Up to the Date

So, very exciting stuff happening! The TrAuSt Tour kicks off THIS Wednesday, the 23rd, so please be sure to stop in and say hi to our guest, Tony Lavely.

The Twelve Worlds Anthology is slated to come out next month. I have a piece, Insomnomancer, that will (currently) appear FOURTH in the collection. But, as it's digital I suppose order doesn't matter TOO much. Though I hope for exposure by it, sure :) Quick plug! Here is the Twelve Worlds cover:

You CANNOT tell me that doesn't look exciting!

Also, a little sales update. Please look at my nifty chart I digitally slaved over.

If you count them all up, I've sold 8 copies of "Shackled" and 5 copies of "Cheat"! That is officially 13 more copies than I ever sold before indie pubbing ;) (For those not in the know, I made the decision to become an indie from yon get-go.)

If you look at my little pledge thingy on the right, you'll see I pledged to sell 1,000 copies of a novel this year. "Shackled" is currently my only novel for sale and I have sold 8. Only 992 to go! I know the more pieces I get out there, the more momentum my name will receive. If all goes as planned, I will have at least 10 pieces up before September (7 of them episodes from the IH series). I want to be ready for the big buying season during the holidays! Plus, September is my birth month, so there's that :)

Gotta jet for now. Be sure to come back Wednesday for the grand unveiling of the TrAuSt Tour!

Rock Out With $$$ (Can I Get a Self-Pubbed WHOOP WHOOP!!)

I am a math(s) geek and probably always will be. I love numbers and how factual they are. Like any good scientist (yes, I also loves me the science), I pithily say, "The numbers don't lie!" If your math(s) are right, you have your answer!

So.

The fact is that I am in a situation where $600/month (600*12 = $7,200/year) is an adequate income for me. I understand I am lucky in a few regards:

1. I live with my fiance who only requires I pay my own bills and stock the house with food. (No rent.)
2. My car payment is less than $188/month. (Rock on Riley, I love my 2006 Chevy Aveo!)
3. I sent home most of my income while I taught in Japan - thus paying down my bills more than average.
4. I am smart with money (AND MATH(s)!)
5. I have implemented the Snowball Effect as pertains to bills, so I am ahead of the curve.

I am planning on selling my current WIP for $3.99. Let's round my royalties from that to a nice number - $2.50.

At $600 needed a month, in increments of $2.50 payments:
600/2.50 = 240 books a month must be sold
Per year:
7200/2.50 = 2880 books a year.

My goal is to sell 1000 books by December 15th, 2011 (of my current WIP). I expect to have at least 1 other book completed and up for sale before then.

If I assume 3/4ths of my sales will be from Book 1 (based solely on the fact that it will be sold longer):
.75*2880 = 2,160 books will have to be Book 1.

Hmm, that's still higher my 1,000 goal.

But, if I make my goal to sell 1k of Book 1, and produce 2 books, I can break it down closer to something like this:
Book 1: 1000
Book 2: 700
Book 3: 400
Total: 2100... getting a lot closer to providing for myself!!

This also assumes a continuous $3.99 price point for all three. That may not necessarily be the case, in which, I will have shorter works but probably more of them. So, if I were to say:
Book 1: 1000
Prjct2: 700 (at $2.99 ~ @1.75/book)
Prjct3: 400
Prjct4: 100
Total $: ((1000*2.5)+[(700+400+100)*1.75]=$4,600/year. That's more than halfway to my goal :)

I don't know what I'll write this year, or how fast I'll write. I don't know how good the ideas that come to me will be (but I pledge to discard the lame ones). I think it would be a shame if I couldn't produce one more book this year, awesome if I could produce 2 and amazing if I could do more, and still have the level of quality I expect from myself.

From my random math(s) ramblings, I believe I could be self-sustainable within 2 years.

I would like that very much :)

Addendum:
Robin Sullivan posted this insight over in the comments of Konrath's blog:
1 book - 10 / month
2 books - 50-60 / month
3 books - 200-400 / month
4 books - 1,000 / month
5 books - 10,000 / month

So, according to that, if I have 3 good books out, my theory holds pretty true! Two years ahoy!