Originally a "mid-list" traditional published author, JA Konrath dipped his toe into the self-publishing water with novels that were rejected as an experiment. He has never looked back.
May 31, 2009 blog excerpt:
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2009/05/more-on-amazon-kindle.html
It's the last day of May.
My little Kindle experiment has netted me $1250 for this month. As I mentioned in a previous post, this is for books that I've been giving away for free on my website for years.
I've settled on a price point of $1.59 per Kindle download (they were $1.19 for the first three weeks of May) and I'm currently making about fifty bucks a day, with no signs of slowing down.
Huge money? No. But it isn't chump change either.
The average advance for a first time novel is still $5000.
Fast forward to January 11, 2012 blog excerpt:
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2012/01/100000.html
One hundred grand. That's how much I've made on Amazon in the last three weeks.
This is just for my self-pubbed Kindle titles. It doesn't include Shaken and Stirred, which were published by Amazon's imprints. It doesn't include any of my legacy sales, print or ebook. It doesn't include audiobook sales. It doesn't include sales from other platforms.
This is from my self-pubbed books. The ones the Big 6 rejected.
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/11/book-country-fail.html
Which means that when you upload to Amazon.com and sell an ebook for $2.99, you keep $2.05, not the $1.47 Book Country gives you.
And trust me. That adds up.
I've sold 500,000 ebooks. If I'd published with Book Country, they would have taken $290,000 in royalties from me. That's just awful.
Update: It's now over 800,000 ebooks sold (April 2012)
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2012/04/what-me-debate.html
Highlighting some of the author's books:
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Link to Top 100 Books Ranking (by genre) as rated by Readers
J.A. Konrath, you are my absolute self-publishing hero! So far, I only have seven FICTION titles out there, but YOUR success keeps me moving, motivated. I just released a new title a few of days ago (Loving a Texan from New Orleans, Amazon / Barnes, Cassandra Black, a/k/a Amber Creek), and I’m very pleased with sales for this new title in this short time period. But I have put "your numbers" in the wind and hope to know what that success feeeeeeels like, sooner rather than later. Thank you for the inspiration, and all the free advice you provide to self-publishers. You're an absolute blessing to our industry. Continued success! See you at the top. Cassandra
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