[DATAPORN] Two Novels: A Comparison

Hey everybody! I recently published my second erotic romance novel, and the results were so much different than the results of my first novel, that I thought it might be helpful to share what I did with each so they could be compared.

These are the earnings for both books as of today.

Book 1 (on the right, teal) was published at the end of October. Book 2, (on the left, sea green), came out on April 26. As of today, they’ve made basically the same amount of money. Now, we’re not talking bajillions of dollars here, but Book 2 has earned in three weeks what Book 1 did after more than six months (And yes, Book 2 did spur on activity for Book 1, so that should be factored in a bit). So I’m going to break down what I did right and wrong for each, as far as I can understand it.

Quick background on me: I used to be pretty active in this sub, but lately have not. I’m pretty busy these days — I work part time in addition to trying to write. I used to work full-time, and in fact a lot of the time I spent here was done at my office when I had free time during the work day. I’m a professional editor by trade, and have degrees in creative writing. Most of what I’ve learned about the indie publishing business was learned right here on EA. I started writing erotica shorts around January of last year, and in the fall made the shift to novels.

And my apologies that I can't show you my books, but I'll say this: Book 1 only broke into the top 5000 at its top rank, and that was only for a day or two at most. Book 2 broke into the top 2000, and has now stayed within the top 4000 or so since it came out three weeks ago. Because of its consistent daily earnings, May 2017 has already become my highest earnings month ever since I started publishing.

Book 1

What I did right:

1. I wrote a not-terrible book! The reviews for it are pretty positive! My concept was original, and I think it was pretty well written. It delivered a satisfying ending.
2. I recruited my own ARC reviewers with some care as to who I was asking. They provided me with about 20 reviews – I was hoping for more, but I was glad to have the ones I did.

What I did wrong:

Virtually everything else.

1. I made my own cover. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money I didn’t have, and I had a bunch of experience making erotica covers, so I made one and, with the help of friends, tinkered with it until I was satisfied. I thought it looked pretty good for something I made myself, but it was still crap compared to the work of a professional.
2. I spent a paltry $16 on advertising. As I mentioned, I didn’t have a ton of money to throw around, and was thus unwilling to take a gamble and spend more.
3. Although I had some ARC reviewers who posted, I should have started earlier and recruited more. You can never have enough, as far as I’m concerned. I also did not set up a GoodReads page in advance so reviewers could start posting on it prior to the book’s release.
4. I didn’t do enough research reading. I can't stress this one enough. I picked a genre I thought I could do well in, and in which I’d read a handful of big titles. However, that handful was really not enough. So I didn’t have the best grasp on reader expectations – I could have done better.
5. My social media promo efforts were not very skillful. I posted links to the book with the blurb, but I didn’t have any kind of flashy teasers, so they never stood out.

Book 2

What I did right:

I learned my lessons from Book 1!

1. I hired a professional designer who made me a really, really nice cover at a very reasonable rate. I also paid for a really badass-looking teaser that has been great for promoting the book.
2. I spent ten times more on advertising. Yes, it was nerve-wracking to be so deep in the red before the book even went out to ARC readers, but it was worth it. Within 8 or 9 days of the book’s release I was more than in the black on my expenses, including the graphic design work. I also set up an AMS ad campaign which is great for getting visibility (and some sales) while paying very, very little.
3. I recruited more ARC reviewers and got myself more than twice as many reviews, and I set up my GoodReads page in advance.
4. Before I even started writing this book, I read several novels in my genre, giving me a bit more perspective on what’s expected.
5. I started posting my teaser all over Facebook in the week before my book launched, building anticipation for it.
6. I wrote a better book! Also, I followed an instinct I had, and I did something with my main character that isn’t very common in my genre. I thought it would be appealing to readers (particularly in today's culture) and I’ve had many reviews telling me that they did indeed enjoy what I did with the character. It was a slight risk, but it paid off.

What I did wrong:

1. I didn’t start writing this book right away. The reason it took me from October to April to publish both books is because after Book 1, I tried writing a few projects that I abandoned (including a sequel to book 1), and then I went back and wrote a handful of erotica shorts to keep my back catalog afloat. Thus, I went into book 2 with no momentum.
2. I should have been a little more careful with my ARC team. I wound up with a couple of bad reviews from them, and that should not happen with a well-curated ARC team.
3. I could have spent more on advertising – I spent as much as my risk-tolerance would allow, but I should have gone farther.
4. I still haven't gotten into more social media that I really should have, like Twitter and Instagram. That stuff adds up.

And what else? I don’t know yet – I bet in time this will become more clear.

Now, two things I didn’t mention: blurb and keywords. I feel both of my blurbs were pretty strong, so I think those were about even. Keywords as well, I think were done as well as they could be. Also I think both titles were decent, although book 2 was probably better. But basically I think those were pretty even, and not major contributors to the relative success and failure of the two books.

So I think the success of book 2 over book 1 boils down thusly:

1. I had a shitload more advertising and better self-promotion, and therefore far more people saw my book was on sale.

2. Book 2 had a much better cover, so when people saw the book, they clicked on it.

3. My story was much better suited to the genre, so when readers read the blurb, they liked the sound of it.

So, when the veterans of this sub tell you about the importance of knowing your genre and having a professional cover, BELIEVE IT! And to those veterans, I thank you!

OK, thanks for reading everyone – good luck with your future projects!

EDITED TO ADD:

I forgot some really important stuff when I posted this!

Outlining

Now I know outlining isn't for everybody, and I used to be a pantser, but now I am a total convert to outlining. Book 1 actually started as a novella, but I was convinced to stretch it out into a full-length novel. I had a pretty bare-bones outline, and I deviated from it heavily. And that was fine, because the novel came out OK, but I definitely had to spend a lot of time figuring out some next steps.

Book 2, on the other hand, had a pretty detailed (as in 5000 words) outline - every single chapter had a 1-3 paragraph description of what had to happen in each chapter. It kept me on track, and it made for some easily digestible daily goals (Two chapters, you can do two chapters!) Yet, I did make some changes as I went as I came up with better ideas. To my surprise, I actually found that having this very detailed outlining made my improvisations better - it meant that when I had a new idea, it already fit into the existing framework, and making the change didn't break the rest of the story. So I am forever sold on the idea of outlining, and every novel I write from now on will have a very detailed outline.

Final note

I also wanted to add that the success I have had so far with this novel - from hiring a designer to finding good places to advertise, and networking with other writers - none of that would have been possible without building a basic foundation of indie publishing knowledge. And this foundation came from publishing a few dozen erotica shorts across several months. These shorts didn't make a ton of money, but I learned a lot each time, since I made my own covers, started mailing lists, paid for advertising for the first time, etc.

Now there are some people who say, "If you want to write novels, just write novels." I say this is utter nonsense.

Even with the knowledge I had, Book 1 did really badly. So I have to caution anybody thinking of eschewing shorts and going straight for novels: make sure you really know what you're doing, or you'll be wasting a lot of time. Everybody makes mistakes and has projects that don't turn out the way they'd hoped - but there are mistakes that can be made with a short story as easily as with a novel. Having a total bomb isn't a big deal if it's a short story that took you 2 hours to write - if it's a novel that took a month or more, that's a much harder blow.

So please, ignore anybody who writes off the idea of starting with shorts. Learn the hard lessons the easy way and don't waste your time.