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Thread: SALES ARE DYINGGGGGGGGG


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Permlink Replies: 32 - Pages: 3 [ Previous | 1 2 3 | Next ] - Last Post: Jul 3, 2012 3:57 PM Last Post By: jorgemgonzalez
bobthebookbuilder

Posts: 15
Registered: 05/15/12
Re: SALES ARE DYINGGGGGGGGG
Posted: Jun 29, 2012 11:18 AM   in response to: imexco1 in response to: imexco1
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I have only had my books on Amazon since the middle of April of this year. That first two weeks I sold 36 books, which I thought was pretty good. Then May came along and the number jumped up 111. Of course, if 36 was good then 111 must be ...well, really good, right?

So now I'm reading all these sad posts about how sales are dyinggggggggggggg, and how Amazon holds back sales at the end of the month so that they can make a ton of money at the generous interest rates banks are paying nowadays.

Just to keep the record straight, as far as I'm concerned, yesterday I had the third best day this month with 56 sales, right behind a 60 day on the 3rd and 70 on the 8th. My total sales this month, through the 28th, is 1,050 books. So you see, I'm, at least for now, unwilling to buy into the Amazon conspiracy theory.
inyun

Posts: 5,850
Registered: 10/16/11
Re: SALES ARE DYINGGGGGGGGG
Posted: Jun 29, 2012 8:39 PM   in response to: chowminsky in response to: chowminsky
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I have doubled my sales of May. June has been great. All five of my SciFi series have been in top 100 of their genre for weeks.

Thom

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phildukephd

Posts: 989
Registered: 06/16/11
Re: SALES ARE DYINGGGGGGGGG
Posted: Jun 29, 2012 8:43 PM   in response to: writeranne in response to: writeranne
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Excellent post. We can only hope that Amazon.com will get rid of the Select program. I believe it is hurting them, as well as Indies.
inyun

Posts: 5,850
Registered: 10/16/11
Re: SALES ARE DYINGGGGGGGGG
Posted: Jun 29, 2012 8:56 PM   in response to: chowminsky in response to: chowminsky
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You could try this. I had them made at SignChef.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/topsyturvydesign/sets/72157629754518103/

Thom

whydoineedanick

Posts: 359
Registered: 07/12/11
Re: SALES ARE DYINGGGGGGGGG
Posted: Jun 29, 2012 9:01 PM   in response to: inyun in response to: inyun
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Cool. How much did that cost, Thom?
inyun

Posts: 5,850
Registered: 10/16/11
Re: SALES ARE DYINGGGGGGGGG
Posted: Jun 29, 2012 9:27 PM   in response to: whydoineedanick in response to: whydoineedanick
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Signchef charged me $200.00 for 4 magnetic signs. If you have a beat up car and are not worried about paint damage, you can get stick on vinyl much cheaper.

DigitalDonna my cover person took original thumbnails and made them denser and I just submitted them to SignChef. I love them.

I am contacting them tomorrow to have (1) sign made up for my Hospice Killer series which appears to be on life support. One sign will probably be $75.00 but if it gets my series rolling it is well worth it.

Thom
jorgemgonzalez

Posts: 53
Registered: 03/10/11
Re: SALES ARE DYINGGGGGGGGG
Posted: Jun 30, 2012 12:57 AM   in response to: writeranne in response to: writeranne
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The main problem here is not even the free promos, those take place for limited time, the main problem here is that Amazon does not give a flipping penny about your book sales or mine, they care only and exclusively about selling the hardware, period.
What's the only thing you can get free in the whole amazon universe? Ebooks, of course.
Amazon decided to be a reader's welfare institution a long, long time ago in order to sell more Kindles, and that decision has affected authors and indie publishers equally. The simple truth is that they make pennies out of our books compared to the millions they make out of the Kindle sales, so why should they care about your sales when they have years of free reading material on their servers? Go figure.
Feel lucky if your sales are good enough as to fill the gas tank once a month. Hold on tight to that, and then smile when some posters tell you everything is peachy.
When the free public domain books are not so attractive anymore let's create KDP Select so we can give fresh, new "original material" cheap enough if not for free. Brilliant! You should admire its simplicity.
Good luck, and be all well.
writeranne

Posts: 540
Registered: 05/09/12
Re: SALES ARE DYINGGGGGGGGG
Posted: Jun 30, 2012 6:43 PM   in response to: jorgemgonzalez in response to: jorgemgonzalez
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The one redeeming thing that will come of all these free books hopefully, is that the terrible writers ( I won't call them authors) will eventually get fed up and go find some other way to scam people.

If enough of us serious, professional authors stick to our guns and stay away from giving free books, in time, this should work itself out.

Anyone who came to KDP with hopes of becoming the next super-star, needs to get real. Publishing on Amazon should just be one part of your overall publishing plan. You can't expect to put all your eggs in this basket, as there is no room with all the free eggs pushing them out.
carolmarlene

Posts: 86
Registered: 12/14/11
Re: SALES ARE DYINGGGGGGGGG
Posted: Jun 30, 2012 7:15 PM   in response to: writeranne in response to: writeranne
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I wouldn't say that just because someone is offering a FREE book that they are scamming anyone.
I also don't think that just because someone offers a free book that they are a terrible writer (and not an author) They could be selling other books and using a free one as a tool to promote their writing.

I don't like this landslide of free books being advertised daily either. Although as a reader I would probably like it, if I took advantage of it. But I am too busy writing to download a pile of free books. I would never get to them.

I don't know if the flow of steady books that are being offered daily are hurting the purchase of other books or not. It would seem to be that way considering especially KDP's slow down of sales reports in May and June as compared to earlier months. However, that is no reason to call anyone a scammer or a non-writer. If the choice is there to offer a book for free and some authors want to do so that is their privilege, at the moment at least.
matzbravo

Posts: 2
Registered: 07/01/12
Re: SALES ARE DYINGGGGGGGGG
Posted: Jul 1, 2012 8:20 AM   in response to: ricardo7777 in response to: ricardo7777
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Something unclear here too. UPDATE AND CORRECTION: THE PAYMENT ADVICE REERS TO SALES IN MARCH AND APRIL, NOT MAY, SO MY QUESTION HAS BEEN CLARIFIED. SALES ARE NOT PAID UNTIL AT LEAST 30 DAYS (IT SEEMS) HAVE ELAPSED FROM DATE OF SALE. EVEN SO, MORE DETAILED SALES INFO AND INDIVIDUAL SALES NOTICES BY EMAIL TO SELLER WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

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matzbravo

Posts: 2
Registered: 07/01/12
Re: SALES ARE DYINGGGGGGGGG
Posted: Jul 1, 2012 8:23 AM   in response to: bobthebookbuilder in response to: bobthebookbuilder
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What book are you selling?
jorgemgonzalez

Posts: 53
Registered: 03/10/11
Re: SALES ARE DYINGGGGGGGGG
Posted: Jul 1, 2012 9:30 AM   in response to: carolmarlene in response to: carolmarlene
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I agree with your statement, and I'd like to add my two cents to it with all due respect to aurhors and publishers.
The definition of a writer or his/her works pertains to us only as individuals. An author or a book is as "good" or "lousy" as it is perceived by the reader, therefore, whatever works are lousy to us, it might be great to others and vice versa, this principle applies to even the most seasoned "professional" critics. History has thought us so.
On the other hand, (and this is just a personal approach) I rather offer any form of human expression/creation my respect as long as the effort is genuine and sincere. Not everyone is a Hawthorne, a Twain, or a Bronte, but most of us has a story to tel, and whether we are able to convey the message in a way that appeals to the reader's best judgement and benevolence or not,it remains yet to be seen.
Good writers and bad writers? I don't know much about that, but I know a little bit about this:
"For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again". Matthew 7:2
bobthebookbuilder

Posts: 15
Registered: 05/15/12
Re: SALES ARE DYINGGGGGGGGG
Posted: Jul 2, 2012 6:37 AM   in response to: matzbravo in response to: matzbravo
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If only it were that easy. I am not selling just one book; ,I in fact, have 15 on Amazon.

What I do is give the first in a series away and the others in that series seem to sell just fine. Of course, the fact that the giveaway book is an award winner seems to help. As an example, yesterday I had 77 free downloads and sold 42 books. To me that's a pretty good tradeoff.
jamesat52

Posts: 4
Registered: 06/27/12
Re: SALES ARE DYINGGGGGGGGG
Posted: Jul 2, 2012 11:37 AM   in response to: jorgemgonzalez in response to: jorgemgonzalez
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"they care only and exclusively about selling the hardware, period."

Amazon loses money on every Kindle device sold.
They do this because they make their money on eBook sales.
It is a very BASIC marketing concept called a LOSS LEADER.

Ill informed knee jerk reactions demonstrate the extreme sense of entitlement out there.

"I wrote a crappy book and it's Amazon's fault no one is buying it."
Crawl back to mama.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2011/10/yes-kindle-fire-loss-leader/43205/
shortprogram

Posts: 80
Registered: 10/23/11
Re: SALES ARE DYINGGGGGGGGG
Posted: Jul 2, 2012 11:41 AM   in response to: chowminsky in response to: chowminsky
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LearningIsland's sales are also dying, which is a bit strange since our sales on Barnes & Noble are growing and growing. We sell over $1400 a month on B&N, and only about $200 on Amazon. I know part of that is that we sell children's books and B&N is a much better market for that, but it does seem to be a bit more of a discrepancy than I would expect.

I'm wondering if we, and people who purchase something and it never gets registered should contact Amazon's auditors, Ernst and Young of Palo Alto, CA. Perhaps their auditors can figure out what is going on.
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