- Mrs. Crouch’s Typewriter
So far, my grand experiment in the world of e-book publishing is not proving very successful. Five books sold in seven days does not seem promising. You might say Ghost Stories of the North Beach is “selling like hotcake.”
I decided that it might be worth a little research time to find out if my expectations have been unrealistic. And, while I was at it, I might sort out exactly what my expectations were/are. It is typical of my forging-ahead personality, that I leapt into the Kindle Experiment out of emotional enthusiasm rather than on the basis of any factual evidence that it might be successful. I always read instruction manuals as a last resort, too.
The best estimates put Kindle users at 2 million. That’s quite a potential buying audience. I don’t think I’m greedy. So, I’ll put my desired sales somewhere in the four figures – say 5,000 instead of 5. My actual expectations are even less lofty – say 500. That’s only a tiny percentage of possible readers. Surely that is realistic.
According to Amazon, Kindle books are now outselling their hardcover books at a rate of 143 to 100. According to fiction writer J.A. Konrath, his books in Kindle format outsell the hardcover format at 60 to 1! As one would expect, top-sellers in traditional formats also do well in e-format. Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has sold 2 million e-book copies (all types), no doubt a fair percentage of those being on Amazon’s Kindle Reader.
Thrillers and how-to books seem to top the charts in Kindle sales. The vampire books also sell well. I can’t see that it’s a quantum leap from vampire to ghost so I console myself that it is early days yet. All those millions of Kindle users have not had ample opportunity to browse the latest publications. Surely, when they see the photograph of “Mrs. Crouch’s Typewriter” and read the description of Ghost Stories of the North Beach their fingers will fly to the ‘Buy Now’ buttons and my own Kindle numbers will fly off the charts. Surely
Chin up! If you keep going at that pace for a while it will add up – right? 🙂 Good for you to venture into a new form of publishing!
I’ve “heard” that you have to “drive” readers to the book by using key words to attract them. Perhaps you could do more of that to see a bigger (quicker) result. Personally, I think FIVE books in ONE week is dynamite! I’ve sold ONE book on my site (not an ebook, a really, hold-in-your-hand book) in 10 days and I’m delighted! LOL Remember: “If you have no expectations, you will not be disappointed—you will only be thrilled.” LOL
Yes, all the Kindle information that I read advised using ‘tags’ that would get readers’ attention. You are only allowed five words or phrases so I tried to choose those I thought were appropriate. I used “Oysterville” and “Long Beach Peninsula” both of which work great since there are few other Kindle books in those categories. I also used “ghosts” which, while appropriate, doesn’t work so well as there are many thousands in that category. When I searched by date this morning, “Ghost Stories of the North Beach” came up 120 — many screens away from the initial search. I can’t even remember the other search words I used — probably “North Beach” and maybe “Victorian Houses.” Of course I can’t find a way to go back and revise the tags. Oh well. An experiment is an experiment. Thanks for your encouraging words!
I’m thinking adding the word “Mystery” would attract some attention, perhaps on the end of “North Beach…” ?? Or maybe “Victorian House Ghosts” ?? You’ll find a way to work those in, I know you will…