Share Your Successes!

[gingerwoman]

Originally Posted by triceretops

I'll have to eat my fedora. I did just sell a print copy on a small press book. I'm reeling.

tri

Congrats!
And on the topic of one copy... I'm pleased to have finally sold my first backlist copy yesterday. Finally Wicked Wonderland my Samhain book (which I think has been selling well) inspired someone to buy my Freya's Bower novella (which has always sold poorly) on kindle. lol Interestingly it was also the first copy of Waking the Witch sold on Amazon.uk rater than US Amazon.

[triceretops]

Hmmm...I'm having a little sales run on the werewolf book, coming out of nowhere. I can't account for anything I did recently to boost sales, other than announce that it just came out in paperback. But the sales increase appears in e-book purchases. I'm guessing that the link took them to the same book in the cheaper version. So they got a side-by-side price comparison. What the heck. I'll take it! (You can't bottle lightning when you don't know where it came from).

Second theory: All those new Christmas I-pads and readers are getting filled up--spontaneous purchases, and this book cover is really stone cold flat in your face.

I've always wondered that if you offer a print version along with the e-version, does it somehow give more legitimacy to presentation or quality?

[williemeikle]

Apart from the novels which are doing well enough to keep me happy, one of my short stories out performs all the others.

Abominable, my tale of the Mallory Everest expedition, has now sold over 3000 copies, and comfortably made me more money than it would had I sold it to a pro-rate market.

Abominable on the Kindle

[triceretops]

Originally Posted by williemeikle

Apart from the novels which are doing well enough to keep me happy, one of my short stories out performs all the others.

Abominable, my tale of the Mallory Everest expedition, has now sold over 3000 copies, and comfortably made me more money than it would had I sold it to a pro-rate market.

Abominable on the Kindle

I'm an avid fan of the G. Mallory expedition with his partner "Sandy." I'm also a practicing cryptozoologist. It's wonderful to see these two topics combined in a short, with a "what if?" premise.

Nice going! I wish I'd thought of it!

tri

[Hildegarde]

Originally Posted by Mark Moore

I just decided to check my KDP sales for, like, only the second time since I got my new computer on December 6. I wasn't expecting anything at all.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that I've had five sales!

Isn't it great when you check in with no expectations and see a nice bump?

[Spell-it-out]

Originally Posted by Hildegarde

Isn't it great when you check in with no expectations and see a nice bump?

For sure! Just double checked December's figures at found I'd missed two sales because I didn't have time over New Years to notice anything, and then again today, sold another three, bringing my total online paperback and Kindle sales to 21 in 31 days. Delighted, considering I put most of my time and effort into selling paperbacks locally.

Congrats to you all.

[Nick Russell]

Bev Gray, I just finished Pershing's Eagles, your latest book in the Black Knights of the Hudson series and left you a review on Amazon. Another winnner, my friend. Well done!

[BradyBones]

It's been a while and I haven't really done much in the way of promotion. My two short stories that share space on Smashwords, B&N, and Amazon have absolutely no sales to speak of. The one short "The Itch" I have exclusively on KDPSelect manages random sales, but those have been few and far between as I have backed off on promotion.

It looks like I need to A. Spend more time writing and coming out with new titles, and B. do a little more self promotion.

I'm not looking for spam or anything, but if any fellow e-publishers on this forum would like to network on LinkedIn, my profile is www.linkedin.com/in/bradyfrost/. Writing is more of a hobby at this point so most of my content on LinkedIn is based on my primary profession. Feel free to add me, but if I get spammy type connections I will not hesitate to remove them.

[Nick Russell]

You have to dedicate time to promotion, and not just a lick and a promise, if you want to succeed as a self-publisher, whether it be with e-books or printed.

[BradyBones]

Originally Posted by Nick Russell

You have to dedicate time to promotion, and not just a lick and a promise, if you want to succeed as a self-publisher, whether it be with e-books or printed.

Well noted, Nick! I have come to respect your wisdom and experience and I'm always happy to see your posts. Thanks for chiming in!

My worries revolve around not having a lot out there to promote right now. I know I've got to be more prolific when it comes to writing. It's a problem I've caused with unhealthy writing habits. A lot also has to deal with the fear that I might not be capable of writing something that people would be interested in reading. I'm sure that's a common insecurity among writers.

[Nick Russell]

Brady, you're right, you might not be able to write something that people would be interested in reading. But the only way you will ever know that is to write something. And then rewrite it, and rewrite it again. And don't stop until it's the best you can make it. And when you're done, write something else, and repeat the process.

Too many authors have confused the ease of getting something out in today's technology with validation of whatever crap they want to rush into production. So don't fault yourself for taking the time to learn your craft, But at the same time, have confidence in your ability to do what it takes to turn out work that is worthy of your readers.

Good luck, my friend.

[benluby]

Originally Posted by Nick Russell

Brady, you're right, you might not be able to write something that people would be interested in reading. But the only way you will ever know that is to write something. And then rewrite it, and rewrite it again. And don't stop until it's the best you can make it. And when you're done, write something else, and repeat the process.

Too many authors have confused the ease of getting something out in today's technology with validation of whatever crap they want to rush into production. So don't fault yourself for taking the time to learn your craft, But at the same time, have confidence in your ability to do what it takes to turn out work that is worthy of your readers.

Good luck, my friend.

Well said. Carrie, King's first book was salvaged by his wife from the trash can. He didn't like how it was going.
She made him finish the book. The rest, as they say, is history.

[Spell-it-out]

Over the moon, got my first Amazon review on The History Maker yesterday, and it was a 4-star! Delighted! Even more so when I read the actual review, an excellent account of why the reader liked it.

Yes!

[Nick Russell]

A very good review, Eamonn. Congratulations.

[Spell-it-out]

Originally Posted by Nick Russell

A very good review, Eamonn. Congratulations.

Thanks Nick!

[Ann Joyce]

So happy for you, Sio...that's a great review!

[christwriter]

I've got a diary thread running in the Self publishing forum, but what the hey, might as well share here too.

Modest success is success. I've sold 138 books since I started self publishing in July. Most of my sales began in September, when I released my short sci-fi novelette. October averaged about a sale a day (36 for the month) and November/December averaged just under (27/26 books sold respectively) I released the sequel to the novelette this month (a slightly longer novelette) and ran a free peroid concurrently and HO. LEE. SHI....take mushrooms. Twenty eight books. Just BARELY under two sales a day. Most of which have taken place in the last week.

I have done very little marketing, mostly because I don't know how and I have a day job. I am amazed and awed at how well things have done this month, I have no idea what's going to happen next, and for the first time I'm looking forward to what's going to happen over the next six months. Enthusiasm is AMAZING.

[Nick Russell]

Congratulations, well done!

[Ann Joyce]

Originally Posted by christwriter

I have done very little marketing, mostly because I don't know how and I have a day job. I am amazed and awed at how well things have done this month, I have no idea what's going to happen next, and for the first time I'm looking forward to what's going to happen over the next six months. Enthusiasm is AMAZING.

That's great...hope your sales multiply many times over!

[Spell-it-out]

Originally Posted by christwriter

Modest success is success. I've sold 138 books since I started self publishing in July.

Great stuff CW! And a great start to the new year.

@Ann: Thanks so much Ann

[Mark Moore]

I just checked my Amazon sales, and it seems stories #08-10 of "Becoming a Hero" sold one copy each between Sunday morning (I'd last checked my sales on Saturday night; I had nothing) and now. Kind of random, but I'll take them.

It's also pretty ironic, considering I offered the collected edition of all ten stories for $2.00 for a few days, until Saturday night, during which I promoted the sale, and I got zero sales.

[sarahdalton]

Well, I've finally reached a bit of a landmark - 100 sales!

I published the book on the 7th August and my only marketing has been reviews, blog posts/tours, features on a couple of websites and social media. It's been a hard slog, I've had a few very slow months, but after a price drop I've finally got to 3 figures!

Now I won't feel quite so sheepish when people ask me how many books I've sold. And my second book comes out soon so I'm hoping to increase sales soon.

Congrats and good luck to everyone else in this thread! I still think that hardwork, a good story, a bit of common sense and a large dosing of positivity is the way forward.

EDIT: Plus I got an awesome ARC review of my second book. The words "Oh my flipping pancakes" were used - amazing! What a good day

[Nick Russell]

Congratulations, Sarah!

[merrihiatt]

Great news for all!

[Mark Moore]

I just checked my PubIt! sales (which I rarely do) and was surprised to find out that story #01 of "Blackjack Jill" sold a copy on January 15.