So I ran a few numbers after reading my buddy Derek’s blog this morning (and you can check out more from Derek in the back of Back in Black, a preview of his novel Dead Dwarves Don’t Dance is part of the Bonus Content) and his sales report led me to crunch a few numbers of my very own. I don’t have exact numbers on gross sales, or on exact numbers of copies sold across all distribution channels, so my figures aren’t exact (which in the world of figures would tell me that they were largely meaningless) but there are a couple of things to note.
1) As of the end of February (and probably a hair before that, truth be told) The Chosen is now in the black! I spent a little over $500 getting that book made and ready to go, and I’ve made back just a hair more than that. And I calculate this using profit on copies I hand-deliver, not the total sell price, so it’s a pretty solid number. This means that no matter what happens with that book, I will make profit on it forever and ever, amen. Even if all I do is sell the 20-30 ebooks a month I’m selling now, that’s around $50/month for a book that I’m done working on. For nothing. For ever. And ever is a very long time. I figured it would take at least a year to make back my money, so to do so in half that time makes me very happy.
2) As of the end of March, good lord willing and the Creek don’t rise (which actually references the Creek indians, not a stream), I will have made back all the money I spent on Hard Day’s Knight. That means that I will have two books making me money for ever and ever, and I don’t have to do anything else with them. That’s a pretty good feeling, frankly.
Of course it would be a better feeling if the Amazon remittance that came through yesterday was enough to put a tank of gas in the Silverado, but it was enough to pay the gas bill, so that’s something. And Back in Black has moved a few copies, so hopefully there will start to be some momentum going.
Now – a favor. If you’ve read any of my books and enjoyed them, please go to Amazon and write an honest review. It doesn’t have to be very long, but reviews are the currency of the realm, and they do help me sell books. So far I’ve gotten some great ones, but I could really use a few more to get me to the tipping point. And don’t forget, purchases and review get you bonus entries into my Win a Kindle contest!
