Category Archives: Audiobook
I Am the Queen of Organization
I was serious when I said I’m going to start thinking like the small business owner I am.
I already have spreadsheets for my income and expenses so I just have to update those tomorrow with the month’s numbers. But I now also have three separate punch lists in Excel—one for Belaurient Arts, one for Belaurient Press, and one for general Belaurient business, all items with Due By dates and switches to indicate whether or not they’re done (and if not, what has to be done to get them finished. Because sometimes Stuff Happens™).
In addition to the punch lists I have a schedule for formatting books and setting them wide, and once that’s all done by the middle of June I’ll haul my recording equipment into the master bathroom closet and start recording audiobooks (yes, you’re finally getting audiobooks from me. I figure I did a podcast for years, did voiceovers for various training projects, and according to people who have listened to me at cons I give good reading so I may as well do them myself).
As for today, I formatted Storm Season, put it wide, and got started on formatting Breaker Zone (why oh why was I using such huge chapters back then? It is a puzzlement) before I had to run out and pick up some stuff, then make dinner. Once I post this I’m going back upstairs to knock out Friday’s episode of Crystal Blade for Vella, then at 11:30 PM I’ll publish tomorrow’s episode.
And I dunno if this mindset is impressing people, or I’m being rewarded by the universe, or what, but I have sold ten books just on Amazon in the last week. Since my series are no longer in KU and actual sales are the only way I’m making money on the ‘Zon, this is cheering.
The Business of Writing
Crystal Blade Episode 10: Be a Dragon is now up at Vella. So now you know.
I’m working on a five year plan for Belaurient Press and what I want to do with my writing. I really do need to start thinking like a small business owner and not just a writer if I want to be successful and make any money, which means I need things like a five year plan.
I know, fascinating, but this is what it’s like to be an indie author. I need to come up with the money to start an LLC for Belaurient Press, which will help me at tax time, and I need to start buying ISBNs so that I can release the print versions of my books on IngramSpark, which gets them into more bookstores and libraries than Amazon. I can do that retroactively with the titles I already have as long as I make sure the IS versions aren’t distributed to Amazon.
I also really, really need to start releasing audiobooks. The nice thing about having done voiceover for various educational packages, plus producing a podcast for six years and those long-ago singing lessons is that I have a good voice for audiobooks and I know how to produce the audio files. But this will involve setting up a table in the closet (I need sound muffling) and bringing my laptop and microphone in there to start recording. It’s just a matter of doing it, but I have so much else to do in your average day that it keeps slipping my mind. Maybe if I turn it into an evening project, that might work better.
I’ll also have to kick the cats out of the bedroom which they won’t like. But they want to keep eating and have a roof over their heads so they’ll just have to put up with it.
Finally, I need to get the Patreon started. The roadblock with that is, I need to have something to give away to patrons, ideally a short story a month. Which requires—you guessed it—more time on my part. What would be really useful right now is to have someone who could help me schedule everything I need to do and maybe take over the social media promo stuff. If I could afford a virtial PA I’d hire one—I know a few who are absolutely amazing and who could really help me.
But I need money for that. Which means I need to sell more books. Which means … my career is a frigging vicious circle, isn’t it? Oy…
Weekends Are For Bookwork
Namely taking a good look at my AMS ads and ruthlessly culling anything that hasn’t brought in any sales in the last six months. Ads are easily my biggest expenditure, and while I don’t mind spending on them I want them to work for me, not gobbling up income without bringing in sales.
I’ve put limits on every portfolio so that when a certain amount is spent it pauses until the next month, but ads aren’t something you can just set and forget—you need to keep an eye on them, make sure they’re working, and prune them when they stop. It’ll be interesting when I crunch the numbers tomorrow for the taxes to see how much I spent on ads in 2022 versus income. I suspect the ratio ain’t gonna be all that great, another reason to start getting ruthless with the pruning.
So yeah, tomorrow is going to be dedicated to getting the tax numbers ready for the accountant, and next weekend I want to set up the closet in our bedroom (it’s a large walk-in space so I won’t be cramped) and start recording Shadow of the Swan as an audiobook. I’m also trying to work out how I want to sell it—I would prefer not to use Audible, especially since they’ve reduced the costs of audiobooks on their own stick, and Jeff Bezos doesn’t need any more of my money anyway. I know I can start a Shopify story and deliver the audiobook file via BookFunnel, but Shopify also takes a big chunk out of the audiobook cost and I don’t actually need a separate store—that’s what my website with its book pages is for. PayHip has also been recommended to me—apparently PayPal is the absolute best way to do it but it’s supposed to be a nightmare to set up for digital items. Must do some more investigation while I’m getting the audiobook ready.
Nicola Cameron Writes 