By the Numbers with Nichole Severn
Author Series #9
Happy Valentine’s Day! I personally avoid crowds, stay home, and buy my own candy, but if you love to be out and about tonight, more power to you! Live it up for the rest of us. ;)
It’s two weeks until the launch date of BEAUTY QUEEN, and funnily enough, my publisher already turned on the Print Order copies at Amazon. It’s Print on Demand, so I guess they get it up and running early to ensure that bookstores will have copies in time. I went ahead and ordered a copy for myself that should arrive tomorrow—before my publisher copies get here. I also found a sample of my audio version on my Libby app through the library, so I listened to five minutes of the finished product. (I had no idea if it was even finished!) Gotta love how the publishing industry is always full of surprises.
As I’m nearing the pub date, I’ve gotta say that I’ve been really happy with my experience at Storm. Despite a slight lag in communication about the finished product (which is pretty standard for a lot of publishers), they’ve treated me well, communicating at every stage about pricing, promotions, marketing efforts, and editorial schedules. They also (shockingly, to me) offered a call to all of their authors shortly after I signed my contract. During the call, the head of Storm took questions from the floor, and he didn’t even screen them in advance!!!! [insert jaw drop here] Oliver even answered with real-time numbers and clear expectations. I’ve NEVER (like, never ever) seen or heard of that kind of behavior from any other publishing company.
The drawback of Storm—or others like it, including Bookouture and Authors Equity—is no up-front advance, which our guest today will discuss. But I’ll add this: if you aren’t trying to make your primary living off of writing, working with Storm has been a great experience, and despite the lack of an advance, I’ve enjoyed it even more than working with my Big 5 imprint. My editor at both Storm and MIRA have both been amazing, but the business/marketing side of things with Storm has been far more positive. I feel a lot less pressure to personally be responsible for marketing and selling the book. I feel like if I want to, I can actually just write. Huh, who knew?
Today, I’m introducing you to Nichole Severn, a fellow Storm author who was kind enough to transparently share her story and the lessons she’s learned along the way. Prepare yourself for the number of books she’s written because it’s very impressive.
I asked her for a bit of clarity surrounding percentages because her numbers were a bit different than the standards I’ve received from the Big 5 (mine were 25% to her 35% for ebook/audio, and my agent receives 15% of that 25%—our Storm percentages are the same). Part of the differences could be attributed either to the fact that she entered publishing and started signing contracts years before I did (standards change) or it could simply be an effect of working with different imprints. Either way, her writing speed and number of books are outstanding, and I’m excited for you to hear her story.
Welcome, Nichole Severn!
Can you tell us about your debut novel? Feel free to share any business details with which you’re comfortable, including the year, the advance (a range or number or figures is fine), the kind of marketing you received, how sales performed in the first year.
While The Killer She Knew (February 2025) isn’t my debut thriller, it completes my debut thriller series with Storm Publishing, starting with The Girl Who Survived (May 2024). In this latest installment, my FBI criminologist heroine, Leigh Brody, is faced with the consequences of providing a false alibi for a man she thought she was in love with in college before he disappeared completely. Throw in the teenager she’s adopted who wants nothing to do with her and all the other hardships of balancing motherhood with a career, and The Killer She Knew becomes one of my favorite books I’ve written!
With Storm Publishing, authors aren’t offered an advance when their book is contracted but are given a 50% royalty rate. Compared to most traditional publishers, this is far higher than the standard 35%. However, if authors utilize an agent to pitch and sell their manuscripts, they’re paying that agent 15%, so that 50% ends up becoming the standard 35%.
Marketing in the past year has been extensive in the form of Facebook ads, newsletter ads, and Amazon Daily Deals I haven’t received from any other publisher, but all of it is focused on the first book in my thriller series, which is available in Kindle Unlimited, in print on demand, and on audio. Books two and three in the series haven’t really been marketed from the publisher end, even at and around release apart from social media posts, leaving those promotions to me.
Since publishing the first book in the series in May 2024, the Leigh Brody FBI Mystery series hasn’t done as well in sales as I personally expected. Of course, I have to take in consideration, this is my first step into the thriller genre and that a significant chunk of readers are utilizing their Kindle Unlimited subscription, which is paid out at around $0.004 per page read with over 907,000 KENP pages read as of December 2024 for this series alone.
How many novels have you published since then? Have you ever changed publishers? What differences have you noticed in the publishing experience with these later novels?
Over my career, I’ve published 44 novels, not including the 6 currently in production to be published this year, the 6 I unpublished to tighten my brand, or my current works in progress. I’ve contracted with small publishers such as The Wild Rose Press and Evernight Publishers but slowly worked my way up to—and started over with—Harlequin in 2018 then Storm Publishing in 2023, both of which I continue to write for now. The biggest difference I’ve noticed between my two publishers is the involvement of my editor.
I’ve always loved my editor at Harlequin, who just left the company, but she was very hands off. Most edits were delegated to freelancers as the line took on more authors but not enough editors to manage them. That being said, my editor never once balked at any deadline extensions I needed and championed for every submission I sent her.
At the other end, my editor at Storm Publishing made considerable effort to get to know me, my writing schedule, any other publishing deadlines I had, and asked how she could best work with me to write the best series possible. This included Zoom calls when I initially signed the contract for three books and when bringing me down from a panic when got stuck writing The Killer She Knew, which pulled me enough together to write The End.
What has been the best part of publishing? The worst part? Or, what has been your highest high and lowest low in publishing?
The best part of my publishing journey has been the other like-minded women I’ve become friends with along the way (like you, Kristen!). Writing, publishing, and running a business is a lonely endeavor. Most of your real-life friends cannot relate to how much you live in your head or why you can’t grab lunch when you work from home because of how much mental energy it takes to string a book together. So it’s important to make writer and author friends at your same level of success and grow together. Because of the women I befriended from the Harlequin Intrigue line (I read their books and reached out to them then kept making conversation until they accepted me as one of their own), I was able to get feedback on my first submission to Intrigue before ultimately signing the contract that changed my life, get my foot in the door with one of their agents (who is currently my agent), and brainstorm countless growth opportunities along the way. None of it would’ve been possible had I not made that effort to make like-minded friends who support me as much as I support them.
The worst part of publishing? In my career, it’s chasing the money. I used to be under the impression (and many authors, especially romance authors, are as well), that writing and publishing more books equaled more money. And who doesn’t want to make more money? But I’ve learned the hard way that’s not always the case. Several times because, apparently, I keep forgetting this specific lesson. Yes, I can write 8-10 books a year. Should I? Absolutely not. I’ve burned out more times than I can count trying to get more contracts and bigger royalty checks and ended up hurting my family, my physical health, and my career in the process.
Do you think of yourself as a full time writer? Do you have other streams of income that help pay the bills?
I consider myself a full-time author in that I have 6 hours a day to write while my kids are at school, and I have one job: to write books. In all actuality, I work between 2-4 hours a day depending on how close my next deadline is, which would technically be considered part-time. I block off my afternoons to fully drop into that endorphin-addictive flow state that drives writers to keep banging our heads against a blank page, and I’m done by the time my kids come home. The other hours of the day, I’m working out, reading, working on a craft project, catching up with friends or being a mom. A lot of authors might look at that schedule and think, “You should be using those hours to write more books,” but I’m no longer interested in having have my career be my entire identity anymore, and my mental health is stronger than it’s been in years from choosing to work less.
Income wise, I cannot physically pay my bills with my writing income, even after more than 40 books published (more books does not equal more money!). Fortunately, my family is a two-income household, and we are more than privileged to be able to pay the bills. However, this year, I’m focusing on using the books I’ve already published to create extra income streams, such as translations into different languages and markets, expanding into reading apps like Radish and Kiss + Scream, and experimenting with different formats for my self-published books.
What would you tell someone/what advice would you give to someone who wants to be traditionally published?
I’ve had a specific piece of writing advice stuck in my head for years now that came from the very talented and prolific author Maisey Yates. She hosted an Ask Me Anything on her Instagram, and I submitted a question along the lines of “How do you get over adapting to the market?” At the time I was solely writing romantic suspense. None of the big publishers were buying romantic suspense aside from Harlequin, but I couldn’t seem to take that step into a different genre (imposter syndrome, people, it’s very sabotaging), even though I knew it would be the best chance of reaching my goals.
Her response is sticking with me even now that I’ve finishing writing my first thriller series and am planning to make another shift. She said, “I just don’t take myself that seriously.”
So that’s my advice. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Have fun, try new things, fail and try again. Do something you never thought you could do and see what happens.
What does success in publishing look like to you at this point in your career? Has it changed over time?
My version of success once looked like so many other authors. Those six-figure incomes, hitting USA and NYT bestseller lists, landing that contract with a Big 5 publisher, having huge social media followings. I’m happy for those authors who have reached that level of success if that was their goal, but none of that matters to me anymore.
Success to me looks like making enough money to keep my family out of debt, have a savings account, go on vacation every once in a while, and be able to pay our bills. It looks like being able to work 2-4 hours a day doing the work I love or taking a day off if one of my kids or—heaven forbid—my spouse is sick. It looks like a lot of rest and doing the things I love on a daily basis while still having a deadline to work toward.
And I’m there. I might not make a full-time income to pay all of my family’s bills or have a release on the NYT bestseller list, but I’m happier than I ever was overworking myself for a glimmer of what most authors would consider success.
Is there one thing you or your publisher did that you think may have helped sell books to readers? We love tips and advice!
This so hard to pinpoint considering most sales numbers take a full quarter to report, but if there was anything that helped increase sales and bring in new readers for my latest releases it was connecting with other female authors in the thriller genre.
I reached out to about 20 female thriller and mystery authors from Storm Publishing for The Killer She Knew and offered to swap promotions a month ahead of release. We all want the same thing: for readers to pick up our books. So it made the most sense for me to tap into these authors’ readerships and them into mine. At the same time, we’re establishing friendships, supporting one another, and spreading the word about good books!
Do you have any tips for protecting your mental health in such a tough business?
Don’t do everything. Seriously. You don’t need to be on every social media platform posting 6 times a day while trying to write the next book, grow your newsletter, making content for Patreon or Ream, recording videos for YouTube, and managing your life. It’s too much, and you’re going to burn out, even if you’re able to work full-time and have the perfect schedule.
Find where your readers want to connect with you (poll them if you have to) and go all in on ONE THING to protect your mental health. Give it all of your marketing energy and time around writing the next book and watch your readers respond in kind.
Thank you for your time, Nichole. You can find her most recent book (out today!) HERE, and you can sign up for her newsletter HERE.
Finally, if you’re interested in joining the Mini Coaching & Writing Cohort for April-June, you can see details here and email me at kristenbirdwrites@gmail.com. Several strong female authors—aspiring and published/produced—have signed up, and we’d love to have you. I have 1 remaining spot.
As ever, happy writing—or not!