# one sale a day support group



## Rory Miller (Oct 21, 2010)

I know I should be happy I'm at the point of a sale a day, but boy is it nerve wrecking to wait for that sale! Any others in the club? Advice?


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

I'm still in that general range. (I sold 42 last month, and so far I'm at 29 for this month.)  The key is to work on getting more stuff out there.


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## harpwriter (Sep 28, 2010)

Ignore it and keep writing and marketing!  I'm running about 2-1/2 books these days (don't know what these people do with half my book, but whatever...).  I don't look at dtp sometimes for a week or more at a stretch, so when I do, it's a very pleasant surprise!


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## Philip Chen (Aug 8, 2010)

I just dropped my price to $0.99 across all platforms to see if it will shake this baby out of its lethargy.  I have been averaging about 1-2 books per day, despite really great reviews and even a book critic recommendation.  

Another thing I am doing is sponsoring book giveaways on KindleBoards, MobileReads, Kindle Users forum (UK), Nook Forums, Amazon Forums and Amazon UK forums.


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## LeighSaunders (Jan 17, 2011)

Don't sit around waiting for the daily sale -- it's like watching paint dry or waiting for the water to boil: that way lies madness!!!  

Just keep writing and putting more stories up. Short fiction, novellas, novels, whatever you feel like. Quantity & quality will help boost those sales numbers far more than watching them trickle in.


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## Consuelo Saah Baehr (Aug 27, 2010)

It gets better. Slowly, but consistently.  I would say this would be my support group,too.   After four months, I'm beginning to see two or even three sales on some days even though I have six books for sale.  My price is 2.99  for four of the books and that may be a deal breaker but these are full length novels and I think they are worth 2.99.  And the 99 cent books have sold poorly.   

Be sure to participate in #SampleSunday on Twitter (you'll find the thread here). A great new marketing tool.  

You can get a great deal of good solid advice and encouragement here.  

my best,  CSB


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## Guest (Jan 17, 2011)

Haha, I'm just a couple above this. I had 10 or 12 yesterday (the best excluding my Kindle Nation Sponsorship day), and I almost fell out of my seat. I was hoping it was the start of a fabulous new trend, but Monday is here and it seems not (though I suppose there are still a few more hours in the day ). 

We'll get there, guys!


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## Rory Miller (Oct 21, 2010)

. Oh. I'm still writing, just wanted an area for those with a sales trickle. When i get back on a computer (instead of this phone), i'm going to make someone on this thread's day by doubling thier sales for the day!


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

harpwriter said:


> Ignore it and keep writing and marketing! I'm running about 2-1/2 books these days (don't know what these people do with half my book, but whatever...). I don't look at dtp sometimes for a week or more at a stretch, so when I do, it's a very pleasant surprise!


Can you loan me your willpower. Laura

Really though, it does get better. Do giveaways, find blogs to review or feature your work. Pop onto the forums regularly. But don't stop writing that next book.

My first few months were a trickle. Sometimes I get bummed on slow days (like today), but then I look back at last month and the month before and see it going steadily upward. And it _does_ help to get more than one book out. Hang in there.


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## Karly Kirkpatrick (Dec 13, 2010)

I am SO in this club! It's my third month of sales and I averaged a book a day in December and am holding steady in January thanks to a couple of days of 3-4 sales.  It makes me crazy to look and see no new sales on a day, so I try to look only once or twice a day and keep working on new stuff and marketing.  I have a couple of interviews in local college papers this month, so I'm hoping maybe I'll be able to maintain my book a day for January.  Hoping it'll increase soon!  Best of luck everyone!


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## Gordon Ryan (Aug 20, 2010)

LeighSaunders said:


> Don't sit around waiting for the daily sale -- it's like watching paint dry or waiting for the water to boil: that way lies madness!!!


Leigh is absolutely correct about the "watch pot." (Yet, I keep an open window minimized and peek every once in awhile.) What is my most disruptive element is the time I need to spend on several forum, posting with my signature block containing links to my books, as part of the marketing program. I need to be writing more and posting less, but if I do, then sales drop off. It seems that those links (book cover images on KB and page links on Amazon) are the real source of spontaneous purchases. When I visit the sites for a couple of hours, post on various threads, NEVER talk about MY book, but have the link at the bottom, sales occur. When I avoid the forums, they do not.

So, for the Indie, marketing is as important as writing.

Gordon Ryan


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

I aspire to one a day.  Thought I might have it nailed, as I had one sale a day for the past three days.  Alas, today, I'm back in the dumps.

Oh, well . . . it was nice while it lasted.

On the upside, I'm expecting a big boost over the next two days, one from DailyCheapReads, the other from Linda Prather's blog.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

Gordon and R. Doug:

This is why I worry sometimes when I see all the "price at 99 to get your momentum up!" and other hurry-up threads.  It's not so much how people price or market, but rather the idea that they HAVE to hurry it up NOW -- when maybe now is when to ignore the rankings and sales figures and just write.

Maybe it would be best to get off the marketing merry-go-round until you have at least a couple of books, so that you'll get more out of your marketing time.

Camille


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## dltanner99 (Sep 9, 2010)

It's really tough to keep going back and forth, to see how your sales are doing, but after doing all you can to market your book, it's alot like watching the microwave running. It'll go on without you. It's hard to tell what motivates readers, but I bought a book that helped me pick out the topic of my fourth novel. It was called "Just Give Them What They Want!", and that is absolutely true! My cryptofiction novels did really well, but only moderately now. My fourth is a 15th-century conspiracy theory take on the Shroud of Turin. 

It's been done several times before - all regarding cloning Jesus from the DNA. As a researcher, I know it can't happen. So I delved into the true nature of the Holy Grail and voila! As was put so eloquently elsewhere, just pick out your next topic, and move closer to that target. We can't keep up with the paranormal romance and hard-boiled thrillers, but that isn't what motivates and inspires us. We wrote what we like, and what we knew. I stirred yo a hornets nest with my contention in the book.

Don't get down about how many books you sell, it is no indication of the quality. It is strictly a numbers game. 1 out of 10 people who view your book have bought it. The question is, what are you doing to try and draw 100, 1,000, or even 10,000?


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## harpwriter (Sep 28, 2010)

N. Gemini Sasson said:


> Can you loan me your willpower. Laura


What I need is someone to loan me willpower to just stay off the internet completely! I think I just never got in the habit because I didn't even know dtp was THERE at first!


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## Talia Jager (Sep 22, 2010)

I am averaging 1 sale every 1-2 days. Right after Christmas, it "soared" to 2-3 a day and now it's back down. At least it's steady. I'm just hoping that as more people read it, they will spread the word.


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## P.A. Woodburn (May 22, 2010)

I'm selling more than one a day in the UK,but in the US it sure is one or two a day. I am finding it really hard to work on that second book.
I don't think I'm a short story person at all. I have no idea why I sell better in the UK. For a while I was selling one a day or less in the UK so who knows maybe the US will break out. It is beyond me how readers chose books.
Ann


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## Pamela (Oct 6, 2010)

Hi to Gordon and dltanner,

You both are very prolific.  I am going crazy and spending much too much time on promotion, it seems.  With so many novels for each of you, I wonder how you can do the necessary marketing and keep producing novels.

The problem, for me, is that my novels are in three different genres.  I have to find different blogs and forums for each separate book.  That's so time consuming.  I can't market all of my work in say, paranormal, or romance, or science fiction.  

We all appreciate your feedback.

Thanks


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## xandy3 (Jun 13, 2010)

I'm definitely a member of this "One Sale A Day" Club.  

But, being the "glass half full" person that I am, I have been seeing it as a tremendous improvement from one I was selling one or two per month (when I first started publishing on Kindle). 

I am hoping it will pick up momentum soon.  But, I suspect it is a "slow build" type of thing...

It's all about getting the word out about you and your writing, and building a strong online presence.  At least that's what I think.


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## Mr. RAD (Jan 4, 2011)

Oh how I wish I were a member of this club!  I hope my pricing change (from $2.99 to $0.99) will gain me membership.  *Fingers crossed*


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## Steve Silkin (Sep 15, 2010)

i do not sell even one a day. i sell two or three a week. i'm impressed every time i see a sale.


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## Mel Comley (Oct 13, 2010)

Keep faith it does get better. But the more interaction you have with the readers the better

Mel


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## Debi F (Nov 10, 2010)

I'm not in the 1 a day club yet, either -- heck I'm just looking for double digits in a month! (but this may be the month . . . ;-) )

But I'm writing, trying to interact with readers, attempting to create a good online presence . . . 

Hopefully the persistence will work in the end. Right? Right? Tell me I'm not crazy here.


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## Theresa M Moore (Nov 19, 2010)

Hi, I'm relatively new to this forum. I have been selling 11 Kindle books for about 2 years now, and I think my peak occurred at the end of 2008. Since then I have sold maybe 6 of anything in a month. I have advertised and marketed my brains out, and of all 11, only all 3 nonfiction books have sold well. My fiction is in the tank. It does not help the situation to keep cranking out stuff, throw it against the wall and hope something sticks. Produce books well, produce what you love. Quantity will never win against quality, and lowering your price to 99 cents will not help sales either. There are readers who think that a cheap price means a cheap book. You are up against free books, too.

Lately I have been tempted to throw my hands up in disgust and just walk away. When a writer does that, it means it's hard for everybody. Hope springs eternal in this market. It does not matter if your ts are crossed or your is are dotted. If nobody buys the book, how can anyone know if it is good or not?


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## traceya (Apr 26, 2010)

I'm another one who sells in bits and pieces. Sometimes nothing for days then I'll get a couple all at once. I think luck and timing play their part, being able to market well is also important [something I'm lousy at] but I'm happy even though my numbers are still small. Each sale is wonderful and knowing that people are reading my work even better. And then those good reviews are just icing on the cake.

In the meantime I'll just keep writing, writing the things I want to write - which we have the freedom to do with DTP - and who knows maybe one day I'll be selling hundreds or thousands but until then I'll just be happy with the small readership I have.


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## Yusagi (Jan 21, 2010)

RorySM said:


> I know I should be happy I'm at the point of a sale a day, but boy is it nerve wrecking to wait for that sale! Any others in the club? Advice?


I think the best support might be to consider there's a club of us who only sell one a month  One a day is pretty awesome if you think about it like that, yeah? \o


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## Daphne (May 27, 2010)

So far this month I've averaged a heady two a day - although I retain the right to be part of the "One a Day Club".  The way I look at it - there will always be someone with better sales, always someone starting out slowly, but as long as somebody is reading and enjoying your book (once a month is fine), your time is well spent. Congratulations to everyone!


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## Theresa M Moore (Nov 19, 2010)

Well for the last month (and even before that) I've been feeling like Donna Noble has been saved too soon, too.   Christmas sales were dismal at best, what with the weather and other things interfering with the holiday shopping spirit. I expect that is part of it. But here's the thing: the print books have not sold. I had 2 in November and that was it. While I applaud the idea about my ebooks being available everywhere under the sun, I don't see the point in publishing in print anymore, and that makes me very sad. Where are all these people who say that print isn't dead? Oh, that's right, they've all got Kindles now. In the huge rush for convenience, the art of bookmaking has had a stake driven through its heart. No more leatherbound volumes, no more art books, no more bookstores. I can see it happening in the next five years at this rate.

It's late, I'm tired, and I've got to finish the book I am working on now. See ya.


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## Yusagi (Jan 21, 2010)

...


antellus said:


> Well for the last month (and even before that) I've been feeling like Donna Noble has been saved too soon, too.


Now...that cannot mean what I immediately think it does, so. What?


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## Philip Chen (Aug 8, 2010)

What I need is another real-life event right out of the pages of my book to happen, again.


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## dltanner99 (Sep 9, 2010)

With "The Cryptids Trilogy", I wrote what I like, and they've sold well, over the past decade. With "The Shroud", I wrote more to the mainstream, and have sold thousands of copies, so far, in just over a year. I think the key is to strike a balance, and write in a genre others are reading that you enjoy, yourself. There is a middle ground. If you try to write what others like, but not yourself, the lack of enthusiasm shines through. Everyone has a niche in which they can be successful - the quest is to find the one best suited for you, your interests and talents. regardless, it is no reflection on you and your book. Once again, it is simply a numbers game as to how may see your book, roughly a 1 to 10 ratio. Hang in there!


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## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

My sales are usually 1 a day, but, then there are times when I get 5 or 6 in one day, then nothing for a week, usually. Drives me crazy.


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## Gerald (Dec 11, 2010)

Ha! Nice thread  

Although I'm a bit of an imposter here - my two little collections are treading water nicely at 2/3 of a book a day, which I'm actually quite pleased with. They're collections of shorts and flash fiction, at around 15k words, so they're not going to be an easy sell. But I trudge around the forums and Facebook and Twitter and the #SundaySample tweets, and keep them in peoples' faces without pushing them too hard.

I think for people at our level, people aren't going to find us in the bestseller lists, or even at the top of popular genre lists, but we keep plugging away.


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

December was my first month where I averaged slightly better than 1 sale/day. Most of that was driven by my new book, The Girl Who Ran With Horses, released at the end of November. Also, most of those sales were POD paperbacks. I'm guessing they were puchased as Xmas gifts, since I've sold only one paperback copy in January.

January sales are a bit below December's so far. Not quite 1 sale/day.

I released my first ebook in early September, so I'm still pretty new.

I have a new collection of linked short stories coming out in the next week or two. Then a short novel and a couple of other short story collections. So I plan to put out ~1 new book a month for the first few months of this year.

This afternoon I will write "the end" on the novel I've been working on. Just need to get the next novel plotted out and ready to go. Maybe write a few more short stories as a bridge.

Back to work. Lunch break is over. =)

-David


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

antellus said:


> I have advertised and marketed my brains out, and of all 11, only all 3 nonfiction books have sold well.


Pardon me for pointing out the obvious....

But you've marketed your brains out and yet you don't have any links in your sig? Sometimes we waste a lot of time and effort on the hard things, and then completely overlook the small and simple... and most effective things.

Camille


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## Iwritelotsofbooks (Nov 17, 2010)

The advice I keep hearing is to give it time and your books will pick up steam.  That being said, my best day was 7 sales.


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## Daniel W. Koch (Aug 14, 2010)

Hey, I'm really psyched to be in this group!  I've been really happy with my 1-2 a day for the last 3 months. I get a little discouraged when I read the threads of 1000 a month, but I tell myself I'll get there, eventually.  So for now I'm really happy and writing book 2.


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

I was in this club most of last year. I didn't finally get out of this club until around September. Since then I've been averaging more then a sale a day. Where was this club back then?  

This month my sales are averaging 9 per day. All I can say is keep strong. Sooner or later you will break out of that 1 sale a day average. I know there was a time I was looking forward to just selling 1 a day. I'm so glad I made that goal and moved on to the next ones.


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## Christopher Bunn (Oct 26, 2010)

Finally! I've found my home! Sob. I'm holding steady at about 1.2 books a day. This whole process is a great way to learn patience and contentment. Though, I'm not sure if I've learned any of that yet. Okay, I gotta go hit refresh on the DTP page.


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## traceya (Apr 26, 2010)

Dallas recommended writing to the marketplace and to a point there's a lot of value in that advice but if that's not where your mind is really at - for example I hate the trend that vampire/zombie novels have taken - then you probably won't write your best work.

I truly think the only answer is to keep writing and wait for lightning to strike 'metaphorically'.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

traceya said:


> Dallas recommended writing to the marketplace and to a point there's a lot of value in that advice but if that's not where your mind is really at - for example I hate the trend that vampire/zombie novels have taken - then you probably won't write your best work.
> 
> I truly think the only answer is to keep writing and wait for lightning to strike 'metaphorically'.


Well, writing to the market doesn't just mean writing whatever is hottest. That just means you'll be competing with a bazillion others trying the same thing.

Another way is to study the market closest to your base genre. Who is your audience, and what do they read the most? Can you branch out a little? My main series is mystery westerns - written more with the mystery audience in mind than the western audience. There's a huge resistance factor over westerns for my audience.... so I write just regular mysteries too. I write crime fiction, humor. And yes, sometimes I write plain westerns.

And I don't have to write a whole novel in any of these. I can write small collections of short stories or novellas. I haven't got a lot of it out there yet (it's all still scattered and off genre) but that's a part of my goals is to get a lot of minor works I've done or started over the years up and running. And yes, I'm currently working on a sequel to the mystery western. Writing to the market is not about giving up on what you do, but about luring them to you.

Camille


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## Bakari (May 25, 2010)

Checking my sales is like buying scratch off lottery tickets. I don't win every time and often not at all. But I win just enough to keep me coming back to play more times than I should.


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## K. A. Jordan (Aug 5, 2010)

I updated my cover and fixed my price at $3.25. I also updated the file, there were a couple of typos in the first chapter. I'm hoping to sell 10 books total this month. I'm selling books on B&N, I know that by watching the sales rank rise and fall.

The good news is that my paranormal is coming along nicely! I've got the help I needed to fix the errors.

I'm looking at posting some of my mother's short stories. She's very good, but never submitted them.


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## Bakari (May 25, 2010)

K.A. Jordan,

I don't know if you sell books on Amazon or not but there is a huge disparity between the amount of sales that you can make on Amazon and on B&N. I sell almost 20 times more on Amazon. The process for selling on Amazon is just as easy as Pubit or going through Smashwords. To me it is even easier.

(I apologize if I overstepped any boundaries.)


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## Linda Ash (Jul 13, 2010)

I'm hoping to join this group soon   November and December were good months with my Christmas book, but now the holidays are over. I just put my third book out recently (within the past week), and am hoping to slowly grow in sales over the next few months.


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

I like it when I get my sale early in the day. I don't check sales any *less* after that, but it does give the rest of the day a nice boost. 

-David


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## parKb5 (Jan 4, 2011)

I sold 20 books my first month, so I guess that's close to one a day. It's my first book and and my first month, so I'm optimistic about sales. Hopefully they will pick up.


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

As of this morning, the 19th, I had nineteen sales.  I just checked again and I'm up to twenty.  Guess I just dropped out of the club, but I could be back in it by tomorrow.


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## Rory Miller (Oct 21, 2010)

Well, you guys might have to impeach me as founder of this thread, as since I made my post I haven't sold a single copy!  That's over two days of drought.  I shouldn't have tempted fate by venting at it!


But I have taken some advice and gone to other boards with a hand signature in hand.  We'll see if that works (I have two soccer books, so I hit up the BIGgest soccer board).

Now if only my books were as popular as this thread is turning out to be!


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## James Everington (Dec 25, 2010)

Yeah I'm in this club too, although forgive me if I say I don't intend to take out a lifetime membership...

At the end of the day though, even 10 years ago chances are most of us would never be making even these many sales. One of the good things with ebooks is we can have them just sitting there, gradually increasing sales... hopefully.


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## Guest (Jan 19, 2011)

I honestly don't know how some of you sleep at night micromanaging yourselves into a nervous breakdown.  I'd say some on you are internalizing your sales rank far too much for it to be healthy.  Unplug and STEP AWAY FROM THE KEYBOARD.


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> I honestly don't know how some of you sleep at night micromanaging yourselves into a nervous breakdown. I'd say some on you are internalizing your sales rank far too much for it to be healthy. Unplug and STEP AWAY FROM THE KEYBOARD.





daringnovelist said:


> Pardon me for pointing out the obvious....
> 
> But you've marketed your brains out and yet you don't have any links in your sig? Sometimes we waste a lot of time and effort on the hard things, and then completely overlook the small and simple... and most effective things.
> 
> Camille


Good advice. Look for all those little free methods of getting your name out there. And I have to agree with B & S above. Sometimes you have to just walk away and come back later and take a fresh look.


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## LeighSaunders (Jan 17, 2011)

You do have to put in some marketing time, but not to the exclusion/detriment of writing time for the next project and the next and the next...
I average about an hour/day cruising blogs/boards/email lists to pick up tips/tricks for doing this better, stay up-to-date on trends, and occasionally mention that (oh, yeah), I also have stories up that people can buy.    Then I do as Julie suggests and step away from the Internet and get back to writing.

I also don't check my sales stats every day. Every few days is enough. Honestly, the books aren't going to sell any faster just because I keep refreshing the stats page!  

Write the best stories you can, post them with great covers and blurbs, interact with people so your name is familiar, take a deep breath and do it again. This is a long-term process. 

Success!

Leigh


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## LaurynChristopher (Jan 19, 2011)

I'm definitely in this club (my books have only been out one-and two months, respectively, so just starting to pick up sales), and trying to focus more on getting the next book written than on waiting for the water to boil! Thanks, everyone, for sharing your experiences -- nice to know we're all here to support each other


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## CathyQuinn (Dec 9, 2010)

I'm there too. I just can't do the marketing thing.   Probably not cut out for the ebook biz.


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## K. A. Jordan (Aug 5, 2010)

Bakari said:


> I don't know if you sell books on Amazon or not but there is a huge disparity between the amount of sales that you can make on Amazon and on B&N. I sell almost 20 times more on Amazon. The process for selling on Amazon is just as easy as Pubit or going through Smashwords. To me it is even easier.


No problem, Bakari. I know you are trying to help. (I appreciate it.) I've had my book on Amazon since August 2010. I sell 3 copies a month. I'm going to guess that I've sold more books on B&N in 5 days than I've sold in 3 months on Amazon. I've tried $.99, 1.99 and 2.99 - now it is the same price on as B&N = $3.25. The only thing I can tell you is there are several of us who have better sales on B&N, even at a higher price.

It is puzzling. I'm going to guess Nook owners have different reading habits than people who bought Kindles. Maybe my book has been sampled and is WAY down on the average TBR list. I'm going to keep plugging away at the next book, and help my 87 year old Mom get some short stories posted. Maybe when I have 20 or 30 items up, I'll get a sale a day.


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

Had to resurrect this thread to say I've had my best month ever.  Even if sales stop today, I won't be rejoining the One-Sale-A-Day-Support-Group until January 35th.


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## K. A. Jordan (Aug 5, 2010)

Yahoo! Doug!

My best sale day was Thursday = 2 books - 1 on Amazon and 1 on B&N.

I'm still not at 1 sale a day, but I sold 12 books this month!

1/30/11
Make that 14.


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

That's great, K.A.  Let us both hope that your sales only go upwards from there.


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## Mr. RAD (Jan 4, 2011)

Well, well, well.  Since I first posted on this thread on the 17th, someone bought a copy of my book.  I'm grateful.

However, I'm still not a member of this group.  It's lonely being on the outside looking in.


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## MQ (Jan 5, 2011)

My books have only been on Kindle since January 1st and if I average it out I’m like ½ book a day and that’s mostly due to my friends and family buying them.

Hopefully, next month I can actually become a member of this club.


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## Jennybeanses (Jan 27, 2011)

This is a great thread, and I've really enjoyed reading over everyone's experiences and advice. I have a full short-story collection that I've been selling since September, and it only sells the occasional copy now and again. I also published a charity anthology, a novella and a handful of individual $.99 shorts. I average about 1 to 3 sales a week across the board, but since I published my fantasy novel last week, sales on my other works have picked up too. I just know I have to keep writing and putting my stuff out there, blogging regularly and keeping up with the forums and Twitter.

Like J.A. Konrath said, it's a matter of luck and being in the right place at the right time.


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## Daniel W. Koch (Aug 14, 2010)

R. Doug said:


> Had to resurrect this thread to say I've had my best month ever. Even if sales stop today, I won't be rejoining the One-Sale-A-Day-Support-Group until January 35th.


R.Doug....I'm right there with you, it's been a better month than I expected...
don't know why...but I'm happy about it!


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## P.A. Woodburn (May 22, 2010)

I shouldn't be in this club. I have sold 258 so far this month. I was thinking of the group as being more for those who aren't selling 1000 a month or 20,000 a month. 
For those who haven't been selling one a day or those who are selling one a day, I've been there too. Keep on plugging, keep faith in your book, keep on writing. It will get better.
Ann


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## CathyQuinn (Dec 9, 2010)

I have sold 50 so far this month, 35 in the US and 15 in the UK. I was hoping for one a day, so I'm pretty happy. This is my first full month. 

I suppose I must aim for two books a day next month. Or maybe 50 US sales instead? Hmmm.....


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

I'm in the club, and I say, "Finally!" I'm thrilled to sell 1 a day. sure the greed niggles at me, but a sale a day means it's still getting out there. This is my 4th month and it took till this month to sell 1 per day. sometimes i'ts 2-3 with a day or two of nothing, but that's ok.

it's still steadily going upwards. and i keep writing and editing.

thanks for the club sign to troll me in. I don't feel so lonely


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## Guest (Feb 1, 2011)

It gets better. 

Just thought I'd point out that I was in the 2-3 book a day range when I posted in this thread earlier in the month. It's closer to 10 a day now, so things can improve pretty quickly if you're out there doing guest posts and interviews and such. I have a long ways to go before I can join the 1,000 a month club, but it's a start.

Good luck everyone!


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## Carol Hanrahan (Mar 31, 2009)

1,000 a month.  I'd like to be there someday.  There's good company here though!


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## LaFlamme (Dec 9, 2010)

I only recently discovered how to check daily sales figures. Kind of a curse. Although, it's nice to peek in there and find double digits where it was a big, fat zero earlier in the day.
I feel about checking sales figures the way I feel about drinking. Do it in moderation, you'll be okay. Over indulge, and you're likely to wake up with a blinding headache and wearing someone else's pants.
I've heard.


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## dltanner99 (Sep 9, 2010)

The catchphrase any more is for authors to "build your tribes!" There are many authors who have a great many sales because they have tapped into a niche market and branded themselves in a social network that wants to support them. I am basically a hermit at heart (read curmudgeon), but a cryptozoologist by avocation. If you have the greatest product in the world, you still have to make a path from the middle of the woods to the highway, so people know where you are, and how to find you. This is a numbers game - you will sell an average of 1 book out of every 10 readers who visit your product page. Don't wait and wish - go to where they are and let others know what is best about you and your book. Other than that, just give the readers what they want - find out what you have in common with them, and write about it. It is no reflection on the quality or value or your work - only a reflection of how many have found their way to you, so don't give up!


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

At the moment I'm still dithering around a couple a day, but I'm not worried about it.

I write way too many different things to have the consistent body of work that makes it easier to market, so I'm concentrating on writing this year, and making sure every book I have has other books for the readers to go to next -- then I intend to start marketing harder.

Camille


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

dltanner99 said:


> The catchphrase any more is for authors to "build your tribes!" There are many authors who have a great many sales because they have tapped into a niche market and branded themselves in a social network that wants to support them. I am basically a hermit at heart (read curmudgeon), but a cryptozoologist by avocation. If you have the greatest product in the world, you still have to make a path from the middle of the woods to the highway, so people know where you are, and how to find you. This is a numbers game - you will sell an average of 1 book out of every 10 readers who visit your product page. Don't wait and wish - go to where they are and let others know what is best about you and your book. Other than that, just give the readers what they want - find out what you have in common with them, and write about it. It is no reflection on the quality or value or your work - only a reflection of how many have found their way to you, so don't give up!


wonderful!


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## K. A. Jordan (Aug 5, 2010)

I just found that my user name and password got me into the Author Central at Amazon UK!

I tried for a month to get into it. Wow - now I can start that one from scratch - and my mother's page. Had some FWF (fiction writer friends) tag the book.

I put the first of my 87 year-old mother's short stories on Kindle. "Turned Out" by I.C. Talbot. She writes pulp fiction for women - a lot of it is YA.

She's thrilled! She has her 320 some short stories in binders and ready for me to edit.  We are going to launch her once we have several stories posted.

I sold 31 books in 2010, so far I've sold 24 in 2011. That feels better.


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## jhanel (Dec 22, 2010)

Hello. My name is Jerry. (* Waits for "hello, Jerry" *) I'm a O.S.A.D. seller. (one sale a day).

Sales this month have nearly stopped. I sold 35 in January, and 8 in the last two weeks of December. I was really hoping for a bit better in Feb, but I'll be happy with 28 at this rate, and hope to rebound again in March.

Do I look at the numbers constantly? No. About once per day. But still... =)

Thanks for allowing me in the support group.

(* sits down in the back row, waiting for the next participant. *)


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## Steve Silkin (Sep 15, 2010)

jhanel said:


> Sales this month have nearly stopped.


Same here. Except for the 'nearly' part.


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## Jennybeanses (Jan 27, 2011)

I ended January on a really positive note, and the first week of February was excellent, but this week has been very slow-going. One sale today, and that's all. To keep myself from getting too bummed, I just lost myself in my writing and remembered what really mattered to me for about two hours. It felt good.


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## Christopher Bunn (Oct 26, 2010)

Steve Silkin said:


> Same here. Except for the 'nearly' part.


Let's start a new club. I'm zipping along like a comatose turtle at the starting line.


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## P.A. Woodburn (May 22, 2010)

I wrote a few days ago saying that I didn't belong here because last month I'd sold over 200. Regretably this month I have to reapply for membership. My sales have gone down to a trickle. I'm not totally distraught. I've really been concentrating on the action on Egypt, and am learning a lot. Sometimes we need to put our writing things aside to attend to other parts of life. My hubby bought me a new computer yesterday and there is a bit of a learning curve to that. I'm not just studying Egypt for the lessons. I've lived there twice. My daughter is half Egyptian and my heart is with those in the square.
Ann


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## K. A. Jordan (Aug 5, 2010)

I still don't qualify for One Sale A Day. However, I'm going to hang in there.

=====
It is hard to watch civil unrest - my heart goes out to those who are putting themselves in the line of fire. 

Maybe someone should start a thread about it?


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## wildwitchof (Sep 2, 2010)

I just published my first on Feb. 1, and I'm thrilled to join this club. If you subtract the two sales from my household (not that my husband wants to read the steamy romance his wife wrote, lol) I have exactly 1 sale per day.. ie, 10 (today's not over yet!). I'm priced at 99cents because it's a novella and I just wanted to sell something, damnit! after years of writing.

I'm actually afraid of building a fan base on this particular work when my full-length novels (not yet online) are less about the bedroom. But my voice is the same. I haven't gotten any reviews from those ten folks, so I don't know how they're really doing.

OK, 8:59am, got to get off the internet and write. (have you tried LeechBlock on your browser? you can police your browsing time. Very handy for me.)

Best of luck everyone, and be proud of your progress!


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

Last Saturday (6 Feb), I decided to stop checking my sales.

Coincidentally, Smashwords emailed me the next day that I had sold a copy of The Girl Who Ran With Horses. Which was cool to hear...but kinda screwed up the no-checking-sales thing. Then on Tuesday or Wednesday, they sent me another email, this one notifying me of a sale of Demon Candy. Also good news, but...but... So Thursday, I went to Smashwords and disabled email notification of sales.

I have not checked any of my other sales reports, though, since last Saturday. When I've checked my Amazon pages to see if Demon Candy has (finally) had its TPB and ebook bundled (it hasn't), I've made a point to avoid seeing the sales rank (by not scrolling down that far).

I want my sales to go up. Checking them daily (one or more times) wasn't helping. So now I'm going to ignore them. Maybe that is the secret karmic push button. 

The little joy of seeing a sale doesn't make up for the little stress and frustration that come with seeing no change. So I like to think I'm helping my mental and physical state just a tiny bit by abstaining. And getting rid of a distraction that sometimes makes writing something of a demotivated challenge.

-David


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## K. A. Jordan (Aug 5, 2010)

David - that sounds like a good idea. Just don't check the sales reports, or rankings on a daily (as if!) basis.

I wonder if I can do that? I quit smoking....


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## MrPLD (Sep 23, 2010)

Firing up the engine again... in my absence I let sales collapse, not even remotely close to 1 sale a day at the moment... time to whip myself a lot more!


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## P.A. Woodburn (May 22, 2010)

After a long almost comotose sleep, from watching Tahrir Square proceedings, I felt more exhausted than those in the square, I am feeling energized and ready to attend to my writer duties again. This has been a very exciting, historic moment, the overthrow of a dictator without thousands dying, I'm glad I didn't miss it.
Ann


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## dltanner99 (Sep 9, 2010)

I purchased a book a while back that I read for the information about what it takes to sell books, but actually bought it for the cover. The title was "Just Give them What they Want". It's that simple. And that hard. The really successful authors have clicked with readers because of their subject matter, and the voice they use in making it their own. You don't sell books by ignoring what everyone else is reading, and writing what you like. John Grisham actually wrote "Playing for Pizza" and "Christmas with the Kranks". Sure, it's not his bread and butter, but he can afford to take a literary vacation, every now and then. By the same token, find a genre and topic you like, as well. Nothing is worse than forcing yourself to write a novel about characters and situations in which you have no interest. Be in tune with what sells, and become a part of it. Just be sure that it appeals to you, too. This is purely a numbers game, and there is no room at the bottom. The great thing is, and every successful author can attest to this, is that there is PLENTY of room at the top. All you have to do is to figure out how to get your nose above the crowd. By indie eBook standards, I am a mid lister, selling about 600-700 books a month across my four novels. I have no idea why my books sell, except that I love researching mysteries and hypothesizing about them. So, the question is, what can you write about that others are reading about, that you can both enjoy? Best of luck, and hang in there!


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## Sybil Nelson (Jun 24, 2010)

I can finally join this club. My book Secrets of Eden has sold one copy per day every day this month. If you include sales from my other books as well, I'm doing much better this month!


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

So far this month I have seven sales on Amazon and one on B&N.  Guess I'm getting kicked out of the club.


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

Hello,

Can I join?

My monthly Amazon sales figures are um.... one... in the US on 1st Feb and um... one... in the UK... the day before yesterday.

Few Are Chosen, my debut novel, has great reviews, all four and five star on Amazon and one 3.5 star on Library thing (it's still a good review though).

I am submitting it to review blogs, doing author interviews, giving away five free short stories and the pdf format for free and do you know what, I still can't persuade people to read the blummin' thing at gunpoint. And yet, when they do, they all say "I really didn't think I'd enjoy this book but..."

Humorous fantasy is a pariah genre... even so... 

Sigh. It'll happen eventually, and let's face it, I could have made things really difficult for myself. I could have tried to publish humorous poetry (the other thing I write). 

So, if anyone's feeling a bit... 'gah....' I'm just dropping by to let you know you're not alone. 

That said, my theory is that the 99c brigade have downloaded so many books that, like an anaconda after a large meal, they will be inactive for a while - possibly for some months - while they digest what they have rapaciously gobbled up. So I think that perhaps, what I am experiencing now is genuine sales... my realistic number probably is about 4 a month in the UK, 1 or none, in the US. 

I know I should feed the machine but that's tricky when you're a full tiime parent with a two year old in tow  so there are glaciers that move faster than progress on my next novel. I write on 4 hours a week. Book 2 is close to being in the bag, trouble is, I think I will have to finish book 3 before I publish it 2... So that may mean a gap until next year. Perhaps, until then, poor sales are doing me a favour. After all, at least it takes the pressure off!

Cheers

MTM


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## Christine Kersey (Feb 13, 2011)

I'm so glad to have discovered this "club". After reading about all of the phenomenal sales many people have had, I was starting to get a complex. My books have both been available since December and between the two I average nearly 1 per day. I'm glad to see that that is more realistic number, at least in the beginning.


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

i'm happy to report that I am still solidly in the one book per day club...over 4 books. The 99c one keeps me in position. (love the image of the 99centers feeding a machine)


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

Mwa ha ha haargh! I defy anyone to achieve crapper sales than me! ;-)

Here are my February figures. 

Amazon US 2
Amazon UK 2

What a pity the Not Very Good Club isn't going any more I would be so in.

Cheers

MTM


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## Jack Wallen (Feb 9, 2011)

I'm with you. I've been working my tail off, day in and day out to try to get my numbers up. As soon as Red Adept gets Gothica edited I am going to re-publish it (along with the new cover) and drop the price. Following that I will do the same with A Blade Away. Hopefully by then my numbers will be a little better.

It is disheartening at times...but (as I wrote in my blog today) with patience, comes success.


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## K. A. Jordan (Aug 5, 2010)

M T McGuire said:


> Here are my February figures.
> 
> Amazon US 2
> Amazon UK 2


Well, I've got 0 UK sales and 4 Amazon US sales. That's pretty close.


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

Mwah ha ha haaaaargh! I'm told the sales gradually improve. My must fervant hope is that people will like our books and tell their mates. I'm sure most other marketing is icing on the cake, it's friends teling friends that'll really sell them.

To start with lowering my price made a difference but it hasn't this month. That's probably a good thing to be honest.

Fingers and toes crossed!

Cheers

MTM


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## nwyckoff (Feb 13, 2011)

I had some sales in my first month, and then they stopped. Altogether. Now, I'm slowly but surely finding strategies that might pick them up.  I've just discovered these KindleBoards, and hope they will help.


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## Ben White (Feb 11, 2011)

M T McGuire said:


> Mwa ha ha haargh! I defy anyone to achieve crapper sales than me! ;-)


Challenge accepted!

Amazon US 0
Amazon UK 0

To be fair I only started marketing a week ago, so I live in hope of someday joining the one-a-day club, or indeed the one-at-all club. At least my mum thinks I'm cool


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## scribblydoodler (Feb 9, 2011)

I am just scraping 1 sale a day on average, which I think is pretty good, considering what type of book mine is. It certainly has given me encouragement to start work on another title. (And I must stop checking those sales figures (or in my case, stale figures)).


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## nwyckoff (Feb 13, 2011)

A one-sale-a-month support group sounds good. I'm getting a lot congratulations, but few sales.


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## MeiLinMiranda (Feb 17, 2011)

Oy, my sales have slowed this month. I have sold more from my own site than from Smashwords, Kindle and B&N combined. (Actually, it's been a good month at my site. At least one sale a day, usually more, and 100% of the cover price for me.)

My book is in a gray area, like Jacqueline Carey and Laurell K Hamilton: There's a lot of sex in it, but it's not technically erotica--there's too much story. The erotica reviewers say, "Gosh, there's not a lot of sex in this book but I really like it," and the mainstream reviewers say, "Gosh, there's a lot of sex in this book but I really like it." sigh.

That said, last month I won Preditors and Editors Readers' Poll 2010 Best Erotic Novel. Great! says me, I'll put that in my blurb! 

Whoom! Watch my sales figures plummet through the floor! 

OK, well, maybe that's a coincidence. But as an experiment, I took the P&E win out of my blurbs. Zoom! I sell four copies the first day it's gone.

This is a strange, strange business.


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## scribblydoodler (Feb 9, 2011)

My book isn't in the children's ebook category on amazon.com. So I guess I'm lucky to get any sales! I am confused.


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## traceya (Apr 26, 2010)

Hi all,
Actually since I joined Writing Kindle Books on FB my sales have started to really increase - ok not Hocking style but this month I'm two books away from selling 50 for the whole month so I'm super, super excited about that


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## MrPLD (Sep 23, 2010)

That's great going Traceya.

We've seen a 550% increase from last month... but that's easy to do when you only had 2 

Hoping that we'll exit the month with 30 sales.

Paul.


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## traceya (Apr 26, 2010)

I'll get all 'Field of Dreams' for a sec..... if you write them people will read them.  It takes time sometimes but interviews, blogs, twitter all that stuff helps enormously and get some recognized people to review your work also.  Mind you I can't talk it's taken me six months to get here lol


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

Great news, Tracey. I'm so glad to hear that


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## Tara Maya (Nov 4, 2010)

How does one join Writing Kindle Books on FB? Is it open to new members?


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## Linda Acaster (May 31, 2010)

I'm in this group, too, but it's down to my Native American romance, and that's only selling in the USA. 

I'll openly admit to checking my figures on Amazon's ktp just about daily, because they are noted on a promotions calendar. How can you identify if any interview, blog post, #samplesunday push is working if I don't keep a note of when sales occur? Okay, so I can go further into Amazon's 6 weeks list, but I find my calendar system flick-of-the-eye easy. And I have a memory like a goldfish.

However, one point I'd like to raise is how to get folks to review your books when they've bought them?


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## A. S. Warwick (Jan 14, 2011)

I dream of doing one a day - but then again I'm only new to the game and my second novel has been out less than 24 hours now.


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

A S Warwick, I dream of one a week!
Tracey, nice going! You make me feel a lot better. I have one book out which has been on the market since November. Dead tree sales are OK but e-book sales are dire. I did get up to 12 sales in January but February this year I've achieved 6. 2 US, and 4 UK. People review it, about one in five readers. They all like it, so far it gets 4 or 5 stars from pretty much everyone. There's one 3.5 stars off Amazon but it was coupled with an excellent review.

I am not sure if I've correctly targetted it at a very small niche market who are all enjoying it or whether I'm just not getting it out there. I submit to review sites and do get reviews, I've offered free review copies but absolutely nobody took me up on it (can't even give the wretched thing away) I do the interviews, do press, I don't do twitter because I haven't a clue how it works... have just signed up to the kindle authors facebook group although I haven't really had time to work out how it works but um... yeh... well see what that does!

I'm a stay at home parent with a 2 year old so I doubt my time constraints contribute to a smooth marketing process - 4 hours a week, none during school holidays and half term and those 4 hours include working on the second book in the series too. My blog/marketing/fora are all done in the evenings in front of the TV.

I'm beginning to think I'll just ignore the whole sales thing and hope it goes away because otherwise I'll end up in the slough of despond full-time, be grumpy with my boy and every post I put on a forum will be whinging about my inability to sell - like this one! 

So, instead I'll probably use my meagre hours to work on book 2, do my blog, visit the fora I enjoy and possibly tweet if I can work out how the hell twitter works and what it's actually for ;-).

Cheers

MTM


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## mesmered (Feb 2, 2011)

Been e-published for 3 weeks and have glided into the one a day club. I look at it this way: a bricks and mortar bookshop would be hard-pressed to sell one a day of an unknown author's title. So I am REALLY happy!


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## Linda Acaster (May 31, 2010)

mesmered said:


> Been e-published for 3 weeks and have glided into the one a day club. I look at it this way: a bricks and mortar bookshop would be hard-pressed to sell one a day of an unknown author's title. So I am REALLY happy!


In your shoes I'd be ecstatic. I took me 5 months to get to one a day. Your cover is fantastic. I noted it on another blog.


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## Tara Maya (Nov 4, 2010)

Yes, I get nothing done on holidays because the hooligans are not in school.


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

Tara Maya said:


> Yes, I get nothing done on holidays because the hooligans are not in school.


Bless you Tara! Know that you are not alone! ;-) I'm certainly feeling a lot better knowing I'm not!

Cheers

MTM


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## Eupub (Feb 17, 2011)

MrPLD said:


> That's great going Traceya.
> 
> We've seen a 550% increase from last month... but that's easy to do when you only had 2
> 
> ...


That sounds so much better than saying you got 11 sales!

My current book is going along nicely right now, got released 3 days ago and i've achieved about 2 a day. Got some ads still to come though so that should improve sales


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## Ben White (Feb 11, 2011)

Tentatively, just KNOWING that this is going to stop all of my sales dead, after a first week of no sales whatsoever I've now had a sale a day for the last four days, and today I sold two--including one copy of Miya Black II, which made me just so happy because it means that not only did somebody take a chance on the first one, but they liked it enough to continue the series.  Really, just kind of dancing with happiness now


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

Sadly, I fell out of this group in February. 

On the bright side, though, I did sell copies of almost everything in my oeuvre.

So...I'm selling across a broader spectrum than I was: single short stories and collections as well as novels. Which is good. Now to get a rising tide that lifts all boats.

I was already planning to release a new novel in March. That will keep The Summoning Fire and The Girl Who Ran With Horses company (as in, it's also a novel; it's not like either one of those books, though). Now, with an eye to adding still more titles to my growing list, I'm also pulling together six new short story ebooks.

Maybe March will be another slow sales month for me, but it won't be from lack of trying. 

Because I've decided to only check my sales on the first of the month, I won't know how March is going until April 1 (which might be appropriate). Not checking but once a month is useful, really. Seeing a slow month happen (or not happen) in real time is a lot of emotional wear and tear that I just don't need.

-David


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## mesmered (Feb 2, 2011)

Linda Acaster said:


> In your shoes I'd be ecstatic. I took me 5 months to get to one a day. Your cover is fantastic. I noted it on another blog.


thanks so much re cover linda! Hopefully book matches cover but given sales dropping to one every second day and ranking creeping from in the 20,000's to the dreaded 100,000's must admit to lapse in confidence of quality! Ho hum!


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

@ David that's a very good plan and is also mine, for this month. 

I was looking at the Beige Band of Shame both sides of the pond for much of Feb then I got two sales (one on each site) finished with 9; 4 us and 5 uk.  Clearly these figures are absolutely pants BUT since my all time sles record is 12 uk and 2 us I've actually smashed my record monthly sales total in the US! (phnark). It's all in the way you look at it eh? 

Cheers

MTM


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## Christopher Bunn (Oct 26, 2010)

Hey MTM. I just bought your book, Few Are Chosen. I'd been meaning to buy it for a while, as the sample is pretty funny (a rare thing, at least for my sense of humor). I was wondering if you've considered tinkering with the cover? The cover doesn't exactly match up with the sample. I dunno, but maybe a cover that more explicitly communicated fantasy and humor might serve you a bit better. Anyway, hang in there (and that goes for the rest of us too).


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

@ Christopher, Bless you! You have dispelled the Beige Band of Shame on day 3 of the month! Wahoo! 

I think you have something. The cover goes with the premis of the story (lad finds magic thimble) but you're right, probably not the genre or the kind of giddy romp I've written. A lot of people like it, in fact I got lots of positive feedback when I sent the book out to beta readers which is kind of why I kept it BUT... 

A number of people have suggested that it's a) not dynamic enough and b) fits the grown up side but not potential YA readers. Ideally I want something that'll do both. 

Thinking about it more, 'adult' Harry Potter copies didn't come out until some way into the series. Before then it was pen and ink drawings showing the scenes from the book which were most important or likely to appeal.

I should probably be looking at a Josh Kirby style but I can't quite manage that. I do have an alternative with the lead man exiting off left with the fire and general carnage in the background while above two of the things they drive instead of cars chase each other. I just need to draw the flames and scan them in and I can put it together and give it a trial run on the e-book. If it works, I'll do a new edition of the paperback with a new cover.

Thanks for buying it anyway and I really hope you enjoy reading the rest of it!

Cheers

MTM


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## Christopher Bunn (Oct 26, 2010)

To be honest, when I first saw that cover and before I knew anything about the story, my mind automatically associated it with my wife's sewing kit. You probably don't want that kind of reaction.

Good to hear you're game to tinker with the cover. That's the great thing about the flexibility of the ebook format. Best of luck with that.


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## A. S. Warwick (Jan 14, 2011)

I thought after the uptick at the end of last month I might make it this month - but it would appear that that won't be the case.


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

@ Christopher, laughed at that. Your covers look pretty good, from what I can see the stuff I have is broadly similar, I  need to watch the amount of detail I put on though.

Cheers

MTM


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## K. A. Jordan (Aug 5, 2010)

I qualified with 4 sales in 3 days (I love B&N!) skipped two days - got a Kindle sale today after 15 days of no Amazon sales. 

My smashwords hit rate is 1 or 2 a day - but that doesn't translate into sales as far as I can tell.

I think it is funny that my Amazon sales DIED after I dropped my price to $.99. (No, I'm not going to tinker again. I'm tired of it...got a book to finish.)


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

Well, I'm still BBoS'n for the month of March.  Have to start promoting again when I get back on the 25th.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

All right. I am going to do a MAJOR whine here.  

I am TIRED of this one sale a day business. I know there are people who get fewer than one sale a day, and I should be grateful. But I'm not. I want more sales! *head desk*

And while I'm whining and whinging... what is it with these 4-star reviews? THREE 4-star reviews? Where are my 5-star ones? 

*huffs and snarls*  

Whew, I feel better now.


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## ASparrow (Oct 12, 2009)

Count your blessings. When my books were available on Amazon for $0.99, I sometimes went two months without a single sale, despite decent reviews. I've retreated back to Smashwords, offering only freebies.


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

get thyself on twitter and build an audience for those freebies


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## jhanel (Dec 22, 2010)

My sales are (thankfully) picking up again. Not by tons, but enough to get me back in the swing of things. Here's hoping that their friends tell 4 friends that tell 4 friends, ... etc, etc, etc.


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## Ben White (Feb 11, 2011)

I'm well out again (I knew I was tempting fate putting myself in  ).  Six full days into March and only two sales.  Ho-hum.


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## Guy Dragon (Feb 6, 2011)

daringnovelist said:


> Maybe it would be best to get off the marketing merry-go-round until you have at least a couple of books, so that you'll get more out of your marketing time.
> 
> Camille


I totally agree. The first couple weeks after I published my first book I spent all my time worrying about my lack of sales. Now I'm just concentrating on writing. I'll worry about the marketing push after I've written a few more novels.


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## MQ (Jan 5, 2011)

I went from 1/2 a sale a day (15 sales for the month) in January to 1/3 a sale in February (10 sales).

So far 0 sales in March...I'm regressing?!?

hopefully, the READ AN E-BOOK WEEK on Smashwords might help (all books are 50% off) http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/mobasharqureshi


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

K. A. Jordan said:


> I qualified with 4 sales in 3 days (I love B&N!) skipped two days - got a Kindle sale today after 15 days of no Amazon sales.
> 
> My smashwords hit rate is 1 or 2 a day - but that doesn't translate into sales as far as I can tell.
> 
> I think it is funny that my Amazon sales DIED after I dropped my price to $.99. (No, I'm not going to tinker again. I'm tired of it...got a book to finish.)


I'm not the best judge of covers, but I have to say your cover doesn't do it for me. It looks like a picture of a cake, not a book cover when it's that small. I don't know, whats everyone else think?


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## K. A. Jordan (Aug 5, 2010)

Sharlow said:


> I'm not the best judge of covers, but I have to say your cover doesn't do it for me. It looks like a picture of a cake, not a book cover when it's that small. I don't know, whats everyone else think?


I changed it on Amazon - twice now. One was bright colored with green - the new one is teal.

I'm trying to find a nice oval frame with flourishes for the next tweak.

This one is kinda cool too.
Sugar Packet Cover

PS - my sales now have a definite weekend read pattern! They spike on Thursday and fall off over the weekend.


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

K. A. Jordan said:


> I changed it on Amazon - twice now. One was bright colored with green - the new one is teal.
> 
> I'm trying to find a nice oval frame with flourishes for the next tweak.
> 
> ...


That looks cool, but then again...my cover tastes are not great. i really would start a thread and ask for honest opinions on your cover choices. It's such an important decision, I just can't stress it enough. It could be the one thing that's stopping your sales.


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## LiteraryGrrrl (Jan 24, 2011)

Tara Maya said:


> How does one join Writing Kindle Books on FB? Is it open to new members?


Tara, I sent you a friend request on FB. If you add me, I can add you to the group. It's a really nice bunch of supportive folks.


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## Alain Gomez (Nov 12, 2010)

K. A. Jordan said:


> PS - my sales now have a definite weekend read pattern! They spike on Thursday and fall off over the weekend.


I've noticed this as well. Sales definitely drop off for me on the weekend.


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## K. A. Jordan (Aug 5, 2010)

Sharlow said:


> That looks cool, but then again...my cover tastes are not great. i really would start a thread and ask for honest opinions on your cover choices. It's such an important decision, I just can't stress it enough. It could be the one thing that's stopping your sales.


Thanks - I'm going to have to get all the covers together for a blog post. I can't make the image tag work here. (sigh) I'm going to try the sugar cover next week.


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## Guest (Mar 9, 2011)

I've sold...1 book.


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

CF the earlier comments about my cover, I have some preliminary sketches of an alternative on my blog, here http://hamgee.co.uk/blog/cover-story/ If anyone has a moment to nip over there and leave me some feedback I'd be hugely grateful.

Cheers

MTM


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## A. S. Warwick (Jan 14, 2011)

Looks like I need to find the 1 a week support group.


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## Ben White (Feb 11, 2011)

A.S. Warwick said:


> Looks like I need to find the 1 a week support group.


I could _just_ about manage to be part of that


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

A.S. Warwick said:


> Looks like I need to find the 1 a week support group.


Looks like I'm more with the guy who has sold one but I could probably just about scrape one a week..... if I cheated a bit on my figures and really, REALLY tried hard! ;-)

Cheers

MT


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## Guy Dragon (Feb 6, 2011)

Is there a one sale a _month_ support group? That what I need.


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

Thundergeoff said:


> I've sold...1 book.


i just tweeted you. hope it helps. i have 690 followers. maybe someone will grab it right up


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## shavens (Jun 25, 2010)

Morning, Writers --

My novel, Farr Point, has been live for twelve days and so far I've sold 34 on Kindle and eight on Nook.  The first few days there was a surge but now it's tapered off to one or two a day.

Good luck to all of us.

Sam


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## Ash Stirling (Mar 2, 2011)

Between the US and UK Amazon sales, my two novellas are getting close to a sale a day between them after a slow start.  And with the third one having been written hopefully it won't be long before it helps out a bit as well.


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## David N. Alderman (Jan 15, 2011)

I'm averaging about 2 or 3 a day when the month is said and done. 36 sales in January and 57 last month - so I'm hoping the scale is going upward.  I took the first two books in my Black Earth series and combined them into an ebook double pack too, just to give readers another book they can purchase from me. I've seen a few sales of it, so that's good. My novella, _Picture Perfect_, was downloaded a bunch when I first released it for free through Smashwords, but now that it's 99 cents, I haven't sold a single one. Yeah, it bums me out when I think too much about it, but I try not to think too much about it.

In my personal opinion, I think this is the hardest thing for me as a writer. I know I need to write - that's what I should be doing at least half of the time I have available to me. But I find myself pouring over the screen to see if I made another 99 cent sale on the Kindle. My wife actually won't let me look at my sales more than once a day because it was getting pretty bad - I was checking maybe 3 or 4 times a day and that isn't healthy. Like someone said earlier, it's like watching paint dry.

Instead, we need to focus on the things we have accomplished and remember to take things one step at a time instead of shooting for the overnight success. Get that next interview set up, get your book into the hand of that next reviewer, tweet about your book one more time. Each step will build toward the bigger picture.


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

@ David, wise words. Spot on.


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## David N. Alderman (Jan 15, 2011)

M T McGuire said:


> @ David, wise words. Spot on.


Thanks!


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

David N. Alderman said:


> I'm averaging about 2 or 3 a day when the month is said and done. 36 sales in January and 57 last month - so I'm hoping the scale is going upward.  I took the first two books in my Black Earth series and combined them into an ebook double pack too, just to give readers another book they can purchase from me. I've seen a few sales of it, so that's good. My novella, _Picture Perfect_, was downloaded a bunch when I first released it for free through Smashwords, but now that it's 99 cents, I haven't sold a single one. Yeah, it bums me out when I think too much about it, but I try not to think too much about it.
> 
> In my personal opinion, I think this is the hardest thing for me as a writer. I know I need to write - that's what I should be doing at least half of the time I have available to me. But I find myself pouring over the screen to see if I made another 99 cent sale on the Kindle. My wife actually won't let me look at my sales more than once a day because it was getting pretty bad - I was checking maybe 3 or 4 times a day and that isn't healthy. Like someone said earlier, it's like watching paint dry.
> 
> Instead, we need to focus on the things we have accomplished and remember to take things one step at a time instead of shooting for the overnight success. Get that next interview set up, get your book into the hand of that next reviewer, tweet about your book one more time. Each step will build toward the bigger picture.


yes. this is just it


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## JFHilborne (Jan 22, 2011)

Consuelo Saah Baehr said:


> It gets better. Slowly, but consistently. I would say this would be my support group,too. After four months, I'm beginning to see two or even three sales on some days even though I have six books for sale. My price is 2.99 for four of the books and that may be a deal breaker but these are full length novels and I think they are worth 2.99. And the 99 cent books have sold poorly.
> 
> Be sure to participate in #SampleSunday on Twitter (you'll find the thread here). A great new marketing tool.
> 
> ...


I agree a good novel is worth $2.99 for the eBook, and I'm happy to pay it. Almost all the eBooks I buy are priced at $2.99.


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

Theresa M Moore said:


> I have advertised and marketed my brains out,


Hi Theresa,
I couldn't help but notice that you don't have your book covers in your signature. That might help.


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

N. Gemini Sasson said:


> Do giveaways, find blogs to review or feature your work.


This was the final push I needed to more aggressively give away my Everybody books to teens. A couple of weeks ago I had a crisis of conscience where I wrote something that didn't represent my best me. And in an attempt to recapture my best self, I decided to offer the few copies of my Everybody books to any kid that might need it. So I created this video 




But no one took me up on my offer. And the truth was that I was glad they didn't because it could have gotten expensive.

However, after reading about the way that the authors here give away books using Smashwords and coupons, I finally saw how I could do good, while not going broke. But what you said above was the final straw that broke making me think that it might not only be good for society and the kids that get them, but it might actually be good for me as well.

So immediately after reading your suggestion I found my first college forum and offered my books for free to them. I don't know if the post will be deleted or if anyone will take me up on my offer. But hey, it couldn't hurt, right?


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> I honestly don't know how some of you sleep at night micromanaging yourselves into a nervous breakdown. I'd say some on you are internalizing your sales rank far too much for it to be healthy. Unplug and STEP AWAY FROM THE KEYBOARD.


That seems like good advice in theory but how do you know if your various promotional techniques are working if you don't check your sales count regularly?


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## EverythingIndie (Mar 9, 2011)

I got 4 sales on Monday, yesterday I got 2 and so far today I've had 1. Hopefully I'll get another few today!


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## SarahBarnard (Jul 28, 2010)

I'm averaging one a day across a month at the moment. I missed the one a da6y target by 2 sales in February, but on target for March.


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

I started off quite well with sales up each month until December. Then it all went rather horribly wrong and now I don't seem to be able to sell more than 12 a month - and that's lumping the US and the UK together. I've only one book though and the second one is happening rather slowly... And a sale is a sale is a sale... even if it's not happening every day.

Cheers

MTM


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

I'm in the one a day group as of 11 days ago. Feels good to be gaining some momentum! Thanks for this supportive thread...glad to know I'm not the only one refreshing KDP every 15 mins! I wish you all a million plus book sales!


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## Elijah Joon (Mar 11, 2011)

You 1 sale a day people have it like kings.  How about a No Sale a Week support group


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

So, to belong to the 1/day club, is it having a book that sells 1 a day, or can it be at least 1 book out of your collection?


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## traceya (Apr 26, 2010)

Elijah Joon said:


> You 1 sale a day people have it like kings. How about a No Sale a Week support group


I feel a bit like that myself at the moment. I had a great start to March, sold 14 books in the first three days and since then..... zilch, nada, nothing, not one single sale. I've had bad months before but nothing quite like this - I've gotta stop checking my sales cause it's driving me crazy. I'm still trying to promote but maybe I've just lost momentum on the books or maybe [this is the one I'm hoping for] everyone's just waiting for the new book to come out - due end March btw 

Anyway for all of you who would like a little extra promotion and maybe jump to a couple of sales a day how about being a featured author on my Author of the Week page on my website. I don't get huge traffic, about 100-300 hits a week but you never know.

If you're interested all I need is your book/s blurb, cover, links, brief author bio and have a chat of about 750 words to give potential readers a chance to better engage with you as a writer. Send it all to [email protected] and hopefully we'll all give each other a little good karma and generate some sales


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## thejosh86 (Mar 1, 2011)

Yeah, I haven't had any sales so far this week. Not that it bothers me, I'm still new to this game. I just like being a member of clubs.


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## sarahdalton (Mar 15, 2011)

Ok so I published mine 3 days ago and have sold nothing! Not a single one. I've set up a website, set up facebook, twittered, gone on smashwords and good reads - what else can I do?


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## Ben White (Feb 11, 2011)

traceya said:


> If you're interested all I need is your book/s blurb, cover, links, brief author bio and have a chat of about 750 words to give potential readers a chance to better engage with you as a writer. Send it all to [email protected] and hopefully we'll all give each other a little good karma and generate some sales


That sounds fun, I'll try to put something together and send it your way--I've definitely been running low on 'self-promotion ideas' lately. Thanks for the opportunity!


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

sarahdalton said:


> Ok so I published mine 3 days ago and have sold nothing! Not a single one. I've set up a website, set up facebook, twittered, gone on smashwords and good reads - what else can I do?


Wait. =)

And, while you wait, write your next book.

And then you'll probably still have to wait.

So, while you're waiting... =)

-David


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## DeAngelo (Mar 14, 2011)

I'm averaging about one sale a day. I had hoped making my nifty new book cover (see my sig) and putting up a 99 cent sale would help. Hasn't seemed too. But I'm gonna keep on trucking. I have 5 more books in the works. Not gonna give up


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

K. A. Jordan said:


> Thanks - I'm going to have to get all the covers together for a blog post. I can't make the image tag work here. (sigh) I'm going to try the sugar cover next week.


I have to say that I agree with Sharlow. I wasn't sure that it was a book cover. Sorry.


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## Patrick Skelton (Jan 7, 2011)

I've been n the 1 sale a day club since the Smashwords promotion last week.  Was selling 10 a day before that...


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## jasonvanhee (Feb 16, 2011)

I, too, only check once a week.  It makes the numbers look shinier when I see them, and for the first few days I was checking all the time and it was making me crazy.  So now, while I'm averaging about one sale a day, it looks nicer to have them all lumped together, and it keeps me much happier.  Of course, I only published three weeks ago, so it's only been two weeks that I've had to not check numbers, but still, it has made me much happier not looking often.


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## David N. Alderman (Jan 15, 2011)

traceya said:


> I feel a bit like that myself at the moment. I had a great start to March, sold 14 books in the first three days and since then..... zilch, nada, nothing, not one single sale. I've had bad months before but nothing quite like this - I've gotta stop checking my sales cause it's driving me crazy. I'm still trying to promote but maybe I've just lost momentum on the books or maybe [this is the one I'm hoping for] everyone's just waiting for the new book to come out - due end March btw
> 
> Anyway for all of you who would like a little extra promotion and maybe jump to a couple of sales a day how about being a featured author on my Author of the Week page on my website. I don't get huge traffic, about 100-300 hits a week but you never know.
> 
> If you're interested all I need is your book/s blurb, cover, links, brief author bio and have a chat of about 750 words to give potential readers a chance to better engage with you as a writer. Send it all to [email protected] and hopefully we'll all give each other a little good karma and generate some sales


I'd love to participate in that, Tracey. I can probably get something together before the end of next week for you. For the 750 words, are you looking for anything specific, like when I realized I wanted to write or my journey of self-publishing? Just wanted to know if you're going for a theme.


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## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

Loving this thread....I have wry smile on my face ...I aspire to one sale a day, in fact I'd be happy to get into double figures for a month! Still, looking on the bright side, it makes you 'one a day' guys look inspirational!
Grace x


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

can i just pipe in with a promo opp I've been running on my blog since December? every month, I post blurbs and let readers vote then gift away the winning blurb. it's fun and it costs y'all nothing. Costs me 2.99 a month and sometimes double because i've ended up buying one for myself.

i don't get huge traffic (bout 30-40 hits per day) but seriously, it takes nothing but a little time to sub. i tweet it all month and hope the entrants do the same, but regardless, i've had folks come back and say they ended up buying their choice when they didn't win it.

my blog is in my profile bit....over there.  <<=========

i'm happy to take entrants and get them scheduled in advance


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## thejosh86 (Mar 1, 2011)

theapatra said:


> can i just pipe in with a promo opp I've been running on my blog since December? every month, I post blurbs and let readers vote then gift away the winning blurb. it's fun and it costs y'all nothing. Costs me 2.99 a month and sometimes double because i've ended up buying one for myself.
> 
> i don't get huge traffic (bout 30-40 hits per day) but seriously, it takes nothing but a little time to sub. i tweet it all month and hope the entrants do the same, but regardless, i've had folks come back and say they ended up buying their choice when they didn't win it.
> 
> ...


Awesome opportunity, I'll be looking into it!


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## edwardgtalbot (Apr 28, 2010)

Ok, I'll bite.  My numbers this month for my paid books (not counting the hundreds free during Smashwords promo) are exactly 17 on Kindle US and UK combined.  And it's the 17th. Zip on pubit and nothing on Smashwords since 2/27. 

I do have a free short story that has a sales rank of 6000 on the Nookbook store but no idea of the numbers as they take forever to filter to Smashwords. It had quite a few "sales" on Sony in Feb, but no numbers yet for March on it.

So for now, I'm hanging around the ballpark of this club.  It's odd though, like some other ppl say, I can go days with no sales, but during one two day period (I only check maybe every other day), I had 9 sales in the UK store out of the blue.


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## SarahBarnard (Jul 28, 2010)

I'm only counting Amazon sales for my one a day and so far I'm still on target for March, only just and I have to combine sales in the US and the UK to make it work, but on target.


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## alexisleno (Mar 4, 2011)

Hi all!

I thought I'd post and join the group. I just started this process at the end of February, but am currently on selling about one copy a day. 

Alas!


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## Edward W. Robertson (May 18, 2010)

So far I'm a club member in good standing (exluding the day last week when one of my books was listed in a Books for a Buck roundup at Books on the Knob). Despite the esteemed company, I hope to one day leave it.


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## EGranfors (Mar 18, 2011)

Yep, I am with you. Short of spamming all my friends on Facebook, I try pushing some of my goodreads "to read" shelfers to pick up a copy and I have also been known to leave bookmarks for my book in magazines at my doctor's office. Also, our local privately owned (not franchised) coffee shops allow me to put up either posters or leave bookmarks. I'm still not in the top 100,000 though I was in October!


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## kCopeseeley (Mar 15, 2011)

Trying to get past one a day is tricky.  I released my first book in December, where I was thrilled to get one or two a week.  Then in January I got one or more a day (ended up with 32 total, amazing).  I looked on track to get the same in February, but then, all of a sudden I started getting several a day (the highest was 6).  I still have no idea how this happened.  I didn't do anything, I couldn't find a mention of my book ANYWHERE.
Then Amazon took my book off sale and my sales went down to one a day again for February.  In March Amazon mysteriously put it back on sale and in the past week, my sales have gone up again.  I don't know if it's price, or that I am finally gaining word of mouth?  
I think Konrath has several points, that cover, price point, description and editing have to do a lot with sales, but I'm also learning, in the end, that there is some strange unknown element to why a book sells.  There is some weird book genie out there that pokes at your book and you just soar.

And once you do, it only makes you more successful -almost a self-fulfilling prophecy.  The higher you go up the Amazon list, the more you sell.  Ahhhh... to get that far.  I DREAM of the top 100.  Who knows if it will ever happen?


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

thejosh86 said:


> Awesome opportunity, I'll be looking into it!


please do. i always have to hunt for entries. it would be nice if i could have a month where it's all filled.


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## DeAngelo (Mar 14, 2011)

After a few dry days, I made a sale today. I actually did a little dance when I logged on and saw it.


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## Ben White (Feb 11, 2011)

DeAngelo said:


> After a few dry days, I made a sale today. I actually did a little dance when I logged on and saw it.


I know exactly the feeling--did you stare at the number for a little bit first, then go "Wait ... that was a 3 yesterday!".


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

theapatra said:


> please do. i always have to hunt for entries. it would be nice if i could have a month where it's all filled.


I'd love to take you up on the blog offer but I'm a cyber dunce and can't seem to find the link... would you be able to give us the address in the boxy bit here so the morons like myself can pick it up? ;-)

Cheers

MTM


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

OK one sale a day support group. I'm going to help out here. remember exposure is all important. You need people to know your book exists right? Then I suggest you head over to http://www.librarything.com/ and make an author account there. don't ask me how, as i did it a long time ago, but the instructions are there. Your just going to have to read.

Anyways, after you join there a section on the site that allows you to give away free e-books for reviews there. I ran most of my books there for two weeks each, about two month's before mine took off. Give it a try, it can't hurt. I suggest putting up one book at a time if you have more then one. Say only 10 or twenty copy's, for two weeks.

You can do this over and over, so you could do the same book every two weeks if you want. Each time I did this, I got over 100 requests for my books. That's a hundred or more people that now knew my book existed and were interested in reading it. Anyways good luck everyone.


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## K. A. Jordan (Aug 5, 2010)

Good idea, Sharlow.

During E-book Week I had 72 free copies go out. That was great, made me feel good. I hit my goal of 100 books out total after 3 days, and by the end of the promotion I have 142 books out.

I'm currently working on a new cover for "Let's Do Lunch" and the 2nd novel.

I gave up on the $.99 price point, after 8 weeks. My sales completely stalled on Amazon - so I brought the price back to $2.99. I'm just not comfortable selllng at the lowest price point when there is a better option. 

I still sell 2 or 3 books on B&N for every book on Amazon.


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

M T McGuire said:


> I'd love to take you up on the blog offer but I'm a cyber dunce and can't seem to find the link... would you be able to give us the address in the boxy bit here so the morons like myself can pick it up? ;-)
> 
> Cheers
> 
> MTM


sure thing

http://theaatkinson.wordpress.com

click the rate me some tab


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## David N. Alderman (Jan 15, 2011)

Sharlow said:


> OK one sale a day support group. I'm going to help out here. remember exposure is all important. You need people to know your book exists right? Then I suggest you head over to http://www.librarything.com/ and make an author account there. don't ask me how, as i did it a long time ago, but the instructions are there. Your just going to have to read.
> 
> Anyways, after you join there a section on the site that allows you to give away free e-books for reviews there. I ran most of my books there for two weeks each, about two month's before mine took off. Give it a try, it can't hurt. I suggest putting up one book at a time if you have more then one. Say only 10 or twenty copy's, for two weeks.
> 
> You can do this over and over, so you could do the same book every two weeks if you want. Each time I did this, I got over 100 requests for my books. That's a hundred or more people that now knew my book existed and were interested in reading it. Anyways good luck everyone.


Great idea, Sharlow. Thanks for the tip.


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

David N. Alderman said:


> Great idea, Sharlow. Thanks for the tip.


Your welcome, I hope it works out for you.


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## JRainey (Feb 1, 2011)

I'm joining this support group.  I was at about 5-7 sales a day for a while... but now I'm pretty much hovering at 1, maybe 2 if I'm lucky. This has been a slow month for a lot of us, I know.

I'm definitely giving LibraryThing a look, though. Thanks, Sharlow!


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

Me too... thanks Sharlow, I've signed up

Cheers

MTM


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

M.T. Mcguire and JRainey, no problem, I hope it helps.


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## DeAngelo (Mar 14, 2011)

I haven't made any sales in a few days, so my ratio is dropping. Is there a 3/4 sale a day support group?


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## LiteraryGrrrl (Jan 24, 2011)

Yeah, guys, March has pretty much sucked.  
But, I'm releasing April's short thriller in a few days.

Here's to hoping April's more like February!  

Shana


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## Christopher Bunn (Oct 26, 2010)

I signed up for LibraryThings too (thanks, Sharlow). Hey, JRainey - the new cover looks great. Nice change. Feel free to send me the image if you want me to swap it out in your interview on my site.


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## JodyWallace (Mar 29, 2011)

If I can't quite crack the sale a day threshhold, can I still belong to the support group?  Well, if you count all my books, it may be 1 a day, but I can't track my small pub sales, only the indie release. But that ability does allow me me get doubly obsessed over my sad Amazon rankings.


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

JodyWallace said:


> If I can't quite crack the sale a day threshhold, can I still belong to the support group?  Well, if you count all my books, it may be 1 a day, but I can't track my small pub sales, only the indie release. But that ability does allow me me get doubly obsessed over my sad Amazon rankings.


Phnark! I get 9 a month if I'm lucky... I'm not going to look any more than once a month ;-) That way madness lies (and I don't mean the pop group).

Cheers

MTM


----------



## Ben White (Feb 11, 2011)

M T McGuire said:


> Phnark! I get 9 a month if I'm lucky... I'm not going to look any more than once a month ;-) That way madness lies (and I don't mean the pop group).


Although "One Step Beyond" could probably be our theme song, with a minor tweak. "One Sale Beyond"


----------



## Ash Stirling (Mar 2, 2011)

I'm still going along at the around 1 sale a day for my novellas, which is good to see - not going backwards at least.

Hopefully with the third novella nearing completion, and a planned series of free short stories (the first of which I have on my website) I can garner a bit more interest and head towards 2 a day.


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## Rex Jameson (Mar 8, 2011)

Bookmarked LibraryThings. Thanks for the headsup, Sharlow!


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## nicholaslasalla (Mar 5, 2011)

Hey everybody!

I am around 1 every couple days, I've sold 22 total combining US and UK thus far in March and considering it's my first month on Kindle, I'm pretty pleased with the results.  I'm going to release my second book next month and when that comes out I hope it'll help to spread the word about my writing.

I'm keeping my blog updated fairly regularly and spreading the word through comments on the blogs I like, and those of friends.  I've been doing as much as I can, but with a full time job and 2 kids the time can run a bit thin for marketing if you want to accomplish anything approaching a regular writing schedule.

I am confident that April will be a little bit better than March, and that May will be a little better than April.  I swore to myself I was in this for the long haul, results be damned.  I'm just thrilled people are reading me.

I received my first review not that long ago, a 5 star one no less!  Very happy about that, I tell you . . .


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

rexjameson said:


> Bookmarked LibraryThings. Thanks for the headsup, Sharlow!


Your welcome Rex!


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## Amy Corwin (Jan 3, 2011)

I've been able to get about 1 book sale/day and I'm really torn about leaving the price at $.99 and just being happy to have a sale-a-day or if I could raise it to $2.99 and still get the same rate of sales?

I've been trying to figure out if the $.99 makes folks buy the book just because it is inexpensive (when they wouldn't normally buy it) or if it actually discourages sales because folks think...hmmm, this book must not be any good if it's this cheap.

I know I have a tendency to pause if the book is $.99 because it makes me wonder if it's a poor seller and not very good, or just a diamond no one has discovered. Books at the $2.99 and $3.99 seem more "average" to me.

Does anyone else have any opinions re: pricing? I've read all of Konrath and Hocking's blogs and note they seem to think having a book or two at the $.99 really helps, particularly if it is the first book in a series (that was Hocking's strategy).


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## CathyQuinn (Dec 9, 2010)

I raised my one .99 book to 2.99 like the other two -- and sales for all three dropped to zero!

But I'm still only selling a book a day... maybe different once you are selling more.


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## ASparrow (Oct 12, 2009)

This should make you all feel better (cut and pasted from NovelRank for my first book, Xenolith)

Amazon.com
Last Sale: 173 days, 19 hours
March Sales:	0
February Sales:	0
Current Rank: 441,378


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## Amy Corwin (Jan 3, 2011)

CathyQuinn said:


> I raised my one .99 book to 2.99 like the other two -- and sales for all three dropped to zero!
> 
> But I'm still only selling a book a day... maybe different once you are selling more.


That is very interesting and from my perspective, a compelling reason to keep at least one book at the $.99 price.
Thanks for the reply!


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

For what it's worth, I think that too. 

I only have one book out so right now it's immaterial. 

I think when I sort out the second I will drop book 1 to 75p because that's a special offer whereas one book at 75p looks a bit too like desperation, I think. Not that either price made any difference to my sales, except around Christmas. 

Alternatively I may release all my short stories - which are currently free everywhere else - in one handy volume and sell that on Amazon for 75p. 

It's all castles in the air right now as Real Life has got in the way and I've had to drop everything writing related for a month or two. I may have to start again then, although I may also have book two in the series complete so it may be a little easier.

Cheers

MTM


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## David N. Alderman (Jan 15, 2011)

Amy Corwin said:


> I've been able to get about 1 book sale/day and I'm really torn about leaving the price at $.99 and just being happy to have a sale-a-day or if I could raise it to $2.99 and still get the same rate of sales?
> 
> I've been trying to figure out if the $.99 makes folks buy the book just because it is inexpensive (when they wouldn't normally buy it) or if it actually discourages sales because folks think...hmmm, this book must not be any good if it's this cheap.
> 
> ...


Amy, I agree with Hocking's strategy. It's worked well for me, and I actually just did a blog post today detailing my sales history before and after I lowered the price of my ebooks. http://abrokenreality.blogspot.com/2011/03/snowball-effect-how-low-ebook-prices.html
I've thought briefly about what would happen if I raised the 99 cents back to $2.99 for the first book in my series, but I've decided to leave it at 99 cents because I think that's a great price to allow people to get into a series without having to risk too much in regards to $$$.


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## Pamela Kay Noble Brown (Mar 3, 2011)

Debi F said:


> I'm not in the 1 a day club yet, either -- heck I'm just looking for double digits in a month! (but this may be the month . . . ;-) )
> 
> But I'm writing, trying to interact with readers, attempting to create a good online presence . . .
> 
> Hopefully the persistence will work in the end. Right? Right? Tell me I'm not crazy here.


Thank you, thank you, thank you for this support group. It's always great to realize that you're not alone. And the encouragement the authors give each other gives one that boost to sit back down and start writing some more.


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## Felix R. Savage (Mar 3, 2011)

Hey Sharlow,

Thanks for the LibraryThing tip. Seems like a great promotional idea. I went over and signed up. HOWEVER! I cannot figure out how to sign up for the Member Giveaways as an author. I figure I'm being slow and it's staring me in the face. But how

Has anyone else got this figured out? Help?? Please?


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

Felix R. Savage said:


> Hey Sharlow,
> 
> Thanks for the LibraryThing tip. Seems like a great promotional idea. I went over and signed up. HOWEVER! I cannot figure out how to sign up for the Member Giveaways as an author. I figure I'm being slow and it's staring me in the face. But how
> 
> Has anyone else got this figured out? Help?? Please?


Here you go.

http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/HelpThing:Er_list#How_do_I_give_away_books_with_the_Member_Giveaways_program.3F

How do I give away books with the Member Giveaways program?

To post a book for a Member Giveaway, at least one of the following must be true:

You are a LibraryThing Author
You have at least 50 books in your LibraryThing account
You have a paid LibraryThing account
If you meet these minimum requirements, then just click "Post a Giveaway" and follow the instructions screen.

You may not add any additional terms to the giveaway, per the rules.
The member offering the giveaway decides how many review copies to offer (there is no minimum - you can offer just one copy if that's all you have), which countries they're willing to send them to, and what the giveaway time period will be.
You are responsible for the shipment of all books, to the winner(s) selected by LibraryThing. LibraryThing takes no responsibility for books sent or received. Do NOT send books to LibraryThing; we're not trudging to the Post Office for you.
You agree to never share the mailing addresses that you're given, and never to send anything other than the book.
There is no requirement that the winner (who is picked randomly) must review the book.
If you are an author, and would like to find a member to review your book, we've set up a special group for you. Member Giveaways works too, although you'll not have control over who wins the book (they're picked randomly), and the winner is not required to review the book. Read more about options for authors.


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

Sharlow said:


> Anyways, after you join there a section on the site that allows you to give away free e-books for reviews there. I ran most of my books there for two weeks each, about two month's before mine took off. Give it a try, it can't hurt. I suggest putting up one book at a time if you have more then one. Say only 10 or twenty copy's, for two weeks.


Done and Done. Thanks for the suggestion Sharlow! Please keep them coming.


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

modwitch said:


> I ended up with 416 takers, which is crazy (and my fingers are tired from emailing so many copies!).


Thanks for sharing your experience with this site. But can you tell me how you got the ebooks to them? Did you give them a smashwords code or did you send them a pdf or something?


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## Sharlow (Dec 20, 2009)

Cristian YoungMiller said:


> Thanks for sharing your experience with this site. But can you tell me how you got the ebooks to them? Did you give them a smashwords code or did you send them a pdf or something?


Myself, I just fired off a bunch of PDF copies.


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## Felix R. Savage (Mar 3, 2011)

Cristian YoungMiller said:


> Here you go.
> 
> http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/HelpThing:Er_list#How_do_I_give_away_books_with_the_Member_Giveaways_program.3F
> 
> ...


Thanks a million, Cristian! Modwitch, thanks for sharing your experiences, too.

Now I'm wondering how I become a LibraryThing Author. I tried searching for my name, as they instruct. Zip. When I searched for my *books*, I found two of the 3 I have on sale at Amazon, and was able to add them to my library. But it's not discovering my name. Did any of you guys run into this problem?? Wonder if I have to upgrade to a paid account before I can become a LibraryThing Author??


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

I've put my book *'The First Day After Life'* on LibraryThing.com as a free giveaway if anyone was interested in giving it a try and maybe writing an amazon review. 

http://www.librarything.com/er/giveaway/list


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

modwitch said:


> Looks good. Two suggestions 1) you have a great cover, put it up (if you click on edit by your post, you'll see for cover, click on custom, and you can upload, 2) say what formats you can provide, that will help with takers. 21 requests already though, that's great!


Oh cool, it's up to 21. 

I don't know why the cover isn't up there. I uploaded it when I posted the giveaway, but I guess it didn't take. I also uploaded it onto the book's LibraryThing page and it took there. Maybe it hasn't worked its way across yet.

Also, my edit button isn't working. When I hit it some sort of html coding comes up. I emailed someone there about it. Hopefully it'll be working by tomorrow. And once it does start working, I will upload the cover again and include the format in the giveaway description.

I'm also thinking about offering a free autographed paperback copy for the best review posted on Amazon. Thoughts about that?


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

modwitch said:


> Delete "best" from that sentence, and I think it's a great idea. You sooooo don't want to be "judging" reviews.


Ah, great point.


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## MrPLD (Sep 23, 2010)

Looking like we're on track to finally escape beyond the 1-a-day limitation.

Thus far, 30 copies of "Guardian" and 5 copies of "Tree of Life" this month :finally:


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

MrPLD said:


> Looking like we're on track to finally escape beyond the 1-a-day limitation.
> 
> Thus far, 30 copies of "Guardian" and 5 copies of "Tree of Life" this month :finally:


Very cool! 

So far, I think my April is starting a smidge better than March. Any improvement is good improvement.

-David


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## thejosh86 (Mar 1, 2011)

Just got my first UK sale amidst a drought of US sales!


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

thejosh86 said:


> Just got my first UK sale amidst a drought of US sales!


I see you posted on LibraryThing as well. I encourage you to create a profile for you book. That is how I found out that after I posted my giveaway, someone bought my book. Also, that is where people are taken to when they click on your cover image.

Oh, and by the way, I'm really cheering for your success with that book, because the next book that I'm going to write is one I've already started. It is a funny book about a zombie hunter. So I need you to stoke the genre for me.


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## thejosh86 (Mar 1, 2011)

Cristian YoungMiller said:


> I see you posted on LibraryThing as well. I encourage you to create a profile for you book. That is how I found out that after I posted my giveaway, someone bought my book. Also, that is where people are taken to when they click on your cover image.
> 
> Oh, and by the way, I'm really cheering for your success with that book, because the next book that I'm going to write is one I've already started. It is a funny book about a zombie hunter. So I need you to stoke the genre for me.


I thought I had already created a profile for the book, but I guess for some reason my giveaway listing doesn't link to it. I guess I'll have to investigate that further.

And, I will happily stoke the genre!

[Edit] Yeah, for some reason, whenever I click the book links (either image or name) at the LibraryThing giveaway page, it links to a generic [No Title] book profile, and after clicking on some of the other books at the giveaway, it seems to do the same thing.

[EDITIITITIIT] There's a Cover/Title/Author recalculate option down at the bottom right that will populate the [No Title] pages.


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

Hey all, have any of you paid to join Librarything and if so, how much is it and can you do it if you're not American and have no American bank account?

Cheers

MTM


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## cinstress (Jan 11, 2011)

I wish I could get a sale a day, LOL

I have a 99 cent kids books (chapter book aimed at first - third graders)

Probably not a great field to be in for kindle, but I'm trying.  I have a group of first graders at a local school reading it now & they like it, so that's encouraging (they don't know me, as I am trying to get blind testing)


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

M T McGuire said:


> Hey all, have any of you paid to join Librarything and if so, how much is it and can you do it if you're not American and have no American bank account?


You can pay through paypal or credit card. And you decide how much to pay.


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

Cristian YoungMiller said:


> You can pay through paypal or credit card. And you decide how much to pay.


Great! That, I can work with ;-)

Cheers

MTM


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## Philip Chen (Aug 8, 2010)

For what it is worth, I run The Independent Authors Forum. Join us and I will run your banner gratis on a rotating basis for a month during our ramp-up period. There is no charge for membership (which is growing each day).

Latest Stats:










Send me a PM on IAF if you want your banner run for a month. This is the least I can do to reduce the membership of this hopefully soon to be extinct club.


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## JodyWallace (Mar 29, 2011)

My April is only better than March because I didn't have a book out until mid-March *heh*


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## Ben White (Feb 11, 2011)

I'm in the sale-a-week club for April, but I've been so busy that I haven't had time to mind


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## traceya (Apr 26, 2010)

My sales have dropped off enormously lately but I'm hoping [fingers crossed] it's because people are waiting for the final in the Witchcraft Wars series - it's seriously behind schedule due to illness, being stuck in hospital for nearly 3 months and a massive load of edits from my editor. Either that or the books have run their course


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## SEAN H. ROBERTSON (Mar 14, 2011)

1 a day club here expecting to get to 2 day this week! Here's for being optimistic. I wish you all the best in your sales!


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## P.A. Woodburn (May 22, 2010)

Traceya, You had a long and scary illness. I'm sure there was a lot of emotional baggage around that. I almost died last November, so I know it can be life transforming. You will get your energy back and sales will pick up don't worry about it--rejoice in being alive and use your experience in your writing.
Good luck and good writing.
Ann


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

Blimey guys, even having shingles takes you down, 3 months in hospital plus nearly shuffling off this mortal coil would DEFINITELY throw my writing out!

Don't worry Tracey I am certain that the more worried I am about selling stuff the less I achieve. I went on holiday and forgot about writing last week. Came back with loads of ideas and 4 sales (which is about half my usual monthly total).

Cheers

MTM


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

modwitch said:


> I didn't pay to be a librarything author...


Hi Modwitch,
I was wondering how you decided to price your new book at $3.99? I'm trying to decide whether to price my next release 'Fixing Cupid' at .99 or 2.99. Did you start lower and then increase the price? I was just going to make it .99 but the cover turned our really good and the sample is turning out to be really good, and the book is very funny.

I do plan on giving away as many copies as I can on LibraryThing and I will be doing some excerpt exchanges. I'm wondering if that will support a 2.99 price out of the gate?


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## Jason Reed (Dec 24, 2010)

One sale a day ... that would be awesome. I should be in the one sale a week club.


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## Christopher Bunn (Oct 26, 2010)

Why are you guys paying to join LibraryThing? I registered on there as an author, and it was free...


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## Felix R. Savage (Mar 3, 2011)

Christopher Bunn said:


> Why are you guys paying to join LibraryThing? I registered on there as an author, and it was free...


How did you manage that, Christopher? When you searched for your name on this page

http://www.librarything.com/search.php#

did your name come up? Mine doesn't come up, although LibraryThing has all three of my titles that are available as e-books.

Anyone have any idea what I might be doing wrong??


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## Duane Gundrum (Apr 5, 2011)

I'm lucky if I get one per day. And it's kind of depressing. I'd hug one of my stuffed animals right now, but even they shy away from me, thinking I need to sell more before they're willing to let me hug them again.


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

modwitch said:


> Sibel Hodge's romcoms sell very well at $3.99, fwiw.


Thanks Debora. 
Yes I've had a PM chat with Sibel as well. She and Beth Orsoff are both doing well at $2.99 plus. So is Heidi Hall. I think I might try the water of $2.99 and see what happens. Thoerotically there's no reason why *'Fixing Cupid'* shouldn't do well at that price. And I have to say that for the first time I have absolute confidence that one of my books will do well. It will just be a matter of waiting for it to build a little slower that if it would be at .99.

Thanks again.


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

Christopher Bunn said:


> Why are you guys paying to join LibraryThing? I registered on there as an author, and it was free...


I couldn't find that option and the instructions said otherwise. But I just paid $1. If they do help me to sell books, that is of course, nothing.


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## LiteraryGrrrl (Jan 24, 2011)

Just read on another thread that JL Bryan, author of Jenny Pox, was in this club as recently as last September.
That gives me hope...

Shana


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## MrPLD (Sep 23, 2010)

Wow, nearly a YEAR since anyone posted here... well, I'm in now; a bit more than 1/day (more like 4/day) but glad to be in.


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## Marie S (May 20, 2011)

I haven't had a sale all week.


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## MrPLD (Sep 23, 2010)

We're lucky, we have 5 books generating sales, so it helps a lot to keep things over 1/day.


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## M T McGuire (Dec 6, 2010)

I'm still languishing in the one sale a week club.... worst month ever October 11 when I achieved a grand total of NO sales. Mwah ha hah hargh.


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## Ben White (Feb 11, 2011)

This thread's a blast from the past--things have improved a teensy bit since last year, around 2-3/day for me, although only on Charlotte Powers.  Everything else is more like 1/week or 1/month, or less.  Not seeing a lot of growth or building much momentum, that's for sure


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## MrPLD (Sep 23, 2010)

@Ben:  That's good that you're doing 2~3/day with the one book, should be keeping its rank in the 40~60,000 mark?


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## ErikHyrkas (Dec 24, 2011)

According to my spreadsheet, I belong in the 4.91836734693878/day club.  Yesterday I would have made it into the 5.0/club, but they kicked me out this morning.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.


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## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

For the entire second half of last year I was in this club, before that I was in the "Woo, I sold a book this month" group.  Since the start of this year I've been doing better.  As others have said, keep writing, get more books out there, but also market. Get the world used to your face and name. Keep learning! Eventually it does start to add up.


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## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

My sales go up and down. Anywhere from 3 or 4 a day to a week or two without a sale. Wish I could figure out how to keep up momentum.


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## Ben White (Feb 11, 2011)

MrPLD said:


> @Ben: That's good that you're doing 2~3/day with the one book, should be keeping its rank in the 40~60,000 mark?


Well, it's over the whole Charlotte Powers series, so it's actually three books each getting around a sale a day (although this month it's more like one sale/two days, it's been a slow March). As for rankings they hover around 80k - 100k, before Xmas (with around two sales/day) it was more like 20k - 30k. One thing that I'm happy about is that around 70% of people who buy the first book then go on to the second, and almost everyone who buys the second then goes on to buy the third.

Although I've heard it said (or read it written) that other people get a lot of cross-sales between series, unfortunately I haven't seen that at all. I guess people just like superheroes


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## Guest (Mar 12, 2012)

This week was below average. I had only three Amazon sales (2 Anno Humanae Salutis, 1 Crystal Shade: Angeni) and 84 Downloads for the freebie Crystal Shade: Episodes on Smashwords. But at least I got one great blog review for CS:A and one great Amazon review for AHS. Hopefully it's going to help something.


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## JRainey (Feb 1, 2011)

On average, I'm in the one sale a day club again! Things have slowed, but I haven't been online much (working on getting a second book out later this month), and the weather is getting nicer now. I think that distracted some people from book buying this weekend.



Cliff Ball said:


> My sales go up and down. Anywhere from 3 or 4 a day to a week or two without a sale. Wish I could figure out how to keep up momentum.


Same here, but I've just accepted that my first book has a very small audience, and those who love it, love it and those who don't, don't. I really have to get more books out before I'll see any serious momentum.


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## FrankZubek (Aug 31, 2010)

Best thing that I do during lulls is find new places to market the book ( Like this morning I was googling all variations of Kindle readers, literary fiction, literary blogs, etc)

And I spend the rest of my spare time working on the new story

Good luck to everyone! Hang in there


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## Millard (Jun 13, 2011)

One a day? We wish, right?


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

Millard said:


> One a day? We wish, right?


Yep. We certainly do. Welcome to my world, Millard.


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## K. A. Jordan (Aug 5, 2010)

December was insane in a good way.  

Now I'm back to about a sale a day for this month.

I was pleasantly surprised to have 2 paid sales from Smashwords and 3 sales from Barnes & Noble this month. 

I could be very happy to sell at this rate until next fall. It would be a big improvement over last year.


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