Thursday, April 26, 2018

More Important Than A Birthday

I gave myself a $1,400 birthday present when I paid for an ad on the front page of the Daily Breeze to hustle my book on my birthday.  You remember it ...




If you live outside of the South Bay (Torrance, Palos Verdes, Manhattan, Hermosa and Redondo Beaches) you won't have seen it.  The ad lady said my buy covers 25,000 subscribers plus kiosk copies.  That works out to a per person cost of 0.065.  Very cheap until you remember the $1,400 part.

With a $4 royalty per $12 book, I have to (somehow) sell 350 copies to recoup the ad cost.  

But take a look at these numbers - amazon.com keeps a list of sold books and their place on the Amazon charts.  From a rather dismal start for the book in the overall list - in the 4 millions, and 1,300,00 or so in Humor Books ...

The morning after the ad ran yesterday, here were the rankings:
Overall - # 128,489
Humor - # 565!  565!  I broke the 1,000 barrier!

Yesterday's royalties were $36.90
8 a.m. today - $44.80

Amazon doesn't issue a royalties check until royalties are a minimal $100.

I would stress again - writing is a business.  All very well, to lean back, scan your masterpiece and think, "Damn!  I wrote the ass end out of that!"  Now market it!  

All of us have a birthday once a year (ho hum) but tracking book sales can be a birthday (for joy) every day.  

No comments: