# How are your sales for July so far?



## Sam Rivers (May 22, 2011)

My sales are up over last month.  I am including sales I got from other platforms since about half of my books are wide.  I left KU off since I am only talking about sales.

How are your sales doing for July so far?


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## JenEllision (Jan 13, 2014)

I make a pittance, but so far this month is double what last month was (~$10). My main work is wide, with 2 shorts in Select.


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## Mromeo (Apr 8, 2015)

Abysmal. I'm hoping this wweekend might help


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## Wayne Stinnett (Feb 5, 2014)

About 35% lower than they were the first two weeks of June. But I released a new book two days ago and now the other books are selling again. Nearly back up to June 17th's total. I released a box set a week ago and KU pages are through the roof.


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## Guest (Jul 18, 2015)

Sadly, it's my best month yet.  Did a promo the first week with a $1.99 and had 12 sales.  Made around $10 or so (spent $70 on the promo).  And still, yep, best yet except for when I first released it.


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## Briteka (Mar 5, 2012)

Sales are slightly up while income is way up over last month. I pulled all my titles from KU, which increased sales on Amazon and other retailers, and then I raised all my KU prices back up to $2.99 so that I'm getting more money per sale compared to a borrow under KU1.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

This should be my second best month ever. With new releases lined up for every month for the rest of the year (and, well, every month next year) I'm hoping for some great upcoming months.


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## Eric S. Kim (Oct 22, 2014)

I've had a few copies sold, as well as over 600 pages read on KU2. Sales had stopped for the past couple of days, though.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I put one of my main series in Select (first time I've had more in there than just chicken feed) and I'm like


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## AkBee (Aug 24, 2012)

Lower than last month, buhbye KU, but still exciting this month. Keep writing and having fun no matter what they say🎉


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## Sela Carsen (Jun 28, 2014)

60 copies so far this month. I'm trying to look on the bright side, though. 

My first solo release in a year, and it's a short story (pnr/sfr), so while I'm certainly not rolling in dough, it's not the worst possible start. I'm editing another short to come out in just over a week, so maybe that'll give the first one a boost.

But I have nothing to weigh this against. I don't know if this month is better or worse than others because I have nothing against which to compare.


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## S.G. Dean (Jan 25, 2014)

1 book. 0 sales so far. 6030 pages read.


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## SaschaIllyvich (Jul 12, 2015)

Truth be told, and I'm not sure what  triggered this, but my sales for Slow Burn, a paranormal romance, hit the ground running hard but have slowed down.  I'm not sure what to do, but I know July is usually a slump month, because parents have kids out of school etc.

But the publisher and I are talking this weekend so if something comes about that jumps the sals back up I'l lbe sure to share.

Sascha


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## SteveHarrison (Feb 1, 2015)

June was my best month since the novel came out and so far July is on track to match or better it. They are mainly Amazon & paperback sales, so the figures for Kobo, Overdrive, iBook and Google trickle in via the publisher sometimes months later.


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## Matt Ryan (Nov 16, 2012)

I just released a book on the 13th so things have been picking up. Book 1's grasping onto a triple digit rank(947) overall right now and that's good for me. I expect an average month for July.


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## Marina Finlayson (May 2, 2014)

I released the second book in my trilogy in mid-June, and it's made a huge difference to my sales. July is my best month yet by a long way. So it looks like that old kboards advice of "write another book" really works!


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

I released my 3rd novel in a series 6 days ago. I've gone from 1-2 a day, to 9-10 a day.

So a quantum leap up for me. No idea if it has anything to do with the month or not.


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## The 13th Doctor (May 31, 2012)

Amazon sales are low. Barnes & Noble and Kobo are up. Releasing Book 4 in my Edinburgh Elementals series next month, and then the first of a Romantic Suspense series (under a pen name) in September, so fingers crossed they create some sales.


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## Violet Haze (Jan 9, 2014)

My books are wide (distributed to iBooks & stuff through Smashwords). This month, as of last night, I am up $103 over last month. However, I just had a new release (last part in a 4 part serial) on the 16th, so that has pretty much been the cause of that. YAY! I will no doubt finally break over $300 in sales on Amazon for the first time in 9ish months; they are still a big part of my sales, so I'm thrilled!


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## North Star Plotting (Jul 11, 2015)

Worst July out of the past 5 Julys.


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## kcmorgan (Jan 9, 2013)

Same as last month, but only cause I just released a new book and it's doing well. Without it, I'd probably be taking a 35% hit from the KU change and sobbing like a toddler. And ready to cut anyone who said anything to me other than "Here, have some more tissues."


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## Sapphire (Apr 24, 2012)

I don't even want to think about July. Yes, it's that bad.  
Oh, well, August will be here in 2 weeks.


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## Sam Rivers (May 22, 2011)

I had all my books in Select to take advantage of KU2.  About a week ago I decided KU2 was an Edsel so started pulling books out of KU and putting them back in D2D.  

Now Amazon and D2D have earned about the same in sales for July.  I would like to pull the rest of my books out of KU2, but Amazon is dragging its feet.  I sent them a follow-up yesterday to remind them, but I think there are too many writers fleeing the Edsel so can't get around to my books.

I know some of you love KU2 and I do too since it is a fun concept; I love the blue line, but I want to make money from my books and I can make more money wide.


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## soyeljefe (Dec 29, 2014)

I've actually managed to sell a few copies. Still no reads on KU, though. I was hoping that would do something for me, but the sales make up for it.


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## Wayne Stinnett (Feb 5, 2014)

I calculated that I'd need 12K pages read per day in KU2, to equal an average day in June for borrows in KU1. The last few days have been nearly double that and this morning, I had over 13K pages read. 

It seems I'm keeping people up late.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Wayne Stinnett said:


> I calculated that I'd need 12K pages read per day in KU2, to equal an average day in June for borrows in KU1. The last few days have been nearly double that and this morning, I had over 13K pages read.
> 
> It seems I'm keeping people up late.


My reading figures are all over the place day to day, and not at your level, but I think I can say the same. The late night hours are being used for reading.


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## Tim_A (May 25, 2013)

I've sold 6. Which is 4 more than the whole of June  

Flatlined on KU borrows though.


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## edwardgtalbot (Apr 28, 2010)

My sales and borrows/pages read have picked up, but that is mostly due to spending $3-$5 a day on FB advertising the past ten days. There's no particular reason to think that KU borrowing behavior will have changed in any case, because there has not been a significant stampede out of it by authors at this point.


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## kathrynoh (Oct 17, 2012)

On track to be in the top 3 month ever, income wise. I love summer slumps


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## Kessie Carroll (Jan 15, 2014)

I had a new release this month, and I've been aggressively advertising, so I'm getting lots of reads and a smattering of sales. I keep singing to myself, "Sales are better than borrows, Sven, don't you think that's right?"


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## Sara C (Apr 30, 2014)

kathrynoh said:


> On track to be in the top 3 month ever, income wise. I love summer slumps


Looks like it will be my second best month ever. Hopefully this doesn't mean a fall slump instead  .


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## Violet Haze (Jan 9, 2014)

This is looking to be my best month this year ladies. I am already over what I made last month on Amazon ($300) and steadily climbing. I feel like crying with happiness! I sure hope no slumps are forthcoming for any of us. I know reality but hey, I can dream right? lol



Sara C said:


> Looks like it will be my second best month ever. Hopefully this doesn't mean a fall slump instead  .


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## Sara C (Apr 30, 2014)

Violet Haze said:


> This is looking to be my best month this year ladies. I am already over what I made last month on Amazon ($300) and steadily climbing. I feel like crying with happiness! I sure hope no slumps are forthcoming for any of us. I know reality but hey, I can dream right? lol


Let's all keep dreaming, and maybe our combined mental powers will make it a reality  . Also, congrats!


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## A Woman&#039;s Place Is In The Rebellion (Apr 28, 2011)

July is down for me on Amazon, iBooks and B&N but it's already my highest month ever on Kobo (only because one of my box sets is included in a Kobo promo). I wasn't sure if I'd be impacted by the infamous summer slump this year, but I guess I am. I've got a couple of new releases out soon so I intend to come up swinging.


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## PreppedForAction2 (Jul 19, 2015)

I am doing really well for july but i don't do any of that KU business. if i see it bring in good results in august i will jump in. not with everything but one of my new military books, real long that i have planned.


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## Guest (Jul 19, 2015)

100 sales
4,459 borrows
across 3 shorts in a series


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## OEGaudio (Jul 26, 2012)

Amazon continues to drop by about 10% a month for me, but iBooks is growing by about 20% a month. Even without my new release that's coming out on Friday it's going to be my best month ever in 3 years of doing this.


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## Violet Haze (Jan 9, 2014)

Thank you! It's been a long year!



Sara C said:


> Let's all keep dreaming, and maybe our combined mental powers will make it a reality  . Also, congrats!


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

Kessie Carroll said:


> I keep singing to myself, "Sales are better than borrows, Sven, don't you think that's right?"


I'm going to be singing that for the rest of time now. Thanks.


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## Sam Rivers (May 22, 2011)

Amazon pulled my books from another list I had sent them so I promptly put them back on D2D.  I am already getting sales from those books from B&N.  I still have about a third of my books on Select on another  list that they are ignoring so I will send them a second followup this morning; maybe they will take those books out of Select too. Then I will be totally out of Select and KU2.  

It was a wise thing to get the books out of KU2 since I am selling them now on other platforms.  My pages read have flat-lined even though I still have books in KU2.  

Edited: I just sent another e-mail to Amazon as the third follow-up.  I hope they take action so I will be out of KU2 completely.


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## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

Normally the months between my releases are either status quo or a slow decline.  This month is the happy exception.  Not even counting KU2 (which have been hovering around the 20k/day mark for the past several days), sales are up by a decent amount from June.  No doubt this is mostly due to some successful FB ad targeting I have going on right now.


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## Talbot (Jul 14, 2015)

I've sold eight! Hah! Top that!


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## Sela Carsen (Jun 28, 2014)

I had a happy bump yesterday for some reason. My second best day after the actual release date. Huh. No idea why, but I'm happy!


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

Wayne Stinnett said:


> I calculated that I'd need 12K pages read per day in KU2, to equal an average day in June for borrows in KU1. The last few days have been nearly double that and this morning, I had over 13K pages read.
> 
> It seems I'm keeping people up late.


Just a note--in KU2, like KU1, "borrows" stop sometime around 10:00 Pacific or so. Then they show up right after midnight as part of the next day's sales. It's kind of nice--lets you start out the day with this lovely cushion.

I was up late working on a proposal last night. At 12:05, I had over 40,000 pages borrowed. I've noticed it ever since I put my books back into Select.


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## noob (Dec 11, 2014)

Rosalind James said:


> Just a note--in KU2, like KU1, "borrows" stop sometime around 10:00 Pacific or so. Then they show up right after midnight as part of the next day's sales. It's kind of nice--lets you start out the day with this lovely cushion.
> 
> I was up late working on a proposal last night. At 12:05, I had over 40,000 pages borrowed. I've noticed it ever since I put my books back into Select.


ahh that makes sense. it seemed weird folks were reading early monday morning. now i think they're reading late into sunday night!


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## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

Its the 20th of the month, and I've sold half of what I sold on Zon in June for the whole month. But my reads are greater than sales. I was wide until July 5 for most of my titles and only sold 5 books outside of Zon in June. If the trend stays the same through the end of the month, I'll make about 20% more than my average since April. I had a release March 1 and another April 1, but it's my older series that's selling.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

Rosalind James said:


> Just a note--in KU2, like KU1, "borrows" stop sometime around 10:00 Pacific or so. Then they show up right after midnight as part of the next day's sales. It's kind of nice--lets you start out the day with this lovely cushion.
> 
> I was up late working on a proposal last night. At 12:05, I had over 40,000 pages borrowed. I've noticed it ever since I put my books back into Select.


While the pages for the next day do show up in a big batch, my previous day's line keeps ticking up a little even after midnight. So, at midnight, I got a big jump of page reads for Monday but for another two hours I also added about 10,000 page reads for Sunday. That is definitely different from KU1.


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## R. M. Webb (Jul 24, 2014)

July is better than June which was better than May which was better than April... I'm digging the trend.

Also, going back to Select was a very good decision for me.


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## katrina46 (May 23, 2014)

Mine are surprisingly up, but I released two stories in one week.


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

Amanda M. Lee said:


> While the pages for the next day do show up in a big batch, my previous day's line keeps ticking up a little even after midnight. So, at midnight, I got a big jump of page reads for Monday but for another two hours I also added about 10,000 page reads for Sunday. That is definitely different from KU1.


I hadn't noticed that. Interesting. 
Oh, well, the only thing that matters is the number at the end of the month!


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## beccaprice (Oct 1, 2011)

I'm doing way better at festivals than last year, but virtually zip through Amazon.  But I've done no advertising in July either, nd the long taail of my late May early June bliz has faded away.  I find I'm spending as much in festival fees as I was in advertising.  Surprizingly, my latest, The Wizard and the Wood isn't getting much love, either in sales or borows, although the few reviews it has are very good.

my summer slump is in writing. I find I can eitheer do festivals or write, but not both.


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## Sandy_Williams (Mar 14, 2015)

I released my first self published book on July 1st (my UF trilogy is traditionally published). My goal was to make back the money I put into the book within 6 months. I'm 2/3rds the way there in one month, so I count that as a win. I have to say, though, that I am surprised at how few sales I've had on Nook. I knew B&N wouldn't be as strong as Amazon sales, but I didn't realize the difference would be this huge. I guess I assumed I'd have more B&N sales because a large number of my existing readers bought the book in B&N brick and mortar stores (first book published in 2011). I know Nook is struggling (that's an understatement), but more Nook owners than I expected must have abandoned the device. I want to sale more at B&N, but honestly, I'm not sure it's worth putting any effort into that. Sad.

Overall, though--and this could of course change with plummeting sales--I'm extremely happy I chose to self publish. Having all the responsibility is a bit stressful, but it's not hard. I think I might like the complete ownership.


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## Sam Rivers (May 22, 2011)

I am totally out of Select now since Amazon pulled my last books out of KU2.

My sales are running slightly ahead for D2D over Amazon.  Republishing my books on D2D seems to have made my books sell better.


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## Lizzie G (Oct 12, 2012)

July has been my worst month since I published in February.


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## going going gone (Jun 4, 2013)

Down, but my fault--I let five months pass without a release. (I wasn't not working...the last book had a bit of a wrestling match with me, is all.) One is coming out in a week, so August will be better.


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## pwtucker (Feb 12, 2011)

Given that 75% of my income used to come from KU1, and we don't know what KU2's going to pay, it's hard to tell how I'm doing. I've got a lot of pages read, but who knows what that means. I've also got a book coming out in five days, so hopefully that will give my July numbers a push in the right direction.


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## Randall Wood (Mar 31, 2014)

Up across the board, especially at Apple which blew past B&N to become my number two platform. My Amazon percentage of sales has been slowly creeping downward over the last six months as the other platforms keep snowballing. Warm-fuzzy.  

I can only attribute the sharp jump to other authors pulling their books and going to KU2. I thought I would see an increase but never thought it would be that big or that sudden. So, no way to prove it but I think I'm benefiting from KU2 even though I have nothing in it. 

Sold a book in Pakistan this month with Kobo, whats up with that?


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## delly_xo (Oct 29, 2014)

I'm up, but I released another book on 7/2 and put that along with my other two books into KU2. That new release accounts for two third's of this month's income. It's small, but I'm grateful it's at least something.


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## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

I put two non-sellers into KU in June, then put the rest of my books in KU on July 5 after the change in payments for KU was announced. I sold 5 books on all non-Amazon platforms combined in June. This month, sales were about on par for last month, but suddenly I haven't sold a book in four days. That's the longest stretch without a sale on Amazon this year. OTH, my reads show that (dividing pages read by KENPC) that I'm getting borrows at a rate of 2.5:1 over sales.


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## devalong (Aug 28, 2014)

KENP is going to be about the same ad KU1 for my PNR. My new one is really long (384 pages), but I worry that it's too long :-(.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

devalong said:


> KENP is going to be about the same ad KU1 for my PNR. My new one is really long (384 pages), but I worry that it's too long :-(.


There's no such thing as too long. It just takes longer to read. Especially in KU2.

The thing to watch is if people are reading all the way through. If they mainly are, you don't have a problem.


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## RubyMadden (Jun 11, 2014)

SALES are at 1/2 what they were in June. Summer slump... :/


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## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

devalong said:


> KENP is going to be about the same ad KU1 for my PNR. My new one is really long (384 pages), but I worry that it's too long :-(.


If the story is engaging and it takes that long to tell, you don't have a problem.


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## RubyMadden (Jun 11, 2014)

Boyd said:


> I'm in the Shall Not Be Named program, but I'm at about 1/3 to 45% of last months income. Not sure if KU2 or summer or if I took a vacation or...
> 
> Regardless, my kids will still have cheerios on the table, the bills will be paid and my beautiful wife shall not trade me in for somebody richer (i hope..)


Glad to hear you're trudging on and there will be cheerios to be had!

And I should clarify... SALES at AMAZON are at 1/2 (not KU borrows, since none of us know the # of units we've moved yet, if ever at this rate). Everywhere else (PLAY, B&N, Kobo, & iBooks), SALES are on par for the month. So, maybe this KU 2.0 thing is creating a bit of an upset at the ZON but not sure how or why? Or, it could just be me...


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## Wayne Stinnett (Feb 5, 2014)

Sales are up on all titles since the new release and tomorrow, I'll cross the half million pages read in KU threshold.


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## J.J. Thompson (Aug 10, 2013)

Excellent month so far. Plus, I have a new release coming out before the end of the month, so hopefully August will be even better.


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## Gail Hart (Apr 11, 2014)

March and April were abysmal; May and June were a lot better; but July is circling the porcelain bowl.


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## CherieMarks (Oct 10, 2011)

Wayne Stinnett said:


> It seems I'm keeping people up late.


Love it! No doubt, the ultimate goal of a writer!


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## CherieMarks (Oct 10, 2011)

As of now, this is shaping up to be my best sales month ever. I released the third in my YA dystopian series July 14th and ran several promos on the first book in the series (which is perma-free) the week before release. I've also been running 2/$2.00 a day FB ads for this series and a PNR series. The key for me is still a new release and building the series.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

CherieMarks said:


> The key for me is still a new release and building the series.


Working for me as well. Book 3 in the series has launched me upward, and its still going. Yesterday was a new high record, and today has already beaten it.


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

I can't really tell with the new KDP reporting on page reads, but things look bad.


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## Secret Pen Pal (Dec 27, 2013)

KDP sales up 8% over this period in June. Major loss with KU based on estimated per page payouts so I've pulled 25% of my catalog and have started going wide.


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## My Dog&#039;s Servant (Jun 2, 2013)

Sales went up at the start of July, then slid back to their normal summer muck.  I'd been moving all my books into Select before the original KU2 announcement.  Last one to go in has something like 675 KENP pages. I happened to catch only one borrow on it the first two days and had the ego-bashing experience of watching it get borrowed, have 33 pages read, then be returned. I expected that to happen (I do it to a lot of good writers, too), but I like it a lot better when those little "nopes" get buried among the rest of the pages so you can happily pretend it's fewer borrows by passionate readers, rather than too many borrow-and-dumps.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

My Dog's Servant said:


> I happened to catch only one borrow on it the first two days and had the ego-bashing experience of watching it get borrowed, have 33 pages read, then be returned.


How do you tell that?


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## My Dog&#039;s Servant (Jun 2, 2013)

You couldn't see it on the graph, just on the chart that lists sales and borrow by title.  There it was.  33. And then nothing for a couple of days. Of course, it could be that somebody just held onto it until they had time to immerse themselves in the wonder and brilliance of the thing, but....I'm guessing not.    From there out, you can't really sort it out (I don't have to struggle figuring out 50,000 pages of borrow a day, either    but there are at least enough that I don't have to confront that hard truth quite so directly!)

Oh, wait!  I just realized! They actually returned it so they could rush out and buy ALL my books!  Of course! 

I feel so much better now!


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

My Dog's Servant said:


> You couldn't see it on the graph, just on the chart that lists sales and borrow by title. There it was. 33. And then nothing for a couple of days. Of course, it could be that somebody just held onto it until they had time to immerse themselves in the wonder and brilliance of the thing, but....I'm guessing not.  From there out, you can't really sort it out (I don't have to struggle figuring out 50,000 pages of borrow a day, either  but there are at least enough that I don't have to confront that hard truth quite so directly!)
> Oh, wait! I just realized! They actually returned it so they could rush out and buy ALL my books! Of course!
> I feel so much better now!


You mean 33 pages read?

If there were pages read on that book later, it could mean 33 pages were read while the device was online, and it was offline for days or even a week afterwards, so the rest of the read was delayed in being recorded.

I don't think there is any such thing as a return in KU. Just partial reads.


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## KevinH (Jun 29, 2013)

I had a new release at the end of June, so July has been a good month for me.  (On a side note, I've had my books out of KU for about 6 months but - oddly enough - still managed to have some pages read under the program.)


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## Mike_Author (Oct 19, 2013)

This thread will become infinitely more interesting around 16th August 
I am thinking I will need to knock back a Xanax or two before I dare open the KDP report for July.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Mike_Author said:


> This thread will become infinitely more interesting around 16th August
> I am thinking I will need to knock back a Xanax or two before I dare open the KDP report for July.


I'll need a rope to tie me to the planet.


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## Evan of the R. (Oct 15, 2013)

Pretty quiet over here, sales definitely slowing down between releases, about 60% of where I was at this point last month. I do have some nifty promos lined up that should lift sales before the end of the month. Fingers crossed.



Randall Wood said:


> Sold a book in Pakistan this month with Kobo, whats up with that?


I dig this, Randall - Pakistan is excellent. I can't imagine selling a book there.

On Kobo, I have one sale this month in Slovakia.


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## Natasha Holme (May 26, 2012)

Typical sales so far this month.

12 digital copies
1 print copy
And probably a trickle via Smashwords to Apple, B&N, etc. Don't know whether I can check just for July?


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## Evenstar (Jan 26, 2013)

The whole song stuck in my head now!

Sales are better than borrows
Sven, don't you think that's true?

Yeah, KU will beat you
And curse you and cheat you
Every one of them's bad in KU

Sales are better than borrows
Sven, don't you think that I'm right?

That's once again true,
Especially in KU

You got me, let's call it a night


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## Sam Rivers (May 22, 2011)

> The whole song stuck in my head now!
> 
> Sales are better than borrows
> Sven, don't you think that's true?
> ...


That is cute.


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## North Star Plotting (Jul 11, 2015)

Terrible on Amazon, great everywhere else.


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## Sara C (Apr 30, 2014)

North Star Plotting said:


> Terrible on Amazon, great everywhere else.


ibooks and Nook have stepped up to account for 30% of my income. Let's hear it for other vendors.


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## Kimberly Van Meter (Apr 22, 2011)

The other vendors have pulled up the blanket and turned off the light. Sales are dying everywhere but Amazon. I hate a monopoly.

Kim


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## Callaghan (May 5, 2014)

Books are exclusive to Amazon. Have reached 91% of the sales (sales only, not including borrows) I had for last month so on track to surpass June's numbers.


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## DanielPotter (Aug 24, 2011)

I launched my first book via amazon and kindle KU on the 12th. It has been amazing. Thanks to some commissioned artwork I might even break a 100 sales for my first book in its first month! Even better I've got a healthy number of glowing reviews and no returns so far.  Looks like my odd ball series might be finding an audience after all.  

Thanks to kboards and all the other self publishing resources I've absorbed over the years.


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## Sara C (Apr 30, 2014)

DanielPotter said:


> I launched my first book via amazon and kindle KU on the 12th. It has been amazing. Thanks to some commissioned artwork I might even break a 100 sales for my first book in its first month! Even better I've got a healthy number of glowing reviews and no returns so far.  Looks like my odd ball series might be finding an audience after all.
> 
> Thanks to kboards and all the other self publishing resources I've absorbed over the years.


Wow, congrats!


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## A Woman&#039;s Place Is In The Rebellion (Apr 28, 2011)

Evan of the R. said:


> I dig this, Randall -- Pakistan is excellent. I can't imagine selling a book there.
> 
> On Kobo, I have one sale this month in Slovakia.


My special country on Kobo is Oman. Somebody there seems to like my books.


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## MySky (Sep 8, 2014)

This is the experience of one writer. I realize I don't represent a large percentage of you on this board who publish your books in serial form. As a relative newbie (just published second stand-alone book) it's difficult for me to translate the advice I see you all giving into a workable plan for a stand-alone writer, or even to understand how to translate your explanations about the habits of readers, when I'm not writing in serial form.

I've been following this forum for nearly a year, and yet in many ways I still feel like a newbie. Success, as defined by books sold/borrowed/pages read, seems to be totally subjective and defined differently by each writer.

My first book (a memoir) was published at the end of summer (2014) and I had no idea what I was doing. I was told by several sources that the average number of books sold by an independent author was *nine*, so I had no high expectations - only crossed fingers. I didn't even know how to advertise or promote my book. I put it in Select and somehow, through no help from me, it got picked up by True Crime readers and it took off like a rocket, getting as high as 625 in the Amazon Ranking and winning a spot on the "Best of 2014" list for "Suspense Magazine." After 10 months of a wild ride, it settled into a respectable sales/borrows pattern. I pushed my "that was easy" button I picked up at a yard sale and decided to write another book.

Book #2 is not a memoir, but is inspired by true events. That seems to be a comfortable writing space for me. My beta readers and friends and family say it is a better book than Book #1. I can't look at it objectively. I published it on the fourth of July because it was ready and again crossed my fingers, not knowing whether the "summer slump" would have an effect on it. This time I did some advertising and promotions and I don't know how to gauge its success. Now that the promotional period is over, it's selling a couple of copies a day and getting a couple of full reads on KU2 and has a decent number of good reviews. Because Book #2 was launched at the beginning of summer (as opposed to Book #1 which was released at the end of summer), I don't know whether this is a good outcome (one that I can expect to see blossom once summer has ended). I'm sure every book's success story, or lack of it, is different (especially with stand-alone books in different genres). And yes, I've read the "anything can happen for any random reason so don't look for a definitive answer" responses to questions like the ones spinning around in my mind.

I don't write books in a series, so I can't relate to those of you who put books out every few weeks or months. With my supporters telling me Book #2 is SO much better than Book #1, it's hard to watch it treading water to stay afloat. I try to make myself better by telling myself that the difference is the "summer slump," but do books that are released in July really suddenly take off once summer is over?

I don't know whether I'm looking for answers or just venting. It's such a fickle business. I look at the success of Book #1 and look at the "jury is still out" status of Book #2 and wonder whether I should write another book or wait until I can determine whether I had a "one hit wonder" with Book #1. And how long do you wait?

So......How are my sales for July so far? I don't have any idea. This is my first July as a published writer with Book #1 coming down from its peak and Book #2 trying to get traction. I'm stumped.

Ok, I feel better now.


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## Logan R. (May 13, 2011)

Really happy with mine. New release on the 31st of this month, so August should be nice too.


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## Cactus Lady (Jun 4, 2014)

Awful. Worst month in ages.   Seriously, I'm doing better on Smashwords this month than on Amazon! (Thanks to the site-wide Summer/Winter Sale there; I've got all my books on 50% off coupons.) But still not good. I'm releasing book 4 in my series at the end of the month, so hopefully that will jump-start things in August.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Augusta Blythe said:


> My special country on Kobo is Oman. Somebody there seems to like my books.


I have cornered the Kobo market in the Falkland Islands. I mean--there are only 3000 people there, and someone there is systematically going through all my books. Let's hope they'll recommend them to all their friends, of the human and seal kind


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## Sam Rivers (May 22, 2011)

D2D is ahead of Amazon on sales right now.  I put my books wide so that is making a difference.

I got some pages read, but I don't expect that to be a big money maker.

Overall it looks like I will have a better month than June.


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## Sapphire (Apr 24, 2012)

MySky, congratulations on the great beginning of your first book. Your second book results are more typical, but summer does take its toll. You're obviously doing something right, so don't give up. Keep writing and continued success can be yours.


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## jillb (Oct 4, 2014)

Mine's down but I haven't released a new book since Feb. Now that we're finally settled in a new state, I should be able to release another 2 books soon with my 12th in the next couple of months. Hopefully it'll pick up with the new releases


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## Victoria J (Jul 5, 2011)

Mine aren't spectacular but they are far better than the previous four summers. I have two new books coming out before the fall equinox, which will probably help things along even more.


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## Sela Carsen (Jun 28, 2014)

Mine have remained steady since my July 9 release. Remarkably steady. Since it's my first release on KDP, I don't know if my numbers are good or bad, but...there's something to say for consistency.


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## Sam Rivers (May 22, 2011)

My sales in D2D are way ahead of Amazon. I pulled all my books out of KU2 earlier in the month  and put them back on D2D.  Since then my sales have really increased.

I am grateful to those people that are in KU2 since it is driving my sales up in D2D.


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## Briteka (Mar 5, 2012)

Final July numbers will be around: Play - $4500
D2D - $3000
Amazon - $1400

The start of the month looked better than this, but I'm down across the board. Play fell almost $7000 from last month, of course, I really don't know why Play was so high last month.

Amazon fell because of KU2.

D2D is up because BN loves stepbrother books, and I dumped my KU1 titles on there around the 5th.

This month basically proved to me what I already knew, Amazon has really fallen over the last year and can't move books unless you're in KU. I don't know what that means going forward. I don't want to be a novel writer, but I may have to become one.


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

on Amazon my best July in 4 years (no KU)
all other sellers but Kobo have literally dried up. June was fine, july 1...flatline. Not sure why.


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## Christine Tate (Feb 24, 2014)

July sales are fantastic.  I've experienced a lot of growth with my series and have had month over month sales on a  yearly comparison grow every month so far this year.


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## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

Kimberly Van Meter said:


> The other vendors have pulled up the blanket and turned off the light. Sales are dying everywhere but Amazon. I hate a monopoly.
> 
> Kim


I had a total of 5 sales in June on all non-Amazon platforms, but had one of my best months ever on Amazon. Put all my titles into KU on July 5. Sales first half of the month tracked June, plus the pages read. Then around July 19, sales fell off a cliff and pages read soon followed. Starting to rebound a little now.


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## Briteka (Mar 5, 2012)

brkingsolver said:


> I had a total of 5 sales in June on all non-Amazon platforms, but had one of my best months ever on Amazon. Put all my titles into KU on July 5. Sales first half of the month tracked June, plus the pages read. Then around July 19, sales fell off a cliff and pages read soon followed. Starting to rebound a little now.


KU has the same cliffs as the overall Amazon store. You have about a month to earn your high rankings, and if you don't, your sales and reads just die unless you have a new release or promo to drive to new eyes to the book and inflate its ranking.


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## Douglas Milewski (Jul 4, 2014)

I'm at a pittance so far for the summer, but for the year, I'm on track to double last year's income. (That may sound impressive, but that's actually a very low bar.) KU reads have flatlined, even with a new release in June. In raw numbers, one sale (across all platforms) and 13 free.


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## 67499 (Feb 4, 2013)

Lousy but better than I'd any right to expect as I made every marketing mistake imaginable this summer.  About to make another - I've two books ready for release in August - but I just can't help myself.  If only summer would end, the kiddies march back to school and readers once again huddle before their fireplaces with books in hand.


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## TLC1234 (Jun 20, 2015)

Post deleted.


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## Joe Mynhardt (Apr 26, 2015)

Passed my best month about two days ago. I've taken one of my 16 books out of KU2, so I'll start uploading it onto other retailers this weekend. Fingers crossed.


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## Secret Pen Pal (Dec 27, 2013)

Sam Rivers said:


> I had all my books in Select to take advantage of KU2. About a week ago I decided KU2 was an Edsel so started pulling books out of KU and putting them back in D2D.
> 
> Now Amazon and D2D have earned about the same in sales for July. I would like to pull the rest of my books out of KU2, but Amazon is dragging its feet. I sent them a follow-up yesterday to remind them, but I think there are too many writers fleeing the Edsel so can't get around to my books.
> 
> I know some of you love KU2 and I do too since it is a fun concept; I love the blue line, but I want to make money from my books and I can make more money wide.


Happy to see this today. Over the past few days I've pulled about 25% of my books from KU and put them on D2D -- no sales yet. It's time-consuming stripping out the Amazon links and I'm rebranding almost everything for the going-wide adventure.

I like your "Wide and free" sig line. Once I get through all the listings at D2D and other distributors my publishing income will no longer be at the mercy of Amazon.

Did my KDP numbers again this morning. My sales are now up 13% over this period last month, even though my releases are down more than 50% and I've dropped most of my promo. I've also raised some of my prices on Amazon. My KDP revenue is down 70% based on the 0.006 cents a page estimate. I'm pulling another set of ebooks out of KU today. I'm leaving in some early work that's cross-bundled and preparing to pull all of it once Amazon confirms the pittance page rate.

I'm glad some of the authors of longer works are doing well with the new KU. I'm glad I tried it; it's just no longer worthwhile for my business. I'm waiting for a confirmation on the rates to decide if there's any point in launching some projects in KU, but I'm leaning against it.

Encouraging that you're doing well on D2D. Thanks for starting this thread.


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## RipleyKing (Mar 5, 2013)

Also wide and free, but with Smashwords. Since I ran my first 99 cent promo ever this month, I've moved 30 books, with Barnes&Noble taking the lead. The month isn't over yet, and Awesomegang put me in their newsletter for today, so here hoping.


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## Secret Pen Pal (Dec 27, 2013)

Briteka said:


> Final July numbers will be around: Play - $4500
> D2D - $3000
> Amazon - $1400
> 
> ...


Happy to see your good numbers outside of KDP. I keep hearing that Google Play is a major PITA -- the interface, the pricing, and that they aren't accepting new accounts. Any advice on getting started there?

For what it's worth, my novellas, collections, bundles and multi-author sets are moving the best on KDP. I no longer bother with singles or short episodes of any kind here. So depending on your focus, you might find ways to sell on Amazon without writing novels.


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## Secret Pen Pal (Dec 27, 2013)

Timothy L. Cerepaka said:


> Best month yet sales-wise at least, though that's probably because of the $0.99 sale I am running on _The Mage's Grave_ this month. I'm using four different advertising services to get the word out, so that's probably why my sales are doing well at the moment. Hope it lasts.


Congrats! Striking covers. The change in the title color and placement on the latest one works well.


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## bberntson (Oct 24, 2013)

I ran a bunch of free promotions that overlapped and dropped my price to .99 cents.  Sold about 250 this month, not counting KU pages.  The only thing is I notice the sales drop off quickly, so my next step is trying to figure out how to maintain sales outside of free promotions and thinking of marketing everything at .99 for a while to boost the ranking.


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## Briteka (Mar 5, 2012)

Secret Pen Pal said:


> Happy to see your good numbers outside of KDP. I keep hearing that Google Play is a major PITA -- the interface, the pricing, and that they aren't accepting new accounts. Any advice on getting started there?
> 
> For what it's worth, my novellas, collections, bundles and multi-author sets are moving the best on KDP. I no longer bother with singles or short episodes of any kind here. So depending on your focus, you might find ways to sell on Amazon without writing novels.


Play's system is completely ridiculous and anti-intuitive, but once you get your payment profile connected to your Play account and learn the system, it's just as easy as everywhere else. When I was dumping my KU titles on there this month, I was LIVE less than two minutes after starting the publishing process for each book. At the time, I wasn't going through any review process, and everything would be up and running as soon as I hit publish. With a little copy/pasting from my Amazon descriptions, the whole thing was very fast and easy. They got mad at me for uploading stepbrother romances (completely my fault for not reading TOS), and now I go through a review process that takes about four hours.

I use the pricing guide in the first post of this thread http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,167655.0.html and have never had a problem.

As for what works there, permafree is king. It takes about 10 downloads for one sale, while Amazon seems to take about 200 downloads for one sale these days, which is a shame. Play also moves more free downloads than Amazon. Amazon has a good first few days (because of being picked up by free sites) where it does better than Play, but after that, Play takes over and moves more free copies.

Also, I don't see any cliffs on Play, like I do Amazon. I think the reason for this is because Amazon uses a "browsing method" where everything is skewed heavily towards recent sales, while Play uses a "searching method" where it uses the reader's data profile to try and connect them with the books they'll most likely enjoy.


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## Dobby the House Elf (Aug 16, 2014)

Having done this for a few years now, my advice is release a book in June to avoid any slumps. Or plan for a promotion. Just do something


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## Secret Pen Pal (Dec 27, 2013)

Briteka said:


> Play's system is completely ridiculous and anti-intuitive, but once you get your payment profile connected to your Play account and learn the system, it's just as easy as everywhere else. When I was dumping my KU titles on there this month, I was LIVE less than two minutes after starting the publishing process for each book. At the time, I wasn't going through any review process, and everything would be up and running as soon as I hit publish. With a little copy/pasting from my Amazon descriptions, the whole thing was very fast and easy. They got mad at me for uploading stepbrother romances (completely my fault for not reading TOS), and now I go through a review process that takes about four hours.
> 
> I use the pricing guide in the first post of this thread http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,167655.0.html and have never had a problem.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the detailed, helpful response. I've done copywriting for clients with idiotic, outdated interfaces, so I should be able to stand Google Play. It's been on the bottom of my list for months because of all the complaints I've seen, but thanks to the KU bomb, I'm motivated.

I just sent KDP a request to pull seven more books out of KU, the last ones I had in that aren't cross-bundled. Appreciate the chance to learn from your experience. I ran afoul of some content issues on D2D, so I'll read the Google TOS *before* I start.  It's encouraging that their review process is fast. And thanks so much for the pricing guide link -- that's a huge help.

Great to know that books can have a longer shelf-life there. That sudden drop-off on KDP has been one of the most discouraging things. When I branched into serials and novellas it got better, but it's too soon to know if I've solved the longevity problem, and with the piddly KU per-page rate, even novellas aren't worth publishing in KU -- except perhaps for authors and publishers with far larger promo budgets than mine.

Thanks for taking the time to respond so fast. This whole KU 2 mess hit while I was on vacation for the first time in years and I've been running numbers and assessing options ever since. Adapting on the fly with insufficient data is pushing my limits, but I'm glad to have the going-wide adventure underway.


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## D. Zollicoffer (May 14, 2014)

My sales are in the toilet on Amazon. Pulling out of KU really killed me. Now I feel like it's a bust, and that my books won't sell there, even if I put out four a month. I write children's chapter books (50-60 pages each).


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## North Star Plotting (Jul 11, 2015)

Way, way down on Amazon. Way, way up everywhere else (D2D, Smashwords, ACX, Createspace).


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## sela (Nov 2, 2014)

Following Joe Konrath's example, I'll post my numbers -- not that I'm a Joe Konrath or on his level but I appreciated seeing what was possible when I first read his blog on self-publishing so here's mine:



Up from June ($31,337), but I had a Bookbub this month. I have another one in August so we'll see if sales hold up.


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## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

*faints*


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## psychotick (Jan 26, 2012)

Hi,

Actually July's quite good for me. I put my second book for the year out about two weeks ago and have sold several hundred copies of it which seems like a reasonable start. But KU is really rocking it for me. 

In two weeks I have a hundred and twenty k pages read on just that book and only in the US! Sadly that's only the equivalent of about one hundred and eighty books, but it adds a nice kick to the monies and anywhere on a balance sheet that you can see six figure numbers is excellent!!! (I just wish it were 120k borrows as it used to be!)

The other thing that's weird is that Amazon UK seems to be really rocking at the moment. And I had my first ever sale in the Netherlands!

Cheers, Greg.


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## Violet Haze (Jan 9, 2014)

That is amazing! I haven't been around long. May I ask what genre you write in? I understand if you don't want to be too specific though.



Sela said:


> Following Joe Konrath's example, I'll post my numbers -- not that I'm a Joe Konrath or on his level but I appreciated seeing what was possible when I first read his blog on self-publishing so here's mine:
> 
> 
> 
> Up from June ($31,337), but I had a Bookbub this month. I have another one in August so we'll see if sales hold up.


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## sela (Nov 2, 2014)

Violet Haze said:


> That is amazing! I haven't been around long. May I ask what genre you write in? I understand if you don't want to be too specific though.


Romance - contemporary, erotic, paranormal, new adult.


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## Violet Haze (Jan 9, 2014)

Nice! Well, thanks, that gives me hope for sure. I cover all those in one way or another. 


Sela said:


> Romance - contemporary, erotic, paranormal, new adult.


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## Wayne Stinnett (Feb 5, 2014)

4138 dales as of right now. That will top 4300 by the end of the day tomorrow.

965,804 pages read in KU as of right now. That will easily top 1 million tomorrow before noon.


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