So the other day I crossed the 25,000 mark in ebook sales. It's not anything that crept up on me unannounced or unexpected; it was a milestone that I'd been looking forward to for a while. (I had actually hoped that I might cross it within the first year of publishing my fiction, but I'll take it at 13-and-a-half months.) In fact, I've had my eye on that figure since at least October of last year, when I crossed the 10K ebook mark (which you can read about here if you're so inclined).
Looking back over the past year, there's no doubt that GOD has blessed me tremendously in terms of my writing. First of all, readers have just been absolutely amazing; there's no way I could put into words how much support and encouragement they've given me. I was also fortunate enough to connect very early on with other professionals who helped improve what I had to offer, like my editor (Faith Williams) and my cover artist (Isikol).
Of course, it's often hard to put something like sales into perspective. On the one hand, there are people who have been at this a lot longer than I have and who would kill for my sales. On the other hand, there are those for whom my 25K in sales nothing - they do that every month. So is 25K annually - or any particular level of sales - good or bad? Personally, I'm not sure if there's a single answer to that, because - in my mind - the final arbiter of that decision has to be the author and what his/her goals are.
Basically, you as the author have to decide what level of sales constitutes success. For some, it may be no sales; they have a story to tell, and they're not concerned with whether it makes money. For others, it may be earning enough to pay a few bills. Somebody else might say it has to be enough for them to quit their day job.
For me, I think I was initially one of those people who just felt that I had stories to tell (although I wasn't particularly adverse to earning a little moolah along the way). Thus, I didn't really have a set goal in mind with respect to how I realistically expected my books to perform. That said, I believe there were other authors out there whose sales trajectories I was hoping to mimic. (Frankly speaking, I was inspired by those who achieved success, which is a large reason why I'm sharing my numbers here - assuming others find anything impressive about how I've done thus far.) I also kept my fingers crossed that, as I wrote more books, my sales would gradually increase over time.
As to the how the numbers have actually shaken out, here's what I come up with:
1) I sold 10,000 ebooks within the first six months. That works out to an average of about 1,667 books per month.
2) Over the next 7.5 months, I sold 15,000 ebooks, which averages out to 2000 books per month.
(It goes without saying that there are a lot of ways to break down the numbers. In this instance, I focused on divvying them up based on what I considered significant milestones: 10K, then 25K.) The good news, obviously, is that my average monthly sales seem to be increasing over time as I publish more books. But, as almost any indie author will tell you, those numbers will start a steady, gradual decline unless you keep putting out new material. Hence, the perpetual (and rock-solid) advice that almost everyone gives: one of the best things you can do for your career as an author is to write the next book.
Bearing that in mind, I am currently hard at work on my next novel. Self-publishing has been an absolute thrill-ride thus far, and I'm looking forward to it [hopefully] continuing well into the future.
Of course, it's often hard to put something like sales into perspective. On the one hand, there are people who have been at this a lot longer than I have and who would kill for my sales. On the other hand, there are those for whom my 25K in sales nothing - they do that every month. So is 25K annually - or any particular level of sales - good or bad? Personally, I'm not sure if there's a single answer to that, because - in my mind - the final arbiter of that decision has to be the author and what his/her goals are.
Basically, you as the author have to decide what level of sales constitutes success. For some, it may be no sales; they have a story to tell, and they're not concerned with whether it makes money. For others, it may be earning enough to pay a few bills. Somebody else might say it has to be enough for them to quit their day job.
For me, I think I was initially one of those people who just felt that I had stories to tell (although I wasn't particularly adverse to earning a little moolah along the way). Thus, I didn't really have a set goal in mind with respect to how I realistically expected my books to perform. That said, I believe there were other authors out there whose sales trajectories I was hoping to mimic. (Frankly speaking, I was inspired by those who achieved success, which is a large reason why I'm sharing my numbers here - assuming others find anything impressive about how I've done thus far.) I also kept my fingers crossed that, as I wrote more books, my sales would gradually increase over time.
As to the how the numbers have actually shaken out, here's what I come up with:
1) I sold 10,000 ebooks within the first six months. That works out to an average of about 1,667 books per month.
2) Over the next 7.5 months, I sold 15,000 ebooks, which averages out to 2000 books per month.
(It goes without saying that there are a lot of ways to break down the numbers. In this instance, I focused on divvying them up based on what I considered significant milestones: 10K, then 25K.) The good news, obviously, is that my average monthly sales seem to be increasing over time as I publish more books. But, as almost any indie author will tell you, those numbers will start a steady, gradual decline unless you keep putting out new material. Hence, the perpetual (and rock-solid) advice that almost everyone gives: one of the best things you can do for your career as an author is to write the next book.
Bearing that in mind, I am currently hard at work on my next novel. Self-publishing has been an absolute thrill-ride thus far, and I'm looking forward to it [hopefully] continuing well into the future.
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