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September 2024 Indie Author Report

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Last July, I made the terrifying decision to dedicate 90% of my workday to indie author tasks. The list seemed endless. I’d check back in the following September 26, the 1 year anniversary of publishing my first novel, Fear the Wolf: Alex Steward Book 1. Here we are! Now I have decisions to make about how to move forward.

I Love Writing & Publishing

Unfortunately, my love for the craft and the benefit to my mental health does not pay our mortgage. With a low profit margin at live events, and the majority of my online profit going to Amazon (because I refuse to be exclusive to them), I’ve been rethinking my pricing and marketing. Even with some changes to those, I will need to return to the grind of a second job to stay afloat.

Writing books is hard.

Writing books as a full time job is harder. The indie author community is awesome in many ways. I’ve swapped marketing ideas and event tips with a lot of other authors. The majority of indie authors realize we are on the same team. One way I feel we could do even better is to be more transparent with each other and with readers about the business side of self-publishing.

When Bob McGough posted his first monthly hustle report as an independent author, I was totally geeked. Here was someone, like me, who was building their author business from the ground up . . . and they were fearlessly sharing every step of the way with fellow indie authors. The reports have been helpful to me in many ways, but I love how they remind me of this simple truth:

Yes, this is hella hard. No, I’m not alone.

So, with all credit for the idea given to Mr. McGough, I’d like to share my very first Indie Author Report.

September 2024 Sales

  • Audiobooks: $14.07
  • Print books: $7.47
  • E-books: $14.62
  • Website direct sales: 0
  • Live events (all book formats): $584 – show expenses of $116 = $468
  • Total: $504.16

September 2024 Social Media Growth

These will be my starting numbers, and I’ll record growth from this point forward. What I’ve noticed over the course of growing a social media presence is that Quality reigns over Quantity.

I’ve been rethinking the content of my Author Notes, a newsletter that subscribers receive once a month. It morphed from silly cat pics and writing updates to a bullet list of book news. While I want to share this news, I’d also like my subscribers to know how amazing they are. There is SO MUCH email, and they’ve given me space within their inbox.

The goofiness will be reinstated, and I’m going to do my best to spoil them rotten.

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