How successful indie authors work

[fjtorres]

What does it take to be a successful Indie author/publisher?

Here's one author's process:
http://johnellsworthbooks.com/2016/0...point-of-view/

Everyday I’m in my writing chair by seven a.m. and reading yesterday’s output. I do my editing as I read, so that, by the time my book is written, it is in final draft form, not first draft. After the daily edits, I begin my writing (cup of coffee number two). I generally try to get down about 2,000 words for the day. Unlike all the “write 10,000 words an hour books,” I violate one of their cardinal rules in that I also research as I write. Why? Because I have found that research so often flows into another plot twist or follow-through that I hadn’t been thinking on my own.

My 2000 words take me all of about two to three hours and I’m done writing for the day. My books are targeted for 80,000 words so my calendar for finishing the final draft is forty days. This means that I can put out about nine novels a year. Yes, nine. Unlike tradpub’s goal of a book a year for its top-drawer writers, I don’t have to wait weeks and weeks for editing, re-editing, proofing, cover art, and the like. It takes me at most one week to accomplish all these things when my final draft is finished. By then I’m 20,000 words into my next book.

Editing takes my editor five days. I receive the book back in Word markup and it takes me about three hours to revise as advised. Then the book is proofed by software I’m subscribed to, and at the same time my cover artist is finalizing the cover. Covers are an incredibly important part of book sales, so I have searched around until I found the perfect artist for my novels. It takes him about four days (he works days at his FT “real” job) to get a finished product back to me. All told, moving my book from final draft to ready-to-publish inventory takes one week.

I format the ebook for publication using Vellum; formatting takes less than the ten minutes, including the addition of front- and back-matter, which mostly is copied and pasted from earlier books. Then we’re ready to put the book up for sale.

I put one copy of the book up on book funnel and send an email to my mailing list select group, which is a group of about 150 of the most active participants on my mailing list (8000 strong and counting) and I ask the 150 to please download the freebie from book funnel. If they want, they will review it on Amazon when I send them the second email in a day or two announcing publication. My participation from this group is about 70%. Which means that within a matter of a week or so from first publication my books will have anywhere from 50-100 reader reviews.

Publishing my book on KDP takes less than an hour. Publishing my book on Createspace takes even less. Now my electronic book and my paperback are both up for sale. Once they are, I announce the publication to my full mailing list. My book is not discounted during any of this. It usually will hit the Amazon Top Twenty for legal thrillers within about 24 hours and copies start moving out the door as the Amazon algos take over.

He may not be John Grisham but he isn't hurting.
You don't need to be the idol of millions in the Indie world. In tradpub he would be a marginal midlister:

That’s my process. The results are astonishing. At one time I was a pretty well known trial lawyer and handled some pretty impressive clients. I never, however, earned as much as I do now with my books. I sell about 10,000 books a month and gather in about 7 million page reads a month, and I’m only just starting my third year. This year I will earn in the mid-to-upper six figures.

More at the source.

It's a whole new world out there, created by ebooks and POD.

[Cinisajoy]

I remember when he first started. I have most if not all of his books.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I remember when he first started. I have most if not all of his books.

I'm not into legal thrillers but he does seem to have the process and staffing part down pat.

[Cinisajoy]

If you are into legal thrillers, he is good.
Except for the daily output, he is following in the footsteps of the indie legends.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

If you are into legal thrillers, he is good.
Except for the daily output, he is following in the footsteps of the indie legends.

Good to know.
I'm not but my mom likes Grisham so I'll keep him in mind when she thins her TBR list.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Good to know.
I'm not but my mom likes Grisham so I'll keep him in mind when she thins her TBR list.

If you mom does Amazon, sometimes he puts his books on sale.