THAT is the question of the hour. Day. Week. Year.
But first, some background information. Katie Klein isn't my real name. It's a pen name I've adopted for this little experiment I've decided to undertake, thanks to the success of individuals like J. A. Konrath and Amanda Hocking, and numerous new friends I've made over at the Kindle Boards.
I was/am a midlist YA author, a contemporary realistic writer in a land dominated by vampires and werewolves and fairies. I think it's spelled faeries, now, though. But I digress.
At any rate, according to the rest of the world--the publishing world, that is, whose opinion is the only one that seems to matter--my work doesn't "stand out" in such a competitive market.
So, what's a writer with at least a dozen manuscripts sitting on her hard drive to do?
I'm taking a leap of faith and letting the readers find me. I still don't know where I fall on the indie spectrum. I'm newly published, and still suffering the effects of the "spell" the Big 6 have cast: I will never make it as a self-published author and I will ruin any chances I ever had of seeing another one of my books in print . . . which is the only real way to be an author.
I'm running on fumes at times, high on the sales I'm getting, which have to sustain me through the lulls, since I'm just starting out. But, if everything I'm hearing is true, the readers will find me.
I plan to be completely open and honest about indie publishing on this blog. Since I do have a real-life author persona, I'm not sure how much this blog will be updated. Every few days? At least once a week. But I will discuss my progress, my plans, my fears, and at the end of this, I'm hoping to be one of the preachers: Yes, indie publishing is the wave of the future; it's the only way to go.
I published my first Kindle novel, THE GUARDIAN, in December. This was one of those manuscripts I'd filed away because the "market was too saturated with angel stories."
The first month it was available, THE GUARDIAN sold 19 copies between Kindle and Nook. Not bad, since I'm an unknown.
January numbers are posted as of today, and unless there are any stragglers from PubIt (Barnes and Noble), I'm sitting at 33 sales for the month.
The e-book is $2.99.
I've set a goal to sell 50 copies in the month of February, so we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, I'm toying with the idea of loading one of my contemporary realistic novels. The reason I started with THE GUARDIAN is because paranormal romance is hot right now. I'm curious to see how well a realistic YA will do. I'm thinking March 1st, if I decide to go that route . . . but I'll keep you posted. :)
KK
