# the July sales thread



## S. Shine (Jan 14, 2013)

How is everyone doing?  

I'm at 258 so far, not counting the ones I'm blissfully ignorant about via Smash. 

Hoping everyone is making great sales!


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## Elliott Garber (Apr 8, 2013)

3 sales and 1 borrow --- woohoo!


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## Tim_A (May 25, 2013)

3 sales (including 1 on Nook)


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## theaatkinson (Sep 22, 2010)

love these threads. so far 198 paid 39 freeloads at Apple


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

Ack! Too many books across too many venues for me to add them all up. Color me lazy.  

But so far this month seems to be about average for me, running about even with the rest of the months this year (except for January, which was pitifully slow for me).


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## Joshua Dalzelle (Jun 12, 2013)

Looking good so far... beating June at least so maybe the 30-day slump has been postponed for my second book.


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## Sapphire (Apr 24, 2012)

July had been *blah!* up to this weekend. Then I had a small surge. Maybe readers finally noticed the new cover Dara created.  Let's hope it's the beginning of improved sales.


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## Jd488 (Oct 8, 2012)

Still on the BBoS, but not giving up.


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## Michael J. Scott (Sep 2, 2010)

Up to 10 books overall. 1 Print, 1 via Smashwords. Think maybe people are finally coming back from vacay?


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## SVD (Jan 15, 2013)

22 for July.


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## blakebooks (Mar 10, 2012)

July down 15% from June, which was 16K+ sales. The ten days around the fourth were terrible. Now picking up some. But we're definitely in the doldrums. And that's even with a new title out on the tenth. Which hasn't really gotten traction yet.

Much of the drop comes from the UK, where I've been averaging 150 units a day, and which has dropped to 100-120 for about the last three weeks. No idea why. But that adds up. Meh.


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## crashaddict (Mar 27, 2013)

Only sold 35 books last month.

Only 15 days into July and I'm already at 38 US (with one return..ouch!) and 1 UK. Woooo!


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## cblewgolf (Jan 3, 2011)

Best month of the year for one of my titles (TLJ) and the worst for my usual best seller (DR).  Other 2 are average.


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## Writerly Writer (Jul 19, 2012)

20 so far.


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## Joe_Nobody (Oct 23, 2012)

I am just busting it up for some reason.

I passed July 2012 on the 10th, which wasn't a bad month by any measure.

I'll pass June today or tomorrow.

If this keeps up, I'll have to move in with Mr. Blake down in Mexico to avoid the IRS.

I am Godzilla - Amazon is Toyoko


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## KerryT2012 (Dec 18, 2012)

Joe_Nobody said:


> I am just busting it up for some reason.
> 
> I passed July 2012 on the 10th, which wasn't a bad month by any measure.
> 
> ...


Now you got me curious - how many?


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## Joe_Nobody (Oct 23, 2012)

Sarwah2012 said:


> Now you got me curious - how many?


8,000 plus through the 14th.


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## 60169 (May 18, 2012)

Hey, I'll follow up Joe's blockbuster #'s with my own, much more modest ones...

Released a new title on the 9th and that has helped. 216 sold across (now) three titles, the vast bulk of them in the new one. No promos at all this month, except for releasing a new book.

Congrats, Joe. Really pleased to see the success you and so many are having!


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## IAmDanMarshall (Apr 4, 2013)

_The Lightcap_: 4 sales and 2 borrows
_The New Jefferson Bible_: 11 sales

Woo?


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## KerryT2012 (Dec 18, 2012)

Joe_Nobody said:


> 8,000 plus through the 14th.


Take me to Mexico with you! 
Well done - great figures!


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## Lady Vine (Nov 11, 2012)

I'm on just under a third of last month's sales, so pretty bleak. I should end the month with just over half of June, unless something magical happens. The good news is that, since Amazon's changes to the Book and Kindle categories, I've had 6 paperback sales in the UK and Europe. I'm blown away by this, tbh. Because these books, when bought in the set (which is what people are doing), are not cheap.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

With 60 so far this is the worst month EVAH. 
However, I snagged a BookBub ad for next week so I'm busting my hump (how does one bust a hump, anyway?) to get as much promo as possible.


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

blakebooks said:


> Much of the drop comes from the UK, where I've been averaging 150 units a day, and which has dropped to 100-120 for about the last three weeks. No idea why. But that adds up. Meh.


Summer has _finally_ arrived here and everybody is most likely out in the glorious sunshine.


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## hardnutt (Nov 19, 2010)

July's been a slow month for me, particularly in Canada. Normally, by the month halfway mark, I've made a thousand or more sales on kindle. But this month, (as of last night (UK time,) I'm only up to 667.

Though, when I looked earlier this morning, Canada had put a bit of a spurt on and the grand sales total there is 10. :-(

It's scarcely worth checking my sales at other retailers (always poor).


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## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

I don't understand the sales thing yet (I'm a newbie). I released my debut novel July 5th, and yes, I've now come to realize that was a really stupid week to do it. But out the gate, I had NO sales, NO ranking. Then 48 hours later I started at 350,000 in paid and quickly went to 42,000 paid. Then it bounced around for the next several days going to 65,000, 75,000... Then 32,000! Then it settled at around 150,000 in paid rank. It has slid much further now, however I think my book has only been for sale a total of 8 or 9 days (?). 

My question is... How could I have climbed to the 30,000 out of over a million books, but my D2D (Draft 2 Digital) sales reports shows a total of 10 books sold?


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## Bec (Aug 24, 2012)

A grand total of 9! 

5 on Zon, 4 on Apple. 

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...


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## Laura Lond (Nov 6, 2010)

L.L. Akers said:


> My question is... How could I have climbed to the 30,000 out of over a million books, but my D2D (Draft 2 Digital) sales reports shows a total of 10 books sold?


The number seems about right. It shows that the book is selling _some_, but not a lot. Also, there is usually some delay in ranking updates.

My July numbers so far:

113 on Amazon US
4 on Amazon UK
7 on B&N


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## nico (Jan 17, 2013)

blakebooks said:


> July down 15% from June, which was 16K+ sales. The ten days around the fourth were terrible. Now picking up some. But we're definitely in the doldrums. And that's even with a new title out on the tenth. Which hasn't really gotten traction yet.


Yeah, we've seen similar slow sales patterns so far, including our new release out on the 7th. This is our first summer, so we didn't know what to expect. Hopefully our next book in September will do better.


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## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

Having a personal record month. My best month ever was June, and I'm on pace to surpass that number in a couple days, with a highly anticipated (as far as *my* work goes, anyway) release coming at the end of next week .

Life's good right now.


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## Joseph Turkot (Nov 9, 2012)

Below last month, little over 150 so far. Can't believe Joe's sales are coming at Kindle books priced at 9.99--way to go!


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## KevinH (Jun 29, 2013)

I'm at about 450. Sales were already down from last month, but fell off a cliff this past weekend for some reason. I'm still sobbing...


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## EC Sheedy (Feb 24, 2011)

Bec Allinson said:


> A grand total of 9!
> 
> 5 on Zon, 4 on Apple.
> 
> Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...


And do, please, get the sequel out to *The Last Day...*. You have a bona fide real living breathing certified book-reading person here with a finger poised to hit the buy button for said sequel. I kid you not. 

My sales? On summer-sucketh-sabbatical--or so I'm telling myself. I did a promo on one title for .99 and got 78 sales, though. (I'm buying ice cream.)


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## Bec (Aug 24, 2012)

EC Sheedy said:


> And do, please, get the sequel out to *The Last Day...*. You have a bona fide real living breathing certified book-reading person here with a finger poised to hit the buy button for said sequel. I kid you not.


Awww, thanks EC 

Motivation of the day hehe.


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## Elliott Garber (Apr 8, 2013)

L.L. Akers said:


> My question is... How could I have climbed to the 30,000 out of over a million books, but my D2D (Draft 2 Digital) sales reports shows a total of 10 books sold?


I'm in kind of the same place. I've sold 9 copies and had 1 borrow in about 24 hours, and now I'm sitting at about 30,000 for Paid in Kindle Store.


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## 60169 (May 18, 2012)

EC Sheedy said:


> And do, please, get the sequel out to *The Last Day...*. You have a bona fide real living breathing certified book-reading person here with a finger poised to hit the buy button for said sequel. I kid you not.
> 
> My sales? On summer-sucketh-sabbatical--or so I'm telling myself. I did a promo on one title for .99 and got 78 sales, though. (I'm buying ice cream.)


EC's recommendation is enough for me. I picked up a copy. Looks great!


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## Bec (Aug 24, 2012)

Shawn Inmon said:


> EC's recommendation is enough for me. I picked up a copy. Looks great!


I wish there was a blushing emoticon. Thanks!! Hope you like it  I read_ Feels Like The First Time _a few months ago and really enjoyed it!


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## 60169 (May 18, 2012)

Bec Allinson said:


> I wish there was a blushing emoticon. Thanks!! Hope you like it  I read_ Feels Like The First Time _a few months ago and really enjoyed it!


I had no idea! I'm so glad I don't know when someone from Kboards is reading my book... that would make me nervous as anything.  Thanks for the read! I'm in the mood for just this kind of story, and I like novella-length, so I'll move it up to the top of the TBR pile.


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## Alex Jace (May 6, 2013)

Curious question from a rookie who also debuted this summer. Is there any way to estimate what kind of general sales increase (if any) one might broadly expect in the autumn? For example, do book sales halve in the summer, then go back up in the autumn, so you could reasonably expect your summer sales to double?


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## NicoleSwan (Oct 2, 2011)

I don't know what I've done this month, but I've hit a curse I think.  Sales just evaporated on me, so bad that the UK was the first to lose the BBoS!


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## Bec (Aug 24, 2012)

Shawn Inmon said:


> I had no idea! I'm so glad I don't know when someone from Kboards is reading my book... that would make me nervous as anything.  Thanks for the read! I'm in the mood for just this kind of story, and I like novella-length, so I'll move it up to the top of the TBR pile.


Haha, so there'll be no angry "it's too short! This is an English paper!" reviews from you. 



NicoleSwan said:


> I don't know what I've done this month, but I've hit a curse I think. Sales just evaporated on me, so bad that the UK was the first to lose the BBoS!


The UK was my first BBoS to go too!



Alex Jace said:


> Curious question from a rookie who also debuted this summer. Is there any way to estimate what kind of general sales increase (if any) one might broadly expect in the autumn? For example, do book sales halve in the summer, then go back up in the autumn, so you could reasonably expect your summer sales to double?


Expect nothing. 

There is no rhyme nor reason.


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## NicoleSwan (Oct 2, 2011)

Bec Allinson said:


> Expect nothing.
> 
> There is no rhyme nor reason.


Absolutely the safest option


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## Jason Eric Pryor (Jan 30, 2013)

3 sold for Kindle. (Haven't sold a Kindle book since July 4th.) 5 print sales. June was my first month publishing and I sold 40 total. July is gonna have to pick up the pace if I'm going to even match June. I'm waiting on approval for a Goodreads giveaway. I'm curious as to how much that will help me get a little more visible. We'll see. Other than that, I'm plugging away on the second book of my series.


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## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

NicoleSwan said:


> Absolutely the safest option


and the most realistic.


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## Marti talbott (Apr 19, 2011)

I'm down about 200 books from this time last month, but I should have a new book out by the end of July, and that will bring my numbers back up...I hope.


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## Alex Jace (May 6, 2013)

Bec Allinson said:


> Expect nothing.
> 
> There is no rhyme nor reason.





NicoleSwan said:


> Absolutely the safest option


Ha! OK, thanks. I'll stop trying to predict and understand this. 

I uploaded to All Romance Ebooks this weekend and sold 17 copies there already. Puzzled but happy.


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## kathrynoh (Oct 17, 2012)

I'm having a terrible sales month too.  I'm running a 99 cent promo at the moment so hope it gets picked up by some of the places I've submitted it so that I can sell something


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## beccaprice (Oct 1, 2011)

my sales are dismal - I even did a promotion over July 4 weekend - got a ton of free downloads of both books, but no bump after the promotion ended. I am getting really good reviews, but that just isn't translating into sales.

I'm doing another Goodreads giveaway, and have a Library Thing giveaway currently ongoing, so I hope something will come of that.


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## nico (Jan 17, 2013)

I have noticed that sales of our 99¢ novella have picked up since the release of our new (not 99¢) novella. I can't tell if that's a coincidence or an example of price sensitivity. Trying to stick to our guns on price, but it's getting harder as those valuable "first 30 days" slip away with little traction. :/


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## Tim_A (May 25, 2013)

Just had my first sale to Norway! Go Norway! 

So now my sales are iBooks 1, Nook 1, Amazon UK 2


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## sarahdalton (Mar 15, 2011)

Just over 500 so far. About on a par wih June. 

But on the down side I've had a couple of 2 star ratings on Goodreads. Why do they always seem to come in a batch to make me nervous?

And more positively, I should be publishing the final book in my series any day now!


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## nico (Jan 17, 2013)

sarahdalton said:


> And more positively, I should be publishing the final book in my series any day now!


Nice! Pre-congrats!


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## elizabethareeves (Jul 6, 2013)

June was me best month ever and I am not on track to match last month at all. 
My sales have dropped so much in July I have trying to find out why. Is it me, my books, or the summer. I am trying to promote more and this is with a new release on July 11th. Lets just say the amount of sales I have for so far in July I had in the first five days in June. 

I have no answers!!! Hopefully, next month will be better or I will have to figure something out.


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## Elliott Garber (Apr 8, 2013)

Tim_A said:


> Just had my first sale to Norway! Go Norway!


How do you track what countries your sales are coming from?

Any other hints about tracking and analyzing sales? Are there any websites that are particular good and reliable for this, along with tracking sales rank in Amazon?

Thanks!


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## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

This month makes me want to cry. Either that, or give up and just play the new Sims expansion until September (oh, wait, that's what I've already been doing...   ). And my book is even on sale for half its list price. I don't know what gives. 

I think everybody is just out doing summery stuff. I know I have been. I always intend to read a lot in the summer, but we end up so busy and exhausted that I never get any reading done.


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## blakebooks (Mar 10, 2012)

Joe: Congrats. Hope all the money doesn't ruin you. You've certainly tapped into something with the survivalism thing - a friend of mine's book that mined the same ground did extremely well, so that's a viable market, for sure, as you're seeing.

I looked at last July, and sales are triple this year. Having said that, the ten days around the fourth also sucked last year, so it's likely seasonality more than anything else. Still, hard to whine about tripling sales year over year. I suspect next year will be the one I have to worry about. I'm on track to see roughly 225-250K sales this year (last year was 106K) but I've increased my ASP so my revenue has tripled, which is very nice. I'm also madly rushing to get all my titles done as audiobooks, which will come online for real around the holidays, and which represent a potentially cool revenue stream - imagine 25 titles, each selling 50-100 a month, at an average price of $16, with 50% and increasing royalties. That's a no-brainer. Found money, in my opinion. Nominal investment, big payout for years. Me like.

You should look into audio books. I need more rich friends to sponge off.


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## FranceBarnaby (Feb 10, 2013)

11 sales thus far on amazon, about the same through smashwords.


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## Guest (Jul 16, 2013)

Last month was my best to date (about 4,300 books sold). This month is tracking towards about half that number, with about 1,250 books sold so far. Definitely a slowdown across the board. 

This is also the first month in awhile that I don't have a new title available. I won't have my next one ready until August.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Sooooo....
Can I put my tinfoil hat on?

Looking back over this thread, I seem to see a definite split.  Those of us who get just a few sales each day are doing very poorly this month whereas those who generally sell well are doing gangbusters. 

I wonder if something has changed somewhere to give better-sellers greater visibility (I mean for more than the obvious reasons, of course), further shifting that balance.


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## rod redux (Jul 12, 2013)

My sales have improved after tooling around with my keywords, tightening my blurbs and tinkering with a couple of my covers. I've even hit the best seller charts in a couple categories here and there. Still not doing near the same numbers I did last year, though. Last year I was pulling in five or six grand a month. This year I've been lucky to pull in two.


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## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

rod redux said:


> My sales have improved after tooling around with my keywords, tightening my blurbs and tinkering with a couple of my covers. I've even hit the best seller charts in a couple categories here and there. Still not doing near the same numbers I did last year, though. Last year I was pulling in five or six grand a month. This year I've been lucky to pull in two.


Rod, I'm going to sound like an idiot... But how/where do I put in 'keywords?' I'm on all sales platforms (except Sony) with a new debut book, but Draft 2 Digital handled all my uploading. I cannot even find what/where the keywords are on my book. Help?


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## Colin Taber (Apr 4, 2011)

July has been my slowest month since my March new series release, but I've still sold double what I did in my best month prior to USV. 

At the moment I'm on 570 units across all markets, digital and paper. I think I'll end up with around 700. That'll be around 80% Kindle and 15% paperbacks.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Colin Taber said:


> At the moment I'm on 570 units across all markets, digital and paper. I think I'll end up with around 700. That'll be around 80% Kindle and 15% paperbacks.


The number for your 'slowest month' is what I had on my best. So it's all relative 

This is still the slowest for me but I have a BookBub ad today. Feels a little bit like Christmas before you open the presents. Hopefully there's something good in there.


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## Colin Taber (Apr 4, 2011)

Quiss said:


> The number for your 'slowest month' is what I had on my best. So it's all relative
> 
> This is still the slowest for me but I have a BookBub ad today. Feels a little bit like Christmas before you open the presents. Hopefully there's something good in there.


Hey, I know how you feel.  It was only 5 months ago when I sold 24 for February, and that was close to an average for me for a while back then before my new series!

For years if I sold a hundred copies in a month I would be over the moon. 

All the best for the BookBub ad! I think we can all guess it will be an exciting day for you!


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## Zoe York (May 12, 2013)

L.L. Akers said:


> I don't understand the sales thing yet (I'm a newbie). I released my debut novel July 5th, and yes, I've now come to realize that was a really stupid week to do it. But out the gate, I had NO sales, NO ranking. Then 48 hours later I started at 350,000 in paid and quickly went to 42,000 paid. Then it bounced around for the next several days going to 65,000, 75,000... Then 32,000! Then it settled at around 150,000 in paid rank. It has slid much further now, however I think my book has only been for sale a total of 8 or 9 days (?).
> 
> My question is... How could I have climbed to the 30,000 out of over a million books, but my D2D (Draft 2 Digital) sales reports shows a total of 10 books sold?


The Amazon ranking is VERY dynamic - it changes many times a day.

As an aside, if you publish directly to Amazon, you'll avoid giving D2D their 10% cut. I use D2D where publishing directly is impossible (B&N, for me, because I'm Canadian) or difficult (iTunes, because I don't own a Mac), but for Amazon and Kobo, distributing yourself is the way to go for sure.


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## rmoses (Apr 30, 2012)

I seem to be at only about a 10% slowdown compared to June, but I released the final book for a series in May, and I think that helped me a bit with steadying my numbers over the summer. My genre seems to do best in Aug/Sept/Oct since it is dark fantasy. Of course, considering my sales in general, I might be too small a sample to really say one way or the other. You can only get a general idea with trends over several years of tracking, and I've only been at this less than a year.


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## Jason Eric Pryor (Jan 30, 2013)

Horrible month. I've sold 3 ebooks, the last one being sold on July 4th. That's it. I haven't sold a book since July 4th! I'm hoping when I release my second book in the series that sales will pick up again. Frustrating.


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## S. Shine (Jan 14, 2013)

Jason Eric Pryor said:


> Horrible month. I've sold 3 ebooks, the last one being sold on July 4th. That's it. I haven't sold a book since July 4th! I'm hoping when I release my second book in the series that sales will pick up again. Frustrating.


It'll get better once you have more stories. And why not lower the price to 99c to attract sales and possible reviews? The more people have read and liked part 1, the more will buy part 2; just market that one at full price. Use part 1 to advertise the series by setting it to permafree or set it at 99c. Good luck!


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## Jason Eric Pryor (Jan 30, 2013)

S. Shine said:


> It'll get better once you have more stories. And why not lower the price to 99c to attract sales and possible reviews? The more people have read and liked part 1, the more will buy part 2; just market that one at full price. Use part 1 to advertise the series by setting it to permafree or set it at 99c. Good luck!


I did a 2-week run at 99¢ last month. I sold 40 books total last month. Half of them were 99¢ sales. The other half were at regular price. The real problem is I can't promote it, other than Facebook and Twitter. Even if I get enough reviews, most places won't promote a 20,000 word novella. So, I'm relying on the series as a whole. Once the second or even third book is out, I'll probably permafree the first one. After all 5 are done, I may combine them all into a volume. Haven't decided yet.

I'm still learning a lot. This is all very new to me.


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## JFHilborne (Jan 22, 2011)

At 1480 eBooks for July, mostly all in US. Few in UK, Germany, and Canada, with BBS in all the other countries.


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## Adriane Leigh (Dec 17, 2012)

My sales are sloooww this summer, and that's with a new release on June 26! This is my first summer and I foolishly thought a summer release would be a good thing- lesson learned: NEVER RELEASE IN SUMMER AGAIN. 
My best months were February and March where I sold nearly 5k units. This month I've sold just over 1k. I think everyone is flocking to the big blockbuster releases and don't have time to read anything beyond that. I'm just kicking myself because I can't imagine my new release will gain any traction come fall


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## Adriane Leigh (Dec 17, 2012)

I should also say that sales of my first book are WAY up compared to what they were pre-release of my second book. In fact, it's sold better than the new release at various points this month.


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## Raquel Lyon (Mar 3, 2012)

July is DISMAL, and that's with a new release this month. I've sold a whole four books, across five titles! It's been my worst month since I first published back in 2010, when I only had one title.


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## sarahdalton (Mar 15, 2011)

Dropped my first book to 99c for a few days and it seems to have worked, sold 72 yesterday. I've got a book blast coming out today so fingers crossed it boosts things a bit. 868 so far this month.


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

Now that we're a little further along in the month ... July is going to be the best month I've had this year, but not by leaps and bounds. More like by trickles here and there. But I can live with it.


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## Tim_A (May 25, 2013)

I've sold 6 ebooks this month, 5 of which I pretty much had to beg individually for. One though was a complete surprise, on iBooks in Norway.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Thanks to a Bookbub ad, this is no longer the worst month for me. Barely.


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## Marti talbott (Apr 19, 2011)

Three years at this. Marblestone 6 published on the 22nd, so it's bringing my number back up. June 2382, July so far 2546. Four more days to go. I'm working on a stand alone for a change, hoping to have a breakout book. I sell pretty well, but I don't make it into the top 100 because each new book is part of a series. Here's hoping I can pull one off.

By the way, in late August and September, sales for text books go up, novels go down. Just expect it. After that it picks up for novels again.


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## Kathy Clark Author (Dec 18, 2012)

Through Wednesday the 24th I managed to exceed a 40% decline compared to last July and make this the worst month o 2013.

I released Believe It Or Not [or as the old folks call it BION?] and Thursday was bigger than the entire first 24 days. Yesterday almost as good.

My non-BookBub Plan, since they wouldn't go another time for whatever reason was excellent so I'm putting the pudding back on the shelf.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

BTW, is it just me or does it seem that all of Europe has left for vacay and forgot to bring their readers?


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

30% drop from June, which dropped 30% from May. This'll be the first month since Feb I won't pay my rent with royalties.


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## Writerly Writer (Jul 19, 2012)

My feelings about June were  
My feelings about July equate to --->


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## AriadneW (Feb 16, 2013)

I think I'll end up about the same as June, the first half of the month was awful but picked up when I was posted on a couple of Facebook pages. I have done no advertising beyond that as I was working on a new release which came out today so we'll see how that goes.


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## Andrew Ashling (Nov 15, 2010)

Quiss said:


> BTW, is it just me or does it seem that all of Europe has left for vacay and forgot to bring their readers?


I got a few sales in Germany and one in France&#8230; nada, zilch in the UK.
I call it the Baby Slump.


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## Lady Vine (Nov 11, 2012)

Pants! Wasn't expecting that from July, if I'm honest. Especially as June was such a banner month. But for some reason my UK sales have been on the rise since about March, and they're now almost half of my Amazon.com sales. I credit my permafree readers, who are just now getting around to buying the next two books in the series.

I can't stand summer! Never liked it. I probably would, though, if I had that ice cream truck I've had me heart set on since I were a wee lass


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## johnaburks (Jul 7, 2013)

I'm fairly stoked about July. I've doubled my sales, which isn't saying much in comparison to some of you guys, but it's an awesome feeling never the less. 

I did a bunch of experimenting with prices. I've sold fewer books, but made more.


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## Guest (Jul 30, 2013)

Amazon US - 7
Amazon UK - 2
Draft2Digital - 9
Smashwords (I have one book left with them for Apple only) - no idea


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## Cheryl Douglas (Dec 7, 2011)

blakebooks said:


> Joe: Congrats. Hope all the money doesn't ruin you. You've certainly tapped into something with the survivalism thing - a friend of mine's book that mined the same ground did extremely well, so that's a viable market, for sure, as you're seeing.
> 
> I looked at last July, and sales are triple this year.


Same here, doing about 3X what I was last July, so even if I'm down a bit from last month, I really can't complain.


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

Sales this month are about the same as June's. *Crosses fingers for next month to be a repeat*

US 3800 (roughly)
UK 600
Sales in all other international stores combined - 21


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## JamieCampbell (May 29, 2013)

Amazon 517, other outlets tba.

My second best month so far


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## MitchHogan (May 17, 2013)

169 so far, mostly Amazon (152 Amazon US).
My print book just hit Amazon today so I'm hoping for a surge


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## Aducknamedjoe (Apr 25, 2013)

12 sales so far and 350 free downloads of a short story with a 5 day Select giveaway and zero promotion.  Also got 1 five star review out of it and 4 subscribers to my newsletter so calling it a modest win.

Given this is only the 2nd real month being published, and the first with more than 1 story, I'm happy with the results.  Looking to get a bunch more published in the next few months.

EDIT: AND this will be the first month I make enough for Amazon to send me a check!  Either gonna frame it or use it to buy ammunition


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## Guest (Jul 31, 2013)

Across all platforms, somewhere between 250 and 300 (paid, not free).  Not as good as last month, but anywhere from between a 1000% to 1500% increase from this month last year.


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## williamvw (Mar 12, 2012)

The great thing about starting at zero is that there's nowhere to go but up. After a May in which I think I sold two units, I released a novella last month and a short story this month, so I'm at 17 units sold in July. It ain't much, but it sure beats May and is at least heading in the right direction.


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## AriadneW (Feb 16, 2013)

I ended the month around 450 so up on last month but mainly because of my new release. Around 170 of those have been in the last 4 days since I released the new book.


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## Zenferno (May 29, 2013)

Looks like this month will round out to 80+ sales, almost the same as last month, which is incredibly frustrating.  I just can't get any peace and quiet time to write whilst living with the family.  No new titles released this month  .  Excited about moving out at the end of August so I can go nuts, write to my hearts content and make serious inroads towards my goals.

Congrats everyone on your sales and progress.


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

I reckon I might hit 1240 on Amazon, and about 5 elsewhere. It's my fourth full month in the biz and my worst so far - down about 30% on June. Still, can't complain (so I won't).


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## sarahdalton (Mar 15, 2011)

About 1400 for me but I had a release and put the first book down to 99c for 5 days. Also had a bookblast go out, paid for some advertising on Facebook and a couple of indie sites. 

Had my last release for a while, so I'm expecting a slow decline now.


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## dotx (Nov 4, 2010)

Just under 1800, but here's the part that matters: Last month, I sold 17 books. 

That's right. 17! 

I released my first full-length novel on June 23rd and around July 14th, sales exploded. So most of those 1800 sales happened between July 14th and today. Things are beginning to slow down, though. 

I guess this is proof of how quickly things can change and why you should keep writing!


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## Kwalker (Aug 23, 2012)

If this were a few months ago I'd be thrilled with this month's sales, but this is the first month since I made book 1 perma free that sales dropped instead of rising.

As of right now I've got 331 - I expect that will be closer to 340 by the end of the day, or at least I'm hoping so.

Last month was 500.

One interesting thing of note, it is only Amazon US and B&N that slowed for me. My Amazon UK sales held steady and my Apple sales went up - even my Kobo sales went up because 2 is more than zer0 =)


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## NicoleSwan (Oct 2, 2011)

Wait for it..... 7.  Still, there's always next month, and I've got a lot more promos planned.


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## Joseph Turkot (Nov 9, 2012)

297, which is down almost 100 from last month. Here's hoping the two new releases I have planned, my distribution change (now in all channels) and the bookbub ad I have get me some steam again.


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## Shaun4 (Jun 29, 2012)

Looks like 15 paid sales, 1 borrow. Although maybe when the next smashwords update happens I'll have a few more.


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## sarahdalton (Mar 15, 2011)

1503 at the last count. My best month yet thanks to a release and a 99c promo.


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## David Wisehart (Mar 2, 2010)

182 sales, 17 borrows.

Summer slump...

David


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## AriadneW (Feb 16, 2013)

I have to amend mine as I spoke too soon. After a big boost today I ended on 530 for the month.


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## JezStrider (Jun 19, 2012)

Somehow I caught the express train with Dotx and the sales of my new release took off around July 16. Ended up at 2200+, mostly from the new release.


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## Sophrosyne (Mar 27, 2011)

Calling all indie authors! Here's the form to be part of the July sales survey. The blog post with the results will go up on August 15th.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1MbKgFEz6d_or6t8us6yFqMGRDSRXEyBwhABRtVre6ls/viewform

The results will be up on http://yearoftheindie.blogspot.com/


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## portiadacosta (Feb 28, 2011)

Worst month since Dec 11, and I probably only had about half as many self published titles on sale then.

This July was 68% down on last July. 220 Amazon sales as opposed to 696 last year.


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## RedDust (Apr 4, 2013)

18 mainly due to our release of our new short story


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

256, of which 174 on Kobo, the rest spread over a bunch of other sites. I don't sell much on Amazon. I wish I knew why and what I could do about it. I've done the permafree thing. It helps a bit, but not much.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Geesh. Now I feel depressed, Maya. I thought my sales were OK, but looking at yours...


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## Maya Cross (May 28, 2012)

That's not the reaction I want to elicit 

I nearly didn't post them. I always feel a bit weird about it. But so many people make comments about how they find great sales figures inspiring, so I figured 'what the hell'.


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## dotx (Nov 4, 2010)

No, keep posting. Big numbers are great. At least for me, it means those kind of sales are possible and I should keep moving forward!


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## GWakeling (Mar 23, 2012)

Total summer slump of just 33. To be fair, I haven't put any new work out in a while, nor have I advertised for a few weeks, so I can't really expect much!


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## johnaburks (Jul 7, 2013)

dotx said:


> No, keep posting. Big numbers are great. At least for me, it means those kind of sales are possible and I should keep moving forward!


Absolutely agreed.


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## NicoleSwan (Oct 2, 2011)

Maya Cross said:


> That's not the reaction I want to elicit
> 
> I nearly didn't post them. I always feel a bit weird about it. But so many people make comments about how they find great sales figures inspiring, so I figured 'what the hell'.


Aaah, looking for a well elevated point here :\ Very frustrating. We're trying, we're trying really hard... hope that this month reaps some good fruit from the seeds sown last month.


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## Maya Cross (May 28, 2012)

Think I'll just delete them in this case. Sorry to people that like the inspiration. I know it helps me a ton. But I don't want to be responsible for making anyone feel depressed over their own sales.


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## KerryT2012 (Dec 18, 2012)

Maya Cross said:


> Think I'll just delete them in this case. Sorry to people that like the inspiration. I know it helps me a ton. But I don't want to be responsible for making anyone feel depressed over their own sales.


Oh no, why - wanted to know what it was? Love seeing your figures inspirational. BTW when is 3 coming out so I know when I have to read book 2 by?


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## Alex Jace (May 6, 2013)

I'm building my data set, so here goes!

July was my first full month of publishing. 69 paid sales between $2.99 and $9.99. That's 2.23 per day, up on my partial month of June, 26 sales at 1.3 per day. Average royalty on July sales was $2.48, boosted by sales of my $9.99 bundle.

I'm happy with sales so far. I'm hoping to release a short story a week throughout August, so we'll see what that does. Still working on getting my titles into the iBookstore and figuring out how on earth to make my first title free via Amazon.

Edit: Found a few more sales!


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

dotx said:


> Just under 1800, but here's the part that matters: Last month, I sold 17 books.
> 
> That's right. 17!
> 
> ...


Stories like this is what makes these threads so great. Well done!


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

Total: 2,136 (all bar around 150 are Amazon). 

Made around $3,300 so very happy. Income is pretty stable nearly 3 months out from my last release. But gotta get something new up soon to keep it going. Congrats to everyone.


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## dotx (Nov 4, 2010)

Maya Cross said:


> Think I'll just delete them in this case. Sorry to people that like the inspiration. I know it helps me a ton. But I don't want to be responsible for making anyone feel depressed over their own sales.


Maybe people who feel depressed by high numbers shouldn't be reading this thread?


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

Maya Cross said:


> Think I'll just delete them in this case. Sorry to people that like the inspiration. I know it helps me a ton. But I don't want to be responsible for making anyone feel depressed over their own sales.


Nooooooo don't delete! Big numbers on threads like this are what helped me make the decision to self-publish - especially watching people grow from nothing to making a living.


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## GWakeling (Mar 23, 2012)

Maya Cross said:


> Think I'll just delete them in this case. Sorry to people that like the inspiration. I know it helps me a ton. But I don't want to be responsible for making anyone feel depressed over their own sales.


Don't delete, Maya! You're an inspiration. It's good to see that people's numbers are all over the place, gives lower selling authors (like me) hope.


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

No, don't delete! I need something to aspire to to get me doing some work!


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## NicoleSwan (Oct 2, 2011)

Maya Cross said:


> Think I'll just delete them in this case. Sorry to people that like the inspiration. I know it helps me a ton. But I don't want to be responsible for making anyone feel depressed over their own sales.


Don't remove your posts. Yes, it's depressing to see so many others post vastly superior figures, but soon enough the bitterness of depression washes off and it's back to having something to forge towards.

I was only honest about how I was feeling because in the "real world" it gets a bit too much to constantly be smiling & positive when you're forever being asked by friends & family how that "writing gig" is working out, so KBoards is a bit of a "show my true instantanious feelings" place at times.


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## crashaddict (Mar 27, 2013)

Amazon US: 58
Amazon UK: 2
Amazon CA: 1
B&N: 1
CS: 2

For a total of *64!!* Almost double what I sold last month. And 251 total books sold so far since I started on April 24th. Happy with my results so far. My second book will be out next month so here's to looking up!


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## Magda Alexander (Aug 13, 2011)

Well, I just discovered from this thread, I needed to be looking at something else besides Amazon.com. To my very pleasant surprise, I discovered I had sales in the UK and Canada. So here are my totals:

USA = 95
UK = 25 (as of 7/27)
Canada = 2 (as of 7/27)

for a grand total of 122

Since I've only been published for 3 weeks, I consider this totally AWESOME!!!


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## O (Jul 15, 2013)

To restore karma, and balance out those who had fantastic sales in July ( congratulations!   ), and make anyone who didn't have fantastic sales feel better, I'll freely admit I had exactly one sale.

One.

*weeps softly*


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## Barbara Bartholomew (Nov 13, 2010)

718 sales and borrows, all Kindle. Most sales come from four time travel books.


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## S. Shine (Jan 14, 2013)

Ormolu said:


> To restore karma, and balance out those who had fantastic sales in July ( congratulations!  ), and make anyone who didn't have fantastic sales feel better, I'll freely admit I had exactly one sale.
> 
> One.
> 
> *weeps softly*


Ormolu, you just sold another one in August! Looking forward to reading it.  Have you considered writing a quick short with the main char and putting it on perma to draw attention to your main book? That might just work and get you the exposure you need. Good luck!


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## S. Shine (Jan 14, 2013)

First half of July sales were slow, a bit higher than June but I wasn't seeing the increase in sales that I saw over previous months. Then things picked up. Never expected it, but sold 684 + the ones via Smash that I can add later. 

So, daily averages are now: 

January: 0.71
February: 1.46
March: 2.12
April: 5.73
May: 11.87
June: 16.6
July: 22.06

Curious what August will bring.


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## TJHudson (Jul 9, 2012)

My best month ever - 126.


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## O (Jul 15, 2013)

S. Shine - Thank you!   (I always feel like a kid on Christmas morning every time! I hope you enjoy it.). And very many congrats on your increasing sales - long may they continue to grow 

(Edited to add - and thanks for the short story suggestion, I was working on my next (fictional) full-length murder, but a free short might be a quick way to get a bit of interest)


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## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

Jan - 570
Feb - 261 (?!)
Mar - 641
Apr - 533
May - 462
Jun - 757

.....

Jul - 2,438 (!)

Hope everyone has a great August!


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## S. Shine (Jan 14, 2013)

@Ormolu: You are most welcome. It sounds like an interesting read!  

Here's hoping for mucho sales in August!


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## ER Pierce (Jun 4, 2013)

Congrats to everyone. I try to take the stance of being happy that even one person bought my work. 

I was gone all of July on Mount Desert Island with the most shoddy internet and cellular service. I sold 36 books on Amazon. Definitely low for me, but once I'm back up promo'ing I hope to do better, and reach more. Every day I learn, and grow. I sold a couple over at Smashwords/B&N/Sony etc.


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## valeriec80 (Feb 24, 2011)

911.

But over 300 of those were a $.99 sale.


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## KerryT2012 (Dec 18, 2012)

The fourth and the worst month in self-publishing - approx. 100 - too depressed to count it.


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## Tim_A (May 25, 2013)

9. Didn't quite make double figures

Split: 
Amazon UK 5
Amazon US 2
Kobo 1
iBooks 1

That's one-fifth of what I sold in June.


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## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

Where's the August sales thread? Cause July sucked.


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## Maia Sepp Ross (May 10, 2013)

717 - most because of a 99 cent promo. Best month since Xmas, although it's been slow lately.


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## KMatthew (Mar 21, 2012)

I sold 2,707 books in July. About 200 more than last month. But still about 1,000 short of what I sold in May. I'm not complaining.


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## Sapphire (Apr 24, 2012)

scottmarlowe said:


> Where's the August sales thread? Cause July sucked.


I'm ready for August, too. But, to be honest, I was also happy to say goodbye to June.


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## Skye Hunter (Apr 30, 2013)

14 US
5 UK

Growth!

This was also a lazy month since I published nothing in about 1.5 months so good to see sales continue within a period of inactivity.


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## Michael Kingswood (Feb 18, 2011)

5

Holding steady.  

Got a (IMHO) kick-ass novel and a fun/quirky novella to release in August.  Might help.  Regardless, it's all about the long game, not immediate satisfaction, so


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