Rae Wilder Fan Art!

I love it when readers commit and go the extra mile to show how much they've connected with a character. I got this through a few minutes ago, an interpretation of Rae from Demon Day.

This is clearly after Rae meets the shifters and is given new clothes from Alec ... after she gets her circlet. How ca-uooo-te!! The detail on the wings is fabulous, and Rae's Deer In The Headlights look has been captured brilliantly. Rae is even tugging on her hair and biting her lip! Click to enlarge the picture and you can see her fangs.

This was drawn by the talented Michelle Hewitt, and you can find out more about her and her work at Littlelovesartist.com

If anybody does do fan art or fan fiction on any of my stuff don't hide it away. I'd love to see it, there is no greater compliment ;)

Sales Analysis ... What Can It Teach Me To Help Sell eBooks?

Today, I am going to give an example of what I do to keep track of how well I am doing, and what I should be doing. There is a lot of high level advice for Indies to set "realistic sales goals" to keep them on the straight and narrow. So when the next I Just Sold 1Million eBooks In 10 Days With My Arms Tied Behind My Back story breaks those with 100 sales or less feel less like giving up.

I agree with this. I also believe keeping a close eye on how you set those realistic goals is key to success.

Click to Enlarge

"I am going to sell 100 eBooks," is not a realistic goal. How are you going to sell those ebooks? To whom? Where?

"I am going to sell 100 units of Demon Day on Kindle in March by promotion on Goodreads groups and three different established book blogs," is a realistic goal.

I do not stalk my rankings (except when something exceptional is happening like breaking the Top 100 somewhere or grabbing a number 1 spot) but I do keep a hawk eye on how I am doing comparatively across eStores and where I should be focusing my attention.

Volume means jack-sh*t if you cannot sustain it. Someone who sells a few thousand one month with one title can drop off the lists within a week and never be able to climb back if they don't have a strong backlist to support them between frontlist releases.

What does the above data (in the pie chart) teach me?
A few things actually. Possibly;

Demon Dark Nook Top 100!

Super quick post, Demon Dark made it onto the Nook Top 100! Not expecting to stay there for very long, but there you go. Progress.

18.11.11

Demon Dark Hits #1 iBooks UK, CA & AU!

I think sufficient time has passed, and I doubt things are going to get any better for my US ranking, but such good news!

Demon Dark found its way into the Apple iBookstore, and from the 14th to the 16th (today) reached the top spots in its genre (Sci-fi & Fantasy) across three different territories. It peaked at #9 in the US.

eBook VAT & What This Means for Selling Direct (Brace Yourself)

Following on from my earlier post, I posted a question on Kindleboards about direct selling and the question of tax came up. That small question prompts a big answer. This is tax we're talking about. It's a tricky subject and I was steering clear of posting anything about it, however, I am willing to outline my own circumstances to add clarity for purposes of selling direct and my experiences with it.

I am a British citizen registered with HMRevenue as self employed (sole proprietor). I am not VAT registered. I am in no rush to register as my turnover selling direct is nowhere near the £73,000 plus threshold for the reporting year.

As I provide goods that are "taxable supplies" I would have to register for VAT if either; my turnover for the previous 12 months goes over the VAT threshold (currently £73,000) or if I thought my turnover would soon go over this limit (within 30 days). I can opt to register for VAT even though I am below the VAT threshold. There are benefits to this. It is best to keep an eye on the VAT threshold as it may change and any change will be announced in The Budget.

The 100% Royalty Rate

I recently gave my website a massive overhaul, and have been streamlining. There are still a few kinks to work out, but it's getting there.

There is a minimized and floating red tab in the top left hand corner that says "Buy eBooks". I added my own eStore where you can buy my eBooks (DRM free) and sideload them onto your eReader. In this post that is what I want to focus on, a high level and holistic overview of implementating such a thing. Indies should at least consider selling eBooks direct. The only other person who I know who does it is J A Konrath, but he has a bespoke store that was built for him by a third party (the pros and cons of which we shall discuss later).

After implementation, I tested the entire process by offering Die, My Love for free to readers. I set up a discount code you had to enter at checkout, and that went surprisingly well (I squealed when I made my first 75 cents) but, since the eBook drawing the attention was free I didn't get my hopes up too high.

I  added Demon Dark to my eStore the same day I uploaded to Kindle and Smashwords (31st October 2011). 15 days and I have sold over 1200 copies of Demon Dark, and 65 of those were direct! How cool is that! I've sold 68 via Smashwords, so in comparison I was pleased there was enough trust and interest from readers to buy direct from me (the rest are all Kindle sales. The book is not on Nook yet, and iBooks only appeared on Monday. I grabbed #1 in UK and AU in Scifi & Fantasy ... #2 in CA an #9 in US *whoop!*).

*blinks* Demon Dark Release!

$3.99

Demon Dark was released yesterday. It's up on Smashwords, Kindle, and available from my eStore now for $3.99.

Distribution to iBooks and Nook will take up to a month once Smashwords approves it, but I honestly can't wait, as I know the main body of my readership are in those two places.