first effort at Indie publishing

Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here, today sharing what can only be described as my very strange business model. Even back when I wrote for traditional publishers (64 titles in all over the years) I was never comfortable with self-promotion. Far too many book signings ended up with me sitting alone at a table in a bookstore, ignored by customers unless they needed to ask directions to the restroom. Group signings were much better. Even if no one came, at least there was someone to talk to. The real downside was that unsold paperbacks were stripped for credit (returns against reserves in terms of my earnings) rather than simply kept by the bookstore to sell or returned to the publisher for someone else to buy.

Library programs with other writers, where we had an audience and at least a few of them were likely to actually buy our books, turned out to be the best investment of time and effort, but even those had disadvantages, schlepping my own books and handling the sales, for one. For a while, I went to an average of one fan conference a month (there were that many small ones back in the day) and did a library program, solo or in a group, every couple of weeks. It was exhausting!

my “bestseller”

Then came Covid. I have to say I didn’t miss all the travel, but suddenly the emphasis in generating publicity shifted almost entirely to online promotion. Some people are okay with putting all kinds of personal details up on the Internet. I am not. I also disliked the proliferation of “Buy my Book!” posts. In person, you can chat with an audience about characters, or the way you write, or where you get ideas, but putting that same information in writing, with no feedback unless someone commented on a post, just wasn’t the same. (Obvious exception: blogging at Maine Crime Writers has always been fun.)

Anyway, I was finally persuaded to start an account (as Kaitlyn) on Facebook. I couldn’t handle Twitter’s length limit (I have the same problem now with Bluesky), and other platforms didn’t strike me as particularly useful for reaching readers. As it turned out, Facebook and this blog weren’t deemed sufficient self-promotion by my last traditional publisher. My lack of a “social media presence” was one reason they gave for dropping my series.

Since that decision coincided with my realization that I had pretty much run out of new story ideas, I proclaimed myself semi-retired, finished the few unsold projects I’d started, and entered the world of Indie (formerly self-) publishing.

my best seller in children’s books

Now I can hear you thinking—doesn’t that require even more self-promotion? Yes. Yes it does. IF your goal is to earn a living at it. Mine isn’t. My first book was published in 1984. Except for a couple of really good years, I have never earned enough to support myself with my writing anyway, so why start now, especially since, as I get older, I am even less inclined to go out and hawk my wares in public?

And so, my new business model is this: publish e-book and print-on-demand paperback editions of those few books I couldn’t sell and bring out new editions of my Kathy Lynn Emerson backlist. (The rights to Kaitlyn Dunnett and Kate Emerson titles are still with those publishers, so I literally can’t do anything with them.) The goal is to make everything available and keep the prices as low as possible. I’ve stopped stressing about letting people know the books exist. I write about what’s new  here and on Facebook. That’s it. That’s literally all I do for publicity these days.

my most recent Indie effort

Since making a profit doesn’t come into it and I don’t have to pay myself for the time I spend working on any one book, my only publishing expenses are optional ones—hiring a cover designer and/or an editor. Draft2Digital takes a small percentage when a book sells, but all the set-up and distribution is free.

Miraculously, despite my lack of promotion, people are buying my books. Not a lot of them, I admit, but enough that D2D makes a deposit in my checking account every month and my profits continue to be enough that the IRS lets me continue to deduct office expenses and the like.

This “business model” probably wouldn’t work for most writers, but it’s the  perfect semi-retirement plan for me.

Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett has had sixty-four books traditionally published and has self published others. She won the Agatha Award and was an Anthony and Macavity finalist for best mystery nonfiction of 2008 for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2015 in the best mystery short story category. In 2023 she won the Lea Wait Award for “excellence and achievement” from the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. She was the Malice Domestic Guest of Honor in 2014. She is currently working on creating new editions of her backlist titles. Her website is www.KathyLynnEmerson.com.