My goal is to bring transparency to the publishing industry, which is why I make these income videos as well as monthly videos that include a slightly more detailed look at what I do for marketing. In this video, I did not mention expenses. The main reason for that is that I do my own cover design, interior formatting, proof reading/ editing, and marketing (ruclips.net/video/kVU1lorUWjY/видео.html). I actually published for under $100 (ruclips.net/video/Ol9pV4FPO8w/видео.html). I do have some small monthly expenses like Adobe and Envato Elements, so while the final number in this video is not ENTIRELY profit, the vast majority of it is. Thanks for being here everyone, and thanks for being so supportive 🫶
I love these videos!! I was so proud that I sold 7 books this year and made $7.51!! I published my first book in 2023 and my second book in October 2024!
Thanks for sharing. As an indie author myself... I wanted to throw this out there. It took me almost a year after I published my book to put out an audio book version, I wish I would have done it closer to my book release. Audio version is selling very well and makes up a good portion of my royalities.... wish I would have done it sooner/closer to my paperback release date.
I appreciate the update and charts! Your marketing does work, people just expect things to always be a huge explosion, when selling 1K+ books when there are millions in the world is actually better than most. Thank you for your transparency! We can want things to improve and also see it as amazing at the same time. Great job!
Thanks so much! Yeah, I think people have a kind of skewed version of how many books authors actually sell, which is why I think talking about the highs and lows is important.
Congrats Lindsey! I find a lot of channels are a little coy about the effort vs reward, and particularly what the actual reward is; I really appreciate your transparency and candidness. Fingers crossed for an even better 2025!
Thanks for sharing your self-publishing experience .You're doing quite well in this day of age. It is much harder these days to find readers than it was back in 2015 when I published my first books. I made $356.13 in 2024 from Amazon. Luckily, I'm writing for the joy of it and to hopefully entertaining readers, so I had a good year. Best of luck going forward!
@@marcusappelberg369 Thanks, so do I, especially given the total lack of effort I put into marketing. And well, I publish my books "wide" so that Amazon is only my #3 market, though the only market I make any money on because they make me:)
Thank you! I'm pretty happy with where I'm at as it's still more of a hobby. I totally agree, I self published back in 2013-2015-ish as well and had organic sales with zero marketing. The publishing industry sure has changed quite a bit since then!
Ooh, thanks for the info on Kindle unlimited rereads. I always wondered if it was better to constantly reread on KU so they get page views or to buy a copy. I'll make sure to fully read on KU first so my favs get the page views & then buy a copy after.
Thank you for these videos! I'm a budding author and am working on publishing my first work which is a Sci-Fi short story. I'm so nervous and excited. Seeing this continues to build my confidence.
I love your videos! As an indie author myself, these have been super helpful and have inspired me to take my own journey a bit more seriously :) I wish you great success in 2025!
This is amazing to see. I'm also a part-time indie author trying to increase the transparency around what goes into indie publishing and what money I make. I'm glad RUclips shared your channel with me! I'm thrilled to see more authors sharing, especially those of us who do it part-time.
Don't mind the people calling your stuff AI. You've mentioned your graphic design experience plenty of times and, for whatever reason, it's not sticking 🤔 I have soooo many of your videos to catch up on btw, but thanks as always for being so transparent ❤ I hope I make $2K with my debut this year! 🥰
I've been doing graphic design for almost a decade and have seen all of her book covers. I can see it's not difficult to develop her products for persons who know graphic design.
Thank you for sharing your experience and numbers ❤ It is great to see a realistic author life and plan for it instead of a 1 in a million success and feel like a failure. Wishing you success in 2025 in all your creative endeavors! 😊
First, thank you so much for sharing! Second, sorry to hear that people aren't appreciating your skill or experience. Honestly, I consider your author story a success and aspire to achieve what you've been able to achieve. Good luck with everything! Excited to see what you have for us next 😊
congratulations , still a winner with three books, the $$ will come in later, you're monetizing with your presentations and videos, more luck in 2025 and prosperity.
Thank you so much for this open and transparent video! So many other authors I've come across gatekeep this info or only offer it behind a paywall, and I found myself leaning more towards trad pub because I was so uncertain if self pub was for me. Looking forward to watching more of your videos ♥
Glad to hear all about your progress. I need to break my down like this too. I wrote three books last year and made $150. Yip marketing is not my strong suit.
Great video and thank you for sharing! I did so recently and I know only one other person who will share their stats. Very helpful to be transparent if you want to ❤
Ahhh I love that, I'll go watch your video! Yeah I've seen it becoming a little more popular on Threads to share income and stats, but I don't really like Threads in general 😅
Hi Lindsey! Just found your channel and I'm so happy I did. It's so nice that you break down the actual numbers. Just subscribed and I'm off to find some of your marketing videos...Happy New Year!
Just a suggestion since this is the first video I'm watching from you and I know nothing about you (hi, btw, happy to have found you!), but the slower summer/September months are probably also due to it being the holiday and beginning of the academic year season, so people are spending time more outside or doing other activities than reading, I assume.
Absolutely fabulous video, thank you so much for your transparency. Sorry to bother, just two / three questions (beware I´m european so I don´t have enough knowledge of american culture, and I don´t know much about self-publishing): - Do you know why is march your best month? Is it something cultural and global in US, that march is the month where people read / buy books the most, or is there a different reason? - Do you know your readers in Amazon (have a list or a database of them), or at least has Amazon system a way to contact first readers, in order to push notify them about your other next books? - In that sense, have you analyzed if there is a correlation between pages read and next books bought? Apparently, the more pages read in the first should give a higher probability of buying a second on the series, but that would be great to calculate by the real numbers, and maybe you can have them, by reader. Anyway, thank you so so much in advance. Keep the writing adventure! Regards from Spain!
Thank you so much! To answer your questions... - I think in March I had a couple of "viral" videos over 20k views on tiktok, so that definitely helped get word out about the book. - We don't get a way to collect email addresses from Amazon, but there is an option to follow author pages on Amazon and their system will notify those who are subscribed when a new book comes out. Otherwise, we have to independently build our own email lists. - I haven't seen a huge read-through rate yet (I'm theorizing that it'll go up when the series is complete, but who's to say lol)
@@itslindseeey Thank you so so much for the info, so openly. I just can wonder how difficult getting readers loyalty is, especially in a (digital) era where we consume (digital) books like snacks; it’s not easy to remember the author or that cover, that title, as we used to (in my opinion). I believe that even Sanderson will see in his data that the number of readers who read his books is decreasing (in the sense that un % of readers who have read the first of any of his sagas, do not read all of them), even though he has very loyal readers (also because he writes on various topics and for different ages, of course). But without a doubt, how he generates community is a process to investigate, from which to learn. Again, thank you very much, sorry for my english, you are a real treasure.
keep pumping takes time and lets be real its difficult finding an audience and building confidence in yourself to actually promote yourself. thats a tough one on my side hahaha
Marketing and promotion is difficult for so many of us! Finding new readers who are willing to invest the time and/or money into something they might not like is also a huge ask too.
I actually have a vlog I'm working on editing from a lot of the time I was working on this third book! I'd love to dive more into my world building process too and show my spreadsheets with all the info I keep.
Haha with not enough lead-up I guess. I'm playing around with different CTAs at the end of it to try to entice readers to book 2, but might think about changing the ending a bit to be a little more of a cliff hanger.
Thanks! As of now, I've pretty much only done organic social media marketing, but I do plan on branching out sometime this year and experiment with some ads once my first series is complete.
PLEASE share your marketing tips! Those authors who sell tens of thousands of books also put thousands a month into marketing and that is something I absolutely can't do right now (I also write poetry, so much smaller market). My goal for next year is to double my lifetime copies sold. And reviews on my books would be awesome 😂 Thank you for making these videos! I love them!
Thanks for watching! I'll definitely share more marketing tips. Yeah I don't have a budget like that to even begin with so I try to focus on what I can do myself for free or very cheap. I love poetry; I believe in you!
Thanks! Yeah, I actually do everything myself (editing, cover design, formatting, marketing, etc.) and with the feedback of a couple of beta readers, so I made my money back the very first month I published.
Based on your sales is it really worth writing a 4th book in the series, books 2&3 didn't have many sales. Wouldn't it be better to write standalones until you get a bestseller and then turn that book into a series?
I actually really want to make a video talking about this now, thanks for the question! 🙌 But to answer it here, I would say it's worth it. My books are interconnected, and book 2 leads into book 3 (more than book 1 leads into 2, if that makes sense) which came out just over a month ago, so they're still gaining traction. Sometimes it takes years for a book to find its audience, so the short-term stats even up to 5 years make it difficult to judge whether a book or series will be "successful" (however you measure that) long-term. I am also working on a few different standalones at the same time, so I'm not really giving up anything but a liiiitle extra time to finish the 4th book. And if the standalones do well, it would be a better move to market my backlist of a series readers can sink their teeth into in order to build loyalty rather than extend a standalone out for a cash grab (at least in my opinion).
I think you're talking about affiliate marketing. I don't know of any that will give you a 30% commission. Pretty much any affiliate program is going to be closer to 5-10%. To make any money promoting books, you could promote it with an amazon associates link to make pennies or start a business offering book promotion services if you build up a news letter or social media channel focused on finding readers.
I just found your channel, I thought it really refreshing. I can appreciate your goal to become monetised (as a small RUclips channel myself with no chance of ever doing that because it’s so niche I really am rooting for you) but can I please make a plea for you not to include masses of mid roll ads once you do make that threshold. - It is the creator’s choice and anyone who pays attention to RUclips knows that. It’s been so lovely to just watch the entire video without it being broken down and disrupted every few minutes by meaningless ads that just waste my time and make me feel kind of disrespected. I have unsubscribed from so many channels recently because three minutes in I get an ad, and then another five minutes in another ad, and then another five minutes in. I’ll put up with and allowed to play the ones at the beginning of the video and the ones at the end but the middle ones - they’re a step too far.
Thank you so much! Haha as a member of the masses, I totally agree with you! I'd rather do something where they just play an ad at the beginning or maybe like one in the middle. I don't know exactly how you get to choose yet, but I'll be very mindful of still making my channel a (hopefully) fun viewing experience.
@@itslindseeey When you get to monetised - 4000 watch hours in 1000 subs as usual (I’m ignoring the whole shorts thing that drives me nuts) You can then expect to be paid a portion of the revenue for the videos that play at the front and the end of your video AND (this is quite new) for a video that’s over eight minutes long you can choose - and it is a choice made by the creator - to allow mid-roll ads. RUclips will make some suggestions, but it’s up to you whether to accept them however If you let RUclips schedule them for you it will put pretty much the maximum amount in which I think is currently 4 sets. So yeah you could put up a 15 minute video and people will be expected to tolerate up to 8 minutes of advertisements. Which kind of means people like me will automatically unsubscribe and tell RUclips to never suggest the channel again.
Happy new year! last year, i implemented a strict budgeting strategy to track expenses and set clear limits, while also focusing on a smart investment approach. In just six months, my investments grew by over $70,000, boosting my savings and financial confidence. This combined strategy has set me on track to achieve my long-term financial goals, and i'm hoping to get to a million plus this 2025, so help me God
Working with Lorrie Greta Hillard , a financial advisor, was a game changer. She helped me refine my savings strategy, including retirement planning, and provided expert guidance on investments and budgeting to maximize my savings.
1:31 what a weird way to look at it, most authors (trad or self-pub) struggle to sell fewer copies than that, and whether marketing is successful or not is dependent on your goals? not everyone markets to be famous, what you have accomplished is significant in my book.
Thanks so much! I feel pretty proud of what I've accomplished, so I think that's all that matters, but I think people who aren't in the industry don't know that selling books is actually pretty hard 😅
I'm an artist and a writer. It's so disheartening to hear that you are creating your own covers, only to have people bash them because the skill level looks too good or they're a specific style. :
Thank you! It's something I love to do, so I'm happy to make any money at all. I'm also amazed at how many side hustle videos I see that say writing/ publishing can be an easy way to make a lot of money 😂
Yeah, in Kindle Unlimited, you only get paid the first time someone reads your book. And obviously if it's an order, you just get paid once for the sale. It's an unfortunate circumstance. I do believe other services like Kobo or Apple Books pay for re-reads, but it's tough as an indie author because so much of the reader market is in Kindle Unlimited. I am going to try publishing wide for my next standalone and analyze the differences too.
Not a single word about your expenses. Did you pay for anything like covers, editing, proofreading, or marketing? Unless you published totally for free, this video didn't say anything about you profits, only revenue. It gives a false impression for others wanting to self publish. The vast majority of self published authors lose money. I did. Lost over $1,000 in 2024. Book covers, editing and proof reading, along with marketing. It all adds up. The key to making any money is controlling cost.
I do my own cover design, interior formatting, proof reading/ editing, and marketing. I actually published for under $100 (ruclips.net/video/Ol9pV4FPO8w/видео.html) and do not pay anything for marketing (ruclips.net/video/kVU1lorUWjY/видео.html). I strive to bring transparency around income, I just don't have any expenses except for my adobe and Envato subscriptions every month, so the majority of this is profit, but I will include that in future income videos.
@@itslindseeey Fair enough, but everyone that sees this video doens't watch all your other content, You may want to consider including a breif intro explaing how you minimize your costs and publish cheaply. Otherwise some may dismiss your profit claims. Every profit eqution includes costs, and you completely left that out on this video.
Thanks for the concern. So far I haven't had anyone be dismissive or critical; everyone's been very supportive. Unfortunately, RUclips doesn't allow you to just write over a video and upload a new version, which is why I said I'll include it in future videos (I do monthly income reports as well). I'll add a disclaimer in the description and a pinned comment as well for this video; thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Writing books is definitely not for the people who want to make a quick buck, but $2k is pretty good, and obviously I'm pretty proud of that! If we got paid for the hours we put in, books would cost hundreds of dollars.
@@itslindseeey glad you are proud. you seem to be a good writer and a good person. doesn't demotivate you to earn so low? I mean with nowadays people making millions on onlyfans. with AI and everything, are books going to end? yet many titles are added per day. who is reading? who is buying? in such a society. you are right to want to get your channel monetised. you would probably earn a lot more than from your books. it seems that everything is against new writers. specially young ones. who has time and money to write a book? most people can't even earn a living wage work 9 to 5. I've published a few and I've sold a decent amount but sometimes I just think to myself if it's all worth it. I don't know any of my readers. I think you will have some success due to social media.
It all depends what your goals are and where you want to spend your energy. Could I get on onlyfans and make money doing things that I don’t really wanna do? Probably. There also people who get on onlyfans and don’t make any money at all or ruin their chance at having a professional career. As far as AI, people are reading the books that they want to read and it seems that the consensus nowadays is that a lot of people want to read human-written work. I’m always looking for new ways to monetize my hobbies and bring in extra income because yeah, the economy is crap and living wage keeps going up. But at this point in my life, I have the time and money and energy to write books and I LOVE doing it. And I think if you doubt your worth and don’t see the value in telling your stories then that’s gonna show. It almost sounds like you want me to be discouraged, so I encourage you to find joy in something that you love regardless of whether or not it pays you 🫶🏻
What?? That's pretty good for an indie author!! She's not even paying for marketing and she's earning THIS much? That's amazing and I'm lowkey jealous. I think your idea of an indie authors income must be far from reality. Most authors spend hundreds of $$ on marketing, paying influencers, ads, expensive covers, editing, etc. Even after that, a lot don't make their money back. She is making BANK. Writing is a passion project and if you go in expecting massive or even decent sales you might be dissapointed. Of course its 100% possible but just dont get discrouraged just by the numbers. Keep going!
@@itslindseeey not at all. I want you to succeed. you actually provide value to other people. don't ever give up. you are good and I thank you. it's just me not you. I was wondering how much it pays really. I've earn more than you but compared to the hours it's just pathetic. I don't think it really matters. you are doing something you love. that's all it matters. when I write I write to myself so I get it. what I feel is that platforms like amazon are exploiting content creators. nothing new here anyway. But this is sad. if you didn't had time and money you couldn't write. you clearly know what you are doing. you will succeed. once you get monetised on social media you will earn a lot more. it's just odd that 99% of income will come from social media. don't let my words discourage you. I believe you.
Your covers looks very targeted. Maybe that's intended, but you're limiting your genre to girls who like fantasy and romance. Atleast thats what the cover tells me. I wouldn't even pick up the book.
I mean they are fantasy romance so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ They have a lot of world building and lore but also romance is a big part of the story. If someone picked these up hoping for a straight up epic fantasy quest with no romance they’d be upset.
@itslindseeey sorry, I wasn't trying to be an ass. I'm just saying that as a male who loves fantasy and reading, you're banking on a very specific audience who IMO mostly want smut if they read fantasy at all. (Sarah J. Maas as an example). I'm just saying it may be fruitful to appeal to a broader audience.
My goal is to bring transparency to the publishing industry, which is why I make these income videos as well as monthly videos that include a slightly more detailed look at what I do for marketing. In this video, I did not mention expenses. The main reason for that is that I do my own cover design, interior formatting, proof reading/ editing, and marketing (ruclips.net/video/kVU1lorUWjY/видео.html). I actually published for under $100 (ruclips.net/video/Ol9pV4FPO8w/видео.html). I do have some small monthly expenses like Adobe and Envato Elements, so while the final number in this video is not ENTIRELY profit, the vast majority of it is. Thanks for being here everyone, and thanks for being so supportive 🫶
Honestly selling 1000+ books as an indie author without being a household name yet is a very respectable amount.
Thank you!
Absolutely!
I love these videos!! I was so proud that I sold 7 books this year and made $7.51!! I published my first book in 2023 and my second book in October 2024!
Thank you; they're fun to make too, so I'm glad you like them! Heck yeah, congrats on two books out!!
That’s amazing.
As an author who aspires to publish (but plans to keep her FT job), I love authors who are as transparent as you. This was great. Thanks!
Thanks so much! Same, I plan to keep my FT job (unless I get massively lottery-level lucky LOL)
@@itslindseeey yes, I too will reconsider the FT job if that happens. 😄
Thanks for sharing. As an indie author myself... I wanted to throw this out there. It took me almost a year after I published my book to put out an audio book version, I wish I would have done it closer to my book release. Audio version is selling very well and makes up a good portion of my royalities.... wish I would have done it sooner/closer to my paperback release date.
I appreciate the update and charts! Your marketing does work, people just expect things to always be a huge explosion, when selling 1K+ books when there are millions in the world is actually better than most. Thank you for your transparency! We can want things to improve and also see it as amazing at the same time. Great job!
Thanks so much! Yeah, I think people have a kind of skewed version of how many books authors actually sell, which is why I think talking about the highs and lows is important.
Congrats Lindsey! I find a lot of channels are a little coy about the effort vs reward, and particularly what the actual reward is; I really appreciate your transparency and candidness. Fingers crossed for an even better 2025!
Thanks for sharing your self-publishing experience .You're doing quite well in this day of age. It is much harder these days to find readers than it was back in 2015 when I published my first books. I made $356.13 in 2024 from Amazon. Luckily, I'm writing for the joy of it and to hopefully entertaining readers, so I had a good year. Best of luck going forward!
That is a respectable number I think. :)
@@marcusappelberg369 Thanks, so do I, especially given the total lack of effort I put into marketing. And well, I publish my books "wide" so that Amazon is only my #3 market, though the only market I make any money on because they make me:)
Thank you! I'm pretty happy with where I'm at as it's still more of a hobby. I totally agree, I self published back in 2013-2015-ish as well and had organic sales with zero marketing. The publishing industry sure has changed quite a bit since then!
Ooh, thanks for the info on Kindle unlimited rereads. I always wondered if it was better to constantly reread on KU so they get page views or to buy a copy. I'll make sure to fully read on KU first so my favs get the page views & then buy a copy after.
Thanks for watching! We love a supportive reader 🫶
Thank you for these videos! I'm a budding author and am working on publishing my first work which is a Sci-Fi short story. I'm so nervous and excited. Seeing this continues to build my confidence.
Congrats, that's so exciting!!
Thank you for this video! I find it inspiring and motivating... Watching videos like this helps me to keep on creating 😊
I'm so glad!
@itslindseeey ❤️
I love your videos! As an indie author myself, these have been super helpful and have inspired me to take my own journey a bit more seriously :) I wish you great success in 2025!
Thank you so much; I wish you so much joy on your journey!
This is amazing to see. I'm also a part-time indie author trying to increase the transparency around what goes into indie publishing and what money I make. I'm glad RUclips shared your channel with me! I'm thrilled to see more authors sharing, especially those of us who do it part-time.
Thank you! Omg fun, I'll check out your videos, I always love connecting with fellow authors!
Don't mind the people calling your stuff AI. You've mentioned your graphic design experience plenty of times and, for whatever reason, it's not sticking 🤔 I have soooo many of your videos to catch up on btw, but thanks as always for being so transparent ❤ I hope I make $2K with my debut this year! 🥰
I've been doing graphic design for almost a decade and have seen all of her book covers. I can see it's not difficult to develop her products for persons who know graphic design.
Thanks for the update, I appreciate your being open and honest about the money that you make, it shows the reality of self publishing.
Thanks for watching! I think it's important to know that not everyone is going viral and making millions.
Thank you for sharing your experience and numbers ❤ It is great to see a realistic author life and plan for it instead of a 1 in a million success and feel like a failure. Wishing you success in 2025 in all your creative endeavors! 😊
Thank you so much!
Thanks a lot for sharing! I'm venturing out in this journey myself this year, so all information is appreciated.
Exciting! I hope it goes well!
Thank you so much for sharing so openly! Being an indie can be such a rollercoaster 😅
It really can be! It's nice to know we're not alone in that, sometimes.
First, thank you so much for sharing! Second, sorry to hear that people aren't appreciating your skill or experience. Honestly, I consider your author story a success and aspire to achieve what you've been able to achieve. Good luck with everything! Excited to see what you have for us next 😊
Thank you!!
I've been looking for how publishing finction on Amazon works, this was really helpful. Thanks a lot, I think you're killing it, keep up the good work
I'm so glad it was helpful; thanks so much for your encouragement!
congratulations , still a winner with three books, the $$ will come in later, you're monetizing with your presentations and videos, more luck in 2025 and prosperity.
Thank you! And even if the money doesn't become substantial, I'll still write and publish since I love so much of the process.
Thank you so much for this open and transparent video! So many other authors I've come across gatekeep this info or only offer it behind a paywall, and I found myself leaning more towards trad pub because I was so uncertain if self pub was for me. Looking forward to watching more of your videos ♥
Thanks so much for commenting, I'm always happy to share!
Thanks for sharing all of that stuff! People who love numbers are the best!
Can you promote an e-book and get 30% of the book?
Numbers are so fun!
Glad to hear all about your progress. I need to break my down like this too. I wrote three books last year and made $150. Yip marketing is not my strong suit.
Thank you! Yeah marketing is definitely the more difficult part, but congrats on writing 3 books in a year, holy moly!
Great video and thank you for sharing! I did so recently and I know only one other person who will share their stats. Very helpful to be transparent if you want to ❤
Ahhh I love that, I'll go watch your video! Yeah I've seen it becoming a little more popular on Threads to share income and stats, but I don't really like Threads in general 😅
Congrats on your success!
Aw, thanks! I'm really proud of how far I've come in just a couple of years!
Im going to self publish soon. Thanks for sharing. I also read a ton on kindle unlimited so im gonna give your series a try!
Oh my gosh, thanks so much! I hope you enjoy, whenever you get to them. Also exciting, let me know when you publish!
Thanks for sharing! This is informative and just what I need.
I'm so glad it was helpful!
Hi Lindsey! Just found your channel and I'm so happy I did. It's so nice that you break down the actual numbers. Just subscribed and I'm off to find some of your marketing videos...Happy New Year!
Thanks so much, I hope they're helpful! Happy new year!
Absolutely brilliant ❤
Thanks Emma! 🫶
Just a suggestion since this is the first video I'm watching from you and I know nothing about you (hi, btw, happy to have found you!), but the slower summer/September months are probably also due to it being the holiday and beginning of the academic year season, so people are spending time more outside or doing other activities than reading, I assume.
Thanks! I think I remember mentioning those in the individual month breakdowns, but that definitely seems to be the trend.
Absolutely fabulous video, thank you so much for your transparency. Sorry to bother, just two / three questions (beware I´m european so I don´t have enough knowledge of american culture, and I don´t know much about self-publishing):
- Do you know why is march your best month? Is it something cultural and global in US, that march is the month where people read / buy books the most, or is there a different reason?
- Do you know your readers in Amazon (have a list or a database of them), or at least has Amazon system a way to contact first readers, in order to push notify them about your other next books?
- In that sense, have you analyzed if there is a correlation between pages read and next books bought? Apparently, the more pages read in the first should give a higher probability of buying a second on the series, but that would be great to calculate by the real numbers, and maybe you can have them, by reader.
Anyway, thank you so so much in advance. Keep the writing adventure! Regards from Spain!
Thank you so much! To answer your questions...
- I think in March I had a couple of "viral" videos over 20k views on tiktok, so that definitely helped get word out about the book.
- We don't get a way to collect email addresses from Amazon, but there is an option to follow author pages on Amazon and their system will notify those who are subscribed when a new book comes out. Otherwise, we have to independently build our own email lists.
- I haven't seen a huge read-through rate yet (I'm theorizing that it'll go up when the series is complete, but who's to say lol)
@@itslindseeey Thank you so so much for the info, so openly. I just can wonder how difficult getting readers loyalty is, especially in a (digital) era where we consume (digital) books like snacks; it’s not easy to remember the author or that cover, that title, as we used to (in my opinion). I believe that even Sanderson will see in his data that the number of readers who read his books is decreasing (in the sense that un % of readers who have read the first of any of his sagas, do not read all of them), even though he has very loyal readers (also because he writes on various topics and for different ages, of course). But without a doubt, how he generates community is a process to investigate, from which to learn. Again, thank you very much, sorry for my english, you are a real treasure.
keep pumping takes time and lets be real its difficult finding an audience and building confidence in yourself to actually promote yourself. thats a tough one on my side hahaha
Marketing and promotion is difficult for so many of us! Finding new readers who are willing to invest the time and/or money into something they might not like is also a huge ask too.
Congrats on selling so many books!!
Thank you!!
Just wondering have you thought about doing some writing vlogs so we can see your process when it comes to writing your style of books?
I actually have a vlog I'm working on editing from a lot of the time I was working on this third book! I'd love to dive more into my world building process too and show my spreadsheets with all the info I keep.
How does book 1 end? It seems like not a lot move on to the second book. Just a thought. Thank you for doing this!
Haha with not enough lead-up I guess. I'm playing around with different CTAs at the end of it to try to entice readers to book 2, but might think about changing the ending a bit to be a little more of a cliff hanger.
very nice, they look better in your hands, they're more real that way.
I love holding my books!
Great job! Have you considered running FB or AZN ads? (I'm sorry if you said this in other videos; I've only watched this one!)
Thanks! As of now, I've pretty much only done organic social media marketing, but I do plan on branching out sometime this year and experiment with some ads once my first series is complete.
PLEASE share your marketing tips! Those authors who sell tens of thousands of books also put thousands a month into marketing and that is something I absolutely can't do right now (I also write poetry, so much smaller market).
My goal for next year is to double my lifetime copies sold. And reviews on my books would be awesome 😂
Thank you for making these videos! I love them!
Thanks for watching! I'll definitely share more marketing tips. Yeah I don't have a budget like that to even begin with so I try to focus on what I can do myself for free or very cheap. I love poetry; I believe in you!
I like the covers, especially the first two, did you make them yourself?
Thanks so much! Yes, I make all of my covers myself.
@itslindseeey They're very good, keep up the great work, best of luck with future sales.
Awesome work! This is really interesting. Do you find your sales cover your costs (ie. editor etc)?
Thanks! Yeah, I actually do everything myself (editing, cover design, formatting, marketing, etc.) and with the feedback of a couple of beta readers, so I made my money back the very first month I published.
Based on your sales is it really worth writing a 4th book in the series, books 2&3 didn't have many sales. Wouldn't it be better to write standalones until you get a bestseller and then turn that book into a series?
I actually really want to make a video talking about this now, thanks for the question! 🙌 But to answer it here, I would say it's worth it. My books are interconnected, and book 2 leads into book 3 (more than book 1 leads into 2, if that makes sense) which came out just over a month ago, so they're still gaining traction. Sometimes it takes years for a book to find its audience, so the short-term stats even up to 5 years make it difficult to judge whether a book or series will be "successful" (however you measure that) long-term. I am also working on a few different standalones at the same time, so I'm not really giving up anything but a liiiitle extra time to finish the 4th book. And if the standalones do well, it would be a better move to market my backlist of a series readers can sink their teeth into in order to build loyalty rather than extend a standalone out for a cash grab (at least in my opinion).
everyone's getting accused of AI right now. i used a photo of Eileen Donan Castle and someone was pointing out where it was AI.
my son took the pic.
Lmao! It's such a hot button topic; people need to take a deep breath
Can you promote an e-book and get 30% of the book?
I think you're talking about affiliate marketing. I don't know of any that will give you a 30% commission. Pretty much any affiliate program is going to be closer to 5-10%. To make any money promoting books, you could promote it with an amazon associates link to make pennies or start a business offering book promotion services if you build up a news letter or social media channel focused on finding readers.
My sister, I meant for you to advertise my book on your channel and I will give you 30% of my sales.
I just found your channel, I thought it really refreshing.
I can appreciate your goal to become monetised (as a small RUclips channel myself with no chance of ever doing that because it’s so niche I really am rooting for you) but can I please make a plea for you not to include masses of mid roll ads once you do make that threshold. - It is the creator’s choice and anyone who pays attention to RUclips knows that.
It’s been so lovely to just watch the entire video without it being broken down and disrupted every few minutes by meaningless ads that just waste my time and make me feel kind of disrespected. I have unsubscribed from so many channels recently because three minutes in I get an ad, and then another five minutes in another ad, and then another five minutes in. I’ll put up with and allowed to play the ones at the beginning of the video and the ones at the end but the middle ones - they’re a step too far.
Thank you so much! Haha as a member of the masses, I totally agree with you! I'd rather do something where they just play an ad at the beginning or maybe like one in the middle. I don't know exactly how you get to choose yet, but I'll be very mindful of still making my channel a (hopefully) fun viewing experience.
@@itslindseeey When you get to monetised - 4000 watch hours in 1000 subs as usual (I’m ignoring the whole shorts thing that drives me nuts) You can then expect to be paid a portion of the revenue for the videos that play at the front and the end of your video AND (this is quite new) for a video that’s over eight minutes long you can choose - and it is a choice made by the creator - to allow mid-roll ads. RUclips will make some suggestions, but it’s up to you whether to accept them however If you let RUclips schedule them for you it will put pretty much the maximum amount in which I think is currently 4 sets. So yeah you could put up a 15 minute video and people will be expected to tolerate up to 8 minutes of advertisements. Which kind of means people like me will automatically unsubscribe and tell RUclips to never suggest the channel again.
Happy new year! last year, i implemented a strict budgeting strategy to track expenses and set clear limits, while also focusing on a smart investment approach. In just six months, my investments grew by over $70,000, boosting my savings and financial confidence. This combined strategy has set me on track to achieve my long-term financial goals, and i'm hoping to get to a million plus this 2025, so help me God
that’s incredible! What’s the secret behind this strategy? How did you manage to save up so much so quickly?
Working with Lorrie Greta Hillard , a financial advisor, was a game changer. She helped me refine my savings strategy, including retirement planning, and provided expert guidance on investments and budgeting to maximize my savings.
Got it! Thanks for the tip! I was curious, so I looked up Lorrie
that's an incredible goal to set 2025
Your investments grew more than my untaxed salary, congrats.
1:31 what a weird way to look at it, most authors (trad or self-pub) struggle to sell fewer copies than that, and whether marketing is successful or not is dependent on your goals? not everyone markets to be famous, what you have accomplished is significant in my book.
Thanks so much! I feel pretty proud of what I've accomplished, so I think that's all that matters, but I think people who aren't in the industry don't know that selling books is actually pretty hard 😅
I'm an artist and a writer. It's so disheartening to hear that you are creating your own covers, only to have people bash them because the skill level looks too good or they're a specific style. :
It is what it is, unfortunately. We just have to keep creating and support each other however we can 🫶
Thats impressive earnings! but certainly not a living wage. Probably a good point for people who might romanticize the life of an author.
Thank you! It's something I love to do, so I'm happy to make any money at all. I'm also amazed at how many side hustle videos I see that say writing/ publishing can be an easy way to make a lot of money 😂
KDP pays nothing for rereads? Doesn't that punish a writer who writes a story that people want to read again?
Yeah, in Kindle Unlimited, you only get paid the first time someone reads your book. And obviously if it's an order, you just get paid once for the sale. It's an unfortunate circumstance. I do believe other services like Kobo or Apple Books pay for re-reads, but it's tough as an indie author because so much of the reader market is in Kindle Unlimited. I am going to try publishing wide for my next standalone and analyze the differences too.
Hi fellow marketer! I do marketing for a tech company 🤖
Hello! 👋 Ooh that sounds like it would be fun!
@@itslindseeey it has it's moments lol 😅
Not a single word about your expenses. Did you pay for anything like covers, editing, proofreading, or marketing? Unless you published totally for free, this video didn't say anything about you profits, only revenue. It gives a false impression for others wanting to self publish.
The vast majority of self published authors lose money. I did. Lost over $1,000 in 2024. Book covers, editing and proof reading, along with marketing. It all adds up. The key to making any money is controlling cost.
I do my own cover design, interior formatting, proof reading/ editing, and marketing. I actually published for under $100 (ruclips.net/video/Ol9pV4FPO8w/видео.html) and do not pay anything for marketing (ruclips.net/video/kVU1lorUWjY/видео.html). I strive to bring transparency around income, I just don't have any expenses except for my adobe and Envato subscriptions every month, so the majority of this is profit, but I will include that in future income videos.
@@itslindseeey Fair enough, but everyone that sees this video doens't watch all your other content, You may want to consider including a breif intro explaing how you minimize your costs and publish cheaply. Otherwise some may dismiss your profit claims. Every profit eqution includes costs, and you completely left that out on this video.
Thanks for the concern. So far I haven't had anyone be dismissive or critical; everyone's been very supportive. Unfortunately, RUclips doesn't allow you to just write over a video and upload a new version, which is why I said I'll include it in future videos (I do monthly income reports as well). I'll add a disclaimer in the description and a pinned comment as well for this video; thanks for bringing it to my attention.
2k that's so sad. that's cents per hour of work. writing is a labour of love. .001% of authors make 99.9999% of all income.
Writing books is definitely not for the people who want to make a quick buck, but $2k is pretty good, and obviously I'm pretty proud of that! If we got paid for the hours we put in, books would cost hundreds of dollars.
@@itslindseeey glad you are proud. you seem to be a good writer and a good person. doesn't demotivate you to earn so low? I mean with nowadays people making millions on onlyfans. with AI and everything, are books going to end? yet many titles are added per day. who is reading? who is buying? in such a society. you are right to want to get your channel monetised. you would probably earn a lot more than from your books. it seems that everything is against new writers. specially young ones. who has time and money to write a book? most people can't even earn a living wage work 9 to 5. I've published a few and I've sold a decent amount but sometimes I just think to myself if it's all worth it. I don't know any of my readers. I think you will have some success due to social media.
It all depends what your goals are and where you want to spend your energy. Could I get on onlyfans and make money doing things that I don’t really wanna do? Probably. There also people who get on onlyfans and don’t make any money at all or ruin their chance at having a professional career. As far as AI, people are reading the books that they want to read and it seems that the consensus nowadays is that a lot of people want to read human-written work. I’m always looking for new ways to monetize my hobbies and bring in extra income because yeah, the economy is crap and living wage keeps going up. But at this point in my life, I have the time and money and energy to write books and I LOVE doing it. And I think if you doubt your worth and don’t see the value in telling your stories then that’s gonna show. It almost sounds like you want me to be discouraged, so I encourage you to find joy in something that you love regardless of whether or not it pays you 🫶🏻
What?? That's pretty good for an indie author!! She's not even paying for marketing and she's earning THIS much? That's amazing and I'm lowkey jealous. I think your idea of an indie authors income must be far from reality. Most authors spend hundreds of $$ on marketing, paying influencers, ads, expensive covers, editing, etc. Even after that, a lot don't make their money back. She is making BANK.
Writing is a passion project and if you go in expecting massive or even decent sales you might be dissapointed. Of course its 100% possible but just dont get discrouraged just by the numbers. Keep going!
@@itslindseeey not at all. I want you to succeed. you actually provide value to other people. don't ever give up. you are good and I thank you. it's just me not you. I was wondering how much it pays really. I've earn more than you but compared to the hours it's just pathetic. I don't think it really matters. you are doing something you love. that's all it matters. when I write I write to myself so I get it. what I feel is that platforms like amazon are exploiting content creators. nothing new here anyway. But this is sad. if you didn't had time and money you couldn't write.
you clearly know what you are doing. you will succeed. once you get monetised on social media you will earn a lot more. it's just odd that 99% of income will come from social media.
don't let my words discourage you. I believe you.
Your covers looks very targeted. Maybe that's intended, but you're limiting your genre to girls who like fantasy and romance. Atleast thats what the cover tells me. I wouldn't even pick up the book.
I mean they are fantasy romance so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ They have a lot of world building and lore but also romance is a big part of the story. If someone picked these up hoping for a straight up epic fantasy quest with no romance they’d be upset.
@itslindseeey sorry, I wasn't trying to be an ass. I'm just saying that as a male who loves fantasy and reading, you're banking on a very specific audience who IMO mostly want smut if they read fantasy at all. (Sarah J. Maas as an example). I'm just saying it may be fruitful to appeal to a broader audience.