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What Happened After My First Book Was Published?

What Happened After

What Happened After My First Book Was Published? Learn what I learned through six years of writing and publishing. I’ll cover my failures and successes, and what led to an exponential growth of sales and revenues.

The First Year 2016

My book Zombie Turkeys was published in ebook and paperback formats.

Oddly, Kindle did not accept my paperback cover. It was “too bloody”. I had to change the colors. So I have these two covers:

Best Science Stories Zombie Turkeys Gift What Happened After
Get your Zombie Turkeys here. You get a bushel of laughter with each book.
What Happened After
ebook version Get your Zombie Turkeys here. You get a bushel of laughter with each book.

Events: 1. Book launch at the Peoria North Library on October 31st. I had about 20 people and sold 5 books. Combined with 5 presales and I had ten in October.

2. Wheel Art First Friday – My wife made pottery here and I set up a table to sell books with their permission. I sold 4 books.

3. Peoria Library Author Fair – Sold 1, but I also made some author friends

4. Chambanacon in Bloomington – My first book fair. I sold 5 books. I made more author friends.

5. I started my newsletter in November, using addresses I picked up from my events.

Year total: 28 books, 27 paperback, 1 ebook.

Got questions? Ask me.

What Happened After 2016? 2017 happenings

I started writing another book in November 2016, My Undead Mother-in-law. It came out in August 2017.

Zombie Turkeys Thanksgiving What Happened After
My Undead Mother-in-law front cover. Click to get

Events: 1. I Know You Like A Book author signing. I sold 6 books.

2. Lit-on-Fire bookstore author reading and some sales.

3. I joined two author groups and sold some books to other authors.

4. I went to Her Majesty’s Tea Room and sold 4 books.

5. I sold 3 books at the Book Nook.

6. I sold some books to Barnes and Noble.

7. My Undead Mother-in-law launched at Barnes & Noble and I sold 1. I also appeared on TV here in Peoria.

8. I went back to Chambanacon and sold 8 books, 5 ZTs and 3 MUMs.

9. I published an audiobook version of Zombie Turkeys on 11/1/2017. You can get it for free by clicking here. I sold one later that year.

Zombie Turkeys Laughter 2021 Reviews What Happened After
Zombie Turkeys audiobook cover. Click to get!

Final results for 2017: 96 Zombie Turkeys sold and 37 My Undead Mother-in-law.

This post is long enough. Let me show you my sales chart to date and I’ll write another blog post soon. Notice my sales have increased every year except 2021. I sold so many in 2020, that my number of sales declined. 2022 isn’t over, but I expect to pass both 2020 and 2021.

The circle size represents the percent increase (or decrease) from the previous year.

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My Sixth-Year Anniversary as a Self-Published Author

My Sixth-Year Anniversary as a Self-Published Author–how did I do it? How is it going so far? Hold onto your socks, because I’ll tell you all about it.

On October 31st, 2016, I published this book:

Get Your Zombie Turkeys Laughter Sixth-Year Anniversary
Zombie Turkeys front cover. Click to get a copy!

Sam Melvin, an underachieving e-reporter from a small town, changes forever when he meets turkeys that won’t stay dead. You can shoot ’em, chop ’em, burn ’em—they come back stronger. The undead plague of poultry spreads uncontrollably, rocking the whole country. . .

From Zombie Turkeys’ Blurb

So, what happened next? What happened before the publication?

In the beginning . . .

Caterpillar forcibly retired me in October 2015. I didn’t want to rust on the pile of retirement, so I decided I would start writing a book. But I needed a topic. I wanted something light and funny.

We got a new turkey fryer and I tested it out. I brought in the fried turkey on a platter and said, “Imagine if this turkey came back to life!” Then someone said, “It’d be a zombie turkey.”

Only Three Days Left: Get Your Free Book My Sixth-Year Anniversary
A turkey who missed the free book offer. Click to get your free book.

“Eureka! That’s it! That’s my book! Zombie turkeys! A whole apocalypse of them. It’ll be a parody of all zombie books ever written.”

My Sixth-Year Anniversary – What Happened Next?

I wrote about 48,000 words in November in the book for NaNoWriMo. Then I finished it in December. Then I edited it: six times over until March. I decided I needed an editor–and got her, Dori Harrell.

Then I decided to learn about publishing. I read about six books. I also took a writing course at my alma mater, Bradley university. Who knew point-of-view was so important?

I created a project plan for self-publishing. Then I decided to publish through Amazon, since it was easier and cheaper.

I went back and forth with my editor about six times. The novel was ready to publish, with 54,000 words.

Oops! I forgot to get a cover illustration! I needed one done and it was July 2016.

The Making of the Zombie Turkeys Cover

Fortunately, I already wrote a blog post about this process. Click the title or here to read it.

My Sixth-Year Anniversary
A cover draft. Click to see more.

Oh, I forgot. I also worked with my illustrator Sean “Fuzzy” Flanagan on my chapter icons. Read about it here: How we Made Zombie Turkeys Chapter Icons.

My Sixth-Year Anniversary – Format Editing

Text formatting–so simple–NOT! Readers expect books to be formatted a certain way. If you break the rules–like not starting your book on the right-hand page–you look like a rank amateur.

Which I was. But I didn’t want to look that way. I only got one chance to make a first impression. So I hired Rik Hall. He’s fast. He’s experienced. And he made my book in both paperback and ebook formats.

Finally I was ready. I uploaded my file to Amazon and ordered my proof copy. I set my launch date for October 31st, 2016 and ordered fifty paper copies.

My Sixth-Year Anniversary
My first copy. Click to get yours!

I was ready to launch. What happened next? Read my next blog to find out!

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Best of September’s Internet for You

September's Internet

Best of September’s Internet for You, curated by me, author Andy Zach. Find out what amazing news, discoveries, insights, and fun you’ve missed this month.

I’ve spent the month writing my ninth book and cruising the internet researching the Everglades, the coast of Florida, and the Dragon space capsule procedures. What’s new with you? Let me know, and I’ll send you a free book. Click here.

Or don’t. You can also get my books* for free here, by subscribing to my newsletter.

*My books: Zombie Turkeys, Zombie Detective, My Undead Mother-in-law, Paranormal Privateers, Oops! Tales of the Zombie Turkey Apocalypse, Secret Supers, and Villain’s Vacation. Click on each title to find out more and to get your copy in ebook, paperback, or audiobook.

Let’s begin the discovery of September’s Internet!

Yup, this shark would look fine on a cover of a 50s SciFi magazine.

September's Internet
Imagine a lurking shark here.

Speaking of science fiction covers, this picture from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) would be great as a cover:

For comparison, here’s a picture from the Voyager spacecraft as it flew by in 1989:

September's Internet

How About Some Videos from September’s Internet?

Would you like a flying bicycle/motorcycle?

In many predictions from the 50s, we were supposed to have flying cars by now. How about flying motorcycles? Is this for you?

Let’s take a break from SciFi and go to fantasy.

Legolas’ life and travels

Did you learn anything about Legolas from this video? Let me know.

September’s Internet – Some Humor

Back to Science Fiction–from 200 BC

The Antikythera mechanism is an example of Greek technical prowess as early as 300-200 BC. A good alternate history scifi would be for them to begin an industrial revolution at that time.

And speaking of the industrial revolution, the Brooklyn Bridge was built at that time in the US, chiefly managed by Roebling’s wife, after his death. The technology of the 19th century inspires steampunk SciFi.

September’s Writing Prompt

I belong to a writers’ group. Here was the writing prompt we got:

September's Internet
September’s Writing Prompt

He sat and waited. He’d been doing that for some time. Three million four hundred, fifty one thousand, and sixty one years, one hundred ninety one days, five hours, and thirty five minutes, according to his internal clock, accurate to five microseconds per millennium.

As usual, he absorbed all information he could from his surroundings. Crickets chirred. He recognized each within microphone range by their variations in timbre and frequency. Then there were the electromagnetic impulses flooding his various antennae. He’d identified thirteen distinct civilizations on this planet. Most of them were quite recent.

But no activation signal.

Wait! There it was. Now he could act.

This is what Andy Zach wrote in five minutes.