Friday, August 24, 2012

Forged in Fire's First Year Sales and Royalties Report

This a my first post on my pretty new blog, which is linked to my fantastic new website, which was paid for by royalties from a book that I originally self-published, but was picked up by Montlake Romance and is scheduled for re-publication on September 4th.

When I first self-published I intended to share my sales numbers, marketing strategy and success or failure with the blog-sphere in the hope sharing information and strategies might help everyone in the long run. But as often happens, life got too complicated and busy and I posted less and less and finally quit completely. 

But I've always intended to do a yearly totals once my book had been up a full year. As it happens, my book won't make a full year, at least not as a self-published title. After speaking with my Montlake marketing team earlier this week, I decided to pull my version of the title down and give the book a rest before Montlake releases their version on Sept 4th.

I unpublished it on Tuesday, 11.5 months after I'd self-published it.

It's fitting that I post the final sales and revenue the book brought in through this past year here, on the blog that matches the website that the book paid for.  

When I started this self-publishing journey I was an unknown author, with no publishing history, no fan base and no real platform. I think I had about 170 followers on twitter and 20 on Facebook. But none of that ended up mattering. I did a month long blog tour to introduce my book, as well as set up other guest blogs through sites I knew readers gathered. I also posted the book, one scene at a time, to Wattpad, where it quickly gathered a following. Some of my first sales were to Wattpadders, as were my first reviews. 

I published the book Sept 7th, 2011. September’s royalties were right around $400 dollars. In mid-October about half way through my blog tour, the book took off. Since then my lowest monthly royalty was $2800. (October's) My highest monthly royalty was $12,800. (Febuary's)  Most months it averages between $4500-6000 a month, with several months hitting around $9000.

The lowest the book dropped in the Kindle Store was #30, and it only stayed down there for a day or so. But it was enough to get me KDP's attention and they actually assigned me a KDP representative. O-O

The book had sold 9,998 copies by the last day of December. Since Jan 1st, 2012 its sold an additional 33,619 copies, for a total of 43,621copies since publication. (I include borrows in this figure. Since we get paid for them, I count them as a sale) To date the book has earned $88,732 in royalties.

A couple of interesting side notes. Back when I first published FiF, I would have KILLED to get a letter from KDP asking if they could use my book in one of their promos. Wouldn't you know it, the letter finally came on the fifteenth of August, a week before I'd promised to pull my book down.  #headdesk

While I haven't been approached by any movie companies, or foreign publishing houses looking to buy subsidiary rights, (more's the pity) I have been approached by several agents, including one who had rejected the book off the query ten months prior. I've also been approached by a couple of editors from the Big Six Houses!

Very surreal to have them coming to you! LOL

At the moment I don't have any titles up at all, self-published or otherwise. Forged in Fire will be re-released on September 4th. But I'm also planning to self-publish Yesterday's Child, a paranormal romantic suspense, on December 5th.  I tell you, December can't come fast enough. I'm having dashboard withdrawals.

Here's the cover of Yesterday's Child. 


My editor called Yesterday's Child an intriguing mix of Twin Peaks, Pet Cemetery and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. LOL

Here's a quick Blurb:

When her son vanishes without a trace, Deborah St. James is the prime suspect in her child’s disappearance. Until nine years later, when he walks back through her door: without having aged a day, wearing the same clothes he disappeared in, and with no memory of the previous nine years.






36 comments:

  1. Trish,

    Thanks for posting, and best wishes for your Montlake success!

    I took my self-published books, Wild Montana Sky and Starry Montana Sky down from Amazon today in preparation for my August 28th Montlake launch date. They're still on the dashboard, but I'm sure I'll have withdrawals soon! I took them down from Smashwords last week, but that doesn't matter so much.

    Indie publishing has been a great experience for both of us! I'm so very grateful, and I'm sure you are too!

    We'll both by hybrid indie/traditional authors now. It's going to be an amazing year!

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    1. Debra,

      It's sure hard to hit that unpublish button isn't it? Are you planning on doing a year end tally too?

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  2. Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Trish. It's most interesting and encouraging. Best wishes for your continued publishing success!

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    1. Thank you C.C.,

      I hope my journey through self-publishing will show people the possibilities. I took the step into self-publishing because of Theresa Regan's openness with her sales. It showed me what was possible, and encouraged me check that path out for myself. I hope my openness does the same for other people.

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  3. Great blog, Trish...thanks for sharing!

    Lynn

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    1. You're welcome Lynn. I hope the transparency helps other authors to see the possibilities in this industry.

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  4. Trish
    Congratulations. Your story is inspiring to many. I wish you continued success!

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  5. Congratulations, Trish. What wonderful sales numbers. The new books sounds intriguing. Can't wait to read it.

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    1. Thanks Helen,

      It's been a great year. I've been surprised at the interest in Yesterday's Child. For some reason I was thinking that book might be a harder sell. But people seem intrigued, which is always nice.

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  6. Congratulations. And thanks for helping someone like me who just jumped into the game. It helps on my journey to know that there are so many out there who, while in competition, are willing to share their stories and numbers.

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    1. Sandy, this is exactly why I decided to go ahead and post the numbers. If Theresa Regan hadn't posted her numbers last summer, I might never have considered taking the Indie step. But even back then, I wondered how many other people were having success. The more people who post their sales/income, the more information there will be out there for authors considering taking this journey themselves.

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  7. Amazing--and so great to hear that hard work and perseverance pays off! Thank you so much for sharing your experience so far. I can't wait to see what 2013 holds for you.

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    1. Thank you Gillian, I can't wait to see what 2013 holds for me either. And I really can't wait until I have another book up to obsess over. LOL I feel kind of lost with no dashboard to haunt.

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  8. Congratulations, Trish. That's a lotta books! What's really remarkable is that you achieved those sales with one book. I've was hooked the moment I saw that cover, and a huge fan since I read the book. With Montlake behind it, it's going to do very well indeed!

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    1. Thank you Norah, you have always been such a strong and vocal supporter of FiF. Thank you for that!

      That cover does have some major mojo. lol One of the most common things I hear from readers is they picked the book up because of the cover. Which is why Montlake didn't want to screw with it. But just wait. You haven't seen anything until you've seen the cover for Forged in Ash. I think it is going to be even more effective than FiF's cover. Can't wait to show it off.

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  9. Thanks for sharing the experience and congrats! There's hope for the rest of us...

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    1. That's the best thing about self-publishing Claude, there is always hope. If a book doesn't take off immediately, there is still hope for it down the road. Our books have years to prove themselves now, not months, or even weeks.

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  10. Thank you sooooo much. For me, an author about to send my first book out there in September, your post couldn't be better timed. Good luck with your next one, I'm sure it will rock even harder!

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    1. I'm glad I could help Kathryn. Best of luck on your September release!

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  11. Congrats, Trish. You have been so honest and helpful to me, personally. These are fantastic numbers, and for those of us following behind in your footsteps, here's to your continued success. You've worked hard, and written a "sweet spot" book that obviously resonates with readers.

    I can only hope to have some portion of your success. I think your path encourages many others.

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    1. Thank you Sharon. From what I've seen in the Kindle Store, your SEAL book is raking in the sales itself. Congrats to you too.

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  12. What an amazing success story. Thanks for sharing with us and I am looking forward to the next book in the Forged series.

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  13. Congratulations on the sales numbers. I was interested to read that you got your first sales and reviews by putting it up bit by bit on Wattpad. I am thinking of putting up my ebooks on there to see what reaction I get, only to find fans/readers for my work to start with. You might have persuaded me to do so and check out the website.

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    1. Julie, Wattpad did give me a nice little push there in the beginning. Mostly in the first month. I got my first sales through there (between 30-50) and my first two reviews came from Wattpadders. I do think its worth experimenting on there when you first start out. At the very least the readers and comments can energize you.

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  14. Best wishes for much success for you, Trish, and for Debra! And thanks for sharing the experience.

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  15. Congratulations, Trish. You did great, and I wish even more sucess with Montlake. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thank you Mona,

      Can't wait to see how sales compare through Montlake. But I'm pretty confident they will be even higher.

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  16. I'm so happy to find your new website and blog. I've been searching for you for months! You are an inspiration. I love Forged In Fire and will be purchasing the paperback as soon as it's available. (and I'm waiting anxiously for your other new releases.)
    Thanks for sharing your great success. I'm blogging right after you on Just Romantic Suspense in September, hoping some of your magic will rub off on me. :) Forged in Fire is still my favorite RS ever, and I've mentioned it on many stops during my blog tours.
    Best of luck!!!

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    1. Hi Mal, I'm so glad you found me! LOL

      I remember you from the old website and blog. The problem over there was I kept getting locked out of the site, and the comments were moderated, so if I got locked out, I couldn't go in to approve messages. I think I still have a ton of messages in there I couldn't ever access.

      I'm honored that Forged in Fire is one of your favorite romances. I still get a thrill every time I hear that.

      I'll check out your Just Romantic Suspense guest blog, what are the dates? And keep in mind that you are always welcome to guest blog over here at ttime. Although I will own up to the fact that I have no following, I have been a very bad blogger, and I'm basically starting over.

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  17. I'm blogging at JRS on September 12-13.
    Today's Montlake pitch at JRS was great.

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    1. Yeah, I took a peek at the blog schedule, looks like you are blogging right after me and Norah. I'll swing by and check out the posts!

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  18. You area bit of a superstar Trish. I have two things to say.

    1. When are we going to co-write a romance novel ; )
    2. I am even more impressed you are a fan of my YouTube show.

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    1. You'd probably kill me if you were forced to work with me on a book. :) I don't share well. LOL

      And I find your podcast inspiring, just like I find SPP inspiring. You guys all have so much enthusiasm and excitement, and I think it's smart to keep track of what other authors are doing and whether it's working for them. That's a big share of the reason I had such good results with FiF.

      And I'm definitely not a super star. :)I know plenty of writers making ten times the sales and money I was making. Although, if I'd had more books up, I think I could have been competing with them on that scale too.

      My timing was perfect, and I was very good at figuring out what worked to move books and apply that to FiF. Once I figured out how to strategize KDP select free runs, I used them to keep FiF at the top of the romantic suspense bestsellers and popularity lists.

      It's much harder in today's climate to get traction. It will be interesting to see how Yesterday's Child does in comparison since I'll be self-publishing it next month- two years after self publishing FiF.

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