Costs, Stats & Reflection
I'm going to break this down as best I can. Remember this is just my costs and projection. You may find things cheaper or more expensive. You may find other avenues more productive or unproductive.
But we all need a starting point, and I hope this maybe one of yours.
This analysis is based on setting up a self-published writing business with the production of one novel and as many short stories as you like!
Up front costs (calculated on a 1 year period- approximations)
- Website Domains x 3 with private registration £51
- Insurance £300
- Images £76
- Web hosting £1200
- Grammarly £300
- eBook coverter for iBooks and eBooks £8.90
- Book printing for 50 soft paperbacks at 410 words £256
- 2 week pay as I am self employed £700 (I am estimating a minimum)
Total: £2891.9
Now I didn't pay this all out upfront, and If i did I would have saved money as things like insurance, web hosting and grammarly are cheaper if you pay annually.
My upfront costs were:
£1079.00
My monthly revenue costs are:
£64
Don't forget £700 of that was to pay me a minimum wage to be able to edit my book myself. If you are employed you may get holiday pay to cover.
Also make sure you do register yourself in the year when you buy the above so they can go on self assessments.
I raised this money through blogging on the blockchain platfrom- Steemit- I was paid in a Crypto currency (steem) which I converted into GBP.
Stats
So, I did the 30 days of book launch campaign to share my self publishing journey and to help others to self-publish using my experience.
I made some mistakes along the line I'm sure, and there are probably things I could have done better, but overall I am very happy with what I have achieved within these 30 days.
- Five 5 star Amazon reviews on my short stories.
- 63 books sold in total (I seriously did not expect this in the first month
- I have created or developed 13 platforms for my books plus 2 websites
- My website is now on the first page of google! (Very Pleased About That!)
- I had my first book launch which was lots of fun but also quite emotional (Will share pics tomorrow)
Reflection
I am not sure what I could have different, I'm sure that could have been ways in which I could have have saved money or promoted myself better, but I am extremely impressed.
Here are what I think was the best ideas:
Short stories- They gave a good run up the main book and it really does bring in more customers for the main books
Amazon KDP- It may not be the 'best' for royalties, but you cant knock it on visibility. My author page is already on the 2nd page of google.
Canva.com- Beautiful site for creating publicity.
So there we have it. Tomorrow will show pics and videos of the journey.
Thanks for following!