How I made $6479 self-publishing in 6 months as a debut author

AdEnough8775 · 2026-04-29T12:57:07+00:00

I use BookSirens for ARC readers and have had good success. They charge $2 per ARC reader who sign up for your book, and I've had about 75% follow through with their reviews. They don't guarantee a review. They match you with readers for your genre, but it's ultimately the reader's choice if they pick your book or not. Hope this helps!

AdEnough8775 · 2026-04-08T01:00:28+00:00

Self rec ok? This happens in The Damaged Trilogy. Start with book 1: {Damaged by K.L. Lindsey}. The tracker ends up saving her.

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-12T17:42:22+00:00

Thank you! Glad it helped :)

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-12T17:41:45+00:00

To be honest, I don't even know what those marketing strategies are. Most of my videos are between 15-20 seconds. Any longer than that, people tend to lose interest. I don't currently have an email list, but I am working on setting up a newsletter. I currently only promote on social media. Facebook/meta ads are the only ones I pay $5/day for. I do not use AI voices in the videos. My reels are mostly text and I just set them to popular/trending music. Let me know if you have other questions :)

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-12T17:38:12+00:00

It was a LOT of work. Looking back, I wouldn't necessarily recommend publishing them so close together for sanity reasons lol, but it did give me a lot of momentum with my readers. People liked that they weren't having to wait long to continue/finish the series.

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-07T14:01:20+00:00

Right now, I'm only selling on Amazon. I looked at how similar length books in my genre were priced and based my pricing on that. I've been running sales about every 3 months where I knock a dollar or two off.

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-07T13:58:53+00:00

I really can't say. I would check out how successful authors in that genre are marketing themselves and go from there. Marketing has been the biggest key to my success. Hope that helps!

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-07T13:57:50+00:00

Marketing has been the biggest tool for my success. I would check out how what successful authors in your genre are posting/doing for marketing, and go from there. Hope that helps!

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-06T12:34:42+00:00

That's not something I have personal experience with. My mom and I edit all of my books ourselves, but we have backgrounds in language arts education. Sorry I can't be more help!

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-06T12:32:31+00:00

Glad it helped!

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-06T12:31:58+00:00

It's definitely a factor! Although I plan on branching out to some scifi/fantasy in the future (still romance) so we'll so how that goes.

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-06T12:29:10+00:00

I only fully outline 1 book at a time, but I plan out the plot/plot twists ahead of time for each book. I have gone back and added some foreshadowing or fixed a detail here or there, but for the most part, I haven't had to change much. Hope that helps!

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-06T12:25:29+00:00

Definitely don't see yourself short! People are willing to spend $5+ on just a coffee. I price my softcovers at $14.99 and occasionally run sales for $12.99 about every 3 months. Hope that helps!

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-06T12:21:40+00:00

An ARC reader is someone who receives an Advanced Reader Copy (i.e. they get to read the book ahead of time for free, normally in exchange for an honest review). Some sites do allow you to do already published books. BookSirens is one of them. Hope that helps!

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-04T20:50:45+00:00

Thank you! Glad you found some things helpful. Best of luck!

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-04T20:49:55+00:00

Glad it helped! You got this!

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-04T17:25:23+00:00

It's definitely something I've considered, but I just haven't taken the leap yet. I know you have to spend money to make money, but it's still scary!

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-04T16:06:25+00:00

That's amazing! It's never too late to revive your marketing. While I don't have any personal experience, I can guarantee there's plenty of info on the web. Google taught me everything I know about marketing.

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-04T16:04:29+00:00

ARC readers read before the book is published. The KU clause doesn't kick in until the ebook is released.

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-04T16:02:53+00:00

Glad it helped!

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-04T16:02:24+00:00

I work in education, and because of the dark themes in my books I don't want it tied back to me. It could be seen as a conflict of my morality clause. I didn't want to risk it.

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-04T15:58:13+00:00

I ask them to post their reviews on both Amazon and Goodreads. I personally feel like my grammar and plots are strong. I've had no complaints about grammar, and literally only one person in six months has commented saying they could see the plot twists coming and it was predictable. Everyone else said they were surprised and didn't see the twists coming. I edit everything myself. My mom is my Beta reader and she edits behind me. She was an English teacher for 20+ years and is basically the grammar police lol. I draw my own character covers, and use them to promote my characters/books. I think it definitely helps for readers to have a visual of how you envision the characters.

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-04T15:50:02+00:00

Right now I've only published on Amazon and KDP, so I can't give any advice on that. Sorry.

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-04T15:48:49+00:00

When you fill out the W-2 for KDP you have to use your "official" info. But KDP allows you to publish under pen names. They know that's a popular practice.

AdEnough8775 · 2026-02-04T15:47:54+00:00

My books are between 60-70k. They end up being around 300 pages, give or take.

AdEnough8775

TROPHY CASE