1000 sales in June - Day Two
Things got off to a flier on Monday with 25 copies sold/ borrowed. Of these, 13 were borrows and 12 were sales. Kindle Unlimited has worked wonders for me, it has really helped to open my books up to a wider audience.
It is probably worth noting that in order to reach 1,000 sales for the month, I need to be averaging 33.3 recurring per day, so 25 leaves me lagging behind, but I'm not at all worried about that at this stage. As I said yesterday, things won't really start moving until the 15th when my big promotional campaign kicks in.
Speaking of campaigns, I've seen many people on forums remark that Kindle Countdown Deals don't work. As I've said before, I think this is true of books that aren't selling well to begin with. Dropping the price makes little difference. My second book, Austerity Dad, went on to a deal yesterday for a week and is yet to trouble the judge. I'm not really expecting it to do much, to be honest, and I haven't even mentioned that it is on promotion anywhere other than in this blog. Why am I not promoting it? Well, my focus is elsewhere, getting ready for the big push on MTYY starting on the 15th.
Sorry, Austerity Dad, you're on your own this time. It was good to see The Sausage Man pick up a sale yesterday, though. A nice surprise. The rest of my sales were split pretty much as I'd expect, in line with their overall percentages last month, all UK and US apart from one in Canada.
As for ranking, MTYY stood at #14,303 in the UK this morning and #20,665, so not a great deal different to yesterday.
I am very pleased with how my novels are doing at present. I've talked before about the things I have done to give them the best possible chance - such as proofreading, cover, blurb, categories and using Amazon Marketing Services. I like to think that it's not just down to that, though, and that I'm growing sales through producing stories that people want to read.
I'm convinced that time travel is an underutilised genre. Give any story or setting a time travel element and it immediately enhances it. You only have to look at the enduring success of Doctor Who to see there is a ready made army of fans out there. I definitely think it's a category with some mileage in it and because it's something I love myself, it's reflected in my writing. I don't think I could ever just write a standard detective or romance novel - it wouldn't stand out or have anything special to offer the reader in a saturated genre.
Which brings me on to my next key point: Originality. I didn't want to embark on writing a time travel novel if it was just going to be a re-hash of an old idea. I really do believe that both The Time Bubble and MTYY are pretty unique concepts. Global Cooling possibly less so, but it's a story I really wanted to write and it made sense to weave it into The Time Bubble trilogy. I'm pretty sure people are picking up on this, and it's being reflected in some of the reviews that have been coming in on Amazon. Here's a few quotes:
"Refreshing slant on time travel"
"The concept of life reversing is fresh, interesting and entertaining"
"The idea of time travel isn't new, but spontaneous time travel backwards is definitely different"
"Wow! I can honestly say that I have never read anything like this before!"
Not all reviewers were as complimentary, but that's to be expected. I don't believe the book has been written yet that's been universally loved by all.
I strongly believe that the originality is a one of my strongest selling point. Quite why no one has come up with this particularly idea before surprises me, but then, maybe it's just me. I've often thought that my mind doesn't seem to work quite in the same way as everybody else's - I seem to recall the word "weirdo" being directed at me more than once in my younger years. Still if that is the case, I may as well make some good use of my weirdness.
Back tomorrow with an update, and I'll start to talk about the promo sites I have signed up to for the big push!
Jason Ayres is the author of six books, including his brand new novel, My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday, available here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00UDHAD0M
It is probably worth noting that in order to reach 1,000 sales for the month, I need to be averaging 33.3 recurring per day, so 25 leaves me lagging behind, but I'm not at all worried about that at this stage. As I said yesterday, things won't really start moving until the 15th when my big promotional campaign kicks in.
Speaking of campaigns, I've seen many people on forums remark that Kindle Countdown Deals don't work. As I've said before, I think this is true of books that aren't selling well to begin with. Dropping the price makes little difference. My second book, Austerity Dad, went on to a deal yesterday for a week and is yet to trouble the judge. I'm not really expecting it to do much, to be honest, and I haven't even mentioned that it is on promotion anywhere other than in this blog. Why am I not promoting it? Well, my focus is elsewhere, getting ready for the big push on MTYY starting on the 15th.
Sorry, Austerity Dad, you're on your own this time. It was good to see The Sausage Man pick up a sale yesterday, though. A nice surprise. The rest of my sales were split pretty much as I'd expect, in line with their overall percentages last month, all UK and US apart from one in Canada.
As for ranking, MTYY stood at #14,303 in the UK this morning and #20,665, so not a great deal different to yesterday.
I am very pleased with how my novels are doing at present. I've talked before about the things I have done to give them the best possible chance - such as proofreading, cover, blurb, categories and using Amazon Marketing Services. I like to think that it's not just down to that, though, and that I'm growing sales through producing stories that people want to read.
I'm convinced that time travel is an underutilised genre. Give any story or setting a time travel element and it immediately enhances it. You only have to look at the enduring success of Doctor Who to see there is a ready made army of fans out there. I definitely think it's a category with some mileage in it and because it's something I love myself, it's reflected in my writing. I don't think I could ever just write a standard detective or romance novel - it wouldn't stand out or have anything special to offer the reader in a saturated genre.
Which brings me on to my next key point: Originality. I didn't want to embark on writing a time travel novel if it was just going to be a re-hash of an old idea. I really do believe that both The Time Bubble and MTYY are pretty unique concepts. Global Cooling possibly less so, but it's a story I really wanted to write and it made sense to weave it into The Time Bubble trilogy. I'm pretty sure people are picking up on this, and it's being reflected in some of the reviews that have been coming in on Amazon. Here's a few quotes:
"Refreshing slant on time travel"
"The concept of life reversing is fresh, interesting and entertaining"
"The idea of time travel isn't new, but spontaneous time travel backwards is definitely different"
"Wow! I can honestly say that I have never read anything like this before!"
Not all reviewers were as complimentary, but that's to be expected. I don't believe the book has been written yet that's been universally loved by all.
I strongly believe that the originality is a one of my strongest selling point. Quite why no one has come up with this particularly idea before surprises me, but then, maybe it's just me. I've often thought that my mind doesn't seem to work quite in the same way as everybody else's - I seem to recall the word "weirdo" being directed at me more than once in my younger years. Still if that is the case, I may as well make some good use of my weirdness.
Back tomorrow with an update, and I'll start to talk about the promo sites I have signed up to for the big push!
Hi Jason. I'll do my best to stick by you on your journey. I like your theory on the sort of book that didn't sell - still isn't going to sell if it's promoted with a low price. Yesterday I actually reduced what was my debut novel, 'Ten Days in Panama' to £0.99 / $0.99 to see what happens. I haven't so far, and have no intention of promoting the title - I just want to see if it moves.
ReplyDeleteI also like your train of thought on the time travel thing. I was a Dr Who fan when Willian Hartnell was the doctor, the aliens were men with bits of material hanging from their faces and clothing, and the scenery was a new substance called polystyrene.
Yes, the time-travel genre can be played with, but you have to know where you're going ... if you'll pardon the pun.
Yes - you certainly do - there's been quite a few times I've been in danger of tying myself in knots but it all comes good in the end. I have a big storyboard on Excel with all the events between the different books in the series as they all interlink.
DeleteI'm a huge Doctor Who fan as you have probably guessed - I have every episode of Hartnell and Troughton - including the ones that were wiped by the BBC on audio - recorded by fans at the time from their TV's. I am glad they did as I missed these first time round - I was born just as Jon Pertwee took over. I'm pretty sure I would not be writing these books now were it not for the influence the show has had on my life.