Part 4 of My Publishing Journey: Sales

Yes, it’s wonderful that I was able to achieve my dream of becoming a published author, but dammit, now I want my book to sell. I have no problem admitting that I want people to buy my books, and I want to be able to make a living doing this. So in order for me to do that, I need to have sales. I have seen many interviews with authors who say they simply wanted to write a book, and the fact that people are buying it at all is a bonus. Well, I’m not going to lie to you and say that, because it is important for me to sell as many copies as I can, and to have my stories reach as many people as possible. And if you’re a new author, and you're being honest with yourself, it should be important to you too.

So here are some sales numbers for One Pink Line during her first few months in publication.

November 2011:   Kindle, 141 copies

                           Paperback, 74 copies

                           (easily 20 of the paperbacks went to my mother-in-law)

December 2011:   Kindle, 182 copies

                           Paperback, 49 copies

January 2012:      Kindle, 602 copies

                           Paperback, 34 copies

                           Nook, 36 copies

February 2012:     Kindle, 1158 copies

                           Paperback, 19

                           Nook, 32

March 2012:         Kindle, 1892 copies

                           Paperback, 14

                           Nook, 25

What is the point of posted sales numbers? Well, I promise you it’s not to make me look cool and accomplished, b/c even though there are writers with lower numbers, there are certainly writers with much higher ones too. It’s quite simply to show new authors interested in self-publishing, that it’s possible…with a shitload lot of hard work. I also think it’s interesting to see how much more Kindle sales I’ve had than any other format.

Now for the magic potion that got me those sales…

It doesn’t exist…but that doesn’t mean you can’t concoct your own like I did. It goes back to a lot of hard work. When I tell you that I spend no less than 5-6 hours a day in front of my computer, networking, posting, tweeting, reaching out to bloggers, Pinning things, hanging out on Goodreads, researching, reading articles, etc., I am not exaggerating. It’s exhausting, but it can pay off. In my next post, I’m going to begin to walk you through some of the things I’ve done that I believe have helped me gain an audience for my book.

Thanks for reading what I have to say, and please join the site!

-D