Here is my loverly chart:
As you may notice, my sales for March of this year were exactly the same for my sales in March of last year (2011). I was hoping for at least 1 more sale... it would be wonderful to have three months of growth... but I can settle for "same". For the year, I am still technically "up". I have high hopes for April, because I like to think with 13 titles I can beat a sales record of SIX! Starting in May is when I think I'll be really worried...
Another nice thing: my BBoS (Big Box of Shame, the brown box that Amazon puts across your sales chart when you have zero sales/the new month starts) is ALREADY gone for April! Yaysies :) A copy of "Shackled" moved, which I'll explain why that's interesting further on...
Also, 2 of the 3 months this year, I received royalty checks, which is of course, FANTASTIC ;)
Another thing of note (not pictured in this chart), 4 of my 9 sales (44%) were for my highest priced items at $3.99 and $4.99. In the end, sales are just a number until you can actually do something with the money you earn. I would have to sell 8.06 short stories to equal 1 copy of my $3.99 sold. 10.08 to match the $4.99. Ultimately, selling less was actually more for me (than if these had all be $0.99 shorts).
That really reinforces for me that I need to get one of these novels-in-progress finished! Not only for higher royalties, but because people really do seem to buy them at a better clip. It's a little sad, as I seem to be mastering short stories with every passing day :P
Speaking of which, a few days ago I finished up another short tentatively named, "Singularity". I'm considering turning it in for the Writer's of the Future contest, introduced to me by my good friend Kingswood but I haven't been able to grab him yet to question him about it. (Are you reading this? :P)
So I guess the only thing to do is get crackin' back at it!
