Sales?

[jaxx6166]

I know this is a touchy topic for a lot of authors. But for those that are willing to share - what's your experiences been with your publisher or distributor? Are your sales really good/acceptable/or really low?

Sales can include (free) copies too if you want to chime in. Who's your publisher/distributor? What do you do to keep your sales consistent? What do you think could be done to improve the figures?

I understand if this thread dies a slow death. Some people don't want to give their secrets away to potential competition. But, we're all for the most part indies and we need to stick together and help each other out

[David McAfee]

Actually, I have no issues sharing this information. Most of it is posted on my blog. I just don't feel like typing it all up right now.

In short: my total sales for two and a half months are in the 300's, across all formats (print, ebook, etc). About the only promotion I do is here and on Kindleboards, and even that is just the one thread that tells people about the book. I had a Facebook ad, but I just terminated it because it wasn't doing anything for me.

So far every month has seen more sales than the one before it. I can only hope that trend continues.

[UntreedReads]

I can tell you from a publisher standpoint that each month as we add titles, our backlist titles sell even better. We've only been in business since the end of February, but each month grows a bit more. I've had pretty good feedback from my authors about their sales figures, and our Q2 royalty checks are going to be significantly larger than the Q1 checks.

Best,
Jay Hartman
[promotion deleted - MODERATOR]

[dlmartin6]

There is a thread over at Kindleboard "Book Bazaar" with lots of sales info in it. You should check it out to see how authors across all genres are selling.

Deb

[ellenoc]

Like David I don't mind sharing, and it's all in my blog. Just yesterday I posted my sales figures for my 2 books from February through May. I've also got links in there to the particular Kindle Boards threads that Debra is referring to that give some other authors' figures.

[Scott Nicholson]

I have an Amazon thread in the Kindle Forum called "Indie author vs. Major publisher," in which I compare my monthly sales versus what I think I am selling through NY--not that NY is doing such a hot job of it...

I sell about five copies a day each of my novels and one to two per day of my story collections, with some highs and lows. It stays pretty steady, for the most part. But part of the problem with having a publisher is you really have no idea what's going on, and you just get whatever numbers they hand you. Personally, I have found the lack of control is a good trade-off for not having my books flooded on shelves for 30 days.

Scott Nicholson
Haunted Computer

[MinaVE]

I have a book out with a traditional publisher in the Philippines. It sold more than a thousand copies (I infer from royalties received) in the local market in about nine months. (Edited "six months" to "nine months" because I'm not exactly sure what the period is.)

My second novel was published on Amazon Kindle and Smashwords a little over a month ago. Sold about 30 so far. At least for my market (readers of chick lit in the Philippines) it looks like print is more popular, but I put the ebook out to explore other markets. Will see how they compare over time, it's an exciting experiment.

[jaxx6166]

Interesting responses so far. I'm glad that the indie author isn't afraid to share their numbers. It really puts things in perspective.

Scott - - I didn't know you were here. I just read your Amazon rant the other day.

[TC Beacham]

I agree with Scott Nicholson about keeping track of what's going on. In the past I went with a traditional publisher (major NYC firm) and I can never tell what is actually going on in those royalty statements - how do I know those figures are accurate (sales, returns, discounts, etc.)? It feels good to hear directly from readers, to be able to control ad copy, cover, the whole shebang - and to know exactly what sales are every day. imo we're at the very beginning of an exciting and lucrative time for indie authors/publishers!