Stephanie Erickson's Blog, page 12
December 7, 2012
Fun Friday
Yesterday proved to be my best sales day ever! 55 sales! I can't believe it! My ranking has been in the low 2,000s all day and I am thrilled! Keep it coming guys and don't forget to leave a review when you're done reading!
Today I treated myself to a Christmas pedicure to celebrate the book's success! :-)
I made good progress with The Cure yesterday. It's still rather daunting to be a mere 1.36% finished with the book! But, you gotta start somewhere! :-)
What I'm Reading: I have to say Cinder is quickly turning out to be one of the best books I've read in quite awhile. Last night I sat down and before I knew it it was time for bed and I'd read like 120 pages! The story is so engaging, and even though it's a Cinderella story, it's very original. I'm loving it so far!
Today's Agenda: Another 1,000 words on The Cure! Oh, and as always, stalk my sales numbers.
Today I treated myself to a Christmas pedicure to celebrate the book's success! :-)
I made good progress with The Cure yesterday. It's still rather daunting to be a mere 1.36% finished with the book! But, you gotta start somewhere! :-)
What I'm Reading: I have to say Cinder is quickly turning out to be one of the best books I've read in quite awhile. Last night I sat down and before I knew it it was time for bed and I'd read like 120 pages! The story is so engaging, and even though it's a Cinderella story, it's very original. I'm loving it so far!
Today's Agenda: Another 1,000 words on The Cure! Oh, and as always, stalk my sales numbers.
December 6, 2012
A Mysterious Dip in Ranking
Yesterday was one of my best sales days ever! I did 39 sales! WOO! But, my sales ranking dropped nearly 1,000 points. How is this possible? I can only think of two things. Either the 3 star review I received yesterday bumped me down (I'd like to think 1 out of 11 reviews wouldn't effect the ranking quite that much), or everyone else had a slightly better day than me. Either way, I'm still ranking well above 5,000, which is awesome! And so far today, my sales have been great! Here's hoping I can get back in to the 2,000 range soon!
Took parts of the Jimmy Jean story to both writer's groups and they were very well received. A few more revisions and it should be ready to send to the editor! And, I'm ready to start drafting the new book too! Just debating about when! The longer I wait, the less time I have! Maybe today if I can get the energy.
Today's Agenda: Undecided. Haha, sounds like it's gonna be a productive day!
PS I'm attempting to add a word count widget to the sidebar here, so everyone can see my progress on the first draft. Keep me accountable people! :-)
Took parts of the Jimmy Jean story to both writer's groups and they were very well received. A few more revisions and it should be ready to send to the editor! And, I'm ready to start drafting the new book too! Just debating about when! The longer I wait, the less time I have! Maybe today if I can get the energy.
Today's Agenda: Undecided. Haha, sounds like it's gonna be a productive day!
PS I'm attempting to add a word count widget to the sidebar here, so everyone can see my progress on the first draft. Keep me accountable people! :-)
December 5, 2012
Very Productive Day
Man! Yesterday was another great day! 38 sales on the book, and my ranking is holding around 3,000!! I can't believe it! I'm so excited! ::new car, here I come!::
In other news, I finished a detailed outline of the new book! How detailed you ask? 14 pages of detail! Hoping to get 60-75,000 words out of this one. And, since I have the book all planned out, in theory it shouldn't take me as long to write...in theory. My goal is to have the first draft done before the baby is born. That gives me 15 weeks exactly...that means roughly 5,000 words per week. Yikes. We shall see, lol.
Agenda for today: Writer's Group!
In other news, I finished a detailed outline of the new book! How detailed you ask? 14 pages of detail! Hoping to get 60-75,000 words out of this one. And, since I have the book all planned out, in theory it shouldn't take me as long to write...in theory. My goal is to have the first draft done before the baby is born. That gives me 15 weeks exactly...that means roughly 5,000 words per week. Yikes. We shall see, lol.
Agenda for today: Writer's Group!
December 4, 2012
Exciting Day!!
What a great day yesterday was!! The Blackout sold 35 copies, and I hit 300 sales in 3 weeks!!! Loving this pace! Thank you everyone who's bought it! Now, write reviews! :-)
I also finished the first draft of the Jimmy Jean story! Gonna let it rest for a few days, then look it over again and do some tweaking before I send it off to the editor.
This morning, I approved the final proof of the print edition!! I sure hope there aren't any glaring errors I missed, cuz it's in print now! :-o It should be available on Amazon soon. (OMG!) No one tell my Dad, cuz he's getting it for Christmas! ;-)
On Today's Agenda: Outline for the new novel! Start thinking about another short story idea...
I also finished the first draft of the Jimmy Jean story! Gonna let it rest for a few days, then look it over again and do some tweaking before I send it off to the editor.
This morning, I approved the final proof of the print edition!! I sure hope there aren't any glaring errors I missed, cuz it's in print now! :-o It should be available on Amazon soon. (OMG!) No one tell my Dad, cuz he's getting it for Christmas! ;-)
On Today's Agenda: Outline for the new novel! Start thinking about another short story idea...
December 3, 2012
Manic Monday and What I'm Reading
How was everyone's weekend? It was AWESOME for The Blackout!!! Saturday and Sunday sales topped 54 units, and propelled me to a ranking of 3,942 this morning!!! I can't believe it! Thank you everyone! Also, I got my tenth review!! That puts me at 8 5 star reviews, 1 4 star and 1 3 star!!! Doing amazing! Keep it coming!
What I'm reading: So, I thought I'd do a new segment. I finished reading Justin Cronin's latest book, The Twelve. I have to say, I was disappointed with it. The Passage was so amazing, and this one just felt too long, super disjointed, and left me wondering what the purpose of the last book in the trilogy would be. I'm undecided if the book simply fell victim to the trilogy's middle child curse, or if it was legitimately bad. I'm also undecided if I'll read book 3 at this point. Apparently I have 2 years before the next one will be out, giving me plenty of time to decide!
After that letdown, I started reading Cinder, by Marissa Mayer. Now, that is quite good so far! I'm only about 25 pages into it, but I'm loving it! Very different and engaging!
Today's agenda: Work on Jimmy Jean as long as possible!
What I'm reading: So, I thought I'd do a new segment. I finished reading Justin Cronin's latest book, The Twelve. I have to say, I was disappointed with it. The Passage was so amazing, and this one just felt too long, super disjointed, and left me wondering what the purpose of the last book in the trilogy would be. I'm undecided if the book simply fell victim to the trilogy's middle child curse, or if it was legitimately bad. I'm also undecided if I'll read book 3 at this point. Apparently I have 2 years before the next one will be out, giving me plenty of time to decide!
After that letdown, I started reading Cinder, by Marissa Mayer. Now, that is quite good so far! I'm only about 25 pages into it, but I'm loving it! Very different and engaging!
Today's agenda: Work on Jimmy Jean as long as possible!
November 30, 2012
Fun Friday!
What an awesome week this has been!! My sales have been phenomenal! Yesterday I sold 29 copies of the book! Thank you everyone! And let me remind you to please leave reviews when you're finished reading! :-) Coming into the weekend, I'm hoping for even better sales numbers as more people take to their computers and shop!
I was also able to work on the Jimmy Jean story yesterday, and feel it's getting better! Still not sure where it's going, but that's fine by me!
Goals for today: Order a proof of the print version, maybe get a little done on Jimmy Jean (we'll see), read, spend time with my husband who's home for the weekend!! Have a great weekend everyone! Buy/gift The Blackout! ;-)
I was also able to work on the Jimmy Jean story yesterday, and feel it's getting better! Still not sure where it's going, but that's fine by me!
Goals for today: Order a proof of the print version, maybe get a little done on Jimmy Jean (we'll see), read, spend time with my husband who's home for the weekend!! Have a great weekend everyone! Buy/gift The Blackout! ;-)
November 29, 2012
Writer's Group, Sales, and Other Thursday Things
Well, I debuted the first part of my short story about Jimmy at both Writer's Groups today. Overall, it was pretty well received considering it's such an early draft. So that's good! I'm encouraged to keep working on it anyway!
Sales ended up being really good yesterday after an extremely slow start to the day. By 9pm, I'd only made 3 sales, and when I went to bet at around 10:30pm, I was up to 5. So, I resolved that the honeymoon was over, and I'd have to settle for 5 sales per day on average. But, when I got up I'd made 8 sales overnight, putting me at 13 total sales for the day!! What a relief! Thank you guys! Today, I'm up to 5 already! And (knock on wood) no more returns! Let's keep this trend going!
I even got 2 more 5 star reviews today! Even better! Only need 2 more reviews to make my goal before I run the free promo. So keep those reviews coming!
Today's agenda: FINISH polishing the print edition cover art, work on the Jimmy Jean story, and read a bit! Ready? GO
Sales ended up being really good yesterday after an extremely slow start to the day. By 9pm, I'd only made 3 sales, and when I went to bet at around 10:30pm, I was up to 5. So, I resolved that the honeymoon was over, and I'd have to settle for 5 sales per day on average. But, when I got up I'd made 8 sales overnight, putting me at 13 total sales for the day!! What a relief! Thank you guys! Today, I'm up to 5 already! And (knock on wood) no more returns! Let's keep this trend going!
I even got 2 more 5 star reviews today! Even better! Only need 2 more reviews to make my goal before I run the free promo. So keep those reviews coming!
Today's agenda: FINISH polishing the print edition cover art, work on the Jimmy Jean story, and read a bit! Ready? GO
November 28, 2012
Great Day Yesterday, Slow Start Today
Well, even though I'd raised my price back to $2.99 yesterday I still sold 16 books! Hooray! Not sure how that happened, but I'll take it! However, I haven't sold any yet today, so go
buy my book
people!
Oddly, I had 3 returns yesterday. I had no idea you could even return a Kindle book, did you? Apparently, Amazon's official policy is you can return an ebook within 7 days. That gives people enough time to read the dang thing, and return it! Additionally, Amazon provides no reason for the returns. Did they accidentally hit the buy it now button? Or did they get it twice? Or did they just not like it? Or maybe they did like it, and wanted their money back because they're being cheap? Who knows!
Barnes and Noble has no such policy. They have a blanket no returns accepted on Nook books. As an author, and a reader for that matter, I like this policy. I can't return a paperback I bought, just because I didn't like it. And even if I didn't like a book I read, I never regret supporting an author (well, maybe not never. The Historian was just so bad).
Anyway, I'm hoping today's sales are at least half as good as yesterday!!! Fingers crossed!
Oddly, I had 3 returns yesterday. I had no idea you could even return a Kindle book, did you? Apparently, Amazon's official policy is you can return an ebook within 7 days. That gives people enough time to read the dang thing, and return it! Additionally, Amazon provides no reason for the returns. Did they accidentally hit the buy it now button? Or did they get it twice? Or did they just not like it? Or maybe they did like it, and wanted their money back because they're being cheap? Who knows!
Barnes and Noble has no such policy. They have a blanket no returns accepted on Nook books. As an author, and a reader for that matter, I like this policy. I can't return a paperback I bought, just because I didn't like it. And even if I didn't like a book I read, I never regret supporting an author (well, maybe not never. The Historian was just so bad).
Anyway, I'm hoping today's sales are at least half as good as yesterday!!! Fingers crossed!
November 27, 2012
Weekend Results
Well, my Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale is over. And, I'm super glad I decided to extend the sale through Monday! That ended up being my biggest day! I had about 68 sales over the 4 day period, and ended the weekend at 6,932 for ranking! Yesterday alone, I made 29 sales, which really brought my ranking up! Thank you everyone!
Now, the challenge will be keeping the pace now that my price is back at $2.99. Tips/suggestions for making it over the hump are welcome!!
Yesterday I was very productive and made some good progress on my Blackout short story, finished reading Priceless and left a review (fingers crossed for a shiny new Kindle Fire, lol), but I didn't get to work on the paperback of The Blackout, so I might have to buckle down today and try to get
Now, the challenge will be keeping the pace now that my price is back at $2.99. Tips/suggestions for making it over the hump are welcome!!
Yesterday I was very productive and made some good progress on my Blackout short story, finished reading Priceless and left a review (fingers crossed for a shiny new Kindle Fire, lol), but I didn't get to work on the paperback of The Blackout, so I might have to buckle down today and try to get
November 26, 2012
Promos, Another Giveaway, and Weekend Stats
Cynthia Shepp
was kind enough to promote The Blackout on her blog, and Facebook Page, which reaches over 700 people!! She's also offering a giveaway of the book! So finger's crossed!
I decided to leave the sale up for one more day, since today is Cyber Monday, and people will supposedly be shopping online today. Let's hope it helps! So far, I've made 3 sales today! Keep 'em coming!
My weekend ranking went as high as 10,000 or so, and as low as 14,000. So, it seems the sale helped, but not quite as much as I wanted. It's ok though, because it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!
Goals for today: Work on the print verpend at least an hour on a new writing project, finish Shannon Mayer's new book and leave a review to be entered in the Kindle Fire giveaway, stalk my sales, and relax!
I decided to leave the sale up for one more day, since today is Cyber Monday, and people will supposedly be shopping online today. Let's hope it helps! So far, I've made 3 sales today! Keep 'em coming!
My weekend ranking went as high as 10,000 or so, and as low as 14,000. So, it seems the sale helped, but not quite as much as I wanted. It's ok though, because it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!
Goals for today: Work on the print verpend at least an hour on a new writing project, finish Shannon Mayer's new book and leave a review to be entered in the Kindle Fire giveaway, stalk my sales, and relax!
