It doesn’t really seem like I did a lot this month.
That shows in my word counts.
I wrote just 54,008 words for the month…a very low number for me.
So what accounts for that? Let’s discuss it and a few other things in this site’s 40th monthly report.
That shows in my word counts.
I wrote just 54,008 words for the month…a very low number for me.
So what accounts for that? Let’s discuss it and a few other things in this site’s 40th monthly report.
Mostly Editing
I did a lot of editing this month.
That was primarily for Prickly Pear Canyon and Soldiers and Statesmen, the two books I published this month.
The first one has gotten 8 sales so far, while the second has only sold 3 copies.
I also put out the third box set of the Mountain Man Series, which has books 7-9. It’s sold zero copies so far.
I’m not really surprised the history book didn’t sell – I figure that’d be the case.
At least it’s done. Maybe in a decade or so it’ll get some interest…but really, I haven’t done too bad with my Montana books.
Take a look:
That was primarily for Prickly Pear Canyon and Soldiers and Statesmen, the two books I published this month.
The first one has gotten 8 sales so far, while the second has only sold 3 copies.
I also put out the third box set of the Mountain Man Series, which has books 7-9. It’s sold zero copies so far.
I’m not really surprised the history book didn’t sell – I figure that’d be the case.
At least it’s done. Maybe in a decade or so it’ll get some interest…but really, I haven’t done too bad with my Montana books.
Take a look:
So just over 500 sales for my Montana history books. That’s pretty good, considering I don’t have a PhD and that I don’t have a publisher.
That’s just me going to the library, doing the research, writing it up, editing it, getting a cover, and publishing it.
Anyone could do that, but two things usually stop about 90% of those who try: lack of discipline and lack of routine.
I have those and thus I have the books on the shelf to show for it.
Not many that graduate from the University of Montana with a history degree can say the same.
Still, finishing up a new Montana book leaves me with a bit of a quandary as I’m not sure what to focus on next.
My next Montana history book should go up to the year 2020, but I can do a lot of the groundwork to 2015 or so right now.
Perhaps I’ll get started on it soon.
Sales So Far
Sometimes it’s good to look back at your sales to see how far you’ve come.
I’ve now sold about 8,500 books overall and more than 50% of them are from this year.
With the $1,600 I got paid from Amazon at the end of August, my 2016 book income is up to $9,300.
That’s almost more than 2013, 2014, and 2015 combined.
In 2015 I had about 1,900 sales and I figure I made about $5,000 from that…give or take a bit when books get discounted and such.
Here’s what my book sales look like, with the most popular/successful books listed:
I’ve now sold about 8,500 books overall and more than 50% of them are from this year.
With the $1,600 I got paid from Amazon at the end of August, my 2016 book income is up to $9,300.
That’s almost more than 2013, 2014, and 2015 combined.
In 2015 I had about 1,900 sales and I figure I made about $5,000 from that…give or take a bit when books get discounted and such.
Here’s what my book sales look like, with the most popular/successful books listed:
The Colter books dominate, though their sales have fallen off lately.
I figure I’ve been dropped from other authors’ “also boughts” on Amazon and that’s the reason why.
After that we get a lot of books that I put out between 2013 and 2015, most of which did well at the time, fell off, then got a steady stream of maybe 5 to 10 sales a month, sometimes more, often less.
Besides Amazon, I’ve sold 204 print books this year with Createspace and another 336 with iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and other miscellaneous retailers.
So I’ve achieved a lot with my writing, but I haven’t had a lot of success…if you count success as ‘making a living.’
I do pay my bills, but gosh, there’s not much left over.
There’s always a little, however.
Charitable Giving
I continued my trend of giving $10 here and there to charity. This month I gave to the following:
So far this year I’ve given $340 to charity, and I feel pretty good about that.
There’s a lot of people out there that are in terrible situations.
I don’t have to walk for an hour to get water, I don’t have to go a day without eating, I don’t have to worry about being abused.
Lots of people do, however, and a little money to charity might help them.
- Feeding America (98.5% of donations to cause)
- Americares (98%)
- Disabled American Veterans (96%)
- Food for the Poor (95%)
- National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (92%)
So far this year I’ve given $340 to charity, and I feel pretty good about that.
There’s a lot of people out there that are in terrible situations.
I don’t have to walk for an hour to get water, I don’t have to go a day without eating, I don’t have to worry about being abused.
Lots of people do, however, and a little money to charity might help them.
On the Agenda for September
I don’t think I’m going to do much at all in September.
The main reason for this is my foot, which I dislocated in Oregon. I don’t expect to be walking on it again for a few weeks yet.
I could do some writing, quite a bit in fact. The problem’s that I’m not sure what to write about.
I could tinker on Mountain Man #10, which I’m thinking of calling “Manuel’s Money.”
Maybe I’ll have the main character break his foot in the book and have some fun around that.
I’ve thought a lot about writing a follow-up to Dulce Base, my alien shoot-‘em-up thriller.
I already have a cover made for that second book and if I reread the first one I might get inspired to start.
Dulce Base has sold 173 copies, after all, so it’s worth a shot.
Besides that…there’s not much to do.
I really need to focus on finding extra income via a ‘real’ job. I was thinking about that before my injury, and now that I’ll be facing hundreds of dollars in medical bills, I’ll have to.
But until the foot heals, it’ll be sitting around the apartment.
We’ll see what happens. Thanks so much for your support!
The main reason for this is my foot, which I dislocated in Oregon. I don’t expect to be walking on it again for a few weeks yet.
I could do some writing, quite a bit in fact. The problem’s that I’m not sure what to write about.
I could tinker on Mountain Man #10, which I’m thinking of calling “Manuel’s Money.”
Maybe I’ll have the main character break his foot in the book and have some fun around that.
I’ve thought a lot about writing a follow-up to Dulce Base, my alien shoot-‘em-up thriller.
I already have a cover made for that second book and if I reread the first one I might get inspired to start.
Dulce Base has sold 173 copies, after all, so it’s worth a shot.
Besides that…there’s not much to do.
I really need to focus on finding extra income via a ‘real’ job. I was thinking about that before my injury, and now that I’ll be facing hundreds of dollars in medical bills, I’ll have to.
But until the foot heals, it’ll be sitting around the apartment.
We’ll see what happens. Thanks so much for your support!
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