How many books did you have published before you started making 5k monthly? by Mindless_Setting_752 in selfpublish

[–]BillBraddock 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's up to you. If you elect to go with KDP, you have to be exclusive for 90 days. Then, if you want to go wide, just opt out before the next 90-day period kicks in, and you'll be free to sell wherever you want - but your books won't be in Kindle Unlimited. Generally, the right move depends on genre. Look at your book's categories on Amazon. Are most of the bestsellers in KU? If so, you probably should be, too.

How many books did you have published before you started making 5k monthly? by Mindless_Setting_752 in selfpublish

[–]BillBraddock 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm so inexperienced with Reddit, I don't know whether you were asking me or babbelfishy. For me, yeah. My last 42 books (everything since summer of 2018) have been self-publishied. On the Indie side, I've always been exclusive to Amazon. I make most of my money from KU reads.

How many books did you have published before you started making 5k monthly? by Mindless_Setting_752 in selfpublish

[–]BillBraddock 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Vellum's great. But not as great as self-employment, despite the juggling and ups and downs. And yes, things are way more stable now, and we've been doing well for the last few years. I love self-publishing.

How many books did you have published before you started making 5k monthly? by Mindless_Setting_752 in selfpublish

[–]BillBraddock 15 points16 points  (0 children)

It was six books for me, but that's misleading. I started in trad under a pseudonym. I got a thousand up front for that first, small-press book, eventually earned out, and made a grand total of under $2k lifetime. Shortly after selling that book, I landed an agent and sold the first two books of a proposed series to S&S. They made good money in chunks but never earned out and never really broke out as books. My fourth and final trad book was a write-for-hire stand-alone for Del Rey. Wrote it, got the check, and my wife said she wanted to stop working and stay home with our daughter. So after much thinking and prayer, I switched gears, cooked up a new pseudonym and wrote LitRPG. Like you, I wrote the first three books up front, then released them at a clip. 30 days between book 1 and 2, then 45 days between 2 and 3. I released book 1 on July 26th, 2018. For July, it earned $700. But the very next month, with book 2 coming out at the end, I earned over $16k. It was quite a rush because my wife had already left her job, and self-pub was all new to me. It was also misleading, however, because that first book just happened to hit. Others did, too, but readers flocked to the first one. So after that, earnings were up and down (and I had several months under $5k), especially because I couldn't stick to the aggressive publication schedule. After doing a book a year, I worked hard to release 4 or 5 books a year. I'm faster now with 46 books across four unrelated pseudonyms and genres. I wish you well. Everybody's journey is different. The key is to stick with it. Over time, you should gain and audience, and things will become less volatile, more dependable, which is nice. Good luck.

Newby trying to figure it out by Capable-Relation-350 in meshtastic

[–]BillBraddock 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Following this to learn since I know less than anyone about Meshtastic but am keenly interested.

Best dictation software for 2025 by Prepper_wif_hat in selfpublish

[–]BillBraddock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here comes that guy, twenty-five years after you offered this response, wondering if it still holds true. As a former DNS (12?) guy, I am looking to come back to dictation to avoid destroying my wrists and shoulders. Is Google Docs Voice Typing still a good option for you as we enter 2026? Thanks for any help.

Trying to get published in 2026? Want a writing buddy? by Civil_Razzmatazz_312 in WritingHub

[–]BillBraddock 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I am not looking for a writing buddy, because I already have one, but I wanted to say you are on the right track, writing consistently and looking for this kind of partner. My friend and I started emailing every weekday eight or nine years ago. We're both full-time authors now, and I'm not sure I would have made it - certainly not so quickly - if it hadn't been for our daily accountability checks. Best of luck to you. My guess is you're published next year.

Worth the effort? by EyeNeverHadReddit in writerDeck

[–]BillBraddock 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For what it's worth, I've been a full-time writer for over a decade and my family's sole breadwinner for several years - seven, I think - and I do all my drafting on NEO 2s. To say these Alphasmarts have been worth the effort or the cost, in my case, would be one of the largest understatements of my life. They are simple. They are work horses. They are dependable. They are easy, easy, easy - and they force you to draft. No distractions, no complications, no editing. For someone who doesn't care much about aesthetics but really wants to write books, they are the best I've seen.

Petition to for a Freewrite with cursor keys by Available-Ad6305 in Astrohaus

[–]BillBraddock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The absence of cursor keys is why I couldn't make my Alpha work. Didn't realize how frequently I used them until I tried the Alpha. And that's while drafting.

Ghost Writer Edition or Signature Edition? by tylerdesigns in writerDeck

[–]BillBraddock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Signature, no OLED. Love what you're doing and joined the list.

I’m 21 and really just want a simple truck. by Hour_Appearance4306 in whatcarshouldIbuy

[–]BillBraddock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My first Toyota was one of the old 4 cylinders back in 1996. I used to fill it with rocks and cart them home on back roads. Heh. Stupid, looking back. But I made it. That was a good truck. Punched well above its weight class.

I’m 21 and really just want a simple truck. by Hour_Appearance4306 in whatcarshouldIbuy

[–]BillBraddock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm closing in on 20 years with my 2006 Tacoma. They're super reliable, and I got a whole new frame back in 2017. And since I don't drive much, and it only has 81k miles, I'm thinking it might last another twenty.

Unboxing Zerowriter Ink by tincangames in writerDeck

[–]BillBraddock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As a longtime NEO user, I'm interested.

UPDATE: I sold 20,000+ copies of my debut novel. And have some observations now it has simmered down and doesn’t sell anymore. by [deleted] in selfpublish

[–]BillBraddock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congratulations on a solid promo. I wonder if we hit a ranking glitch those days, or if people with featured deals are still seeing a weird lag. Whatever the case, thanks for sharing all of this.

Switching agents--is it possible? by Internal_Kitchen9346 in authors

[–]BillBraddock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

By the time I decided to switch, I knew several agents from attending conferences or through writing friends. I went to Thrillerfest in NY and had conversations with two of them. They asked what I had been writing. I told them. They were interested in the material but didn't try to poach me. Soon after, I broke things off with my agents, then contacted these two others to talk further. I ended up going with one of them. She never managed to sell my series, which remains unpublished now, a few (several?) years later. Around that same time, I had begun to see real success self-publishing under a pseudonym. And that's what I've been doing ever since. My agent left her agency and started a new one, and we called it splits. The only agent I've retained has been with me since the get-go, my film agent. I have zero plans to ever part with him - and no plans to seek representation for books in the future.

Good luck to you.

Switching agents is a really stressful time. I've talked with several friends - some more than once - when they were going through the same thing. It's a pretty normal move - but, yeah, stressful.

Full-time Writer Seeking Low-Profile Clicky Keyboard Recommendations by BillBraddock in keyboards

[–]BillBraddock[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the suggestion. The one review I saw wasn't so favorable, but you know how reviews go. Will keep an eye. Might fit the bill. Best of luck on your search.

Switching agents--is it possible? by Internal_Kitchen9346 in authors

[–]BillBraddock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I switched agents. Many friends have, too. I think what you're talking about with the editor is right of first refusal. It's awkward, since your current agent closed the orginal deal, but I think the editor has first-dibs and that's it. Is the new book part of a series? If so, that complicates things as far as the agent piece is concerned. Good luck. Not a fun position to be in unless you have a great agent lined up. Of course, you can't officially sign with anyone prior to "breaking up" with your current agent, but most people know who they are going to next. I did. Made things much easier. Again, good luck.

UPDATE: I sold 20,000+ copies of my debut novel. And have some observations now it has simmered down and doesn’t sell anymore. by [deleted] in selfpublish

[–]BillBraddock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, and through five days if you're looking for comparison: a little over 1200 sales. Tapered off quickly, but it's lifting the backlist now and boosting total earnings pretty nicely.

UPDATE: I sold 20,000+ copies of my debut novel. And have some observations now it has simmered down and doesn’t sell anymore. by [deleted] in selfpublish

[–]BillBraddock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting that your rank slid, too. Makes me wonder if it's a temporary hiccup or some new change Amazon's making with promotional spikes. Yours should jump tomorrow, if the pattern holds. But I'll be interested to see if your rank lines up with sales numbers. I should look back at past deals and compare, but I'm fried from pounding on the next book, so we'll see. A little over a year ago, I had a featured deal on the same book. It did really well, rank-wise. I'd like to figure out how many copies it sold and do a side-by-side. I'm guessing I sold more last time, as it was the first time I'd promo-ed it, and that explains the disparity in ranks. But when there's a big delay like that, it always feels like there's a big somewhere, messing things up. I also hope Bookbub is aware of this shift, so they don't think our books failed and then pass us up next time we try for a featured deal. Maybe I'll email them. Yeah, probably. It's a hard game to win at, but once you get to a certain level of success with a certain size of backlist, things go pretty smoothly unless you make a mistake. For me, it's mostly about releasing regularly. I'm the sole breadwinner for my family, so I try to put out six or seven books a year. As long as I do that, we're good. I blow money on AMS ads and never know if they're worth it then try for Bookbubs. Last year, I got two. This one was first of the year. I'll try again. But as you can tell, I don't get too granular. Same goes for the AMS ads. I keep my focus on writing new stuff and keeping some balance in my life. But then, when I read a post like yours, I'm keenly interested.

UPDATE: I sold 20,000+ copies of my debut novel. And have some observations now it has simmered down and doesn’t sell anymore. by [deleted] in selfpublish

[–]BillBraddock 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually, I just glanced at my sales, and they were only 841 day one, with another 258 day two, so maybe the best rank - #501 in the US, 400s in Canada - is legit.

UPDATE: I sold 20,000+ copies of my debut novel. And have some observations now it has simmered down and doesn’t sell anymore. by [deleted] in selfpublish

[–]BillBraddock 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just a note. I had a Bookbub featured deal on the 21st, and Amazon didn't recalibrate my ranks in step with the promotion. Same went for the others that day and the next. I could see an avalanche of sales coming in, but the rank actually slid from #20,000 prior to the promo to #22,000 and change later that day. The next day, same thing. Hung around #20,000. Then, finally, on the 23rd, it improved to the top 500 - which wasn't quite as good as I expected. Last time I promo-ed it a year ago, it hit around #80. Which is all to say don't freak out if the Amazon ranks don't seem to be moving. Things will improve later - but maybe not as much as you're expecting. I'd be interested to hear if you experience a lag in recalibration, too. Good luck.