9 Months of Indie Publishing

 
I uploaded my first indie-published ebook, the short story "Nostalgia", in September 2010. Since then, I've released 3 novels, 5 collections of short stories, and 9 more short stories.
 
(NOTE: I didn't *write* all that between now and then. I can be prolific, but I'm not superhuman.:-) )
 
My biggest (and most consistent) seller so far is The Girl Who Ran With Horses, followed (distantly) by The Summoning Fire, and then Nasty, Brutish & Short Short.
 
That said, my biggest seller, which I still call "Horse Girl", only (finally) crossed the 100-copies-sold marker in May.
 
Here are my sales numbers for all books as of 1 June 2011:
 




Total Books Sold


214












Novels







The Summoning Fire


31




The Girl Who Ran With Horses


111




The Door to the Sky


4












Collections







Nasty, Brutish & Short Short


18




Serene Morning & Other Tales


7




Demon Candy


4




The World Wears Thin


1




Brain Freeze & Other Stories


1












Short Stories







Nostalgia


9




Baptism


9




Curtain Call


2




Insanity


5




A Fine Mess


4




The Perfect Hiding Place


2




Evanescent


2




Sweet Tooth


2




Effie Two-Five


1




Secondhand Coffin


1




 
In general, being available longer means more total sales for a title. You really see this with the short stories. You can spot which ones have been out the longest. However, "Nostalgia" went 4 months before having its first sale, and Horse Girl came out two months later than The Summoning Fire.
 
Break-down by month and type of book:
 








Short Stories


Collections


Novels


Total




2010-09


0


1


6


7




2010-10


0


6


10


16




2010-11


1


5


7


13




2010-12


2


0


37


39






















2011-01


4


2


30


36




2011-02


7


7


13


27




2011-03


8


4


17


29




2011-04


7


3


12


22




2011-05


8


3


14


25




 
NOTE: The March, April & May numbers aren't "final". April & May will both improve as Smashwords's sluggish reporting continues to trickle forth data. I'm reasonably certain that everything *before* March is set and won't change.
 
I don't know that I have any lessons to impart.
 
My review queries for The Summoning Fire netted me about 10 reviews (and cost me quite a few more free copies than that), but never had any measurable effect on sales. My review queries for Horse Girl netted me fewer reviews, but–and this is a big but–sales for Horse Girl started *before* any reviews were posted, and have been about a consistent dozen or so per month since February (after selling 60 copies its first 2 months). I haven't done review queries for anything released since then. Which might account for Demon Candy's (no reviews) and The Door to the Sky's (1 review) poor performance. Or might not. I never requested reviews for Nasty, Brutish & Short Short either. Or any of the short stories.
 
The simple truth is: I'm still largely invisible as a fiction author. Until that changes, not much changes.
 
With each book or story I put out, I become a shade less invisible. How much less varies by the book or story. At least the effect is (mostly) cumulative so each new book gets to build on the ones already out there.
 
I have 2 novels that will come out over the summer. One of them (GoSH1) will probably help bolster sales of Horse Girl. The other (Gunwitch) might bolster sales of either The Summoning Fire or The Door to the Sky. Or maybe I'm wrong both counts.
 
I guess we'll see.
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
Now Available – "The Perfect Hiding Place"Now Available – "Insanity"Now Available – THE DOOR TO THE SKY