I have this really cool job, and I love it. It doesn't pay a lot, I'm not going to get rich, but what it does is allow me to work and have a steady good enough income that allows me to think, be on top of my writing game, and not stress about quotas and all that. It's not fast-paced; it's even-keeled. It's not high-pressure. If I want to, I get up out of my chair (it's in my home office) and I go get coffee, walk the dog, and even run to the store if I want to. I just use that time for break time - - it all works out. I do my job, and I get paid.
Why am I telling you this? Well, there's a bonus program with the job. If people I'm calling decide to pay their debts from the claims I'm telling them about, then I get X amount for every paid claim. It varies from client to client. It's not a lot, but if I get over X amount, I get a bonus as well as a commission. I'm a claims adjuster, but we also recover for our clients. That's cool - - I like that. I'm trying not to make too much money so I can still collect my SSA (I'm old) and the thing is, it will adjust next year on what I make this year, so if I have to lose a little next year that's OK, I'll save it this year -- and put it into my books! That's the plan.
So, in a week when I'm paid again, I'll pay for 2 books to be converted into ePub files and uploaded into my Ingram Spark account. I've decided to pay Ingram Spark to do it, so I know it's done correctly, and I can blame them if it isn't. If I do it, God only knows what can happen to the formatting. It's about $250 per book, some less and some more, but about $250 per book. It's a one-time fee and then I start reaping the benefits of the book sales. I'll charge $2.99 a book and make $2.10 per book. That may not sound like much, but right now for a printed book at $18.00, I only make $1.60! You do the math.
That's my plan!! The first books to be ePubbed are "Murder Book" and "Of Kilted Pleasure". They'll be first, then I'll have "Pinball" and "Edinburgh" done together too. Then it will be "1211" and "Bay Sorrell Ranch". Since I just wrote "Mesa" I will do it after those books are done, then as I write I'll do the print and the ebook at the same time. The print is free - but the ebook is $250 or so; which is OK, I'm not going to become upset about it. I know I can force myself to learn it, but then again, as I mentioned, if I do mess up and have format errors, that's on me. I'd rather just pay to have them do it.
Ingram Spark gives ISBN numbers to anyone who publishes with them, and they usually run $30-100 so that's a saving. This is going to be good. I was going to promote the books, and I will, but it's better to promote them after they are all online as eBooks. Can't wait. I'll be happier when I start seeing sales go up - and any sales money that comes in from the eBooks will go into promotions of said books. Soon, and hopefully very soon, I can be a full time author and travel back and forth to Scotland like I want to - - writing, reading, walking, hiking, playing, listening, dreaming, and praying. I can't think of a better life, here on Earth anyway.
eBooks make up 21-25% of the book sales now, so that's cool. I know that most people still love printed books, but at $2.99 instead of $18.00 it could be that a lot of people choose eBooks in the future for themselves. I only read eBooks now. I mean, I read my own printed books, but I only order a copy to go through it to see if there are any mistakes, and I correct them and send them back up for correction - - with them doing the eBook instead of me, that's their job!! They won't correct any of my errors, so I'll have to wait until I get the print book corrected before I pay them to transfer it to eBook format. I can do that.
This is too cool. Now, I have to figure out how to do the audiobook thing!
Photo Credit. www.flippingbook.com
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