C.J. Perry's Blog, page 2
June 11, 2019
#DeepCuts – Sci-Fi and Fantasy
In a break from the norm, today we’re going to talk about the biggest sci-fi and fantasy films that helped inspire me. Since you know I love the Deep Cuts, this list is mostly going to be cult films you may not have seen. New movies to watch, yay!
May 31, 2019
May 12, 2019
The Return of Newsletter Swap Digest
Almost a year ago I had to shut down Newsletter Swap Digest. Mailerlite ran afoul of Spamhaus and had their servers blacklisted as spam. Since NSD was created utilizing Mailerlite’s API to automate the creation and sending of the emails, the open rate dropped to near 0% (from 64%) for three consecutive months. That was it, I shut it down.
For the 200+ authors that used it, NSD provided a much-needed service. Finding newsletter swaps always feels, for me at least, like a sh*tty scavenger hunt. I search about 8-10 facebook groups, and at least three different websites and then wait for responses, and check back daily. Ugh… what a slog. Thankfully, Mailerlite is now back in the game and stronger than ever. So now, it’s coming back — for me as much as for anyone else. And the even better news is, it gave me an opportunity to recreate and streamline the service a bit.
Here’s how it will work this time around:
Fill out the Create/Update a Swap Form.
If you have filled out promo signup forms with us before, it should all look pretty familiar. The one major difference will be this choice:
[image error]
The purpose of that selection is to allow you to turn off incoming requests from other authors, and stop your swap info from being shared in the next digest. However, it will also stop you from requesting swaps with others. (“Swaps” are a two way street)
Confirmation Email
You will receive a confirmation email within a few minutes. You will need to keep this email. Inside that email will be a link update your swap information. I am currently working with Cognito Forms support to try to generate that link outside of this email, but thus far I have no solutions for that. I will keep you updated, but initially this will be the only place that link can be found.
The form will limit each email address entered to one swap listing. However, there is a note section where you can tell swap seekers about your other swap opportunities and other books.
The Digest
An email will hit your inbox/promotions tab, once a week. In that email you will see a list of swaps, and each swap will look something like this:
[image error]
At the top of the email (or in each swap info box, not sure yet) there will be a link to go to the next step, the “Request A Swap” form.
Request A Swap Form
You will find a link to the Request Form in the Digest email each week. The form is very short.
Just copy the Swap Number of the swap you would like to request from the Digest email and paste it into the form. If the author is still looking for a swap for that book, the swap info will appear.If the author is not, there will be a message saying the author has turned “Seeking Swaps” off.
Select a date you would like to share their book, and click “Submit.”
A Transactional Email (like when you buy something – so it’s sure to land in the inbox) will be sent to the person you want to swap with. It will contain your “Swap Request Number” and a link to the next form to accept or decline your request.
Accept/Decline A Swap Form
On this form you need only enter the “Swap Request Number” from the email, and the information about the swap will display. Now, just select Accept or Decline.
If you Accept:
Select a date to share their swap info.
You may send a short note. (optional)
A Transactional Email will be sent to the requester notifying them of the swap, containing your email address for future communication.
A Transactional Email will be sent to you, containing your swap mate’s email address for future communication.
2 Calendar events will be created. One for you, and one for your swap mate.
If you Decline:
You may a leave a short note explaining why. (Optional)
A Transactional Email will be sent to the requester notifying them that you have declined.
It may seem like a lot, but it really isn’t. Once you have filled out the “Create a Swap” form, that is the last time you should need to do it, other than to update your swap info once in a while. Then, it’s just make requests and accept/decline requests. That’s it, and it will all be handled through your email.
Once we have a few hundred signups again, there will be no need to go looking on a bunch of sites, facebook groups, or re-creating posts over and over. Calendar events will be set for you with all the relevant information for each swap, so organization is easy, and no one forgets. We may even send reminders to each swap partner the day before their agreed upon share date, so you dont have to. (Still considering this last one. Let me know your thoughts.)
Newsletter Swap Digest should be in accepting signups by next week, beta testing will start the following week, and the first Digest email should go out in early June.
May 4, 2019
Determining your Book Launch Capital
Every author’s journey begins with the launch of a book. Understanding the economics of a book launch, then planning and budgeting a successful launch is a skill set that will support your entire indie publishing career and provide confidence in the numbers behind your business. Before you worry about setting up a business, taxes or salary, you need to get your mind right regarding the finances of the book launch regardless if this is your first book or the 10th book in a series.
One of the biggest obstacles that catches authors off guard and create havoc during this process is what I call the launch trough. This is the chasm between cash outflows on expenses and when money flows back in. Most authors do not break even on launch day and require weeks or months to claw out of the trough. If your plan is to launch several books thirty days apart for example, then the depth of the trough will compound. In this article, you will gain an in depth understand of the launch trough, how to plan for it and navigate it with poise.
To begin, let’s go through some basic terms of indie publishing economics.
Revenue: cash coming into your business. It all begins with sales, but you don’t receive the full sale price of your book, nor do you receive the royalty earnings at the time of the transaction.
Let’s say you launch your book priced at $2.99 and you sell 100 books in one month; here is breakdown:
– you get paid a 70% royalty
– Your profit for month one is $209.30
Ok, so my profit is $209.30.
No
Profit: Revenue less expenses equals profit, and you have other expenses. For our example, if you had a cover made for $200 and hired an editor for $200. Your expenses before you even launched the book were $400. At this point you don’t have a profit you have a loss of $190.70.
Here is our first complication: while your sales report shows this money is due, you have an agreement with your distribution platform regarding when they will release funds to you. The average is a minimum of 60 days and possibly 120 days based on the timing of your launch in the accounting cycle. Meaning the cash that you are out of pocket is still $400. This brings us to the issue of cash flow.
Cash-Flow: the timing of cash inflows and outflows.
What cash-flow shows that not only did you lose $220.60, but the way it happened. First you paid out $400 in expenses, then sixty to ninety days later you received $209.30 in royalties, reducing your loss to $190.70 but you had two to three months where you were out of pocket $400.
Why is this important?
Most beginning authors are unsure of the costs of launching and are concerned for the budget and funding the book from their personal capital. You may have heard that returns can come quickly so you plan to reinvest in your publishing business. Where the conflict arises is setting an ambitious launch plan that does not have the financial support to be successful. For this article, I will use a real example: a fiction series I am writing under a pen name. You will learn that to achieve my launch goal I need a bankroll to fund the upfront costs.
Break Even Analysis: Evaluation of the number of books or page reads needed to break even.
My plan was to launch a trilogy over a four-month period.
Budget:
Covers and Creative $728
Advertising $757.70
Total: $1,485.70
To determine the breakeven can be a little complex given the plan to sell books at different prices. The first book and the intro to the series, for 99 cents each, subsequent book prices will increase.
I combined the total expenses I would incur for each book, plus the prior books produced knowing that the timing of cash coming in from book one will be after book three’s launch date.
It’s difficult to predict the exact outcome of the real world but the aim is to understand what is required for sales to get my money back. Once I have numbers to anchor my thinking, I can evaluate future performance.
The breakeven can be further nuanced by looking a not just book sales but page reads where applicable. For a book selling at 99 cents I will make more from page reads than sales.
BREAK EVEN ANALYSIS
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Price
0.99
2.99
3.99
Royalty
35%
69%
69%
GM
$0.35
$2.06
$2.75
Expenses
-648.85
-1114.85
-1485.7
# Books to sell
1,873
540
540
Blend
Books
30%
562
162
162
$0.0045
KU Pages
70%
100,932
173,421
231,109
At the end of my thirty days I have $44.13 from 83 books and 3398 page reads. I am happy with the results given this is my first fiction launch and I had no mailing list to leverage. As an aside I did a group newsletter swap with Art of the Arcane that resulted in 360 emails in 15 days in exchange for free digital copies of book one prior to it sale on KU.
Without a breakeven analysis, you can’t quantify success or failure. Without having a benchmark, you end up worrying about what is the state of affairs. Don’t fly blind!
This work won’t guarantee a profitable launch, but it will let me know where you stand financially. I know that if I wanted to launch a fourth book and expected book one to finance it won’t as I have to wait two to three months for those funds. Finally, I know that to launch the three books I need roughly $1,485 and will recover that when I sell 162 books and have a 231,109-page reads. Do you know what it will take to break even on your writing project?
Now I will introduce the concept of the Launch Trough.
Launch Trough: I came up with this concept to model and plan the finances of a successful book launch. Taking the time to create one will help you eliminate surprises and to create a baseline assumption to evaluate actual performance against. With the launch trough, we create a mash-up of the breakeven and a cash flow to provide a model that can help us determine the amount of working capital you will need and for how long you will need it.
Below is a graph of the model for my book series. Based on my assumptions I know that I will be in the hole for as much as $1485.70 (I knew that also from the breakeven) and now I know when cash flows back to me. Meaning, actually in my bank account and those funds offsetting expenses. The chart show that break-even will take six months. A big part of any model are the assumptions, in mine I am assuming month one $40 in revenue then it increases to $150 a month then $300 then $400.
If I don’t see these revenue levels, it means I need to adjust my model assumptions and it will then show me the changes to recovering my cash and the returns I should expect.
To create the chart, I use excel to build a model. I already know it is taking me longer than expected to write a book, that will impact revenues and to some extent costs since I need not advertise a book that is not yet for sale.
If you find this all a little daunting, let’s get to what counts. The adage – it takes money to make money. Along with the time and effort to create your work you need to have working capital for this business to work. Running out of capital in the middle of the launch can result in disappointing your fan base and a loss of future revenue. Hoping current sales will cover future launches without a history of doing so is not a strategy. You must be prepared to adjust given when the income is created and collected.
Working capital: This is the cash your launch will need to get off the ground. For new authors this is funded from savings. If you determine that your launch requires $1,500 but you only have $500, then adjust. Hold off on launching until you save the funds. You can still write the books you just need to adjust your launch schedule.
Proceeding with a launch without the appropriate working capital is setting up for disappointment; not just for yourself, but your readers.
Here are some things to keep in mind about crossing the launch trough safely.
Take-Aways
Understand the timing of your cash inflows and outflows. On a tight budget, you can really feel the squeeze of sixty days between paying an expense and when it may return cash.
Budget the working capital you require for a launch. Save up the capital.
Make sure your launch plan and budget align. If your plan is under-funded, you will miss your projected launches.
Use tools like a breakeven analysis and the launch trough model to plan a successful launch.
No matter if you’re a beginner, or earning 100k a month in royalties, plan your launch and run your business like a boss; being a creative is no excuse.
Joe Solari helps authors build wealth from their creativity. He speaks and consults with indie authors, solopreneurs, and small businesses on how to create business systems to minimize the joy -killing aspects of being a business owner. You can learn more about the business of writing at indieauthoralchemy.com
April 21, 2019
Enter the Flash Fiction Contest!
Free promotion of your work in our new weekly newsletter
At the end of your flash fiction submission will be a short bio, and a recommendation from Art of the Arcane.
We will also provide readers a link to one of your other works, or to sign up for your newsletter.
Prizes
We will choose one author who will receive:
A $25 Amazon Gift Card
The TOP featured spot, where we announce you as an AotA Flash Fiction Award Winning Author, in an upcoming promo for one of your other works.
Free newsletter feature for one of your other works. (Your choice, regardless of price.)
Thats a total of $60+ in prizes, or $0.06 per word!
Winner will be announced June 15th!
RULES
Deadline is June 1st.
All submissions must be 1000 words or less.
Accepted Genres:
All Fantasy
All Science Fiction
Foul language must not be excessive. (We prefer none, if possible)
CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR STORY!
April 20, 2019
What’s Next For Art of the Arcane?
In the upcoming months, Art of the Arcane will be entering the indie publishing world. For years now we have provided authors with much-needed advice, services, group promotions, and newsletter swaps.
Some of these endeavors, like our group promotions, have been met with tremendous success. Others, like Newsletter Swap Digest, not as much. But through it all our author group on Facebook has grown to nearly 1000 members, and our authors are more engaged than ever. Thank you to all of you who have taken an active role in our community.
Our first book will come from the creator of Art of the Arcane, and is geared towards authors. The book is Grow Your Email List for Free: A Beginners Guide to Getting 2000 Subscribers in Three Months Without Spending a Penny. It is the culmination of years of research and helping authors do just what the title says. It is due to hit online retailers in May, and the price will be $3.99.
We also have begun a Flash Fiction Contest where the prize is free promotion by AotA in the form of featured placement in our group promos, a free spot in our newsletter, and a $25 gift card. That’s over $65 in prizes, or $0.065 a word. Winners will also be included in a SFF Anthology Publication by Art of the Arcane. For more details, check the official post in our Facebook group, or the submission/signup form.
Last, but certainly not least, Joe Solari has agreed to blog about the business of writing here on Art of the Arcane! Joe has been a speaker at the insanely popular 20BooksVegas writers conference, and is fast becoming a well-known figure in the indie publishing world. Find him in the Facebook group 20Booksto50k, or in our own little corner of facebook. We will send out a newsletter announcing his first post.
See you in the group, or in the next cross-promo.
CJ
May 14, 2018
Breakers of the Dawn, by Zachariah Wahrer
Life in the Akked Galaxy will never be the same again…
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Tatum, by Sian B. Claven
Watch your back.
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The Mysterious Soldier – Part I, by Tina Silvens
A girl with undeveloped magical powers tries to help a prince who always runs into troubles.
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The Dim Zone, by Chris Turner
Alien technoterror…
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