David Gaughran's Blog, page 24

Numbers For August: Sales & Revenue Rise Again

Regular readers will know that I post my monthly numbers in terms of sales and dollars.

Today, I have August's numbers for you. If you have an aversion to sales talk or wallet peeking, look away now.

I have just returned from vacation, and before I get stuck into the numbers, I would like to thank all my guest posters who kept things ticking over in my absence with some fine articles.

So, to the numbers.

In short, as you can see, August was my best month to date.

May: 153

June: 78

July: 253

August...

Bob Mayer: Publishing Is The Wild West – Danger, But Possibility Too

I've spoken about Bob Mayer many times here. And if you have any sense, you will be reading his blog regularly.

He has seen it all and sold millions of books the old fashioned way. But now he is publishing himself – and other authors too – to huge success. I invited him along to share some of his thoughts.

Here's Bob.

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I received an email from an editor in Italy who publishes some of my books responding to a question I'd asked:  What was the state of e-publishing in his country?  He replied...

Crowdsourcing Book Promotion: Scott Nicholson's Social Experiment With $$$

I heard what Scott Nicholson had planned for September a couple of weeks ago, and I was intrigued.

Ok, I wasn't just intrigued, I was jealous. It's a superb idea and I think it's going to work very well for him. Scott is very clever, always looking for an angle, and we are fortunate to be able to stand on the sidelines and watch and learn.

Without further ado (can you tell I'm in the middle of writing a wedding speech), here's Scott.

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Indie authors have the same tools—content creation...

"Free" Really Can Make You Money – A Dialogue With Moses Siregar III

There is a lot of talk at the moment about free books, whether they cannibalize your sales or those of other authors, and whether all content will be free in the future.

I've always argued that "free" can drive up your sales, but it really needs to be part of an overall strategy.

In July, fantasy author Moses Siregar III wrote a fascinating guest post on a radical approach he was taking with "free".

He also promised to come back after his novel was out to tell us all if it worked or not. We...

Why Writers Will Survive the Impending Zombie Apocalypse – Guest Post by Shéa MacLeod

Shéa MacLeod is an indie author who doesn't need to be told to spend most of her time writing. She published the first of the Sunwalker Saga urban fantasy series – Kissed By Darkness - in July, and has already released the sequel Kissed By Fire.

Not one to rest on her laurels, she is already preparing the final book in the trilogy for release while simultaneously writing two further books.

She is taking time out of her frenetic schedule today to tell us all to stop worrying – apparently...

Guest Post By Mark Williams: Urban Writing Myths and the New Renaissance

Mark Williams has been all over the bestseller lists, but you may not recognize his name. That's because he is one half of a writing duo called Saffina Desforges.

Their debut novel Sugar & Spice was a smash hit in the UK, with the controversial crime thriller racking up 100,000 sales. They haven't broken out yet in the US to the same extent, but the release of their second novel Snow White - the first in the Rose Red series – could change all that.

Here's what Mark had to say about urban...

I'm Leaving You

There is no other way to tell you this, and I wish it could be otherwise, but, I'm leaving you. It's not you, it's me. I need a break.

Fear not! I'm only going on holidays, and in two short weeks, I will be back – tanned, rejuvenated, and with only minor, repairable damage done to my liver.

While I am in Portugal, I will be handing my blog over to a series of superb guest posters. I don't want to spoil the surprise, but I will say that you are in for a treat.

Until then, you can read my regular ...

Sneak Preview: Chapter 2 of A Storm Hits Valparaíso

Last week, I gave you a preview of Chapter 1 of my forthcoming South American historical adventure A Storm Hits Valparaíso where you met Catalina, a feisty tavern-keeper's daughter in the Chilean port-town of Valparaíso.

In Chapter 2, the action switches to the other side of the world to introduce another of the seven main characters.

While Catalina was my invention, Thomas Cochrane was very real and has been the basis for several famous fictional characters, such as Patrick O'Brien's Jack...

Bob Mayer On Traditional Publishing, The Future, And Selling Direct To Readers

Bob Mayer has been on the New York Times Bestseller list twice. His Atlantis series alone sold over a million copies for his publisher.

But now he has the rights back and is self-publishing everything, making more than he ever did before.

When we talk about indie success stories, the same three names are always mentioned: Hocking, Konrath, and Locke.

While they all deserve that billing, there are others who deserve to be mentioned in the same breath.

One of those is Bob Mayer. A lot of...

Marketing Children's Books – Advice Needed

A friend of mine – Silvina De Vita – has self-published her first book Emilio – A Picture Book For Children.

She both wrote and illustrated it, and it just went live yesterday.

Silvina is very new to the world of self-publishing, and I was giving her some advice on how to go about it.

Sometimes images don't look great in e-books, and the placement of the text in relation to the image can be tricky.

Silvina took an interesting approach where the text is actually incorporated into the images...