My Goal May Never Be Reached...

[KindleNooker]

I started with two titles in August and earned $22 for the month.  In September I added two more and earned $37 across four titles.  In October I added two more titles and went up to $98 for the month.  November I added one title and shot up to $348 in earnings.  My goal was to keep adding books and by the end of 2012 create $4,000 per month - enough to pay all my bills, family costs, etc.  Then Kindle Select happened and my sales have crumbled.  I don't know of this is coincidence - but maybe there are just too many free books out there.  I seriously have lost sight of my goal and I feel like even adding more titles at this pace won't get me there. 

Somebody give me back my motivation.   I'm ready to give up. 

[Nathalie Hamidi]

I'm looking to do the same in 2012, I believe it will settle a bit at the beginning of the year, keep writing with joy! 

[Beth Dolgner]

If you write and market yourself well, then you will find your readers! I remind myself every day to have patience because I want to be successful NOW. And readers are willing to pay for good books, so the freebie madness will settle.

[WilliamKing.me]

What J P Morgan said about the stockmarkets applies to the market for ebooks too.  "It will fluctuate!"

There will be good months and there will be bad months. I've been doing this for almost a quarter of a century and I've had a few bad years. The best thing about ebooks is that you can just leave them out there and see what happens next. If you want to take a break, you can, and you can come back when things change, as they inevitably will. Who knows, next month you might get a big break!

My advice would be to write what you enjoy writing, for the pleasure of it, and wait and see what happens.

All the best,

Bill

[LisaGraceBooks]

Marketing is huge. Book reviewers, readers, and people that enjoy seeing you succeed and having a hand in your success are necessary. Start email lists of these people and build relationships. You cannot do it alone. You must have mavens and influencers working on your behalf. I suggest you read Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point.

Of course, I'm assuming your books are well-written, fun or informative reads with professional editing and formatting done.

[Krista D. Ball]

I started with two titles in August and earned $22 for the month.  In September I added two more and earned $37 across four titles.  In October I added two more titles and went up to $98 for the month.  November I added one title and shot up to $348 in earnings.  My goal was to keep adding books and by the end of 2012 create $4,000 per month - enough to pay all my bills, family costs, etc.  Then Kindle Select happened and my sales have crumbled.  I don't know of this is coincidence - but maybe there are just too many free books out there.  I seriously have lost sight of my goal and I feel like even adding more titles at this pace won't get me there. 

Um, how on earth are you writing 2 titles a month? Is it short fiction that you're doing or backlist? Because, um, wow. That's a lot if you're doing larger length novellas or novels.

As for crumbling sales, what William said is true: they fluctuate. I'm selling more this month than I have in a while (that's not counting my trad novel, since I have no idea how that's doing). It goes up and down. I don't let a month of low sales bother me.

If you are doing short fiction, you might want to keep some aside to send to magazines and anthologies. Not all, just your best ones. That way, you can get paid for them getting published and can still self-publish them again.

[Mel Comley]

I get where you are coming from but if you love writing you shouldn't be setting financial goals.

Give it time, everyone expects instant success and it just doesn't happen that way.

Oh and btw, December is a crappy month for sales, hang in there.

 

[Krista D. Ball]

you shouldn't be setting financial goals.

This.

It's really hard to set goals based on other people's actions and decisions. It doesn't meet the SMART goals, something we corporate flunkies have drilled into our brains.

I can set a goal to have Mel Comley buy one of my books. But, unless I kidnap her and force her to buy my book under duress, there is no way that I can achieve that goal myself. It relies on Mel.

However, I can set a goal to send my book out for reviews, set a goal to release another title, set a goal to submit 5 short stories to anthologies, etc. I can achieve all that.

Now, all of that might make Mel buy one of my books or not. It doesn't matter because I've met all of my goals. 

[JRTomlin]

I started with two titles in August and earned $22 for the month.  In September I added two more and earned $37 across four titles.  In October I added two more titles and went up to $98 for the month.  November I added one title and shot up to $348 in earnings.  My goal was to keep adding books and by the end of 2012 create $4,000 per month - enough to pay all my bills, family costs, etc.  Then Kindle Select happened and my sales have crumbled.  I don't know of this is coincidence - but maybe there are just too many free books out there.  I seriously have lost sight of my goal and I feel like even adding more titles at this pace won't get me there. 

Somebody give me back my motivation.   I'm ready to give up. 

1. A goal should be something you can control.

2. Select has been out one week and you're already giving up?

[Evan Couzens]

On a long enough timeline, on a level playing field, quality will inevitably be discovered, recognized, and rewarded. If your work is good, really good, you have nothing to worry about. Lack of sales now just means that many more sales later when the natural sifting process discovers your work and people start buying everything you've published.

Don't restrict yourself to a one year timeline. Keep writing and see where you are in 5 or 10 years. No one makes it without putting in the time.

[Nathalie Hamidi]

This.

It's really hard to set goals based on other people's actions and decisions. It doesn't meet the SMART goals, something we corporate flunkies have drilled into our brains.

I can set a goal to have Mel Comley buy one of my books. But, unless I kidnap her and force her to buy my book under duress, there is no way that I can achieve that goal myself. It relies on Mel.

However, I can set a goal to send my book out for reviews, set a goal to release another title, set a goal to submit 5 short stories to anthologies, etc. I can achieve all that.

Now, all of that might make Mel buy one of my books or not. It doesn't matter because I've met all of my goals. 

I think KindleNooker has done just that, with his plan to release one or two books per month. I know you're right Krista, of course you are, but it sometimes can be a little heart-wrenching to see sales drop. 

[Deanna Chase]

I think your expectations are too high. DWS has a timely post on this matter.

[Krista D. Ball]

I think KindleNooker has done just that, with his plan to release one or two books per month. I know you're right Krista, of course you are, but it sometimes can be a little heart-wrenching to see sales drop. 

That's why I don't really look at my sales. It's not possible anyway, since the bulk of my sales are for trad stuff, so I only see those every few months. Also, a lot of my sales are non-Amazon, so it takes a while for things to update. It's good in a way; I never got used to the staring at KDP waiting for the numbers to go up 

[Evan Couzens]

That's why I don't really look at my sales. It's not possible anyway, since the bulk of my sales are for trad stuff, so I only see those every few months. Also, a lot of my sales are non-Amazon, so it takes a while for things to update. It's good in a way; I never got used to the staring at KDP waiting for the numbers to go up 

I check mine on the first of each month so I can update my spreadsheet. Anything more is either a distraction or a disappointment. There are more productive things to do than looking at your sales report several times a day.

[Nathalie Hamidi]

That's why I don't really look at my sales. It's not possible anyway, since the bulk of my sales are for trad stuff, so I only see those every few months. Also, a lot of my sales are non-Amazon, so it takes a while for things to update. It's good in a way; I never got used to the staring at KDP waiting for the numbers to go up 

Almost of my sales are from Lulu, e-readers are not very well known by my readership (mostly moms of autistic children with very few or no technological knowledge, although there are exceptions). I use the money to pay for my website server and mailing-list, so sometimes it's a little tight when it's off budget and I have to pay it myself. 

In 2012 I'll do my best to publish fiction, though. Now I have set up a sum to buy my first covers, and I'm working on translating it before sending it to an editor, but after that I'll be waiting for the sales to pay for the rest of the books... So I can't help hoping I'll at least cover the price of putting the next one out there each time... The rest will be left to fate! 

[Mel Comley]

This.

It's really hard to set goals based on other people's actions and decisions. It doesn't meet the SMART goals, something we corporate flunkies have drilled into our brains.

I can set a goal to have Mel Comley buy one of my books. But, unless I kidnap her and force her to buy my book under duress, there is no way that I can achieve that goal myself. It relies on Mel.

However, I can set a goal to send my book out for reviews, set a goal to release another title, set a goal to submit 5 short stories to anthologies, etc. I can achieve all that.

Now, all of that might make Mel buy one of my books or not. It doesn't matter because I've met all of my goals. 

 

[MikeAngel]

Ah, the fragile nature of writers! The pie-in-the-sky dreams of success, irrational fears of failure, soul-torturing angst.

Look around, son. Count your blessings. Set your goals in such a way that you can control steps to reach them. Don't begin a journey without a tablet in stone that giving up is for losers.

Good grief.

[Krista D. Ball]

I cheated. That's a (paraphrased) version used by a veteran manager once to show us n00b managers how set goals for our teams and meet them, thereby justifying outrageous salary increases. He used The Queen as the example and I've found it's been very helpful since.

[Larissa]

Ah, the fragile nature of writers! The pie-in-the-sky dreams of success, irrational fears of failure, soul-torturing angst.

Look around, son. Count your blessings. Set your goals in such a way that you can control steps to reach them. Don't begin a journey without a tablet in stone that giving up is for losers.

Good grief.

I agree. Sometimes you forget about how grateful you should be to even HAVE readers willing to pay a price for your book.

I'm no where you are in sales. I haven't made my first paycheck yet.

The key word there is yet.

I'm willing to wait patiently to let my readership build and continue to reach out to book reviewers to get the word out so that I can eventually pay my bills. Until then, I'll get a full time job (I'm on my last year of college) and continue to keep working at promoting and writing the next book.

That's all we can control: Our promotion efforts and writing the next book.

I think you have an excellent turn around for books though. So jealous! If I could put up books as fast you can, I would be very proud of myself.

Main point: Keep at it and the readers will come.

[Laura Lond]

Definitely keep writing and adding those books. More books means more sales - sometimes at a slower rate, but then you never know which one suddenly "takes off". The situation will stabilize. Think of all those hundreds of thousands of new Kindles that people will receive for Christmas! That's new readers for our books.

[R M Rowan]

On a long enough timeline, on a level playing field, quality will inevitably be discovered, recognized, and rewarded. If your work is good, really good, you have nothing to worry about. Lack of sales now just means that many more sales later when the natural sifting process discovers your work and people start buying everything you've published.

Don't restrict yourself to a one year timeline. Keep writing and see where you are in 5 or 10 years. No one makes it without putting in the time.

Wise words!

[Matthew.Iden]

As David Gaughran said (or paraphrased) in Let's Get Digital, the only thing guaranteed not to increase sales figures is staring at sales figures.

Write, work on your craft, critique with others, find happiness in the act, move on.

[sparklingbean]

Ah, the fragile nature of writers! The pie-in-the-sky dreams of success, irrational fears of failure, soul-torturing angst.

Look around, son. Count your blessings. Set your goals in such a way that you can control steps to reach them. Don't begin a journey without a tablet in stone that giving up is for losers.

Good grief.

Sorry, I just love this quote.

[Bakari]

KindleNooker,

I know exactly how you feel. What has helped me immensely is that I have 26 books available on multiple venues (itunes, Smashwords, Pubit, Lulu, etc.).

Amazon seems to have sales or issues that disrupt many indies sales every few months (e.g., Sunshine Deals, the Lady Gaga debacle and removing tags). As every book go throughs a natural cycle, having so many books in so many different platforms has helped me beat the odds. -- Amazon was, initially, the bulk of my sales but itunes has turned into a monster for me. I wrote academic non-fiction for years and, believe it or not, my short stories are selling really well on itunes. At times, this business has no discernible methodologies that you can point to that will equal success. However, if you don't have a horse in the race, you can't win.

The way you are producing material you will be able to take advantage of multiple venues too (if you haven't already). Plus, switching to a long term strategy may be useful in maintaining sanity and motivation. It took me two years before I saw the numbers you pulled in two months. I started Dec. 2008 and didn't make $300 in a month until Dec. 2010. Your results are not typical for a beginner and if you don't consider the outliers that frequent this board you have gotten off to an incredible start.

Just keep writing and producing and good things will head your way.

[KindleNooker]

These are some great replies.  I'm at work so I can't write much this minute, but FYI for those who are questioning my speed of publishing books - they are all non-fiction and 5,000 to 15,000 words.  I could not write one novel in a year - let alone two in a month!  So my stats are not a relevant comparison maybe.  More later...