Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Self Publishing - How to measure success

My first self-published book, a collection of short stories rapidly assembled to serve as a present for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, sold a whopping 36 copies. I consider that a success.

Now I'm preparing to self publish my new novella, BROKE DOWN ON THE ROAD TO GLORY. How will I measure its success? I have set what I think are some realistic goals.  


  • I want to sell 100 copies. That's a nice round number and only about three times the sales of my first book.

  • I want to get the book into a least one bricks and mortar bookstore. With all the independent book stores here in San Francisco that shouldn't be impossible to achieve.

  • I want to get at least one review of the book, favorable or not, into print or on the web. Perhaps I'm naive, but that doesn't seem like it should be too hard.

So that's how I'm going to measure success. Nothing earth-shattering. Humble beginnings and all that.

And if I fail, then I fail, but the failure will be my own. I don't have to apologize to any publisher or agent or anyone.

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