Budget-wise, I'm not sure how other writers do this self-publishing thing. Obviously, they are selling more books than I am, so their budgets have more padding than mine. But is it only that? Or do they have a second job to help fund this venture?
I've pared my budget down to the barest of bones. I do most everything myself. The only exceptions are certain covers (because I do not have the skill for paranormal covers like my artist does) and the editing (because unless you are an exceptionally objective person, it's hard to edit your own books to the level they need to be for publishing).
The quandary I find myself in at the present point is: spend my limited resources on marketing or save it up until I have enough money to pay the editor? (I've already paid the cover artist for the next two Sleeping Ugly covers.) These past few months, I've been paying for ads.
Without ads, my sales would be totally ghost town and crickets.
On the other hand, if I don't put out new books, my sales will continue to dwindle as I reach market saturation.
Blerg.
I've thought about getting a second job - especially since I don't seem to be doing much on the first job lately - but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to work outside the house after all these years. Most places would allow me to be as flexible as I need to be.
And I can't make myself take any more money out of the house budget to fund this. Every time I think about how much money I've spent vs how little money I've made... the guilt... it burns.
For now, I'll keep marketing and hope something breaks. (Hopefully, this writerly dry-spell breaks along with it.)
How to do decide where to spend your publishing monies? Or is that not a problem for you?
My sales suck. And HQN only comes in quarterly. Doesn't help with monthly bills. 😕 I'm lucky that I either barter or use family for covers and edits on the self-pub stuff. Like you, I need to push out new books because market saturation sucks. I've got to get my butt in gear and get the RDR MS finished so I can get new self-pub stuff out. But the slow/no sales hits my depression button and the ol' spiral kicks in. One which I've been circling for almost a year now.
ReplyDeleteSo, anyway. Yeah. I've considered looking for a second job but the whole idea makes me want to crawl into bed, pull the covers over my head, and hide for the duration. Which...yeah. Vicious circle.
Anyway, I have no words of wisdom except maybe it's time to just do the occasional free advertising and concentrate on getting new stuff out. That's my plan. 🤞 that it works. Hang in there. You'll figure it out because you are just that awesome! 😍
The famous publishing Catch-22. Sigh. It would help if I'd put more effort into marketing. (Um, any effort?)
ReplyDeleteHanging in there with you!