Yesterday, there was a knock at my door at 7:30 a.m. Now, I’m not much of a morning person, but when I opened the door to see a rather large box sitting on my doormat, I could have raced after the delivery man (or woman) and kissed them.
In that box were the author copies of my very first novel, Slow Burn, from Createspace. It was like Christmas morning, but with less booze. (Maybe it’s just my family who have alcoholic milkshakes for breakfast on Christmas day? That would explain a lot….)
I had a couple of people who had expressed interest in buying the paperback version of Slow Burn, so I had to work out for how much I was going to sell my book. This seems like an easy question, but it really isn’t. By the time I paid for international shipping (I’m in Australia), the cost price of each book was around $8.50. Plus postage from my hands to the hands of my readers, and other incidentals like packaging, let’s just say the profit margin is skinny. I ended up settling on $15.50 including postage within Australia. I didn’t want it to be so expensive that people didn’t want to buy it, and not so cheap that I was going to make a loss, or barely any profit, on each book. It was a delicate balancing act.
I was going to use eBay as my storefront, but found that eBay would charge me $1.36 for each transaction, and PayPal would charge me 2.6%. All of this would cut directly into my already slim profit margin. I still haven’t worked out how I am going to distribute it to people who aren’t acquaintances, or within my local area. If any of you guys have an idea, drop me a line, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
But, you know what? I doesn’t matter, because I got to sit down, with a felt tip pen, and sign my very first book. It was a giddy and surreal experience. Worth the stress, the complex problems, the sleepless nights where I go over lists of things I should have done.
I was so nervous that I’d mess up my signature that my palm was sweaty. I still messed that one up. Maybe I’ll give it to my mum…
I always say to people, that getting published is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s these little milestones that make it worth it.
Until next time,
M x
Madeline Young Writes 