May was a rough month for me. Don't get me wrong - it was still a great month. Every month that goes by since I first decided to self-publish has been like a dream come true. I love the freedom that self-publishing gives to me. I love creating the stories I want to write and never having to worry that an agent or editor won't like them. I only have to think about the reader. It's awesome.
On the other hand, writing books this fast isn't easy. I fully intended to get Book 4 out before the end of May, but here it is June 6 and the book still isn't finished. More about that later. Today is about sales numbers. A few very exciting things happened in May. First of all, I got new book covers!! The new covers definitely invigorated my sales numbers. What was looking like a rough month turned around in the last week to be a decent month without a lot of drop in sales despite the fact that I didn't get a new book out yet. The covers were designed by Robin Ludwig Design, Inc. She did an amazing job, and I think the new look has had a great impact on the way people view the series.
The second exciting thing that happened is that I passed 20,000 books sold! That's spread between all three books, but it's still super exciting. I am hoping once Book 4 comes out, I will pass 25,000 books total pretty quickly. So, here are my sales numbers for the month of May:
BEAUTIFUL DEMONS - Book 1 of the PHD series - $0.99 (10/31/10)
- Amazon's Kindle Store: 1306 US sales + 35 UK + 0 DE = 1341
- Barnes & Noble: 254
- Smashwords: 3
- Total: 1598
- Amazon's Kindle Store: 1071 US sales + 24 UK + 1 DE = 1096
- Barnes & Noble: 128
- Smashwords: 5
- Total: 1229
- Amazon's Kindle Store: 986 US sales + 17 UK sales + 1 DE = 1004
- Barnes & Noble: 108
- Smashwords: 5
- Total: 1117
Total Self-Publishing Sales Over 7 months: 20,967
The month ended up being only a couple hundred less than April, which I think is great since I haven't had a new release since February. Book 4 in my series will definitely be out in June, so hopefully I should see a burst of sales from that book's release. Then, I am still hoping to release Book 5 by the end of August. I am so anxious to get started with my next series as well. I love writing and the more I write, the more I love what I do. Creating stories is so much fun when you have freedom.
Side Note: I'll be speaking on self-publishing at the local RWA chapter meeting, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, this upcoming Saturday. For more information, visit the HCRW website. If you are local to the Raleigh, NC area, anyone is welcome to attend!
4 comments:
Hey, Sarra. These numbers are great. I'm hoping to catch up to you someday.
My numbers for May for were about 50 total for both LT and LT Mistake.
I'm hoping to have both The Knowing and The Calling out by the end of next week, and I'm really hoping it makes a difference.
Lucie j.
That's great Sarra!! I really hope this month rocks!!! I can't wait for the new book to release, when I have a rough day like today it's definitely something I look forward to... :)
L.J. I bet you will see really nice spikes with these next books coming out! Your writing is so good. I know you'll see some great success if you just stick with it.
Melissa, thank you for your sweet comment! June is going really well so far. I hope the sales can continue to stay steady up until Book 4 comes out. It's so awesome to hear that people are actually looking forward to the next book. It kind of blows my mind, but is super exciting at the same time!
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