[SpearsII]

Yeah, the boards have been pretty gloomy lately. We didn't even get an ALL CAPS WEDNESDAY thread this week. I'm tellin' ya', there's something in the water. It's like this on three forums I frequent.

Its not the water. Here in the Pacific Northwest, its because the sun has hibernated. The best season for selling books just can't compete with the fact we have not seen the sun in months. The only thing keeping half of us from bridge jumping is the fact that the Seahawks are in the playoffs.

Ps. Sorry, I know this is way off topic.

 

[vrabinec]

Well, as a Steeler fan, that just made my depression a bit deeper. BTW, I'll root for you guys this week, but not if you play GB or Den somwhere down the line. (Definitely root for ya if you play Balt.)

 

[60911]

Yeah, the boards have been pretty gloomy lately. We didn't even get an ALL CAPS WEDNESDAY thread this week. I'm tellin' ya', there's something in the water. It's like this on three forums I frequent.

Yeah, I'm kind of scared to post an official December sales thread because I think half the board is ready to riot from low sales-related depression. And possibly subpar Vitamin D levels. But mostly low sales.

 

[41413]

Yeah, I'm kind of scared to post an official December sales thread because I think half the board is ready to riot from low sales-related depression. And possibly subpar Vitamin D levels. But mostly low sales.

Go ahead and do it. IMO, it's really nice seeing the normal span of sales from folks at every career stage. Otherwise, you only get to hear about sales when somebody hits a milestone, so it seems like EVERYONE is selling 10k copies or 50k or 100k or what have you, when really, there's a much wider range of sales than that.

 

[dalya]

DNB? Drum and bass?

Do Not Buy.

It's what some posters might come in and lord over us if we get too bitey.

 

[Honeybun]

Go ahead and do it. IMO, it's really nice seeing the normal span of sales from folks at every career stage. Otherwise, you only get to hear about sales when somebody hits a milestone, so it seems like EVERYONE is selling 10k copies or 50k or 100k or what have you, when really, there's a much wider range of sales than that.

On that note, from the low end of the spectrum, I have 4 titles out, 1 of those within just the last day or two. All of them short story erotica. I have sold 11 so far this month -- and I'm kinda pleased with myself with that number! lol ... Of course, I'm hoping to grow sales throughout the month with some more released. But for where I am now, I'm feeling the happiness of potential.

 

[41413]

On that note, from the low end of the spectrum, I have 4 titles out, 1 of those within just the last day or two. All of them short story erotica. I have sold 11 so far this month -- and I'm kinda pleased with myself with that number! lol ... Of course, I'm hoping to grow sales throughout the month with some more released. But for where I am now, I'm feeling the happiness of potential.

Congratulations! That's an awesome start. I wasn't selling 11/week for the first several months, lol. More like...four or five a week...maybe.

 

[Debra Purdy Kong]

I've heard a lot of these things before, too, and the thing is they're both true and false. It depends, you see. Getting a great review from Publishers Weekly or a major publication does help; sometimes a little, sometimes more.

Paid advertising can help, if it's a small amount to a target audience.

FB and Twitter still help me sell books, although I've never sold in huge quantities anyway, but when one of my books is on sale, and I tell people about it, there are more sales.

And yes, things have change a heck of a lot in five years since I self-published Fatal Encyrption in 2008. FB and Twitter will further decrease in usefulness and maybe something new will come along, or Amazon will bring out a whole new publishing/selling option.

Those who wrote about realistic expectations are right on the money. Back in 2009, over a 1 million books worldwide were published every year, according to Bowkers and other sources. Can you imagine how many more are out there since then? What I've really noticed over the past 2 years is the huge numbers of free books. Honestly, you could fill your Kindle with freebies and never have to pay a dime to read, and maybe that's the scariest part for me.

 

[Honeybun]

Congratulations! That's an awesome start. I wasn't selling 11/week for the first several months, lol. More like...four or five a week...maybe.

Thanks!!! In all honesty though, I've been at it since Sept of last year. But, I ran into some very major technical difficulties, and only had one title out there for over two months. I've remained slow to get new titles out but I'm currently going to push hard to get out one a week. Maybe I'll get to run with you big dogs soon.