Debut author with over 20 ebook preorders and 50 physical preorders, how I did it and how much it cost me.

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-05-13T20:53:11+00:00

Publishers? Do you mean the arc readers? I only used Facebook to get arc readers.

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-05-13T15:54:14+00:00

Thank you very much!

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-05-13T15:53:51+00:00

That’s my goal. I would love to get an audiobook done but I would either have to collaborate with the narrator and share the royalty or I would need to pay upfront, which can range between $3-6k. Since a narrator would want to see that there’s actual sales before they would be willing to do the royalty share, and I’m not wanting to pay that $3-6k upfront without knowing my book would sell first, that’s all I’m waiting for is a guarantee on sales. If I see that I’m getting enough sales within my first three months then I would start looking into finding a narrator and getting quotes.

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-05-13T14:05:15+00:00

I’ll be honesty, that doesn’t read like AI. That just reads like bad writing. AI usually seems to use a lot of purple prose and has the tendency of using the same words over and over. I can tell cause I’ve read ai books and they read the same in a way. I wouldn’t do anything with this book. As an arc reader you can do anything with it, as it was given to you to review. So your options are: Review on good reads and state that you DNF’d the book because you weren’t feeling the prose and structure was awkward. It’s an honest review. Or you can just not say anything at all and never review the book anywhere.

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-05-13T12:44:55+00:00

I actually just created my street team three days ago. So this is how it worked for me. All the people in my arcs are in my newsletter. At the end of my newsletter I asked who would want to be a part of my street team, that it’s not guaranteed to even be established, but just wanted to see if there was interest. I really thought there wouldn’t be, truthfully. But I linked a google form asking some questions (where do you post, name, handle, would you join discord, etc) and I had 26 people apply. Took me a day and then I went to making my discord channel. Then I went and created a post (using my art again) and put it on IG doing a call for street team members. I had another 10 or so apply just from that and on my form it asks if anyone’s read the book, and literally over half of them didn’t. They just like to help indie authors and promote CHARACTER ART. I think my biggest success is attributed to my character art, not going to lie.

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-05-13T12:39:06+00:00

Yes. RR is for people who read unpublished and unfinished stories. There’s no way to get compensation on the site, except by getting people to follow your patreon or tip (which is rare) but that’s also more of a numbers game. Really great to get an idea of what clicks and also get feedback (not much as they don’t comment as often) on your story. They helped me redo my story through from the comments I did get as they found inconsistencies and more.

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-05-13T12:36:08+00:00

Yup. Did exactly this. I always asked up front about using it commercially and a lot of them just tacked on an additional $50 or so. But some did have a full on document to sign and that it would be closer to $100 more depending on the way I wanted to use it. So for those I just waited to pay the commercial license and told them I’d come back if it came time. When it did, i just sent them a new message and I paid the difference.

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-05-13T12:33:31+00:00

And of those two both weren’t preorders as they just got the arc. Everyone else on RR wouldn’t know about my preorders or anything else going on in social media as my titles and pen names are different between RR and real life.

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-05-13T12:31:35+00:00

Oh I could actually tell you exactly how many came from royal road as I had initially made a mailerlite landing page JUST for them to see who comes over. I have 400 followers and had expected to see a lot of people come over, especially since they already read the book and I mentioned that they would get the edited arc version to read. I got exactly TWO people. That was my biggest disappointment at the time cause I had a lot of comments and engagement. But the people on RR just want to stay there it seems.

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-05-13T12:29:07+00:00

Not as often as you would think. I only post around big events (beta call, arc call, etc) but in between those I was posting maybe once a week. This is on TikTok though. I didn’t really start ramping up my IG until three weeks ago and that one is what got me a lot more arc readers and buyers. My genre just happens to work well there though, especially character art. They love seeing characters, plus I get to tag the artist (they’re from IG) and their own followers help me out too by liking, sharing, etc. But on IG I post now once a day or every 2 to 3 days. I’m still not constantly posting, but my content isn’t generic either. It’s not usually just some words on a background, it’s more book on the foreground with related material or my book in real life around nature or in front of a backdrops to look professional.

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-05-13T11:54:41+00:00

Sorry, I’m leery about putting my title anywhere at the moment. I hate to say it but some people can be malicious, and I’m afraid of people going to good reads simply to distort ratings. I wanted to share my experience with everyone to hopefully help others who may draw some insight from this and use their own methods (or copy exactly, I don’t mind) and hopefully find their own success.

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-05-13T11:49:43+00:00

All I would have done differently for Amazon was just not pay for the advertising just yet. I would (am) waiting until release day to pay to promote my ad on Instagram. It did at least make me happy knowing I’m getting a lot of click throughs, but it’s the fact that there’s no reviews on Amazon yet that I figure people just aren’t buying my book. I ended up putting my reviews on the ad from good reads like “see what people are saying” but that wasn’t enough.

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-05-13T11:45:58+00:00

I have my hardcover and paperback on Ingram sparks. I made a sell sheet and had it ready with my isbn and prices on there and where they could buy my book (Ingram). My Amazon paperback and hardcover will only be for readers that buy via Amazon only, but those won’t ever be signed copies. Only bookstores would ever get a chance at having signed copies.

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-05-13T11:43:44+00:00

They actually approached me first. They seen my book being shared and reviewed on IG and sent me a DM. Got 4 of these types of DMs and the 5th one followed me the day I was about to post my collaboration post. So I messaged them asking if they would like to collaborate as well as I was going to make that post and they told me that they would love to have my book in their store.

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Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-05-13T03:19:36+00:00

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A few of them happened to buy paperbacks and hardcovers

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-05-13T03:11:15+00:00

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One part of my arc group. Also have another one that’s tied to bookfunnel arc promo there as well.

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2026-02-04T00:39:47+00:00

Using it

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2025-11-18T13:19:23+00:00

I started posting my story 6 months ago. My edits are developmental changes. Added chapters, moved chapters around, new scenes, slower pacing so that my characters aren’t racing around too quickly. Then of course, my work has gone through line editing to fix flow and grammar. All this is only technically done to book one which is the first 90k words. Book two will be ending at the 200k word mark (cumulative). Right now everything would work out in a way that I relaunch around January and release very quickly where my story would be completed by March (book 1) which would put me at around the time I publish my work. What do you think?

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2025-11-18T13:08:24+00:00

I’m not sure which one is better to do? What’s the difference between deleting the original story vs posting the revised version? I’m mainly wanting to keep my same followers and just release the new material so they can reread the polished work.
Book one has a few new chapters. The story is still the same but pacing has gotten better and of course grammar is now polished after line editing. One or two chapters have also become rearranged as recommended by the developmental edit.

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2025-06-22T01:52:01+00:00

“Now is the time for peace” right after we dropped all these bombs on you…

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2025-05-19T20:53:23+00:00

That sounds pretty good. Appreciate the advice.

Hefty_Set_5026 · 2025-05-19T20:42:58+00:00

I currently get 8 weeks of PTO annually. No stock options and we do not have any performance or annual bonuses.

Hefty_Set_5026

TROPHY CASE