May was a very good month for this self published author, at least in sales. sold 4,539 ebooks and had 149 loans on the KOLL, giving me my sixth consecutive month above 3K sales (actually only one of those was below 4K). I wasn’t as productive as I wanted to be, probably due to falling off my motorcycle near the beginning of the month. I am diabetic, and need to exercise. But I really couldn’t find any exercise to do with my ribs hurting. Walking, pushups, leg iifts, weights, you name it, it hurt, bad. And I get lethargic when I can’t work out. The pain is almost gone, so I see better days ahead. I want to get back on the bike, and at the same time I don’t. We’ll just see.
The other day a fan commented on my facebook page, in response to my post that the success of Exodus surprised me, that it only surprised him that it wasn’t on the best seller list (it is, on Amazon’s Space Opera), and that a big publisher hadn’t picked me up. That got me to thinking. Did I really want to get a publishing contract. I mean, in one way it is the ultimate ego trip, to get books on the bookshelves at stores for people to touch. And to get membership in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, though most people I have talked to recently have agreed that things are going to change and they will eventually let self pubbed authors in. Makes sense, since some indies have more sales than many with contracts. I sent a question to a well known scifi writer I have contacted in the past about the possibility. I was told that my numbers were great, and that I probably could get an agent and a contract with a publisher. Sent an email to another writer I have corresponded with in the past who is also on best seller lists, but is relatively new to the whole thing, to get his take on it. I can already see some pros, like getting an editor as part of the package, getting cover art, etc. There is also the possibility of movie or TV deals, but that is iffy. It took over thirty-five years for Ringworld to get made into a movie, whcih is coming out soon, or so I hear. And some cons. I would probably still have to do my own promotions, unless I hit it lucky and had a bestseller out the gate. I would have little input on those covers. And I would probably not be able to put out as many novels as I want. Most publishers restrict their authors to one novel a year in any series. Some have more than one series going, so that’s a possibility. Then again, the dragon’s share of earnings from any book go to the publisher, while the booksellers of course get the book for half the cover price, and then there’s the agent’s cut. I have heard of bestselling authors who had to keep their day jobs until they got that second series out, and my day job is a bad memory that I don’t want to revisit. The good thing is I don’t have to make an instant decision. I can talk to an agent, talk to other writers, test the waters, and then make a decision. I would like to keep the books I have online going online, if the publisher isn’t interested in that particular book.
On another front, I will be talking about covers with a graphic designer next week, to see if I might be able to improve them, to make them more marketable. And I am going to contract some 3D art of the spaceships in Exodus, as well as some blueprint art. I have sketches of what the ships look like, and their general layout, but nothing I would be proud of displaying. Expect a busy summer, and hopefully a productive fall as well.