Announcing a Fun Hangout!

by brenna | Mar 18, 2014 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

New Adult Pajama Party

April 1st: 7-9 p.m. CST

Games, Readings, Giveaways, Q&A and more

Six New Adult authors hanging out and having fun.

Click Here to Join Us on April 1st !!

The Road Not Taken*

by brenna | Mar 9, 2014 | Uncategorized | 24 comments

It was a hot, dry morning in early October when I paced the floor of my office at work, checking my cell phone obsessively.

My agent had just texted.  It’s an auction.

Two New York editors were going head to head over my debut novel, AT ANY PRICE and they had requested a “best bids” auction.  This meant that they were given two days to prepare their offers, complete with marketing plans, to submit for my consideration.

I was nervous. Excited. For three nights during this event I couldn’t sleep and I sure as heck couldn’t work on my novel-in-progress, the follow up which would become AT ANY TURN, during this time.  All I could do was obsess over what was going to happen and what I was going to decide.

Because at the back of my mind I still had that third option.  And that morning, as I texted with my agent, I reminded her of that.

I’m sure the editors are aware of the success that indie NAs are having right now but you just might let them know that the 3^rd bidder in this auction is me. I hope you are okay with that. I just want them to know that I’m aware of what this book is worth.

We’d had this discussion before we’d even gone on submission. She knew this was a possibility.  It ended up that that third bidder, me, was the winner.  I had many reasons for that.

Am I sorry for that choice?  Not currently. No.  As it happened, I had a successful start.

But when I originally blogged about my choice, I had no idea that blog would go viral within the publishing community. That my decision would be held up, both for good and ill, to make a statement about other authors’ choices about how to publish their own work. This was not my intention.

I’m fortunate to be publishing in a time when authors have so many choices.  But my decision was the best decision for me, at this time and for this work.  A choice is always a decision to pursue one path and turn away from another.  And it was no easy choice.

That Sunday night, days after the auction had ended, after I’d had a weekend to mull over the offers and the options and consult other authors and experts, I sat in my recliner sobbing as I told my agent that I was going to pass.

Because I knew what I’d be giving up and I had no true idea what I’d be gaining.

So I’ve blogged a bit about what I gained for that first month. Now I want to discuss what I gave up.  Because in this “publishing war” we find ourselves in, that seems too often get overlooked. I believe traditional publishing will endure.

And when I turned down those offers (and some have told me that by being so open about my publishing journey, I have materially damaged my chances of ever publishing with a traditional house), I did give up some important things.

What I gave up by deciding to independently publish my novels:

An advance against royalties.

I gave up sure money paid to me regardless of the performance of my novels, sales wise.  When publishing independently, money is never guaranteed and you have to invest your own money into your work up front with no guarantee of ever making it back again.  Just as with being published traditionally, if you go the indie route, you could do everything right and the book could still tank.

Print distribution.

I was offered trade paperback print distribution for my books. As an independent author, my choices are now to offer print books via print on demand (POD) publishing from the various online outlets. As a consequence of that…

My books will not be in bookstores.

I won’t see a stack of paperbacks of AT ANY PRICE sitting on a nicely appointed premium display inside a Barnes and Noble, or even at the newly-created New Adult Romance section at the Books-A-Million. They won’t be at Walmart or Target or the grocery store. And I have no hope of seeing them on a rack at the airport, either.

Also…

My books are not likely to be found in a library.

Independently-published POD books are rarely ordered to fill library shelves. And my ebooks will not be distributed to the Overdrive, ebook provider for libraries across the country.

I will never have an editor who will work with me to develop the book and the follow-ups because she loved it enough to acquire it for her house.

As an indie author, any editor that I hire will be working with me because I approached them. They will be freelancers who are amazing at their work but who may or may not be in love with my writing and my story concepts. I turned down the opportunity to work with two talented and knowledgeable New York editors who loved my book enough to go to auction for it and offer high amounts of money out of their budget in order to secure it. In so doing, I gave up the chance to grow as an author under their tutelage.

A team of marketing and publicity experts with contacts in the literary world, the press, and other outlets. The branding a big name publisher can provide.

I gave up the opportunity to learn from marketing and publicity experts as well.  And I gave up being branded alongside bestselling authors who have been publishing for many years and have many readers.

I am less likely to ever make a national bestseller list.

While self-published authors do hit bestselling lists often, it is much harder for them for many reasons.  A lot of indie authors sell enough or more than their traditional counterparts and yet are virtually ignored by certain establishments who safeguard these important lists.

I am less likely to sell my other rights, such as audio and foreign translation.

Some might counter that I can self publish my books in audio form but this is now much more difficult due to recent changes in royalties provided the primary providers of indie Audiobooks, ACX. It is unlikely I will use this provider for my audio books and until another option crops up, my books may never make it into audio format. Foreign editions of indie books, as well, are hard sells to the foreign rights market unless the books have hit national bestseller lists.

I have most likely lost the chance to sell movie rights.

Indie books are seldom noticed by Hollywood. Some authors get lucky and manage to sell their movie rights.  Even though I’ve been told by many readers that AT ANY PRICE would make a great movie, I’m not sure how I’d even go about pursuing such an offer should I ever get one. And being noticed by the movie establishment seems like it would be a long shot.  Many more movies are made from traditionally published novels (some of the most anticipated movies this year, in fact, were traditionally published novels at one time) because those looking out for new story prospects for the movie industry are primarily looking at traditionally published books.

 I may have damaged my chances to become a hybrid author.

When I walked away from my auction offers, I was told, point-blank, that I would be a “hard sell” to any New York editor after this. I’m not sure whether this is true or whether this was pressure to conform.  No one from that establishment has approached me in any way since the auction and my subsequent blog posts. And I wasn’t really expecting that to happen.  However, I may have given the impression that I would never be interested in publishing traditionally.  This is simply not true.  Someday I’d like to be a hybrid author.

The cachet of being associated with a big publisher. Being invited to publisher parties at big writers conferences. Networking with industry professionals in a concentrated setting and with a common goal in mind. Being sent on book tours or participating in book signings.

Some of these things still happen for traditional authors. Some of them don’t. Some of them are very rare, especially for a debut author. Nevertheless, these things get listed amongst the things I gave up, because they do have value to many authors.

Structure and deadlines laid out for me.

In a short amount of time, I’ve had to learn this business from the ground up and have become my own time management expert. I’ve had to schedule cover art and editors myself and set my own deadlines for each phase of development. My process involves drafting the book at least 4 or 5 times with critique partners and beta readers who are involved at different points along the way.  Then there are the editors: for content and copy. And formatting. And then proofreading. After that comes the scheduling for publicity and distribution of ARCs, etc.

I have to keep all this in mind and know instinctively when to have what part of which phase done and which time in order to have it ready for the other people that are involved in the production of my book.  Had I sold my rights, these deadlines would have been set for me and I would know exactly when I’d need to be done with which phase of my manuscript without me worrying about scheduling separate parts of the whole.

If I ever accept a NY contract, I’ll never be marketed as a “debut author.” 

I have lost the opportunity for a traditional publishing house to establish a brand for me and market me as a debut author. When I publish AT ANY TURN in April, I will no longer be a debut author and will have lost the shiny newness associated with it.

Despite the list above, I do not regret my decision.

In my opinion, there has never been a more exciting time to be an author. There are difficult choices to make on the path toward publication. The road you take is your decision alone.

I wish you the best of luck in making those choices, whatever they may be.

*The title of this post was shamelessly swiped from the title of a favorite poem of mine by Robert Frost, one of my most favorite poets. I posted his poem on my Facebook page the day after I made my decision to self publish.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN by Robert Frost

The First Month of Publication: A Reckoning

by brenna | Jan 12, 2014 | Uncategorized | 140 comments

In the interest of “paying it forward” to all the honest and open independent authors who have gone on before me, I feel this post is an obligation, on my part. Had they not blazed the trail, returned and reported that everything is fine on the other side, I could never have made the decision to turn down a New York book deal to become an indie author. I’ve therefore decided recount the so-called “indie-coaster” ride that was my first month as a self-published author.

AT ANY PRICE released officially on December 9, 2013. My first month as a published author has been full of ups and downs—mostly ups! The book has been very well received. By the one-month anniversary of publication, the book had 100 reviews on Amazon, 66 of which were 5 star reviews.

A heartfelt thank you to all the wonderful readers who made this possible by reading and taking the time to post an honest review. I’m so truly grateful to you.

By now, you might be wondering about that New York deal and whether or not I am regretting turning that down.

I’ve been exposed to some heavy criticism over the past few weeks from the online author community, since posting “the blog post heard round the publishing world.” Okay, maybe it’s a slight exaggeration, but getting one hundred times the normal website hits and being championed by such indie author giants as Hugh Howey, The Passive Guy,  Courtney Milan, the Indie Voice Authors and H.M. Ward is a big deal for a little fish like me.

Recently, on a major writing forum, aspiring authors who are pro-trad publishing accused me of lying about the auction and book deal. In their minds, there was no good reason for doing what I did. They called me a lot of other choice names, dug up personal info about me, insulted my writing, etc. Needless to say, it was a frustrating and discouraging experience.

Fortunately, I’ve also been subject to a great deal of kind encouragement and support by my fellow indie authors. And that helped. A lot.

To answer the above question, in spite of all of that: Do I regret turning down the deal? And all I can say is: Nope. Not one little bit.

Here’s a little bit of a recap of this first month before I get into nitty gritty about sales numbers and royalties.

The book soft-launched on Amazon on December 5, 2013. Exactly one week later, it hit its all-time highest ranking, #137 in the paid Kindle store. Unfortunately that high rank happened early in the morning while I, on Pacific Time, was still sleeping, so by the time I woke up, the best screen shot I could get was this one.

The #137 spot in paid Kindle store was the highest it went. It hasn’t made any of the bestseller lists (Except for Top 10 Bestselling New Adult and Top 5 Contemporary Romance). Not the New York Times or USA Today lists—not even close. After that heyday, and another week in the top 500, the book has mostly been camped between the 500s and the 1000s in rank, drifting back and forth from one side to the other as the tides of the Amazon algorithms allow.

The below figures will show that all of this is to say that you don’t NEED to make any kind of big list to make money as an indie author.

I did not have any readers before this. I did do advance promo for about a month before release (which I’ll briefly describe in the expenses section below) and there was a lot of footwork and time spent on my part to get the advance word out about the book. Fortunately, it’s a book that a lot of people got excited about.

So before I crunch the numbers of my first month of indie publishing, I’d like to share a word about the New York deals that I turned down.

Three of the editors who wanted the rights to AT ANY PRICE were from Big 5 publishing houses. The fourth was from a major romance publisher. Two of the houses (included on this list) entered into an auction while the other two opted out. The offers made were structured differently but were virtually identical in terms of overall monetary value (though the range of rights varied).

What were the offers? In a nutshell: A three book deal. Print distribution (Trade paperback). $40,000 advance per book. $120,000 in total.

That’s a lot of money. And you are now probably scratching your head and questioning my sanity again. It’s okay. I did it several times myself before the book released.

As per contract terms, the payout from trad publishing houses dictates that one half of the total advance be delivered to the author upon signing.

So I would have received 85% of $60,000 upon signing (15% goes to agent).

The remaining $60,000 would have been parted out into six equal payments distributed upon delivery of edited manuscript of each novel and again upon publication date of each novel. So, 85% of $10,000 distributed throughout 2014 and 2015, when the novels would have seen publication.

Assuming I got a fantastic cover, wonderful promotion and awesome distribution, I could have sold through that advance in a year or so, maybe more. And once I did, I would receive royalties of 7% on print books and 25% of the net on ebook (which, as we know, equals, in reality, approximately 12.5% of the gross on ebook).

The above would be my royalty rate for the life of the copyright (about 35 years). Given the most common terms for reverting rights, I probably would not have gotten those back sooner than 35 years.

Instead, I chose to keep my rights, because I figured out what they were worth.

So without further ado, here are the actual costs, sales numbers and royalties from the first month of publication for AT ANY PRICE.

Expenses for Publication of AT ANY PRICE

Editing $980
Cover Design $450
Promo* $300
Copyright $35
Bowkers ISBN Number x 2 $10
Formatting (in house slave labor) FREE
Various other publishing costs (print book template, proof copy, etc.) $52

*Blog Tour (Cover reveal and Book Blitz), Netgalley, Teaser images/art, Giveaways

Total expenses: $1,827.00

Sales and Royalties for AT ANY PRICE

From 12/5/13 (soft launch on Amazon) – 1/8/14 (1 month from official release date)

Breakdown of sales per week at all the Amazons, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, ARe, Apple (where the book went up 2 weeks late) and then total:

Total Sales: 9,129 books

Total Royalty: $18,415.79

Average Royalty per book: $2.02
Percentage royalty earned from full sales price: 68%

Total Profit after expenses ($18,415.79 – $1,827.00): $16,588.79

I was never guaranteed this result, of course. I would have been guaranteed the money from the publisher had I signed the contract. But in exchange, there were other things I couldn’t guarantee: control of my rights, control over my covers, marketing and placement, creative control, etc.

So there’s my first month as a published author. In my wildest dreams, I had not suspected it would go this well so fast. Even if it hadn’t, I would still feel it was worth it.

Thank you to all those who sent me kind words of moral support. Thanks to all the readers who have sent me wonderful messages about how much you loved the book. I’m so glad to be able to return the favor and publish the follow-up, AT ANY TURN, much sooner than I would have been able to otherwise.

Here’s wishing everyone a wonderful, prosperous and fulfilling 2014.

Afternote: Yesterday, 1/11/14, I sold my 10,000th book!

In which I explain why I turned down a three-book New York print deal to self-publish

by brenna | Dec 8, 2013 | Uncategorized | 63 comments

Over the past several months, I’ve been called brave by some and stupid by others when they discover that I did the “unthinkable” and turned down the promise of a “good deal” for print from NY in favor of self-publishing my debut novel AT ANY PRICE.  Aside from giving some vague particulars, I haven’t said much.  But now that the novel is out in the world, I feel the need to share its story.  Because there is a story behind this story.

Before I continue, I’d like to put it out there that I don’t think there is any one correct path to publication. I want to be clear that I respect the institution of traditional New York publishing—that same institution which has brought me hundreds of books that I have enjoyed throughout my lifetime.

That being said, recently I turned my back on one of the biggest author dreams (or at least one of mine, anyway) and chose to pursue something I had no idea I even knew I wanted at the beginning of this year.

Last year I signed with an agent to sell my historical romance novel and while it went on submission, I resolved to put myself hard to work on a new novel—in an entirely new genre.  The idea had been nibbling at my brain for months and months and I had to let the story out, finally.  And what better time to keep myself occupied than while I was on submission? So I cracked open a new Word document and 12 days later, I had the fast draft of a new book.  Yes you read that right.  I wrote the first draft in twelve days.  It took another month and a half to get it in better condition by the third draft and ready to take out on the town.

It all happened amazingly fast and the more I wrote, the more I was on fire to write.  I discovered these compelling new characters–Mia, Adam and their friends and family–and they sucked me into their world. I couldn’t stop thinking about them.  When I wasn’t writing about them, I was thinking about the next time I could write about them.  It was probably one of the most intense writing experiences I’ve ever had in the many years that I’ve been writing stories.

After crafting the story and finding that my historical romance novel had come to a dead end with New York editors, I went on submission with AT ANY PRICE (titled “Love At Any Price,” at that time), a New Adult contemporary romance.  Within a month, it went to auction with New York publishers.  Four houses wanted it and the bidding reached six figures for a three-book print deal.  However, like Mia, the heroine of my book, I learned that auctioning yourself to the highest bidder isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

I had discussed the issues I had at length with my agent before we decided to let her shop it to New York. In the mean time, after returning from RWA National conference in Atlanta and feeling empowered and keen on the idea of self-publishing, I made a back-up plan.  I reserved a talented cover artist and a copy editor and started doing my homework.

I was up front with my agent when I handed over my manuscript:  I wanted a one-book deal only, I would not sign a non-compete of any kind. I would not sign an option clause.  And lastly and most importantly, I wouldn’t accept just any offer.  I wanted to be clear on these things ahead of time.  Some might say that for a debut author, I was asking for a lot.  I know I was.  But as with any type of negotiation, you are usually most successful when you ask for more than what you really want and “settle” on your own terms.

So we went on submission, prepared for the long wait and, for a few weeks, heard nothing.

Then week four hit, and my life was suddenly swept up in a whirlwind. Once things started to happen, they happened very fast.  First emails came in: second reads, then an offer, then another offer.  Several Big 5 editors wanted the book and decided to fight over it.

Oh, the irony—an auction on a book about an auction.  Very meta.

The ending bids by the two remaining contenders were very tempting.  I agonized over the decision.  But this wasn’t just about me.  There was so much to consider: my family, my career, my goals.  I spoke with experienced friends who were both traditionally and independently published authors.  Hugely successful authors who had hit the big lists with their books.  They were open, objective and, above all, supportive.

I took the offers I was given from the auction and weighed the worth of my rights with the net-present value (if you haven’t seen this blog post by the positively brilliant Courtney Milan, then you should read it).

And I also weighed all the wonderful pluses that came with being traditionally published by a Big 5 house—including having a “team” behind me every step of the way, having the “clout” and prestige of having finally “made it,” being able to reach a wider audience through print distribution.  And also, of not disappointing others that were closely connected to my career.

I pondered. I discussed. I even cried. What a thing to cry about, right?  The indecision was killing me.  But in the end, it boiled down to three very important things.  (There were other factors but these are the big three):

1) The Non Compete Clause.  For those not up on the lingo of publishing. A non-complete clause prevents an author from publishing with another house or even self-publishing while under contract with the house in question in the same genre or under the same name. Some authors have more restrictive clauses than others. And some authors are forced to take on a pen name in order to get around an NC clause.

My goal has been to become a hybrid author because I can write faster than what any house would contract from me.  This deal would have been a very good step in that direction. I could publish this trilogy, as I’d planned it (and yes, I’d compromised early on my stricture that it would be a one-book only deal), and then put things out on my own as well.

However, how could I be a hybrid author if an NC prevented my putting out any books independently in the meantime?

The houses that bid for me have required aggressive NCs from their authors. As there was going to be a delay in getting the books out (see #2 reason below), this would have effectively prevented me from putting out any New Adult contemporary romances as an indy author in the foreseeable future.  The idea of being handcuffed creatively really bothered me. I was told that an NC wouldn’t be a big deal even though I knew authors from the houses in question (we authors talk!) who were being told they could not publish any tie-ins, even short works, with anyone other than their house.  It was implied to me, also, that anything within my “brand” (i.e. tying in geek culture with New Adult romance) would be considered a clash of the NC clause.

2. Release schedule.  Of course, this is the nature of the beast when you go with NY.  As with most corporations, the wheels turn slowly and it is to be expected.  Too few people are responsible for putting out a lot of books.  I get it.  But the schedules were such that AT ANY PRICE would have been released in October of 2014 with the two follow-up books being released in the spring of 2015.  All three books follow the same couple (though the only cliffhanger is in Book 2) and this delay was not acceptable to me.  I will be independently releasing those books in the spring of 2014 instead.

3. E-book pricing.  One house was absolutely inflexible on this and very old school with their marketing. The other was a bit more flexible and has done quite well with the NAs they have acquired, though most authors were successful indies at the time they were acquired.  Those authors came with their audience, though in signing with their traditional house, they gained many more readers.  My main concern as a debut author was…who would buy my book at $8.99 when they’d never heard of me before?  In this market, at that price, most readers will not take a chance on an unknown.  To say nothing of the multitude of independent authors I would be up against, who could afford to offer their books at a more competitive price.  I liked the idea of being able to control my pricing, set my own limits.

Ultimately it came down to the appeal of having control.  Many of my traditionally published author friends do not have that luxury.  As and indy author, I have control over my covers, pricing, promotion, marketing, placement.  The list goes on.

And I wanted that control.  AT ANY PRICE is a special book, in my humble opinion, and it deserves the best I can give it.

So in the end, I swallowed that cold ball of fear in the back of my throat and walked away.  There were no middle fingers involved (as much as that badass image of me appeals on some level).

My path is not your path or any other author’s path.  I’m sure I’ll make some stupid decisions along the way.  But they are mine to make and I won’t have to live with anyone else’s stupid decisions.  Just my own.

I can live with that.

So now, AT ANY PRICE releases into the world, officially, today though not all retail outlets are available yet.  Some readers will fall in love.  Some won’t.  I hope the readers who love Adam and Mia as much as I do will stick with them until the end.  Just like with the publishing journey of this book, their story will be a heck of a ride.

Teaser #4

by brenna | Dec 2, 2013 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

Less than a week remains until release day the December 9 of AT ANY PRICE! This is the last teaser image and it’s sexay!

I called this one “The Storm.”

Teaser #4 12/3/13

“I wanted the storm. I welcomed it. I wanted him to fly over me and overwhelm me, to suck me in so I wouldn’t think or feel anything else but his hands, his mouth, his body.”