Downtown Dandelions by Monkey Outta Nowhere
The debut novel by Kevin D. Hendricks, written in a month and published as a literary demo.

January 11, 2005

First Weekend Sales

The economics of writing is really rather depressing. When you do the math it becomes quite clear that you don't become a writer to get rich.

Let's look at my potential haul from this attempt at self-publishing.

I make about $4 in royalties when someone buys a copy of Downtown Dandelions (which you can do right here--hint, hint!). I set that price myself, and it's actually quite a bit more than an author could expect to receive in a real publishing contract (10% is fairly standard).

Now when you start adding up the people who say they want a copy, it starts to look rather pathetic. There's my parents. My grandparents. My in-laws. We're up to what, $12? Mostly based on guilt and duty.

Of course I've got some marketing savvy up my sleeve, so I e-mailed a whole bunch of people who expressed some mild degree of interest in the fact that I wrote a book (and some who could care less), and told them that the book was now available. That e-mail went out to 95 people.

Let's take the best case scenario: 100 people buy a copy of the book. We'll ignore the fact that the e-mail bounced back from a hand full of addresses. And we'll ignore the fact that most of the people on that list won't buy a copy for whatever reason (and I don't really expect them to buy a copy; they supported me in writing the book, and that's more than I could ask for in the first place).

So do the math: 100 implausible purchases nets me $400. That should just about take care of my January heating bill. Woohoo!

It's not a lot of money, especially considering it took me a very concentrated 20 days to write the book, countless hours of sub-par editing and proofing, more hours of design and layout, etc.

In the end it's not a very profit-driven venture. I can't exactly quit my day job and become a full time novelist.

These are the economic realities of publishing. To make a living you have to get thousands and thousands of people to buy your book. Which is why there are very few full time authors. Yet I'd venture that everyone of us does these kinds of calculations in a dreamish fantasy to hope that just maybe we can make it.

Sales as of today: Three. See what I mean?
(though don't think I'm ungrateful. Those three people? My heroes.)

Posted by kevin at January 11, 2005 4:51 PM

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Comments

See, you just need to be a sexy young woman who graduated from Harvard, a la Nell Freudenberger, and get a juicy NYC publishing contract with an overly optimistic advance. Where's the difficulty in that?

Posted by: Jeremy at January 12, 2005 10:42 PM

I will buy a copy, prolly this weekend. And if you want the editorial comments of an English major turned legal copy-editor you've got it. :-) Just don't blame me if I suggest everything be rewritten in the form: WHEREAS we, the elected officials of Monkey Outta Nowhere, determine that the primary character ought to.......BE IT THEREFORE ORDRAINED........

Posted by: palmerston [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 12, 2005 10:47 PM

As Homer would say, "Mmm... Freudenburger."

Posted by: kevin at January 13, 2005 9:31 AM

One of Steve Martin's comedy routines talks about him considering what his profit would be depending on how much he charged per ticket & how big the theater was. He imagined how much money he could earn if he filled a 3,000-seat concert hall and charged $800 a ticket. "That's what I'm shooting for," he said in classic Steve Martin style. "One show--good-bye!"

Maybe you could sell like one book for tons of money then be done. I mean, that slutty chick from "The Apprentice" sold a glass of lemonade for $1000. :-)

Posted by: Steph at January 13, 2005 11:51 PM

That's the spirit! A couple weekends ago some friends suggested I take the Rolling Stones approach and start up a fan club. For a $100 membership you get an *autographed* copy of the book!

Posted by: kevin at January 14, 2005 12:00 PM

Hey I know exactly how you feel. I also published through lulu (although I'm sending to Publish America very soon). I made hm lets see...$3 ($3 royalty, you do the math).

What I'm doing though is actually buying a bulk of 25 or so. Then I'll just sell them to people I meet and stuff.

My parents haven't bought any copies yet (or grandparents, aunts, uncles etc.) I told everyone to wait. February 1st is when I'm planning on having a new copy ready.

Yeah but I dont really have to worry about bills because...I'm only 14.

Oh and I was a 2003-04 NaNo Participant, only won in '04 though.

I'll try as hard as I can to buy your book, most liley I'll be able to.


My storefront- www.lulu.com/Ver

Posted by: Jeff at January 21, 2005 6:52 PM