Monthly Sales Numbers of an Indie Author - Month #1

Yay! My first book, BEAUTIFUL DEMONS, has officially been out for one month! Technically, the book came out on Amazon on the 30th of October, but to make book-keeping easier, I'm just going to lump those 2 Oct. days with November. I have decided to write a monthly sales numbers blog, just for any interested parties who are also trying to self-publish online and want to see what's possible. Hopefully as the months go on and more books of mine come out, the numbers will continue to grow and grow!

So here's the scoop for Month #1 of my life as a self-published author. In the hopes of trying to set up a good reporting method now that will still make sense when I have multiple books published, I'm going to list the book title and a super-brief description, each sales outlet where my book is available, the date the book became available for purchase, and finally, how many copies were sold through that outlet for the month.

BEAUTIFUL DEMONS - a young adult fantasy book about cheerleaders who are witches

• Amazon's Kindle Store - Available 10/30/10 - Sold 34 copies
• Smashwords - Available 10/29/10 - Sold 6 copies
• Barnes and Noble - Available 11/02/10 - Sold 99 copies

Total November Sales: 139

So far, my books are only available in digital format. I priced the book at only $0.99. I am hoping to add print copies soon, but right now I'm focusing on getting a second book available as soon as possible.

My numbers are definitely modest, no doubt about it. On the other hand, I'm extremely proud of this first month. My only marketing so far has been several mentions on twitter, a few blog posts here on my own blog, some time spent on the Kindle user forums, and basically telling my friends and family to tell everyone they know. I wasn't expecting to sell more than 50 copies to be honest with you, so the fact that I'm closer to 150 is awesome. By the time I'm writing this, I've already sold 147 copies!

Moving ahead, my plan is to produce quality books fast. Some other Indie authors have encouraged me to spend several months marketing a book before it comes out, but I have a different theory right now of what will work best for my career. Content is King. Without a publishing house backing me, I think the fastest way to build reader trust and confidence is to have several books out and available for download. Sure, lots of people self-publish one book. But how many people continue to crank out book after book? Not nearly as many. Readers today want content, so my plan is to concentrate on getting content out there as fast as I can. Obviously, I want them to be good, but I think I can do both!

I want to ramp up my marketing as well. I need to work on getting more Twitter followers, guest blog posts on popular book blogs, reviews of my book up on various sites, and I want to spend time working on some SEO. Each month I plan to ramp up with more and more marketing until I feel I have a firm foundation. My second book, INNER DEMONS, is currently in edits and is scheduled for release around 12/20/10!

The decision to self-publish was a difficult one to make, but now that I am doing it, I couldn't be happier. For me, this is 100% the right path. There's no waiting, no one telling me what I can or can't write, no one changing my story or slapping a cover on it that I don't agree with. I'm in complete control of my product, and I love every minute of what I'm doing. Month #1 was a great start, and I'm looking forward to seeing those numbers go up every month.