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!

June 2011 Sales Update

Well, June was quite the month for me! Though I spent the greater part of it spiraling down into a black vortex of utter despair, the last week really looked up for me :P So let's get to graphin' and break down some information!

First of all, as you can see, I outsold last month! That is always fantastic :) So, June gave me a new record sales high.

My June sales totaled 27 units. That is about 128.5% of May. A 25%+ increase from the previous month is fantastic, I think! It may build slowly at first, but 25% really adds up over time!

Since I put my first book up for sale in February, I have sold 67 units. 40.29% of those were in May. My sales last month were 52.5% of my total, so the percentage has dropped. However, I still sold more units that last month, so that is great!

Last month I thought "Coward" exploded into the world with 6 sales in 5 days. Well, imagine my surprise when "Thief" sold 7 its first day! Then it picked up an eighth copy the next day. And a ninth about a week later :) It was well on track to being my top seller for the month, but "Cheat" caught up! (I am not complaining.)

In fact, the day "Thief" released has been my single highest day of sales. With 7 "Thief" sales, I had 6 other sales, for a total of 13 for the day... 48% of my sales for the month! :O

Now for some attributions... my excellent cover artist recommended me and swung a reader my way for 5 sales. I was featured on Daily Cheap Reads Jr. and saw three sales that day, one of each of the titles they listed. Finally, Man Eating Bookworm held a giveaway and that counted for 3 more. So 11 sales (40.7%) were the direct result of OTHER's work. Thanks guys!!!

21 of my sales (77.77%) of my sales came ON or AFTER "Thief"'s release (June 22nd). Do you see why I said swirling vortex of despair earlier? ;)

I sold less copies of "Shackled" where I get 70% royalties; more of my novellas, where I get 35%. But, I believe I still made about 40 cents more than last month. Yay :)

I lost my 5-day no sale streak :( In June I went a tortuous 14 days with no sales. Then another 7. Then "Thief" hit :) I would also like to mention that I changed the listings of my YA pieces to a broader category. I believe it contributed to more hits after "Thief" released.

In May I averaged .68 sales/day. In June, .9/day! Ooooh, so close!! :)

B&N stayed in the game this month. They accounted for 22.22% of my sales. Smashwords was 18.51% and Amazon 59.25%.

Best-selling rank so far:
#1 - Cheat, 23
#2 - Shackled, 13
#3 - Liar, 11
#4 - Coward, 11
#5 - Thief, 9

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

So, as follows:

Cheat - Liar; 23 - 11 (47.82%) I think this is great! It's shy of 50%, but I also understand people don't read everything they grab right away. I believe this number will improve. Currently, it is down from 58% in May.

Liar - Coward; 11 - 11 (100%) What do I even say to that?? It is the mystical 100% conversion. I couldn't be happier :)

Coward - Thief; 11 - 9 (81.82%) If 75% is fantabulous, then I am on a roll :) I am very satisfied with that conversion rate! Now we just need to keep that rate while increasing the numbers they deal with.. ;)

Final Notes:
I was utterly in crisis during the beginning of the month. I was very much in a "this is the end, woe is me" mood over my highly lackluster sales. Thanks everyone for turning my month around when "Thief" came out! It was a very nice way to end the month. I will try to keep it firmly in mind if I go two weeks without sales in July...

My June goals were 25 (achievable), 30 (happy) and 50 (excitement). I passed my achievable goal and almost reached my happy goal! I'm trying to take into account this month, and what I've learned. I also know that the boons I had this month may be nonexistent next month. I don't really want to set my goals lower than what I did this month, so with a bit of trepidation, here are my July goals:

Achievable: 30
Happy: 40
Excitement: 50

If you've read to here, thanks for reading! Please leave any comments you may have, because I'd love to know what you think about my June sales :)