It has been about four months since NeoTokyo Dead came out across a number of platforms. The novella, weighing in at a mere 35,000 words, is the first thing I have published independently. After a four-month period, I thought it was time for some reflection on it that may serve as a reality check for anyone getting into this wonderful field of self-publishing.

How have sales gone? It has been surprisingly hard to get that data, as platforms do not seem to email you that much about sales. Draft2Digital have been a notable exception with monthly sales reports across all the platforms they get your book out to. Admittedly, in the case of NeoTokyo Dead, the reports have been abundantly uniform.

Before NeoTokyo Dead hit the shelves (digitally speaking) in November 2025, I had set a fairly moderate goal of selling 10 copies to people who were not friends or family. If I count free copies that were downloaded during the Smashwords New Year Sale 2025, I have reached that goal. However, I don’t count them. So, I still have a ways to go. And that is a sobering thought.

For those with ideas of turning independent writing into a living, the idea you can push your book out there and wait for the revenue to flood in is patently unrealistic. I was very aware of this going into publishing NeoTokyo Dead (from now on I am calling it NTD), but there was still that spark of optimism that held out the pipe dream. I don’t think I am alone in that. For those of you thinking of publishing something you have written, just be ready for the hurricane of reality to blow the smoke from those pipe dreams into nothingness.

So, has publishing NTD been a complete waste of time and money? I think not. I don’t care who you are. Getting real copies of a book you have written in your hands feels great and that alone is a mark of success. You have written a book and have joined the small percentage of people who actually finish one. It is awesome and it generates a lot of interest and you get some surprising feedback from people. One of my sister-in-law’s friends, a very devoted fan of the science fiction genre who reads authors like Peter F. Hamilton, said he wanted to read more. I had not really banked on needing to revisit Killian Devon in the near future, if ever.

There are things I would do differently and some lessons I have learned from the experience. The process is important. Before NTD, I had not really bothered with any thoughts of due process when it comes to getting the book out there. I went from sitting on NTD to publishing it over a period of a day. It was impulsive and not very well planned. The first thing I would change is to get some beta readers into the book, just for a fresh set of eyes on it. They are not editors, so you should not be expecting them to do anything like one. The editing should be done before the beta readers get a hold of it. The second thing I would change is to make sure I had some Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) readers. ARC readers get a finished copy, (so make sure it is perfect), and they write up honest reviews of the book. This is useful to have some reviews ready to roll from publication day. I have found that not many people will buy a book with no reviews.

It has been a slow and hard slog. I have not done much marketing of NTD at all, if I am being honest with you. I don’t really enjoy it and I would rather be writing. However, for the indie author, marketing is a fact of life. It is something I, along with millions of others, need to get used to.

If you have not checked out NeoTokyo Dead, click on the links above and take a look. I actually like the book, and I do not usually like my own writing. If I had not written it, I would still buy it and enjoy it.