The Reality of Being an Indie Author

It's 2017.

By this point in time, I have published four novels (one currently out of print) and sixteen short stories. It has been a wonderful journey, and I wouldn't change it for anything.

But here's the reality of being an indie author:

In 2016, I drove 4,927.2 miles to and from events promoting my books.

I had $4,560.41 in sales from my books.

I spent $5,317.47 on inventory purchases, editing, formatting, advertising, Square fees, shipping, and other book-related expenses.

Yay inventory purchases!

Before taking the cost of mileage into account, I was negative $757.06 in 2016, which is actually less money than I was negative in 2015.

Goal for 2017: Don't spend so much money, and sell even more books!

Some other facts:

If I had not attended the Realm Makers Conference in 2016, I would have broken even, but Realm Makers was a blast, so I'm glad I went. Where else could I have dressed as the TARDIS and hung out with geeks?

Also, I spent nearly $600 on advertising alone. This year I'm going to budget myself better and try to be more strategic with any ads I pay for.

Lastly, I'm going to try to cut down on my mileage a bit, doing more local events if I'm able, including the 2017 Cincinnati Comic Expo, for which I have already reserved a booth.

What about you?

Get Ordinary Souls for Kindle, Kobo, Nook, and iBooks

"[Ordinary Souls is] Imaginative, expert and deeply chilling."

-Tosca Lee, New York Times bestselling author of The Progeny

Do you love ebooks? I thought so! Well, today is your lucky day: not only is my supernatural/scifi/horror anthology Ordinary Souls available for Kindle; it is also available from other ebook outlets as well. Here's a list. Happy reading!

Amazon

Amazon Australia

Amazon Canada

Amazon UK

iBooks

Inktera

Kobo

Nook

What readers are saying about Ordinary Souls:

"This is an intriguing collection of short stories, some of which will leave you more than a little unsettled and some of which you'll be thinking about for days." -T. Hernandez

"J. S. Bailey always leaves me in awe. Her characters are never predictable, nor are her endings. Masterful crafting of plot and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. I love her writing so much that I binge-read this in record time." -D. M. Kilgore

"I can't imagine a quirkier collection, and I really loved every second of it. No story ended the way I thought it would, and everything was super unique. The Mirror will stick with you longest...unless the one about the family vacation gets inside your head." -K. Keating