Here in the U.S., it’s tax season which means I’m once again scrambling to find all the paperwork that says how much I spent on publishing a book and how much I made from said book. Since I did all that work for the government, I figured I’d share those numbers with the internet!
I often see videos or posts like this, especially from indie authors, sharing how much they made in a year from their books. Usually they’re inspiring! To see authors making enough to live on, or even just a nice extra income.
But…it takes a while to get to that point. And seeing all those videos can sometimes be a little discouraging, even though they’re well-meaning and I truly do appreciate those authors’ transparency.
So I thought it might be revealing to show how much money I spent on publishing The Mistletoe Connection, how much I’ve made since it released in November 2020, and if I’ve turned a profit on it!
I’ll share more of my thoughts at the end, but one important caveat: I didn’t set out to make money by publishing The Mistletoe Connection. I talk more about my goals with publishing it in this post, but I knew from the start making money wasn’t one of them (though it’s nice!).
As such, there are two major things that I didn’t change about the story: One, it’s a holiday romance! There’s realistically two months, maaaaybe three, that I can market it with any real hope of people buying it. I still talk about it regularly online, but most of my marketing effort kicks in at the start of November.
Two: It mixes adult and teenage characters. With the ensemble cast, I wanted to include a wide range of the type of people stuck in an airport. So two of the storylines focus on teenagers. I love how they tie in with the rest of the stories, but I’ve gotten feedback that the book sometimes reads more like YA, and that people aren’t sure how to categorize/recommend it. Which is an important thing to note: Mixing age categories doesn’t widen your audience; it just muddles it. I knew that going in and was okay with it! But you may not be.
Whew! With that out of the way, let’s dive into numbers.
Expenses
Let’s start with all the costs that went into creating and maintaining The Mistletoe Connection. Some of these are from memory, but the total should still be pretty close.
I talk more about finding these freelancers in this post, and you can click on the titles of each position below to view the freelancer’s website!
Pre-publication:
Cover design: $350
Sensitivity reader: $141.70 (This is MUCH lower than normal, because with TMC I was able to just pick out the storylines that needed sensitivity readers and send those smaller pieces. With my current book, the reader is reviewing the full thing which will be around $1,200).
Proofreader: $82.91
IngramSpark fee: $49 (one-time upload fee for both print and ebook formats.)
ISBN: $0 – I used IngramSpark’s free ISBN feature which has its drawbacks, but ISBNs can be pricey if you don’t go this route.
Post-publication:
Amazon ads: $160.06
TOTAL: $783.67
This is QUITE CHEAP for publishing a book! The biggest area I didn’t spend on was editors. I relied heavily on my critique partners and beta readers. I’m sure there are ways the story can be improved, but I’m happy with it! That said, for my current WIP, I am paying an editor, but again my goals are different with this one. The Mistletoe Connection is also fairly short at about 55,000 words. The proofreader and sensitivity readers charged by the word, so that helped keep costs down.
Also, this is only focused on expenses directly involved with publication, and doesn’t include things like paying for a website domain, email hosting, etc.
Income
Quick notes: Because every market place takes at least 90 days to send you the income from sales, the first payment from my book didn’t hit my bank account until 2021, which is why I start with that year for income info.
2021: $555.82
2022: $172.78
2023: $12.04 (lol)
TOTAL: $740.64
Which means…
I’m still $43.03 in the red for The Mistletoe Connection!
Honestly, that’s about what I expected. After the first season of selling (aka in the start of 2021), I had made enough that I was running a profit on the book. But at the end of 2021, I spent more on ads that I intended (stay on top of your automated ads!!) and didn’t get much return for it, so I sort of figured that all told, I was right around breaking even.
2022 was also a major dip in sales likely because I took about a six month break from social media, and struggled to gain traction when I did return in November, and I also didn’t spend any money on advertising. Both of these things were great for my sanity! Just…not so much for my bottom line.
I’m trying to write a conclusion here, but it’s hard. As much as I didn’t write The Mistletoe Connection to be a moneymaker, there’s still always that secret part that hopes it’ll blow up on TikTok or something and be an actual source of income. So, I don’t LOVE sharing with the internet that my book has a pretty “meh” financial outcome.
But on the other hand…there are so many things about this book and the experience of writing and publishing it that matter so much more than making money. Seeing it on the shelves at my local bookstore. Doing Zoom book club visits and having people rave about my book, enough to message me afterwards about buying a signed copy. Having a coworker ask me if Adrian and June end up staying together, like they’re real people that my coworker cared about. The five-star reviews that talk about how people feel seen in the book, how it was exactly what they needed, highlighting quotes they loved that I remember writing and feeling proud of.
And it’s cheesy to say, but truly, when I hold onto those moments, I am so proud. Of myself, of the book, of all the bravery it takes to make something creative and put it out into the world. Look at me, this post started off talking about taxes and now I’m being all sappy. But I do mean it.
Also, literally every single author who has made a career out of this writing thing has the same advice: The best way to sell your backlist is to write the next book.
So, I’ll wrap up this post and move on to writing my next book!
Of course, if you want to help put me in the black with The Mistletoe Connection, you can buy it here!
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On Christmas Eve, ten strangers at the Denver airport are trying to make it home in time for Christmas when a snowstorm sweeps through, grounding all flights. Stuck in the airport together, they’ll help each other discover the magic of in-between places.
Six intertwined stories explore what happens in the airport as the clock ticks closer to midnight: Landry runs into her ex-girlfriend Resa, and the two women hit it off like nothing ever happened—until things start to get serious. Unaccompanied minor June convinces Adrian to pretend to be her boyfriend for social media that evening, but what happens if she wants to stop pretending? Charles is struggling during the first holiday season since his wife’s death, and the resulting tension with his daughter only makes the night more difficult. Wes and Keely had hoped to sweep their fight about Keely’s career under the rug during the holidays, but being stranded at the airport will bring emotions to a boiling point. Airport employees Trevor and Kat have been best friends since middle school, but can Trevor work up the courage to tell Kat he wants to be more than that? Through it all, heartbroken Mariel is determined to end the worst year of her life on a good note, and ropes everyone into her scheme to make it happen.