Over a year ago my publisher decided to close their YA line. I was upset, but understood. I’d written one book and one short story in an anthology that they published. It was my dream to get published and I’d done it. When I received the email that the line was closing I was devastated. Sure, I knew that I had accomplished what I wanted to do, but now what was going to happen to my book? Was it going to disappear into the great abyss? Would it be as if my book never existed?
I had my choice, leave the book in their catalog until they decided to pull it completely (they were keeping the YA book in their lists, just not publishing new titles) or get my rights back and move on. After the grief, (really, I felt like my dream was dying – rapidly!) I realized I needed to move forward. I asked for my rights back and a year ago I put Ordinary Me on kindle.
It was the best thing I could have done for my book. My baby was alive and kicking. Over the past year I've sold just over 1350 copies of Ordinary Me on Kindle alone.
Last month I took another step and made the book available in paperback. The cost is a little higher for the paperback version, but not everyone has a kindle or an app for it, so I wanted to make it available for those readers as well.
It’s amazing to me as an author…there are over 1300 people that have my book. I am just amazed and grateful that this avenue was available. My dream is still alive and building. I received my rights back for the short story I wrote, and I am planning for that story to make its debut on kindle soon.
It’s been a fun ride and I am not ready to get off yet. I hope it goes on and on.
Thanks for checking in and have a great week!
Best,
June
www.junesproat.com
10 comments:
When it was under your previous publisher, how well did it do?
Hi June,
I'm glad Ordinary Me is still out there, because it's a great book! I read the print copy of the first edition, and loved it, even though I'm way past YA age.
Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
SB..I don't have the exact amount of total sales, but it was something around 250 for the two years it was with them, and most of that was electronic. They didn't really have a strong YA presence.
Thanks, Morgan, I'm glad too!
June
Hi June,
Good for you!
THings change so quickly in the publishing world, it's hard to keep up sometimes. It's also hard to keep the perspective that our dreams are often just a business to someone else. So glad you didn't give up...Ordinary Me is fabulous!
Thanks, Debra.
I value the support from all of you guys!
June
Hope that this is not last update! Great work!
Amazing article! Thanks for it.
Awesome blog. I enjoyed reading your articles. This is truly a great read for me. I have bookmarked it and I am looking forward to reading new articles.Keep up the good work!
This is my first lap around your blog. I like what I read and have placed you on my favorits list.
My days on the writer tour are over because of e-books; specifically the kindle. However, 940 copies of my novel, Alaska be Damned were pirated from Amazon.com. A chinese Blog and a Russian website were the culprits. Be careful.
Robert Hatting
Coming in a little late - but how exciting!! I'm so happy for you. Keep it going ~
DL Larson
Post a Comment