The morning after
So. As I've told a few people, I'm not really comfortable disclosing how many copies I've sold, as much as people would like to know, in a cheer-you-on sense. The thing is, this isn't a book deal where I receive a flat-fee advance; if I tell you the number, you can do the math and figure out exactly how much I've made, and there's no way that won't get wanky. But I can tell you that I've just now made enough to cover the laptop and data retrieval on Betsy 2.0. And there's always "Vampires" next month to help out with the repair bills.
Just to explain some of the financial aspects: I priced the e-book at $5. Lulu then added 1/4 of that ($1.25) on top, for a total of $6.25, as their cut. The soonest they'll release the money is 30 days (November 18th for yesterday's purchases, November 19th for today's, and so on, I guess), through PayPal to me, and then PayPal will take 2.9%, which isn't so bad (I was remembering it as 8%). Otherwise, I can wait until 45 days after the end of the financial quarter (i.e., FEBRUARY) for a check, which--forget that. PayPal it is. But at this point, I like having it on Lulu, because other people might stumble across the book and buy it without having any foreknowledge of Movies in Fifteen Minutes, they'll keep a more accurate count of how many copies it's sold, they might notice strong sales and decide to spotlight it in some way, it adds a veneer of officiality to the enterprise, etc.
Also, I ranted a bit on Twitter yesterday about the Lulu publishing process, because that's what you do when you're frustrated, and it makes you feel better. ("HOW DO I CHANGE THE PRICE???? $0.00 IS NOT A PRICE!! IT IS A FREE!!!!") Well, now Lulu's customer service Twitter account is all chagrined, ("Also: Going to punch lulu.com in the e-face" probably did it...), so I feel like I need to assure everyone that, in the end, I'm happy with how it turned out. My pissosity was mostly what you get when you're trying to maneuver a site for the first time. ("YOU SAY I CAN CHANGE THE PRIVACY SETTING BUT I DO NOT ACTUALLY SEE WHERE I CAN DO THIS.") So, um. I feel kind of bad about this. ("WHY IS IT THAT WHEN I GO TO 'REVIEW PROJECT' IT ACTS LIKE I WANT TO CREATE A NEW ONE, BECAUSE I TOTALLY DON'T.") Although I should have expected this, given that I was able to summon UPS the same way. ("I CANNOT ART UNDER THESE CONDITIONS.") Honestly, when I put the second e-book together next month, I'll know exactly what to do and it will all be perfectly wonderful. So. Uh. Sorry about that, Lulu.
I'm also trying to figure out how much promotion is sensible (I'm not very good or comfortable with promoting myself) and how much is straight-up obnoxious. Y'all have all been so great about mentioning it, though, and feedback so far has been really positive. So there's also that.
Oh, and we're working on getting the Kindle version finished and the "buy multiple copies" using PayPal thing. Hold on a bit for that.
Just to explain some of the financial aspects: I priced the e-book at $5. Lulu then added 1/4 of that ($1.25) on top, for a total of $6.25, as their cut. The soonest they'll release the money is 30 days (November 18th for yesterday's purchases, November 19th for today's, and so on, I guess), through PayPal to me, and then PayPal will take 2.9%, which isn't so bad (I was remembering it as 8%). Otherwise, I can wait until 45 days after the end of the financial quarter (i.e., FEBRUARY) for a check, which--forget that. PayPal it is. But at this point, I like having it on Lulu, because other people might stumble across the book and buy it without having any foreknowledge of Movies in Fifteen Minutes, they'll keep a more accurate count of how many copies it's sold, they might notice strong sales and decide to spotlight it in some way, it adds a veneer of officiality to the enterprise, etc.
Also, I ranted a bit on Twitter yesterday about the Lulu publishing process, because that's what you do when you're frustrated, and it makes you feel better. ("HOW DO I CHANGE THE PRICE???? $0.00 IS NOT A PRICE!! IT IS A FREE!!!!") Well, now Lulu's customer service Twitter account is all chagrined, ("Also: Going to punch lulu.com in the e-face" probably did it...), so I feel like I need to assure everyone that, in the end, I'm happy with how it turned out. My pissosity was mostly what you get when you're trying to maneuver a site for the first time. ("YOU SAY I CAN CHANGE THE PRIVACY SETTING BUT I DO NOT ACTUALLY SEE WHERE I CAN DO THIS.") So, um. I feel kind of bad about this. ("WHY IS IT THAT WHEN I GO TO 'REVIEW PROJECT' IT ACTS LIKE I WANT TO CREATE A NEW ONE, BECAUSE I TOTALLY DON'T.") Although I should have expected this, given that I was able to summon UPS the same way. ("I CANNOT ART UNDER THESE CONDITIONS.") Honestly, when I put the second e-book together next month, I'll know exactly what to do and it will all be perfectly wonderful. So. Uh. Sorry about that, Lulu.
I'm also trying to figure out how much promotion is sensible (I'm not very good or comfortable with promoting myself) and how much is straight-up obnoxious. Y'all have all been so great about mentioning it, though, and feedback so far has been really positive. So there's also that.
Oh, and we're working on getting the Kindle version finished and the "buy multiple copies" using PayPal thing. Hold on a bit for that.