Getting Double Booked in August (Writing Round-Up)

Hello Bloglandia!

I almost didn’t get around to doing a video update this month (hey, who just cheered?!). But in the nick of time, I threw myself in front of the camera phone and recorded a writing update.

If you prefer a just-the-basics update, you’ll find that below along with my sales stats from August.

Or, if you want to get the full scoop (complete with jumping cats and minor technical difficulties), the image below will take you there.

The Non-Video Version of How I Spent August…

I spent a fair amount of August working through the third draft of the new book.

I forced myself to go slow with this draft to make sure all plot points were where they should be, that no one was in one place when I just said they were somewhere else (oops), and all that fun continuity stuff.

The book is now with my beta readers for them to pick apart all the things that make no sense and to help me find some of those pesky typos that crop up out of nowhere.

As for a release date…you’re going to have to be a little patient. I want to get at least a couple (preferably) three books of this series ready (or close to ready) before I publish book one, which means the first book probably won’t be coming out until very late this year or (more likely) early next year.

And because I’m not up to my neck in enough work, I decided to dig out an old novel (I wrote it some time around 2011) and try my hand at cobbling the horror show into something publishable.

Why did I ditch it in the past? Because at the time I wrote it, I had NO clue how to edit/rewrite my own work. Now, I’m the Rewriting Queen and feel a bit more confident about delving into the messy manuscript.

This is a sci-fi/thriller sort of thing, very different from the silly paranormal mysteries I’m enjoying writing lately, and it’s been interesting to see how my writing has changed (and what’s stayed the same).

Again, there’s more details about the release of this project and, if I remember right, a title reveal in the video, so if you’re curious, get thee to YouTube!

So, that about covers August’s writing. Now it’s numbers time…

August’s Book Sale Numbers

Whoa. August was…insane. This was by far and away my highest sales month ever.

Although, as always, I have to stomp on my potential happiness by reminding myself that my sales numbers for the month are probably what many authors see every day.

Sigh…

Comparison-itis sucks.

Anyway, focusing on just me (since it’s my blog and all that), I have now sold eight times the number of books I sold in all of 2020. Eight times, people. Holy wood pulp!! (And yes, these are “sales” – I never count my free series starters downloads.)

And those sales numbers haven’t come at a very high price. I’ve spent at least a third less on “business” expenses (this includes ads, promo spots, book covers, web hosting, etc) than I did in 2020.

Then again, there’s still a third of the year to go…hide the credit card!!

So where did the sales come from? Again, unlike many authors, Amazon was not my top-selling retailer….

• My top-selling retailer for August was Apple with 39% of sales. This was likely due to them selecting The Undead Mr Tenpenny for their Feel Good Reads promo. Yay!
• Amazon squeaked into the #2 spot with 32% of sales.
• Kobo after being in the #2 spot for a while, slipped to #3 with 27% of sales.
• The rest of my sales were from my Payhip Bookstore, which did surprisingly well this month and (no surprise) outsold the seemingly pointless Google Play

As for marketing, as mentioned, I nabbed one of those coveted Apple promos. I also had a few Kobo promos which worked some pretty amazing magic. I was in three BookFunnel Bundles, and I did three paid promo spots over the course of the month.

I did play around a little with Amazon ads in August, but this was barely a blip in the sales radar. I’ll probably do a post about whether AMS seems worth it in the near future, but for now I’ll just say I made more sales through Book Funnel bundles and readers just randomly browsing than I did through AMS ads.

Taking Some Time Off

I’m doing a very strange thing this week and taking a few days off. I wouldn’t say I feel burnt out exactly, but I have been going full board since returning from vacation in late October 2019 and I just need a teeny tiny break from writing.

I really haven’t had a day off. Even “weekends” have some sort of writing/marketing chore attached to them, and as you can see, I’m still doing this blog despite my little three-day respite.

But, I’m hoping once I get this typed up and scheduled to post, I can stay away from writing chores for a bit.

And if you’re picturing me lounging in a chair with an adult beverage, sorry, nope. I’m going to be working on some long-neglected yard and house chores.

I know, what fun, right? Well, since my passport is still being held hostage by the US State Department, it’s the best I can manage (although I will be dreaming of a trip to France while I work away on my home and garden projects…best I can do for now).

Hopefully, I can also sneak some reading and relaxing time in somewhere before jumping back into the writing world on Friday.

Speaking of reading, if you missed it, here’s my Top (and Bottom) Reads from August.

Anyway, that was my August. How was yours? Productive? Relaxing? Ho-hum?

Have a great week!!!

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