March was a pretty ordinary month.
Not a lot happened.
I did see my eBook sales increase over last month, which is good news.
The book I released last month – Rose’s Rage – sold 35 copies. I was pretty happy with that.
All told I sold 264 books in March.
I also put up 16 blog posts and wrote 85,490 words for the month.
And I made $807.22.
Here’s how that breaks down:
Not a lot happened.
I did see my eBook sales increase over last month, which is good news.
The book I released last month – Rose’s Rage – sold 35 copies. I was pretty happy with that.
All told I sold 264 books in March.
I also put up 16 blog posts and wrote 85,490 words for the month.
And I made $807.22.
Here’s how that breaks down:
Not the best month ever, but certainly not the worst.
I did have a few expenses in March, $111 to be exact.
Most of that was for two promotions.
- One for Colter’s Winter got me about 25 sales, and who knows how much interest in the other 10 volumes of that series.
- The other was for Dulce Base and that got me 29 sales on Amazon and another 8 on the other retailers.
I had a promo for that book as I wanted to increase interest in Book 2, which will come out this month.
Yes, it only took me two-and-a-half years to write the follow-up to the cliffhanger ending we saw in the first book.
No one’s complained.
I did manage to get a 2-star review on the book this month, one telling people it’s not worth their time.
Oh well.
A Note on Criticism
When you make art and put it out there for people to look at and buy, you have to expect they’ll tell you what they think.
It goes with the territory, just part of the job.
I have tons of bad reviews on my books, but you know what? They don’t come close to the tons of good reviews I have.
Yet as people we tend to focus on the bad, ignoring the good.
I told you last month that I’d started the second Dulce Base book because the first one had so many good reviews, many saying it should be made into a movie.
I love hearing that.
I always view my books like those old TNT network promos from the 90s, “Movies for Guys Who Like Movies.”
Fightin’, cussin’, wenchin’…that’s what my books get at.
It’s good ol’ American fun and I’m glad people realize that and enjoy it.
Well, some don’t…but so what?
Who cares?
Hardly anyone.
It’s like those moments when a thought enters our mind about something stupid we did years ago.
We roll our eyes, perhaps mumble, “God, I was so stupid!” while vowing it’ll never happen again.
As if anyone remembers that shit from years ago anyways!
Book reviews are about the same – no one gives a shit.
Taking it a bit further, just about all criticism is the same way.
You might care, and you might think everyone else does too.
But they don’t.
People are busy. They’re in their own little worlds. They’ve likely already forgotten whatever offended them about you or your work in the first place.
They’ve moved on, so why can’t you?
That’s what I’d suggest you do, whether you’re a writer, a spurned politician, or someone that got a good reaming-out from the boss this week.
Move on and keep doing what you like to do, whether it’s writing books or speaking your mind or doing the job as you like to do it.
If others don’t like it, to hell with ‘em.
It goes with the territory, just part of the job.
I have tons of bad reviews on my books, but you know what? They don’t come close to the tons of good reviews I have.
Yet as people we tend to focus on the bad, ignoring the good.
I told you last month that I’d started the second Dulce Base book because the first one had so many good reviews, many saying it should be made into a movie.
I love hearing that.
I always view my books like those old TNT network promos from the 90s, “Movies for Guys Who Like Movies.”
Fightin’, cussin’, wenchin’…that’s what my books get at.
It’s good ol’ American fun and I’m glad people realize that and enjoy it.
Well, some don’t…but so what?
Who cares?
Hardly anyone.
It’s like those moments when a thought enters our mind about something stupid we did years ago.
We roll our eyes, perhaps mumble, “God, I was so stupid!” while vowing it’ll never happen again.
As if anyone remembers that shit from years ago anyways!
Book reviews are about the same – no one gives a shit.
Taking it a bit further, just about all criticism is the same way.
You might care, and you might think everyone else does too.
But they don’t.
People are busy. They’re in their own little worlds. They’ve likely already forgotten whatever offended them about you or your work in the first place.
They’ve moved on, so why can’t you?
That’s what I’d suggest you do, whether you’re a writer, a spurned politician, or someone that got a good reaming-out from the boss this week.
Move on and keep doing what you like to do, whether it’s writing books or speaking your mind or doing the job as you like to do it.
If others don’t like it, to hell with ‘em.
On the Agenda
Well, I’m glad we got that out of our system.
So…what’s coming up?
Besides finishing up with the second Dulce Base book – it’s already done; I’m just giving it the final read-through – I’ve got some other projects.
One is the 12th volume of the Mountain Man Series.
I’m calling it “Clark’s Campaign,” though maybe “Clark’s Crusade” would be better.
It’s about William Clark, nearly 6 years after he finishes up with the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Meriwether Lewis has of course been dead for a few years, though his brother Rueben Lewis is with Clark.
Lots of others are too, about 60 men to be exact.
They’re moving overland from the Missouri to Prairie du Chien.
So…what’s coming up?
Besides finishing up with the second Dulce Base book – it’s already done; I’m just giving it the final read-through – I’ve got some other projects.
One is the 12th volume of the Mountain Man Series.
I’m calling it “Clark’s Campaign,” though maybe “Clark’s Crusade” would be better.
It’s about William Clark, nearly 6 years after he finishes up with the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Meriwether Lewis has of course been dead for a few years, though his brother Rueben Lewis is with Clark.
Lots of others are too, about 60 men to be exact.
They’re moving overland from the Missouri to Prairie du Chien.
Map of Mississippi and Missouri River forts in 1812
The British have been spotted there, and an American fort in the area has fallen out of contact.
Clark goes to investigate, and in the process we:
- Fight the Battle of Rock Island Rapids
- See Fort Camp au Gris
- Meet future president Zachary Taylor as a young man
- Fight the Battle of Credit Island
- Visit Fort Johnson
- And do a whole lot a’ running from the Indians
Hot damn – I guess I’ve given most of the story away!
Well…that would be true if you knew what any of those War of 1812 battles and locations are…which I highly doubt you do.
No worries – just read the novel when it’s done in May or June!
Other than that I’m working on a collection of short stories called “Haunted Lighthouses” while occasionally going to the Historical Society to work on my final volume of Montana history.
I might finally get to Book 3 of the Montana 1860s short western series as well, a book I’m calling “Silver City.”
Lots of stuff to do.
Thanks for reading!
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