As May sets in and the Amazon kindle report pages have turned a not unpleasant shade of brown, what can we say we have learned from April? Was it your first month? It was mine, and, judging from what I’ve read of other ebook authors, it wasn’t a bad month’s sales really. It seems that first months in the Kindle world are usually pretty slow, with only ten or a few more sales to show. The second month is not usually that much better. Third is usually better. But let’s skip a head about four months, and, apparently, if you’ve done your editing well, got an eye catching cover, done some online marketing, you’ll be up in the dizzying height of the best selling ranks. Sales with have gone up severly and you’ll be smiling.
We can only hope. The only thing is, no one is entirely sure what works when it
comes to marketing. Does advertising work? Can you your audience, where ever they
are, and woo them? Can you get your book reviewed? I don’t know about anyone
else,but April tired me out, what with constantly checking my sales, putting up
Facebook messages, joining reading groups. I’m on my iPhone so much, that my
girlfriend is now calling it the ‘other’ woman. She’s even given it a name: ilene. Get
it?
Anyway, what I want to do next is get back to writing, whilst doing some editing of Spider Mouth, the second ebook I’ll be bringing out, followed by Graffito. The writing is obviously the most important part. Like when I was a child, I would scribble down a story in haste, then I’d be desperate to show it to the world- well, my family. Nothing has changed, except I hope my readership has grown. Please.
So, in-between marketing and tweeting, remember to write and enjoy it. I will. And try not to check your sales for a few hours. Yeah, some hope!