Indie Life - swapping posts with M. Pax

The Indelibles host a monthly feature called INDIE LIFE. Modeled after Alex Cavanaugh's awesome Insecure Writer's Group, this will be a chance for indie authors to post about indie life, find each other, offer support, encouragement, news, helpful hints, and anything else that makes life as an indie author a little easier.

What is Indie Life?
How: Sign up on the Linky list HERE.
When: Post on the second Wednesday of the month.
What: Write anything indie related: something that will inspire or help a fellow indie; something that celebrates a release or a milestone; something that talks about the ups and downs, joys and heartaches of Being Indie.
Grab: The banner above to include in your posts!

Usually I have my Wicked Wednesday posts on Wednesdays, but I share a lot of my life as an indie author. I'm happy to be joining in this month talking about the weird way sales have went with The 13th Floor series, and I'm even more excited to be swapping posts with a fantastic speculative fiction author, Mary Pax.

The Business Plan, an Essential for Every Author

Swapping blogs with the awesome Christine Rains today. We’re exchanging Indie Life posts. Fantastic view over here! I need to get some shirtless guys on my covers.

Recently I heard a new term for Indie, Author-Publisher. And that’s what we are. We’re authors and publishers. We’re the talent, and we’re the business.

Business. Yes, we become one the moment we publish. Everyone knows about marketing plans and platform, but do you have a business plan? I do. Like my outlines, it’s not very detailed or refined, but it’s there.

Step One: For me, it was opening a separate checking account for my writing with its very own debit card. All expenses get paid from this account – editing, cover art, stock art, ink cartridges, copyright fees, yearly webhost subscription, yearly writer group fees, software, services. All income goes into that account – Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Smashwords, paperback [in person and through Amazon], ACX.

For tax purposes, it’s very handy to have a separate account dedicated to your writing income and expenses. It’s also easy to see how you’re doing.

Step Two: You need to set a budget and decide what you want to accomplish with those startup funds. Are your expectations realistic? I started with $1K, very little. I wanted to publish two novelettes/novellas and a novel off of that. To minimize costs, I did only ebooks, made my own covers, and did my own formatting.

Starting is not easy. You shouldn’t expect to make any money on your first publications.

Step Three: How and when to add to your funds from other sources. I added at least another 1500 to my account from other sources. When I have enough to publish four books and have hired an accountant to start managing my taxes, I will begin returning the seed money to where I ‘borrowed’ it from.

Step Four: At what points will you expand and how? I lucked out with my Backworlds series selling steady. I know I can rely on X sales from each book each month on Amazon. When I reached that point, I expanded my team by hiring a cover artist. My team currently consists of: me, my editor, my cover artist, and author colleagues/friends who lend support when I’m pulling my hair out.

With a graphic artist on my team, I expanded into paperback. A friend told me about ACX, and I expanded into audio close to the same time. The only expense for both were the covers.

My plan now is to sock away money until I have enough to publish 2-3 books. Then I will look into expanding what editing services I contract and possibly paying someone to format for me at some point. I’d also like to attend more conventions where I sell in person.

Step Five: When I start earning enough to have to pay estimated taxes, I’ll add an accountant to my team.

What’s after that? I don’t know yet. I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. But I will continue to have business goals and incorporate them into my plans.

What’s your plan?

M. Pax-- Inspiring the words she writes, she spends her summers as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory in stunning Central Oregon where she lives with the Husband Unit and two demanding cats. She writes science fiction and fantasy mostly. You can find out more by visiting her at:
Website / FB / Twitter / Goodreads / Pinterest / Wattpad

Some truths are better left unfound.

For two years Craze’s dear friend, Lepsi, has been missing. The murmurings of a haunted spaceship might be a message and may mean his old pal isn’t dead. The possibility spurs Craze and Captain Talos to travel to uncharted worlds, searching. Out there, in an unfamiliar region of the galaxy beyond the Backworlds, they stumble upon a terrible truth.

Meanwhile, Rainly remains on Pardeep Station as acting planetlord, dealing with the discovery of her lover’s dark and brutal past. Alone and questioning her judgment, her introspection unlocks more than heartache. Latent protocols in her cybernetics activate, forcing her to face a sinister secret of her own.

In the far future, humanity settles the stars, bioengineering its descendents to survive in a harsh universe. This is the fourth book in the science fiction series, The Backworlds. A space opera adventure.

Now available on these sites:

Amazon / AmazonUK / Nook / Smashwords / Kobo / Other Outlets