Ros Clarke's Blog, page 29

Sales report update

Royalty statement from Entangled came today and I am both a bit disappointed and quite encouraged.

The Christmas story sold 230 copies in just over 10 weeks in Dec, Jan and Feb. The Valentines story sold 293 copies in the last 2 weeks of Feb. I haven’t got the sales figures for March, April and May yet, but I’m pretty sure that the Valentine story sold well throughout March and April. So for the payment period to the end of February, I sold 527 books, which is at the lower end of the ballpark I’d been hoping for, but not too far off. What’s really encouraging, obviously, is the sales for the Valentines story, and I’d love to know how many of those I’ve sold in total.

The contract for these short stories has two royalty rates, depending on where the book is bought, because of the high cut that some retailers take for low priced items. At Amazon, for instance, 70c of the 99c purchase price goes to Amazon. I get 20c from sales made there. For sales at some other retailers I get 40c. I had been hoping for a fairly even split between the 20c and 40c purchases, but in fact only a small handful (about 20 copies in total) got the 40c rate. So the total royalty amount is less than I’d been hoping for, but now I know to only expect the 20c royalties and count any 40c royalties as a bonus. With the title coming out in July, the price point is $2.99 which means that Amazon take only 30% cut, so all the copies sold will be at the 40% rate for me, i.e. $1.20 per copy.

I am not yet ready to retire on my royalties, but I’m excited to see real money appearing and I’m confident that the amounts involved will only continue to grow.

Beautiful blanket

In what I laughingly call my ‘spare’ time, I like to knit. In the last few years, I’ve become involved in a wonderful knitting fundraiser for the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (which some of you may know as Doctors Without Borders). From time to time we auction beautiful handknitted items, with the proceeds going to MSF.

At the moment we have an ebay auction running for a stunning baby blanket knitted by one of our supporters. It’s a gorgeous, lacy blanket, in a wool/silk mix that is incredibly soft and warm. The yarn is kingfisher blue, with streaks of orange, green and yellow – perfect for a brightly coloured nursery.

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Please bid if you can and please do pass on the details of the auction. The MSF site is here, the fundraiser is here, and the auction itself is .

Thanks!

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Sales report

It’s been ages since I’ve done one of these. At the end of 2012, the sales of the two self-published books had more or less reduced to nothing. A couple every month, perhaps. So it was with some surprise that I recently checked my Smashwords profile to find that I’ve sold nearly 100 books there this year.

(Smashwords payments)

Paid 30th Oct: $35.23

Paid 31st Jan: $24.63

Paid 30th April: $15.74

Balance on 27th May: $74.37

(Amazon royalties – I never know when they’ll actually be paid)

To 30th Oct: $62.65

To 31st Jan: $40.60

To 30th April: $30.60

To 27th May: $8.10

Note that the first three numbers are for three months’ sales, and the fourth is for less than a month. I anticipate that the Amazon sales for the three month period will be around $30 again. Total royalties: $291.92 = £186.39. That’s still not nearly enough to pay for getting a flat tyre on holiday, but it’s not nothing.

People who analyse these things always say that the best way to increase sales of one book is to write another book. I think that’s really true. Since I’ve had the two short books out with Entangled, sales of the self-published books have gone up. In particular, the sales via Smashwords at Barnes and Noble have shot up. I’ve sold a handful through Smashwords at Apple and Sony, but 90% of sales there have come from B&N. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Table For One was in the top 100 contemporary romances at B&N for a while. The new covers have helped too – I’ve had sales every day since I changed them.

My next book is due out with Entangled in mid-July. I’m looking forward to seeing what effect that has on the sales of all the others.

Everything in the garden is lovely

First flowers ever on the wisteria! So excited about this:

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Not weeds after all:

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A wall of clematis:

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Bees enjoying the lavender:

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The gnome likes his shady spot:

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Bedding plants, herbs and lettuces in the Belfast sinks:

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A new path through the gravel:

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Holiday snaps

Away

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New covers for old books!

I have given my two self-published books new covers.

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I was very fond of the old covers, but it must be said, the books have not sold by the million. So I’m trying a different look which I think signals ‘Romance’ much more obviously. Apparently, pictures of couples on the cover always helps. So we’ll see.

Another little project

After the quilt, I had some leftover bits of the laminated cotton which I didn’t want to waste. Initially, I thought of making a tote bag, but I really wanted a project that would make the most of the waterproofness of the laminate. Plus I have a million tote bags. Also, a million wash bags. And coin purses. But then I thought of the perfect thing.

This is it. Doesn’t look much, does it? (It’s not. It’s really easy to make.)

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From this side, there’s a little clue as to what it’s for.

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Have you worked it out yet? Ta dah!

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A new kindle cover, with built in straps for reading:

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I’ve been using a knitted slip case but, obviously, that wasn’t waterproof and the kindle tended to slip out of it. This is padded and lined, with a zip to keep the kindle safe, and the laminate to protect it from spillages in my handbag. I love it! If only the ric rac lined up better. Oh, well, it works. I mostly used this tutorial but without the quilting. I did try the quilting, but the laminate really didn’t like it.

#17 = done

New quilt:

It’s backed with a laminated cotton, to make it suitable for use outside:

I really love how this has turned out. Some of the free motion quilting is a bit dodgy, but if you don’t look too closely, it’s fine. Perfect for sitting outside on a sunny day. If we ever have any of those…

It pays to be on Twitter

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I follow the lovely Heidi Rice on Twitter. Today she tweeted about a competition to win a dance lesson with Ian Waite and Natalie Lowe… tomorrow! After a quick review of my plans for tomorrow, I entered. And won! And so I am off to London tomorrow for tea at Claridges and a dance lesson with the Strictly stars.

Now, what shall I wear? Sequins, obviously.