More Sales Numbers for the Curious

These sales numbers are from 5/1/11 thru 5/18/11. A total of 18 days.


A Knight in Central Park, time-travel romance (released on 3/18/11 and offered at $.99)

Amazon:    2,662
B&N:             187

Return of the Rose, time-travel romance (released on 3/2/11 and offered at $2.99)

Amazon:     854
B&N:             51

Taming Mad Max, romantic comedy (released on 4/25/11 and offered at $2.99)

Amazon:      93
B&N:              8

Finding Kate Huntley, romantic suspense (released on 5/6/11 and offered at $2.99) 12 days for FKH.

Amazon:     60
B&N:             2

The reason I think these numbers might be helpful to other writers is because we can all get a snapshot picture of what's happening in self-publishing as more people buy Ereaders. I have never changed the prices of my books because I want to see what happens with the $.99 vs. $2.99 pricing and because I feel that $2.99 is a fair price for all (I know I'm repeating myself.)

Will my newer books slowly rise or slowly drop? How about the time travels? Do time travel romances have a built-in fan base? Do people read more in May or more in October? So many questions. I could go on and on.

In April, 2011, I sold 5,431 of the $.99 book at Amazon. If I double the number above (2,662) by the end of May, I will be close to the 5,431 books I sold in April. If that number keeps up or even rises in the next few months, I am going to assume lots of people are buying kindles and they all like romantic time travels. :)

Truthfully, I have no idea what to do with all these numbers, other than share than with all of you. In a few months, after I release my other books, I might be able to do some concrete analyzing. Believe it or not I am writing and editing more than I am blogging or checking numbers.

I try to spend about 15 minutes a day looking at tweets, another 15 minutes looking over interesting sites or blogs. I probably spend an hour a day over here and I check my sales numbers a few times a day. I'm getting better about that. Checking numbers gets less addicting as time goes by because I'd rather write books than check #'s. I spend a minimum of five hours a day writing.

Disclaimer: I am not promoting self-publishing over any other kind of publishing. If you self-publish your book, I have no idea if you will sell 1 book or 20,000 books. Nobody knows. Self-publishing a book ten years ago or even one year ago is not the same as self-publishing a book today. Writers now have one more option to choose from when thinking about publishing their book(s).

Any questions?

Talking Money - Part I

I thought I was pretty good at numbers…until today.  Since I haven’t received any $ from Amazon or B&N yet…I thought I’d go ahead and share more numbers…and $ amounts!

Return of the Rose is selling for $2.99. March 2, 2011 to  April 30th I have sold approximately 1,010 books at Amazon and 171 books at B&N.

A Knight in Central Park is selling for $.99. March 18, 2011 to  April 30th I have sold 5,610 books at Amazon and 685 books at B&N.

The reports you get from B&N are straightforward, easy to figure out. Sold X #of books in March and you get this much $. You can see how many of each book you sold on a given day.

The reports you get from Amazon aren’t as easy to figure out. It can be done (I think) but since I am throwing this together, I already have a headache and the numbers are accumulative. For example, I can’t see how many books I sold on April 2nd at Amazon. The only reason I have an idea is because I was keeping my own records every day. So, if I had sold 26 books one day…and the next day the numbers for a particular book showed 35 books, I knew that I had sold 9 books so far that day. See! It’s sort of a pain in the butt. But I’m not complaining! No way!  Go, Amazon!

Okay, now the good stuff. For March and April I am expecting to receive…for two books.

B&N:               $   621.60

Amazon:         $4,310.72

Not bad. I’m pretty sure that’s more than I would have been paid in advance money from many traditional/legacy publishers.  Yes, I realize some of the big guys get much more than that…but hey, I’ve been writing for a while now and I’m a happy gal. Besides, give me until the end of the year.  I’ve got some more great books coming next week!

Okay, once I know how the payment thing works, I’ll be posting again! If you have any questions, you know where to find me.

Next Week I'm Talking Money

I've said it once and I'll say it twice, I write romance novels because I want to entertain people. For 19 years I have been writing almost every day, determined to get my books out there for readers to enjoy. I have never received a dime for my efforts.

My point is...this really isn't about money. BUT, this is about informing writers of their options and earning potential. Becoming an independent author and actually earning some $ will give me the opportunity to relax, knowing I just might be able to stay home full time and write more novels. When I started writing all those years ago, I remember thinking I wanted to teach my kids that determination, perseverance, and hard work pays off. Then I wasn't selling and I was beginning to think I was wrong about hard work and passion being the magic combination to making dreams come true.

But now...I'm thinking it was all worth it. Hard work and perseverance really has paid off and in ways I never imagined. When I released my medieval time travels on Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords, I was hoping to sell ten books. I've sold thousands and I'm getting email from wonderful kind-hearted readers who are taking the time to tell me they loved my stories.

So, now I'm going to share my paycheck with you. Okay, that doesn't sound right. I'm not passing out cash over here. I'm just going to be sharing more numbers with you in terms of dollar amounts. So stay tuned!