Adventures in Epublishing: January Sales Round-Up
Okay, on this blizzardy Wednesday I'm breaking down my numbers for January and also taking a look at my little 99 cents experiment to gather whether it was worthwhile.
Ebooks -80
Amazon.com -25
Amazon UK -5
BarnesandNoble.com -48
Smashwords.com -2
Total: $81.14
Paperbacks Online - 2
Amazon.com -1
CreateSpace.com -1
Total: $7.04
Paperbacks (self) -1
Total: $5.35
Total earned for the month of January: $93.53
Total copies sold January: 83
Overall Books Sold to date: 240
Overall Earned to date: $912.18
I'm still $257.47 shy of clearing costs, again, keep in mind $465 of that overall earned money had to cover the paperbacks I purchased to sell. The good thing is I will be at an authors fair in April and will have paperbacks to sell again...so I can hopefully bring in a nice boost of money. I won't need to hand out any freebies either! It will take about 2 more months of sales like this month to finally cover all costs. And then we're making pure profit. On my next book, Bloody Little Secrets, I was able to secure a cover for $200 less than I paid for Into the Shadows. Meaning I'd be nearly breaking even at this point.
Let's look at our little 99 cents experiment. The idea is to not be losing money based on what I most likely 'would' have sold at $2.99. I was averaging a book a day, selling 25 copies at $2.99 from Jan. 1-20. I changed the price to .99 and sold 55 copies in 11 days (Jan. 20-31), at 5 copies a day, most at Barnes & Noble, where I only need to sell 5/day to equal the royalties of 1/day. So technically I didn't lose money, but I also didn't increase my earnings. I did, however sell many more ebooks than last month (80 vs. 34) and am finally selling copies to people I don't know. I'm going to leave it there a little longer before changing it back, just to give it a little more time.
Also, I'm killing (relatively speaking, of course!) on Barnes & Noble (48 vs. 25 at Amazon) for which I have no explanation. My book doesn't appear any more visible, and I'm not on any best seller lists at either location. Maybe I can chalk it up to Goodreads traffic. Not sure.
I also added some key words to my title, in hopes of popping up in more searches in both sites. For example the title now lists it as Into the Shadows (a young adult paranormal novel), so I'm hoping that when people search for young adult, or paranormal, my title will show up.
Some great things about January:
I doubled my ebook sales from the previous month.
I started an epublishing label with two other authors (DarkSide Publishing) and we'll be publishing quite a few new titles this year.
My blog followers have really increased in January (thanks guys!).
My next book, Bloody Little Secrets, is creeping ever closer to completion.
I appeared in the DePaulia, DePaul University's newspaper.
What I should do in February (aside from finishing Bloody Little Secrets)...contact more book bloggers. The ones I contacted before didn't get back to me and some that have contacted me from overseas would like paper copies, which I don't have at the moment. If there are any book bloggers reading this that would like an ebook, email me at karlykirkpatrick@gmail.com and I'll hook you up!
Don't forget you can win one of 4 copies (3 ebooks/one paperback) on I Am A Reader Not A Writer's blog. Contest ends February 18th. Good luck!
http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/2011/01/author-interview-book-giveaway-into.html
Ebooks -80
Amazon.com -25
Amazon UK -5
BarnesandNoble.com -48
Smashwords.com -2
Total: $81.14
Paperbacks Online - 2
Amazon.com -1
CreateSpace.com -1
Total: $7.04
Paperbacks (self) -1
Total: $5.35
Total earned for the month of January: $93.53
Total copies sold January: 83
Overall Books Sold to date: 240
Overall Earned to date: $912.18
I'm still $257.47 shy of clearing costs, again, keep in mind $465 of that overall earned money had to cover the paperbacks I purchased to sell. The good thing is I will be at an authors fair in April and will have paperbacks to sell again...so I can hopefully bring in a nice boost of money. I won't need to hand out any freebies either! It will take about 2 more months of sales like this month to finally cover all costs. And then we're making pure profit. On my next book, Bloody Little Secrets, I was able to secure a cover for $200 less than I paid for Into the Shadows. Meaning I'd be nearly breaking even at this point.
Let's look at our little 99 cents experiment. The idea is to not be losing money based on what I most likely 'would' have sold at $2.99. I was averaging a book a day, selling 25 copies at $2.99 from Jan. 1-20. I changed the price to .99 and sold 55 copies in 11 days (Jan. 20-31), at 5 copies a day, most at Barnes & Noble, where I only need to sell 5/day to equal the royalties of 1/day. So technically I didn't lose money, but I also didn't increase my earnings. I did, however sell many more ebooks than last month (80 vs. 34) and am finally selling copies to people I don't know. I'm going to leave it there a little longer before changing it back, just to give it a little more time.
Also, I'm killing (relatively speaking, of course!) on Barnes & Noble (48 vs. 25 at Amazon) for which I have no explanation. My book doesn't appear any more visible, and I'm not on any best seller lists at either location. Maybe I can chalk it up to Goodreads traffic. Not sure.
I also added some key words to my title, in hopes of popping up in more searches in both sites. For example the title now lists it as Into the Shadows (a young adult paranormal novel), so I'm hoping that when people search for young adult, or paranormal, my title will show up.
Some great things about January:
I doubled my ebook sales from the previous month.
I started an epublishing label with two other authors (DarkSide Publishing) and we'll be publishing quite a few new titles this year.
My blog followers have really increased in January (thanks guys!).
My next book, Bloody Little Secrets, is creeping ever closer to completion.
I appeared in the DePaulia, DePaul University's newspaper.
What I should do in February (aside from finishing Bloody Little Secrets)...contact more book bloggers. The ones I contacted before didn't get back to me and some that have contacted me from overseas would like paper copies, which I don't have at the moment. If there are any book bloggers reading this that would like an ebook, email me at karlykirkpatrick@gmail.com and I'll hook you up!
Don't forget you can win one of 4 copies (3 ebooks/one paperback) on I Am A Reader Not A Writer's blog. Contest ends February 18th. Good luck!
http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/2011/01/author-interview-book-giveaway-into.html
I followed this over from Kindleboards. While it's always inspiring to read the meteoric rise to success some of our fellow indies are experiencing, I find posts like these equally inspiring. Thanks for sharing. :)
ReplyDeleteI too followed from Kindleboards, and I just wanted to say great work. It is a slow and steady process, but I think you're doing everything right. Still a little new myself, and so far everything still seems so experimental.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to say I LOVE your cover for Into the Shadows. Gonna have to pick up a copy of that.
Thanks guys! I like to think this is probably more the norm for most of us, always increasing, but not selling thousands a month. We're getting our stories out there and people are enjoying them, and really, I think that's a great great thing! Good luck to you guys as well!
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks Jenny!
Congrats, karly! I especially like the info about your 99 cent experiment. I'm debating whether or not to raise the price of one of my books from 99 to 2.99. Your experience gives me pause. ;)
ReplyDeleteDerek's blog
Congrats - Keep at it and every month will get better.
ReplyDeleteI trust in an take heart more from this type of post than what one sees from JA Konrath and the like.
ReplyDelete:D Erik...yep, I'm just one of the regular folks, although I hope someday to sell like Joe. Or Robin and her husband! :D
ReplyDelete