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

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Ann Joyce

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Hi Ann!

Congrats on the reaching the 100 mark, great news. Hope you enjoy the break in Maui with your friends and family.

There you are... nice to see you! Thank you so much. Having a great time of refreshment with everyone here. Enjoyed a fabulous luau Sunday and having a quiet time now while the kids (grown - lol) and hubby are off snorkling and soaking up some sunshine. It's all good. Hope all is well with you. Aloha!
 

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Congratulations on self publishing your book; I have looked into doing that. From talking to others online, I found that it usually doesn't pay for itself. Not to disparage what you have done; I think it is wonderful for some. I'm not sure I want to start that way. I will be watching with interest at how well your book does. Thanks for the information on how you went about it.
 

Ann Joyce

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Congratulations on self publishing your book; I have looked into doing that. From talking to others online, I found that it usually doesn't pay for itself. Not to disparage what you have done; I think it is wonderful for some. I'm not sure I want to start that way. I will be watching with interest at how well your book does. Thanks for the information on how you went about it.

Thanks, bean. Yes, I realize this road is not for everyone; for me, it was the right decision. Thankfully, I'm pretty darn close to breaking even on cost, even though I had an initial printing of 300. I'm reasonably sure I'll be in the black by June. I have made enough back on this first novel to put the next one in print now; this time I will do 200 to start with, plus the ebook.

Thank you for your interest, and you're welcome. I decided to share my SP story because I learned so much from reading about the other author's journeys on here. I hope I can help a few like I've been helped. All the best in your endeavers!
 

sarahdalton

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Hey Ann,

Nice to see you're still checking in with us! Congrats on your 100th sale! Here's hoping you get many more. Take care :)
 

Ann Joyce

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Hey you... Sarah Dalton... I'm trying to figure out how I missed your important news regarding The Vanished. I'm so happy for you... and for me! :Hug2: Perhaps I missed it because I don't normally go to the place where you made your announcement and also because we left for CA that day to see our son and a grandson on our way to Maui. And well... I'm here now.

I'm happy for you because you got your second baby out there. Congratulations, Sarah! I'm happy for me because I read The Blemished and loved it. Normally, it's not the genre I read, but the 'Look Inside' feature made me decide I really wanted to read the whole thing. I've been waiting for the next one ever since (just went and bought it). Methinks you have a great future ahead of you. w00t! :partyguy:

PS: I wanted to leave a review, but it looks like authors aren't supposed to do that?
 

sarahdalton

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Hey you... Sarah Dalton... I'm trying to figure out how I missed your important news regarding The Vanished. I'm so happy for you... and for me! :Hug2: Perhaps I missed it because I don't normally go to the place where you made your announcement and also because we left for CA that day to see our son and a grandson on our way to Maui. And well... I'm here now.

I'm happy for you because you got your second baby out there. Congratulations, Sarah! I'm happy for me because I read The Blemished and loved it. Normally, it's not the genre I read, but the 'Look Inside' feature made me decide I really wanted to read the whole thing. I've been waiting for the next one ever since (just went and bought it). Methinks you have a great future ahead of you. w00t! :partyguy:

PS: I wanted to leave a review, but it looks like authors aren't supposed to do that?

Thank you! You're lovely :)

I know, I don't know what to advise writers regarding reviews any more. Amazon had a blitz of deleting reviews but fortunately none of mine disappeared. I would say that it's safe again, but I could also draw comparisons between Amazon and Jaws... so who knows!
 

Ann Joyce

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Aloha! Small update for those still checking this thread: I've sold 6 more of the 20 books my daughter brought over, bringing my total for print to 106. I have only 7 of those 20 left now. Feeling pretty good about that. I was out to lunch with a friend Tuesday and our server even bought one; that was sweet! As far as ebook sales; not doing very good in that regard. Hope that picks up in the future.

Making good progress on the novel I'm working on. This is a good environment to work in for me. Blessings to all, and hoping you're all doing well! :e2cloud9:
 

Ann Joyce

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Hello again! Another quick update since my last post, which was about a week ago. I've now sold the last seven print books I had over here (there were 20), bringing my grand total to 113. Of those 20 sales, 5 were to strangers, the rest were to friends or acquaintances.

I took the last 5 into our local hang-out last night (I was delivering 2 that had been spoken for). After greeting a couple of Canadian friends that had recently flown in, they asked me if I had any books with me, which I did, so they each bought one. A lady at another table had just bought the other one. It was unexpected and fun.

Also received some great feedback from a few friends that had bought the novel last week. That kind of validation makes all the hard work so worthwhile. :tongue

I talked to my daughter awhile ago and she will be shipping 10 more over on Monday. Blessings!
 

Ann Joyce

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Merri, Just want to make sure you see this, and I know you check in pretty regularly. I've been meaning to tell you; I love your latest cover. I keep thinking it's you standing there talking to us. lol

Thanks always, for the support. I hope you're sales are rocketing!
 

merrihiatt

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Ha! What a lovely thought! Thanks, Ann.

Book sales have increased this year. I was sellng about a book a day at the end of 2012. I had two new releases in 2013 (one in January and one a few weeks ago), and sales have picked up. This month I'm averaging three sales a day.
 

Ann Joyce

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Book sales have increased this year. I was sellng about a book a day at the end of 2012. I had two new releases in 2013 (one in January and one a few weeks ago), and sales have picked up. This month I'm averaging three sales a day.

That's wonderful... I couldn't be happier for you! :D
 

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Also received some great feedback from a few friends that had bought the novel last week. That kind of validation makes all the hard work so worthwhile.!

Speaking from personal experience, positive feedback is the most powerful form of motivation when your trying to write a second book. I've heard some really nice words since December, and it has helped me finish the 1st draft of my second book by Feb. Hope your second book is going well Ann, delighted for you.
 

Sherrie Cronin

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another thank you

Yes indeed it does help. I am trying to write book #4 here and it seems that every book brings its own peculiar crisis of confidence, at least for me Lurking here and listening to encouraging words always helps -- so a another thank you to Ann, and Merihiatt and the others here who keep the positive vibes coming. Thanks to each of you and good luck with those sales!
 

Ann Joyce

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Speaking from personal experience, positive feedback is the most powerful form of motivation when your trying to write a second book. I've heard some really nice words since December, and it has helped me finish the 1st draft of my second book by Feb. Hope your second book is going well Ann, delighted for you.

Regarding positive feedback: I got another 4-star from the East coast, from a gentleman, no less! That was fun, because I would really classify the novel as a Women's Lit love story.

Glad you're making so much progress on your second book, Sio. As of today, I have 51,500 words done out of approx. 60,000 on my next. So I'm still gearing for a June publication date. w00t! Write on!
 

Ann Joyce

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Yes indeed it does help. I am trying to write book #4 here and it seems that every book brings its own peculiar crisis of confidence, at least for me Lurking here and listening to encouraging words always helps -- so a another thank you to Ann, and Merihiatt and the others here who keep the positive vibes coming. Thanks to each of you and good luck with those sales!

You are so welcome, Sherrie. It is, and has been my goal to give as much encouragement and support as I can. I think we all need big doses of that as our self confidence waxes and wanes throughout this process. I've been helped and heartened by different ones along the way and am so appreciative of the right hand of fellowship offered by those dear ones. Thank you for your kindness, Sherrie, and may I say, "Right back at ya with your sales!"
 

Ann Joyce

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The 10 books my daughter sent last week arrived in a box that was very badly damaged - two of the corners were actually split open. I'm so thankful she took the initiative to insure them because I hadn't asked her to do that. Of the 10, only 2 were sellable, thankfully, because those 2 were spoken for.

I'm in the process of making out a claim with the Post Office, but they tell me I won't get reimbursed for the loss for about 90 days.

The upside: I will get paid the value of those books plus shipping, so in a roundabout way, that's almost like selling the 10. Also, she has another 6 on the way (also insured). I'm choosing to see this glass half-full.

Have a beautiful, blessed week! Cheers!
 

Ann Joyce

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Realizing my sales are piddley compared to many of the wonderful reports I've been reading on AW, I will continue to post an occasional report in case any of you are still interested.

Here goes: I sold 4 of the last 6 books my daughter sent in Maui in addition to the original 20, giving me a total of 24 sales there in a time period of about a month and a half. I'm happy to say I sold the last 2 in CA on my way home to snowy MN. Since publishing in October of 2012, that is now a total of 125 paper back copies.

Ebook sales remain dismal. I've only sold 2 so far this month, but since there are a few days to go, I'm hopeful. I think I'm still on track to publesh my second novel in June (probably towards the end), and I'm more than halfway done with my first short story. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :D
 

Ann Joyce

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Thank you, Merri and Sio! I always hear Merri's words echoing, "Every sale counts!" I feel the same way, and am actually quite happy with my paper back sales, considering I only have the one book. I've recently realized I have print books in 10 states, plus Canada. That was a cool discovery. I had my first ebook sale in England too.

I love reading the updates the two of you post, as well as the others on here whose journeys I'm following. Blessings!
 
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