On statistics

Facebook just flashed up a memory from New Year's Eve 2014 where I declared that I was going to begin a self-publishing venture (and also predicted that Joe Mauer would contend for another batting title).

In 2015 I sold 105 copies of the three titles published. I published two more in 2016 and totaled an even 100 for all five novels. For whatever reason sales plummeted this year: now six titles combined for a meager 19 books sold. Each book has sold less than the one before—which, I believe, is the opposite of how things are supposed to work.

On the other hand: I'm having a blast writing these books. With everything that could've brought me down in '17, writing has kept me sane and sober. That's your upside to an 81% drop in sales.

And, for the record, Mauer did finish 7^th in the league in hitting this year.                                                                                                                                                                    
Happy New Year!!!

On click bait

What bizarre internet algorithm landed my book cover in “FROM THE WEB “ alongside quick fixes for Swamp Girls with eye bags?

I couldn't resist clicking on it (click bait?!) and was stunned to find this ad occupying the top of this Scribd site touting their $8.99-all-you-can-read buffet.

I paid for no advertising. Does Scribd offer 49¢ worth of free ad time to new books to their site? I doubt it. All I can say is my branching out to seven new ebook outlets, along with this free marketing boost, have amounted to exactly zero (0) new sales.

We keep trying.

On ebooks

Over the last three years I've published my ebooks exclusively through Amazon Kindle in order to take advantage of their 70% royalty rate for doing so. Problem is I ain't sellin' any through them lately and have decided to expand to multiple vendors such as B&N, iBooks and others displayed in this post.

Today No Happier State is no longer under any exclusive contractual obligation with Kindle and will soon be available through these other outlets (as well as Amazon). The same will happen with The Cary Grant Sanatorium and Playhouse and The Adventures of Hank Fenn later this month, and the other three at the end of January.

Time will tell if this jump-starts my sales. One thing is for sure, your Facebook feeds will be deluged with links to these new outlets and for that I apologize.

Right...