# December sales thread



## vrabinec (May 19, 2011)

I didn't have any, but I was curious. Nobody else seemed to want to do it.


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## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

Mine were pretty good for my second month of publishing. They started out strong, had a bit of a lull in the lead up to Xmas, then started to pick up again in the final week of December. January's where sales have really improved for me though.


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## Aaron Pogue (Feb 18, 2011)

Claudia King said:


> Mine were pretty good for my second month of publishing. They started out strong, had a bit of a lull in the lead up to Xmas, then started to pick up again in the final week of December. January's where sales have really improved for me though.


I've been seeing the same thing.

As far as hard numbers go, looks like I sold 4,671 copies across 13 titles (KDP, PubIt, Kobo, and iTunes). Here's my sales report:










(I removed the titles by other authors I publish.)


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## Carry Lada (Oct 30, 2012)

*Only 4 Units Sold this month so far:*

*2* A Very Ugly Story 
*1 *Very Ugly Stories Bundle 1
*1* What does the early worm get?


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## 60169 (May 18, 2012)

One title: 703 sales/borrows. (With the caveat that 400 came on a one day ENT .99 ad that saved my bacon.)


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## sarracannon (Apr 19, 2011)

I was very happy with December's sales numbers. I was actually happy just to survive finishing and finally releasing the 6th book in my series. Whew! It took long enough...

Beautiful Demons: 4179 Free Downloads

Inner Demons: 569 Sales

Bitter Demons: 494 Sales

Shadow Demons: 463 Sales

Rival Demons: 463 Sales (spooky, yes. Very odd to have two books the same exact number.)

Demons Forever (released 12/21): 2596

Total Sales (Not including smashwords and apple): 4585
Income: $10,965


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## valeriec80 (Feb 24, 2011)

It was 900-ish across thirty or so titles (short stories and novels), but a bunch of them were $.99 sales, so I don't think I made very much money.

Is that an estimated income, Sarra? *runs off to see if Amazon has released reports early.*


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## Laura Lond (Nov 6, 2010)

My December was crap. No fabled "Christmas boost" whatsoever. It's been a while since I had such a bad month.


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## notreallyhere (Oct 8, 2011)

sarracannon said:


> I was very happy with December's sales numbers. I was actually happy just to survive finishing and finally releasing the 6th book in my series. Whew! It took long enough...
> 
> Beautiful Demons: 4179 Free Downloads
> 
> ...


Congrats, Sarra! I was one of those 2596 - reading it right now. 

I surpassed November, with over 500 sales across mainly two titles - the second and third book of my series. I had a smattering of sales with my shorter works, and just under 5,000 free downloads of book one.

So - very happy with sales. Especially since things just started taking off for me in November.

Here's to a profitable January! Looking good for me so far.

~Cate


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## Lefty (Apr 7, 2011)

11 shorts sold over 3 titles. December was my first full month.


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## Margo Karasek (Feb 29, 2012)

I sold close to 800 copies in December, thanks to ENT and BookBub.


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## Incognita (Apr 3, 2011)

Right at 1,700 sold and about 230 borrowed. Best month ever for me. (Plus about 1,500 downloads of my perma-free title.)


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## the quiet one (Aug 13, 2012)

December was interesting. I sold 136 copies during the first two weeks. I published my second novel in the series on the 15th, and then the novella prequel on the 22nd, and ended the month with 670 sales.  That's my best month yet in the three full months I've been published.

Currently on pace for a 40-50% jump on that this month. The prequel just went perma-free, so the handful of sales from that vanish; time will tell if it carries over to increased sales of the other two.

This is almost exclusively Amazon.com; I've sold maybe 10 copies total on other Amazon sites. Hoping to get Amazon to price match free in other regions to see if that spurs any sales. My first book just left Select, and since then I've been working on getting the titles up on other sites. Not too much noise just yet on any of those fronts.

January will be very interesting to watch.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

I debated whether to even post this or not, so here's the deal. Last December I sold 6 books and made $5.04. Got that? If you're a person who feels the need to compare yourself to others and you feel bad about it afterward, just hold on to that thought, okay? You shouldn't feel bad, because we're all doing this for our own reasons, goals and at our own pace, and luck is a big factor, but if you feel bad after looking at high sales numbers, just think about that number because it's safe, and unassuming. And those of the rest of you who want to be inspired, well, you can't do much worse than my December last year, so...be inspired. If you want the rest of the story, just hover your cursor over the spoiler text, and you'll get a different kind of inspiration, maybe.



Spoiler



This December was a different story. 7,467 books sold across all outlets (though 4,296 were in the UK) and I made roughly $22,500. I don't mean to understate this, but if things suck for you right now, it can be a very different story in 12 months.


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## Carry Lada (Oct 30, 2012)

RobertJCrane said:


> I debated whether to even post this or not, so here's the deal. Last December I sold 6 books and made $5.04. Got that? If you're a person who feels the need to compare yourself to others and you feel bad about it afterward, just hold on to that thought, okay? You shouldn't feel bad, because we're all doing this for our own reasons, goals and at our own pace, and luck is a big factor, but if you feel bad after looking at high sales numbers, just think about that number because it's safe, and unassuming. And those of the rest of you who want to be inspired, well, you can't do much worse than my December last year, so...be inspired. If you want the rest of the story, just hover your cursor over the spoiler text, and you'll get a different kind of inspiration, maybe.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Right On!


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## Lefty (Apr 7, 2011)

RobertJCrane said:


> I debated whether to even post this or not, so here's the deal. Last December I sold 6 books and made $5.04. Got that? If you're a person who feels the need to compare yourself to others and you feel bad about it afterward, just hold on to that thought, okay? You shouldn't feel bad, because we're all doing this for our own reasons, goals and at our own pace, and luck is a big factor, but if you feel bad after looking at high sales numbers, just think about that number because it's safe, and unassuming. And those of the rest of you who want to be inspired, well, you can't do much worse than my December last year, so...be inspired. If you want the rest of the story, just hover your cursor over the spoiler text, and you'll get a different kind of inspiration, maybe.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Great job.


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## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

Roughly 520 sales for me . 

January has fallen off a cliff (relatively to my rate of sales in the last week of December). I'm still on pace to roughly match what I did in December overall and am hoping my next title coming out in the latter part of December will give me a helpful boost .


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## Aaron Pogue (Feb 18, 2011)

RobertJCrane said:


> I debated whether to even post this or not, so here's the deal. Last December I sold 6 books and made $5.04. Got that? If you're a person who feels the need to compare yourself to others and you feel bad about it afterward, just hold on to that thought, okay? You shouldn't feel bad, because we're all doing this for our own reasons, goals and at our own pace, and luck is a big factor, but if you feel bad after looking at high sales numbers, just think about that number because it's safe, and unassuming. And those of the rest of you who want to be inspired, well, you can't do much worse than my December last year, so...be inspired. If you want the rest of the story, just hover your cursor over the spoiler text, and you'll get a different kind of inspiration, maybe.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's a great post, Robert. And so many others could back you up on it. My numbers are slightly different, but the theme's the same.

It's a great time to be a writer.


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## rainvilleadam (Jan 9, 2013)

December was my worst month since I've started self-publishing. Since April there has been an increase each month (alright, alright, by about one or two - all the way from 2 copies to 24). In December I sold 4 stories. I'm not sure if December was the slowest moving because it was the latest month and my sales have dropped, or because the holidays and people being busy/traveling had something to do with it.


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

RobertJCrane said:


> I debated whether to even post this or not, so here's the deal. Last December I sold 6 books and made $5.04. Got that? If you're a person who feels the need to compare yourself to others and you feel bad about it afterward, just hold on to that thought, okay? You shouldn't feel bad, because we're all doing this for our own reasons, goals and at our own pace, and luck is a big factor, but if you feel bad after looking at high sales numbers, just think about that number because it's safe, and unassuming. And those of the rest of you who want to be inspired, well, you can't do much worse than my December last year, so...be inspired. If you want the rest of the story, just hover your cursor over the spoiler text, and you'll get a different kind of inspiration, maybe.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Congrats. You're kicking ass.  Did you really sell that many in the UK alone? That's flipping insane. I have never gotten traction like that in the other regions.

And big congrats to everyone else in this thread, too! Everyone's rocking it. Just remember, lower/higher sales number is not indicative of quality -- it just means folks are at different places in their careers.

I sold 7,608 books on Amazon in December. I don't know how much that is in royalties, but definitely not as much as Robert. Quite a lot of those are 99c because of my serial, so it's probably more like $10,000, but I'll have to wait for the December KDP report to know.


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

I sold 32 books in December. It was my best month so far, since I first published in August. I sold 1 in August.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

smreine said:


> Did you really sell that many in the UK alone? That's flipping insane. I have never gotten traction like that in the other regions.


Yeah, I have no idea how that happened. Seriously. I've done nothing special in the UK that I can figure out (and damned little anywhere else).


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

RobertJCrane said:


> Yeah, I have no idea how that happened. Seriously. I've done nothing special in the UK that I can figure out (and damned little anywhere else).


This is my guess, and I hope someone smarter than I am, like Phoenix or Ed, will correct me if I say something stupid:

It's probably because the UK and other non-US regional stores have different algorithms than the US does. UK still has the older, author-friendlier algos that allow books to fall slowly through the rankings. If you can get a good number of sales/downloads, you drift down from your peak nice and slow, just like authors could in the US a couple of years ago. In the US, the rankings are full of spikes and crashes and OH GOD FLAMING DEATH, whereas it's much gentler overseas.

The problem is that BookBub, ENT, and other advertising sites do not reach readers in the UK/DE/FR as well as they do for the US, so getting the number of sales required to hit that is much, _much_ harder. How you got those initial downloads to jumpstart that visibility is the real mystery. But very awesome.

Even if they change the algos on the stores to make them more like the US now, you should continue to sell well there with every new release, as long as you're gathering that audience well. Which is extra awesome. Well done.


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## Jason Blacker (May 20, 2011)

RobertJCrane - Your story is super inspiring. Thanks for sharing.

In January 2012 I sold 43 books over 3 titles.

December 2012 I sold 24 books over 45 titles. But my prices are higher now.

I'm not despairing for I'm certain I'll have a better December 2013 and I'm
inspired by the potential other writers like Robert above have shown.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

Don't mean to derail, but, the funny thing about those initial downloads, the algorithms, whatever - Alone has been in the top 20 free Since, like, October. They've switched it to paid (twice now) and as soon as it goes back to free, it wobbles it's way back into the teens. It's done it three times now. And when it does, Untouched and the gang follow behind up the paid charts. I hate to jinx it, but my theory is that because there's no PoI or ENT, etc, in the UK the free category isn't nearly as uh...torsional. Competitive, would be another way to put it. There's less pressure, for whatever reason, and things seem to be more driven by word of mouth and best seller lists than outside forces like those websites. That's just my theory, though. I'm sure you're right, that Phoenix or Ed know what's what.

And thanks to all for the kind words. Now back to the sales thread!


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## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Sold/borrowed 64 copies of _Nolander_ in December.


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## notreallyhere (Oct 8, 2011)

Cherise Kelley said:


> I sold 32 books in December. It was my best month so far, since I first published in August. I sold 1 in August.


Congrats! You are doing MUCH better than I did at 5 months out.


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## Missy B (Aug 20, 2012)

1979 across 12 titles. (1500 is from one) I'm still sort of gobsmacked by that number.

Robert, I love your story. Love it.


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

RobertJCrane said:


> Don't mean to derail, but, the funny thing about those initial downloads, the algorithms, whatever - Alone has been in the top 20 free Since, like, October. They've switched it to paid (twice now) and as soon as it goes back to free, it wobbles it's way back into the teens. It's done it three times now. And when it does, Untouched and the gang follow behind up the paid charts. I hate to jinx it, but my theory is that because there's no PoI or ENT, etc, in the UK the free category isn't nearly as uh...torsional. Competitive, would be another way to put it. There's less pressure, for whatever reason, and things seem to be more driven by word of mouth and best seller lists than outside forces like those websites. That's just my theory, though. I'm sure you're right, that Phoenix or Ed know what's what.
> 
> And thanks to all for the kind words. Now back to the sales thread!


I dunno if I have anything to add, sounds like you and Sara are talkin' smarts to me.

Some of you all are doing so well that I can't believe I'm kind of embarrassed to say I finished December with about 1750. I think that broke down roughly to like 1350 Amazon / 300 Kobo / 100 BN / 15 Apple. What's up with that, Apple? I practically sold more paperbacks than that!


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## 48209 (Jul 4, 2011)

First off, Robert I love how you've started blacking out your good news -- Like it's a spoiler of your life. Congrats.

Me, eh.

It's in His Kiss: 97 sales (up 3Xs from last Dec)/ Joined Select mid-month: 12 borrows, 2227 on my one free day
The Last Single Girl: 45 sales after it went live 12/22 / 5 borrows

All of my sales for the second year were up at least 3-12Xs of the year before.


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## shel (May 14, 2011)

Congrats on all the good sales numbers KBers!

I sold 1,643 across all titles, including more than 200 paperbacks. 
I'm pretty happy about that, though not entirely sure why since I read e-books. 

January has fallen off a bit, but is still buttloads (butt loads?) stronger than what I was selling in the fall.


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## Christian Price (Aug 3, 2012)

9 months into this journey.  Sold 29 over three books.  First December.  Still enjoying my journey though.


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

RobertJCrane said:


> I debated whether to even post this or not, so here's the deal. Last December I sold 6 books and made $5.04. Got that? If you're a person who feels the need to compare yourself to others and you feel bad about it afterward, just hold on to that thought, okay? You shouldn't feel bad, because we're all doing this for our own reasons, goals and at our own pace, and luck is a big factor, but if you feel bad after looking at high sales numbers, just think about that number because it's safe, and unassuming. And those of the rest of you who want to be inspired, well, you can't do much worse than my December last year, so...be inspired. If you want the rest of the story, just hover your cursor over the spoiler text, and you'll get a different kind of inspiration, maybe.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I love this post. Robert, you are a class act. December 2011 I sold 500 books exactly, but keep in mind about 300 of them were do to a paid POI promotion. For the inspiring part (hope you don't mind I jumped on your bandwagon) here are my results this Dec.


Spoiler



Dec 2012 I sold 4834 for an estimated income of $13,132.


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

smreine said:


> I don't know how much that is in royalties...


Okay. You've seriously disillusioned me. No spreadsheet?


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

Edward W. Robertson said:


> Some of you all are doing so well that I can't believe I'm kind of embarrassed to say I finished December with about 1750.


Seriously, Ed? lol. This statement is a testament to how far self-publishing has come in a very short time. Those are great sales.


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## Satchya (Sep 5, 2012)

1317 across two titles.  One at 2.99; the other at 3.99.  
209 paperbacks.

January is already on track to be much better.  We kept waiting for the Christmas bump and never saw it.  Maybe this (meaning the beginning of January) is finally the Christmas bump?  Of course, now that I've said it out loud I've probably jinxed it.  I'd better sprinkle some of that magic Hugh Howey dust around in here.


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

Deanna Chase said:


> Seriously, Ed? lol. This statement is a testament to how far self-publishing has come in a very short time. Those are great sales.


I know, it's very ridiculous. We all get to be irrational sometimes, don't we? 

Okay, to add some perspective, including for myself, I just downloaded my report from 12 months ago. It isn't as remarkable as Robert's story, but according to it, in December 2011 I sold 19 copies on Amazon, and made $6.65. Looks like I was rocking the $0.99 strategy to the hilt!

Can probably pinpoint the reasons pretty easily. In 2012, I paid for a real cover for one of my (two) novels, published three more, including two in a new series, and got involved in Select. A very boring combination of investing in better production, continuing to write, and being in the right place at the right time with Select.


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

Deanna Chase said:


> Okay. You've seriously disillusioned me. No spreadsheet?


 I just don't know what the KDP Select borrow amount for December is. They added that bonus, but new Kindles were way up, so I don't have an accurate guess. My estimate is based on $2/borrow.



Edward W. Robertson said:


> I dunno if I have anything to add, sounds like you and Sara are talkin' smarts to me.
> 
> Some of you all are doing so well that I can't believe I'm kind of embarrassed to say I finished December with about 1750. I think that broke down roughly to like 1350 Amazon / 300 Kobo / 100 BN / 15 Apple. What's up with that, Apple? I practically sold more paperbacks than that!


How is that embarrassing?? That's great!

Since we're talking December 2011, I sold 1,396 books, so it sounds like I've made the least progress in a year in comparison to this entire thread. LOL.


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## BrianKittrell (Jan 8, 2011)

1,571 in Amazon US and UK, ebook only. Altogether, probably close to 1800 amongst all platforms and editions, but I'm too busy to count them all right now.


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

smreine said:


> I just don't know what the KDP Select borrow amount for December is. They added that bonus, but new Kindles were way up, so I don't have an accurate guess. My estimate is based on $2/borrow.


Ahh, okay, those pesky borrows. I feel better now.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

Deanna Chase said:


> Seriously, Ed? lol. This statement is a testament to how far self-publishing has come in a very short time. Those are great sales.


Like four months ago I would have killed to have those sales. Well, maybe not killed. Wait, who would I have had to kill? Could it be someone who REALLY deserved it?

Seriously, those are really good numbers.



smreine said:


> Since we're talking December 2011, I sold 1,396 books, so it sounds like I've made the least progress in a year in comparison to this entire thread. LOL.


Oh, yeah, 1,396 -> 7600+. In the words of Shao Kahn, PATHETIC.



Caitie Quinn said:


> First off, Robert I love how you've started blacking out your good news -- Like it's a spoiler of your life. Congrats.
> 
> The Last Single Girl: 45 sales after it went live 12/22 / 5 borrows


SPOILER ALERT! You just beat every book launch month I've ever had until my last one.



Deanna Chase said:


> I love this post. Robert, you are a class act. December 2011 I sold 500 books exactly, but keep in mind about 300 of them were do to a paid POI promotion. For the inspiring part (hope you don't mind I jumped on your bandwagon) here are my results this Dec.
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> ...


I dunno, I still get inspired by all these posts because you still read all those insipid, negative articles about how the average self-publisher only makes a fractional amount of money, and blah blah blah it'll never work out and if you just look at the KB, you see plenty of examples of people who are making a really nice living, and none of them do things exactly the same way. There should be hope for everyone in this thread.



Missy B said:


> 1979 across 12 titles. (1500 is from one) I'm still sort of gobsmacked by that number.


Congrats on your success, Missy, that's excellent.

Seriously, you guys rock. So impressed with all the motivation in this thread. Nobody started out doing well, and it can turn around fast.


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## 48209 (Jul 4, 2011)

RobertJCrane said:


> SPOILER ALERT! You just beat every book launch month I've ever had until my last one.


Wow, I'm totally shocked by that. And I won't lie, I was disappointed with my numbers. I was expecting about 70 for the month. But, December was one of my worst months for the other book, so in comparison not bad I guess.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

Caitie Quinn said:


> Wow, I'm totally shocked by that. And I won't lie, I was disappointed with my numbers. I was expecting about 70 for the month. But, December was one of my worst months for the other book, so in comparison not bad I guess.


Untouched and Soulless are my two biggest sellers. They came out in August and Untouched sold 26, Soulless sold 18. So, technically, you beat them both combined with your_ Last Single Girl_ launch.


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## PorterlanceBooks (Jan 12, 2012)

I had about 1838 across many titles for December.  Last December (2011) was my first partial month, and I did just over 1200 sales.  

I can't seem to get traction for the high sales numbers.  I'm curious if those of you with 4,000+ sales for the month used low pricing ($0.99), or any advertising, etc...

My books are novellas, so I'm not complaining.  I've been able to live just on the kdp publishing since I started 13 months ago.  Still, I'd like to break the 2,000 downloads in a month mark eventually.


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## Gennita Low (Dec 13, 2012)

Congratulations to everyone here. Just wanted to chime in because I finally have some numbers with which to compare.

In Dec. 2010, I launched my first self-pubbed print as an ebook and during that month, made $5.

In Dec. 2011, Big Bad Wolf made $500.

In Dec. 2012, with borrows, Big Bad Wolf made $1500.

I also launched my second original self-pubbed ebook and sold 3000 copies in Dec. That got me on several popular lists and helped my other books tremendously.

I'm very happy with December . November was a big No to me, though.


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## Rashaad Bell (Oct 7, 2011)

This is just for amazon US and UK combined...

Vampire Manifesto (permafree): 965

Fledgling (Vampire Manifesto part 2) : 58

Forgotten Future (anthology): 2


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I sold 162 books in December, which was my best month so far. In December 2012 I sold 27 books. The huge difference is that the 2011 sales were all on Amazon, but the 2012 sales were predominantly on Kobo.

January looks to be really, really bad on Amazon, but Kobo sales are still increasing. I've not done any advertising there.

I've brought out a trilogy omnibus to try stop the rot on Amazon. Why does my trilogy sell 10 copies day on Kobo and not even five copies a month on Amazon? Maybe a deal for all three books will help things along.


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## dalya (Jul 26, 2011)

December, Amazon US
Nice stuff: 193
Naughty stuff: 5,010

Here's the thing, though. I take pride in doing my naughty stuff well. I put out ... a great story. It takes me just as much time to craft 1,000 words of naughty stuff, and unlike many in that genre, I not only read it after typing, I do some light revisions; I'm not perfect, but the stuff is relatively error-free and reads like it was written by someone who speaks English. (Yeah, some of you know what I mean.)

However. And I must say this. It does rend your soul to split into different pen names.


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## A.A (Mar 30, 2012)

December sales and borrows on 'zon.com:

Nice stuff: 2000+
Slightly, only a teensy bit naughty stuff: 400+

(To borrow Dalya's categories )


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## Sarah Woodbury (Jan 30, 2011)

Congratulations to everyone in this thread. I remember when I first joined KB and both looked forward to the thread and dreaded it, thinking there was NO WAY I was ever going to be able to post. I think it was called the 1000 sales club then.

Dec. 2010 -- I had one book. I sold 5 of them at 99 cents for a grand total of $1.75 on Amazon US
Dec. 2011 -- 7 books/ 2385 / $4,260
Dec. 2022 -- 10 books/ 4643 / $11,000 (roughly)


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

Sarah Woodbury said:


> Congratulations to everyone in this thread. I remember when I first joined KB and both looked forward to the thread and dreaded it, thinking there was NO WAY I was ever going to be able to post. I think it was called the 1000 sales club then.
> 
> Dec. 2010 -- I had one book. I sold 5 of them at 99 cents for a grand total of $1.75 on Amazon US
> Dec. 2011 -- 7 books/ 2385 / $4,260
> Dec. 2022 -- 10 books/ 4643 / $11,000 (roughly)


I remember that 1000 club thread, and I had the exact same thought. I was so excited the first month I went over 1000 sales. But by then the thread had ceased to exist. I was sad. lol

Nice showing, Sarah.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

1000 sales a month. I remember that thread, and it's one of the ones that made me feel so embarrassed that I never shared my sales data.

Just out of interest, of all people who are reporting 1000+ sales on this thread, I'm clicking through to the books on your Amazon pages. None so far that I can check are selling their books cheaply (like 99c or even $2.99).


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## TWD Glasgow (Jan 10, 2013)

Patty Jansen said:


> 1000 sales a month. I remember that thread, and it's one of the ones that made me feel so embarrassed that I never shared my sales data.
> 
> Just out of interest, of all people who are reporting 1000+ sales on this thread, I'm clicking through to the books on your Amazon pages. None so far that I can check are selling their books cheaply (like 99c or even $2.99).


That's really interesting to know. A low price doesn't always mean lots of sales. I've got no control over the pricing of my books as they are with publishers.


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## L.T. Ryan (Aug 1, 2012)

Lots of inspiration in this thread. Thanks to all who have shared. December was my sixth full month and I sold 1268 on Amazon US/UK and B&N.


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## Lyndawrites (Aug 7, 2011)

I shouldn't read threads like this. Now, I'm sooo depressed


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## robin_hart (Dec 21, 2012)

Lyndawrites said:


> I shouldn't read threads like this. Now, I'm sooo depressed


Awww....I went to your page to grab a book so I could see what you write, and I noticed your reviews. Gosh readers seem to love you. Hang in there.


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## Lyndawrites (Aug 7, 2011)

robin_hart said:


> Awww....I went to your page to grab a book so I could see what you write, and I noticed your reviews. Gosh readers seem to love you. Hang in there.


Thanks, Robin. Feeling better for your kind words.


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## robin_hart (Dec 21, 2012)

Thanks, I got Strictly Murder and I'm looking forward to it.  Great blurb!


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## ChrisWard (Mar 10, 2012)

I had 115 sales/borrows in Dec, some way better than my previous best of 70 in Oct.  Almost 100 were from 23rd onwards.  It left me with exactly 400 sales in 2012, which while not as many as some was a lot better than I had originally expected.


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## Lyndawrites (Aug 7, 2011)

robin_hart said:


> Thanks, I got Strictly Murder and I'm looking forward to it. Great blurb!


Oh, wow! Thank you, so much. That's incredibly kind of you. I do hope you enjoy it.


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## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

Sarah Woodbury said:


> Congratulations to everyone in this thread. I remember when I first joined KB and both looked forward to the thread and dreaded it, thinking there was NO WAY I was ever going to be able to post. I think it was called the 1000 sales club then.
> 
> Dec. 2010 -- I had one book. I sold 5 of them at 99 cents for a grand total of $1.75 on Amazon US
> Dec. 2011 -- 7 books/ 2385 / $4,260
> Dec. 2022 -- 10 books/ 4643 / $11,000 (roughly)


Congrats, mindboggling, stupefying.
Even though you've mentioned December 2022 and I think you meant December 2012.
I would be surprised if I were to climb up to 464 in December 2022.
I'll keep out of this, except to congratulate all of you.


----------



## Raquel Lyon (Mar 3, 2012)

Lyndawrites said:


> I shouldn't read threads like this. Now, I'm sooo depressed


^^^
This.

 Quite ashamed, but wanted to show the other end of the spectrum. Not everyone has huge leaps from year to year. 

Across all platforms:
December 2010 (One book - pub Aug) 4
December 2011 (Two books - 2nd pub end Nov) 36
December 2012 (Still two books!) 33

2013 will be my year. *crosses fingers*

Need to write faster, need to write faster...


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## portiadacosta (Feb 28, 2011)

Lyndawrites said:


> I shouldn't read threads like this. Now, I'm sooo depressed


I shouldn't read them either. 

But my B&N/Apple sales via Smash are encouraging... it's only Amazon that's declining, and I'm hoping for better days ahead when I have new releases out!


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## Steve Vernon (Feb 18, 2011)

Okay - so you know all of those annoying little spam messages that you get that tell you that - WE CAN GROW YOU A BETTER/STRONGER/FASTER PASSION-MAN-MEMBER?

Well, I get them too - but, like most of you, I hit the delete button and I get on with my day. I don't give ANY thought to those poor unfortunate fellows out there who actually feel the need to hit "reply" to these promises of greater woman-satisfying capabilities...

Only all that's changed now.

Since reading this thread I feel like I need to let ALL of my Firewalls and anti-spam-data-ware drop into my computer's recycle bin.

I feel as if I REALLY need to cull through my Junk E-Mail file in hopes of finding myself a single - WE CAN GROW YOU A BETTER E-BOOK SALES RECORD advertisement.

I need spam, brothers and sisters. I need positive miracle-promising spam on how to pump up the volume of my poor sputtering sales report.

I tell you - reading these December sales reports on this thread makes a fellow feel about as virile as a nineteen week old wilted carrot, left in the back of the crisper, withered beyond all hope of redemption.

I'm not saying it's pretty.

But here goes.

If you want to read what I've sold in December 2012 you can read all about it right here!
 [URL=http://stevevernonstoryteller.wordpress]http://stevevernonstoryteller.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/one-thousand-e-books-a-month/[/url]

I will tell you that January is looking better with about 60 of my independently-produced e-books sold on Kobo in the first week of January. Kindle sales, sadly, have flat-lined for January. I appear to have fallen below Kindle's radar.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

My sales are a carbon-copy of yours, Steve. More than 100 books on Kobo last month, and 60 copies of my trilogy sold on Kobo in the first week of January. Amazon sales are pretty much non-existent, although people do find my freebies strangely enough. 

I simply don't get that a series that sells a few copies a day on one site doesn't sell a tenth as much elsewhere.


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## Steve Vernon (Feb 18, 2011)

Patty Jansen said:


> My sales are a carbon-copy of yours, Steve. More than 100 books on Kobo last month, and 60 copies of my trilogy sold on Kobo in the first week of January. Amazon sales are pretty much non-existent, although people do find my freebies strangely enough.
> 
> I simply don't get that a series that sells a few copies a day on one site doesn't sell a tenth as much elsewhere.


All the more reason to continue to diversify!


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## 48209 (Jul 4, 2011)

I would join Select as everyone starts reporting that Amazon is now their worst sales sight.

I am..... One Step Behind Girl *Check out my cape. It's pink*


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## Kwalker (Aug 23, 2012)

For my 3rd month published I had:

75 sales and 27 borrows across 2 titles.

Unfortunately, I've hit the cliff from my last free day and things have dropped significantly this month so far. I have a new release coming next month and I am hoping that will give me a nice boost.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

Patty Jansen said:


> I simply don't get that a series that sells a few copies a day on one site doesn't sell a tenth as much elsewhere.


Bit of a head scratcher, isn't it? I sold 15 books on Kobo last month, so your numbers there look pretty awesome to me.


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## Sapphire (Apr 24, 2012)

Well, do I feel good or bad after reading all this?  I know I'm a speck of sand on the beach.  I see some of you as sand scooped up in a tiny toy bucket.  Then I see a few giant sand castles that I can't help admiring from every angle.  Robert, my first December in 2012 I made almost 3X your December 2011 of $5.04.  So....December 2013?  Ha-Ha!  It won't be anywhere near your December 2012, but I'm determinded to have shown some progress.  By then, there will be at least 3 books instead of 2 in my sig.  I keep plugging away on my laptop.


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## 48209 (Jul 4, 2011)

I'm really worried about this 30 day cliff... I saw, one day of a little more (I think the day after free I sold like 11) and then back down to 1-2 a day... How do you cliff off 1 a day *panics*


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

Caitie Quinn said:


> I'm really worried about this 30 day cliff... I saw, one day of a little more (I think the day after free I sold like 11) and then back down to 1-2 a day... How do you cliff off 1 a day *panics*


It's less of a cliff and more like rolling off the couch? Actually, it's possible you won't cliff at all under those circumstances. Time will tell, but if you're getting 1-2/day, that's probably being caused by something other than the pop lists, which is where the 30-day stuff happens.


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## Cege Smith (Dec 11, 2011)

In December 2011, I had one title out and sold 12 that month.

In December 2012, I sold 396 copies across nine titles (one of them sold exactly 0 though). Just a note though, that is a higher than normal number for me. I was bolstered by: a new release, a Bookbub ad, and an ENT Bargain book ad.


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## merryxmas (Jun 21, 2012)

I have nothing to add but jumping on the Holy Sales Explosion Batma-- Robert J Crane!  That is quite the inspirational story of what one year can do.


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## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

Approx 4200 sales across 7 titles.

Not a bad bump compared to Dec 2011
35 sales across 3 titles.

One year can equal a world of difference.


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## vrabinec (May 19, 2011)

merryxmas said:


> I have nothing to add but jumping on the Holy Sales Explosion Batma-- Robert J Crane! That is quite the inspirational story of what one year can do.


Uh, yeah. Your avvy's freaking me out. Reminds me of the thing I imagined would jump out from under the bed in the middle of night when I was a kid. I think it's the nose.


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

I don't want anyone to feel bad because of the number of people posting in the thread whose sales are over 1,000. I remember being waaay too shy to post in these kinds of threads when I started out, too:

April 2011: 24
May 2011: 40
June 2011: 31

Etcetera. That might not look too bad until you realize I had spent about $700 promoting my first book (mostly on sending out paperback review copies), and put in at least 20 hours a week hunting down book blogger reviews and doing blog tours. So that was a huge _wah-waaaahhh_ on investment.

We all start somewhere. And, really, I could be back to selling 40 copies a month someday. Things rise and fall.


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## Jonathan C. Gillespie (Aug 9, 2012)

For December, I had a very successful free run of "Beacon", my short story, which ended up topping out at #2 right underneath some story that starts with a "W", written by some guy named Huey, I think 

Anyway, I started in late July 2012, and have rolled out *something* almost every month. With four titles now, for December I sold a whole 19 copies.

It's OK. I try to keep my head up. I have more promos, and my first real reviews in the pipe, so it's only a matter of time until people start realizing what _The Tyrant Strategy_ is, and why they should read it.

That said, I'm sending virtual bearhugs to those of you posting your early-day horror stories. Those of us starting out really need the encouragement. Hopefully, Amazon hasn't changed their algos too much to prevent our taking off.


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

I used to post my very underwhelming numbers in these threads just to balance things out. I should go dig a few of those up.


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## Cheryl Douglas (Dec 7, 2011)

I'm so glad I came here today! This thread gave me hope that next December will be much better than this one as I continue to gain traction. 

Congratulations to those who pulled off amazing numbers. Your stories are so inspiring.  

Finally got the reports from SW, and it looks like I'm at about 4500 sales for December, all in. 

I can't compare this December to last year, since I just published my first one in March. I guess only time will tell...


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## ruecole (Jun 13, 2012)

Here, I'll post my underwhelming numbers to make everyone feel better:

December:

34 sales and borrows across 8 titles on Amazon and 1 on Kobo.

January looks to be shaping up to be the same.

My best month to date was October with 161 sales--but that's only because I had a ENT BBOD and sold 143 copies of one title.

Hope that helps!

Rue


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## DPfitzsimons (Dec 1, 2012)

This thread is so cool and useful for a brand new kindle book writer. I just released my first book December 15th and sold 101 copies in December...looking forward to 2014 so I can see how next December compares!


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

Edward W. Robertson said:


> I used to post my very underwhelming numbers in these threads just to balance things out. I should go dig a few of those up.


Yeah, all right, I'll play.

2012
January - 8 books, $8.55
Feb - 8 sales, $10.89
Mar - 11 sales, $14.97 (I launched a really awesome short story this month which sold...4 copies, including the one I bought myself. So...10 books, I guess.)
Apr - 25 sales, 62.41 (Launched my book Alone this month, which was 17 of the sales. Oh, and I also launched ANOTHER short story, which sold...4 copies - yes, including the one I bought myself. So that's actually like 23 books that weren't purchased by me. Probably single digits if you subtract what was bought by my immediate family and close friends. I was pitiful, okay?)
May - 14 sales, $42.94 (Now that's what I call capitalizing on new releases to produce huge sales growth! Oh, sorry, no, I was looking at Hugh Howey's numbers, not mine.)
Jun - 37 sales, $110.29 (Another book launch. 17 sales - I mean 16, to others. And my first novel, Defender went perma-free and started driving some sales, so...there's that. Even with a perma-free and a book launch in this month couple with my higher prices and I barely squeaked triple digit comp.)

I think if you look closely, you can tell when I raised the prices on my stuff to $4.99, which turned out to be a really good decision considering at the time I was a nobody selling nothing and that I almost had an anxiety attack worrying it would kill my sales. Then I did it and thought, "What an idiot! I didn't have any sales to kill!" Sigh. That last one was a mere six months ago, and if I'd been priced at $2.99, I would have made $64 instead of $110. I'm not strenuously advocating anyone raising their prices, btw, because everyone's situation is different, just mentioning that more to include the full facts of the case.

Anyone feel better yet? I kind of need a drink after reliving all that, but I hope this helps some of you who are down in the dumps after seeing the awesome numbers by some of the big sellers in this thread. Just remember they weren't always awesome, and whatever they may look like on the outside (OMG look at the monies!) there was other stuff going on behind the scenes, private doubts and fears that never see the light of day, all the stuff you yourself may be going through. I don't guarantee it will get better, but I know it _can_, and I hope it does for every single one of you.


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

February 2011, Vicki starts up the monthly sales thread, opening with a yawn-inducing total of 28,000. In what turns out to be the last post in the thread, I proclaim that I sold 6.


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

Ha, and look at how many modwitch sold that month. http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,55004.msg934723.html#msg934723


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## Genesis Blue (Jun 27, 2012)

I'm bookmarking this thread for inspiration. I sold a whopping 5 books (over 3 titles) in December. Interestingly enough, I've sold that many already this month, so it's already looking up! All my stuff is non-fiction and under pen names, though, so I keep telling myself it's practice and I can be depressed when I release my series and it tanks.


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

Heh. In the March 2011 thread, I am happy to report--right on the heels of some dude named Michael Wallace, who moved 8628 copies that month--that my sales had skyrocketed to 42. In April 2011, I check in with 39.

In May 2011, I dropped to 16. I didn't report that. I can't even say for sure there was a thread, because I got sad and left to write a book with a very bitter protagonist. I didn't post on KB again until Feb 2012, when I went to the Book Bazaar to announce that new book. I'd sold 12 copies of my other stuff in January and made just under $6. Over the rest of the year, the new book wound up selling about 10K copies.

Looking at the numbers, I'll probably sell less this month than last month, though. Which means I should probably stop dredging up the past and get back to the book I'm supposed to release next month. 

I wouldn't even know what conclusions to draw from all this. Probably what Robert said, but not as well-stated. I think almost everyone here knows how it is to feel like you're on the outside looking in.


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

Edward W. Robertson said:


> I think almost everyone here knows how it is to feel like you're on the outside looking in.


Well said.


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

In case it helps people to feel better about being at the lower end of the spectrum - here are my December figures:    

2 shorter works for sale (available in e-book & print).  Total copies sold in December 2012 = 3.  Those 3 sales were on three different outlets, and one of them was a print sale.

That's better than I expected at this stage of things.  I've only been publishing since July, and I don't have any novels out yet.


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## vrabinec (May 19, 2011)

Edward W. Robertson said:


> Heh. In the March 2011 thread, I am happy to report--right on the heels of some dude named Michael Wallace, who moved 8628 copies that month--that my sales had skyrocketed to 42. In April 2011, I check in with 39.
> 
> In May 2011, I dropped to 16. I didn't report that. I can't even say for sure there was a thread, because I got sad and left to write a book with a very bitter protagonist. I didn't post on KB again until Feb 2012, when I went to the Book Bazaar to announce that new book. I'd sold 12 copies of my other stuff in January and made just under $6. Over the rest of the year, the new book wound up selling about 10K copies.
> 
> ...


There's a lot of names on there I don't see posting on here anymore. Hope it's just that they're too busy working on their next book.


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

Edward W. Robertson said:


> February 2011, Vicki starts up the monthly sales thread, opening with a yawn-inducing total of 28,000. In what turns out to be the last post in the thread, I proclaim that I sold 6.


lol, thanks for the giggle. Where the heck is Vicki anyway? Maybe she's working on that second suspense novel.


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

smreine said:


> Ha, and look at how many modwitch sold that month. http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,55004.msg934723.html#msg934723


Oh, the early days... Look at her now--she's a crazy book writing machine.


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

Patty Jansen said:


> Just out of interest, of all people who are reporting 1000+ sales on this thread, I'm clicking through to the books on your Amazon pages. None so far that I can check are selling their books cheaply (like 99c or even $2.99).


Most of our sales in December were via 99c and 2.99 prices. Some of them were only temporary price reductions, though. In fact, our bestseller right now is a box set with a list of $9.95 (4 doorstoppers) on sale for 99c. 

As for the inspirational side, I released SECTOR C in Sept 2011. I started out with an ambitious price of 2.99, which I then dropped to 99c in October.
37 - Sept
75 - Oct
64 - Nov
244 - Dec (all at 99c)

In 2012, I sold about 8000 copies of SECTOR C total (about half of those at 3.98 - 4.29) and gave away ~59,400 copies.

We formed Steel Magnolia Press in Nov 2011. In Dec 2011, it included my 3 personal books and 3 of Jennifer's novellas:

My sales in Dec 2011 = 1025 paid, 2316 free, $687
Jennifer's sales = 153 paid, 2409 free, $184

We added a handful of books in early 2012, then really kicked into gear in July, adding 5-8 titles per month from then on.

For the month of Dec 2012, across 55 titles by our 4 primary authors, our sales = 29,360 paid; 90,745 free
Dunno about the dollars yet. $30K+?

We were at $65.5K at the end of Nov, so maaaaybe we hit $100K for our first full year in business...

Total unit sales for 2012 = right at 100,000
Total freebies = right at 600,000


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## A.A (Mar 30, 2012)

This is a _December_ sales thread, right?

It wasn't like any other month of the year. Those who sell well on a regular basis and those who don't but whom had promotions or/and released new books in/close to December have seemed to mostly do well (from what we've seen here in the forums).
I had a promotion in October and December and released a book in December. Next month, my sales will probably be in the toilet (to use a charming Australian expression). 

Many good books were pushed back in December, beyond where readers could find them. As many books that were sold, I'm sure a great many people came to the Amazon/other book stores and didn't find what they were looking for. I really hope that in 2013, the 'zon and others bring in new ways of discoverability for books - besides having to be at the top of popular categories.


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

vrabinec said:


> There's a lot of names on there I don't see posting on here anymore. Hope it's just that they're too busy working on their next book.


If you poke around, it's clear that many of them have apparently retired from KB in order to just write. I think the attention gets distracting and/or weird for a lot of the big successes. But the attrition rate is still pretty frightening.


----------



## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

Edward W. Robertson said:


> If you poke around, it's clear that many of them have apparently retired from KB in order to just write. I think the attention gets distracting and/or weird for a lot of the big successes. But the attrition rate is still pretty frightening.


Agree, although I did see Michael Wallace in here the other day.

Dec 2011: sold 37, with one book out.
Dec 2012: sold 573 across both books.

I had one month in 2012 that topped 1K sales, but otherwise I'm pretty much selling between 300-500 per month.

Congrats to all posting their numbers, overwhelming or underwhelming. We've got readers. How cool is that?


----------



## williamvw (Mar 12, 2012)

Just want to give a quick thank you to all the people who took the time to post here -- big, little, or anywhere in between. As many others have said, it's HUGELY inspirational, and I'm very grateful.

My 2011 to mid-2012 sales were in a small but steady climb when I stopped to write my first novel's first draft. By the time I finished that, I decided to take Dean Wesley Smith's advice to publish my shorts in mags before self-pubbing them. Net result: no new titles coming to market = my rising sales chart turning into a cliff. I think I sold two copies in December, maybe three. But the other thing I did in December was formulate an output plan for 2013, complete with daily quotas, editing schedules, time off, etc. I've never done this before, but all the people who say you have to treat this like a business finally penetrated my dense skull. So in a way, 2013 will be like starting over for me as I try to fill up the pipeline, which is fine. I don't mind falling on my face a few times if it teaches me how to walk properly. OK, I do mind...but I'll do it, anyway.

Thanks again, everyone. I know you've all been where I am, and it's a great comfort to see where some of you are gone and all of you are headed.


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## BrianKittrell (Jan 8, 2011)

smreine said:


> Ha, and look at how many modwitch sold that month. http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,55004.msg934723.html#msg934723


haha Good find.


----------



## Missy B (Aug 20, 2012)

ToniD said:


> We've got readers. How cool is that?


Extremely. I'm just hoping none of them find out that I have no clue what I'm doing.


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## Andrew Ashling (Nov 15, 2010)

I was pedaling around happily, when suddenly&#8230; December.










Nah, just kidding.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

Caitie Quinn said:


> Robert & Edward,
> 
> Thank you for always being so encouraging.
> 
> That is all.


I figure I owe everyone around here every bit of help I can get. After all, I joined KB in June. My sales started to explode in July. Coincidence?



Edward W. Robertson said:


> If you poke around, it's clear that many of them have apparently retired from KB in order to just write. I think the attention gets distracting and/or weird for a lot of the big successes. But the attrition rate is still pretty frightening.


I don't really understand that, but I guess I'm not big time, yet. Personally I find a lot of stress and pressure from fans and from myself to keep performing right now, and one of my biggest avenues to relax, retreat and feel like I'm understood is KB. Without it I'm pretty much a lonely hermit talking to myself (or the wife and kids, and they just kind of shrug at me when I geek out about writing/industry stuff). Maybe they all had other social outlets or something.


----------



## BrianKittrell (Jan 8, 2011)

Andrew Ashling said:


> I was pedaling around happily, when suddenly&#8230; December.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow, that might make an interesting book cover. Very clicky.


----------



## etishere (Jan 10, 2013)

December saw no increase for me at Amazon - increased sales through Apple and still waiting to see what happened for me through B&N - hope SW updates numbers soon.


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## Andrew Ashling (Nov 15, 2010)

RobertJCrane said:


> I don't really understand that, but I guess I'm not big time, yet. Personally I find a lot of stress and pressure from fans and from myself to keep performing right now, and one of my biggest avenues to relax, retreat and feel like I'm understood is KB. Without it I'm pretty much a lonely hermit talking to myself (or the wife and kids, and they just kind of shrug at me when I geek out about writing/industry stuff). Maybe they all had other social outlets or something.


Nah. They have a secret club, I'm sure of it. Secret handshake and all. They never talk about it (first rule). They exchange super-tips on how to make it big. They have goal charts. They lurk here, but never intervene.

Argh&#8230; where is our conspiracy-guy when you need him?


----------



## WG McCabe (Oct 13, 2012)

Great thread. Very inspiring stuff.

Starting this weekend I'll be launching at least a short a week for about a month and then collect into one volume. I'll concurrently be publishing longer books under a different name, one every other month (at least).

Basically, like a moron, I am going to be launching and trying to build two different names, under two different genres, at the same time.


----------



## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

Andrew Ashling said:


> Nah. They have a secret club, I'm sure of it. Secret handshake and all. They never talk about it (first rule). They exchange super-tips on how to make it big. They have goal charts. They lurk here, but never intervene.
> 
> Argh&#8230; where is our conspiracy-guy when you need him?


What are you talking about? I suck at secret handshakes. It's not like it took me twelve tries to finally do mine right. Deb Greary couldn't stop laughing at me. What I'm saying is, it's all in your head.

...

OR IS IT


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

Uh oh, there's been an Orc sighting.


----------



## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

Andrew Ashling said:


> Nah. They have a secret club, I'm sure of it. Secret handshake and all. They never talk about it (first rule). They exchange super-tips on how to make it big. They have goal charts. They lurk here, but never intervene.
> 
> Argh&#8230; where is our conspiracy-guy when you need him?


I wonder how many sales one has to reach to be invited into the club.


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

David 'Half-Orc' Dalglish said:


> What are you talking about? I suck at secret handshakes. It's not like it took me twelve tries to finally do mine right. Deb Greary couldn't stop laughing at me. What I'm saying is, it's all in your head.
> 
> ...
> 
> OR IS IT


Who the hell are you and what are you doing on KB?


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

smreine said:


> Who the hell are you and what are you doing on KB?


If he told you he'd have to kill you.


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## cidneyswanson (Feb 1, 2011)

I'm not around much anymore, but these threads were sooooo encouraging to me. So in that spirit:
Dec. 2011: 309 sales across 3 titles
Dec. 2012: 2277 sales across 5 titles

What's more, my December last year was 5 times what my best moth had been previously. Stay encouraged to keep writing what you love. (And omg, I need to update my pic.  )


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## jnfr (Mar 26, 2011)

See?  They're coordinating.


----------



## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

jnfr said:


> See? They're coordinating.


Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

Suddenly Ashling's crackpot theory isn't looking so crazy anymore.


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## the quiet one (Aug 13, 2012)

RobertJCrane said:


> Suddenly Ashling's crackpot theory isn't looking so crazy anymore.


I've always believed. :adjusts sizer on tinfoil hat:


----------



## TJHudson (Jul 9, 2012)

To balance out the other end of the scale, I sold 25 in December. I started on the 10th July 2012 so I'm about half way into my first year. So far in January I'm on track to sell less than December, which is a bit frustrating. However, this thread has been encouraging, it's just the sort of thing I needed to read! 
It appears that everyone here who has increased their sales to a live-able income (and beyond) have simply continued to write more and more. In 2013 I plan to do this; which will increase the number of titles I have available and (hopefully!) improve my craft.


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## vrabinec (May 19, 2011)

Andrew Ashling said:


> I was pedaling around happily, when suddenly&#8230; December.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I wonder what kind of lawnmower they used to cut the sides.


----------



## vrabinec (May 19, 2011)

RobertJCrane said:


> I don't really understand that, but I guess I'm not big time, yet. Personally I find a lot of stress and pressure from fans and from myself to keep performing right now, and one of my biggest avenues to relax, retreat and feel like I'm understood is KB. Without it I'm pretty much a lonely hermit talking to myself (or the wife and kids, and they just kind of shrug at me when I geek out about writing/industry stuff). Maybe they all had other social outlets or something.


If I ever make it big, I'm outta here, even if it's just for appearances. You know, can't be seen associating with the riffraff. Even if my sales tank later, and I wanna come back for a shoulder to cry on, I won't, because that would just be too humiliating to come crawling back after having shunned this place.


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## merryxmas (Jun 21, 2012)

vrabinec said:


> Uh, yeah. Your avvy's freaking me out. Reminds me of the thing I imagined would jump out from under the bed in the middle of night when I was a kid. I think it's the nose.


----------



## Pearson Moore (Mar 14, 2011)

December 2012 was my best month ever by 6% over my previous best month.  Sales in December were nearly three times the amount in November and 55% higher than my 2012 average.  It was a very good month!


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## LilianaHart (Jun 20, 2011)

David 'Half-Orc' Dalglish said:


> What are you talking about? I suck at secret handshakes. It's not like it took me twelve tries to finally do mine right. Deb Greary couldn't stop laughing at me. What I'm saying is, it's all in your head.
> 
> ...
> 
> OR IS IT


I don't think that's what she was laughing at


----------



## MonkeyScribe (Jan 27, 2011)




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## tensen (May 17, 2011)

Edward W. Robertson said:


> If you poke around, it's clear that many of them have apparently retired from KB in order to just write. I think the attention gets distracting and/or weird for a lot of the big successes. But the attrition rate is still pretty frightening.


I'm happy that the attrition rate is from being too distracted, and not from people dropping out because they aren't selling. Thats a good thing to happen.


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## MonkeyScribe (Jan 27, 2011)

tensen said:


> I'm happy that the attrition rate is from being too distracted, and not from people dropping out because they aren't selling. Thats a good thing to happen.


In analyzing why I don't kick around much anymore a lot of it is the same reason I've faded away from other online groups over the years. If there is a theme to the group then after a while it feels like you've had every possible discussion about that theme. I've pretty much run out of things to say about sales, marketing, perseverance, etc. I mostly return to catch up on old posters and see who has suddenly struck it big, but as other old timers fade away, and I know fewer of the regulars on the board, this becomes less of a draw.


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## vrabinec (May 19, 2011)

MichaelWallace said:


>


Hmm, that can either be "The cat's in the bag" or "I'm a pussy." or "Love the pussy, but put a bag over your head."


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## PhoenixS (Apr 5, 2011)

Andrew Ashling said:


> Nah. They have a secret club, I'm sure of it. Secret handshake and all. They never talk about it (first rule). They exchange super-tips on how to make it big. They have goal charts. They lurk here, but never intervene.
> 
> Argh&#8230; where is our conspiracy-guy when you need him?


Sigh. There is no conspiracy. Put away your tinfoil hats. There is a perfectly logical, data-driven reason behind the current attrition rate. The equation is something like:

success2 X # of titles out / # of words needed to write per month in order to achieve Y amount of new releases in Z time frame = % of folk working to achieve fame3

That % ought to correlate precisely with the attrition rate here. I've confirmed the above equation with the Data Avengers, but if any of you have additional data that either validates or refutes, please share!


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## vrabinec (May 19, 2011)

Phoenix Sullivan said:


> Sigh. There is no conspiracy. Put away your tinfoil hats. There is a perfectly logical, data-driven reason behind the current attrition rate. The equation is something like:
> 
> success2 X # of titles out / # of words needed to write per month in order to achieve Y amount of new releases in Z time frame = % of folk working to achieve fame3
> 
> That % ought to correlate precisely with the attrition rate here. I've confirmed the above equation with the Data Avengers, but if any of you have additional data that either validates or refutes, please share!


So, if I do mine:










Hmm, looks like I'm here for good.


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## Andrew Ashling (Nov 15, 2010)

David 'Half-Orc' Dalglish said:


> What are you talking about? I suck at secret handshakes. It's not like it took me twelve tries to finally do mine right. Deb Greary couldn't stop laughing at me. What I'm saying is, it's all in your head.
> 
> ...
> 
> OR IS IT


Oh My Goat! 

I summoned one. I'm doomed. DOOMED.

ETA:

There's a LOT of them reappearing. Zombie-time.


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## vrabinec (May 19, 2011)

MichaelWallace said:


> In analyzing why I don't kick around much anymore a lot of it is the same reason I've faded away from other online groups over the years. If there is a theme to the group then after a while it feels like you've had every possible discussion about that theme. I've pretty much run out of things to say about sales, marketing, perseverance, etc. I mostly return to catch up on old posters and see who has suddenly struck it big, but as other old timers fade away, and I know fewer of the regulars on the board, this becomes less of a draw.


I felt like the music to _The Way We Were _ should be playing while I read this.


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

David 'Half-Orc' Dalglish said:


> What are you talking about? I suck at secret handshakes. It's not like it took me twelve tries to finally do mine right. Deb Greary couldn't stop laughing at me. What I'm saying is, it's all in your head.
> 
> ...
> 
> OR IS IT


Oh wow! If it isn't one of my inspirations. I'm glad to see you here. I am rarely here but I hardly see anyone from 18 months ago.

Here are my # for a little inspiration:

Dec 2010 - $140.34
Dec 2011 - $2,748.99
Dec 2012 - $5,700 ish

I've never had anything that even comes close to a hit. It seems that I don't have a hit in me. It's just been a massive amount of hard work, then depression, then more insanely hard work which was always coupled with dedication. But despite my lack of luck/ability, by next December I might actually be making some real money.


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## Cristian YoungMiller (Mar 3, 2011)

modwitch said:


> I was laughing at your Kermit doll. The handshake was fine.


Debora! Hi! It's been a while!

You know, I still credit myself for being the first person to point out that you were taking off. Haha!


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

|I love these threads. they give me hope.

dec 2010  (4 books) 36 sales
Dec 2011  (7 books) 549 sales
Dec 2012 (10 books) 629 sales but increased my minimum price to 2.99 so doubled the money in sales

A marathon if I ever did run one.


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## dotx (Nov 4, 2010)

Cristian YoungMiller said:


> Oh wow! If it isn't one of my inspirations. I'm glad to see you here. I am rarely here but I hardly see anyone from 18 months ago.
> 
> Here are my # for a little inspiration:
> 
> ...


How many titles do you have out? How many new ones between Dec '11 and '12?


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## MegHarris (Mar 4, 2010)

December was officially my worst month of 2012, down by over $300 on Amazon. My sales there were reliably steady for the last half of the year, until December. At that point my sales dwindled drastically. They're on track to be even worse this month, but I am expanding into new retailers and hope that will help compensate. Unless things change, I think January will be the first month in which I make more on other retailers than I make on Amazon.


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## Danielle Kazemi (Apr 2, 2011)

Sales were up when I look at the past year. But this year I know I had at least two weeks when I only sold about 5 the entire week. :-/

December 2011: With 8 titles out (2 books and the rest novellas): 23
December 2012: With 11 out: 233.

Love seeing the numbers on here though especially from people the year before. As long as we're not going backwards, things are great in the indie world.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Now here is the 64,000 dollar question:

HOW do those whose sales increased so sharply from last December to this one manage this.

Assuming everyone's book is super-duper, is it just a matter of writing more stuff and letting people find them (if so, how is that possible if someone's book is stagnating at 249,477)
Are they marketing like crazy to keep their books visible?
Are we talking about 99-cent porn or full-length $4.99 novels when looking at these numbers?

So many variables, so many choices....


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## Moon Dance (Nov 10, 2012)

December was a good month for me. A couple of slow spots, but it picked up toward the end and January has been far better than I anticipated. Looking to sit down and analyze December sales this evening.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

Quiss said:


> HOW do those whose sales increased so sharply from last December to this one manage this.
> 
> Assuming everyone's book is super-duper, is it just a matter of writing more stuff and letting people find them (if so, how is that possible if someone's book is stagnating at 249,477)
> Are they marketing like crazy to keep their books visible?
> ...


Speaking just for myself, Quiss, I've done no marketing, no blog tours, no Twittering my links other than when they're first released, no Facebooking (other than to screw around and amuse my already-existing fans on the page) and I send out a newsletter only when I have a new book come out. All of my paid novels are $4.99 and there's only two things I've done differently between last year and this year. Are you ready for the answer? (You're not going to like this.)

I released five more books and set the first title in each series PERMA-FREE. That's it, that's all, I'm a one-trick pony.


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## Danielle Kazemi (Apr 2, 2011)

RobertJCrane said:


> Speaking just for myself, Quiss, I've done no marketing, no blog tours, no Twittering my links other than when they're first released, no Facebooking (other than to screw around and amuse my already-existing fans on the page) and I send out a newsletter only when I have a new book come out. All of my paid novels are $4.99 and there's only two things I've done differently between last year and this year. Are you ready for the answer? (You're not going to like this.)
> 
> I released five more books and set the first title in each series PERMA-FREE. That's it, that's all, I'm a one-trick pony.


Yep. This. Doesn't always work - no idea why the other series isn't taking off with a perma-free. Might need to screw around with categories a bit or something.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

Danielle Kazemi said:


> Yep. This. Doesn't always work - no idea why the other series isn't taking off with a perma-free. Might need to screw around with categories a bit or something.


No, it doesn't always work. One of my series took off, the other hasn't. But she was asking how some of us that have seen sharp growth managed it, and that's really the only thing I've done that I could point to other than releasing five books in 2012.


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## Fictionista (Sep 14, 2012)

Missy B said:


> Extremely. I'm just hoping none of them find out that I have no clue what I'm doing.


Well I just so happen to be hooked on your "Nicole and Sebastien" series. Im reading the follow up to Weekend Lover now and my morning bus rides to work have become tolerable, all thanks to reading about the sexual exploits of these two. Keep 'em coming, if you know what I mean. 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

Quiss said:


> Now here is the 64,000 dollar question:
> 
> HOW do those whose sales increased so sharply from last December to this one manage this.
> 
> ...


Permafree doesn't seem to work too well for most people anymore (although RJC is secretly He-Man, so, you know), but it can still help to some degree. It can make the difference between book 2 in a series being ranked around 60k and being ranked around 20k or better. Personally, I don't do a ton of advertising beyond Select free runs, although I do buy an occasional strategic ad.

Mostly, my sales have increased so much because of my growing FB following and mailing list numbers, and because I write like a bat out of hell that has a word processor. You know what, forget that metaphor, it doesn't work. But yes. So the two main things for me:

1. Writing a metric fuckton of books. (My serial helped a lot more than I expected.)
2. Strategic Select runs.

I'm going to stop doing #2 as much (I don't plan on making any 2013 releases free at all) and stick to #1, but #2 is really, really useful when you're trying to initially build an audience.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Hey, I'm late showing up at the party, but it's great to see some old-timers popping in. For me, this place is like the water cooler. I pop in when I absolutely have to get up from my desk (virtually speaking) for a fifteen minute break. And my family just roll their eyes when I go on about how low the payout for borrows was this month which must have meant one buttload of borrows overall.

December was my best month ever, more than twice last December and up about 50% over November. January is on track to be about the same. No complaints here.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

smreine said:


> Permafree doesn't seem to work too well for most people anymore (although RJC is secretly He-Man, so, you know), but it can still help to some degree. It can make the difference between book 2 in a series being ranked around 60k and being ranked around 20k or better. Personally, I don't do a ton of advertising beyond Select free runs, although I do buy an occasional strategic ad.
> 
> So the two main things for me:
> 
> ...


I think SM is right about perma-free for the most part because I've heard from others it's not the magic bullet it used to be, though I still see some people doing well with it (G.P. Ching, Lindsay Buroker, Elizabeth Hunter, J.R. Rain and Michael Hicks come to mind). If you write a book that you set permafree and it doesn't have an_ OMG CLIFFHANGER I MUST KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT_ moment at the end of it...it probably isn't going to drive sales as much as you want. And as much as that moment seriously pisses some people off (mostly ones that weren't digging the book anyway), the bigger comment I get is that they had to find out ______. Take away the cliffhanger and that desire to know what happens next, I have to guess my sellthrough falls by a lot, because a lot of these folks browse the freebies because they don't want to spend money. If I can convince them to *buy* one and I don't disappoint in my follow-up, I think the next one is automatic (based on my sellthrough rate). So that's another thing.

Emphasis should be paid to point 1 on SM's list as well (I like how you've discovered that the word fuckton doesn't get caught by the naughty word filter) because it's basically the same as item one in my list, too. I think it's pretty common among the indie writers making a living that they're somewhat prolific.

Shameful Confession (that I'm not really ashamed about): When I was in High School, I bought the original He-Man/She-Ra Crossover pilot on VHS. AND IT WAS STILL AWESOME.

BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

RobertJCrane said:


> (I like how you've discovered that the word fuckton doesn't get caught by the naughty word filter)


Pardon me, but units of measurement are hardly naughty.

GP Ching, at least, did ridiculously well before her book was permafree. If you already sell well, I think permafree will typically work better for many of the same reasons your books succeed in the first place.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

smreine said:


> GP Ching, at least, did ridiculously well before her book was permafree. If you already sell well, I think permafree will typically work better for many of the same reasons your books succeed in the first place.


I did not know that. Still a rookie, I guess.


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

RobertJCrane said:


> I did not know that. Still a rookie, I guess.


Nah, I'm just old.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

RobertJCrane said:


> I think SM is right about perma-free for the most part because I've heard from others it's not the magic bullet it used to be, though I still see some people doing well with it (G.P. Ching, Lindsay Buroker, Elizabeth Hunter, J.R. Rain and Michael Hicks come to mind). If you write a book that you set permafree and it doesn't have an_ OMG CLIFFHANGER I MUST KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT_ moment at the end of it...it probably isn't going to drive sales as much as you want. And as much as that moment seriously pisses some people off (mostly ones that weren't digging the book anyway), the bigger comment I get is that they had to find out ______. Take away the cliffhanger and that desire to know what happens next, I have to guess my sellthrough falls by a lot, because a lot of these folks browse the freebies because they don't want to spend money. If I can convince them to *buy* one and I don't disappoint in my follow-up, I think the next one is automatic (based on my sellthrough rate). So that's another thing.
> 
> Emphasis should be paid to point 1 on SM's list as well (I like how you've discovered that the word fuckton doesn't get caught by the naughty word filter) because it's basically the same as item one in my list, too. I think it's pretty common among the indie writers making a living that they're somewhat prolific.
> 
> ...


I have what I consider a good sell through rate on my Douglas novels (about 90% it looks like) but didn't feel that permafree worked for me. Of course, I don't think I'd consider the ending a cliffhanger either.


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## Jonathan C. Gillespie (Aug 9, 2012)

Having read the comments on permafree, I am now going to kill you all to wag my finger threateningly at all of you if it doesn't work for me at some point.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

JRTomlin said:


> I have what I consider a good sell through rate on my Douglas novels (about 90% it looks like) but didn't feel that permafree worked for me. Of course, I don't think I'd consider the ending a cliffhanger either.


Must be 'cause you're just awesome, JR.

Cliffhangers are my A-game, and really the only crutch I've got to lean on to overcome my gaping flaws in other areas while I work on shoring up those massive weaknesses. YMMV.



Jonathan C. Gillespie said:


> Having read the comments on permafree, I am now going to kill you all to wag my finger threateningly at all of you if it doesn't work for me at some point.


I'm afraid you're going to have to get in line, sir, as I already have a mob assembling outside my castle gates at the moment with pitchforks and boiling oil and a list of demands for next books. You can have whatever is left when they're done. (Hint: It won't be much.)


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## 48209 (Jul 4, 2011)

Basically I had to comment because someone *glances at Robert* involked Greyskull. *cartoon flashback*

The best way to find out what the next big success trigger is: ask me what I think absolutely WON'T work. Then, do that.


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## the quiet one (Aug 13, 2012)

Caitie Quinn said:


> The best way to find out what the next big success trigger is: ask me what I think absolutely WON'T work. Then, do that.


Hmmm... this is good to know. So... does perma-free work? What do you think of DWS' pricing guides? Garamond or Times New Roman? Also, should I add some sparkly vampires to my sci-fi series?

(Taking notes here...)


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

RobertJCrane said:


> Must be 'cause you're just awesome, JR.
> 
> Cliffhangers are my A-game, and really the only crutch I've got to lean on to overcome my gaping flaws in other areas while I work on shoring up those massive weaknesses. YMMV.
> 
> I'm afraid you're going to have to get in line, sir, as I already have a mob assembling outside my castle gates at the moment with pitchforks and boiling oil and a list of demands for next books. You can have whatever is left when they're done. (Hint: It won't be much.)


Yeah but you sell a lot more books than I do, Robert. So your Cliffhanger awesome beats my general non-cliffhanger awesome. 

And I am clinging to WC at the moment and refusing to get to work. I have this novel to finish--non-cliffhanger. I think I'm afraid to finish it since it's the last of the Douglas trilogy and what do I do then?


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## 48209 (Jul 4, 2011)

ajalbrinck said:


> Hmmm... this is good to know. So... does perma-free work? What do you think of DWS' pricing guides? Garamond or Times New Roman? Also, should I add some sparkly vampires to my sci-fi series?
> 
> (Taking notes here...)


Perma-free will still work on a smaller scale (stop looking for magic bullets)

Anything works for people with a big enough following, so stop listening to people with a huge auto-buy population

Comic Sans

Make vampires into something people haven't done yet (like, Yeti), do a find/replace, and you're all set


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## the quiet one (Aug 13, 2012)

Caitie Quinn said:


> The best way to find out what the next big success trigger is: ask me what I think absolutely WON'T work. Then, do that.





ajalbrinck said:


> Hmmm... this is good to know. So... does perma-free work? What do you think of DWS' pricing guides? Garamond or Times New Roman? Also, should I add some sparkly vampires to my sci-fi series?





Caitie Quinn said:


> Perma-free will still work on a smaller scale (stop looking for magic bullets)
> 
> Anything works for people with a big enough following, so stop listening to people with a huge auto-buy population
> 
> ...


Got it. Off to plot my series published in Comic Sans in which world-famous Yetis look for perma-free magic bullets used to kill vampires. This sounds intriguing...


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

JRTomlin said:


> Yeah but you sell a lot more books than I do, Robert. So your Cliffhanger awesome beats my general non-cliffhanger awesome.


I also write in a genre that tends to outsell historical fiction; not the levelest playing field for comparison imo. Compare your Shadow Ryana to my Sanctuary series and you crush the very life out of me on Amazon.com. Actually, it's outselling my Girl in the Box there, too, but since the UK is my bread and butter at this point...



> And I am clinging to WC at the moment and refusing to get to work. I have this novel to finish--non-cliffhanger. I think I'm afraid to finish it since it's the last of the Douglas trilogy and what do I do then?


Probably write a Victorian romance with bustiers and corsets. *Ducks thrown object*



Caitie Quinn said:


> Perma-free will still work on a smaller scale (stop looking for magic bullets)
> 
> Anything works for people with a big enough following, so stop listening to people with a huge auto-buy population
> 
> Make vampires into something people haven't done yet (like, Yeti), do a find/replace, and you're all set


Vampires still work. My last book had vampires. Sort of. And Twilight jokes.

Do I have a big following? I don't think I do. I just crossed over 500 people on my mailing list today, and 200 Likes on Facebook, and 100 Twitter followers. That doesn't seem like that many, really, especially compared to lots of the people around here it seems kind of pitiful.


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## 48209 (Jul 4, 2011)

500! LOL You know to someone like me -- with 1 fan -- that's a lot, right?

I love my 1 fan. She's really sweet. I introduced her to my twitter chat group who have now mobbed her with author love, so I may be losing her to someone else soon LOL


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## Andrew Ashling (Nov 15, 2010)

JRTomlin said:


> I think I'm afraid to finish it since it's the last of the Douglas trilogy and what do I do then?


Obviously a double trilogy about the successful an glorious House of Stuart. Yay, Bonnie. 

*ducks for incoming battle-axes*


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

RobertJCrane said:


> I also write in a genre that tends to outsell historical fiction; not the levelest playing field for comparison imo. Compare your Shadow Ryana to my Sanctuary series and you crush the very life out of me on Amazon.com. Actually, it's outselling my Girl in the Box there, too, but since the UK is my bread and butter at this point...


Listen, The Shadow Ryana is selling so well it scares me! And I really didn't think it was that good but apparently readers love it. Just goes to show something, although I'm not sure what. 



> Probably write a Victorian romance with bustiers and corsets. *Ducks thrown object*
> 
> Vampires still work. My last book had vampires. Sort of. And Twilight jokes.
> 
> Do I have a big following? I don't think I do. I just crossed over 500 people on my mailing list today, and 200 Likes on Facebook, and 100 Twitter followers. That doesn't seem like that many, really, especially compared to lots of the people around here it seems kind of pitiful.


No thrown objects, but it was a pretty good laugh. All of my proposed projects involve major research. Months of it although Ryana will no doubt rate a sequel later in the year.

My mailing list is pitiful and although I have a lot of Twitter followers (by my standards -- a couple of thousand) they're almost all either other authors or members of the Scottish independence movement which I'm quite active in supporting. I suspect it has nothing to do with novel sales. Any sales I get pretty much just happen. Or Amazon gets them for me.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

Caitie Quinn said:


> 500! LOL You know to someone like me -- with 1 fan -- that's a lot, right?
> 
> I love my 1 fan. She's really sweet. I introduced her to my twitter chat group who have now mobbed her with author love, so I may be losing her to someone else soon LOL


I felt really bad for you until I saw you have more Twitter followers than I've had beers in my life. But I'm working on catching up to you right this very minute. On beers. F*** if I care about Twitter followers.



JRTomlin said:


> My mailing list is pitiful and although I have a lot of Twitter followers (by my standards -- a couple of thousand) they're almost all either other authors or members of the Scottish independence movement which I'm quite active in supporting.


I'm growing quite a following in the UK all over the place so I probably should stay waaaay the heck away from that one.

ETA: The Twitter followers thing was a joke. Of course I care about getting more Twitter followers. The beers thing was not a joke, though. On either part.


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

500 people on your mailing list is good, RJC. What's your average daily sub rate? I'm just over 1100 now, but only because I've been collecting for many moons. Growth is split for me between mailing list and FB these days, though. The intensity of my FB readers kind of scares me sometimes.

I have a decent number of Twitter followers, but I don't think they're high-quality follows (lots of authors, not a ton of readers), so I don't pay attention anymore.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Andrew Ashling said:


> Obviously a double trilogy about the successful an glorious House of Stuart. Yay, Bonnie.
> 
> *ducks for incoming battle-axes*


I'm gonna have to hurt you now. You do know that. 

Actually, not Prince Charles Edward Stuart, but maybe... The Great Montrose. Or James I. Or James IV. Or Macbeth. Or Malcolm III or Donald III. *scratches head* Obviously I'm having trouble deciding.

ETA: I have a project planned writing about the Scottish Martyrs and especially Thomas Muir but that will take at least a year's research to even start.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

smreine said:


> 500 people on your mailing list is good, RJC. What's your average daily sub rate? I'm just over 1100 now, but only because I've been collecting for many moons. Growth is split for me between mailing list and FB these days, though. The intensity of my FB readers kind of scares me sometimes.
> 
> I have a decent number of Twitter followers, but I don't think they're high-quality follows (lots of authors, not a ton of readers), so I don't pay attention anymore.


You're still the Gold Standard, SM. 918 Facebook Likes, 3,091 Twitter followers. 1100 on your mailing list? That's pretty awesome. Marketing genius, I think you've been called. I'll second that, especially the genius part, as I have no idea how to figure out my average daily subscribe rate without entering in the daily updates into a spreadsheet (which I have not yet done). 91 so far this year, though, according to the monkey, so that's probably a good sign.

And as to intensity of FB readers...oh, yes. I second, third, fourth and fifth this. Holy schnikes. And the fanmail! "WHEN IS _____ COMING OUT?!" "You said Fall but it's way past Fall now and where the *$&# is the book?"



Caitie Quinn said:


> I'm with SM. I'm thinking most of my tweeps are authors. I do have a few readers and bloggers, but yeah. If you subtract authors from my twitter count, you can stop drinking *points to weight loss thread*


*points to non-existent meltdown counter that there's no room for in my sig but if there was would be blowing up right now*

Btw It's In His Kiss was really good, so I am kind of surprised you don't have more fans. Romance isn't my genre, but it was really well written. I'm sure it's just a matter of time.


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

I'm flattered that you think I'm the Gold Standard, but I don't do anything you don't do, and you out-royalty'd me last month. I can only dream of your UK numbers. I've just been collecting names longer. Also, any good ideas I seem to have are shamelessly stolen from smarter, handsomer, and much more successful writers than me.  The only thing I might be the gold standard in is pantslessness.


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

Man, I get so hot when you salesmonsters talk shop. Go on...


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## 48209 (Jul 4, 2011)

RobertJCrane said:


> You're still the Gold Standard, SM. 918 Facebook Likes, 3,091 Twitter followers. 1100 on your mailing list? That's pretty awesome. Marketing genius, I think you've been called. I'll second that, especially the genius part, as I have no idea how to figure out my average daily subscribe rate without entering in the daily updates into a spreadsheet (which I have not yet done). 91 so far this year, though, according to the monkey, so that's probably a good sign.


True, you're both very royaltyish with the stats lately!



> *points to non-existent meltdown counter that there's no room for in my sig but if there was would be blowing up right now*
> 
> Btw It's In His Kiss was really good, so I am kind of surprised you don't have more fans. Romance isn't my genre, but it was really well written. I'm sure it's just a matter of time.


LOL on the meltdowns - You seem pretty even-steven here. I'm actually betting you and your wife are pretty nifty people to be around.

SM, another nifty person. Since she doesn't go out, maybe we can chip in and get a 2nd treadmil desk to put next to hers to entertain on.

And thanks. I know some of my lack of numbers/followers/whaterers and probably sales is due to barriers I've either put up or allowed to be put up (I'm not arguing about an agreement I entered here again, so no need to rehash that) BUT, I may have a more clear path to promo'ing in 4-6 months. Then it will just plain be my fault for being afraid of people LOL


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

RobertJCrane said:


> 91 so far this year, though, according to the monkey, so that's probably a good sign.


I just noticed this. 91 signups is certainly flipping AWESOME, but I might look at how you're advertising your mailing list to see if you can improve that. The number of signups I have this month is ~17% of overall sales, whereas yours is ~2%. (Someone please check that math for me. I'm really clueless today...) It's probably even lower, since I expect you have quite a lot of downloads off of your permafree books.

I just went and signed up for your mailing list. I might make the text on your signup page a little clearer--it's charmingly rambly right now, but it helps to be VERY VERY clear about what they're signing up for. "Sign up for my new releases mailing list! I'll only send you an email when I have a new book out. No spam, for realsies." Something to that effect. You should also consider adding the mailing list link to your bio on Amazon so that it shows up on every book page.

And now I'll stop being the mailing list gestapo.



Caitie Quinn said:


> And thanks. I know some of my lack of numbers/followers/whaterers and probably sales is due to barriers I've either put up or allowed to be put up (I'm not arguing about an agreement I entered here again, so no need to rehash that) BUT, I may have a more clear path to promo'ing in 4-6 months. Then it will just plain be my fault for being afraid of people LOL


What kind of barriers do you have? Honestly, I think all that's holding you back is the short story thing. You seem to be a good writer, you have fantastic covers, you're selling well for short fiction, and it's a good genre to publish in. Once you start putting out longer books, you'll be outselling us all.


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## 48209 (Jul 4, 2011)

smreine said:


> I just noticed this. 91 signups is certainly flipping AWESOME, but I might look at how you're advertising your mailing list to see if you can improve that. The number of signups I have this month is ~17% of overall sales, whereas yours is ~2%. (Someone please check that math for me. I'm really clueless today...) It's probably even lower, since I expect you have quite a lot of downloads off of your permafree books.
> 
> I just went and signed up for your mailing list. I might make the text on your signup page a little clearer--it's charmingly rambly right now, but it helps to be VERY VERY clear about what they're signing up for. "Sign up for my new releases mailing list! I'll only send you an email when I have a new book out. No spam, for realsies." Something to that effect. You should also consider adding the mailing list link to your bio on Amazon so that it shows up on every book page.
> 
> And now I'll stop being the mailing list gestapo.


I really should (after exams.... everything seems to be "after exams" right now) figure out a mailing list do-hickey.

[/quote]
What kind of barriers do you have? Honestly, I think all that's holding you back is the short story thing. You seem to be a good writer, you have fantastic covers, you're selling well for short fiction, and it's a good genre to publish in. Once you start putting out longer books, you'll be outselling us all.
[/quote]

That would be one of the barriers 

You must have missed the throwdown a few months ago where someone who knew absolutely nothing about my current situation was CAP LOCKS SCREAMING at me about stuff they knew nothing about... thus the "let's not rehash this. I know what my current agreement is" type statement.

I do have some longer'ish-but-not-technically-full-length-by-Certain-Definitions stuff I'm trying to finish -one for Q1 and one for Q2.

I will say this (if anyone is actually listening) I am VERY pro-dual-writing-path... but don't paint yourself into a corner, no matter how pretty that corner looks when you step into it.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

smreine said:


> I'm flattered that you think I'm the Gold Standard, but I don't do anything you don't do, and you out-royalty'd me last month. I can only dream of your UK numbers. I've just been collecting names longer. Also, any good ideas I seem to have are shamelessly stolen from smarter, handsomer, and much more successful writers than me.  The only thing I might be the gold standard in is pantslessness.


Yes, you did get out royalty'd last month, but I would argue that your offerings would sell the same at my outrageous prices (because I read a study that said anything up to $4.99 is considered an impulse buy by most consumers, even the teens I often sell to) and your marketing moves like the freebie->sale you held earlier this month are more audacious than most of the moves I'm willing to pull to get exposure. The point is (and I know you'll "Aw, shucks" your way out of taking the compliment here because you always do) you've done well in putting the pieces together to move significant volume and write a lot of books. 10,000+ units sold this month? I mean, seriously, I don't care if ALL of them were 99 cents (I know they're not, but still) that's impressive, and it'll grow your fanbase. That's a smart strategic move, especially in the season when all these people are getting new Kindles, iPads, Androids, etc, probably the most brilliant time to throw a sale like that. And it didn't happen by total accident. You weren't just walking down Amazon.com Street and "WHOOPS! I tripped into this giant pile of sales numbers! How did that happen?"

And as for a Gold Standard in pantslessness...I think actually this guy: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/making_things wins.



Edward W. Robertson said:


> Man, I get so hot when you salesmonsters talk shop. Go on...


All I ever want to do anymore is talk about writing stories and publishing industry stuff. I think it's becoming a problem. I can't leave it behind, like...ever.



Caitie Quinn said:


> LOL on the meltdowns - You seem pretty even-steven here. I'm actually betting you and your wife are pretty nifty people to be around.


My wife is awesome, and we balance each other really, really well. She wanted me to go full-time as a writer before I was willing to do it, and I'm pretty happy the bet has paid off handsomely. She's been the absolute best about this whole career, and whenever things get a little dicey for me, as they occasionally do, she's awesome at being a support. I rarely talk about her on the boards/on my FB/as a writer because she's a super private person and doesn't like me to, but she's AMAZING. We are usually both pretty even-steven, even when things get crazy. Been a weird year, though, and it's only two weeks in.

I will say only this...I was mentored in financial services by some pretty successful people, and when I was occasionally a fly on the wall at dinners, they'd talk about their problems (which are of a whole different set than I was dealing with at the time, i.e. HAVING NO MONEY) and I'd laugh, and think, "If I was making his money, I wouldn't have any problem dealing with THAT problem." I was an idiot. Pressure is pressure, and money does not solve every problem, especially the ones that come forward when you start to see some of that success and not only have to worry about gathering a fanbase but KEEP them...well, sometimes it gets...complicated. With enough self-imposed deadlines to make me freak out. And run downstairs to watch the Buffy musical to calm down. But you didn't hear that from me.



Caitie Quinn said:


> And thanks. I know some of my lack of numbers/followers/whaterers and probably sales is due to barriers I've either put up or allowed to be put up (I'm not arguing about an agreement I entered here again, so no need to rehash that) BUT, I may have a more clear path to promo'ing in 4-6 months. Then it will just plain be my fault for being afraid of people LOL


I think SM's got the right answer. You're in a solid genre and you're a great writer. You switch to full-length novels and put a backlist out and you'll be doing well.

OHHH...you're traditionally published, aren't you? You can't write full-length works because it violates a non-compete clause you signed under a different name?



smreine said:


> I just noticed this. 91 signups is certainly flipping AWESOME, but I might look at how you're advertising your mailing list to see if you can improve that. The number of signups I have this month is ~17% of overall sales, whereas yours is ~2%. (Someone please check that math for me. I'm really clueless today...) It's probably even lower, since I expect you have quite a lot of downloads off of your permafree books.
> 
> I just went and signed up for your mailing list. I might make the text on your signup page a little clearer--it's charmingly rambly right now, but it helps to be VERY VERY clear about what they're signing up for. "Sign up for my new releases mailing list! I'll only send you an email when I have a new book out. No spam, for realsies." Something to that effect. You should also consider adding the mailing list link to your bio on Amazon so that it shows up on every book page.


You know, I read something you wrote on another thread about your signups list going up since you put it on your About the Author pages on every book; I made a note to do that at the time but damned if I can find the note, and I know I never did that. Making a note to revisit that text to streamline it when I'm uh...less unsober...and to add it to all my product pages as well.


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

RobertJCrane said:


> Yes, you did get out royalty'd last month, but I would argue that your offerings would sell the same at my outrageous prices (because I read a study that said anything up to $4.99 is considered an impulse buy by most consumers, even the teens I often sell to) and your marketing moves like the freebie->sale you held earlier this month are more audacious than most of the moves I'm willing to pull to get exposure. The point is (and I know you'll "Aw, shucks" your way out of taking the compliment here because you always do) you've done well in putting the pieces together to move significant volume and write a lot of books. 10,000+ units sold this month? I mean, seriously, I don't care if ALL of them were 99 cents (I know they're not, but still) that's impressive, and it'll grow your fanbase. That's a smart strategic move, especially in the season when all these people are getting new Kindles, iPads, Androids, etc, probably the most brilliant time to throw a sale like that. And it didn't happen by total accident. You weren't just walking down Amazon.com Street and "WHOOPS! I tripped into this giant pile of sales numbers! How did that happen?"


 No, I know that I do about as well as I can, and it's definitely not an accident. I'm no evil mastermind, but I spend a lot of time working on publishing, since it's my job AND my hobby. I just don't think that I do anything special that others can't do (and better) in the same genres with the same amount of time.



RobertJCrane said:


> And as for a Gold Standard in pantslessness...I think actually this guy: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/making_things wins.


I would pantslessly fight him to the death for the honor of being the Gold Standard in this.



RobertJCrane said:


> OHHH...you're traditionally published, aren't you? You can't write full-length works because it violates a non-compete clause you signed under a different name?


OH. Oh. That would make sense. And that would totally suck, Caitie. I hope everything turns out favorably for you.


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## 48209 (Jul 4, 2011)

LOL you two. Ok, before I get bounced up to NYTBS status, I"ll just say.... It's more complicated than that, but I'll know stuff in the next few months (yes, months... ) and if I get to become one person again, I'll be very happy 

How was that for vague and unhelpful.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

Caitie Quinn = Danielle Steel AND Nora Roberts?!


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## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

RobertJCrane said:


> Caitie Quinn = Danielle Steel AND Nora Roberts?!


Who are secretly pseudonyms of Chuck Palahniuk and Neil Gaiman.

Caitie is a very busy person.


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## 60911 (Jun 13, 2012)

KellyHarper said:


> Who are secretly pseudonyms of Chuck Palahniuk and Neil Gaiman.
> 
> Caitie is a very busy person.


!!

The sweet ones are always the ones that turn out to be wicked twisted.


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

Edward W. Robertson said:


> Man, I get so hot when you salesmonsters talk shop. Go on...


Hahaha
Okay, Here you go: I have 1404 newsletter participants. I've been averaging four new signups a day for the last month or so.


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## jnfr (Mar 26, 2011)

Deanna Chase said:


> Hahaha
> Okay, Here you go: I have 1404 newsletter participants. I've been averaging four new signups a day for the last month or so.


Deanna, that's excellent! You're our next big breakout!


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

Deanna Chase said:


> Hahaha
> Okay, Here you go: I have 1404 newsletter participants. I've been averaging four new signups a day for the last month or so.


Very nice! You're rockin it.


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

jnfr said:


> Deanna, that's excellent! You're our next big breakout!


lol, thanks. For the last six months I've done pretty okay.


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

smreine said:


> Very nice! You're rockin it.


Thanks, but don't ask me about Twitter followers. I'm Twitter challenged. Now, FB I do okay. Between my author page and personal page I've got about 2K connections. I'd guess about 1K are readers.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

David 'Half-Orc' Dalglish said:


> Deb Greary couldn't stop laughing at me.


Who's Deb Greary?

 

Betsy


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## Andrew Ashling (Nov 15, 2010)

Deanna Chase said:


> Hahaha
> Okay, Here you go: I have 1404 newsletter participants. I've been averaging four new signups a day for the last month or so.


How? How are you averaging that?



smreine said:


> Very nice! You're rockin it.


How? How is she rocking it? How are _you_ rocking it?


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

Andrew Ashling said:


> How? How are you averaging that?
> 
> How? How is she rocking it? How are _you_ rocking it?


I have a note at the end of each of my books inviting my readers to signup to be notified of my newest releases. That's all I do. The sign up button is also right on the front page of my website. Also early in December, I bought a Bookbub ad for my perma-free book, so I got a nice bump. But prior to that I was seeing about two a day probably.


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## Andrew Ashling (Nov 15, 2010)

Deanna Chase said:


> I have a note at the end of each of my books inviting my readers to signup to be notified of my newest releases. That's all I do. The sign up button is also right on the front page of my website. Also early in December, I bought a Bookbub add for my perma-free book, so I got a nice bump. But prior to that I was seeing about two a day probably.


Thanks. 

I'm doing that too, but only recently (a week ago or so) when I re-uploaded my reformatted books.
Heck, my list is only two weeks old.
The link to the subscription form is on the landing page of my website (and in my signature here).
Also followed smreine's advice to put the link on the book pages on Amazon.

Maybe I'm just too impatient.


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## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

Andrew Ashling said:


> Thanks.
> 
> I'm doing that too, but only recently (a week ago or so) when I re-uploaded my reformatted books.
> Heck, my list is only two weeks old.
> ...


I started my list in Aug of 2011. So I've got a little time on you.


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

Deanna Chase said:


> Hahaha
> Okay, Here you go: I have 1404 newsletter participants. I've been averaging four new signups a day for the last month or so.


That's the stuff. I'll let you know when I've had enough!


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## 41413 (Apr 4, 2011)

Edward W. Robertson said:


> That's the stuff. I'll let you know when I've had enough!


Well, Ed, I think that means it's your turn.


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

smreine said:


> Well, Ed, I think that means it's your turn.


Well, I'm not a salesmonster. At best, I'm a sales-imp. You're not going to be intimidated by my presence, but it might mean the real indie-demons are lurking just behind the portal.

But let's see, shop talk from an imp.. well, the new title in my sig is eventually going to be permafree. And the main goal is to get stuff going on Apple. I'm selling a little bit each day on Kobo and BN, but Apple went flat for me since the new year. It's a decent-length novella (27K), which I'm hoping is enough to be a satisfying story, but only took a few weeks of my time to write and whip into shape. Low risk/high reward! That's another thing that following advanced baseball statistics has taught me.


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

There is much wisdom in this thread.


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

Wow, I seem to be moving backward.    

December 2011 - 1,053 (across four titles)
December 2012 - 665  (across ten titles)

ETA: On the bright side, I earned more this December because my prices are higher than last year's.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Interesting comparison. 

2012 3054 sold total
2011 1020 sold total

Many of my prices were higher in 2012 too. Definitely a better month for me although let me tell you, I was thrilled at the time with the December 2011 sales.


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## MegHarris (Mar 4, 2010)

Definitely moving backward. For Amazon and B&N only:

December 2011: 7123 (across twenty titles)
December 2012: 2070 (across thirty-seven titles)

Admittedly December 2011 was a freak month for me. Still, it's kind of depressing to compare the two.


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## B Sheridan (Dec 5, 2011)

Caitie Quinn said:


> 500! LOL You know to someone like me -- with 1 fan -- that's a lot, right?


I'll see your 1 true fan, and raise you 40 un-fans.

Well I supposed they are "fans" in the most liberal sense. If I was the type that didn't spend a lot of time laughing at, well, everything, I'd probably be embarrassed by this...

But you see, after I released This Perfect Kiss in Nov., my mom sent out an email blast about it to her friends and it was on her list of Things To Brag About at her Christmas parties (I did, however, get totally overshadowed at the holiday party for The Girlfriends, a group of 14 of her friends from high school--yes, that's actually what they call themselves--because in 2012 one GF's son joined Doctors Without Borders and another's son created a TV show for NBC and even my own sister who announced she's expecting baby number nine in addition to the international adoption already in the works. But my mom's a real goer, and she didn't forget about my little novella. Ain't she the best? Don't worry though--I'm going to win 2013. Somehow. Um. Anyway.)

So late Nov./early December, I started getting a bunch of email list signups and I was about to go all Sally Field when I logged into Mailchimp to look at the list and realized, hey these people have the same names as my mom's friends...

The best part? I actually had that thought while reading the first 4 or 5 names before the lightbulb in my very dim brain went off on name six. True story.

So all of the people on my mailing list except 1 are all friends of my mother. Not my friends (they met my FB announcement with a collective yawn) or people who, you know, actually read something of mine and want to read more, but rather they're _my mom's friends_. And they're more like, um, fans of general news of my life than of any specific books I publish.

My mom's friends also accounted for pretty much all comments on my blog, though most had to be deleted since they either called me by my real name or by the embarrassing nickname my mom calls me (and really, wouldn't you want to join the mailing list of one Tykey Tots, adult romance author?).

As for actual sales in Dec 2012? A whopping 39, down from 65 in Nov. I doubt more than a couple were to actual strangers.

Yeah, I need to get back to that plan on how to win 2013.


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## Rachel Schurig (Apr 9, 2011)

Blake Sheridan, that was a HILARIOUS post. I just one-clicked your novella solely on the basis of that post. I hope you figure out how to win 2013, because I think you're pretty awesome.


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

MegHarris said:


> Definitely moving backward. For Amazon and B&N only:
> 
> December 2011: 7123 (across twenty titles)
> December 2012: 2070 (across thirty-seven titles)
> ...


I'm greatly hoping this isn't going to be a trend for upcoming years. My biggest fear is having to go back to a traditional job.


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## B Sheridan (Dec 5, 2011)

Rachel Schurig said:


> Blake Sheridan, that was a HILARIOUS post. I just one-clicked your novella solely on the basis of that post. I hope you figure out how to win 2013, because I think you're pretty awesome.


Thank you! Really...thank you!

Oh man, will you still think I'm pretty awesome if I admit that your post just made me have a weird Sally Field/Chandler Bing crossover moment?


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## Routhwick (Apr 1, 2012)

Last month, my _Gadsby_ re-issue racked up 16 sales in the U.S./India region, and 2 in the UK.

Overall tally (at this writing): 52 (U.S./India), 12 (UK).


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

3253 sales between 54 titles on B&N, Amazon, ARE, and Smashwords = $5,060.30 in royalties.

Unfortunately, this month doesn't look like it's going to be anywhere near that good.


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## Active Imagination (Jan 16, 2013)

I can`t belive some of the amazing sales figures on this thread! Congrats guys


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