# The MAY sales thread



## 60865 (Jun 11, 2012)

Good morning brown bars  
With a perma free I hope it won't stay this way long.


----------



## kathrynoh (Oct 17, 2012)

By the time I checked after the month clicked over, I had one sale in the UK already


----------



## Kia Zi Shiru (Feb 7, 2011)

For the first time since December I had no sales in the UK last month (even though I had a release).

Hoping to make the first in my series free (at least for a while) this month I'm hoping my brown bars won't stay long.


----------



## KerryT2012 (Dec 18, 2012)

1 sale via Draft2Digital, please let this month be like March and better.
Both months start with the letter M, maybe that is the secret.
3rd month in publishing - this is hard work!


----------



## sarahdalton (Mar 15, 2011)

5 already!  

Had a release today so that's probably helped.


----------



## ChristopherDavidPetersen (Mar 24, 2011)

I've sold a bunch...

Someone even picked up every book I own  

Unfortunately, Amazon still hasn't published my latest: Prisoner in Time (sequel to Tear in Time)...  Grrrr. I was hoping it would be published on May 1st (fingers still crossed).


----------



## portiadacosta (Feb 28, 2011)

1 in US, 2 in UK so far. Everywhere else still brown bar...


----------



## Wansit (Sep 27, 2012)

I logged into my account at 9am this morning...saw no sales...thought 'Oh! I must be logged into my personal account..." Logged out and logged back in to my sales account..."What? No sales? Hmm maybe I got the email wrong again...I need coffee." Repeat Step 2 and looks around. "I'm going crazy..." Five minutes later... "OMG it's MAY duh!"

Now just waiting on the brown bars of doom to leave.


----------



## Duane Gundrum (Apr 5, 2011)

I had one sale this morning, so I never got to see the brown bar.


----------



## Redbloon (Mar 27, 2013)

1 sale on .com and 1 1* on the same site. That's it. It's going to be a long month.


----------



## Kwalker (Aug 23, 2012)

2 on .com and 1 on uk this morning!

And I have a Kboards promo today, so i'm expecting the month to start with a bang =)
Plus I have a new release later this month, so May should be good, I hope =)


----------



## Just Another Writer (Mar 14, 2013)

My Deliberate Mistake is running on its first free promo so I don't have to look at the brown bar this month!


----------



## Fictionista (Sep 14, 2012)

Three sold thus far.


----------



## 60865 (Jun 11, 2012)

One free upload, goodbye brown bar.
I cross my fingers for Nathalie, she should get started really nicely: 
I received an Amazon email suggesting her book "NightmarZ: Asylum (Z Series)"


----------



## NathanHaleJefferson (Apr 3, 2013)

ZERO but I will be releasing my first book in a few days; I can't wait to report back with REAL numbers..


----------



## Marti talbott (Apr 19, 2011)

36 permafree -8 sales in .com, 6 each permafree in UK and DE. Nothing in the rest of the countries.
0 Nook and 2 in Kobo.
I'm having new cover art made for my Highlander Series which should help this month, plus a new book coming out late May.


----------



## blakebooks (Mar 10, 2012)

I always hate the first. It's usually extremely light due to all the sales that occur after I hit the sack (that's code for pass out drunk) on the 30th, which would normally, in my spreadsheet, hit the next morning.

As it is, I've got couple hundred so far, with UK accounting for 75 of those, so can't moan too loudly. Nobody would care.

April surpassed my expectations, but I don't expect a replay with no new titles hitting this month, and the traditional start of the low season. Still, there's always hope, which is basically how I refer to my delusions...


----------



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

The brown bars of doom were gone when I awoke. It's a great day.


----------



## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

Lady_O said:


> One free upload, goodbye brown bar.
> I cross my fingers for Nathalie, she should get started really nicely:
> I received an Amazon email suggesting her book "NightmarZ: Asylum (Z Series)"


Hugs, you're a dear! <3

Sadly, I gave away maybe 10 books in UK with my permafree, and nothing much on the other Amazons!

You must have checked my book page recently, that's why it tries to trick you into buying it! RESIST! 

Soon, it will be free! SOON.


----------



## Guest (May 1, 2013)

Brown bars everyplace but US and UK -- 26 sales US, 6 UK. Nice little start!


----------



## Routhwick (Apr 1, 2012)

Milestone's coming eventually for _Gadsby_--U.S./India bar cleared > 1 hour ago!


----------



## Sharon Cummin (Mar 19, 2013)

I did not like seeing the brown bar. It just left and I am happy.


----------



## NathanHaleJefferson (Apr 3, 2013)

And a brown bar is?  No sales?


----------



## Duane Gundrum (Apr 5, 2011)

NathanHaleJefferson said:


> And a brown bar is? No sales?


Yeah, at the beginning of each month, your sales disappear and a brown bar appears until you sell something (or something is given away, like through select).


----------



## Diane Patterson (Jun 17, 2012)

So far in May I'm doing better in the UK than the US.   

I've also started getting borrows...just as I'm planning to leave Select!


----------



## Dee J. Stone (Jan 28, 2013)

Brown bar


----------



## RedDust (Apr 4, 2013)

Still Brown Bar...

We must work faster for to get our next story out!


----------



## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

Brown bar gone on .com. Hoping to have The Hall of the Wood with its spiffy new cover and editing out this month. I'm flying solo (one book) until then.


----------



## AriadneW (Feb 16, 2013)

21 so far with brown bars everywhere but .com, .uk and .ca but I've come to expect that! lol


----------



## Joseph Turkot (Nov 9, 2012)

4 sales so far today for May 1st. Have a promo running tomorrow with BookGorilla for my two free KDP days for Black Hull: Episode 1, so hopefully that makes some others start to download the series. Word of mouth snowball dreams, please come true.


----------



## Sapphire (Apr 24, 2012)

The brown bar on .com is gone. Hurray! This is the first time it disappeared on the first day of the month. Yes, I know, that's not much to be proud of (nor is ending a clause with a preposition), but it does represent progress. You say it's a marathon and not a sprint? I think it's more like the race between the tortoise and the hare, and I'm a very slow tortoise. Will the tortoise really win the race, or is that only in the fable?


----------



## Mike Dennis (Apr 26, 2010)

Still looking at all brown bars. This is spread over _*9*_ titles. My 5th consecutive day without a sale of any kind.


----------



## Error404 (Sep 6, 2012)

I've got a YA perma-free, so I didn't have to see the brown bar


----------



## TPiperbrook (Sep 1, 2012)

4 sales so far today, as well as some perma-free downloads.  No complaints!


----------



## Guest (May 1, 2013)

jasongurley said:


> Brown bars everyplace but US and UK -- 26 sales US, 6 UK. Nice little start!


Up to 69 sales for the day so far. BUT: two returns. On the first day of the month. Bah!


----------



## Dee J. Stone (Jan 28, 2013)

No more brown bar!!!


----------



## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

I just sold book #1,000 today! May 1st will be a special milestone day for me now!


----------



## H. S. St. Ours (Mar 24, 2012)

Broke the beige wall of shame on the first day! Only one of the books, but still, for me, that's great!


----------



## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Alan Petersen said:


> I just sold book #1,000 today! May 1st will be a special milestone day for me now!


That is a truly awesome milestone for everyone. Congrats and many more!


----------



## crashaddict (Mar 27, 2013)

Sold 2 so far today! Not a bad start to the month! Both in the US.


----------



## CarterAshby (May 1, 2013)

I'm new to this whole set up, as of April 15. So this morning I didn't have a brown bar because there were a few sales and borrows...but I sure freaked out when all my numbers from yesterday were different. Got my heart rate up real fast


----------



## crashaddict (Mar 27, 2013)

CarterAshby said:


> I'm new to this whole set up, as of April 15. So this morning I didn't have a brown bar because there were a few sales and borrows...but I sure freaked out when all my numbers from yesterday were different. Got my heart rate up real fast


Me too! I was like, "OH HECK NO AMAZON" then I was like, "Just kidding, it's May 1st"


----------



## Zachery Richardson (Jun 5, 2011)

I'm on 3 sales and 1 borrow so far. Today has been a very good day, especially considering my book hasn't been out for even a month yet. 13 sales in total, and 1,182 downloads thanks to my weekend Select promotion. Feelin' pretty good right now.


----------



## Adrian Howell (Feb 24, 2013)

One day in, two sales in. Hope to just keep plodding along...


----------



## bellabentley (Mar 25, 2013)

15! And 4 borrows. I'm feeling optimistic that this is going to be a great month. So thankful that perma free finally kicked in mid April. <3 Writing my dream/goal/wish sales numbers for this month on my mirror....best wishes everyone!


----------



## Just Browsing (Sep 26, 2012)

All fallen now except Brazil and Japan. 

Although I fear my one Canada sale might get returned later? Who'd buy Book 3 without buying Book 2? (And my Canada sales are so low, I know exactly how many Book 2's have sold.)


----------



## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

Quiss said:


> That is a truly awesome milestone for everyone. Congrats and many more!


Thanks! It's been a crazy day. ENT featured my book today and wow, do they have loyal subscribers.


----------



## trublue (Jul 7, 2012)

April I did half as much as I did in March.
It's still pretty good but I am glad it's a new month. 

I saw the brown bar and started to panic. Then I looked at my watch.
12:06 ! We were just 6 mins into the new month! So.need.to.get.a.grip.

Lol


----------



## Alexroddie (Oct 21, 2012)

Still the Poo Line of Shame for me...


----------



## JeanneM (Mar 21, 2011)

Alan Petersen said:


> I just sold book #1,000 today! May 1st will be a special milestone day for me now!


Congrats Alan  You must be so pumped. Here's to many more!


----------



## KellyHarper (Jul 29, 2012)

Happier about my word production this month than I am about sales. Sales are where I expect them to be right now (nearing 100), but I've managed to pump out 15,000 words so far this month and am about to do another mini session .

Trying to find enjoyment in the things I can control


----------



## 60865 (Jun 11, 2012)

Sapphire said:


> This is the first time it disappeared on the first day of the month. Yes, I know, that's not much to be proud of (nor is ending a clause with a preposition), but it does represent progress. You say it's a marathon and not a sprint? I think it's more like the race between the tortoise and the hare, and I'm a very slow tortoise. Will the tortoise really win the race, or is that only in the fable?


It was a first for me too, it vanished on the first day and I'm doing better than a sale a day since I have 10 sales already and today's the 6! Let's share a salad leaf at the tortoise bar.


----------



## sarahdalton (Mar 15, 2011)

Woah, up to 105 sales so far this month. I think I might be beating April so far.


----------



## 60865 (Jun 11, 2012)

sarahdalton said:


> Woah, up to 105 sales so far this month. I think I might be beating April so far.


Go go go ....


----------



## Joseph Turkot (Nov 9, 2012)

I'm up to 62--my top sales month is 300, so I'm on par to tie. Maybe I should do some advertising!


----------



## Barbara Bartholomew (Nov 13, 2010)

Exactly 100 right now.


----------



## Skye Hunter (Apr 30, 2013)

Just lost the brown bar today!


----------



## John Blackport (Jul 18, 2011)

Today, for the first time, I got sales consistent with someone buying *all three* books published so far in my series, as a group, on the same day.

I was checking sales so obsessively that that's probably what happened (somewhere in the UK).

I've been worried about whether the order of the series was clear enough --- a few months ago, sales of the second book have not only been behind those of the first book, but of the third as well


----------



## timskorn (Nov 7, 2012)

Good news: no more brown bar.

Bad news:  it was a refund!  

Ah well, all I can do is laugh especially since I've hardly received any refunds to date and now this one popped up.  It's been a bad month, but it ain't over yet!!


----------



## Zachery Richardson (Jun 5, 2011)

Just checked my sales for the last time tonight before heading to bed and lo and behold, they are now in the double digits. Not only that, but they have surpassed my total sales for April! Grand total: 11 sales and 4 borrows, just from .com. My total for all of April? 10 sales and 1 borrow.

Yeah, I'm in a good mood right now.


----------



## Fahid (Dec 23, 2012)

Sales are okay with me, BUT FREE just plain sucks (compare 2000 from last free few months back to around a 100), but I guess a lot has to do with Amazon's policies and websites changing and all that a few months back. This is why I'm doing The Dark Prince just for the 10th (today)...and wait next month maybe do another free day.


----------



## Joseph Turkot (Nov 9, 2012)

Up to 113 this morning.


----------



## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

I'm at 9 on Amazon and 4 on BN, all at $4.99 which I kinda like.


----------



## Guest (May 10, 2013)

I'm doing about 110 copies per day, and broke 1,000 yesterday evening. This is my best pace yet, and my fifth month selling. 

I'm really pleased to see an uptick in overseas markets, especially the UK, which has about 120 sales.


----------



## NathanHaleJefferson (Apr 3, 2013)

After accidentally going live with my book, I have my first sale ever!  

Too bad it was to myself.

Now I'm pumping my previous readers (story was previously posted on another forum) to review and get the word out, and have about a dozen pdf's out for review at blogs/websites and another dozen reviewers waiting on paperbacks.  

Timing is WAY off but I'm gonna make it work.


----------



## Routhwick (Apr 1, 2012)

The second U.S./India sale this month for my _Gadsby_ re-issue...has turned into that very milestone. After eight months, give it up for #100!


----------



## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Someone PULEEEZE tell me that May sales are crappy overall!  

I finally picked up a few more very nice reviews this month but saleswise this is the worst since I started this last fall. I'm at one third of my January sales and my ranks are plummeting.  

I have a 99-cent sale this weekend supported by a Bookbub ad but if this is indicative of overall sales rather than just my own, I might be spitting in the wind with that.


----------



## Nathalie Hamidi (Jul 9, 2011)

So far...

*Sales*
US 7 + UK 1 + FR 6 = 14 sales total

*Freebies*
US 655 + UK 87 + FR 8 + IT 4 = 754 freebies

Le sigh.


----------



## wolfrom (May 26, 2012)

May's been a trying month for me, but it's picked up a little this week. It's now tied with April for sales, but since five days of April were lost to a freebie promo of my novel (the big seller by way far), it could be considered my slowest month since the novel came out.

But that's to be expected, I imagine, considering both the time of year and the fact that the novel's been out since February.

I'm curious if anyone else has noticed an end of the month upswing in May, or if it's just me.


----------



## David Adams (Jan 2, 2012)

As of the 30th of May:

Amazon: 8908 free, 288 sales across all books + four borrows, at a mix of price points equalling about $475 in revenue.
Draft2Digital: 1123 free, 57 sales (49 at $4.99, split evenly between Apple and B&N).
Smashwords: 576 free, 14 sales (all at $4.99).

Total: 10,607 free, 359 sales giving approximately $670.25 in revenue.

Novels sent to the editor: 1
Novels re-edited: 1
New releases: 1

Bottom line: Much better than April.


----------



## Wansit (Sep 27, 2012)

Caveat - I released my second book in April & this book has gotten a much better reception than the first.

Answer - May has been my highest sales month & exceeded April. 

Question - Why can't I sell ANYTHING on Apple? Is my book in a dungeon somewhere?


----------



## wilsonharp (Jun 5, 2012)

May has been a bad month. But considering it is about twice as big as what a bad month would have been 6 months ago, I feel good that the floor is raising.

Amazon: 19 sales, $51 in revenue
Createspace: 6 sales, $16 in revenue
Smashwords: various, $34 in revenue

I also got an order last night from a Church for 10 of my Bible Stories for $10 each (a special deal I have for Churches on orders of 10 or more), so that was about another $50 in revenue.

June SHOULD be better. I have two big releases plus my first audiobook coming out in June.


----------



## ChristopherDavidPetersen (Mar 24, 2011)

I'm seeing a gradual slowdown this month. I guess the summer doldrums are here. My sales are now about twenty percent off from the beginning of the month.


----------



## sarahdalton (Mar 15, 2011)

Wow, May has been my best month ever! I'm hoping to hit 800 sales on the last day of the month  

The only other time I've sold this many was with my Bookbub advert, and I've since put the price back up to 2.99, so this is amazing for me! 

Unfortunately, all my sales are in the US and I've not sorted out my ITIN and W8-BEN yet, so that's buh-bye to 30% for now.


----------



## Guest (May 30, 2013)

May has bested April as my best sales month yet. I broke 3,000 sales last night. I attribute this to two things -- the popularity of WOOL (my best seller is WOOL fanfic), and a month-long across-the-board 99 cent price special. I suspect June will sell fewer books once my original works jump back to $2.99.


----------



## S. Shine (Jan 14, 2013)

May got me 331 sales so far. It should be higher as the update from Smash that I got stopped at the 22th of May.

So, that is *drum roll*

January a whopping 5!! And yeah, I was _over the moon_, I tell ya! lol

February 41!

March 62  I was dancing with Happy Feet. 

April 128 + 30 via Smash. I was already more than happy with 128, but when I got my Smash update this week, I was getting all misty eyed. lol

So, daily average - yeah, I like playing with numbers 

January 0.71

Feb 1.46

March 2

April 5.26

May 11.03


----------



## teashopgirl (Dec 8, 2011)

I'm around 460 sales and borrows across all channels. Not too shabby...I have POI to thank for unexpectedly featuring Notes to Self during the one promo I did in May.


----------



## Maya Cross (May 28, 2012)

Pretty crazy month for me. When I launched my first book in March, it did very well, but since it's the lead in, it's only priced at $0.99. The second book is $2.99, so I knew that was going to make or break the financial success of the series. I launched it about 10 days ago, and fortunately it didn't disappoint!

All the Amazons:

Locked (Book 1): 6608
Lockout (Book 2): 6953

B&N:

Locked (Book 1): 3451
Lockout (Book 2): 3911

Kobo:

Locked (Book 1): 53
Lockout (Book 2): 42

Apple (they haven't approved book two yet):

Locked (Book 1): 130

Totals:

Locked (Book 1): 10242
Lockout (Book 2): 10906

Or a little over 21,000 in total. It's a total WTF moment when you actually ad it all up like that.

Sales are starting to drop now. The second book had its launch peak and is starting to slide down. Both books were in the top one hundred on Amazon briefly the other day (peaking at #72 and #7, which was insane. But yeah, sales there over the last two days have been about half what they were the days before that, so I don't foresee repeating this, but I'll take it nonetheless =)


----------



## Zenferno (May 29, 2013)

This is my first full month selling on Kindle.  So far 67 copies sold (of 1 title) at $2.99.  I'm very happy making some pocket money doing something I love.  Especially since I'd never written any fiction before April.  I'm stepping up production now I've got over the insanity of checking stats every 5 seconds lol.


----------



## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

This is my best month ever, but I put that down to two things. A bookbub promo, and the fact the book is perma free.





EDIT: missed a word out Arghhh


----------



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

154 books sold with 24 hours to go! GRATEFUL!


----------



## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Just me, then?         

I've got a Bookbub promo starting tomorrow. If that doesn't pick up I will start rending my clothes and throw ashes in my hair. Or throw ashes on my clothes and rend my hair. It'll definitely involve tooth-gnashing.

Catalyst has not sold a copy in three days and that one gets at least one or two per day in a slow week. Something MUST be broken. I CANNOT be me! Woe upon Amazon! 
Anyone got a flatulent unicorn I can borrow?


----------



## Bec (Aug 24, 2012)

Quieter month for me. First month out of Select. Dropped off the 90 day cliff. Didn't do any promo. 
This is for my one and only 20k novella, priced at $2.99

Last month was 117 

This month: 
Amazons - 34 (.com - 25, .co.uk - 8, .ca - 1) 
Kobo - 2
Apple -3
Createspace - 1
B&N - 0 

I'm not too phased. Kind of disappointing to be (much) less than April, but I didn't do any promotion at all this month. You reap what you sow eh. I'm concentrating on getting more material out there now, this novella can just sit there and mind its own business until I have a few more up.


----------



## Ardin (Nov 1, 2012)

I'm looking at 169 for the month. Across two titles. Had a bit of promo which helped. I'm happy with that.


----------



## Robert A Michael (Apr 30, 2012)

Woeful month of sales.  22 total across 5 books.  No KOLL borrows.  5 days of free for MANIC MONDAY landed me 1,000 downloads with limited promotion (I spent like $10).  Good news? Landed 3 reviews for MANIC MONDAY and 1 review for Book 2.  Hoping for a good June.  I will release Book 3 and I enrolled CRY ME A RIVER in KDP and plan a free run in June sometime.


----------



## Kathy Clark Author (Dec 18, 2012)

Bittersweet or marketing? Like a bad fairway shot that falls short of the water hazard rather than land on the green? "I planned the lay-up." Oh...this about writing?


25 titles active
3,300 total books [Meaning bought, borrowed and given away
About 660 were bought & some borrowed

Running weekly back list weekend giveaways for promotion. June is about pushing the CUL8R Time Travel Mystery series because book #3, BION [Believe It Or Not] comes out in early July. Better get planning the launch.


----------



## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

Here's my stats for May:

Amazon: 4 borrows/1650 free downloads for Times of Turmoil,  and 137 sales for all of my novels just on US & UK
Nook: 44
Apple: 18
Kobo: 5
Createspace: 3


----------



## otterific (Jan 31, 2012)

This has been my worst sales month in over a year. I had a ENT bargain book day as my one promo this month which helped a little, but my books suddenly became invisible this month. Hoping for a better June with a new release.


----------



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

I'm currently at 2450 or so for the month. Down by nearly 1000 on Amazon from April. Yay for other stores!

Amazon - 1701
BN - 585
Kobo - 162

Apple probably isn't worth tallying. I'm in the Apple-dungeon, too. ;P


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

My stats for May are:

Borrows - 59
Amazon - 416
Amazon.co.uk - 12
Amazon.de - 1
Amazon.fr - 1
Amazon.it - 1
Amazon.ca - 1

Total - 491

And there's still today and tomorrow left. My sales have been rough this week, so I'm hoping to break 500. I think that's doable. I've been averaging about 10 sales a day this week. This has been my best month ever, and I hope the trend continues.


----------



## Guest (May 30, 2013)

~250 on Amazon US, 15 on Amazon UK, and enough on the other venues to probably bring it up to 300 or so.  Not bad!

Sales really picked up in the last half of the month; I'm selling maybe 15 to 25 books per day now across all venues.  If this keeps up, with new releases boosting sales accordingly, then maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to go full-time before the end of the year.


----------



## tensen (May 17, 2011)

Wansit said:


> Question - Why can't I sell ANYTHING on Apple? Is my book in a dungeon somewhere?


Apple is slow but I haven't noticed it being the sort of oubliette that Sony is.


----------



## Lyle S Tanner (Apr 5, 2013)

This month the numbers were:

Amazon: 1
Smashwords: 1
Everything else: 0

I am clearly doing something wrong here.


----------



## Marti talbott (Apr 19, 2011)

My sales are down from April, although I published a new book. I'm down about 100 books. So sad.

25 books @ $4.99

Amazon
4698 permafree (1st book in series)
1583 sales 
UK 61
DE 10
FR 3
CA 9

B&N
117 sales - I moved first book to $.99 because it wasn't showing up on the free list. I think it helped. Maybe not.

Kobo
31 sales

D2D
10 sales - in the process of switching from SW, but Apple has not yet approved all but 2 of them. Panic, losing money, losing money...panic...Ok, I'll get a grip.


----------



## 60865 (Jun 11, 2012)

Amazon US 35 sales ... 526 given away.
Amazon UK 2 sales ... 61 given away
Nook 4 sales
Apple 1 (the first, yeah)
Kobo 0 sales
Amazon CA ...4 give away ... same than last month. Boy, I'm out of luck with Canada they don't even want what I give away!
ARE zero
Smashword - 161 give away 

Wow I passed 40 that's more than one a day but of course it won't last and ... I would not belong to a club that would have me as a member.
Someone please slap me


----------



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

Joe Vasicek said:


> ~250 on Amazon US, 15 on Amazon UK, and enough on the other venues to probably bring it up to 300 or so. Not bad!
> 
> Sales really picked up in the last half of the month; I'm selling maybe 15 to 25 books per day now across all venues. If this keeps up, with new releases boosting sales accordingly, then maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to go full-time before the end of the year.


Congrats man, I love to see numbers building like this.


----------



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

May has been good to me. Dare I hope June will continue in the same vein or will the summer doldrums set in? Most of my sales are at $2.99 but I'm contemplating bumping my prices up a dollar. If only I weren't so chicken... 

Amazon - 3129
B&N - 29
Kobo - 14
CreateSpace - 18
Smashwords/Other - Unknown 
Freebies - under 15,000


----------



## David Adams (Jan 2, 2012)

Joe Vasicek said:


> ~250 on Amazon US, 15 on Amazon UK, and enough on the other venues to probably bring it up to 300 or so. Not bad!
> 
> Sales really picked up in the last half of the month; I'm selling maybe 15 to 25 books per day now across all venues. If this keeps up, with new releases boosting sales accordingly, then maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to go full-time before the end of the year.


Damn man, that's a nice result!

It might have been the categories shakeup sci-fi got? I noticed it's really helped my own sales.


----------



## Guest (May 30, 2013)

Lyle S Tanner said:


> This month the numbers were:
> 
> Amazon: 1
> Smashwords: 1
> ...


Nah, that's always how it is in the beginning.



David Adams said:


> d*mn man, that's a nice result!
> 
> It might have been the categories shakeup sci-fi got? I noticed it's really helped my own sales.


Yeah, I think that's had something to do with it. One of my perma-free titles has been in the top 20 of science fiction > space opera and romance > science fiction since the change, and I've definitely seen a big increase in the number of downloads (about 40-60 per day).


----------



## Guest (May 30, 2013)

Edward W. Robertson said:


> Congrats man, I love to see numbers building like this.


Thanks! Though now that I've said something, sales will probably collapse in a day or two.


----------



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

Lyle S Tanner said:


> I am clearly doing something wrong here.


Not necessarily. For perspective here are my lowest selling titles this month:

The Magic Touch - 2
Love by the Book - 2
Dreamer's Journey - 2

You never know which books will take off and which will sell in trickles so you maximize your chances by putting out a lot of material. The bulk of my sales come from one series, while I get decent sales on another series and almost no sales on my miscellaneous (non-series) titles, like those above.


----------



## NathanHaleJefferson (Apr 3, 2013)

Alright, close enough to the end of the month for me to post up results.  

Across everything 411 sales with 5 returns.  Not too bad, only a few more and I'll break even! Woot!  Sales spiked last Wed/Thursday to almost 100 a day for those two days but have fallen back to a much lower rate, I think I started showing up on "also boughts" but that bump seems to have mostly gone away.

I do have two podcast interviews lined up for next week and a few other promotions so I'm looking forward to next month.  (And I'm working on a super secret collaboration with a handful of other authors so I can try to steal some of their fame! *Maniacal Cackle*)


----------



## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

About 1,100, give or take a dozen, through Amazon. For the first time in a long time, Nook has not been good to me. As for the other sites, I don't know exact numbers, but my Smashwords account balance is looking better mid-quarter than it has in a long time.


----------



## Sapphire (Apr 24, 2012)

May has been my worse month since I published the end of October. 
Paperback should be for sale on .com in about a week. I don't know if that will help. I'm planning on publishing first sequel in July. My original date was June, but that's not going to happen. I have a lot of writing to do before edits and proofs.
I know: Write more, write more, then write some more.


----------



## SVD (Jan 15, 2013)

I'm a little late to the game. I published 05/23/13.

Amazon.com-14
Amazon.co.uk-1 

Total: 15

I'm just glad it sold any at all.


----------



## dalya (Jul 26, 2011)

So far, 12,652 books for May. I also spent $2k on advertising, mostly Facebook, plus some giveaways. And I've just crossed the one-million-words mark. I have no life besides this. So, that's what it takes, more or less. YMMV.


----------



## AriadneW (Feb 16, 2013)

As of right now 519 which was down on April but still awesome.  Working on a June release but we'll see how that goes.


----------



## 13893 (Apr 29, 2010)

Dalya said:


> So far, 12,652 books for May. I also spent $2k on advertising, mostly Facebook, plus some giveaways. And I've just crossed the one-million-words mark. I have no life besides this. So, that's what it takes, more or less. YMMV.


wonderful! I'm reading For You right now and enjoying it very much.

ETA: 

Amazon 1073 total books
B&N 392 total books

I've never had a really great month. But I keep swimming ...


----------



## Routhwick (Apr 1, 2012)

The situation on my dashboard's decidedly improved:

*U.S/India*
12 (_Gadsby_)
1 (_Reconstruction_)
1 (_Wonderful Fairies_)

*UK*
4 (_Gadsby_)
2 (_Recluse_)

If all goes well, I'll hit the $100 royalty threshold in two months' time! Given how summer sales are for some, on the other hand...


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

Dalya said:


> So far, 12,652 books for May. I also spent $2k on advertising, mostly Facebook, plus some giveaways. And I've just crossed the one-million-words mark. I have no life besides this. So, that's what it takes, more or less. YMMV.


Good Jesus! Congrats!


----------



## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Sometimes ya gotta laugh to keep from weeping like a toddler.

I just set my price to 99 cents in anticipation of tomorrow's Bookbub special.
Now on top of having had a cruddy month of sales, someone grabbed a 99-center and then returned it.  So far, I was rather pleased with my very low return rate! May this May end already!


----------



## Barbara Bartholomew (Nov 13, 2010)

701 sales and borrows, all Amazon.


----------



## dotx (Nov 4, 2010)

Quiss said:


> Sometimes ya gotta laugh to keep from weeping like a toddler.
> 
> I just set my price to 99 cents in anticipation of tomorrow's Bookbub special.
> Now on top of having had a cruddy month of sales, someone grabbed a 99-center and then returned it. So far, I was rather pleased with my very low return rate! May this May end already!


I think I can help. May 2013 was my second worst month since I started publishing in March 2012. March 2013 was the worst. So yeah, not happy.

I have my first full-length novel coming out in June, so I'm hoping that will help.


----------



## Fast Typist (May 9, 2013)

499 so far for Amazon.  Any month that makes over $1000 is a good month.


----------



## the quiet one (Aug 13, 2012)

May will probably end at around 475 sales, with ~60 on BN and the rest on Amazon. April had a new release and two very productive ads, so a big drop was expected.  Daily sales slowed throughout the month, with the most noticeable drop mid-month when the category changes rolled out. Curious to see what June will bring.


----------



## Guest (May 31, 2013)

1,173 sales and 98 borrows, all on Amazon. Plus 16,196 free copies on Amazon. When I add them all up, it seems like I really should be selling more... 

Time to tweak the blurbs and covers.


----------



## Joseph Turkot (Nov 9, 2012)

Up to 316 with one more day to go. All Amazon sales.


----------



## 60169 (May 18, 2012)

Kind of a "meh" sort of a month for me. Only one full-length title that's been out 8 months now. No promos in May, and just a little bit of goodness from an April free run to provide juice.

456 sales/borrows for the month, all at $4.99.

Now, I just have to find a way to sell a few in June, then hope that the companion piece to the first book will pitch in and help with July.


----------



## Cheryl Douglas (Dec 7, 2011)

14,501, so far...


----------



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

Cheryl Douglas said:


> 14,501, so far...


----------



## Josh Handrich (Jul 8, 2011)

Zero. Zilch. Nada. Big brown bar of shame. No sales in 1 1/2 months. I've made more money writing three pages for my union than all of my books sales. Can you sense my lack of motivation? I've done giveaways and promotions but still no feedback. Bloggers don't return emails.


----------



## Lyndawrites (Aug 7, 2011)

May sales were pretty good for me at about 1 a day/every other day and it was shaping up to be my best month ever - until the 27th when they stopped completely.  

I have an adult series of 3 books and a MG series of 2 (which sells poorly and I do nothing to promote)

US sales: 22 plus 2 borrows
UK sales: 45 no borrows 3 sales of MG books.

Disappointing - and no book due out for another 2 months *sigh*


----------



## Joe_Nobody (Oct 23, 2012)

As I write this, there's still one more day, but we've already booked enough to know this was our absolute best month ever.

We broke shattered every previous sales mark on all sites... Amazon, B&N, KOBO and iTunes.

Massive (beat the previous best month by 24% so far) increase in sales and other than a new release (which I know helped a bunch), I can't tell you why. No special deals, ads or promotions.

I'm so looking forward to June... I have another new release and about 10 marketing campaigns kicking off.


----------



## jnfr (Mar 26, 2011)

Josh Handrich said:


> Zero. Zilch. Nada. Big brown bar of shame. No sales in 1 1/2 months. I've made more money writing three pages for my union than all of my books sales. Can you sense my lack of motivation? I've done giveaways and promotions but still no feedback. Bloggers don't return emails.


Hang in there, Josh. Marathon, not a sprint. And all that crap. /sigh


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

There's one more day to go and I'm now up to 499 total sales / borrows. I'm praying tomorrow is a decent day.


----------



## sarahdalton (Mar 15, 2011)

Yay, made it to 824 (almost doubled last months effort!). Now, I wonder if I can get up early enough tomorrow (UK time here) to see the end result before it switches over to June.


----------



## KerryT2012 (Dec 18, 2012)

Stopped counting this month has been too painful. Approx. 100, which is normally what I have been selling per week when I started back in March.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I'm dreading the BBoS. I have no less than 24 lines of sales/freebies on my KDP report. All of a sudden they will go POOF and I start with an ugly brown bar.


----------



## WG McCabe (Oct 13, 2012)

One...two...two sales! Ah-ah-ah!!!


----------



## MegHarris (Mar 4, 2010)

May did not totally suck, but it wasn't as good as April. But since I had a Bookbub ad last month, I hardly expected it to. 

Amazon: 1415
Amazon UK: 191
B&N: 736
ARe: 137

My better Amazon sales were driven by continued sales of the book that was featured on Bookbub, as well as one permafree that moved over 10,000 copies this month, leading to improved sales of its two sequels. (I had another permafree that gave away all of 240 copies. Permafree seems to be a very hit-or-miss kind of thing.) I had a new title out, but so far it's not selling much. I'm thinking of making the first book in that series permafree and seeing if it's a 10K or 200 units kind of book. 

Also, I tallied up my earnings through June and discovered that I am on track to earn only slightly less than last year. My earnings are fairly steady, but I admit I'd like to see them go through the roof, because the college tuition is killing me. I'll keep working at it!


----------



## bellabentley (Mar 25, 2013)

I am extremely excited about this month!   First, it was my highest month under Bella Bentley ever. One reason is because my Perma-free set in mid April last month for my 1st book in a currently 6 book series all priced at $2.99. The first four books bundled at $6.33. It has been really exciting! 

She sold 611 books (14 books are for sale) breaking down to:
Amazon US 266
Amazon UK 217
Amazon CA 86
Kobo 25
B&N 14
AR 3

Total 611
Estimated royalty form Amazon alone—$1,470  (123 sold at the $6.33 price)

My other pen name I write under is light hearted romantic comedy. 2 novels are released under that name and there were 126 sales and 103 borrows with projected $$ of $469

Total 737 over all pennames and a projected royalty of $1,939!

This thrills me because for the past year of 2012 through this past month, I've averaged $800-$1,100 a month. I had two goals this year, 1 was to earn enough to surpass 3k a month between all my pen names and then earn upwards to another amount which maybe I'll mention soon. I'm just over the moon this month and want to encourage others. I know this $$ amount isn't as high as some, but it can be a life changing income addition to a household. I've been at it since August 2011.

I'm looking forward to higher numbers next month with a series that I'm hoping the first will be matched on Amazon as Perma-Free and I'm wrapping up one of my series which will put the books at 8 in the series.

Also, something real fast, I hardly have any books (these are short stories, & novelettes 6-12k) at .99. They are all at 2.99 and higher unless it's the first in the series and those are priced at .99 and are waiting to me matched for perm free. I find that perma free really does work wonders! (when you have series) Congrats everyone! <3


----------



## Aducknamedjoe (Apr 25, 2013)

14!

Certainly not as high as most others here, but this is my first month, with only 1 story out (after months of lurking) so it's exciting to me.


----------



## Shaun4 (Jun 29, 2012)

My best month ever for sales numbers was last May, which had 65 sales on a single $.99 title.
Compared to this May, total sales are down to 32 paid sales.

But, this is still cool news since basically every title had a sale, and most are at $2.99 or higher.With borrows, I basically _made 4 times more money _than this same month a year ago.


----------



## Skye Hunter (Apr 30, 2013)

I'm at 8 copies in the US with another in the UK!

There's also about that amount via the other websites.


----------



## trublue (Jul 7, 2012)

Much better than March. I'm at 4 k sales (almost)
But I am 25k downloads of the free book in the series.
Here's hoping they all come back for book 2!


----------



## portiadacosta (Feb 28, 2011)

Yowsah and congrats to everybody who's had a good month!

Not good here. Down again.


----------



## ChrisWard (Mar 10, 2012)

Right now 221, 210 in the USA, 10 in the UK and one in France (my dad's girlfriend!).

Second best month after 354 in April (on Amazon, not entirely sure how many elsewhere thanks to Smashwords's random reporting), which included an underperforming Bookbub. Most of my sales seem to come from bargain book promos (one through KNT and another that was just posted yesterday on ENT), which while obviously better than free is still a concern. I'm really not selling many full priced books. Still, July should hopefully see the release of the second in my Tube Riders series, which I'm going to stick at 4 or 5.99 and then hammer the bargain book promos for book 1. Hopefully I'll at least get a couple of takers, but I seem to be sitting at around $100 - $150 a month which is barely covering my ads/production expenses and putting in roughly three hours a day after the day job I'd like to start seeing some decent returns. Still, May last year was the worst full month of my career to-date with a massive 6 sales, so I guess I could say I'm moving in the right direction ...


----------



## blakebooks (Mar 10, 2012)

Looks like just a hair over 23K in all markets. 

Can't complain about that a bit. Although after April's huge sales, I knew May would be lower. The good news is that's about triple what it was last May. All I can do is pray that continues. And of course, write and release more books...


----------



## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

I sold 68 books in May 2013.
I sold 65 books in all of 2012, so I guess it was a good month.


----------



## 16205 (Jun 8, 2010)

39,306 as of this morning (not counting SW or print books).


----------



## blakebooks (Mar 10, 2012)

Wow, Danielle, I need to switch genres, and quick! That's awesome!!!


----------



## Jay Allan (Aug 20, 2012)

Looks like just over 16,000, plus whatever Apple turns out to be.


----------



## 16205 (Jun 8, 2010)

lol, thanks Russell!  'a hair over 23k' is also fantastic. Like you, I pray the streak continues.


----------



## S. Shine (Jan 14, 2013)

And here I am with 364 so far. lol 

Still, I'm happy as punch.


----------



## Nick Endi Webb (Mar 25, 2012)

38 sales/borrows. Biggest month so far. I haven't started any serious promoting yet--waiting until the second book in the series is out in June. Most of the sales came as a result of a just-for-the-heck-of-it free run that only netted about 600 downloads, but led to about 3 sales/day for about a week and a half.


----------



## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

It looks like the end of the month is finally here. I managed to get 505 sales and borrows for this month, not counting Smashwords. I can safely say it was my best month yet. Heck, I did close to that number for the entire year of 2012. Well, half of 2012. I began self-publishing in July.


----------



## ElisaBlaisdell (Jun 3, 2012)

I held out to the last minute, hoping for just one more sale. Alas, it was not to be.

I published my first book on May 8th, and sold 16 copies, one of which was returned. Subtract the one that I bought, and that's a total of 14, 12 in Amazon.com, and 2 in the UK. I specially cherish those UK sales, because I know that they couldn't have been friends or family.

So, it's my best month ever.  Bring on June!


----------



## momilp (Jan 11, 2010)

Partially thanks to BookBlast and a new release, I sold 52 books. Best month ever


----------



## LG Castillo (Jun 28, 2012)

Yay, I can finally participate on this thread. Total books sold for May across all outlets is 1136.


----------



## KC75 (Jun 24, 2011)

233 on Amazon for me and 200 of them were Cruxim. And about 1500 free downloads of others. I haven't bothered tallying up the other channels yet because ... depressing.


----------



## GWakeling (Mar 23, 2012)

Dalya said:
 

> So far, 12,652 books for May. I also spent $2k on advertising, mostly Facebook, plus some giveaways. And I've just crossed the one-million-words mark. I have no life besides this. So, that's what it takes, more or less. YMMV.


Wow, that's amazing. Go Dalya!! I'm still bumbling along trying to get noticed with a mere 56 sales in May. Still, I'm happy with that, at least I'm selling!


----------



## sarahdalton (Mar 15, 2011)

846 overall. Really good month for me!


----------



## Maya Cross (May 28, 2012)

sarahdalton said:


> 846 overall. Really good month for me!


Congrats to everyone! Incidentally, I totally dig your covers Sarah. The premise sounds cool too. One day I'll have enough time to read all the stuff on here I want to read!


----------



## KerryT2012 (Dec 18, 2012)

blakebooks said:


> Wow, Danielle, I need to switch genres, and quick! That's awesome!!!


Seriously, you sold 16k less and you need to sell in a different genre!


----------



## S. Shine (Jan 14, 2013)

Ok, final tally is in and wow, 364 so far. I know, peanuts to many, but a lot to me.  Plus, once I get the smash update for May in, it might receive a little boost. 

So, that's a daily average of 11.74.   Hoping I can best that in June! Woke up after a night of writing, and already had 4 sales on uk. Happy happy happy.


----------



## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Whew, thanks to a Bookbub ad, this is no longer my worst month ever 

This is a yay-moment:


----------



## vrabinec (May 19, 2011)

Way to go!


----------



## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

Quiss said:


> Whew, thanks to a Bookbub ad, this is no longer my worst month ever
> 
> This is a yay-moment:


Well done!


----------



## Kwalker (Aug 23, 2012)

I have one title at 99 cents, one perma free, and two at 3.99 (one of which released the last week of this month)
I sold:

241 on Amazon (that includes 6 on .Ca and 35 on .uk)

15 on Nook

4 on Apple

3 Smashwords

0 on Kobo

263  Books sold  - I expect Revenue to be in the neighborhood of $519 for my best month ever.


----------



## Adrian Howell (Feb 24, 2013)

2012 Dec: 6
2013 Jan: 38
2013 Feb: 168
2013 Mar: 190
2013 Apr: 224
*2013 May: 135*

This month was my first _decrease _ in sales since I began publishing. I attribute it to letting my books leave KDP Select for a while, causing me to lose visibility on the Lending Library. Now that I'm back in, my pace is recovering, and I hope to see better numbers next month.

I least I'm still plodding along...


----------



## S. Shine (Jan 14, 2013)

Quiss said:


> Whew, thanks to a Bookbub ad, this is no longer my worst month ever
> 
> This is a yay-moment:


WOW! AWESOME!


----------



## valeriec80 (Feb 24, 2011)

978.

And 400 of those are $.99 books from a bookbub ad. 

Not my best month but not my worst either. I shall keep on keeping on.


----------



## Error404 (Sep 6, 2012)

This is across all my sites:

Final count: 479
Final $$: $705.01 (US)

My best month yet.  I jumped from making $139 in April to $705 in May


----------



## crashaddict (Mar 27, 2013)

Had an awesome month! Basically sold 2.5 books a day and since May was my first full month, I'd call that a win!!

Total Sales: *80*

36 US Kindle
38 CreateSpace Paperback
1 UK Kindle
2 iBook Sales
3 Nook Sales
0 Kobo Sales


----------



## Joe_Nobody (Oct 23, 2012)

I spent a little time scrolling through this thread and I just have to say I'm proud to be even loosely associated with you folks.

I see gains by so many "veterans," and initial success by new authors.

Some of these numbers just simply blow me away, and that is a positive thing. We can all benefit from knowing that brass ring still exists... that there is another level above where we are at. Most importantly, it's achievable.

Now I'm with Mr. Blake... wondering if I shouldn't be writing romance. Can crusty old soldiers do that? Never mind - don't answer that.


----------



## Lisa Grace (Jul 3, 2011)

Joe_Nobody said:


> I spent a little time scrolling through this thread and I just have to say I'm proud to be even loosely associated with you folks.
> 
> I see gains by so many "veterans," and initial success by new authors.
> 
> ...


Joe Nobody - yes, they-should .

In _The 15th Star_ I get reader mail asking more about a secondary character who only appears in the last half of the book, a retired military man and his cronies, who step into help save the heroine. People are saying he's their favorite, so he'll be much more prominent in the second book in the series, and I may eventually have to do a spin off. Boomer fiction (especially romance) is taking off. And yes, he'll have a love interest in the second book.


----------



## Laura Lond (Nov 6, 2010)

94 on Amazon US
14 on Amazon UK
1 on Amazon France (Yey! My first!) 
3 on Createspace
26 on B&N

I don't keep a good track of sales through Smashwords, but there were some there, too. Overall, not a good month, but hey, it's better than nothing.


----------



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

MAY TOTAL: 157 sold across US, UK, France & Canada! GRATEFUL!!!


----------



## Zachery Richardson (Jun 5, 2011)

Final Tally for May: 22 sales, 6 borrows. Pennies to many, but that's still double what I pulled in last month. 

June will be the interesting month, as far as I'm concerned, because I've got a bunch of promotions lined up. So I'm both nervous and excited to see what the numbers will be like this month. Is it too much to hope that I double my sales again?


----------



## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

Record month: 3,600 sales/$7500. 

Bouncing off the walls...


----------



## Lyndawrites (Aug 7, 2011)

dgaughran said:


> Record month: 3,600 sales/$7500.
> 
> Bouncing off the walls...


Well done, David! Guess you got visible, huh?


----------



## sarahdalton (Mar 15, 2011)

Maya Cross said:


> Congrats to everyone! Incidentally, I totally dig your covers Sarah. The premise sounds cool too. One day I'll have enough time to read all the stuff on here I want to read!


Thank you! I've always admired your covers too


----------



## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

Lyndawrites said:


> Well done, David! Guess you got visible, huh?


Heh. Yeah. The launch couldn't have gone better really. I ran a 99c sale on Digital at the same time and that got picked up by POI, and then I had a BookBub on Digital a couple of days ago which did well too.


----------



## cdvsmx5 (May 23, 2012)

Danielle Bourdon said:


> 39,306 as of this morning (not counting SW or print books).


Well done! All talent, I say.


----------



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

Danielle Bourdon said:


> 39,306 as of this morning (not counting SW or print books).


I swooned when I read this one. Major congrats 

For me, a bit over 4600. I looked at the sales report from May of 2012 and saw I'd sold 1 copy of Noble Intentions Episode 1 a year ago. What a ride the past 12 months has been.


----------



## Sophrosyne (Mar 27, 2011)

It's been nine months since the last time there was a Top 100 Indie Authors List. So, I'm starting it up again myself. Even though it's probably totally crazy to take on the extra work. But I loved that list. I thought it was inspiring, and I loved it when I made it on the list.

So, here goes. I'm going to try combing through this list for May Sales Numbers, or you can send me a PM or an email ([email protected]) with as much of the following info as you feel comfortable with, and I'll post a Top 100 Indie List on my blog:

Your Name
Number of Titles for Sale
Total Number of Sales for the month (including borrows but not freeloads)
Title, Genre and Price of Your Best-Selling Book, along with a link
Also, let me know if you want your numbers to be public or private

Maybe we can make this list not only a source of pride and inspirational for fellow indies, but also a sales tool for readers who are looking for their next book.

Thanks! I'm going to put up whatever info I have for May, and I'll re-post this in the June thread as well.


----------

