My Sales Numbers for 2010

Well, I'm impressed by how prolific you are.

I don't think it's that crass. If you want to see more numbers, by the way, the writer's forum over on the Kindle Boards is full of sales information and good discussions on marketing, sales, covers, blurbs, etc.

Thanks for sharing your info, VJ

I won't have exact numbers until I do my taxes, but it's in the $20000-$25000 range.

Hee hee. I made $1.49, despite my (for real) efforts to boycott my own book (I'm with you-know-who)

Still waiting for Dec. stats, but it's over $660 so far.

ETA: 3rd quarter is when I started to bring in revenue from retailers outside Sm@shwords. I had contemporary erotic romance short stories and a paranormal romance novella for sale, and a couple short stories for free. I've sold 156 copies of the novella since July that I know of. Two retailers have still only reported through Nov. 27th.

Unfortunately, one retailer has had a story of mine free that's supposed to be $0.99 and I only just discovered the problem still existed, so I don't know how much I've missed out on from that.

2010 was the first year of selling my work.

I really appreciate that you folks are willing to share your figures with the rest of us. hmmm ... I just realized that sentence could be taken two ways

Commiserations for those who didn't make very much, and better luck in 2011. I only started in June, so I can't really contribute. The books I have contracted with a publisher still look to be making more money than the ones I'm doing myself.

I'm not a self-publisher, but I'm interested in your numbers.

For better context, could we maybe hear about genre, # of titles available, pre-existing platform, etc.?

I launched my sing-along children's picture book in October. It's 8 1/2 x 11, 40 pages with full color illustration, and comes with a CD recording of the song. So far I've made between $800-900 (i'll know the exact number soon). I'm looking to take another step on 2011. I have a few paid author appearences in the next few months and I'm hoping that will help to propel sales.

Chris P said:

Hee hee. I made $1.49, despite my (for real) efforts to boycott my own book (I'm with you-know-who)

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You're with Voldemort?

zpeteman said:

I won't have exact numbers until I do my taxes, but it's in the $20000-$25000 range.

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Where are most of your book sales? Amazon has you at 147,000th. I'm at 50,000th and my revenues have been about $3,000. I figure you've got some awesome ideas for how to move your book in other venues, and I'd love to pick your brain!

Most sales are through the Rabbit Room store, followed by Amazon (Kindle included), brick and mortar stores and libraries (distributed through Ingram). Book fair/festival and author events also bring in a lot of sales.

Has Kindle been significantly profitable, or just a basic additional marketing move?

Primarily it's just a tool for gaining readership. The book is priced at $2.99 which is pretty hard to say no to, but even at a 70% royalty that does little more than keep the gas tank full. I'm not complaining, mind you. Sales are sales, and income is income. I think it will pay off when I release the second book on Kindle in the next couple of months. It will be priced in the $6-8 range and will be considerably more profitable.

EmpoweredOKC said:

You're with Voldemort?

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LOL! HA!!

I'm not self published, still querying my newest wip and considering it for the future, but it is really interesting to read these posts. Thank you all for sharing and for your candor.

Well, I made a total of $5.59 for my two children's e-books. That's a total of 5 sales and I couldn't be prouder. lol.

This thread is really great: thank you so much to all of you who have posted your numbers. It's very interesting, and very brave of you to go public.

I don't have my actual sales figures with me at the moment, but I can tell you that my book has been out for about nine weeks and I've sold 62 copies.

JRainey said:

I don't have my actual sales figures with me at the moment, but I can tell you that my book has been out for about nine weeks and I've sold 62 copies.

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I read the blurb, sounds like an interesting read. I think I'm about to make you a few cents richer my friend.

2010 Good, Looks like 2011 will be even better

Hi,

I published my historical mystery, Maids of Misfortune in Dec 2009, so my 2010 year includes 13 months (but I only sold 47 copies that first month.). Sales were slow the first 5-6 months, then took off with increases each month. December was fantastic, with most of my sales on Kindle. For 2010 I sold 4,625 books. What is most remarkable is that 42% of those sales came just in the last month, and since my average number of books sold in January is 108, it looks like 2011 is going to be great.

Most of my books sold are ebooks at the price of $2.99, with the 70% cut Amazon gives the author. You can do the math.

As a first time, self-published author, this is a level of success I never expected. Needless to say I am busy working on the sequel.

$19,095.11

I'm a little surprised - I just ran the PayPal report and this is almost double from the previous year so this will really throw my tax return off...

Nice job, guys.

This month, I lowered 2 stories to $.99 and $2.99 at Amazon respectively and it has already made a difference. I sold around 12 e-books there last year, vs. already 5 this month.

Still waiting to know how I did in Dec. elsewhere.

If you have a paranormal romance, I really suggest getting it on @pple's store....really good response, and international, too.

Latersbra said:

I read the blurb, sounds like an interesting read. I think I'm about to make you a few cents richer my friend.

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Hey, thanks very much. If you bought/end up buying it, enjoy!