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Release cadence and income: what changed for you?

SSophie Tremayne2 wk ago3 replies3

Self-pub folk, and anyone curious: I went from three books a year to five last year, and I've got enough numbers now to be honest about it.

  • Income went up by about 40%. Not in line with the extra books. The back catalogue did most of the lifting.

  • Read-through on the series went up, because readers weren't waiting eight months and forgetting who Tamsin was.

  • Ad spend went up too. More launches, more ads.

  • I took August off, properly, for the first time. That's the only reason I'm still doing it.

What's your cadence, and did changing it change anything? Trad folk welcome, I'm nosy.

3 replies

  1. JJordan Ellery2 wk ago

    not self-pub (yet!!) but the august off thing is so interesting. did five a year burn you out before you started taking breaks? i can barely do one book in two years and i'm tired

  2. CColm Reddan2 wk ago

    Genuine question, not a dig. Five a year, how do you keep the quality up?

    I've been two years on one book and the agents still aren't convinced.

  3. SSophie Tremayne2 wk ago

    Yes. Year one of five I was a wreck by October. Now I batch: draft two books back to back, then a month of editing and admin, then the next two. And August is sacred. The kids get me, the laptop doesn't.

  4. SSophie Tremayne2 wk ago

    Fair question. Two answers.

    Readers are my review. If they finish book four and buy book five inside a week, the book did its job. If read-through drops, I know before any critic does.

    And I pay people. Cover designer, and an editor at about £600 a book. I'm fast, not careless.

  5. CColm Reddan2 wk ago

    Read-through as the review. I'll give you that one.

    Still think I'd want the contract. But that's probably the old job talking. I like a signature.

  6. BBea Kowalczyk-Hart1 wk ago

    Not a pitch, I don't take work from here. But anyone reading this and budgeting should know what £600 buys.

    On a 70,000-word romance that's a proofread, maybe a light copyedit. It isn't a structural edit. A structural edit on a full novel is usually a four-figure job, because it's weeks of reading and a long report.

    That might be fine for book twelve of a series. It isn't fine for book one, and I've seen too many first-timers pay for the wrong edit.

  7. SSophie Tremayne1 wk ago

    I know the difference, Bea. Book one had a full structural edit and it was worth every penny.

    By book twelve, in a series whose shape I know inside out, I don't need one, and the maths wouldn't work if I did. Not every writer needs every edit every time.

  8. BBea Kowalczyk-Hart1 wk ago

    Fair. You've earned the exception. My worry is the person on book one who reads '£600 a book' and takes it as the going rate for everything.

  9. JJordan Ellery1 wk ago

    this is the most useful thread i've read all week tbh. saving it for the day i'm brave enough to self-pub

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