Author Topic: Is December really a slow sales month? (Read 4345 times) Tweet

Laran Mithras · « **Reply #25 on:** December 22, 2017, 04:53:53 PM »

It all depends on the genre. Period.

Hestia · « **Reply #26 on:** December 22, 2017, 05:56:01 PM »

For those of you with paperback sales, are they showing up on your createspace dashboard? I had to buy a copy to send to the library of congress and it isn't showing up. There were also 5 or 6 sellers that must have bought my book (but not through createspace direct since I didn't check that box) and those aren't there either. I'm wondering if they are late in sales reporting because of the holidays or what.

Ceramic · « **Reply #27 on:** December 22, 2017, 07:00:18 PM »

Quote from: JRTomlin on December 21, 2017, 10:11:21 PM

Glad you like it.

January and February make up for it for me. Things pick up for me almost immediately after Christmas. Of course, every year I worry that it won't happen this time.

JR, I decided to risk it and put in two advertising orders in for after Christmas.

This is the promotion I have booked in for Dec - Feb. My second memoir launched on Dec 1st, with just the one sale - a pre-order. I figured I'd try to promote online like this:

Elusive Identity
Memoir

(((KDP Countdown 1st - 8th Feb)))

Listed 13/12/17
Indie Book Lounge
http://indiebooklounge.com

Reoccuring monthly
PAID 22/12/17
In newsletter 25th Dec
$11 EBookskill.com - 1 month promotion (featured memoir on website, 4x tweets, )
(Will need to sell 3 ebooks)

PAID 22/12/17 $20 KBoards advert Tuesday 2nd Jan
New ebooks promoted Tuesdays.
(Will need to sell 5 ebooks)

Possibly still booked in
Ebookskill.com
18th - 31st January

Added 18/12/17 for 1st Feb listing
Bookoftheday.org
(Did/ Do not mention ebook sale)

Cassie Leigh · « **Reply #28 on:** December 22, 2017, 07:30:33 PM »

Quote from: Hestia on December 22, 2017, 05:56:01 PM

For those of you with paperback sales, are they showing up on your createspace dashboard? I had to buy a copy to send to the library of congress and it isn't showing up. There were also 5 or 6 sellers that must have bought my book (but not through createspace direct since I didn't check that box) and those aren't there either. I'm wondering if they are late in sales reporting because of the holidays or what.

Yes. Did you buy that copy as an author copy? That won't show in your CreateSpace dashboard. Also, how do you know about the sellers buying your book? If these are for ads up on your page, that doesn't mean they have a copy yet. If they ever get an order they'll then buy a copy to fulfill the order but not until then.

Hestia · « **Reply #29 on:** December 22, 2017, 08:19:50 PM »

Quote from: Cassie Leigh on December 22, 2017, 07:30:33 PM

Yes. Did you buy that copy as an author copy? That won't show in your CreateSpace dashboard. Also, how do you know about the sellers buying your book? If these are for ads up on your page, that doesn't mean they have a copy yet. If they ever get an order they'll then buy a copy to fulfill the order but not until then.

No, it wasn't an author copy, I bought it from the site so they would get it sooner. Yesterday when I checked my book page, I saw all of these sellers offering my book so I assume they must have purchased it? And today those copies were gone so I'm guessing that people bought them. I took a screenshot of the sellers to send to createspace if they want proof. My book only went on sale last weekend and I've done no promoting whatsoever so I don't even know how anyone found it. There is also a possibility they could have purchased it through IngramSpark, but it's only showing 1 copy sold on their dashboard. I'll be emailing createspace about this after Christmas.

Amanda M. Lee · « **Reply #30 on:** December 23, 2017, 04:37:39 AM »

Quote from: Hestia on December 22, 2017, 08:19:50 PM

No, it wasn't an author copy, I bought it from the site so they would get it sooner. Yesterday when I checked my book page, I saw all of these sellers offering my book so I assume they must have purchased it? And today those copies were gone so I'm guessing that people bought them. I took a screenshot of the sellers to send to createspace if they want proof. My book only went on sale last weekend and I've done no promoting whatsoever so I don't even know how anyone found it. There is also a possibility they could have purchased it through IngramSpark, but it's only showing 1 copy sold on their dashboard. I'll be emailing createspace about this after Christmas.

Those third-party sellers do not have your book. They list it and buy it from you if someone bothers to buy from them, which rarely happens. They don�t already have it, though.

notjohn · « **Reply #31 on:** December 23, 2017, 08:33:00 AM »

December used to be a great month for digital sales, though January was much better. People got Kindles for Christmas and spent the next couples of weeks buying books for it. That effect has now pretty much vanished. It's hard to judge by 2017, because the reports have been so unreliable, but December to date has been my worst month in a couple of years. My sales always slow or stop over a holiday, and this is the mother of all holidays.

My paperback sales have always been good in December, but that too has come to a screaming halt because almost all of my books are shown as backorders on the Amazon store, anywhere from 1-2 to 6 days before shipping. At the moment, my 16 paperbacks constitute about 35 percent of my book sales, while the 26 Kindle editions account for 65 percent.

For four of those books, the paperback version has out-sold the ebook. This often happens. (Three of them are non-fiction, which may account for it.)

Daniel Kenney · « **Reply #32 on:** December 23, 2017, 08:49:26 AM »

I write Middle Grade and Chapter Books. November and December are always my best months. And 95% of those sales are paperbacks. My books function mostly as gifts for kids. As for ebooks? I don't sell many ebooks period and November and December is no different. Like most people say, I'm pretty sure it's all about the genre/category you're writing in. Cheers, Dan

notjohn · « **Reply #33 on:** December 23, 2017, 10:26:28 AM »

Quote from: Daniel Kenney on December 23, 2017, 08:49:26 AM

I write Middle Grade and Chapter Books. November and December are always my best months. And 95% of those sales are paperbacks. My books function mostly as gifts for kids. As for ebooks? I don't sell many ebooks period and November and December is no different. Like most people say, I'm pretty sure it's all about the genre/category you're writing in. Cheers, Dan

Yes, I'm sure that children's books are another area where paperbacks rule. It's been a while since I curled up with a child and a book, but I just can't imagine that book's being displayed on a Fire tablet, let alone an e-ink Kindle.

C. Gockel · « **Reply #34 on:** December 23, 2017, 12:33:23 PM »

December is usually slow for me, too. I don't advertise much during this month for that reason (which probably doesn't help!)

Sean Sweeney · « **Reply #35 on:** December 23, 2017, 12:57:56 PM »

I've actually sold more books this month than I have the last three months. Helps that a new book is coming out; pre-orders for it are half of my sales this month...

Amyshojai · « **Reply #36 on:** December 23, 2017, 01:24:38 PM »

It's been my best month ever--especially for my print nonfiction. Lots of pet lovers getting gift books, I think.

Patty Jansen · « **Reply #37 on:** December 23, 2017, 02:04:22 PM »

If you sell anything that could be used as a gift...

If you have a new release that people have been waiting for...

You'll probably sell just fine during December.

If you sell books that people buy for themselves...

And if you don't have a new release...

You'll probably sell much better after Christmas.

Hestia · « **Reply #38 on:** December 23, 2017, 04:23:43 PM »

Quote from: Amanda M. Lee on December 23, 2017, 04:37:39 AM

Those third-party sellers do not have your book. They list it and buy it from you if someone bothers to buy from them, which rarely happens. They don�t already have it, though.

Thank you, that makes more sense. Not sure why they are allowed to list books they don't have though. The sellers disappeared now for whatever reason.

solo · « **Reply #39 on:** December 23, 2017, 04:31:17 PM »

Quote from: Patty Jansen on December 23, 2017, 02:04:22 PM

If you sell anything that could be used as a gift...

If you have a new release that people have been waiting for...

You'll probably sell just fine during December.

If you sell books that people buy for themselves...

And if you don't have a new release...

You'll probably sell much better after Christmas.

Thanks, Patty. Looks that way. E-books recovering but KU reads are still flatlined. My first December as a writer, and I am very glad that others are so generous about sharing their experiences.

The blessings of the Season to everybody and the best of the coming year.... may it be better than this year and may people be wiser than today.

melodybremen · « **Reply #40 on:** December 23, 2017, 05:27:09 PM »

Quote from: Daniel Kenney on December 23, 2017, 08:49:26 AM

I write Middle Grade and Chapter Books. November and December are always my best months. And 95% of those sales are paperbacks. My books function mostly as gifts for kids. As for ebooks? I don't sell many ebooks period and November and December is no different. Like most people say, I'm pretty sure it's all about the genre/category you're writing in. Cheers, Dan

Yes, I write middle grade and young adult and I sold a nice amount of paperbacks in December and only a small amount of ebooks.

CoraBuhlert · « **Reply #41 on:** December 23, 2017, 05:47:45 PM »

For me, September through February have usually been very good sales months (except 2016, where the bloody US election depressed sales) and indeed my best month ever was a December.

December 2017 is not one of my all-time best months nor is it the best month of 2017, but it is a good sales month nonetheless. Though I've noticed that sales started to slow down approx. two weeks before Christmas, which happens almost every year. Usually, they start to pick up again after the holidays.

Michael Eli Vineberg · « **Reply #42 on:** December 23, 2017, 07:23:42 PM »

December was my worst month of 2016 and December this year looks to be the in the bottom half of my 2017 month rankings, but it is still too early to tell, there is still another week.

9 Diamonds · « **Reply #43 on:** December 23, 2017, 07:32:15 PM »

Quote from: notjohn on December 23, 2017, 10:26:28 AM

Yes, I'm sure that children's books are another area where paperbacks rule. It's been a while since I curled up with a child and a book, but I just can't imagine that book's being displayed on a Fire tablet, let alone an e-ink Kindle.

I take it you're referring to picture ebooks and illustrated ebooks? Children's and young people's novels and etextbooks are strong ebook sales, and growing stronger every year, especially with schools requiring students entering secondary school to have all texts as ebooks rather than printed books.

notjohn · « **Reply #44 on:** December 24, 2017, 05:10:01 AM »

I was thinking of preschoolers. In today's world, one does not curl up with secondary-school children. Or middle schoolers, for that matter.

juliatheswede · « **Reply #45 on:** December 25, 2017, 04:24:27 AM »

So far my sales have not been great in December, at least not on Amazon. Better on Apple.

C. Gold · « **Reply #46 on:** December 25, 2017, 04:49:14 AM »

Well, I was surprised to see 9 paperback book sales registered on the 22nd and another on the 23rd. I can only guess it's because I boosted a FB post about buying the paperback and getting the ebook for free. That's the only place I promoted the paperback. I only have three months of sales and this one is much better than last month and with those paperback sales, it beats out my first month too. This is for my fantasy novel.

9 Diamonds · « **Reply #47 on:** December 26, 2017, 07:26:56 PM »

December 26 and it looks like people are starting to stock up their new Kindles, buying and borrowing

solo · « **Reply #48 on:** December 26, 2017, 10:28:56 PM »

Quote from: 9 Diamonds on December 26, 2017, 07:26:56 PM

December 26 and it looks like people are starting to stock up their new Kindles, buying and borrowing

Looks that way. Ebook sales and KU reads are slowly normalizing to my pre-17 December levels. I hope it continues.

Spin52 · « **Reply #49 on:** December 27, 2017, 03:16:20 AM »

December has been a very good month for me this year. I put that down to starting a new series last spring, with the fourth book released at the start of December. I'm seeing quite a few follow-through sales as people read the entire series, so I'm now frantically working on the fifth book to keep them interested.