Friday, January 19, 2018
How Many Books Did I Sell in a Year? Self-Pub Update
A little update on how The Bend is doing. I released it last Feb. 17th--totally ignorant on how the whole self-pub process worked. Totally scared but wanting to try it.
Pre Orders went okay but I've since learned I should lower the price for that time period. Then sales slowed.
I finally put it in the KENP program and exclusively on Amazon a few months later. That means Amazon pays authors for pages read besides books sold. (Prime accts) The pages took off as did more sales. I also tried several new ways to advertise--paying $15 a shot for email blasts. They were helpful and did increase the pages read.
It's been almost a year into the venture.
To date, it looks like I might sell about 1,000 copies by next month. (including pages read and soft-cover) Much more than I sold with my first book with a mid-sized publisher.
The number isn't huge but I feel compensated for my efforts. Instead of my manuscript languishing in a file on my computer, it's out there.
Writers are told the first 500 copies sold don't count cause they are only from friends and family. Well, I don't have that many friends and family so in my mind, quite a few of those count. Strangers took a chance on my writing. I feel so blessed that so many would.
A HUGE THANK YOU READERS!
Next month, I'm trying it again with another story close to my heart. Hopefully this year has taught me what to do better and right and Winterheart will enjoy similar success.
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3 comments:
This is exciting to hear, Terri. With all of the knowledge you gained marketing this book, you should be able to do fantastic with the next!
Watching your results really makes me question whether I want to go with a small press. Considering that your first book was published by Pelican, one of the biggest small Christian presses (if not the biggest), that's a sad commentary on small presses. I would've thought they could do better for you than you did on your own.
But then, when you self-publish, you're in control of what happens on Amazon. I think many small presses don't buy into the concept of KDP, and their authors' books simply languish on the vine, so to speak.
Oh, and huge congrats for selling 1000 copies in a year. That's quite an accomplishment. I've been watching your sales on NovelRank, and your book just keeps selling!
Love thhis
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