Year-on-Year, February 2012

I started my indie journey in February 2011. That was when I published my first completed novel, "Shackled". When I started, I was honestly relieved that I had finally "written that novel" that I intended. So many people say they think they'll write a book, or they have this great story without a single word scrawled anywhere.

Good intentions don't actually amount to anything without action.

I feel like I'm sounding preachy, so sorry about that.

I now have sales data from a year's worth of sales. That's to say, of my own work (obviously). Yes, I have learned a lot about the "bidness". A few unshakable things I have determined:

1. Being previously traditionally published DOES help your ebook sales.
2. Marketing CAN help your ebook sales. (It CAN also hurt your image.)
3. Customers' desires for reading material do not always make sense.
4. Patience is the long game.

There have been a number of people who strike it big with that first novel, or first whatever on Amazon, etc. I am not one of them. I am solidly the backbone of the writing industry - the mid-list author. Do I think I could still "make it big"? Absolutely. Just not in my first year - and I'm learning to be okay with that. Do I think being mid-list makes my writing poor quality? Absolutely NOT. I think I have a fair number of reviews to back me up on that.

And one last point I will touch on, but briefly and as delicately concise as possible: Do I think everyone that writes a book should publish it? NO. The fact is, we are not all created equally and some people are just not writers. I am not a lacrosse player. I am not much of a skier. I can't identify birds by their call, nor am I particularly good at folding laundry (or keeping my socks matched). Some people are writers, some are not. I believe I am a writer.

I believe interest in my work is growing. With the massive amount of marketing I've done (read: none), I am not surprised that my sales are still small while others around me are reaching peaks of 5, 10, 100k sold. Yet, I constantly see while they spend a lot of time pushing their first book, I've gotten three or four new works up for sale. This is the key of the mid-list author - write something good. Then write something else good, so that after your first good thing has been read, the reader can move onto your next good thing. This frees up a lot of marketing time for me to do what I do best - the writing craft. And while I'm not paying the mortgage or buying fancy chocolates, my royalty checks are increasing in both amount and frequency. I still feel confident that one day they will pay my bills and still leave me at the leisure to write as I please. It just may be another year, or a few 'nother years down the road ;)

So anyway. I know what you're really here for - the pretty graph. Here are my year-on-year sales (in units) through February 2012. Please also remember, my first work was published February 2011 - so there was nothing for sale January 2011.

Comments welcome!

July 2011 Sales Update

I felt at the end of last month that my sales this month would not be as high. I had a few reasons for my belief. First(ly), I had someone purchase all my works in one big swoop (5 sales). I also was featured on Daily Cheap Reads Jr. These provided a little more than my average exposure (none but enthusiastic book bloggers). Another reason for my belief was that my release was very late in the month (the 27th). This only allowed 5 days for the new release to sparkle in July... not even a full week! So some residual sales were probably lost (but are being picked up early August).

Despite these things, I only fell short of last month's sales by 2... TWO! I believe this month and through the end of the year should go up, up and up! So, onto the chart!

My July sales totaled 25 units. That is about 92.59% of June. I was expecting more around 20, so I was pleasantly surprised :)

Since I put my first book up for sale in February, I have sold 92 units. 27.17% of those were in June. My sales last month were 40.29% of my total, so the percentage has dropped. While this seems down dramatically, please also note that my TOTAL units sold INCREASED 37.31%. So, having the same number sell each month (or less) of course the percentage will drop, if for no other reason than there are more "points". Think of it like school grades in school. The more points there are, the less each individual point is worth...

"Thug" has been slow on the uptake. The first four days saw six sales, where I was expecting closer to 7-10. But I'm not worried, because there is a lot in the world to read and I'm sure fans of the series will come around to grab it up eventually (or even soon!).

17 of my sales (68%) came on or after "Thug"'s release (July 27th). This is down from 77.77% in June, but that's kind of a good thing. It meant my sales were more evenly spread across July, not all coming in a big lump like at the end of June. This was definitely better for my overall mental state throughout the month :P But it was also exciting to see sales more often.

July had my highest number of DAYS with sales, at 12/31 - 38.71%!

In June I averaged .9/day in sales. In July: .81. Ah, it went down, but that's okay. It is literally the difference between two sales.

Smashwords was 4% of my sales this month (down from 18.51%). B&N was 24% of my sales, up from 22.22%. Amazon was a whopping 72% of my sales!

Best-selling rank so far:
#1 - Cheat, 31
#2 - Liar, 16
#3 - Shackled, 14
#4 - Coward, 13
#5 - Thief, 12
#6 - Thug, 6

Onto conversions! Remember, I want at least 50% conversion, and I think 75% is great!

So, as follows:

Cheat - Liar; 31 - 16 (51.61%) June saw 47.82%, so that conversion rate has risen! That means people who picked up "Cheat" before have read it and decided to move on in the series :) I hit my 50% conversion, so yay!

Liar - Coward; 16 - 13 (81.25%) Well, this is down from 100%, but both numbers increased, meaning people are getting more into the story! I am still well above the awesome 75% mark, so I am very pleased.

Coward - Thief; 13 - 12 (92.31%) This number has risen almost 11%! I think that is great. It is startlingly close to 100% and well above both the 50 and 75% benchmarks. I have nothing bad to say about these numbers, either :)

Thief - Thug; 12 - 6 (50%) I have hit the 50% goal marker, so I am happy. As I mentioned, "Thug" was slow on the uptake, but I believe early August will see more sales of it.

I'm going to introduce a new section here, at least for this month. We can talk about "units" and percentages, but I thought it might be a little bit of an eye-opener to see how much I am actually making. (Here's a hint: not much :D) So, I've prepared two charts for you. The first is a breakdown of ALL the royalties I've earned since the beginning of my "journey" if you will (since February 2011). It is broken down by vendor. Please check it out:

This second chart is a breakdown, by month, of the royalties I've earned (not vendor exclusive). Because of the "rules" of royalties by the vendors, anything less than $10 in a month means you don't get royalties until that account balance reaches $10. In (very late) June I received my first royalty check from Amazon... for February, March and April! I won't receive another one until (at the earliest, late) August :( But, I finally hit $10 at both B&N AND Smashwords this month, so I should receive THREE in August! :D So enough blathering and here is the chart:

Final Notes:
I feel like I'm pretty on track with where I should be, from July. I'm hoping to be swept up in the big Christmas rush season. As the weather cools down and more people turn back to reading, I offer a nice, affordable body of work to peruse. I also think that writing YA will help fill the void left behind by Twilight or Harry Potter, especially since HP is coming to the ebook world. Hopefully those readers will be looking for their next big reading fix and they will come upon me :)

My July goals were 30/40/50 (achievable/happy/excitement). I'm not totally surprised I didn't meet my achievable, but I was pleasantly surprised by beating my pessimism. Boons last month aside, I did well on my own this month :)

If I were going to give someone advice, from this point, I would say: TITLES MATTER! I'm not talking what the book is called, I'm talking having works out there for people to snap up after they read something else of yours. If someone isn't buying X, they might be buying Y, Z, A, N, or P! (I have 6 titles, so I used that for reference, hah.) While I have no proof that people finish "Cheat" and immediately buy "Liar"... the sales pattern strongly reflects it...

So why are you still here? Get writing! Okay, I'll give you just one last little bit, and then you better GET WRITING! (If you're aiming to meet/exceed me) :)

I feel a little confident about August, so here are my August goals:

Achievable: 35
Happy: 40
Excitement: 50

Thanks for sticking around and I'd love to know what you think!

May 2011 Sales Update (Updated with Conversion)

Okay, I'll be honest, I've wanted to post a sales update since about Mid-may. I had an exceptional month - my best so far! So here's my sales chart and I'll break down some info for you :)

My May sales totaled 21 units. That is a whopping 250% increase in sales! (Total was 350% of previous month's sales.)

Since I put my first book up for sale in February, I have sold 40 units. 21 of those were in May! (52.5%)

"Coward" exploded out of the gate this month with 6 sales in 5 days! Well, 6 isn't actually an explosion, but since my total for last month's sales were 6, it was impressive to me :)

I have noticed an exciting trend. I have random single sales of "Cheat". Then, a few days later, I see sales of all following titles in the IH series. So, "Cheat" only has 3.5 stars on Amazon at the moment, but it's interesting enough for people to want to continue reading :)

I have more YA titles than anything. HOWEVER, I submitted that piece to 12 Worlds and I really think it's helping sales of "Shackled". Whereas April saw no sales, May had 3!

In April I made $2.10 in royalties. In May, $12.56. That is almost a 500% increase :P Not hardly a living wage yet, but can you imagine if that increase stayed month to month...!!

This chart doesn't reflect it, but since about mid-April, I have never gone more than 5 days without a sale.

In April I averaged .2 sales/day. In May, .68! That is a 240% increase in sales per day :) Though, I will freak out when that number reaches at least 1/day!

B&N got in the game this time! I had 5 sales on their platform :)

Best-selling rank so far:
#1 - Cheat, 14
#2 - Shackled, 11
#3 - Liar, 8
#4 - Coward, 7

Update: I forgot to post the conversion rates, so I want to do that now :)
The conversion from Cheat > Liar was 14 > 8, about 58%. That is up from 37.5% conversion in April. Awesome!

From Liar > Coward, 8 > 7, 87.5%!! That's great! This number is a little skewed. I know at least one person that bought Coward on 2 platforms because they are an awesome fan :) So if I take that into account, the conversion is actually 8 > 6, still 75%!

I would like to aim for at least 50% conversion, with 75% being the ideal. (I think 100% will be unrealistic.) So the Cheat > Liar realized that goal and Liar > Coward blew it out of the water! Maybe my writing is getting better? :)

My last notes:
I like to picture myself standing in the trough of April, craning my neck at the angle of my total line for May. I imagine my head tipping back, back, and further back until I fall. It makes me smile :)

I had a nagging fear I wouldn't see any sales in June until "Thief" released. June 1st, I had my first sale for June, so I'm not skunked! I am pleased :)

Due, in part, to the large jump, I am making my goals for June modest. My achievable goal is 25, my happy goal is 30 and my excitement goal is 50!

Behind... to Catch Up! (Bonus Material: Fun Chart!)

For some reason, when April was nearing a close I thought to myself, "Coward is due to publish by May 18th. I therefore have at least twenty days to finish writing it."

Then, in a conversation the other day, someone mentioned my progress on "Coward". I said, "Oh yeah, it needs to be completely ready by the 16th. I'm way ahead. I have 14 days to write... 16k words. Er... maybe I'm not as ahead as I thought..."

So, I've been working hard to get it ready! As a consequence, I sent out the TrAuSt questions for tomorrow late, so I will probably post it Thursday this week. Please stop back to learn a little bit more about Coral Russell!

B&N switched over to May sales today, so I think it's safe to say I can count all my sales for April from them on no hands (Read: ZERO).

I saw a slump in sales in April. By slump, I mean I had 9 sales in March and 6 in April. April was 150% of my first month's (February) sales (4), but 66.6% of my March sales (9). I missed my target sales (20) by a whopping 70%...

HOWEVER. Much to my incredibly voluble and excited surprise, the first three days of May have already equaled my April sales... I attribute this in large part to the fact that "Cheat" (the first episode of the IH series) is beginning to show up in the "Customers also bought" portion of Amazon.

I won't lie, I'm already immensely relieved and grateful to have met last months sales in three days. It takes a lot of negative pressure off me for this month. If I can't surpass, I want to maintain! But, I can't very well say it's fine after only three days... so I'm (almost arbitrarily) setting my goal for this month at 200% of last month (12).

Here's what I'm extrapolating my data from:

One really positive thing I can say is that at least 3 people picked up "Liar"! Hopefully that means they read "Cheat" and wanted to know the next little bit. If that's true than of the 8 copies of "Cheat" that sold, I saw a 37.5% conversion to continue my series. (Of course, that's assuming they read "Cheat" first and didn't just pick up the one they wanted because they are supposed to be stand-alone.)

So, I'm still poking around in the low numbers, haven't broken 10 sales/month yet, but I'm hoping to have good news to report next month.

FYI: ALL of my sales, save for 3 copies of "Shackled" and 1 of "Cheat" were sold through Amazon.

Based on my exhausting research, authors tend to sell better after they have 3~6 titles available. I just broke 3, and my works are starting to show up in the "also bought" feature. Here's to a good May! (We deserve some of those May flowers in Ohio... it rained all but 8 days in April!)

Cheers!

Update: New header! If you didn't notice :)