Confessions of a “Gentleman” Author Turning Into a Businessman

by James M. Jackson

A “Gentleman” Farmer is someone who has a country estate, part of which he farms more for pleasure than for profit. He often loses money on the proposition, but the pleasure outweighs the costs. Well, you’re all smart people, you can extrapolate to what I mean by “Gentleman” Author. And I have to admit, I was one.

The Seamus McCree series first appeared in print in 2013 when Barking Rain Press published Bad Policy. As a new book-parent, I was thrilled to see my words available for people to buy. I wanted them to like it, sure, but I also wanted people to buy it to show their approval of my work.

To that end, I had a release party (Jan paid for the cake shown as an illustration), I contacted bookstores to do signings, I wrote a whole bunch of blogs for people talking about this, that, and the other to bring attention to the book. I shared the expense of an ad in the Malice Domestic bulletin with two other Barking Rain Press (BRP) authors (BRP also chipped in). I spent time looking for people to review the book. I attended numerous conferences, participating and moderating panels.

When Barking Rain Press published Cabin Fever in 2014, I now had a series! I hired a publicist to arrange bookstore signings (I hadn’t had a lot of success with Bad Policy) and to run a social media campaign. I did a ton of blogs, and I gave away 100 copies of Bad Policy at that year’s Left Coast Crime. I continued to attend conferences and participate in panels. I handed out bookmarks, and I schmoozed with well-known authors, and I met lots and lots of people who enjoyed my love of a good mystery.

And with all that effort, I really didn’t sell a lot of books. Meaning, at the end of those years, I had substantial tax write-offs. Now, I’m a finance guy, and so at my core, I know this kind of tax write-off is not a good thing; it only means my fellow taxpayers are subsidizing my “enterprise.” Given current tax laws, better I should pay more taxes because that would mean I was actually earning money.

But hey, I’m in this for the long term, right? Amazon lost money for years building its customer base. Consider it: author James M. Jackson – a micro Amazon. Attractive, don’t you think?

So, I made a calculated decision that instead of bringing out the next in the Seamus McCree series using a small publisher, I would pay for the things Barking Rain Press had done for me (mainly cover design and editing) and earn 100% of the royalties instead of sharing them with the publisher. Then just before I had Ant Farm ready to publish, Amazon came out with the Kindle Scout competition, and I thought: who can market my novel better, Amazon or me? I entered the Kindle Scout competition with Ant Farm and won.

Kindle Press published the ebook in 2015. I created the Wolf’s Echo Press imprint to handle print copies of that book. Although published third, chronologically, it appears first in the series, so a prequel. And I sat back and waited for Amazon to do its magic—but that’s a story or two or three for another blog. Let’s just say it didn’t turn out to be everything I hoped it would be.

Maybe after three years of being a fiction author, I’d had my quota of authorial fun, or maybe it was the dawning recognition that I had a good product (average Seamus McCree book ratings at Goodreads is 4.4 and at Amazon is 4.7), with very limited visibility. People can’t buy it if they don’t know about it, and the fun things I had done to market the books were not getting the job done.

As I started mentally moving from Gentleman Author to Businessman Author, I had the opportunity to regain my rights to Bad Policy, which I did in the first half of 2016. It had been three years, and the ego massaging high of having a book published by a traditional publisher was long gone. I thought I could make more money from the book if I took over marketing it myself. That decision has proved correct, as my earnings for Bad Policy in the first year of regained rights exceeded my net earnings from the three years the publisher controlled everything.

Later in 2016, I went full indie publisher with the fourth Seamus McCree, Doubtful Relations, and had Wolf’s Echo Press publish both the print and electronic versions.

Not quite three months ago, I regained the rights to Cabin Fever. In one $0.99 promotion in June, I sold more ebooks than I had in the previous three years. That’s not the same as making more money—to obtain those sales I paid for a variety of ads, and the sales were at a discounted price. However, Business Author is evaluating the ROI (return on investment) of the ad buys (over 200%), monitoring the effect on other series books (more sales for all the books), analyzing Kindle Unlimited pages read (a substantial kick to pages read).

Here’s an example of Gentleman Author compared to Businessman Author thinking. Gentleman Author is invited to a book-signing opportunity in a community 5+ hours away. Some interesting things are happening in the city; I’d get to see some author friends; I’d meet readers and sell a few books. Jan would come along to see the sights. Let’s sign up!

Businessman Author does the math: Cost of gas alone $50 (ignores wear and tear on auto). Overnight at a hotel (say $150). Meals out – no biggie, I’ll treat that as a date with Jan anyway if she’s going to go along. Will I make over $200 profit on books sold? Using a 70/30 split with the venue, I’d need to sell more than fifty books to break even—which has never happened for me at this type of event. Before I became the publisher of all the print versions of my books, it would have required me to sell more than 150 books to break even. Those calculations ignore what I would spend for the opportunity: eleven hours driving, six hours at event. That’s seventeen total hours that could be spent writing or editing the next book (or even relaxing).

That is not to say I won’t spend time doing unprofitable things. I will—IF they are how I want to enjoy life, or if it’s how I choose to give back to individuals or the writing community in general that has been so supportive of me. Those exceptions I will make consciously. {The opportunity above did not make the cut.}

My transition isn’t complete – nor do I want it to be complete. I write for enjoyment and will stop writing if I stop enjoying everything it entails. However, as I choose how to spend time and money, Businessman Author will be sitting on my left shoulder, whispering into my ear.