eBook Sales: It’s all about the Numbers. Or, Is It?

shakespeare wants to know if we should share sales numbersI have never read a blog post where Stephen King claimed to sell 20,000 e-books in a week. Nor have I read a post where Nora Roberts reported selling 37,000 e-books and hitting number one in seven of Amazon’s sub categories. I did not read any of those things. But, I did post that I had 30,000 freeloads over a three day period. And, when one of my novels hit #46 overall a couple of months ago I shared that too. Amazon even mentioned my earning numbers a couple of years back in one of their press releases. And I’ve posted when I’ve hit the top rankings too, and if I make the Movers and Shakers or Hot New Releases list I post that information. Because you guys all want to know. You have to know. Don’t you? Continue reading “eBook Sales: It’s all about the Numbers. Or, Is It?”

How to Stop Selling Books Immediately

July 2013 was one of the slowest sales months I’ve had. I didn’t sell very many books last month. In fact, when the final numbers are tallied, it may turn out to be my worst month ever. There are excuses, I mean reasons, and I’ll get to those, but let me whine, I mean pontificate just a little while longer.

When I’m asked how many books I sell I like to say that I sell books every single day, and up until July that was almost always true. But, during the past month I had two days where the numbers on my sales reports did not change. Now, I realize I’ve been a very lucky guy and there are authors who haven’t been as fortunate as I have, but I’ve kinda gotten used to a certain consistency, and last month it just wasn’t there. For two days my sales dashboard remained dormant and no one downloaded any of my three books. As my author friends know, this also affects your rankings on Amazon. With each hour of non-sales, my rankings got farther and farther away from the coveted top 100, 1,000, 10,000 spots. My usual ranking for my most popular book, My Temporary Life, is in the 10,000 to 40,000 range but I watched as it fell all the way to the 80,000 mark. Fortunately, it didn’t last, and the numbers started increasing after the short delay, and my rankings climbed back up. Continue reading “How to Stop Selling Books Immediately”