My 3 Reasons for Self-Pubbing & Sales Updates on Print & Ebooks

Norman D Gutter said:

I hear what you're saying, Ann, about the family and friends issue.

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Actually, Norman, one of my sisters-in-law is directly or indirectly responsible for 10 of my sales. Even though a non-reader herself, she bought 5 originally, read my book in 2 days, bought 2 more to give away, and 3 of her other friends bought because of word of mouth. She has been a real blessing to me. Six other family members have bought as well...not too bad. Of course, I gave copies to kids, grandkids, my betas, and a few others.

Norman D Gutter said:

Over Thanksgiving I was telling my son-in-law about a specific review I had on a novel, which had been particularly gratifying. He read the review then downloaded the book for $4.99. That wasn't my intent. As a poor preacher he doesn't have the money to be buying books like that. Plus he could have downloaded it for free in June, and as my FB friend he would have known that. So I tossed him a $5 bill, thereby losing $1.63 on the sale.NDG

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That was very kind of you. I'm sure he appreciated your generosity.

MMcDonald64 said:

I still think you're doing an awesome job of selling your print books, but I can empathize with the puzzling responses from friends and family.

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Thank you. Once again, you have been so supportive and I appreciate you!

That's cute about your elderly aunt...kind of sad...but still cute!

sarahdalton said:

See, I don't mind people not buying it either I just don't like it when people say they will and gush about it but then never follow through.

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That's it in a nutshell, Sarah. You totally got what I was saying.

sarahdalton said:

Ann your sales are really impressive, don't get disheartened by the occasional person who doesn't follow through! Keep going!

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Thank you; I will keep on keeping on! And for another upnote: I just got an order today from one of the 16.

And, I think I've exhausted all I want to say with my vent subject. Thanks to all for your input and understanding.

Sunday update:

I had 5 sales of my print book this week (for the gentleman of a refined age, 3 were to strangers) bringing my grand total for 6 weeks of sales to 85.

For those interested in the details, the open house where I had the book signing was pretty much a bust in terms of sales. There was jewelry; Scentsy; make-up; jeans; Tastefully Simple; and more, but the biggest feature was 2 long tables filled with nicely done Christmas craft items, plus the walls filled with the lady's lovely Christmas decor. Everything she had was half-price, so people came in and filled bags for not much money. There was very little traffic (probably not more than 30), with most of the shoppers being the owner's family. They were pretty much there to eat, chat with each other and her, and buy the half-priced Christmas things.

The woman with those items was very nice and she and I chatted throughout the day. She was one of my two sales, buying as soon as I had my display set up. The other sale I had was to another vendor that had been sorry she didn't buy the book at that other signing I did. In reality, I probably only saw half a dozen sales that weren't Christmas items (My table was set up near the door). All in all, I met some very nice people, and had an enjoyable day.

Besides those two buyers, one sale this past week came from one of the sixteen I had sent a letter to, one from my dentist, and one through my post office box no.

Here's to living, learning and growing. Happy Sunday!

Thanks, MP! As Merri always says, every sale counts!

Got a special blessing today. This came in the form of an order from another of those I sent a letter to (ones that previously said they wanted the book). This lady has been a friend for 25 years, so it really meant a lot to me. Almost ready to go Kindle!

@TheKoB - Thanks. I'll continue to post updates as long as there's interest. I'll be looking for you to post your successes as you go, too!

@Spell-it-out, I appreciate your interest. Actually, I'm finally done with the formatting. Just finished writing a small author bio. Tomorrow, I'm going to make the ToC. But then, I may have to talk to my printer about the cover and see what we have to do to convert it from a PDF to a JPeg. I understand calibre doesn't do well with a PDF. Can you tell how green I am about these things? *laughs* Frankly, I'm scared spitless about the whole thing.

Can't wait to hear how Saturday goes for you.

Well, this is uber-cool. I just found the first file of the cover my printer sent me after the designer put it all together. It is a JPEG! w00t! It had a very thin blue line along the left side, but I was able to crop it out. That's one less thing to concern myself with. Hopefully, I'm in the home stretch now. Weekly update on print sales tomorrow...

Sunwords said:

Just read the complete thread, I think it is amazing. I try to learn something for myself, once my book will be ready to be offered/printed, whatever, I will have to decide what to do and I consider self-publishing as an option. So your experience is interesting for me, even if I will not be able to do this type of sales.

I hope you will continue with more sales still and I am most curious about your e-book experience. Thinking about the technical details scares me a lot, too.

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Thanks for your kind comments, Sunwords. I think it's wonderful that we can learn from the other people in the business through these threads. I have been helped, encouraged, and inspired in more ways that I can count.

I hope when you do make a decision for yourself, you will find much success!

Sunday Update:

This week I had 3 sales of my print book bringing my grand total for 7 weeks of sales to 88 (closing in on that 100 mark).

All 3 of these sales were especially sweet to me. I mentioned on Friday that one of them came from a friend that had said she would buy and hadn't followed through up til now. The second came from a FB friend (a dear lady I haven't met in person yet), and the third was from a friend we used to hang out with when our kids were babies. Got a lump in my throat from all three. Looking forward to what I might find in my mailbox or PO box this week. Think I'll wear my Pollyanna hat.

This is finally going to be the week I face that big old e-book giant! I'll soon see if he's as fierce as he looks. I'll be sure and report back to you with my findings.

Woke to the sight of all the branches on our trees stuck fast with snow this morning. So beautiful. I pray you all have a wonderful week!

merrihiatt said:

Pollyanna is one of my favorite movies, Ann. Wishing you all good things.

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Ahhhh, Merri, it's so good to see your smiling face. Like I said in the post where you told us you were moving and wouldn't be around much, I hoped you'd pop in to visit us once in awhile. We've missed you around here!

I loved Pollyanna too. I've been told I have a tendency to look at things that way. Not too sure it was meant to be a compliment. Good, bad or indifferent, it's the way I roll.

And just in case I haven't told you lately, I wish you all good things too!

*Walks over to the coat rack next to the door, hangs her Pollyanna hat on one of the hooks, and clears her throat*

Well, friends, this was a dismal week for me in sales. Nada, zip, zero, what Patty shot at (my Father-in-law used that expression when we played cribbage and he had no count to peg), the hoop.

I knew it was inevitable, and I also promised to post the bad along with the good, so that's what I'm doing. I suppose I can realistically only expect the count to go down, especially as so many of my peeps have purchased the novel now. Does this mean I'm giving up? No siree, it does not.

Just taking a break from the final steps to go digital while I write this update. I'll post again when I get that done!

So, my total print sales remain at 88 for 8 weeks of sales. Hope you're all having a fantastic day!

Spell-it-out said:

Anne,

Sure one week break from a few sales is no disaster, you have the digital version to come online soon and it will reignite your energy. On that, how is the formatting for kindle coming along?

Keep up the good work!

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Thank you, Sio...you are very kind. Formatting is done. Built a ToC today and did a few other odds and ends (spit and shine, ya know). Trying to decide if I should go through Calibre or try it directly with KDP. I don't care to use Smashwords. I'm going to see if I can get it up tomorrow. Not feeling too hot tonight. And the Survivor finale will be on in 25 minutes. ;D

Btw, are your sales continuing after that totally awesome start out of the gate you had? I hope so...I'm rooting for you!

@Sheryl Nantus - That could very well be, although that tragedy took place on Friday, so it's hard to tell.

@Arpeggio - Thank you...I'll have to check out Goodreads one of these days. It sounds like you're doing quite well too - 80 in 2 months seems like a good number according to other posters. Congratulations.

@Sio - After I hear from Amazon, I'll continue working on getting the ebook up. Most likely, I'll try Calibre. Enjoyed reading your update. Cheers!