18 Months of Being a Full-Time Author | Self-Publishing
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- I cannot believe it's already been 18 months since I quit my job to write. The last six months of my life have been incredibly hard, but I knew I needed to update you guys with what's been going on. I love making these videos for you and I enjoy documenting all the things that have been happening in my author-life.
Learn more about the Ronald McDonald House - www.rmhc.org/
Learn more about Feeding America - www.feedingame...
Snail Mail:
Courtney Young | PO BOX 697 | Groves, TX 77619
Do you have a question about self-publishing?
ASK ME ANYTHING FOR MY Q&A MONDAY SERIES: forms.gle/fVbK...
//A B O U T M E//
Pen names: Lyra Parish & Kennedy Fox (we're an author duo!)
I've been in the indie scene since 2011. I published my first romance novel in 2014 (Weak for Him). Under Kennedy Fox, we've made USA Today 4 times since 2017. With Lyra Parish, I've made top 100 several times on Amazon. I unpublished my Lyra Parish backlist in 2020 with zero regrets. You can watch that video here: bit.ly/3k8P6pa
Want to find our Kennedy Fox Books? Visit: www.kennedyfoxb...
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//Other News //
I'm currently a co-host for the monthly youtube show Publishable (Self-publishing versus Traditional Publishing) You can watch our videos on this playlist: bit.ly/2ZvKNwq
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//Searching for a Motivational Writing Group? //
I have a writing group on facebook where you can earn stickers each month if you write 10K in a day or 50K in a month. You can choose your own day. It's a supportive community that's also fun. If you're international, feel free to join! I've sent stickers to people all around the world since July 2019!
groups/write10kinaday
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//2021 R E L E A S E S C H E D U L E//
Pushing You Away - February
Holding You Close - March
Bossing the Cowboy - May
Kissing the Cowboy - June
Winning the Cowboy - July
Forcing You Away - September
Wanting You Close - October
The End of Us - November
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//S O C I A L M E D I A//
→ TikTok:
/ lyraparish
→ instagram:
lyraparish
kennedyfoxbooks
→facebook:
/ lyraparishauthor
/ kennedyfoxbooks
→ twitter:
lyraparish
kennedyfoxbooks
→ email: lyraparish@gmail.com
//Affiliate Links and Recommended Products//
Sips by Tea Subscription Box (Get $5 Off!)
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Vellum - Best Book Formatting Program EVER!
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Scrivener - Application I use to write!
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Recommended Books to Read:
Dear Writer, You Need to Quit - amzn.to/3at1yyk
Romancing the Beat - amzn.to/38rfc2C
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel - amzn.to/34pmNxl
Let's Get Publishing Series - amzn.to/2WvDKBP
#selfpublish #writingadvice #selfpublishing #writingtips #authortube
Literally just sent my third indie novel off to my dev. editor this morning - these videos help so much, esp. when facing all the challenges that life brings! Keep! Moving! Forward! 💛
Oh my goodness, congratulations! That’s super exciting! ❤️❤️❤️ I’m so glad I could help!
You're such an inspiration to me!!
Aww, I’m honored! Thank you! ❤️
Wonderful update! It's great being a fly on the wall watching your journey. I appreciate how much you share with us. Peace!
Thank you so much! Glad you’re here!
This is so interesting for me as a writer who stayed in my clerical job my whole life, and eventually got scammed by a vanity press (the guys are now in jail). Interesting and fun. After several years not writing, I'm writing and have a developmental editor. So happy for you, Courtney! You've made me smile and cry! Congratulations on the conference!
Omg, that sounds like a crazy story. Vanity presses… most are total scammers. I’m glad you pushed through and you’re writing again! ❤️❤️❤️
@@TheCourtneyProject Thank you!
I'm currently debating on quitting my part-time job to write full time. I've got five books lined up to release next year and released one this year. It's a scary jump, not knowing how long it will take to make a livable income every month.This is an insightful video!
I wouldn't quit until you've started making your current wage and/or had enough money saved that it wouldn't matter if your books turned a profit, but I'm also not a super big risk taker. Good luck with whatever you decide! :)
I love seeing these update videos. I love knowing and hearing you and Brooke’s successes and wins. It’s inspiring and hearing you talk about your steady climb gives me the courage and inspiration to keep going.
A couple of weeks ago, I unpublished two of my books and took the other one off preorder. I’m going to have the entire series recovered with new titles and series title and blurbs. I just got the covers back for a duet that I’ll publish next year. I also almost broke even with my September release during release month! Good things are happening but that imposter syndrome rears it’s ugly head and tries to make me doubt myself. But your videos always help and I’m so happy we have this community! ♥️♥️♥️
Thank you!!! I can’t wait to see what you do with that series! I’m rooting for you!
@@TheCourtneyProject Aww, thank you!! ♥️♥️♥️
It was really interesting to see the comparison between covers with your rebranding and hear about why you made changes. That's the nitty gritty detail of self publishing that I think is most interesting
I might make some videos about rebranding because a lot of people ask about it! ❤️
I'm so happy for you. You seem to be having a wonderful time as a full-time author... even with all the stress of deadlines and upcoming releases and elusive sleep schedules. Happy authorversary to you and Brooke (I apologize if I spelled her name wrong) as Kennedy Fox. That sounds amazing! Thank you for talking about your journey. It's really encouraging to people like me who did the full-time author thing backwards (I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was, and minor mistakes were made that I'm still recovering from). I love these updates, and I'm really excited about your journey moving forward. 💙
Thank you so much! I’m happy to share and am glad you’re getting something out of it! ❤️
I am SOOO hoping that your lecture is at the conference I'm thinking of (especially because I'm going - virtually of course). If it is, can't wait to hear your session.
I'm wondering the same thing haha.
😍😍 Does it start with an R?
@@TheCourtneyProject It sure does...EEEK!!!! So pumped!! Can't wait. I feel like I need to book a hotel or Air Bnb for this one. No kiddie distractions allowed!
@@TheCourtneyProject @Scarlett Kol YESSSSS We're going to have so much fun!
@@ScarlettKol I've been debating the same thing or locking myself in my basement. My husband is taking off to help me out with our kiddo.
YAY!! Love it all--the trip the rebranding, the current and future stuff. Cant wait for sprint--used one of your old ones this weekend.
Thank youuuu! ❤️
I love your updates! You’ve probably mentioned this before, but how did you two start writing together? I’ve always wanted to co-write with someone but have no idea how to find/reach out to people.
Haha we were acquaintances in a pyramid scheme together. LOL!
I'm a week late and I know I've said it before but you are an inspiration. 💞
Appreciate the kind words, John!
Oh my stars! Yes with the going to bed at 6am. I've been on a horrible schedule lately, too!
I’m just trying to accept it at this point, lol, there’s no changing it! 😂😂😂
I LOVE that you now have a "BUY ALL THE THINGS" button on the website!!! Brilliant.
You’d be surprised how many people have asked if we have that! It’s crazy to think about! But ask and you shall receive! 🤣🤣
Omg how time flies! Congrats on all you've accomplished thus far! Personally, I like the new covers just because I think they would make great hardcovers lol. I am super proud that you are pushing through each day that this world throws at you and look forward to celebrating new milestones with you as they arise! ♥
I love you so much! ❤️❤️😭😭 Thank you!
@@TheCourtneyProject Love you too Courtney. Keep killing it!
I agree with the series' cover changes. I prefer these, too. They are so pretty and genuinely give your covers a lighter, rural-town-like feel. :) Congratulations on your first book baby going to kindergarten as well!
Thank you so much for being so candid about your writing journey, Courtney. I will continue to support your channel and writing. I just discovered your channel the first time we talked in the comments on your word count video a few weeks ago, and the advice you gave in that video alone taught me so much. I also appreciate you for being so willing to respond to us in the comments. I am able to write at least one chapter a day now (2K+ words--that's a significant amount of progress for me lol).
I desire to self-publish a novel, and I will be watching more of your videos for advice and for more details on your journey. Do you recommend any specific self-publishing videos of yours for me to begin with?
I enjoyed your video, and be sure to take good care of yourself during your upcoming projects. ❤❤❤
Aww, thank you so much! I really appreciate it. Hmm, what videos to start with? That’s a hard one. Lol, so much time has passed I’ve honestly forgotten what I’ve said in half of them. My brain is too full these days. I’m excited for you writing so much! That’s amazing!!!
❤
Love hearing how things are going, Look forward to the announcement of your speaking engagement.
Thank you so much!!
I get the stalking thing, lol. I hadn't announced the preorder open yet for my debut when a friend randomly screenshotted it for sale at a bookstore in New Zealand, lol. And I haven't announced the preorder open for book 2 yet but I see one there!
Haha yessss, how do they know? 😂
Yayy congratulations i have been writing for six years and still going strong.
That’s amazing! Congratulations! Keep going! ❤️❤️
I may not be going into indie pub but you are very inspirational and you advice is still so helpful
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!
Happy first year of kindergarten!🥁
Haha thank you! One day it will drive and graduate from high school. 🤣🤣
Gearing up for Halloween 🎃 and fall.....nice wallpaper screen for your computer 🖥️💻!!
Yesss, thank you! I love fall so much! Hands down my favorite season ever!
@@TheCourtneyProject Rock on!!!
Does anyone know if any of Courtney's videos or social posts address choices on word count and pricing books? For instance, I was thinking what could be a 3 book series may be stretched out into more somewhat smaller books which may help have more titles... but I'm talking myself through the balance on ensuring each book is meaty enough... and worth the price points I'll land at.
So, I’d say not to sell yourself short. I go through pricing in one of my videos but honestly I can’t remember which one. If you price over $2.99, you get 70% royalties. Anything below that is 30%. So you may have more “books”, but you’d make pennies compared to a few bucks. A lot of novellas (30k words) are priced at $2.99!
So $2.99 x .70 = $2.09 earned
And .99 x .30 = is .30 earned.
You deserve to be paid for your work.
Edited to fix typos! 🥴
Courtney, who do you use to publish your books?
@@jennifersweeney4120 We go direct on all platforms (amazon, ibooks, kobo, barnes, google play, and use draft2digital for other expanded distribution).
Colorado is amazing. Glad you got to come see it
It’s one of my favorite states! I visit at least 1-2 times per year. ❤️
@@TheCourtneyProject I live in Golden, it’s beautiful. I personally love it in the wintertime
@@desireeandrews6710 oh I love Golden. It’s one my favorite places to go. Love the antique store downtown, going to lookout mountain, the Coors tour, and having breakfast at Cafe 13 (I think that’s the name!) Totally jelly!
I live in downtown golden right next to Cafe13. You need to come in December when they light up the whole downtown area and have the candle walk and carriage rides. It is amazing to walk along the creek with it all lite up.
@@desireeandrews6710 omgggg don’t tempt me!
Do you get a new ISBN when you’ve done your alternative covers/rebranding so that both versions are available?
Yes we did! Each version has its own ISBN. We unpublished the old ones and unlinked in KDP, and republished with new ISBN’s and relinked in Amazon. We still have them on Ingram but unlisted if we ever needed to order copies of the old cover. :)
@@TheCourtneyProject What happens to all the reviews you had? Or do you basically start again? It's so interesting to watch what you guys are doing
@@pipcoomes7734 so they link with other versions of the book. If you change out the paperback and unlink them the reviews stay on the ebook and vice versa!
@@pipcoomes7734 you can start again if you unpublish everything at the same time then put it all back on there with different ISBNs.
@@TheCourtneyProject That's cool. I didn't know you could do that. Thanks
This is great
Thank you! ❤️
I noticed some of your books on the KISS app and I'm wondering if you would be willing to do a video on your thoughts on the app, and others like it Radish is another I know many upload their books to as well. Thanks for everything you do!
I would stay AWAY from KISS. As soon as our contract ends with them, we are pulling all of our books. I do NOT recommend them for any author.
First video where I have been first to watch
Aww yay!!
Oh hey I'M EARLY! :)
Woohoo!!!
❤❤❤
Wait u sell ebooks on your website? How? Please I want to know!
So we have Wordpress self-hosted and use woocommerce! That way you’re not paying a fee to list things like on Shopify! It’s considered a digital product so once they checkout, they are emailed to download a watermarked version of the book. That way, if we see our books being pirated we will know who’s responsible. Just extra protection on our end!
Is that a Freewrite I see?
It is! I bought it last year and love it! ❤️
I bought two! I wanted a spare.