My First Full Year as an Indie Author

 
With the close of September comes the close of my first full year as an indie author. I won't go into as much detail here as I did in my 9 Months of Indie Publishing post. No, this post is a bit more macro.
 
In my first year as in indie author, I published:

3 novels
5 collections of short stories
10 short story singles

 
In that same year, I wrote:

1 complete novel (GoSh1)
finished 1 novel (Gunwitch)
3 incomplete novels (Sigils, HoE2, & Nano2010)
4 short stories ("Encounter", "Evanescent", "Secondhand Coffin" and "Selene")

 
Which I think means I need to work harder to integrate writing new material with publishing existing material. On the other hand, I had a lot of accumulated words to publish and I spent a lot of time/effort/expense to get then ready and released. Now, though, I just have what I write new (or eventually finish). So publishing shouldn't get in the way of writing so much.
 
On the financial side of things, at the end of the first year I had recovered about 16% of my total cash investment. Which is much lower than I expected to recover. Fortunately, none of my expenses are recurring costs. I only add to the expense column when I publish a new book, or buy a snazzy font collection (like I did last week), or something along those lines. In fact, most of my costs are "sunk" at this point. I really shouldn't even consider them. Except, of course, I will consider them.
 
Comparing my total costs for indie publishing to my total costs of the first year of my Warmachine hobby (which isn't over yet), indie publishing hasn't required that much more–with the bonus that I will (eventually) recoup all my indie publishing costs (my Cryx army is pure hobby-consumerism). Compared to my first year as an amateur photographer (back in 2005-2006), I think indie publishing was cheaper (lenses are expensive).
 
So if I look at my indie publishing as a hobby with growth potential, it's doing quite well.
 
In total unit sales, I sold more ebooks and trade paperbacks in my first year as an indie publisher than I sold copies of The Journal in my first year it was available (1996-1997). Looking at it that way, I'm ahead.
 
Starting a new enterprise is always a challenge, especially if you're starting that new enterprise in the middle of the vast expanse of the World Wide Web and/or Amazon's online bookstore. It's very hard to even be noticed at first.
 
The trick, if there is one, is that you have to consider your first year as exactly that: your first year. Meaning that there are years yet to come. Years ahead of you to grow and learn. Years where you'll do more and do it better.
 
It ain't over til it's over. And so long as you don't quit (or die in the coming zombie apocalypse), it's never over.
 
Have a great weekend!
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
I Have Big Plans for 2011How I Stopped Feeling Like a Self-Published AuthorThe Day Job Strikes Back!