Ask HN: How much are you making from self published ebooks? - freeelncer
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faet
~$5k/mo.

I aim for quantity over quality. I pay to have books ghostwritten for a
particular market/niche. I also acquire rights to other self published books
and re-release them. Self publishing is all about the marketing.

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akulbe
Do you document the _how_ of how you do this anywhere? I'd be interested in
talking with you further.

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faet
I don't have any formal documentation around.

For ghostwriting I focus on a couple different niches. I work with a company
to get the books written. I write for the audience rather than what interests
me. If vampires are hot one month I put that out. If it's billionaires the
next I do those. I have a couple different "authors" that I write under that
stick to each genre (One _only_ writes LGBT Romances for instance). A large
part was building up the email lists of readers and managing some social
network profiles. Once you build up your following it gets much easier. I know
some authors that churn out a book every 2 weeks and people will spend the
$2.99 (or read it on kindle unlimited) every time. My release schedule is a
lot slower, but I'm trying to find more reliable ghostwriters to speed it up.

Regarding the buying of book rights. I have a publishing company I run that
looks for books that are not 'successful' and I make an offer. I'll clean up
the book and re-release it under a different author name and do a little
marketing. These I aim to cover costs before end of the first year.

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013
How much would it cost to get in this initially? Any tips for the
marketing/building up an email list?

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faet
Usually it costs me around $1000 for a ghost written book. Book is around 35k
words (3c/word). Editing is 1.5c/word or flat rate depending who I get to do
it. Covers are usually $250 for ebook or double if I get physical.

I use vellum to format ($250 one time). Requires a mac. The company I use will
sometimes do this for me for free.

Marketing beyond email list is then either book bub if I can get in or amazon
ads.

Mailchimp/digitalocean for email list/Wordpress site hosting. Google Apps for
email. Those are my reoccurring costs.

Break even is usually 800-1k copies sold @ $2.99 list (I earn 70% of that).
Plus whatever I spent on marketing. Anything outside 2.99-9.99 Amazon will
only pay 30% royalties. I earn roughly a dollar per book read via kindle
unlimited.

The first few books will take a while to earn back. Building your
following/email list is the most important thing. I use it for engagement.
“New book coming soon! Giving away 25 advance reader copies enter here”. Then
before release “pre order now. Here is the feedback from those that won a free
copy.” The surge of reviews/early sales helps boost Amazon ranking (new
readers) as well as to quickly earn back what I spent producing it.

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schappim
$56 dollars today. The book is on an educational robot.

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ministrator
per day, or total?

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Adamantcheese
About $3-4 a year. Usually around this time of year when people are buying gag
books. The first slew of sales actually came from amazon book reselling bots
buying it. Guess they never figured out that it was print on demand.

