Do Authors Make Money? Here’s The Truth

June 16, 2014 by Sonia Marsh 29 Comments

I’m in the mood to write something controversial that may get me in trouble, but as you know, my theme is being “Gutsy” so I’ve decided to be honest and say what’s on my mind.

Before I do, let me tell you that I’ve been re-evaluating my goals; where I’m heading with “Gutsy Living” and my coaching business.

As many of you have told me, I’m all over the place trying to promote not only my stuff, but also other people’s books, posts, videos, articles. It takes time, and for me, it’s a 7-day-a-week job. If I were doing this for a successful company, I should be making a six-figure income, easily, BUT NO!

As an indie author, I choose to spend money on book covers, formatting, hiring a business coach, subscriptions to magazines and organizations, applying for book Awards, attending conferences, flights, hotels (when I cannot stay for free at a friend’s house) printing, business cards, posters, once in a while on a local PR person (for the “My Gutsy Story®” Anthology, book launch)

Now perhaps I’m taking the wrong approach. I cannot sacrifice the quality of my product (books) for a cheaper version of DIY. So far, I have hired professional editors (4 of them) book designers (1106 Design), a film company to film the book launch (perhaps a BIG mistake), rented a movie theater with a keynote speaker and a panel to of indie authors to entertain our audience.

It’s time for a reality check

My recent presentation at the #SBWC2014 Santa Barbara Writers Conference

As I’ve heard over and over at conferences:

Don’t quit your day job

We can’t all be like Elizabeth Gilbert who sold 9 million copies of her book, Eat, Pray, Love, worldwide, generating an estimated $135 million in sales, nor like John Grisham who sold 645,000 copies of one of his books.

Amy Collins, with New Shelves distribution, mentioned during her presentation at PWSD (Publishers Writers San Diego) that published authors selling 25,000 copies, need to keep their day job.

I don’t know of any indie author friends of mine who have sold 25,000 copies in one year. If you have, please e-mail me at: sonia@soniamarsh.

In fact, many indie authors claim they don’t receive Amazon royalty checks each month.

According to BISG.org (The Book Industry Study Group)

78% of all books are sold online
98% of all books sold online are through Amazon
Less than 4% of Americans visited a bookstore in the last year.
(These are my notes from the lecture, so as far as I know they are accurate.)

When I make presentations to writers’ groups and at writers’ conferences, I explain how:

This is the best time to be an author, but it is also the worst time. WHY?

It’s the best time because authors have so many options today to market themselves online. If we have a great idea for Oprah’s audience, heck, we can even Tweet @Oprah, and maybe, just maybe, one of her producers will read our Tweet, you never know. Oprah has 5 great summer reads which her Oprah magazine book editor, Leigh Haber, recommends. Why not our books? There are all genres.

It’s also the worst time as there is so much competition today. In 2013, Bowker announced that 391,000 books were self-published in 2012. A 59% increase from 2011.

I started my own publishing company in 2012, called, “Gutsy Publications.” I did this after studying the pros and cons of using CreateSpace as my POD printer, vs. being a publisher and the benefits of using LSI (Lightning Source Ingram) as a printer and Ingram as a wholesaler. If you want to get a local book signing at Costco, or B&N, then starting your own publishing company is the way to go. My author friend, Linda Austin, explains the pros and cons of CreateSpace and LSI, which is now called Ingram Spark, on her site.

Hopefully we all know by now the importance of seeing ourselves as a brand, and our books as a product, but truthfully, why do you think most indie authors need to start a coaching business or a speaking career, in order to hopefully make a living?

Because most authors cannot make a living from book sales alone. That’s the honest truth my dear friends. You have 7 choices:

You keep your day job
You’re independently wealthy and have enough funds to support your hobby (Oops! Did I use the H word?)
You keep writing more books and hope that by the 6th one you can make a full-time living
You start a successful coaching-editing-writing coach or other related business to your writing
You get paid $100,000,000 as a public speaker like Anthony Robbins
You get your book turned into a movie and Hollywood makes you famous
You’re happy being an underpaid author who has a book out in the world

So as I wrap up my post where I tell you the truth, I am forced to charge $79/writer who wants to get published in our 3rd Award-winning Anthology.

Please see what you get for this fee, and I hope you agree that you’re getting a wonderful opportunity for publication and promotion by agreeing to join our Gutsy Indie Tribe .

Please note that it’s free to submit to my website and get promoted. To get published in our print version will now have a $79 fee.

Accepting story submissions now. READ MORE HERE

So please let me know if you’re making a full-time living with your book sales. I’d like to share some successful ““My Gutsy Story®” book stories.

Winner of the May 2014 “My Gutsy Story®” Contest

June 12, 2014 by Sonia Marsh Leave a Comment

This May we had FOUR OUTSTANDING “My Gutsy Story®” authors. Their stories will be included in our 2nd “My Gutsy Story®” Anthology, published in the Fall of 2014. Thank you to all four authors. Your stories are all WINNERS.

Our first place goes to Laura McHale Holland who won 1st Place for her “My Gutsy Story®” about how she started a new adventure and a new life.

2nd Place goes to Jennifer Barclay, who shares what she did to make her life happy.

3rd Place goes to Robin Korth who shares her story about her journey towards self-honesty.

4th Place goes to Nancy Sharp with her inspiring story called, “The GIft of Bold Living.”

Thank you to all four authors. Your stories are all WINNERS.

MGS FINAL COVER Small — Click on cover to go to Amazon

Would you like to submit your “My Gutsy Story®” and get published in our 3rd anthology?

NEW GUIDELINES contact Sonia Marsh at: sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.

You can find all the information, and our new sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here

Upcoming “Gutsy” Interviews and Webinars

June 9, 2014 by Sonia Marsh Leave a Comment

As an author who likes to help other writers/authors/future authors, I’m interviewing some awesome experts through Google Hangouts and Webinars to help you understand the business.

UPCOMING GUTSY HANGOUTS AND WEBINARS

June 11th, 1- 3:30 pm Santa Barbara Writers Conference

I am speaking on Wednesday, June 11th about “The Author Entrepreneur” How to Market and Sell Your Books. Authors need to become entrepreneurs if they want to sell books. I shall explain how I got my book into Costco, how to create a brand, niche marketing and much more. Please join Marla Miller and me for a great session.

June 19th, 9 a.m. PST Gutsy Google Hangout with Angela Ackerman, successful author of The Emotional Thesaurus: A Writers’ Guide to Character Expression, and blogger at Writers Helping Writers.

Watch VIDEO and listen to our Interview on June 19th, 9 a.m., PST

Angela Ackerman started blogging and helping writers describe emotions in unique visual ways. This soon became so POPULAR, she and co-author Becca Puglisi wrote “The Emotional Thesaurus.”
She developed a BRAND through BLOGGING and we shall discuss:

1). How did you come up with the concept?

2). What were your original goals?

3). When did you realize you’d come up with something BIG?

4). How did you adapt to the changes?

5). What were your biggest challenges?

6). Have you always made marketing plans from the start?

7). What made you change your blog name to “Writers Helping Writers”? Branding?

8). What advice do you have for writers about blogging?

9). What are your future goals?

10). How many books do you have now? How are sales?

11). How do you promote your books?

12). Any suggestions to help authors sell more books?

Angela Ackerman is a writing coach and co-author of the #1 bestselling resource, The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression as well as the bestselling pair, The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes and The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws. You can find her at Writers Helping Writers, a hub for all things description.

June 26th, 9 a.m. PST (California Angela Bole “Gutsy” Google Hangout with Angela Bole, Executive Director, #IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association.)

We shall discuss: What Indie authors/publishers need to know about:

1). The benefits of joining IBPA,
2). Publishing University
3). Learning center for authors, indie publisher
4) #ibpa Book Awards (Benjamin Franklin Digital Awards)

My Gutsy Story® Anthology: True Stories of Love, Courage and Adventure From Around the World, has been named a 2013 Benjamin Franklin Award Silver Honoree Winner.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO ANGELA OUR HANGOUT

All Webinars are recorded LIVE and available on my site for download after the Webinar.

Metadata Made Easy:

Find the Best Keywords for Books, Blog Posts and Social Media.

July 11th, 9 a.m. PST, 12 p.m. EST

FIND OUT WHAT IT’S ABOUT IN VIDEO

CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT TODAY

Here’s what we shall cover:

You will learn:

1). What is Metadata?

2). How to select the right keywords for your book titles, description, categories, tags and even the text of your book 3). How to use both Amazon and Google’s Keyword Planner for search information

4). How to enhance blog posts and social media mentions like for Twitter and Google+ using the same process

Guest E-book and Metadata Expert Jason Matthews is a novelist, blogger, speaker and self-publishing coach working with writers around the world. His specialties include building author platform, selling at major retailers, social media, blogging and SEO. He founded a Facebook group with over 2,000 writers and hosts an Indie Authors series on Google Plus discussing current topics and interviewing top indies. He can be contacted through his websites: http://ebooksuccess4free.wordpress.com/ and http://your-own-free-website.com/

He teaches a great video course for writers who want to publish – https://www.udemy.com/how-to-make-market-and-sell-ebooks-all-for-free/

Get Published in Our Award-Winning “My Gutsy Story®” Anthology

Submission guidelines here

VOTE for your favorite MAY 2014 “My Gutsy Story®” submissions. You have from now until June 11th to vote on the sidebar, (only one vote per person) and the winner will be announced on June 12th, and will select a prize from our generous sponsors.

Get Published in Our Award-Winning “My Gutsy Story®” Anthology

June 5, 2014 by Sonia Marsh 2 Comments

Our goal for the My Gutsy Story® Anthology is to become the New Chicken Soup for the Soul®

**Get Published in the My Gutsy Story® 2015 Anthology # 3**

My Gutsy Story® Anthology has won 4 significant Awards (see below)
Your story will get new readers on the popular GUTSY LIVING ™ site and promoted on all social media
A monthly vote and the WINNER gets to pick a prize from our list of Sponsors.
Professional editing of all stories before publication
Professional Book Cover Design and Interior Formatting by Award-winning 1106 Design Company.
All published stories will be promoted in the media and press.MEDIA ADVISORY-Bring out the Gutsy in You-Event
We offer a BIG LAUNCH PARTY
We invite a keynote speaker and offer a distinguished panel of authors.
We offer our authors books at cost so you can sell them for profit
You website and bio is published in the Anthology giving you more exposure
Sponsors participate in our event and offer door prizes. See 2013 sponsor list.

Get Published in the My Gutsy Story® 2015 Anthology # 3

Only $79

(Each story is subject to approval)

Check out the submission guidelines here

(We are still accepting stories each Monday for free, however, to get published in the Anthology, there is a fee)

YOUR OPINION COUNTS

Help Design the 2014 Cover of the “My Gutsy Story®” Anthology

(Your ideas will in published in an upcoming post.)

How can we make the 2014 cover different from the 2013 cover?
Should we keep the font on the book cover the same but add a volume number
Should we change the color of the title font for each year
Should we change the turquoise background
Other ideas

Please answer in the comments below or e-mail me personally with your ideas: Sonia@soniamarsh.com.

GET YOUR STORY published in this Award-Winning Anthology

My Gutsy Story® Anthology: True Stories of Love, Courage and Adventure From Around the World, is a FINALIST at the 2014 International Book Awards.

My Gutsy Story® Anthology: True Stories of Love, Courage and Adventure From Around the World, is a WINNER at the 2014 Paris Book Festival.

My Gutsy Story® Anthology: True Stories of Love, Courage and Adventure From Around the World, has been named a 2013 Benjamin Franklin Award Silver Honoree Winner.

My Gutsy Story® Anthology: True Stories of Love, Courage and Adventure From Around the World, is a GOLD MEDAL WINNER in the Anthologies category.

Submission guidelines here

A Free Opportunity to Volunteer in Spain-Part 2

June 2, 2014 by Sonia Marsh 5 Comments

039 — THE SEGOVIA AQUEDUCT DATING FROM THE ROMAN EMPIRE Carol from Atlanta, Beatriz, Javier, Nancy from Atlanta, Sonia

If you missed Part-1, you might want to read it here. Check out the history of this amazing Aqueduct in Segovia.

Volunteering with Vaughan Town in Spain is a wonderful way to immerse yourself in the Spanish culture. During my week mingling with 15 Spaniards and 15 Anglos, strong bonds were formed, and we continue to write to one another even thought the program is over.

So what is the Vaughan Town program and what are you expected to do during your week in Spain?

As a volunteer, you’re expected to arrive the Saturday before the program starts and on Sunday morning, you board a bus with all the participants to your hotel in the Spanish countryside. Our town was Torrecaballeros, and the hotel was called, “El Rancho.”

Pete, our MC from the U.K. during our week in Spain

There are four towns in Spain, (all outside Madrid) to choose from. Depending on the dates you select, you will be allocated to a different location.

My Anglo friends enjoying coffee on our first day

Yolanda, my Spanish friend and I met on the first day

After our one hour and fifteen minute drive, we had a cafe con leche (latte) at the hotel, and friendships and conversations started sprouting. We had time to unpack before lunch which was served at 2 p.m. Yes that’s normal for Spain, and siesta time is after lunch, from 3-5 p.m. I used siesta time to catch up with my e-mails.

The food was outstanding, especially the fresh fish, and local dishes. We were given options to select from daily. A bulletin board outside the bar, listed the menu for the following day and there were two choices for the first course, two for the second and two for dessert. Salad and fruit were also available daily, for those who wanted to stay trim, and not gain too much weight. Wine and bread were also served at lunch and dinner. Breakfast was buffet style.

Our fun lunches and dinners, Always 2 Spaniards to 2 Anglos at each table

Suckling pig and lamb are specialties of the region and were served in traditional style for lunch

Farewell luncheon on the last day we were there

Andrew, a fun Scottish guy from Edinburgh, started a daily ritual of getting a cafe con leche at the local bar across the street at 8:30 a.m. For me, a coffee addict, waiting until breakfast at nine, seemed way too long. Local Spaniards were already starting their first shot glass of local liquor before going to work.

Activities Schedule:

Our job after breakfast was to check our schedules, and a list of the following activities were posted.

One-on-One where you talk to a Spaniard for one hour. You get to choose if you wish to walk and chat around town or in the lush green pastures where rabbits race across the green fields and hide behind bushes.
Conference calls/Telephone sessions, where 3-4 Spaniards are in a conference room on speaker phone and you answer their call in your room and discuss real-work/life related situations for 30-minutes.
Help your Spaniard prepare a 5-minute presentation in English which they will be expected to make in the evening before dinner at 9 p.m. Yes, dinner is at 9.

There were other games and fun things like skits, presentations, acting, singing with Pete and his guitar, that we did in the evenings.

I took the opportunity to make a short power-point presentation about my family’s year in Belize, which the Spaniards enjoyed. I asked them to please give me a review on Amazon Spain, after reading my memoir, Freeways to Flip-Flops.