The witty T.M. Hunter, creator of the awesome Aston West series, recently updated his sales data and provided the boot-to-the-butt I needed to update my own data. (Be sure to check out all of Hunter's works-- I have reviewed several.) I wish more Indie authors would be as up front about their sales; we have nothing to hide and everything to gain from honest comparisons.
March 20-October 31st sales of "Dremiks"
Kindle: 88 copies (March - May average: 19/month ) (June-October average: 6/month)
Kindle UK: 2 copies
Nook: 17 copies (10 copies in March)
Paperback: 15 copies
Total sales: 122
The Nook and Kindle version of the book are currently priced at $4.99. I raised it ( from $3.99) to this price point after seeing the other "Top 5 Finalists, Best Indie Book of 2012" listed at $4.99. I honestly have not seen any noticeable difference in sales after raising or lowering the price. I'm still mulling the idea of lowering the international price to see if I can garner a few more sales that way.
I currently have ads running on Goodreads and Facebook. Both sites have a "pay-per-click" system.
I made an original ad-buy, in April, on Goodreads for $60 and still have not used all of that sum. As of this posting, 216 people have added the book on Goodreads, with 19 ratings and 12 reviews.
Facebook allows me to turn on or off my add and pay-per-click as I go. I have it set for $8/day maximum with a $0.75/click threshold. The book's Facebook page currently has 202 likes. Obviously, more people have "liked" the FB page than have purchased the book. I have seen no evidence that increased page traffic = more sales, and therefore have spent less than $100 on FB advertising since March.
Amazon has been helpfully sending out email "suggestions" to sci-fi readers. These emails are based on what customers who bought "Dremiks" also purchased (associations), the "Likes" that users enter, and search "tags". Amazon.com's "Dremiks" listing has 37 likes, 8 reviews (5 stars!), and 24 users who have agreed with some or all of the "tags"
The Amazon.co.uk page has 2 likes, no reviews, and only 1 person who has tagged the book. Obviously I need more UK friends and readers!
Goals for the next three months: find ways to target Nook and international customers, finish the sequel, and determine the "sweet spot" for Kindle pricing.
Fellow authors: feel free to leave comments with links to your own posts about sales and advertising.
Cassandra - interesting post. it's helpful to see other authors marketing trends and techniques. I have had my book out for just over 30 days and it's my first attempt. I think I have absorbed all the Amazon sales with friends and referrals. I have been focusing on book signings in locations where I know enough people to help draw a crowd. This has worked very well and I have been selling 50 books or more an event. Again, thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteMy numbers are comparable to yours all across the board. I've done better with UK sales and paperbacks, that's all. For being debut authors, I think we're doing really well! I'll post my sales report next week.
ReplyDeleteI find that having numbers keeps an author from having false expectations. With so many people out there promoting the fact that they're making hundreds of thousands of dollars on their books, it's good to have a reality check.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in the stats on your advertising efforts. Long ago, I tried my hand at Facebook ads. Can't recall how much was spent (though I could likely compile the data and post it), and the Aston West Universe has racked up 300 likes (although I originally started ads on an individual book page before...and that was over 500). But as you'd mentioned, the sales-to-likes conversion is quite lacking. And with the way the algorithms are geared anymore (where the only people seeing a page's posts are the people who interact with a page on a regular basis already), it's only going to get worse.
Great post!