New to self-publishing? Here’s something to look forward to!

This is part of the process I go through when I have a title that’s got a hefty enough word count to justify offering it as a print version in addition to the ebook.

For my ebooks, I have a set pricing schedule based on word count, and I only count the words that actually tell the story itself, not chapter headings, copyright info, etc. stuff.

Arcane Solutions is my example here, since I know the final word count after finishing it and the editing process will fall within the 50-70k range. Knowing that, I know the ebook price will be $5.75.

The print version is a bit more difficult to determine a cover/retail price for until I have the final word count and actually format it. I’ll have to guesstimate the final number of pages because of that, so I’m going to work with a low to highest page number.

It’ll will be a 6 x 9 inch book, and my low estimate is 202 pages with an even 50k word count. My high is 282 pages with an even 70k word count. This does include the needed extra pages like title page, copyright info, author’s bio.

So my base production cost will be between $3.27 to $4.23, going through CreateSpace. I do pay the one off $39 fee to upgrade from Standard to Pro plan, and there is an annual $5 fee to keep each title at the Pro plan. There are two reasons I choose to pay that: 1) I can make a better profit and set a more reasonable retail/cover price for it and 2) I figure CreateSpace deserves something for the free ISBN number and storage of my files.

I will have to pay cost plus S&H for a proof before it’ll be available for sale. If I screw up the formatting, then I’ll have to order another proof. Wait, no I won’t. I get the first proof free because Arcane Solutions was my NaNoWriMo novel this year! Yay!

Moving on.

Not counting my efforts & time spent writing it, plus formatting it and designing the cover, I start off $39 in the red. Not bad.

Read more »

I did hit over the 50k mark around 5pm yesterday. So, goal reached!

Arcane Solutions isn’t finished, but there was some timeline problems going on that were preventing getting parts of it written, so I began working on edits last night. It’s actually okay up to Chapter 10.

Now that I’ve taken care of some organizational stuff, I’ll be spending the rest of the day editing, writing missing scenes and chapters for it. I’m thinking another 10-20k before it’s actually finished.

Feral Intensity is just 23 sales away from hitting the 100 copies sold goal. Yay!

Another 149 sales is needed to reach my 500 copies sold by Dec. 31st goal. Realistically, that goal’s probably not going to be met, because I’d have to see almost 4 sales daily for the next 41 to do so. Still, it’s much closer than I thought it would be, and will hopefully be even closer by the end of the year. I’ll set a much higher overall sales goal for 2010!

I did approve my Story Tamer’s edits for The Silent One Wednesday evening, so that’s off the list. I want her to have another look over it, see if there’s any final edits to make, then I’ll format it, design the cover and release it sometime in December.

Kate’s three titles have been lanquishing due to the home improvement projects and all of us doing NaNoWriMo. All three will be released during December.

I’ll be concentrating on finishing Arcane Solutions and Hunter’s Edge, as far as writing projects go, for the rest of  the year. I’d like both ready for editing or already edited by the end of the year, so that they can be released in January and February.

Tomorrow, I’ll probably be busy with the dreaded culling of my WIPs list. The new lists will show under the 2010 page, which will appear under the About page. I’m also going to add a new subpage under ‘My Goals’ for 2010.

Trying to be all organized and focused is hard work, people.

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The word count for Arcane Solutions has risen to 48, 090. It’ll reach the 50k goal today! Yay!

Hopefully, it’ll be finished before the end of the month. Bad news is that once that 50k goal is passed, I have to do some re-writes in order to finish it. So NaNo will end for me today, and I won’t be updating the word count on it on my profile there.

Plan is to have it as polished as I can get it and send it for editing. After that’s finished, I plan to format it, design the cover and publish it.

It’ll be my first NaNo novel to go through those steps! Woohoo!

The publishing part probably won’t happen until after the first of the year, so if you’ve been checking the excerpts out and like what you’ve seen, stay tuned for information about when, where and how much the cover price will be.

Progress has been good! Arcane Solutions has a word count of 41, 060 right now.

Excerpt:

 

“Look, just because the boss thinks…” I was interrupted.

“You really had both legs broken three weeks ago?” The shifter grinned when I began sputtering in reaction. “What was it? Oh, I remember: you were pushed off a roof.”

My face grew hot. “Shut up.”

“I’m curious. Why didn’t you use your telekinesis to…”

My turn to interrupt while whipping the car out into traffic. “It’s kind of hard to concentrate when you’re falling, okay?”

“How many stories was it?” Nick winced as I hit the brakes to keep from rear ending the car in front of us. Yanking the wheel, I passed it. “Can I drive?”

“Fifteen and no.” I’d been lucky my legs were all that had been broken, panicked as I’d been. “I wasn’t trying to use my telekinesis.”

“Watch it! Oh god.” I glanced at him, upper lip curling a bit at the sight of a shifter cowering in my passenger seat. Nick scowled. “Would you watch the damn road?”

“Wuss. I could drive blind-folded. Want to see?” A grin spread as panic bloomed over his face.

“No! There’s…shit! Can I please drive?”

“I already answered that question. It was a ‘no’. Your turn: any vampire enemies?”

“I’m a shifter, what do you think?” Nick grabbed the dash, still scowling.

“Names?” I persisted, making a sharp left that jerked him into the door. We were nearing an entry point for the underground city section known as the Barrows, so I began searching for a parking spot on the car-lined street.

“No one you need to worry about. Are we stopping? Because I think I need to throw up. Has anyone ever told you that your driving skills suck?”

“Yeah, and I’ll tell you what I told them: kiss my ass.” Spotting an open spot, I slowed down.

The shifter recovered quickly. “Ooh, can I?”

The word count for Arcane Solutions hit 32,311 last night. I wrote a bit today, but find myself at a standstill awaiting expert info on something.

Gah.

More of an update tomorrow.