A Milestone!

The book “Who Said I was up for Adoption?” (my account of the first 18 months of Ray living with us), just recently sold an eBook version in Australia … so thank you so much Australia! Why the personal thank you to Australia? Because that single copy purchase gave a total sales to date of 100 copies!

To many people, a 100 copies is rather insignificant, particularly when the book was published in 2016 however, to me it means that my story of Ray has reached at least a hundred people. That makes me very happy because not only is his story interesting, but he deserves all the recognition that I can give him! He has worked hard at adjusting from his earlier life and resulting insecurities, and general antisocial behavior, to one where is constantly in contact with people. Every moment with Ray in public is a pleasure as I watch the smiles, and listen to the comments about how wonderful he is!

Indie authors are well aware that the high cost of advertising excludes the conventional forms of advertising, and even acquiring a room for a reading can be very questionable. When one looks at the potential remuneration per book, it takes significant sales to cover even a minimal outlay.

To give an example from here in S. Ontario, I was offered advertising space in a single bus shelter for $400.00/month. At an average remuneration of less than $4.00/book, simple math dictates that one bus shelter must generate sales in excess of 100/month to become worthwhile. Needless to say, I declined that offer.

A local dog supplies store offered to carry this book, but required 250-300 copies to distribute to their other stores, with the expectation of reimbursement for unsold copies.  Insurance to cover book returns is available at a very high cost and, to complicate matters further (and contrary to what some people may think), authors are not given unlimited books for free!  Purchasing 250 copies to supply to them, even at my heavily discounted price, would cost me over $3,000.00.

I do not revolve in writers circles, but I do suspect that many indie authors will be able to totally relate to the challenges of advertising. I remember reading recently some advice from an established indie author, on the sales expectations of self-publishing. The advice was to celebrate one sale at a time and, from my experiences with “Who Said I was up for Adoption?”, “Just Thinking”, and “The Odessa Chronicles, I would suggest that is a very realistic approach.

So again … thank you Australia, that single eBook sale in March pushed total sales of “Who Said I was up for Adoption?” to that magical 100!

 

35 thoughts on “A Milestone!”

  1. Congrats, Colin. Word about Ray is getting out, one book, one post, one reader, at a time. I’ve been told many times I should “quit giving my poetry away on WordPress” and instead publish a book. The way I look at it, I reach more readers by publishing here and doing readings locally. Like most writers, I am not in this for the money. I just want to share poetry and stories that other people can relate to. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hi JJ. Sharing “here” is a wonderful venture however, a drawback is that your readers only get to read the individual works as/when you Post them. A new Follower tomorrow is probably not going to search through your Blog’s history for them. In contrast, a book can contain all your works to date.

      When I was contemplating publishing “Just Thinking”, it was made quite clear to me that a book of poetry will be difficult to market. Poetry is really a niche area. i.e. There is no mass appeal. I decided to proceed anyway and have no regrets although I am currently over $3,000.00CAD out of pocket, and “Just Thinking” has sold only 20 copies to date. 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

      • You’re right, a complete volume would be nice, but I don’t have $3000 to spend on publishing a hard-to-sell book. My sister requested a “blog book” for Christmas, so I converted all my posts into Word files and printed them and put them in a binder for her. I print out the new one each week and when I get a good-sized pile, I mail them to her. She is the only person who has such a book. You’re right, new followers are more interested in today’s post than ones from last month or last year, but they’re all there on WP if anyone cares to look. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  4. I know nothing about promoting a book once published, much less authoring one in the first place. I may have a book in hidden in me somewhere, but if so, it is deeply buried. Congratulations on reaching 100! Love the photo too! It seems to me that the sales of a book is not unlike the days in our lives…best taken and savored one at a time. Thank-you for sharing!

    Liked by 2 people

  7. Yay! Congrats! That book is so worthy of promotion. I wouldn’t know how to do that on a budget either. You need to be a big time author to get the publication machine backup but there is almost no way to get to be a big time author.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. What a happy looking picture! 100 copies is a great milestone that deserves a celebration . I think Ray deserves some donut holes. Leave now and you guys may be first in line at the donut shop. 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    • Those “donut holes” are called TimBits … and due to all the junk that is usually on them, we limit Ray to the “Old Fashioned Plain” variety! As for first in line? Where are you living? At 7:00am here, there are already lineups due to the commuters getting their day off to a good start. You are not used to large city life are you! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Congratulations. In my opinion, selling 100 copies of any self-published book is a big accomplishment. Just look at how many are out there, for sale on Amazon and other outlets. I’ve self-published a few, myself, and most have never even topped 10 or 20 copies. One of them only sold one copy.

    I think you’re a good writer, so for those who enjoy dog books and who buy yours, I think they’re probably getting their money’s worth, as well as time well-spent reading.

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