Kingmaker's Hardcover Version is Live...Finally!
Got up this morning to find that all three versions of the book are on Amazon
After going the rounds with Amazon for about two hours, the hardcover to Kingmaker is finally published and “live.” At least I know why it was taking so long to get it from Draft mode. Never publish your book when you’re half asleep and forget to change the ISBN in the manuscript to match the ISBN for the book in KDP.
Got it.
I decided to go with a 6x9 layout, making it slightly larger than the paperback back without as many pages. Still, it should come out nice. I’m ordering author copies today, and I hope nothing is amiss in the print. It’s something I always worry about when publishing a new book.
Take the paperback version, for instance. Although it doesn’t look horrible, the colors were far more darker than I wanted. That’s what happens when you design in RGB and don’t take into consideration CMYK printers. It’s a graphic design thing, which I learned back in the 90s. This time around, it just didn’t occur to me that what you see on the monitor is not what you’ll get in print. In other words, I simply forgot.
I blame it on my age.
What’s Next for Kingmaker?
The only thing I’m truly disappointed in is the fact that I didn’t do anything grand for my debut as a dark fantasy author. Technically, Kingmaker is my second book, but the first one was mostly written as a way to explore and learn more about self-publishing. Not to mention that A Freelancer’s Tale is incredibly niche. Unless you know who I am and care about getting started as a freelance writer, it’s not going to be something on your wishlist.
Yet, A Freealancer’s Tale is all about dealing with depression and never giving up. So, I guess it could be a book about hope and perseverance.
In any case, the next step for Kingmaker is a series of goodies I have planned for the online store opening in 2024. The idea is to one-up Mom, who merchandised the hell out of her book. I’m definitely setting up at least one coffee mug and one notebook, but have ideas for more featuring some of the people, places, and things of Kingmaker.
At the moment, I am exploring different methods for marketing as a self-published author. It’s something I didn’t dive too much into with A Freelancer’s Tale. Although I don’t have a lot of money to throw at Kingmaker’s marketing, mostly because it’s Christmas and I have all the kids here this year, I’m still going to see what I can do to get the book in front of more people.
Do I Have Plans to Sell Kingmaker on the Blog?
The more I deal with Amazon, the more I think about setting up a bookstore to sell copies directly from MichaelBrockbank.com. Currently, that blog shows the books I have completed online with links to where you can buy or read them. However, selling the books myself would generate so much more income.
For example, I only make $2.10 from selling a hardcover for $17.99 on Amazon. The lion’s share of the fees goes to printing costs, equalling $8.70. That means $7.19 gets absorbed by Amazon in one form or another. In other words, authors only get around 22.6% royalties after printing costs from Amazon, not the 60% they tout.
I still can’t figure that part out and I’ve read through various pages of Amazon’s KDP program information.
I guess that’s still more money than what most traditionally published authors receive per copy sold. Nevertheless, authors get the shaft in a lot of ways when it comes to selling a book.
Anyway, before I go on an Amazon rant, I am leaning heavily toward selling the books directly in addition to online retailers. I doubt I’ll make as many sales, simply because my site isn’t as popular as something like Amazon or Barnes & Noble. But it’ll still take out the middleman to some extent for buyers who do visit the site.
What Am I Working On Today?
Lately, I’ve been dumping a lot of time into my Reedsy master class and writing the new book. Don’t worry, I am still tinkering with Fury as I want it ready by the end of January. However, I have been putting a lot more effort into setting up this new story.
Mostly, that’s because of what’s involved. I don’t want to go too far into details because I’m not sure how much of this I can talk about. But I’ve been working relatively closely with Reedsy lately and have some big things planned for the coming months. That’s the only reason why I haven’t done more with Fury. There’s a lot riding on this new book and the YouTube channel.
I did get one of my favorite compliments to date, recently. The instructor of the course, a successful author himself with quite a list of achievements, said that I write well. It was during a course critique where we submitted 500 to 1000 words. Well, I had the opportunity to get critiqued by the instructor himself (usually, it’s by other students).
I read that extract and thought, this is someone who knows what they are doing.
Don’t get me wrong, I love when readers compliment my work. Few things thrill me more when a reader tells me how my intended twists and misdirections in the book did exactly what I wanted them to do. But when someone of Tom Bromley’s caliber delivers a compliment, a successful author himself, it hits differently. Especially when you have a bit of a nagging voice in the back of your mind that constantly says, “You’re not good enough.”
It’s akin to seeking approval from your peers.
Building Up My Library
So, now I have two books that are complete for my personal library. And I have no intention of slowing down. As long as I can maintain a decent pace with all of my other projects, I should have quite the collection of stories over the next few years.
It’s been an exciting ride thus far, and I can’t wait to see what 2024 has in store. Of course, that will rely mostly on how far I take myself. Nothing is just going to happen without putting in the effort.
That’s one of the greatest keys to success in any instance. Not everyone will have things handed to them on a silver platter. And the more you work for that success, the more appreciative you become of yourself and those who have helped you reach those plateaus of awesomeness.
For those who spent time reading these posts or watching my videos, you’ll probably never truly grasp how much I appreciate you.