too bad unless your book is very low-priced. But iBooks and others are better. In contrast, Vearsa seems to pay a very low royalty.

Mike,

The following information may, or may not, explain why the proportion of formats and paid royalties related to my personal experience differ from yours.

The genre descripition, included at the bottom of the page detailing the copyright, publisher, book design credits, and ISBN information, is as follows:
1. Fiction / Science Fiction / General
2. Fiction / Alternate History

My royaty percentage fluctualted and was determined by which format/s (paperback, e-book, audio book on CD, and/or audio book download) and the amount of each ordered on- consignment and actually sold by the retailer.

During its commercial availability (2011 - 2016) the primary retailers were Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, and a few independent book stores. It could also be purchased directly from the publisher.

I truly admire prolific writers like yourself. I consider myself to be a fairly skilled writer, but it takes me time to produce a work worthy of publication - a lot of time.

It took me 14 months to produce what I believed to be a polished manuscript and an additional 11 months of working with and learning from a copy editor, conceptual editor and layout design artist to convert the manuscript into a published work. Therefore, my first novel will be the last. There are just too many other things to do, places to go, people to meet, and so little time.

Jim wrote: "Mike,

The following information may, or may not, explain why the proportion of formats and paid royalties related to my personal experience differ from yours.

The genre descripition, included at ..."

Well, I can't say that I'm always that productive; I have a novel that I have been working on since 2009! It is about two-thirds written though. I have to move countries shortly (retiring home to the UK) and will get back to it when I've set myself up there. Anyway, one good book, well-produced, is better than several sloppy ones.

I am lucky in that I am an editor and used to work in publishing, so can do the production work myself. Things do go wrong of course, but I've found that happens anyway. I do make extensive use of beta readers and once virtually rewrote a book on the basis of their opinions.