[Joseph Flynn]

I do pretty well on Amazon, but other distributors remain marginal for me.

This past weekend, though, I sold fifteen copies on the iStore, all of the same title: One False Step.

A book club buy? The beginning of a cult of personality (Wouldn't that be cool)? What could it be?

The people here have professional imaginations. Please let me know what you think.

 

[Chris L]

How do you know how many you've sold in the iStore. Smashwords distributes mine and they are available for the iPad, but I don't get to know until the three month accounting period is up.
Chris L. 

 

[Joseph Flynn]

If you submit directly to iTunes, instead of using Smashwords, you can view daily sales figures. I have a multi-talented wife. She does graphic design, web design, book layout and formatting. She's also my first editor. Some guys have all the luck.

 

[Joseph Flynn]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll check it out.

 

[Joseph Flynn]

Modwitch was right. My novel One False Step has gotten a nice bump on the iStore from being placed in the second row of the first screen of mysteries under $5. This proves that publicity, like real estate, is a matter of location, location, location.

But now the question is: How did my book get such prime placement?

To the person responsible: Thank you very much … and might I interest you in some of my other books?

 

[Joseph Flynn]

Sorry to seem out of touch, but "B&N lottery?"

 

[CraigInOregon]

Related:

If you're in iStore (as I am) via Smashwords... when and how do you find out about your sales numbers? Are there nothing more than quarterly reports?

I have a couple friends who own iPads. Both have told me they bought Most Likely. I have no way of seeing how many more than that I've sold right now... that I know of...

 

[Joseph Flynn]

As mentioned above, I submit directly to the iStore. You get daily reports that way.

 

[CraigInOregon]

I don't own a Mac. Smashwords is therefore my only option, because Apple are bigo--- err, in control of their platform and very insistent on wanting direct authors to submit from a Mac platform. LOL

 

[Ruth Harris]

Is it hard to submit to istore? Or can someone with only moderate tech skills (like me) manage it?  If so, is there a link to directions? Thanks.

 

[Alain Gomez]

What's especially annoying is that itunes doesn't even have a sales rank listed.  So unless you publish through them directly, you have NO idea how your book is doing there.  Only a few more days left in this quarter though!

 

[Alain Gomez]

Is it hard to submit to istore? Or can someone with only moderate tech skills (like me) manage it? If so, is there a link to directions? Thanks.

If you don't have a mac, use smashwords. So long as you follow their formatting suggestions, it's not too hard. Tedious, but not hard.

 

[Joseph Flynn]

Can't comment on the problems of PC owners; I've always been a Mac guy. That's not to say that uploading to the iStore is easy. It's a lot harder than using Amazon's DTP. I'm unable to comment specifically on all the formatting challenges you face with the iStore because my wife is the computer maven in our house. Also the graphic designer, layout artist, illustrator, photographer, etc. I'm very lucky. I married well. On the other hand, my wife's faith in my writing is being validated by our books' sales. So she married fairly well, too.