Selling your first 100 copies

4727 Views 62 Replies 36 Participants Last post by sarahdalton, Jan 13, 2013

Edward Lake

Discussion Starter · Jan 11, 2013

Selling 100 copies as an unknown is a great first step as a self-published author. If you can at least reach that mark, skies the limit.

What steps did you take to reach your first 100 sold? How long did it take and how many have you sold to date?

1 - 20 of 63 Posts

strath

· #2 · Jan 11, 2013

How long did it take you authors to reach that highwater mark?

I'm not quite there yet. 'Been published a couple of months. 'Not the most hot selling genre.

So, I congratulating you and celebrating your success now?

Yay!!!

Edward Lake

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jan 11, 2013

strath said:
How long did it take you authors to reach that highwater mark?

I'm not quite there yet. 'Been published a couple of months. 'Not the most hot selling genre.

So, I congratulating you and celebrating your success now?

Yay!!!

I haven't sold 100 copies yet. Only 20 so far. Still have a lot of work to do.

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rainvilleadam

· #4 · Jan 11, 2013

I started publishing short stories in April. I had ten up by September and I hit a hundred (combined) right before Christmas. Strange thing is, one story, "He Sees Me" has sold 50 copies, the other nine have sold 50 combined. For the life of me, I'm not sure why. I suspect that it may have something to do with the fact that one of the tags for "Sees" is a very niche internet meme that has a hard core Internet fan base.

AJCooper

· #5 · Jan 11, 2013

Wow... a thread I don't feel ashamed to join. I crossed the 100 unit mark a few weeks ago. The thing that worked for me was releasing more novels. I sat on my hands for the first year, selling 1 novel for $.99. Bad idea!

I thought I was the only person on this board who didn't start out "slow", selling 50 a month and then progress to 99999999999 three months later.

Al Dente

· #6 · Jan 11, 2013

I started out last July and didn't sell many books at first. I probably sold 50 throughout July, August and September combined. One of my books hit 100 copies in November, and as of today, I have sold around 622 copies of all my books combined. I have roughly 20 short stories, a few novellas and one novel out, so that helps.

Edward Lake

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jan 11, 2013

AJCooper said:
Wow... a thread I don't feel ashamed to join. I crossed the 100 unit mark a few weeks ago. The thing that worked for me was releasing more novels. I sat on my hands for the first year, selling 1 novel for $.99. Bad idea!

I thought I was the only person on this board who didn't start out "slow", selling 50 a month and then progress to 99999999999 three months later.

Congrats on selling your first 100. As they say, content is king. The more books you have out the more legitimate you'll seem.

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kelleyrmartin

· #8 · Jan 11, 2013

I published my first novel on December 22, 2012 and surpassed 100 sold yesterday. I'm an unknown author with just the one title available at $2.99 and it took me 19 days to hit 100. As of right this second, I'm at 120

What steps did I take to reach that goal? Well, I'm in select, so I had one free day on Christmas, and gave away over 1,500 copies. A majority of my reviews have come from those freebies, and I truly believe the awesome reviews people have posted helped drive my sales. I also contacted some book review blogs (4 total), and one agreed to review my book. She gave it 5-stars and posted her review on her blog, goodreads, and Amazon, so that helped reach her followers who might otherwise not have known about my book. In addition, I have a giveaway going on goodreads for the paperback edition. That's an awesome, cheap way to get your name out there. Oh, and it also helps to be in a well-selling genre (my book is new adult/paranormal romance). Hope this helps!

Edward Lake

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jan 11, 2013

kelleyrmartin said:
I published my first novel on December 22, 2012 and surpassed 100 sold yesterday. I'm an unknown author with just the one title available at $2.99 and it took me 19 days to hit 100. As of right this second, I'm at 120 What steps did I take to reach that goal? Well, I'm in select, so I had one free day on Christmas, and gave away over 1,500 copies. A majority of my reviews have come from those freebies, and I truly believe the awesome reviews people have posted helped drive my sales. I also contacted some book review blogs (4 total), and one agreed to review my book. She gave it 5-stars and posted her review on her blog, goodreads, and Amazon, so that helped reach her followers who might otherwise not have known about my book. In addition, I have a giveaway going on goodreads for the paperback edition. That's an awesome, cheap way to get your name out there. Oh, and it also helps to be in a well-selling genre (my book is new adult/paranormal romance). Hope this helps!

This was very helpful. A lot of goodies. Thanks

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Sapphire

· #10 · Jan 11, 2013

kelleyrmartin said:
I published my first novel on December 22, 2012 and surpassed 100 sold yesterday. I'm an unknown author with just the one title available at $2.99 and it took me 19 days to hit 100.

I am impressed. Congratulations! I published October 29th and still have a long way to go to hit 100.

ElHawk

· #11 · Jan 11, 2013

I am not exactly sure how long it took to get to 100, because I really kind of ignored my book once I put it out there. Some time around the 4-month mark I checked on its sales out of idle curiosity and realized I'd hit about 300. I was wondering where the extra bucks in that one seldom-used bank account were coming from.

It sells in the neighborhood of 1000-ish copies per month now, about 16 months after first publication. I don't do promotion well, so I don't do it at all. It's all word of mouth/reviews from readers.

Takes some time, but if you've written a good one, word will get around!

ElHawk

· #12 · Jan 11, 2013

rainvilleadam said:
I suspect that it may have something to do with the fact that one of the tags for "Sees" is a very niche internet meme that has a hard core Internet fan base.

Ceiling Cat?

Edward Lake

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jan 11, 2013

ElHawk said:
I am not exactly sure how long it took to get to 100, because I really kind of ignored my book once I put it out there. Some time around the 4-month mark I checked on its sales out of idle curiosity and realized I'd hit about 300. I was wondering where the extra bucks in that one seldom-used bank account were coming from.

It sells in the neighborhood of 1000-ish copies per month now, about 16 months after first publication. I don't do promotion well, so I don't do it at all. It's all word of mouth/reviews from readers.

Takes some time, but if you've written a good one, word will get around!

Very nice...

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strath

· #14 · Jan 11, 2013

Kelly said:
' A majority of my reviews have come from those freebies, and I truly believe the awesome reviews people have posted helped drive my sales.'

Sorry, I don't have that quote thing down yet.

Kelly, that's great. I got no reviews from my freebies. I do flatter myself that my reviewers actually bought the thing. They seemed to like the book and none of them are friends or family. (I'll have to have a word with that sorry bunch.)

I had hundreds of free downloads and got nothing. Surely some of them liked it.

Elhawk, I'm with you on the promoting. Mine's fairly minimal. Online readers groups and a couple of free showcase sites.

PorterlanceBooks

· #15 · Jan 11, 2013

I started 13 months ago, and sold 100 immediately, but it was because it was a children's Christmas title, and it was mid-December. It was a lifesaver because I was about to be homeless.

After that, I quickly wrote and wrote and wrote to get 5 new novellas/short stories out as part of a series. The first month I sold a couple hundred combined (170 or so of the first novella in the series).

I think what's required is a good cover (I do all of my own, as well as some for other authors), and some exposure. Amazon's Select has helped, as well as other sites that list free promos on kindle books.

Even so, I have had a few titles that sell nothing at all, or like only 5 a month. Then, there are others that sell 100 a month. All in all, I'm still able to live off the income with no other job or roomates, etc. For 2012 I sold 15,000 books (about 20 novellas and a few children's books), and made about $35,000.

For this year, I'm concentrating on writing more full time (everyday), and putting out a novella a week. My goal is to hopefully make enough extra to cover a really nice down payment on a house.

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strath

· #16 · Jan 11, 2013

Wow, MD.

Great success story. I wish you joy of all your sells!

I hear both sides of cover effectiveness. I know mine's not pretty but I sort of want it to be a contrast from what amazon ran as 'customers that bought this also bought...' I'm associated with westerns and period historical romances and the book is neither. The cover was supposed to be an omage (sic) to hardbacks that were on store shelves around 1900. Cloth facing with a color lithograph pasted to the front.

Edward Lake

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jan 11, 2013

MD_James said:
I started 13 months ago, and sold 100 immediately, but it was because it was a children's Christmas title, and it was mid-December. It was a lifesaver because I was about to be homeless.

After that, I quickly wrote and wrote and wrote to get 5 new novellas/short stories out as part of a series. The first month I sold a couple hundred combined (170 or so of the first novella in the series).

I think what's required is a good cover (I do all of my own, as well as some for other authors), and some exposure. Amazon's Select has helped, as well as other sites that list free promos on kindle books.

Even so, I have had a few titles that sell nothing at all, or like only 5 a month. Then, there are others that sell 100 a month. All in all, I'm still able to live off the income with no other job or roomates, etc. For 2012 I sold 15,000 books (about 20 novellas and a few children's books), and made about $35,000.

For this year, I'm concentrating on writing more full time (everyday), and putting out a novella a week. My goal is to hopefully make enough extra to cover a really nice down payment on a house.

Very inspirational. That's an awesome story. Thanks for sharing. You sure have seen great success and I'm sure you'll have more to come.

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George Berger

· #18 · Jan 11, 2013

It took me eighteen months and six books to hit a hundred sales.

I sold right around 7,000 paid books in 2012, plus a few thousand more freebies, and just over a hundred borrows.

The overwhelming majority of that came from just two of the thirteen books I have out, though.

Mostly I just wrote more.

PorterlanceBooks

· #19 · Jan 11, 2013

Strath (I hope I got that right....trying to remember what I saw your name was...LOL),

I hear ya, but at the same time, it doesn't matter if the cover doesn't catch readers eyes and get you sales. Then, you're the only one that knows the reason for the cover. On the other hand, if you're making sales you're happy with...then stick to your guns.

We are all artists and it's so subjective. Not everyone likes the same thing, bu there's still a market for everything in my opinion.

Typically, for me, my books are average of 15,000-20,000 words and sell for $2.99. For me to consider a book average, it should make me about $100-$200 a month. But, for every one that makes me $6 a month, there's also another that makes $300-$400.

My Muse Saga Series is one of my genres that doesn't do as well, but it's what I'm most proud of. Still, because it has 7 books (the 6 volumes and then a box set of all 6), it still accounts for about $1500 in sales every month.

PorterlanceBooks

· #20 · Jan 11, 2013

George Berger said:
It took me eighteen months and six books to hit a hundred sales.

I sold right around 7,000 paid books in 2012, plus a few thousand more freebies, and just over a hundred borrows.

The overwhelming majority of that came from just two of the thirteen books I have out, though.

Mostly I just wrote more.

A tip I use too when a book doesn't sell much, for whatever reason, is to write a sequel or prequel. I firmly believe some books just come up better in the search engines. And, book 1 may not every be seen, but miraculously, book 2 may be easily found. So, when people buy it, they also check out book 1. Then, all the sudden, you turned a no seller into a hot seller.

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