Saturday, November 19, 2011

Sales are strange!

I applaud Kindle and the new digital revolution for allowing me to publish and sell my books. I’ve spent the better part of the last twenty years writing non-stop and have accrued quite a collection. Like a diligent author, I market and promote heavily online, but have yet to hire an actual publicity person (that will come in time). That said, I just got my monthly royalty statement from Kindle Direct Publishing. Now, the amount won’t allow me to quit my job and move to Key West, but it’s a start. So, why have I given this post this title; because it’s true; sales are strange! Though my sales are steadily increasing each month, they are so wildly unpredictable it seems to have no logic. For example, I sold an average of three to ten books a day in October. And believe me, I’m very happy with those numbers. But here’s the thing, doing everything exactly the same: same marketing, promotion, and social media postings, my sales completely cut off so far this month. Literally, not one sale for the last two weeks. Then, this morning I checked and I’ve got sales. Lots of sales. Now, I don’t know if Kindle stats have been down for the last two weeks or what, but the numbers are in. To all who bought a book yesterday, thanks! And to whatever book-Gods there may be floating around in the celestial heavens, thanks for this magic spell.

And please check out my latest interview.
http://susanwhitfield.blogspot.com/2011/11/neil-ostroffs-insectland.html

4 comments:

  1. Congrats on the good sales! Digital publishing is a great new venue for up and coming authors, but it CAN be rather challenging at times, so I applaud you for sticking to it. Sounds like you've got some good things coming. =)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congratulations on your sales! This gives me insight on what to expect should I go into digital publishing. And the book-Gods? I haven't known of one yet but I sure hope they are around. Great post!

    Nancy @ Simple Clockwork
    http://www.nancycudis.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's strange that I should come across your blog post today as I am thinking the exact same thoughts. I often think that marketing doesn't have as much of an impact as some people may think. Like you say, you consistently put the same amount of effort in but the results aren't always the same. I think luck plays a part too and many other factors like - are people buying books to read on holiday, are they buying books as gifts for other people?
    http://lkwattsconfessions.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congrats on the sales! I'm hoping to finish my first this year, so I'll be in that position soon.

    Trev @ trevsliteraryreview.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete