Well, only a couple of days left so I’d thought I reveal the sales thus far.
November Sales:
The Troll Hunter–Two.
No Experience Necessary—Four.
The Missing Boatman—Eighteen.
Compared to last month’s sales, all titles have doubled. Not bad. I’ve earned (straightens up) $23.50 in royalties, or about $17 after taxes have been paid. Ah, the life of a starving artist. I’m quite happy with this month’s numbers, and I hope that next month, Christmas, will have similar results…. I hope.
A couple of things I noted from this month:
1. I believe two sales of my EFL book came just after I posted on a thread regarding teaching overseas.
2. Two sales of The Missing Boatman came from the UK.
Now, I still haven’t figured out how to increase sales from my EFL book, which I expected to be my breadwinner of the three. EFL is a growing industry with a lot of work available if a person is willing to travel. I have to come up with more strategies on how to get the word out about the book. Likewise on the UK sales. I’m going to have to figure out a way to increase exposure there.
Reviews are still elusive, but I hope they will come soon.
Post editing/weeding on The Missing Boatman continues. Maybe it’ll be all done by December, or early in the New Year.
I’ve realized the importance of developing a web presence, and the role of short reads to maximize one’s presence. Folks will pay money for good short stories (I did, see last week’s review of Abominable), so I’ll be taking a look at old short stories, as well as writing new ones, and bundling them up for sale on the net. It will make use of the stories that aren’t quite novella length, and get my name out there. If people like, they’ll pick up the longer works. I’m thinking of three short stories per ebook, if they are short enough. Longer ones (Novellas) might be offered as one title, but all will be around .99 cents.
I’ve decided to release a… children’s book, of all things. I have to go over the manuscript again, do a little editing, and get a cover. There has been a little debate over this one, as I’m targeting the book at ages 6 and 7. I have some parents say I need illustrations, and I have some teachers say I don’t need pictures as, around 7, children are getting into chapter books anyway. The story is 4,000 words and I feel it could work at .99 a copy, with a warning that it doesn’t contain pictures—the kindle doesn’t take well to pictures, or so I’ve been told. My theory is this, if mom and dad are reading on kindles, and their child sees them reading with the fancy doohickey, they just might be enticed to do a little reading of their own. But what would they read?
“The Flight of the Cookie Dough Mansion,” of course.
That’s this for this week. Next week, I’ll let you know about titles and projects to come in 2011.