Thursday, November 29, 2012

Sales Update March 20-October 31

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.

Friday, November 9, 2012

SFF Saturday 11-10-12

Welcome back to my submissions for Science-fiction, Fantasy, Saturday.  Please visit the main site to read more snippets from the worlds of fantasy and science fiction.

Back to prisoner 1138....

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Entry 4

I've decided to start a basic cardiovascular regime.  The altered gravity of the moon is still not quite Earth-like and can, over the long-term, lead to muscle degeneration.  Miners and scientists assigned up here are required to participate in regular physical exercise in order to stave off these effects.  In a stunning example of "We don't care if he withers away", the powers that banished me here didn't bother installing exercise equipment in my cell.  Depriving me of food (such that it is) and water would have been cruel and unusual punishment, but stuffing me in a box and letting my muscles slowly turn to jello--that's just the tough life of a political prisoner!

Once a day, I run six laps around the perimeter of my cell(incidentally, I measured this for the first time just yesterday--it's a spacious 24x24 foot space), do 20 sit-ups and 10 pushups.  Who knows, after a couple of years of this, I might lose my scrawny scientist physique.  Yeah, right.

I am prisoner 1138, but my name is Abraham bin Navi