January got off to quite the good start for me.
Right out of the gate I got a few editing jobs, both of which enabled me to do my own writing for the first couple weeks of this month without a cloud of money worries hovering over my head.
When you have peace of mind like that you can forgo crappier copywriting, content marketing, eBook, and similar jobs.
All in all I was able to write 118,443 words, had 21 projects from people to work on, and published 3 of my own books on Amazon.
After the first couple weeks of the month I got some more good work and it ended up being a very profitable month for me, the most since October. Once again I’m reminded that it was a wise choice to begin working for myself and not a company, governmental agency, or small business – I make a lot more!
That said, I don’t want to get too much into my various jobs because I’ll have another installment of Adventures in SEO soon. This one should be a real hum-dinger!
So what else did I do this month? Well, there was lots of excitement, so let’s just dive right into it.
Right out of the gate I got a few editing jobs, both of which enabled me to do my own writing for the first couple weeks of this month without a cloud of money worries hovering over my head.
When you have peace of mind like that you can forgo crappier copywriting, content marketing, eBook, and similar jobs.
All in all I was able to write 118,443 words, had 21 projects from people to work on, and published 3 of my own books on Amazon.
After the first couple weeks of the month I got some more good work and it ended up being a very profitable month for me, the most since October. Once again I’m reminded that it was a wise choice to begin working for myself and not a company, governmental agency, or small business – I make a lot more!
That said, I don’t want to get too much into my various jobs because I’ll have another installment of Adventures in SEO soon. This one should be a real hum-dinger!
So what else did I do this month? Well, there was lots of excitement, so let’s just dive right into it.
Banning
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this month was when I got banned from Kboards for 7 days, from January 21 to 28.
The reason was that I was “trolling in the success thread.” I don’t know what that means, never had a message or email sent to me, and didn’t ask.
I figure it was just some lingering bru-ha-ha over the post I did about suing your eBook reviewers. Well, can’t win ‘em all.
Or is it just my poor attitude? Maybe I’m more harm to other authors than a help. After all, I did get banned from the Amazon KDP forum in December, although that was for posting links. For the life of me I can’t understand why it’s a bad thing to post a link to your website or marketing book when people ask for help.
Oh well.
The reason was that I was “trolling in the success thread.” I don’t know what that means, never had a message or email sent to me, and didn’t ask.
I figure it was just some lingering bru-ha-ha over the post I did about suing your eBook reviewers. Well, can’t win ‘em all.
Or is it just my poor attitude? Maybe I’m more harm to other authors than a help. After all, I did get banned from the Amazon KDP forum in December, although that was for posting links. For the life of me I can’t understand why it’s a bad thing to post a link to your website or marketing book when people ask for help.
Oh well.
Another ESL Book
I got another ESL book out this month, making it my fourth.
I have plans to get two more out in February, so I’m getting quite authoritative in that niche.
Teaching Abroad: Making the Move To and From ESL Teaching really focuses on what you have to go through to become an ESL teacher, and then what you have to go through to get out of the profession.
Confused yet?
Yeah, this one’s kind of tough, and I’m hoping the sales of the other books help this one along. Really it’s for new teachers thinking of going abroad, as well as those who might have been there for a year or more and are thinking of coming back.
It deals with things like:
I have a whole other website that I’ve been doing for a year and a half, www.esladventure.com, and it really helps sell my ESL books. In fact, each month I do no other marketing than content marketing on that site and I get a decent bit of passive income for it. Pretty good for a few blog posts a month, huh?
What niche do you know about and could profit off of?
And don’t think you can’t do something negative, but humorous as well. My dad hated working for the State of Montana for 25 years, but I bet he could make a fine book called “Why Working for the State of Montana Sucks Dick!” I’m sure a lot of people would love to buy it too!
I have plans to get two more out in February, so I’m getting quite authoritative in that niche.
Teaching Abroad: Making the Move To and From ESL Teaching really focuses on what you have to go through to become an ESL teacher, and then what you have to go through to get out of the profession.
Confused yet?
Yeah, this one’s kind of tough, and I’m hoping the sales of the other books help this one along. Really it’s for new teachers thinking of going abroad, as well as those who might have been there for a year or more and are thinking of coming back.
It deals with things like:
- Reasons to Teach;
- Reasons Not to Teach;
- Famous ESL Teachers;
- Visa Issues;
- Foreign Taxes;
- Culture Shock;
- Student Loans;
- Leaving a Job;
- Reverse Culture Shock;
- Highlighting Your ESL Skills;
- Getting a Job Back Home;
- And much more!
I have a whole other website that I’ve been doing for a year and a half, www.esladventure.com, and it really helps sell my ESL books. In fact, each month I do no other marketing than content marketing on that site and I get a decent bit of passive income for it. Pretty good for a few blog posts a month, huh?
What niche do you know about and could profit off of?
And don’t think you can’t do something negative, but humorous as well. My dad hated working for the State of Montana for 25 years, but I bet he could make a fine book called “Why Working for the State of Montana Sucks Dick!” I’m sure a lot of people would love to buy it too!
Another eBook Marketing Book
I now have a complete trilogy of marketing books for struggling authors like myself. Hey, I guess it’s time to make a box-set!
This book is called Tour Your Book: 50 eBook Blog Tour Sites That Increase Amazon Sales. It’s for sale on Amazon and I never really did any press for it when I released it on January 19. The reason for this was because I managed to get a guest blog post on The Book Designer, which will be on Wednesday, February 5.
I hope you all can stop by and check out these 7 eBook blog tour sites that I’m profiling, and maybe leave a comment as well. If you haven’t visited that site yet you should because they have loads of free and useful information for authors.
This book is called Tour Your Book: 50 eBook Blog Tour Sites That Increase Amazon Sales. It’s for sale on Amazon and I never really did any press for it when I released it on January 19. The reason for this was because I managed to get a guest blog post on The Book Designer, which will be on Wednesday, February 5.
I hope you all can stop by and check out these 7 eBook blog tour sites that I’m profiling, and maybe leave a comment as well. If you haven’t visited that site yet you should because they have loads of free and useful information for authors.
A Return to Epic Fantasy
My fantasy books sell, and they’re one of my main sources of income on Amazon. It only made sense to write another one.
Well, I started doing just that way back in July, got up to about 12,000 words or so, and then abandoned it. I picked it up again following NaNo and got the thing done just a few days ago.
I’d planned on only doing 60,000 words but the sucker got up to 72,000 on me. Bastard!
So what’s this story about? It’s called The Hirelings and you’ve probably already read my post about this epic fantasy eBook with attitude.
Overall I’m quite pleased with it, even though it has no sales. I’ve been doing some marketing footwork on Goodreads for it, including a character interview. That got noticed by another author, and I had a nice little exchange and got some good tips.
It just goes to show you can do small and creative things like that real cheap, and maybe they’ll have an effect. On that particular thread I think I’ll go back each week and do a new interview until I’ve gone through all 6 or 7 characters. It doesn’t take much work, and it’s fun.
Well, I started doing just that way back in July, got up to about 12,000 words or so, and then abandoned it. I picked it up again following NaNo and got the thing done just a few days ago.
I’d planned on only doing 60,000 words but the sucker got up to 72,000 on me. Bastard!
So what’s this story about? It’s called The Hirelings and you’ve probably already read my post about this epic fantasy eBook with attitude.
Overall I’m quite pleased with it, even though it has no sales. I’ve been doing some marketing footwork on Goodreads for it, including a character interview. That got noticed by another author, and I had a nice little exchange and got some good tips.
It just goes to show you can do small and creative things like that real cheap, and maybe they’ll have an effect. On that particular thread I think I’ll go back each week and do a new interview until I’ve gone through all 6 or 7 characters. It doesn’t take much work, and it’s fun.
Marketing Efforts
I did a bit of marketing this month for my books, but nothing too serious.
First, I had a $0.99 sale with Bargainbooksy on January 8. That got me about 22 sales, more than I’d been expecting. Unfortunately there’s been little since then.
The other bit of marketing I’m doing is with my book Write Now! 20 Simple Strategies for Successful Writing. I put this book out back in April and it’s gotten little love.
I’m doing a Countdown Deal with it right now, which goes until February 3. You can get the book for just $0.99 and you’ll probably get a few good ideas. Hopefully you can write a review as well. (Hint, Hint)
Other than that I did no marketing but still managed to get 161 sales, making January my best month in self-publishing ever. That next highest month was 154 sales in November.
The main drivers of this were the following books with the following sales:
This past month also saw me get a couple books up and over the 100 sales mark. These were:
My “worst” books are the following, with all-time sales:
There are a few more there, but most of my others titles have at least 20 sales. That Room 223 has had some sales (I’ve seen the ranking changed on Author Central) but those sales don’t show up on my KDP report.
I emailed them and they told me Kindle Worlds books’ sales do show up, but I’m thinking maybe only in the monthly report. Kind of frustrating.
First, I had a $0.99 sale with Bargainbooksy on January 8. That got me about 22 sales, more than I’d been expecting. Unfortunately there’s been little since then.
The other bit of marketing I’m doing is with my book Write Now! 20 Simple Strategies for Successful Writing. I put this book out back in April and it’s gotten little love.
I’m doing a Countdown Deal with it right now, which goes until February 3. You can get the book for just $0.99 and you’ll probably get a few good ideas. Hopefully you can write a review as well. (Hint, Hint)
Other than that I did no marketing but still managed to get 161 sales, making January my best month in self-publishing ever. That next highest month was 154 sales in November.
The main drivers of this were the following books with the following sales:
- Trouble in Jonguria – 28
- The Jongurian Resolution – 25
- English Rocks! – 19
- Sell Your Book – 8
- Tribes and Trappers – 7
This past month also saw me get a couple books up and over the 100 sales mark. These were:
- Trouble in Jonguria – 128
- The Jongurian Resolution – 107
- Tarot: The Mystery and the Mystique – 101
- Sell Your Book – 120
My “worst” books are the following, with all-time sales:
- Write Now! – 16
- English Last – 8
- Design Your Book – 11
- Black Walnut – 4
- Tour Your Book – 1
- Room 223 – 0*
- Teaching Abroad – 0
- The Hirelings – 0
There are a few more there, but most of my others titles have at least 20 sales. That Room 223 has had some sales (I’ve seen the ranking changed on Author Central) but those sales don’t show up on my KDP report.
I emailed them and they told me Kindle Worlds books’ sales do show up, but I’m thinking maybe only in the monthly report. Kind of frustrating.
Overall, A Stellar Month
Since I’ve started selling eBooks just over a year ago I’ve sold 882 copies across 26 titles. I’ve also given away 7,824 copies of my perma-free book, The Jongurian Mission.
That’s made me more than $1,500 in the past 12 months. It’s not a whole lot, but a good portion of that came just in January. And that’s only Amazon – I’ve sold more on other retailers.
Yes, things have certainly gotten better for me, and I hope they can continue as well. I fully expect all of those numbers to be higher this time next year.
Now, how to get fans and make that possible…?
That’s made me more than $1,500 in the past 12 months. It’s not a whole lot, but a good portion of that came just in January. And that’s only Amazon – I’ve sold more on other retailers.
Yes, things have certainly gotten better for me, and I hope they can continue as well. I fully expect all of those numbers to be higher this time next year.
Now, how to get fans and make that possible…?
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