Comments for Brenda Hiatt

Comment on Show Me the Money! by What you may not know to ask about « In Denise's Head …

What you may not know to ask about « In Denise's Head … — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:22:02 +0000

[...] to know how much you may expect to earn by publishing house, Brenda Hyatt has a wonderful website (http://brendahiatt.com/show-me-the-money/) where she compiles a list every [...]

Comment on Show Me the Money! by What you may not know to ask about « In Denise's Head!

What you may not know to ask about « In Denise's Head! — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:19:42 +0000

[...] to know how much you may expect to earn by publishing house, Brenda Hyatt has a wonderful website (http://brendahiatt.com/show-me-the-money/) where she compiles a list every [...]

Comment on Show Me the Money! by What you may not know to ask about (part 1) - Southern Fried Chicas

What you may not know to ask about (part 1) - Southern Fried Chicas — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:47:22 +0000

[...] to know how much you may expect to earn by publishing house, Brenda Hyatt has a wonderful website http://brendahiatt.com/show-me-the-money/ where she compiles a list every year. (2/10/12 — fixed the link… [...]

Comment on Money talk by Brenda

Brenda — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:49:29 +0000

You’re not the first to suggest this, and I’m working on it. Thanks!

Comment on Money talk by TL Stone

TL Stone — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:37:41 +0000

Brenda, have you investigated putting up a Google docs form on your web site that lets users submit information which gets recorded into spreadsheet? That might be easier for you and authors as this project grows (I really hope to see you continue, but having taken on projects like this before I know how they can quickly consume too much time).

Comment on Money talk by Brenda

Brenda — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:42:32 +0000

Tori, that’s a good suggestion…except I can’t imagine how I’d keep up, doing it that way! I’d have to remember to send out reminders all over the place (e-mail lists, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) every month, then do monthly updates on everyone’s figures. I know myself too well to believe I’d actually do that every single month, though I’m sure it would be easier in the long run than doing it in batches. I do know what you mean, though. I’m having a hard time keeping track of my OWN figures, much less everyone else’s. I may give up on trying to break the figures down by retail site–haven’t decided yet. While most have the bulk of their sales through Amazon, it’s not true for everyone. In fact, the results so far have been so varied, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to present the data in a chart or graph. For example, it’s hard to control authors sending me earnings when a book’s only been up a month or two, vs those whose books have been up for a year or more. I knew this wouldn’t be as easy to quantify as advances and royalties, but it’s even more complicated than I anticipated. Still, I plan to keep collecting data and sharing the results in as coherent a fashion as I can. I think we all need this info!

Comment on Money talk by toriscott2

toriscott2 — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:57:15 +0000

Brenda, you said compiling all the info for Indie authors’ earnings was a huge task, and I agree. Just trying to do it for my 10 books is more than I have time to do. Can I make a suggestion? Have the authors send in their info each month rather than ask them to try to come up with sales figures for several months. I can take my monthly reports (though Smashwords doesn’t make theirs easy to read) and come up with figures for each book, but to go back through 21 reports and try to get that info for 10 books for 7 months just makes me want to give up before I get started.

Comment on Money talk by Brenda

Brenda — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:48:44 +0000

There are actual several services already doing this, though it’s not particularly hard to format a book for the e-book market if one already has a computer file. If not, there are people who will do scanning of the physical book for $50 or so. Personally, I’ve done my own formatting for Amazon, bn.com and Smashwords, and have hired professionals to do new covers (in the $100-150 range) since I have no talents in that area, though I know authors who have also done their own covers. From what I’ve seen, services that do all of the above, for authors who don’t want to learn or don’t have time to do any of it themselves, range from a couple of hundred to several hundred dollars, depending on the services needed. I’m sure as this market matures, more such services will be springing up.

Comment on Money talk by Dawn

Dawn — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:32:48 +0000

This is fascinating information. What I wonder is how much does it cost to get a book digitized and up for sale on Amazon or some other site? I have in mind a professional company that published authors use. The company does the digitizing of the manuscript, provides cover, etc. If you could give some ball park idea how much that costs, then we could figure out a profit based on sales figures. I guess my question is whether we are talking $200? or more like $3000? Or what? Thanks for the info you provide.

Comment on Money talk by Brenda

Brenda — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:01:25 +0000

Deanna, there definitely are publishers that specialize in lesbian (and other GLBT) romance, but I’m afraid I’m not really up on which ones they are. I’m sure a bit of online searching will turn them up, though. Once you find a few, DO make sure you do your research to make sure they’re legit, since lots and lots of “less than legit” publishers are out there–with more popping up all the time–in all genres. Thanks for stopping by!