[nikkarina]

I've had my book out for 3 days now and I've only sold 8 copies. How many is decent for a first week?

 

[John Daulton]

From what I have gathered in a year since putting my first one out and, in that time, reading about people's experience here, you're doing pretty good, assuming it wasn't all friends and family. Not that there is anything wrong with sales to friends and family; I mean, how can you stop that anyway if your family is into what you are doing? Who would want to? (I've actually seen people on here talking about going to lengths, even spending what I consider marketing time and energy, to make sure nobody they know reviews their books if they do buy them. Mind blowing, but whatever; personal preference, etc.) Anyway, I've seen people lament having books out for a long time with zip for sales, so, if you are selling be happy. In the end, the advice that is always going to shake out of Kindleboards, no matter what your experience is, is going to ultimately be: Keep writing.

Congrats on the new launch, on the sales, and, uh, well ... keep writing.

 

[Carol (was Dara)]

I'd say you're doing above average. I think my first month saw my first self-pubbed book sell around 30 copies.

 

[Patty Jansen]

Just did my 2011 stats. For the first two months, I sold... nothing.

 

[ruecole]

I sold six copies the first month (but I also write short stories). I'd say you're doing fine.

Hope that helps!

Rue

 

[S.L. Baum]

In 2010 - without going to Kindle Boards, Amazon Forums, or knowing about book blogs or how to promote at all...
7 my first month - priced at 4.99
14 my second month
11 my third month
29 my fourth
41 my fifth
91 my sixth - lowered to 2.99
121 my seventh - December of that year.

I wish I started out then - with the knowledge I have now... but don't we all

Good luck with your book - You've already blown my first month out of the water!

 

[Hildred]

I sold about 10 copies my first week of publishing. But I had a really big pre-marketing campaign and a signal boosting network ready to go.

 

[Libby13]

My short story collection?  Barely anything.  My novel, 50 copies so far.  This is the first week for Tough Girl.  However, I've also been blogging for 2 years and cultivating a lot of relationships where people know about and are excited about my writing (book clubs, playwriting groups, etc.).  There's an excellent chance I'll have a steep drop off now that most friends and family are done purchasing.

 

[nikkarina]

I sold about 10 copies my first week of publishing. But I had a really big pre-marketing campaign and a signal boosting network ready to go.

There is my problem exactly, I've had zero marketing. I just now started on kindleboards and thats it. Do you have any good suggestions? Im going to be make my book free this saturday, I'm trying to find good ways to promote it

 

[nikkarina]

My short story collection? Barely anything. My novel, 50 copies so far. This is the first week for Tough Girl. However, I've also been blogging for 2 years and cultivating a lot of relationships where people know about and are excited about my writing (book clubs, playwriting groups, etc.). There's an excellent chance I'll have a steep drop off now that most friends and family are done purchasing.

None of my friends purchased my book... aha. I did have my aunt do so though. A lot of friends promised to purchase it then never did. Also, I gave it out free before it was published to a lot of people.

 

[C.P.D.Harris]

I put my book out in July of last year. I sold 12 the first month(2 weeks since I put it out), 160 the next, 120 the next, and then started to tail off and dropped like a stone in DEC. I'm at about 550 copies sold, excluding freebies. I suspect I should have had book 2 ready to go a little earlier, and probably should have stayed with Kindle select. Live and learn 

 

[Routhwick]

In its first calendar month, my Gadsby re-issue managed 12 sales in the U.S./India region, and 4 in the UK. My first sale didn't come until six days after I launched it on Amazon (and I have proof). The launch date was October 8, Columbus Day; I only chose it because NaNoWriMo was on the horizon, and I needed to avoid a scheduling conflict.

In case you don't know, Gadsby was that 1939 novel without an "e", written by Ernest Vincent Wright.

 

[JRTomlin]

It took 9 months for me to make more than coffee money. 

 

[Hildred]

There is my problem exactly, I've had zero marketing. I just now started on kindleboards and thats it. Do you have any good suggestions? Im going to be make my book free this saturday, I'm trying to find good ways to promote it

There are a few lists around here of sites you can contact to list your freebie at while it runs. As for me, I was really fortunate that most of my friends were interested in what I was writing since they were basically my target audience. (Queer women with an interest in older relationships, and some polyamory.) It also happened that they had more friends interested as well, so every time I release something in the series they boost it all over the place to their friends for me. My sales are not amazing, but they are steady. I'll have days where I sell nothing, and then a few days later somebody will come by and purchase my entire backlist. Right now my average is about a sale a day across all my titles. I think that's a good goal to start off with.

For more marketing, I would ask how much networking you're planning to do beyond KB. It might behoove you to try submitting your book to review some places.

 

[Monique]

I sold about 20 copies my first month and most of them were to friends and family.

As difficult as it is (it's natural to want to), try not to compare yourself to other writers. There will *always* be some who are doing better and some who are doing worse. Set publishing goals, make marketing plans, but try (I'm still trying) not focus too much on sales relative to others. That way lies madness.

 

[CaseyHollingshead]

I think it matters a lot when an author started putting their book up. 2011 was the golden year, I hear. I even got a rather significant bump jetting into late 2011 with no idea what the hell I was doing. Then there is also the matter of where. Some genres have huge markets with lots of potential buyers and repeat customers. Others, not so much. You will often run into people who say a simple change of genre boosted their work. I believe it. Some shenanigans have ensued, though, as it has led to some genre warping (notably Westerns being flooded with romance, to which Amazon has responded, quite unsuccessfully, with a Western Romance genre). There are often little pockets of unlisted genres, too. For example, my book is listed in Dark Fantasy, for which there is no selectable category. Can't say I took any advantage of it, but many people have.

Anyway, I do have my first novel out. It sells periodically, but it's not what I would call a "great" book by any means. Having low expectations is pretty nice. I just like to write, so sales really aren't that significant to me. (A few extra bucks never hurt no one, though.)

 

[Angery American]

My book published on Nov 28. Unfortunately I used Xlibris, big mistake, and cannot track my sales. I have to wait for the quarterly statements to see how many have sold. I do have Novel Rank tracking and they say they underestimate sales but there is no way of knowing how much. With that said, NR says I sold ,

126 ebooks in Dec
146 ebooks so far in Jan
2 HB in Dec and Jan
34 PB in Dec
43 PB so far in Jan

Add to this the 48 signed copies I have mailed out all the globe. I am very new to publishing, I wrote the story online and it had it's own following there with over one million views, this is what has pushed the sales. My ebook has had an overall sales rank in the mid 600's since Dec and stays in the mid 20's in action/adventure. I wish I new exactly how many have sold but won't until the end of Febuary. I will be publishing the sequel in the coming weeks and it will go KDP Select for sure.

 

[Gertie Kindle]

159 my first three weeks. I wasn't logging sales day-by-day back then.

 

[vrabinec]

and a signal boosting network ready to go.

What's that?

 

[Cherise]

There is my problem exactly, I've had zero marketing. I just now started on kindleboards and thats it. Do you have any good suggestions? Im going to be make my book free this saturday, I'm trying to find good ways to promote it

Give yourself a month to promote a free day, not just a few days. Here is an excellent guide to free day promotion sites, by KB writer David Adams.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PeMi5a2jcn1cWkJzzz8QXfs4xrh2YlIOwfjOBiBZ21c/edit