Adventures in Epublishing: December Sales Round-Up

Okay, so I think I messed up a little on November's numbers.  I tried to show only my 'profit' on the paperbacks I sold myself, but really I should have put the money that I actually 'took in' all together, because the money I spent on the paperbacks will come out of the whole amount, as will my production costs.  I hope that makes some kind of sense.  That being said, November's profits were listed at $335.86 but I actually took in $492.86.  I'm going to stick with that from now on, so this month's numbers will show the amount of money I *actually* took in.  If I didn't have any production expenses, it would be all profit.  It's the buying/selling my own paperback copies that is screwing up the system!
Ebooks -30
Amazon.com -12
Amazon UK - 2
BarnesandNoble.com -14
Smashwords.com -2 (one via B&N before I pulled distribution)
Total: $59.06

Paperbacks Online - 2
Amazon.com - 2
CreateSpace.com - 0
Total: $4.84

Paperbacks (self) - 25
Total: $250.00
Total earned for the month of November: $313.91
Total copies sold December: 57

Overall Books Sold: 153
Overall Earned:  $810.89

*Remember ebooks retail for $2.99/paperbacks online $11.00/paperbacks sold by me $10*

This still leaves me $351.00 shy of breaking even per my costs.  $465 of the money taken in would actually have gone to pay for the paperbacks and I spent $694 on production costs (cover/formatting). I'm hoping that maybe January will see everything covered and then we'll be in pure profit mode, but realistically, I wont be selling my own paperbacks, which brought in nice money. I'm going to be dependent on online sales, and by looking at these numbers, 60 some dollars earned online is not $351.  I'm down to 3 paperback copies left of the 100 I purchased.  I am not planning on purchasing any more at this time, but will buy some in March for an author's fair in April.  So in order to break even, I'll need to sell 176 copies online in January--probably not happening.  That would be 6 copies a day.  My two biggest sale days in December brought in 4 sales one day, and 3 another.  But I do expect sales to increase as word gets around.  December was still a great month!

Some great things about December:
Selling almost an ebook a day.
Selling the remainder of the paperbacks (almost a paperback a day).
More visibility by joining the Kindle Boards.
Received some really nice reviews on Goodreads and Amazon.
Into the Shadows is now in a few libraries.
One newspaper interview/review lined up for January, 2011.
Lots of new readers.
Over 200 people have added to their 'to-read' list on Goodreads.


With 2-3 new books planned for a 2011 release, I do expect numbers to go up with each book, the more books available, the more for people to buy and read.  Also, Kindles have been selling out everywhere, meaning a lot more people have them after the holidays.  So here's to hoping they find Into the Shadows and give it a chance!

Best of luck on your Adventures in Epublishing in 2011!  If you have any questions/comments/etc. please leave them below and I (or others in the know) will answer them for you!

Comments

  1. Congrats, Karly! You're making a good deal more money than me. I'm up to about $200 total in 3 months. I also just posted my sales numbers on my blog, if you want to see the specifics.

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  2. Thanks Derek. I checked out your numbers too. It's so tough in the beginning. I have a feeling in 6 months our numbers will be quite different.

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