Hi there and welcome to the Jenny Bravo Books blog! As a first-time author, I’ve decided to track the first three months of my earnings online for you. Enjoy!
Good morning, friends! As promised, I will be providing a self-publishing income report for my novel, These Are the Moments. July marked my second full month of being a published author, and I still have to remind myself that it's really happening. I wrote a book? People are buying it? What?
Today, I'm excited to share my numbers with you. There's definitely been a decline since launch, as expected, but I'm excited for the plans I have to boost more sales.
Time to report!
WHAT I DID THIS MONTH
This month has been a month of research. From attending The Self-Publishing Summit to studying Nick Stephenson's blog, I've been educating myself on everything I need to know about self-publishing.
Spent time writing
I've never wanted to be a one-hit-wonder writer. I recently announced plans for a sequel to my novel, and I've also cleaned up my prequel for re-release. It makes sense that with more titles, you have a better chance at creating more profit. Gross, profit is an ugly word. You get my point.
Targeted my keywords on Amazon
Amazon basically operates as one big search engine. When you type a word into the search bar, it provides you with suggestions, just as Google does. When you upload your book, Amazon allows you to select keywords. The more targeted your keywords, the greater chance your book has of showing up on the right lists. For instance, I included mine under "New Adult Clean Romance."
Free book for promotion
According to Nick Stephenson, the key to gaining more readers and traffic involves offering your readers something of value. If you can, offer a free book to capture readers who enjoy your writing. My prequel will be available for free, and I'm also working on another smaller project for free. Give, give, give. That's the key.
KDP ROYALTIES
Total Book Sales: 16 ebooks
Total KENP Read: 1389 pages
Total Book Royalties: $42.77
This month I decided to enroll These Are the Moments in KDP Select. I've read several articles about the pros and cons of the program, but I decided to try it out for myself. I've yet to run a promotion, but I'm planning to when the prequel is ready for publication.
Here's a chart of this month's sales:
As part of the KDP Select program, members can read your book for free. The royalties are based off of KENP read, which stands for Kindle Edition Normalized Pages. This month, I received 1389 KENP read, which equals about $8.03. Here's a chart for you:
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Createspace Royalties
Total Book Sales: 8 Print Books
Total Book Royalties: $16.96
Oh, print books. I love this post by Ksenia Anske, where she refers to them as souvenirs, as a way to hold onto something you love. While the numbers aren't incredibly impressive, I still love print.
TOTAL AMOUNT EARNED: $59.73
Thoughts on this month
I'm really proud of this month. Selling any books at all is an accomplishment, which makes this is a successful second month to me. It's definitely scary to share this with you, but I received some amazing feedback from last month, and knew I needed to continue. Keep writing. Keep striving.
Discussion Time: What's your best book-selling strategy? How do you find your ideal readers?
