Sales Update

This is for those of you who like to see what's happening with other writers. Amanda Hocking wrote a post for her blog in December 2010 showing her sales. It's fun to look at and it gives us writers something to shoot for. Here is the link to Amanda's post: http://amandahocking.blogspot.com/2010/12/pics-or-it-didnt-happen.html  You can feel her excitement in her post.

And on a less grand scale, but no less exciting for me, here are my sales thus far.

Return of the Rose - Released March 2, 2011    $2.99
Medieval Time Travel Romance

March:     253
April:       879
May:     1,595
June:    1,460 

A Knight in Central Park - Released March 18, 2011   $.99
Medieval Time Travel Romance

March:    265
April:    6,017
May:     4,282
June:    2,383

Taming Mad Max - Released April 25, 2011  $2.99
Romantic Comedy

April:      30
May:     182
June:    264

Finding Kate Huntley - Released May 5, 2011   $2.99
Romantic Suspense

May:      184
June:     256

Abducted - Released May 29, 2011   $2.99
Romantic Suspense/Thriller

May:        24
June:     696

Total Books sold for March, April, May and June = *18,770

*On July 9th I hit 20,000, but I am not including July sales here. I am selling about 150 books a day.

By the end of the year I am hoping that I'll be able to make some sort of judgment as far as what genre sells the best for me. Right now (looking at my July sales so far) it looks like romantic/thrillers are the way to go. But Return of the Rose seems to be rising in sales and is keeping up with Abducted, so who knows. Either way, I'll keep you posted.

I am working on my second romantic comedy and then I plan on finishing my third medieval time travel before Christmas, 2011. After that, I plan to finish my second romantic thriller which I can hardly wait to get back to!

Let me know if you have 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!

More Number Crunching and Other Stuff

As of 4/25 at 8:30 PM A Knight in Central Park sold 5,299 copies from 3/18 to 4/25 and Return of the Rose sold 1,006, from 3/2 to 4/25 for a grand total of 6,305 books since March 2, 2011. That's crazy! I like to think maybe Medieval Time Travels are hot again!

This whole $.99 vs. $2.99 pricing is very interesting to me. I've made about the same with both books...and I like the idea of being able to give readers a MEGA deal with the book set at $.99. The rest of my books will be $2.99 only because I feel that's a fair price all around. A good deal for all.

I mentioned in one of my comments to a poster that besides sending out emails to friends and family, sending a few tweets, and putting messages about my books on Facebook, I didn't do much marketing. I have yet to blog besides here on my own website. BUT, I did have a wonderful reader mention my book on Pixel of Ink, and although I was up to 108 books a day, after the mention on 4/12, sales suddenly shot up to 580 in one day, before slowly coming back down to an average of 250 a day where I am still at as of today. Thank you Pixel of Ink!

Of course, I have no idea if sales will eventually drop to ten books a day. Who knows? I certainly don't. And I can't worry about it because I want to spend my time writing instead of worrying. I like to believe that my stories are fun reads for busy women everywhere and now I will be able to spend my time concentrating on writing romance novels! What a concept. In the end, that's all that matters to me. I want to write fun, romantic, fast-paced novels that leave readers wanting more. For 19 years that's what this has been all about. Some things never change.

Once again, let me know if you have a question.

Also, if you like reading contemporary romance with a bit of humor, my newest book, Taming Mad Max, a 2008 GH finalist, is available as of a few minutes ago!!! I sold a book! I haven't even told anyone and it wasn't me who bought it, so that's exciting! I want to know who bought my very first Romantic Comedy?! It's also available on B&N, and all three of my books will be available on Smashwords by the end of the week!